Oh dear! Things were going swimmingly up till now but I really didn't* like (IV) The Emperor. I think the reason was I had bought into all the negative connotations associated with this card:
Authoritative protector.
Father figure who instills order, discipline, control.
Being in charge.
Rules, boundaries, and
all the worst that patriarchy and dated notions of masculinity have to offer.
This seemed like a giant step backwards from the equality and caring offered by (II) The High Priestess & (III) The Empress. However, (after considerable digging) it seems many of the views of The Emperor are based on:
(i) a perspective that was built on Tarot de Marseilles, which in turn based The Emperor card on the ongoing battle between state (Royalty) and religion for control and power.
(ii) a Jungian view of the father archetype and the assumption this was real (nature) as opposed to an artificial (nurtured) relic of a mostly bygone age.
(iii) a specific type of person rather than an archetype. Given that archetypes are primarily neutral and abstract.
To discover the real Emperor behind the curtain, and continue our philosophical journey, we will need to deconstruct and rebuild this important card.
*I say "didn't" as writing this blog has given me a new appreciation for The Emperor
(IV) The Emperor
Chosen card: Gilded Tarot Royale(2020) by Ciro Marchetti and Barbara Moore.
Archetype: [tabula-rasa]
I could not find an archetype description I was happy with (all contained at least some of the biases noted in the opening paragraph). So, we're starting with a blank slate (tabula rasa). That said, a nod must go to A.E.Waite who pointed towards a deeper understanding of The Emperor in the Pictorial Guide to the Tarot:
"[The Emperor occupies] the intellectual throne. Hereof is the lordship of thought rather than of the animal world." Fascinating! we'll come back to this.
The Emperor and the Pope: A considerable degree of the traits associated with this card seem to come from the historical conflict between royalty and the church as both grappled to increase their control over lands and people. Tarot Heritage sums it up nicely "In theory, the Pope and Emperor cooperated in extending God’s authority on Earth. In reality, the Emperor and Pope kept Italy in turmoil for centuries, playing tug-of-war over territory and feuding about who had ultimate authority over bishops and abbots. Cities, craft guilds and important families lined up on one side or the other." But this historical truth need not represent, nor be representative of, an archetype and does not easily fit with the major arcana cards discussed this far.
Jungian Archetypes: Jung's father archetype is "Authority figure; stern; powerful" (Cherry, 2020). Jung's theories rest heavily on the idea of opposites:
The most primordial function of the father archetype is to promote discrimination of opposites and consequently differentiation of various unconscious contents. Jung says: “There is no consciousness without discrimination of opposites”. This function is carried through paternal principle, the Logos, which “eternally struggles to extricate itself from the primal warmth and primal darkness of the maternal womb; in a word, from unconsciousness” (Solc, 2013)
But such a position is outdated. The world has (mostly*) moved on from the theory of opposites. Up/down, left/right, hot/cold are simply positions relative to an observer of some arbitrarily fixed point. Male/female are simply points on a spectrum and energies are a scale which exists without opposites. For example, there may be more or less light, it may be brighter or darker, but 'dark' is not the opposite of 'light'. There may be a situation where there is a total absence of light (a sealed room with no light source and no reflection) but this is not an opposite. Similarly, the notion of masculine/feminine energy as opposites is misleading; there is simply energy that exists somewhere along a scale. Even polarities are not opposites, they are a degree of charge something has; another scale. Mommy Mystic (2010) has a nice blog 0n Polarity vs Spectrum:
light and dark are not opposites, they are different expressions of the same source energy. That means in us, in our own awareness. We are so conditioned to judge everything as ‘good’ and ‘bad’, most of all ourselves, and every part of ourselves. And unfortunately, every spiritual idea from morality to the law of attraction gets trapped in this tendency. All too often we just end up judging every thought, emotion, intention and action we have or perform as positive or negative, worthy or unworthy, spiritual or not spiritual. It’s exhausting, isn’t it? And beyond a certain point doesn’t really get us anywhere.
Assumptions regarding opposites and divisions are ingrained in all of us. But it has no part to play in our archetype Emperor. The patriarchal male as some form of opposite to The Empress is not a place to start (or end for that matter).
What's an Archetype got to do, got to do with it? It is important to note that archetypes are, first and foremost, neutral. Archetypes may help us understand our personal strengths and weaknesses (relative to our personal beliefs). However, they have nothing to do with right/wrong, good/bad etc. As discussed above, such opposites are relics of an outdated method for artificially dividing the world into us and them.
But an archetype is useful as "a means of discussing strengths, weaknesses and individual personality attributes, and encourages us to take an impersonal look at how we behave toward ourselves and in relationship with others." - (Dunnewold, 2021)
No negative, patriarchal, overly masculine depiction of The Emperor is going to suffice and it certainly would not be a valid archetype. We would simply be describing a not very nice person (and I guess that is why a lot of people have trouble with this card).
Rebuilding The Emperor: I'm drawn back to Waite's comment:
[The Emperor occupies] the intellectual throne. Hereof is the lordship of thought rather than of the animal world.
This resembles something said by Plato:
The ruling class is linked to reason and lives to gain wisdom.
The philosopher kings will prefer seeking truth to ruling, but a law will compel them to rule.
The link here is reason and our ability to override our instinctive/emotive reactions by the will of reason alone. This, again, is on a spectrum. Many animals have this ability, some impaired humans may not, and normal rational beings have it to a varied extent. Plato and Waite refer to those that excel in this ability.
Keywords: REASON...
Once we begin to see The Emperor through the lens of reason many of the keywords can be regained. Though, they take on a different meaning:
Control - The Emperor is in control of emotions, intuitions, instincts by means of reason.
Authoritative - The Emperor can articulate reasoned and convincing argument for action.
Powerful- The Emperor has knowledge and understanding (a product of reason). With knowledge and understanding of the world comes personal power (not power over).
The number 4: Represents practical reason within the 4 dimensions (3 spatial dimensions plus Time). With this comes stability and the ability to understand the world.
III Socrates (470-399BC)
Plato's teacher, Socrates, is the embodiment of 'acting from reason'. His mission in life was seeking wisdom and leading others to knowledge, truth, and wisdom.
I am wiser than this man; it is likely that neither of us knows anything worthwhile, but he thinks he knows something when he does not.
I know that I know nothing - (Socrates, Apology)
To know that you know nothing is the wisdom that the tiny amount of knowledge we can possess is but an infinitesimal slither when compared to the entirety of knowledge (all that is knowable), and recognising this is wisdom. This wisdom greatly outweighs the supposed knowledge of those who are absolute and adamant that 'they know'.
Socrates was a midwife to knowledge. He developed the dialectic method not to teach, not to criticise, but to draw out the truth through co-operative (if sometimes combative) dialogue. To seek the truth by challenging beliefs, looking for inconsistencies or contradictions in order to form a better view of the world.
The Socratic method is a method of hypothesis elimination, in that better hypotheses are found by steadily identifying and eliminating those that lead to contradictions. The Socratic method searches for general, commonly held truths that shape beliefs and scrutinizes them to determine their consistency with other beliefs. The basic form is a series of questions formulated as tests of logic and fact intended to help a person or group discover their beliefs about some topic, exploring definitions or logoi (singular logos) and seeking to characterize general characteristics shared by various particular instances. (Ear Project)
Knowledge, Truth and Virtue were closely interwoven for Socrates such that a central thesis of his debates was "We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live." (Socrates - Republic) What better leader (Emperor) than one for whom the central focus was virtue and the ideal of a good life?
[...] that virtue is a form of knowledge (Meno 87e-89a; cf. Euthydemus 278d-282a). Things like beauty, strength, and health benefit human beings, but can also harm them if they are not accompanied by knowledge or wisdom. If virtue is to be beneficial it must be knowledge, since all the qualities of the soul are in themselves neither beneficial nor harmful, but are only beneficial when accompanied by wisdom and harmful when accompanied by folly. (Ambury, N.D., IEP)
As Ambury notes, virtues of the soul (Our Archetypes) are neutral. It is only when ruled by wisdom (reason) they can be said to be beneficial (yet again another scale measured against the ideal of a good life). Socrates so strongly believed in acting from virtue (wisdom) that he would not sway from his ideals even when not doing so meant his death.
A world in which we must surrender our ideals and violate our deeply held beliefs is a world in which a good life is not possible. For Socrates, to forsake his ideals would not have been a life worth living. So, rather than concede during his trial he held those that would judge him accountable claiming that, rather than penalise, the court should reward him. After being sentenced to death he chastised those who voted for the penalty:
[...] that instead of waiting a short time for him to die from old age, they will now have to accept the harsh criticisms from his supporters. He prophesied that his death will cause the youngsters to come forward and replace him as a social gadfly, spurring ethical conduct from the citizens of Athens, in a manner more vexing than him
How wonderful to so believe in your ideals and your leadership through knowledge, that you have faith your teaching will carry on after your death. In Socrates' case, they certainly did.
Our Socratic Emperor Archetype: Acts first and foremost from reason. The Emperor seeks wisdom and leads from wisdom. The Emperor maintains (self) control over instinctive/emotive impulses by way of reason alone.
The Emperor is beneficial:
when reason rules over instinct and emotion,
when the purpose for action is a Good Life.
when virtue through knowledge is held as an ultimate ideal.
when leading through reason & knowledge and letting others gain the realisation of the need for some specific boundary or rule (which they then have reason to self impose).
The Emperor (reversed) is detrimental:
when the assumption of knowledge is presupposed.
when the Emperor imposes control over others (regardless of any belief that it is for the good).
when the Emperor assumes power and sets artificial boundaries or rules (for whatever reason).
Patriarchy is the Emperor reversed.
Our Philosophers' Journey so far: Cards I - IV
(I) The Magician has the courage to doubt all that is doubtable then rebuilds a view of the world on solid foundations without bias or preconception.
(II) The High Priestess brings balance and openness to the world. She reinforces the need for freedom from artificial hierarchies and false dichotomies so that all should be empowered through knowledge.
(III) The Nurturing Empress celebrates, presupposes and maintains difference, and acts to nurture and protect all of creation, human, non-human, and elements of the non-human world.
Our new Archetype:
(IV) The Emperor brings wisdom to the world. The Emperor's reason adds balance to The Empress's emotion (caring) in the pursuit of a life worth living.
Thanks for reading,
Dr.T
Next up (V) The Hierophant; A matter of Faith?
References
Jung, C., G., “Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype,”
Waite, A.E.. "The Pictorial Guide to the Tarot"
Cherry, K., 2020, "The 4 Major Jungian Archetypes", https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-jungs-4-major-archetypes-2795439
Solc, V., 2013, "Father Archetype", https://therapyvlado.com/english/father-archetype/
Mommy Mystic (2010), "Polarity vs. Spectrum – Or – There Are No Opposites", https://mommymystic.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/polarity-vs-spectrum-or-there-are-no-opposites/
Dunnewold, J., 2021, "An Introduction to Archetypes as a Symbolic Language", https://www.janedunnewold.com/resources/archetypes
Plato (2000). The Trial and Death of Socrates. Translated by Grube, G. M. A. (Third ed.). Hackett Publishing Company. p. 25
Plato (1943) Plato's The Republic. New York :Books, Inc.,
Ear Project, http://ear-citizen.eu/2019/05/01/socrates/#:~:text=The%20Socratic%20method%2C%20also%20known,out%20ideas%20and%20underlying%20presuppositions.
Ambury, J., (N.D.), "Socrates (469—399 B.C.E.)" in IEP Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, https://iep.utm.edu/socrates/#SSH2ci
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