cSpaceDiva
Marie White describes this on p. 164 of the companion book, referring to the Queen of Swords:She wrote somewhere about green eyes representing something-or-other
In another example, the Knight of Cups has what she calls, "the emerald eye of God" in the center of his chest."The reason emerald green was used in the eye and in many things throughout this deck is because it is the center of the visible spectrum....Green is the very center of our beautiful colorful reality - the center of the rainbow, the emerald throne of God."
Marie talks about the naming of the deck and The Emperor card in an interview here. Most of what follows comes from that interview. She talks about her desire to create a more balanced male/female tarot as the impetus behind the Mary-el. Mary, being a form of Marie, represents herself and the feminine aspect. El, which is an ancient name for God, means "of God" when used as a suffix. It forms the ending for angels' and other common names such as Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, Daniel. Mary-el is the feminine and the masculine, the earthly and the divine.
She does mention that The Emperor was the first card she painted and that in these earlier cards the symbolism was more subconscious and naively done. I'm not sure if the squiggle on the finger had any meaning to her at the time she painted it, but that says nothing about what it might mean to the reader. Of course, the same could be said about any of the elements of the card. She wanted to depict an Emperor who was strong but not oppressive, the reason for the slight smile. The dragonfly, in addition to being red for the element of fire, represents transformation.
What a cool observation! The lightning could even be long hair flowing down, a feminine face. The 'Mary' to The Emperor's '-el'. This balance has the potential to make him a more sympathetic ruler, considerate of the viewpoints of all his subjects, but still maintaining order and discipline.On the far right of the card, the clouds and birds seem to make another face, a ghostly mirror image.