Stachild Tarot Study Group: 4. The Emperor

kp.

i must say, i LOVE the emperor being a lion. very cool.

this guy definitely speaks to me in james earl jones' voice, telling me all this will one day be mine. hahaha. as far as this imagery speaking to more traditional themes, i don't so much see the structure and control that comes to mind when i think of the emperor. i definitely see power though. and traditional roles. king of the jungle, that sort of thing. this lion is gonna get shit done! his empire is large and he rules it.

what do you all think about this take on the emperor??
 

Hayleyc26

I have to firstly say, I prefer the Starchild original imagery with the lion in front of a massive star bursting universe. How beautiful does this image look? The universe is mine to grasp, I just need to decide what parts I want, how I will structure it, and what parts will I control to create my own work of art!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

The Akashic Edition looks like a lioness to me, and this confuses me as I always very the emperor as a very controlled structured male. And the "pope" like lines on the lioness's body kinda stumps me; now I'm thinking its wearing a "hierophant" cloak??
I like the Egyptian pyramids behind, this to me does resemble the emperors messages, you can't get more structured, honored and controlled royals than the Egyptians!! I'm so confused by the rainbows, this takes me back to the Starchild tarot "empress card" - I guess I'm forced not to like this imagery by many things.

The Lion "King" in the Starchild tarot def rocks all the meanings! And I agree KP, the lion is a beautiful iconic way to resemble an emperor by using a lion!
 

alainaobrien

The Emperor - major arcana IV. Aesthetically, I really like this card. I like the desert, the dark sky, the moon. Thanks Hayley for pointing out that this is a female lion - I kind of love that. At first, I didn't get why she's female, but I love the idea of the lioness as the ruling Emperor!

The 78 Degrees of Wisdom book talks a lot about the traditional meaning of this card, which focuses partially on the stability and laws of a just society, and how the Emperor represents this.

This Akashic Lionness is definitely the leader of her pride. She rules justly, providing boundaries, structure, social stability - which allows for the rest of her pride to pursue personal passions and creative pursuits. She represents the stable societal traditions and beliefs that allow for personal pursuits. 78 Degrees of Wisdom says, "We must absorb these rules, as well as out society's traditions and beliefs, then go beyond to find a personal code of conduct." Basically, as Kristi said, "this lion[ess] is gonna get shit done."

Stability and strength of the Emperor allows us to take steps toward our goals. The Starchild book doesn't really talk about the social world, but instead focuses on inner strength and self motivation. We must have a well-organized mind in order to access our Higher Self and to manifest our goals.

While the Empress is a very healing and nurturing energy, while the Emperor means business. This lioness Emperor looks like she could manifest like a boss.
 

JadeVictoria

Utterly Stumped

So I've been trying to work with The Empress & The Emperor together since ... well that's obvious and after having had such a break through with The Empress I'm feeling even more stumped with this Emperor. I get nothing from him except, like Alaina said, the Pyramids, also the Ankh around the neck.

This looks like a lioness and then there is the Moon which is associated with femininity. So I'm picking up a distinctly feminine feel to this card instead of masculine which just really confuses the dickens out of me. I would think this would be a lion with the Sun behind him, then I could get some more feeling with him. The rainbows throw me for a bit as well.

I tired doing a little research thinking maybe there is an Egyptian Moon God and that is what is being referenced here but I could only find small obscure references to one called Yah or Lah but he seemed to be aligned with the symbol of a crescent moon specifically so I don't think that's it. But it got me thinking, what about the Egyptian Goddess Bast? She was sometimes shown as a lioness and usually with an Ankh as well PLUS she was the Goddess of the sun originally but in later times the Greeks associated her with the Moon!

Or maybe I'm reaching but it sure sounds good. I think I'm just going to be confused on this card for now.

Here's a sort little ditty on about Bast, I'd be interested in this groups thoughts on this idea.

http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/bast.html
 

Citrin

In one way I must say that to me it's a little bit confusing seeing The Emperor as a lion (or lioness) - only because this isn't a deck with a lot of focus on animals. So it feels a bit random to have one of the majors having this clear animal depiction. I guess my personal preference is also to have a deck either full of animals (like the Wild Unknown) or full of humans. I can't explain, just some kind of OCD in me lol :)

The Starchild Tarot has been "accused" of being too feminine and if I remember correctly Danielle was supposed to bring more men or at least masculine energy into the Akashic edition? So yes, turning the male lion into a lioness in the Akashic edition is interesting. ;) I personally love feminine decks, I prefer them, so for me it's no problem. But the question is rather, how does a lion/lioness have the qualities The Emperor represents traditionally? Don't ask me, I'm no lion expert! ;) But okay, I can see the onnection with lions being the "king" of the African animal world. In that way it makes a lot of sense to have a lion represent the king of the tarot, right?

JadeVictoria: Oh I love how you found that about Bast! Never heard of this goddess before, I think, but it sure makes sense to me. :)