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Description

(2015), graphite pencils on paper, 5.5"x10.5" backed with digital frame.

The Emperor is the archetype of the Father, the guiding male. Traditionally he is depicted as an older, bearded male in a stark landscape of mountains or in an elaborate room seated on a throne adorned with rams heads. He is crowned and holds a scepter.

In the Toth deck the Emperor is a massive and almost overbearing figure in fire-hues flanked by rams and surrounded by a double eagle and a lamb. His posture conforms to the alchemical symbol for sulfur, an element of fiery male energy. The card is permeated by strong lines and symmetries, reinforcing the power and rational control that are indicative of this major arcanum. The Emperor is all about taming chaos, establishing order, to govern what has been conquered and to cast emotions, instincts and drives into the boundaries of order and justice, to form sense out of chaos.

To take this card into the modern era and to set up a counterpart of the Empress I decided to use the Lincoln monument in Washington DC as my reference for the Emperor. This brings to bear not only contrasts between male and female, but also contrasts in race, in power and even in flesh versus marble.

The Empress cares about her own flesh and blood. The Emperor will sacrifice other mothers' children to defend a noble idea. She is in touch with her emotions and instincts and the natural world and keenly aware of the particulars of nourishing a single life. He is thinking in the abstract, in curbing the many to become a unified one (e pluribus unum), in establishing rules and being a nation-builder where the individual life becomes insignificant when it comes to the common good. He wields power and is remembered beyond his death, but is in danger of his ideology reducing him to stone. He is singular, a hero, remembered forever with all the other Emperors: Alexander, Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon - those single men who felt the need to make the earth subject to their ambition and whose empires eventually failed.

I liked the fact that the seat Lincoln sits in has two fasces supporting his hands. The fasces were carried by the lictores who accompanied Roman officials as guards of honor. They were bundles of reeds secured by bindings and used to beat transgressors for punishment. Mussolini revived this tradition earning his movement the denomination of fascism which then rubbed off on Hitler and Franco. As the dark doorway behind the Empress points to her dark side, the fasces point to the dark side of the Emperor - tyranny that will sacrifice anyone who offends the ruler by daring to be different.

The Empress is obscure, just a woman in the crowd, but she is alive and will live on through her children. When Emperor and Empress work together humanity can thrive, because there is civilization, rationality, science and rules, but there is also nature, instinct, mercy and love. Both Emperor and Empress have a harsh and dark side, but both also have attributes that we need to survive.
In a spread the Emperor indicates the rule of mind over matter, law and order over chaos and wilfulness. In a position that signifies you as the querent it means you show ambition, have authority and can manage your affairs effectively. There may be a tendency to be over-controlling and wanting everything your way without making any compromises, which can mean you are insensitive to the needs of others. You are making decisions based on facts, not feelings. Self-discipline and drive will help you achieve your goals. You are willing to take responsibility and even lead others.

If the card signifies someone else it may mean that we are encountering a father-figure. This may be a positive experience where we can entrust ourselves to the guidance of a strong leader who has our best interest at heart, or it can mean that we are encountering a tyrant who lets us know in no uncertain terms that it's "my way or the high way" and we have to deal with the fact that he does not care if we become collateral if we stand in his path.

Description

(2015), graphite pencils on paper, 5.5"x10.5" backed with digital frame.

The Emperor is the archetype of the Father, the guiding male. Traditionally he is depicted as an older, bearded male in a stark landscape of mountains or in an elaborate room seated on a throne adorned with rams heads. He is crowned and holds a scepter.

In the Toth deck the Emperor is a massive and almost overbearing figure in fire-hues flanked by rams and surrounded by a double eagle and a lamb. His posture conforms to the alchemical symbol for sulfur, an element of fiery male energy. The card is permeated by strong lines and symmetries, reinforcing the power and rational control that are indicative of this major arcanum. The Emperor is all about taming chaos, establishing order, to govern what has been conquered and to cast emotions, instincts and drives into the boundaries of order and justice, to form sense out of chaos.

To take this card into the modern era and to set up a counterpart of the Empress I decided to use the Lincoln monument in Washington DC as my reference for the Emperor. This brings to bear not only contrasts between male and female, but also contrasts in race, in power and even in flesh versus marble.

The Empress cares about her own flesh and blood. The Emperor will sacrifice other mothers' children to defend a noble idea. She is in touch with her emotions and instincts and the natural world and keenly aware of the particulars of nourishing a single life. He is thinking in the abstract, in curbing the many to become a unified one (e pluribus unum), in establishing rules and being a nation-builder where the individual life becomes insignificant when it comes to the common good. He wields power and is remembered beyond his death, but is in danger of his ideology reducing him to stone. He is singular, a hero, remembered forever with all the other Emperors: Alexander, Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon - those single men who felt the need to make the earth subject to their ambition and whose empires eventually failed.

I liked the fact that the seat Lincoln sits in has two fasces supporting his hands. The fasces were carried by the lictores who accompanied Roman officials as guards of honor. They were bundles of reeds secured by bindings and used to beat transgressors for punishment. Mussolini revived this tradition earning his movement the denomination of fascism which then rubbed off on Hitler and Franco. As the dark doorway behind the Empress points to her dark side, the fasces point to the dark side of the Emperor - tyranny that will sacrifice anyone who offends the ruler by daring to be different.

The Empress is obscure, just a woman in the crowd, but she is alive and will live on through her children. When Emperor and Empress work together humanity can thrive, because there is civilization, rationality, science and rules, but there is also nature, instinct, mercy and love. Both Emperor and Empress have a harsh and dark side, but both also have attributes that we need to survive.
In a spread the Emperor indicates the rule of mind over matter, law and order over chaos and wilfulness. In a position that signifies you as the querent it means you show ambition, have authority and can manage your affairs effectively. There may be a tendency to be over-controlling and wanting everything your way without making any compromises, which can mean you are insensitive to the needs of others. You are making decisions based on facts, not feelings. Self-discipline and drive will help you achieve your goals. You are willing to take responsibility and even lead others.

If the card signifies someone else it may mean that we are encountering a father-figure. This may be a positive experience where we can entrust ourselves to the guidance of a strong leader who has our best interest at heart, or it can mean that we are encountering a tyrant who lets us know in no uncertain terms that it's "my way or the high way" and we have to deal with the fact that he does not care if we become collateral if we stand in his path.