The Emperor

Today’s card is the fourth card in the major arcana, The Emperor.  Waite gives us these meanings for this card:  Stability, power, protection, realisation; a great person; aid, reason, conviction; also authority and will.  Reversed – benevolence, compassion, credit; also confusion to enemies, obstruction, immaturity.

I would pretty much go along with Waite’s summation of the card.  It is a pretty austere looking card.  There is no water, hence the lack of emotion, and is totally barren in the background, in sheer contrast to the The Empress.  It is, as Waite describes, a card of authority and could describe a workplace, the law, or even the father (which a lot of readers believe), but above all, it is just a card of authority.