The Emperor is an Arcana in the Persona series. It is the fourth numbered card in the Major Arcana, numbered IV4, following the Empress and preceding the Hierophant.
A Tarot de Marseille Emperor cardA Rider-Waite-Smith Emperor card
In tarot, the Emperor is the fourth of the 21 trump cards, which are called "Major Arcana" in esoteric usage. The imagery originates from Italian tarocchi decks. The Emperor card typically features a seated man wearing a crown and holding a scepter and sometimes an orb, traditional symbols of authority. The Holy Roman Emperor was a major political figure in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, and most historical Emperor cards feature an eagle coat of arms like the arms of the Holy Roman Emperor, though the colors do not always match.
The Rider-Waite-Smith deck removes the coat of arms and instead features two ram's heads on the armrests of the throne. His scepter is changed to the shape of a crux ansata (ankh).[1]
Arthur Edward Waite lists the following divinatory meanings in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot: "Stability, power, protection, realization; a great person; aid, reason, conviction; also authority and will. Reversed: Benevolence, compassion, credit; also confusion to enemies, obstruction, immaturity."[2]
↑The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1922), Arthur Edward Waite. Published by William Rider & Son Limited. (2nd ed.) pp. 84-87.
↑"The Greater Arcana and Their Divinatory Meanings", The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1922), Arthur Edward Waite. Published by William Rider & Son Limited. (2nd ed.) pp. 283-284.
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