Saturday, March 8, 2014

The Emperor - Earthly Father



The Emperor, the fourth card in the Major Arcana is associated with Aries the ram, and represents the earthly father. His is the compliment to the Empress and is the personification of temporal power suggested the accumulation of material wealth. Although he is disciplined and visionary he keeps his emotion in check. A desire for independence can be indicated as well leadership, dominance, authority, governance and control. There is knowledge through experience and power is exercised for good. He is Zeus and King of the Gods. In Greek Mythology he is called All-Father. Zeus was the father of Athene (goddess of justice).

The father embodies our spiritual values and ideals, determining our ability to be self-sufficient. Domination by the inner father can be a tyrannical force and so we cannot allow ourselves and our beliefs to be crushed by inflexibility and rigid control that interferes with our life and personal growth. At some point we need to find our own inner authority that we believe in, balanced with self-respect and humility, to meet the challenges in life regardless if we have a temporal father present or not.

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