Table of Contents
The Emperor Tarot Card Meanings
The Emperor has a great deal to do with control; first and foremost, with self-control. If you cannot manage to control yourself, you can hardly expect to be in control of someone or something else.
It is another one of those cards which sometimes stand in for a literal person in our lives e.g. a father or a father figure, a boss, or an older brother perhaps.
But nearly as often the appearance of the Emperor tarot card is a representation of the adult within each of us which can, and should, step up to the plate and get things taken care of. Concentration and attention are important now. Where are you putting yours?
The Emperor Upright Meanings Step-by-Step
Friends, Friendships, and Family
This indicates that your friends, and/or your family, actually look up to you more than you realize. Just because you feel like a faker or a loser part of the time does not mean that it is true or that anyone else in the world sees you that way at all!
You may find that people are coming to you and asking your advice or your understanding about various situations in their lives. Don’t make light of this or shrug it off; you are being asked to help for a reason.
This card’s appearance can also mean that there is a kind, older man whom you should be asking for advice. Think about who this may be and ask for his two cents on the matters you are facing. Ultimately you will be glad that you did.
Tarot Time is supported by its visitors. This page/post may contain affiliate links and we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you should click on one of those links.
Love and Relationships
The Emperor is an extremely positive card where love and personal relationships are concerned. This is especially so if you tend to fall for people who are older than you are.
In fact, the appearance of this card can mean that someone with higher social status and/or who is chronologically older is going to approach you for an intimate relationship. Everything else being equal this is likely to be a good thing for you.
In an existing relationship this can mean that issues of power and control are causing friction. That does not necessarily mean that one of you is trying to control the other, but it is a possibility that should be considered.
Even if that is not the case it does tend to indicate that things are out of balance and there is a bit of a power struggle going on. Either way the two of you need to think and talk it through.
Spiritual Growth
This is a time to find and to embrace your strength. Very often we tend to think that when we compare our small selves to the whole rest of the world – not to mention the whole universe – that we are tiny and incredibly insignificant.
The truth of the matter is that you have the same spiritual strength inside you that was inside any of the greatest human beings that ever lived. You will not grow by refusing to acknowledge that nor will you grow by mistaking ego for spiritual strength.
Talk to people you trust about their spiritual experiences and know that you can overcome any spiritual challenge given time and effort.
Work and Career
This issue makes the interpretation a little difficult because it’s not the first thing you would expect. The Emperor in a work question means not that you should seek power, but that you should be exceedingly careful with how you handle it.
Even if you are the lowest clerk on the totem pole, or the newest waitress at the restaurant, you have some power and you have choices in the way that you use that power and how you control yourself.
Pay attention and observe the people at your organization who have the most power. How did they get to where they are? How do people talk about them? How do the power folks treat the people around them? Don’t seek power straight away. You need to know the proverbial rules before you think about pushing their limits.
Money and Finances
When considering the Emperor with regard to finance and money, it’s important not to jump to conclusions of riches coming your way. Despite his (common) depiction of sitting on a throne he is not going to be parting with any of his riches.
Like any major arcana card, the Emperor can stand in for a literal person that you know. If that is the case, it’s going to represent someone that you tend to look up to, and/or often it can be someone older and with whom you have worked with in the past.
When the Emperor shows up in a reading regarding money it can urge you to watch out against getting your ego wrapped up in your financial situation.
Don’t be stubborn, and don’t operate with a “my way or the highway” attitude. There are people in your life who can offer you useful advice and assistance and when the Emperor shows up it’s a sure sign that you should accept this assistance. It also suggests, however, that you should give yourself some credit for how far you’ve come. Keep a positive attitude.
A Message and Advice from Spirit
The message from Spirit via the Emperor here is to do with power as you might expect – your own and other people’s. You would benefit by staying mindful of the fact that absolutely everyone has power.
Whether they are the most unassuming, meekest person you ever saw, or whether they are a penniless beggar on the street. The misuse of power is one of the most egregious spiritual missteps that there is.
Power is a tool, like any other, and it is just as wrong to refuse to use power as to use it too quickly or in the wrong way. Trust yourself to learn the difference.
The Emperor Tarot Card Meanings by Tarot Time
Tarot Time is supported by its visitors. This page/post may contain affiliate links and we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you should click on one of those links.
Image Attribution: “RWS Tarot 04 Emperor” by Pamela Coleman Smith – a 1909 card scanned by Holly Voley (http://home.comcast.net/~vilex/) for the public domain, and retrieved from http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot (see note on that page regarding source of images). Via Wikipedia.
