Tarot Astrology: Aries and the Emperor

The sign of Aries heralds the arrival of spring and new life energy coming back into the natural cycle. After the fallow and dead months of winter, life reasserts itself with a vengeance. The sign of Aries is associated with the head, the ruler and director of the body, and with the Tarot trump the Emperor, which is the card of energy, direction and rulership. Aries is a fire sign, and that energy can be very dangerous without a strong hand to guide it. In the human body, Aries represents our sexual drive, the fire inside, the urge to create.

So, the energy of the Emperor is that which directs and manifests this drive. Without the Emperor we would be at the mercy of our whims, going thru a cycle of irresponsible action and then crashing when we run out of strength. Instead, this card allows us the ability to channel this torrent into something marvelous. Order out of chaos, the Emperor is the bringer of civilization. It teaches us the power of creative limitation.

It teaches us that when we focus our energy we become more than just animals, we become rulers, creators and co-artists with the universal spirit. Whenever you find yourself feeling stir crazy, or feeling like you are running in circles, if you always feel like your plans fall through, then it is time to call upon the Emperor to bring balance and rulership into your life. The negative side of the Emperor is a sort of disdain, a passive aggressive attitude to those around you, and feeling like you are the only one capable of shouldering the burdens of life. In this case, you call upon the energy of the Emperor to help you bring things into balance, to help you gain perspective and to keep you from rushing headlong into life like a ram in the china shop.

We can see the force of the Emperor in such archetypes as King Arthur and Wise King Solomon. He is also shown in the figure of Lao Tze, the wise man from the east, who taught us that it is just as important not to act in the right time as to act in the right time. Namely, discretion utilizing the power of the mind as shown by other Tarot cards such as the Lovers in a positive fashion. In fact, you could see the Emperor as the gateway into the other trumps of the Tarot. Meditating upon this card can bring you solutions to many aspects of your life, not just creative ones, but the ways in which problems in any area of life can be solved.

Problems with love? Call on the Emperor to show you the way. Problems with money? Allow the Emperor’s wisdom to guide you to a healthy balance. Also, I think I should be clear that the Emperor is only a personification of your own abilities. You are in fact the ruler of the many aspects of your own life.

The trumps of the Tarot represent all the different ways that you can deal with yourself and the world around you. They are very useful because once you personify a force it becomes immediately manageable.

Although the Emperor rules your head, he is reached through your heart. Imagine that your body is a palace and all the keys to all of the doors are in your heart. Here the Emperor sits. Regal, unmoved by all the sundry ebb and flow of life. He is immobile, but this is not inaction, he is immobile because he is at the center and action is engendered by his mere presence. Talk to him, ask him to share wisdom with you and to call upon his ministers, the other Tarot cards, to help you bring balance in your life. One thing that’s important to remember is that every drive no matter how misguided believes that it is working for the good of the whole. These forces within you recognize the primacy of the Emperor and bow to his rulership.

If you call upon the Emperor to meditate and face yourself and your inner world with honesty, you will see how things come into balance and you will find yourself with more focus and more energy to achieve the goals that you need and want to achieve in your life.