Читать книгу The Spirit of the Tarot - Claudine Aegerter - Страница 21

The Emperor sits on a yellow cube on which we see the emblem of a black eagle; black symbolises the first stage of the alchemic work. Both he and the eagle are looking to the west, the place of death. In his right hand he holds a baton, in his left hand a green orb with a cross on top. The thick plait around his neck represents the three paths of the initiate going back to the beginning of time, woven together to hold the higher vision for the future of the world. The apron from his helmet covers the nape of his neck, so protecting him from any external influences, for he must be an impartial judge. He orders and uplifts us, preparing us for the next stage when the mass consciousness of the world is raised into the sacred. The Emperor is in all of us, for 4 is the number of the human kingdom.

The first three cards gave us the three aspects of the divinity as they organise their qualities to project the idea of the creative Logos:

1. In The Magician (the mind of the initiate) we see the birth of con cept. The Magician is the instrument that can direct the new energy through his baton, so that the next part of the journey unfolds.

2. The timeless fecund egg of all wisdom is the great cosmic Mother, The High Priestess. The lower mind cannot access these refined vibrations unless it has given up all the illusionary ideas about its own importance. At this stage transparency is required.

3. The Empress gives us the clearly received vision of the plan or blue-print. She is ready to give of her etheric fabric to inform the next level of precipitation. This happens from the light of the concept reflected in her pure intellect.

These first three cards embody the three great rays of aspect: will, Love/Wisdom and Active Intelligence, as named by the Ancient Wisdom. They are the symbols of the Trinity or the 3 in 1. At this point they are in place; it is out of the third aspect of Active Intel ligence that the whole of creation can proceed.

The Emperor, the Number 4, is the 1 born out of the 3; this is the transitional leap in the journey enabling the original intent to be further crystallised. In the journey from Spirit to matter, everything is a differentiation in vibration of the eternally moving mind/Spirit of the universe, within the mother of all possibilities – space. This is the movement that is seen in everything, from the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-pervading essence of the universe to the dim awareness of our tiny lives on this dark little planet, then eventually to even deeper levels of the amnesia of basic organic life.

Spirit is the quality of life that carries universal truth; light is the truth we are able to see as ‘the light of the end of the tunnel’, or when we say “Let there be light”. The initiate is learning to respond to these emanations of the great Source of life and he aspires to align with them, gaining intuitive knowledge in the process. As the life of the greater truth comes in, The Empress, or the purified intellect, is the instrument which provides the reflection for the incoming light.

The Emperor is the quality of mind which can focus intensively on the blueprint, as he has to faithfully precipitate a viable structure for the vision he has perceived. He knows that it is the mind that captures the light and the vision, he has to release it to set in motion the fiery whirling lives of Spirit, so that they can attract and gather the right quality of matter for the manifestation of the next phase of the plan.

We all create our tomorrow with our thoughts; today is only what we projected yesterday. If we can internalise today’s experience and learn to depersonalise it, we are on our way back to our source, doing our true job of witnessing from the perspective of Soul. This is how the spiritual journey of the unit in nature, which we call the human being, starts finding its place in the scheme of things and this is relevant to Number 4. So here the Number 4 (the one that is born out of the 3 of Active Intelligence) will, through sheer endur ance, bring the chaos of the aeons of experience that is in the crea tive experiment, into the cohesive, harmonious and symbiotic life of our Solar System; thus it corresponds to the idea of the fourth ray, harmony through conflict. In this way the 4 can reflect the perfect dance of the cosmos, so that in time a new phase of self-awareness in nature can prevail. The initiate has to become The Emperor in his world.

At this stage, mental focus has to be held. The mind has to work outside the emotions, needs and wants. If it does not it would eas ily be diverted by the monstrous shadow rising out of the depth of matter, as the lighted mind reveals the many survival tricks of nature’s darkest past. The Emperor has to bring the light, will, force and power into matter so that matter can be organised out of chaos and acquire the possibility of seeing its own spirituality. The Emperor has to achieve all of that without using any kind of weapons.

If we understand that the law of 3 is the blue-print for divine creation, then we can look at the procession of the cards, 1 to 22 as they are organised by this law.

(Note in this table that we are using the following convention; in numerology we reduce a double digit number into one, by adding its digits together.)

If we look at the first descending column, starting with the 1, 4, 7 and continuing with 10/1, 13/4, 16/7, 19/1 and 20/2, this shows the procession of 1, 4, 7, 1, 4, 7, 1, 4. Here we go from the vision that becomes viable, to its perfect manifestation which is a mirror back to the vision. The 4, born out of the 3 and the 7, is the result of the 1 fusing into the 6.

Equally the middle column 2, 5, 8, 11/2, 14/5, 17/8 and 22, shows the procession of 2, 5, 8, 2, 5, 8, 2, which speaks of the journey from the divine wisdom to the scientific inquisitive mind of man, then back to its karmic work of fusing higher intelligence and wisdom.

Finally the right hand column gives us 3, 6, 9, 12/3, 15/6, 18/9 and 21/3, which is 3, 6, 9, 3, 6, 9, and 3. This represents Active Intel ligence perfecting the finished vehicle of the Holy Grail (which is represented by the 6), so that it can mirror itself back to its Source.

When we add up the lines horizontally, they all come to 6; the perfect number. It represents the perfect beauty of the ultimate mes sage for creation, the six days of the scriptures.

The initiate’s transition from the 3 to the 4 is encapsulated in the symbol of the energy of the 34/7, which can be described as sys tematic, organised, spiritual growth; this describes faithfully this movement in time. The steady mind of The Emperor knows this transformation will take time; he has the strong balance of care and tough love, necessary to meet the responsibility of the task.

The Emperor’s main quality is misericord. He has known the deepest despair and found mankind’s condition wretched until, with his mind, he has transmuted the despair into wisdom, through the acceptance and understanding of our place in the universe. With this quality he takes on the burden of our pain as he pushes us towards crucifixion, for he knows that we cannot be free of our miserable ignorance if we do not pass through to the next level of initiation. He can only do this work with love; otherwise he would be a dogmatic tyrant.

This quality of mind (misericord) is the result of being completely at one with the misery of mankind, for when we have done it all, seen it all and risen above it, then, on our descent, we understand every single atom in humanity’s body that is going through mis ery. This work is beyond dogma, it is the karmic will implemented. We will not feel the love aspect until we find a harmonious blend of understanding and acceptance. The righteousness and sever ity of The Emperor are the obvious qualities of the 4, but when we perceive it as true service and love; we can apply misericord to the way we look at people and situations, rendering life so much more generous.

The Emperor’s visionary mind has to crystallise into matter the quality of mind which is self-aware in the 5. He knows that he has to have the clarity of reflecting the Trinity into the future; this has to happen in matter. He is not matter, but represents that phase in our life when we have had an idea, we have seen some light, we have come home to our true self at some level and then we have to imple ment it. From the 4 to the 5, which can be seen as a 45, we have mis ericord or the deepest wisdom coming out of the deepest despair. The Emperor has to reflect and implement harmony out of conflict. Mankind has to have dominion over his own nature.

The Emperor’s most important tool is intuition. He has to receive the concept from the 3 (Active Intelligence) and with as little compro mise as possible, bring the vision into the building bricks of matter. He wears a helmet on his head to protect this quality of intuition, for he might fall into the heavy mindsets of the past and go back into self-interest.

We are in a thick soup of self-survival and self-interest; we have to be aware of that all the time. We can kid ourselves that we have let go of most of our own protective behaviour, but when we really have let it go we don’t know that we have! It is when we are no longer concerned about what others think of us physically, emotionally or spiritually that we can follow the greater will and have no interest in what the world is thinking about us.

The Emperor has the world on his shoulders. The 4, 5 and 6 rep resent man or humanity. Looking at it esoterically mankind comes first in order, so the primal idea is mankind. Maintaining dominion is what is being looked for in the story of the evolution through the different kingdoms. Humanity was already conceived in the mind of God in the original space, but it was the way to bring it into being which wasn’t truly fathomed. The physical shape that humanity would take was immaterial; the important thing was that it should be the best possible instrument to serve the great life. The world of nature is not a principle, it is the fleeting moment of sensation and a step towards the gem of mankind; this is the Number 5 in the mid dle that can use all the senses, including the higher ones, to perceive what is. Humanity is the one that has to keep on discriminating and going through fire by using the power of truth and honesty, so as to eventually become useful as a witness.

When you read the Ancient Wisdom, there is always the idea that man came first, which is the opposite of what biology tells us. This is because the idea or the initial concept was of a creature that could become completely aware, so that God could see himself. The animals are experimental steps on the way to man. We have the ani mal instincts, but because of the addiction to sensation we have mis used these pure instincts, so until we have restored and mastered the right use of the instincts, we have to watch ourselves.

The difficulty for the 4 comes from the fact that all the tiniest details of manifestation have to be recorded, yet it must not be taken in by the picture, or outer appearance. When the 4 finds its uplift in the 13/4 it sees the complete vision, then in the steady opening of the channel of the 22/4, we have the perfect vibration for all the esoteric schools to be used as channels for intuition.

Many people often misuse their intellect and so we see that they have no idea of boundaries, politeness, or how to help and serve; these are the qualities of the right use of the intellect. They are not aware of their immediate environment, or their historic or scientific background. If we haven’t got the boundaries of the intellect that provide a structure, we only think of our immediate self-gratification rather than the bigger picture of our destiny. Because of this we make mistakes and don’t take responsibility for them. This leads to hav ing no boundaries and not wanting to grow up, and then eventually we will learn through our own mistakes to square again and become our own Emperors. The people who have adhered to those bounda ries are applying the laws of The Emperor.

The Emperor holds the karmic law. He comes after The Empress, who represents supreme intelligence, universal consciousness and is the Mother of all. She offers us all the possibilities of a virtual world. In the journey of the 1 to 3, everything is seen and is possible, so there is expansion. A 3 that doesn’t expand is a 3 that uses a shal low intellectual energy and so eventually goes into self-destruction, for we cannot regenerate ourselves if we stay at the surface. The 4 has to be out on the surface to bring the idea into manifestation, yet at the same time has to hold the depths of the inner expansion of the 1 to 3. This can cause conflict if they only stay on the surface and concretise their position there, where everything looks like gold. Power doesn’t last very long if it hasn’t got its base in the purity of the inner world of the imagination and intuition. In any civilisation, if power is not fed from a very deep source, then it has no chance of changing or rearranging the world for the future, which is what the 4 has to do. The 4 is a true inner way, yet it uses everything in mat ter that is used by the world except magic, because magic is not the permanent true way of uplifting the elemental world.

Once the Soul is aligned with the personality, there are only three ways to manifest; this is why The Emperor has a plait with three strands around his neck. This plait represents the long chain of initiates who have come before us to give help in three different ways. It is a beautiful canvas; it is the veil of Mary, or the Holy Ghost.

The Emperor is not the creator; he is the one who brings in the force and the influence for the creative process to happen. He is not matter, but he is the actualisation of the idea and because the idea is very pure and white he has to be sensitive to the movement of the energy, so as to know what is needed according to the will of God. He has come into the world of facts and deeds so he must be con crete and impose the structure, which is the energetic life of the God in which we live and the karmic principle, pushing the ‘will to be’ of the 1 into manifestation.

The Emperor has to be completely pure and centred on the job of adapting the idea to the level of the possibilities of manifestation, according to where the world is at the time. His eyes are looking far away, for he has to keep his eyes on that web or plan, from which he is reading all the virtual possibilities for the world. The male ele ment in the Tarot always represents the active principle within us, which is recognised as truly doing the will of God for tomorrow. We are told we have to live in the present or the now and that the past is the past, but he doesn’t live in the ‘now’, for he has understood the transitory quality of it, seeing that it is nature and only a step. He has the vision of where we are going; so he has to feed drops of that vision into the reorganisation of matter and then eventually the whole of matter is ready to see the vision for itself. This is a job and a half! The plan is the original past, so we must retrace our spatial past journey to fuse with the blueprint of our future.

He hasn’t come to make the idea practical, but has come to mould the world according to its flexibility and adaptability. Adapt ability is not an obvious attribute of the 4, but if the form only thinks of itself as practical and righteous, the point of creative genius is missed. What allows him to do the job is the fact that he can first adapt the idea to what the world needs at the time, so as to adapt the world to the new idea. For example, when we look at a person and we see what the potential of that person might be, our task would be to adapt the thought-form and the feeling of that person into the next step, so that eventually they arrive there. We can call that prac tical common sense, but that is not really what we are talking about here, rather we are saying, “Have you got the strength of charac ter?” “Have you got the will?” and, “Have you got the intelligence to survive?” All the time it is an inner thing.

The Emperor has to mirror and apply the learning of the realm that is above him, then translate it so that the world can make sense of it and use it; this is why he has to look far ahead. If we look far ahead we don’t look for immediate results, but we know it is going to happen one day. So we keep looking ahead, applying whatever our adaptable mind can provide according to what we can perceive from the messages on the web. He has come back to help every body follow their own destiny; for he is the one that has the eye on the higher destiny of the plan. There lies the difficulty, because we all have free will. Many times we think we have made a choice and we make ourselves believe that we are on the path, but in real ity we have turned our backs on the path. That applies to all of us. Following the path is a natural state, like grace and humility. When we think we have to make a choice, we are automatically outside the path. If we know exactly where our beam of light resides and we want to merge with it there is no choice, so we don’t have to make one.

This little world is under the illusion of making a choice every day, but in reality it is grounded in anarchy and dissolution. The world has a tendency towards destruction, because all the little units want as easy a time as they can get and they do not want to accept responsibility for the damage they do. So The Emperor has to act with the force of persuasion and not the heavy “You must do it!” He must act, for how long would it take society to wake up if we didn’t have all those lovely emperors? How long would it take humanity to come out of chaos and the swamp?

Because he has dominion in a world where so many people are still so far from the light he has to use force, which looks as if it is against them but is actually for them. He is very misunderstood, like a parent who smacks a child to prevent him from burning himself, after telling him to be careful because it is dangerous. It feels like it is ‘against’ the child but it is actually for his benefit. There is a fine line in this, so be careful!

When everything has been said and done (which from the begin ning of time it has), we know that the one who is resisting the most and taking the longest to come round, is going to be the best Emperor. The Emperor would certainly throw out the one who is always saying, “Yes sir, no sir, I will do it sir”, because that one is afraid of getting hurt. The question is always; “Has he got the will and the strength to go and be an Emperor?”

The level of consciousness of humanity, the karma of the life of the planet and of the Solar System, determines the exact manifes tation of the expression of the God we live in at the time. We live in a huge energetic bubble which is all energy and movement. The development of the perception of God has occurred as human beings have become aware of their own environment. At first there were the four elemental gods of fire, water, earth and air, who were feared because they could punish and kill us. If we were good they would feed us, give us a good harvest, keep us warm and cook our food. We are made of these great elemental gods, but once we cease to pay homage to them we can have some kind of dominion over our own elementals. If we are not driven by our fires, or completely drowned in our waters; if we are not weighed down by the heaviness of our earth; if we are not completely flying and day-dreaming with our air element; if all four follow the will which is within us so that they harmoniously form the next materialisation of the idea in our heads, then we have good dominion over our elementals. This then means that the gods of old are not the gods that we are going to pray to. The way that the elementals worked and were understood was mainly through fear, so when the Spirit of truth descended into biology and mankind, it was quite a dramatic realisation to see that everything we think, do and care about has to do with survival. There were high initiates now and then, but most of the priests would have understood it according to the teaching they were given, which was to do with the elemental gods. The scriptures tell us that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, but the other way to look at it is not to fear, but to respect; if we respect our elementals then they can work for us. If we fear them, they automatically play the game. The Emperor has complete respect for the planet, therefore for all the elementals in mankind; it is that respect which will bring in ‘thy will be done’. It is that force in the will of God to implement the plan that a person will completely respond to, rather than fear.

When mankind realised there was something much stronger than him, which was nature, then nature was definitely his God. The first attribute of that God was fear, for it was the power of nature which man feared. Man had to bow his head and respect that great God, who could eat him alive. As we grew and started to internalise, we had to completely revise all our understanding, for fear has to get out of the way. It is not about losing fear; for fear is the name we gave to the apprehension of the energy that tells us that our spiritual guidance wants us to move a bit deeper into matter. The first step is to be aware of something much bigger and greater than us, which can take our life in an instant; that teaches us to respect the elemen-tals. Eventually, as our experience takes us more and more into the world of energy and matter we realise that our own life is eternal, for we have been here before. Even if the coat or body we have been occupying dies, it doesn’t mean that the experience will die with it, so we end up believing in a much more metaphysical God. Mankind has the need to join and fuse with that greater metaphysical God, through faith, love and a complete giving over of his own life. It is the same in religion; at first it used the fear of God, so we had to obey, suffer and offer sacrifices to the gods without understanding the whole picture. It is the same with our children, we don’t explain to a two year old that it is dangerous to cross the road for they won’t understand; we just have to forbid them to cross the road without us. The child won’t understand and it is the same with a lot of peo ple, who believe in God and who haven’t understood the internali-sation process. Internalisation gives us the knowledge that the God we love is the higher vision that we want to reach within ourselves.

The majority of people still love a God they are afraid of. They fear God’s judgement of their ‘naughtiness’. In time we seek com fort and peace, to soothe the burden, so we follow a religion which offers a more promising Heaven. Religion is an alignment to a school of thought: it is not a need, it is a necessity. A necessity is a law of nature, there to give structure for mass consciousness to face the unavoidable truth about its condition. The way religion is given out or preached will comfort the weak and help the strong to find themselves.

The Emperor meditates all the time, but is also active. He is not going to ask us to go to a workshop to try to sort out whether we are truthful or not, for if we are not truthful he is going to trip us up. We all have a little bit of that old fear of God in us.

Look at our life and how it is; would any of the women among us be OK going out without makeup? What we believe people think of the way we look is the first stage of fear. The next stage is what they think of us as friends, lovers, mothers, brothers and colleagues. All of us are watching out for these things, so it is normal for the God of fear to be still quite present among us. It keeps us behaving the way society wants us to behave and it is not a bad thing, as it helps us to learn to control our natural urges; this is the beginning of controlling our physical elementals. The fear of The Emperor is a good thing because it makes us toe the line. The Emperor is mould ing society and our minds to the way we have to go, for we have to respect other people and society, until it becomes natural to do so. We are self-centred to begin with and then eventually our inner higher self emerges.

The Emperor is looking towards the west and that symbolises death, materiality and Spirit having to go into matter. It is the death of Spirit as it goes into the dark until it can perceive itself as matter. He has to help every single little unit go towards its death, with the aim of letting go of fear, guilt and anything else personal, so that it can go forward and recognise itself as Spirit.

In Number 3, The Empress is not a feminine principle of genera tion, though we still call her the mother of all, because from her we are going to see the little ones grow up. The Emperor has the author ity of the father so he requires obedience. If the children are going to be loved, forgiven and blessed by The Pope of the Tarot, they first have to show obedience. We are all going to get lost on the way and do all kinds of wayward things; The Emperor will keep presenting us with problems, so that we learn to keep to the straight and nar row path.

He is the principle of the authority of the word of God incarnate and it is that authority that will lead us to spiritualisation in the 5. We do not have authority over anything or anyone, unless we do it for them and not for ourselves. The problem with authority is that we tend to think that we are the boss who is going to be listened to, but we should know that authority is not exercised for the one who holds it, but for those who are subjected to it. The true shepherd doesn’t keep his sheep safe for himself; he does it for the sake of the sheep. We need to be completely true, connected and selfless, then when we find the quality of The Emperor in us we have to trust it completely.

Whatever relationship we might have, if we are exercising some thing for self, that relationship is bound to go to destruction, unless we are talking about a higher God. If we seek the love of God for ourselves, we will eventually have to go through trials and tribula tions until we no longer believe in that God anymore; this is the tragedy for many religious people, or people ‘on the path’. If we really understand that we are only a piece of the jig-saw and an instrument and that the God we live in doesn’t care whether we are doing well or not, then we stop expecting something from God. The quicker everybody understands that, the more work can be done on behalf of that energetic being. It is cold and simple, not lovey-dovey. Human love is a most beautiful flower, but it is still an emotion; the love we are talking about when we are talking about the love of God, is truly not an emotion. We give our lives many times on behalf of the love we feel as a human being, until we recognise the reality that what we have called love is based on a need for recognition and protection, so we had better take ourselves out of the drama! The play can go on without us, we are needed somewhere else.

Human love is truly a sublimation of all the other needs, wants and emotions; it is the opposite of logic and reason. If we truly love a God or a person enough to go beyond ourselves, we are sublimating our emotional body, which is the most beautiful thing. The love of God is truly transpersonal, it has nothing to do with human life; it is about having even given up love for ourselves. The Emperor doesn’t love us in a lovey-dovey way, he doesn’t care about us personally, but what he does care about is that the plan should be re-enacted into humanity.

The Emperor is completely fixed on the intent and the becoming. He regulates the present, but the present has absolutely no value in itself. The majority of people live strongly in the present, which is the world of nature, survival and the senses. We’re all completely taken in by the form and sensation of what we have been looking at. We can never repeat a sensual experience even if absolutely everything is as it was when we had that experience, because it is transitory. It might be exactly the same time of day, the same col ours, the same people, but we are different. What that teaches us is that sensation is illusory and if we hold onto it and go back for more, we find out where we are and how detached we are from sensation. Are we taken in by sensations? Do we want more of them? Do we keep on going for the same thing? Sensation does feed the mind, so it is very important as a learning process and we repeat the experi ence in order to learn the lesson. However, that can be a nice excuse to keep on doing that same experience forever and it can become addictive, especially when we have understood that the first one can never be repeated. If we have done the experience once and we go “Wow! I want more”, we are going to be looking for it through the senses. Our senses are really only there to help us work on behalf of the God we live in and be a witness, but while we are taken in and play with them, we are not good witnesses. We are just players at best, at worst we are used by the self-destructive elemental forces of nature.

The minute we have done something and felt it, we can gain the wisdom from that one experience without having to do it again. We just need to take it in, remember all the things that brought us there and then we will certainly go to the very heart of why the God we live in wanted us to have that experience. When we are working at aligning our three bodies of expression with our personality, we have to go and climb that mountain of maya and glamour up to addiction and near self-destruction, so as to let them all go. With the initiate, or disciple on the path, the inner life has to eventually overtake the sensory life. He has to debunk the idea of keeping on doing the experience, so as to know. However, we mustn’t stop the youngsters doing what we have done, for they have to climb up the mountain for themselves.

When we see a film or read a book several times, we understand different things from it each time, which shows that our perception has changed. It is therefore perception, rather than sensation, that we are associated with. When we are working on aligning we gen erate a lot of emotions because we are disappointed, then we get cross when we don’t get the thing we want, the way we wanted it. We have to find all these feelings in ourselves and name them on behalf of the God we live in. As we explore the experiences we can be taken in by the stimulation of the drama, on the other hand if we internalise the sensation it really can bring back an inner memory, which sheds a lot of light on what is or isn’t true. Often when we are nearly letting things go, we will have loads of these memories coming back and we will start to see them with pity and love, with the knowledge that they have to go. As a rule we should not seek those memories, as they come out of the blue when we are ready to process them.

The world of sensation is just a by-product of the movement of Spirit in space and is transitory. The whole of our life is a virtual experience, but most people do not recognise it as virtual and take it for real every day. The minute we have a sensation it dies, for it is like the seasons in nature; every sensation has its spring, sum mer, autumn and winter. By going for more and more sensation and therefore more and more deaths, we are degenerating nature, rather than aligning to it. Nature doesn’t do that, the trees and the animals align to their own nature and don’t go for sensation, there’s just ongoing life. Man has to keep the body alive until we have become completely self-aware. Man is a virtual being, a huge accumulator of virtuality and only a very small amount will manifest in a lifetime, so when we look at ourselves or somebody else, there are enormous possibilities. Imagine that the whole of humanity could understand for just one minute that this is a world where we witness, have dominion and care; this would bring the best possible result that mankind can have, which is peace on Earth. If we all thought that for an instant, peace could happen overnight through the power of thought, vision, will and alignment.

Most of the time, the senses make us feel that we are completely alive, when in fact we are completely unconscious. That state of being alive, which we like and is beautiful, is walking in the warm breeze, smelling the flowers and looking at the birds; isn’t that what we all want for everybody at the level of the senses? But we do not need to feel happy because of the warm breeze on our faces, we feel it and we might say “What a wonderful God we live in”, but we do not actually need it. The senses are as important as the intel lect, they are wondrous, but if we are an initiate they are a ritual to remind us of the greater order. Flowers are here to give their love and beauty, they are the ‘healing ointment’ of the emotions and are ritualistic, but a ritual doesn’t have to come with senses. The fact that we see the flowers as beautiful is an emotional perception and a call for the mind to seek uplift in the beauty. Some days when we look at a flower the ritual aspect of our perception brings back the awe, but other days it doesn’t and then the flower looks flat and virtual: this is when we are nearer to the coldness of being a witness on behalf of the God we live in. This is not a day when we are having a ‘down’, but a day when we have the emotions emptied from us. We have to move on and The Emperor is the force that moves us on, so when we suddenly recognise that energetically we are moved by things called flowers, we remember all the memories of what that kingdom is doing. Then suddenly from within us wells a love and awe that we translate as beauty. It can be the same when we look at our old mother or father, who might not be beautiful on the surface, but as we look at them from our memories we find them beautiful. It is not a sensual beauty, for we are looking at it from the point of view of ritual. If we are looking at a flower and use the ritual to follow it back to its source, it will remind us of the generosity and beauty of the plant kingdom, so we look at the beauty of the essence rather than the form. The form is the ritual that reminds us of the essence.

The Emperor’s vision is focussed on the work to be done in the present, which then moves into the future. The present is a passage, the past is dead and the future holds all the possibilities. The present is only an ocean, or a point of reference for the mind to understand that reality contains the three stages. The only real way is the eter nal, but before we get there we have to remember to keep looking at the highest or deepest within us. The three stages of past, present and future are one; the present is the result of the action of yesterday and is the dying stage for tomorrow. If we want to keep on repeating the sensations, we want to stay in that transitory place where we are the result of yesterday and a dying phase of tomorrow. If we don’t move on from there degeneration will follow.

The Emperor has received the supreme intelligence and all the possibilities, so with those he is going to act on the manifested world to exteriorise all that he can, so achieving an alchemical transmuta tion. It is his force of vision that can implement something according to the possibilities in front of him that will definitely help him with the alchemical transmutation of the world. He has only one aim, which is to uplift the profane, everyday mass consciousness of the world, so transforming it into the sacred. He orders, uplifts and pre pares the world for the next stage. Today has no value in itself; also mankind has no value in itself, except as an instrument and today is an instrument for tomorrow, which is our original past.

First there is the idea, then the materialisation of that idea, then making it sacred. The Emperor is the strength and the force in man kind that allows him to go from the intellectual to the mystical plane, by using and acting on the material world. The idea descends into this world and incarnates with The Emperor, so that this world can be sublimated and offered to The Pope: it is all one process.

Nature is only truly alive when it is guided by an idea that penetrates its state of being. If we recognise what is in front of us from the point of view of The Emperor, then we start an ongoing process of complete respect, where we don’t want anything for our selves and we bless nature on behalf of the God we live in; this is when nature is truly alive. Before this happens nature doesn’t know it is alive. The karmic idea has got to be seen for what it is. Then, within that, we can say that we make an effort to come back and help our little brothers. Once we fully realise that, we don’t come screaming and kicking, or asleep, or wanting something for our selves, but we know that there’s only one thing we have come to do; that is work. This is truly about love. If we look at that misericord side of The Emperor, then to push somebody out of the nest when they need to go is to love them, for if they don’t go the world doesn’t have a chance for eternal life.

The Trinity at the top needs an instrument or structure that is going to ground it and implement its activities; this is the role of The Emperor in humanity. We cannot aspire to be anything else but the best possible grounding instrument.

The material world of form is a world of force, which works by a process of action and reaction. It looks very constant, strong, square and structured, so it seems as though we are prisoners in structure. Actually it is the opposite, the world is unstable and it is always moving. We become aware of the instability when we become like The Emperor and sit on a golden cube. Gold repre sents that which is constant, because it cannot be corrupted, in contrast nature is always in a constant state of action and reaction; this is what keeps it going. It is a vast field of magnetic forces, within which the only equilibrium that the diverse and oppos ing forces can hold, comes from the harmony of the cosmos. The Emperor has completely mastered his elements and form, so he is not driven, taken in by them or lost in them. He has complete mastery, so he knows he is here to help the plan move forward. His structure is not a structure as such, it is a cornerstone and he is going to help other people become cornerstones for the new world. The Emperor is the best incarnation of the force of the will of God, which is there to implement change and the transmutation of nature into the divine essence of its origin.

His body represents a triangle with his arms and legs crossed, this can be the symbol of the triangle of generation or Venus, but also represents sulphur and is very much like the sign for Jupiter. It is a fire symbol and the sulphur or fire comes in to stimulate, blaze, or initiate, so that the light can take over. This goes with the idea of The Emperor.

Figure 2. The symbol for Sulphur.

Figure 3. The symbol for Jupiter.

A helmet signifies active authority, unlike the crown of a king, which would be a more passive authority; this tells us that he is higher than a king. A king has to lose his head for the wisdom to come through; he is only there to serve the people according to the wisdom. A king is not active, he stands in for the authority of the divine, but The Emperor is an active authority, so he has the right to co-work with God to have dominion. He is a conductor for the fire of God.

The helmet has four faces, or four points, to symbolise the four directions, four elements and four kingdoms in nature. The top part has four points and is open, as a focus to attract and receive the cosmic energy and influences of the divine. It is the receptor and also a protector. The back of the helmet rim that covers his neck is to protect him from any influences coming from the Earth or matter, which would pull him down.

When we rule over a kingdom we have many people coming to us who need help; this is what he is there for. However, he must not be influenced by anybody, for it may cloud his judgement and make him biased. He is the impartial judge and the helmet protects him from making a wrong decision, at the same time it allows him to cap ture the light and intuition. The only way to do that as a personality is to be aligned, so that all the elementals as well as the personality, can receive the light without being disturbed. Alignment of person ality takes a long time because if it is done too quickly, the physical, mental and emotional bodies can’t take it and the tower or structure can crumble. Our Emperor is organised and aligned, so he can take the light. Protection is not quite the right word here; it is more about allowing the best possible organisation of everything that is available, so that the job can be done well. This is what a true protection is; there fore the best and most true protection we can have is alignment.

His helmet covers the nape of his neck, which is a part of the body where we are most fragile and vulnerable psychically; also from here we release a lot of emotional trauma. It is a place of entry, therefore a weak point.

The Emperor must at all costs remain master of himself, not just of the four realms, but of the psychic realm within him as well. The first immediate goal of initiation is to create a human being who can retain control over his elemental and psychic life, with the power of the sword of truth and righteousness. He has dominion over the terrestrial powers.

The reality of his defence is that he is completely aligned and has let go of any selfish interests. Because of this he cannot be corrupted and as he acts he leaves his imprint on the world. He is indifferent, but not disinterested; he has to uplift and purify and is not seduced by the world. His strength is greater than the attraction of any self-interest, for he sees beyond. All the dances we move to as part of the life on this planet are danced to bring out the weaknesses. Even if we may intend to be true, like Peter (the personality) in the story of the capture of Jesus (the Soul), the survival instinct of the personality takes over and the Soul is betrayed by the denial of the truth. Peter is the cornerstone of new humanity, but he betrayed Jesus three times. The three bodies, physical, emotional and intellectual were not yet fully aligned to the will of the Soul and each one reacted in turn, to demonstrate that it was not time yet for the crucifixion. He denied the Soul out of weakness and out of wanting to save his own skin. The world we live in does its little theatrical dramas, so that all our weakness can be seen and brought to the surface.

There is no way anyone can act as The Emperor, until he has gone through both an alignment to personality and the alignment of Soul to the Spirit. This is a personification of the will of God incar nate, which is the will in the Soul. He doesn’t carry any weapon because he doesn’t need one. His helmet is open to the divine, pro tecting him from charm and seduction of the psychic level. He has dominion over the world, which is the temple of the God we live in. He is a guide and a true judge; not the kind of judge who speaks of good and bad and tells us that we are naughty, but more like a referee who simply shows us the yellow card. He is watching over the destiny of the world and of mankind. He has acquired immunity before he can use his powers on the world.

The only way we can truly give manifestation and structure to an idea is by bringing in the energy of the 4. We may have a lot of good ideas, but this doesn’t work on its own for very long. For an idea to be able to mould the world, it has to faithfully and painstakingly move through the scrutiny of the 4 and be personally out of the way, so that we can see all the details and all the ways that the idea can be implemented. We need to ask the questions: “Will it benefit society and will it benefit the world?” It needs the matrix, so it does need the internalisation of the quality of mind of The Emperor before we start, just as a rebirth always needs a term of gestation.

The Emperor is not a man of pity and forgiveness because that is not his job; his task is uncompromising. He is not there to soothe, but to make sure that everything moves to its end. He might be called to strike, not in judgement but because it is needed. He is truly a conscious instrument for the karmic laws.

When the missionaries went to far-off countries to spread the good news, they made certain they had a beard, because men who have beards have always been recognised as men to be respected and listened to. Hair holds the whole of our yesterday and when it is on the face it demonstrates spiritual will. So in The Emperor we are looking at a man who is displaying the fact that he has lived a long time and understands the great laws of the lord of time and karma. The Egyptians depicted their pharaohs with a well-knotted beard to denote wisdom at the etheric level, which is when the physical life is rendered available for service and the authority of dominion has been given.

When we put together three strands, which rep resent the three paths (1, 2 and 3) going back to the metaphysical divinity, we have complete union and complete strength. So the plait is a sign of initiation, representing the energy that holds the world together. If we have a vision for good, however crazy it might look and even if the opposite comes to pass, we should still hold it, because it is that vision that holds the world together and stops it from going into complete disintegration. Without the vision of the initiate it would truly be a chaotic, anarchic world; it is the vision that holds order. The initiate is not alone in holding it; in fact none of us is alone. The lighted three fold plait of the stream of consciousness represents all the past lives offered to the great life, so the initiate is part of the fab ric of the long chain of men of goodwill. When a change is needed in a social institution, any new idea will always need many groups to hold the vision and to impress the right authority at the right time for it to be implemented.

It is the union of all the initiates that gives The Emperor the power to guide the manifested world. This union is a chain that never breaks, for it has been there from the beginning of time and is made up of all the ones who have ever worked by themselves or in groups, throughout the world. They make up that magnetic network of thoughts and it is through the magnetic field that we can receive information. To receive and to translate the plan is the work we do, so however feeble we might be at doing it, keeping on will make perfect. This union of minds and Souls is a protective web of love; the love is truth and light. Without it our world of racism, class hate, envy, war and separation would have degenerated and dis integrated a long time ago; we have to accept this. The fact that we haven’t killed ourselves to extinction is because there is a true web of life watching over this planet, which was created by the thought forms of all the initiates that have been before us. This chain of intel ligence and love gently guides the world towards its goal, for it is made up of those that have dedicated their lives to the work of love and sacrifice; of dying without hate.

The sun and moon are depicted on The Emperor’s chest, which tells us that he has to create complete harmony over his yin and yang. This means he has to be active but also receptive. If he is going to receive the word of God and act on it, he has to listen first. A man or a woman who is all action and not receptive, can end up as a tyrant who gives out dogma; that is the problem with a strong personality. On the other hand a person who is com pletely internalised and does too much daydreaming, has no will. The Emperor is a good blend and balance of the intuitive and active, so these two poles come together in him. He receives the bright idea from the sun and takes it into the moon, so that it can be born. This is a generative principle, which requires both receptivity and activ ity and brings cohesion and harmony between the two aspects, fus ing in the cross of sanctified matter – the cross linking Heaven and Earth.

The golden cube on which The Emperor is seated can be interpreted as either a masonic stone, or a pet-rified beam of light from the sun. All matter, includ ing ourselves, is in essence crystallised light. Masonic stones usually had an obelisk sitting on top of them, to represent the channelling of the light of Spirit into matter.

Figure 4. A Masonic stone.

The cube is Number 4, which is the number of humanity and the Earth. It is a symbol for matter and nature. The Emperor holds the structure which supports matter and stability is an attribute of the cube. The obedience, the service and the focused attitude of mind of The Emperor has transmuted the matter of his body into gold; gold tells us that it cannot be corrupted.

The world is forever moving, but it is the stability and the incor ruptible nature of the will manifested in man that we are look ing at here. The Emperor’s focus on the vision does not influence the adaptability of his mind. Our problem is that we are always seeking balance, for most people want balance and harmony; in other words they want to be happy and well. The only stability we should seek to acquire is the stability of will and wisdom, for sta bility, balance and harmony in the physical is very transitory. The world we live in thinks that what we all need is a family, a partner, health and money, but the only true stability is a vision and the ability to apply it. If this applies to the former ideal, so be it, but the vision is the key.

The cube represents the power that knows that it is viable until the end of the world. It is not our power, but the force that comes through us. That golden cube goes through from revolution to revo lution. It is durable and is not going to be overturned, because it has been given the ultimate power, which is to hold the vision. The Emperor is truly the first cornerstone of the New Jerusalem and so he is sitting on that golden cube; this tells us that he has dominion. He doesn’t have to work at it, for he can trust it so completely that he doesn’t have to do a thing. It is his throne, just as misericord is one of his aspects. He can judge and guide the world because he has achieved the constant stability of holding the vision. The cube is underneath him, but he doesn’t have to stand on it, because that would mean he wants to leave it behind; sitting on something means we trust it. He’s got his legs crossed for he’s not going to run; he is at ease, for the vision will never fail him. He is not going to go into the excess of tyranny, for the cube is telling us he has gained his gold, so he is at peace with the world.

The Emperor is the foundation stone of the most important build ing, the sacred temple or church of humanity. From the beginning of time, the building of the temples or churches has always started with the ritual of laying the cornerstone. This job was traditionally done by kings or emperors, to honour God and ask for fertility and abundance for the community. The ritual was also about protection, being a warning to those who might come to destroy or damage it. No edifice was built without a cornerstone as a manifestation of the idea of God. The one who lays it holds the divine right to do so, that is why the kings or heads of state still do it. This has taken place since the beginning of time, because the sacred building always had the eye and the mind of the first initiate, king or priest, who offici-ated at the ritual.

We must not forget the part played by the great brotherhood of Initiates, who were the ones who crafted that plait before us. We do not thank them enough in our prayers, or recognise them in our daily lives, even though they have given their lives to create the lad der of light. We do not thank ourselves enough, for however weak we may be we still carry on holding a vision of peace for humanity. There are numerous beautiful Souls that gave their lives to do the work. This is not to do with thanking the gods of nature for giving us the harvest; it is foregoing today’s harvest, so enabling the seeds of light to be anchored in the pure soil of the Soul for tomorrow’s harvest.

Because The Emperor has done the alchemy, he is the result of the great work of the transmutation of all matter, as well as the puri-fication of that which has been soiled, so matter is rendered pure and psychically precious. Because of this he can have dominion over the world he lives in.

The eagle in this card is black, whereas the eagle in Number 3 (The Empress) was white. Everything that she represented has to be put into action by The Emperor, who guides the people back up to the Trinity. The eagle is a bird of height, so it wants to rise, but this one is dark and heavy, for it has to work with the ignorance of mankind. Its darkness symbolises all the greed and the holding on to safety, as well as all the things we like and don’t want to release. It is fierce, like a bird of prey is when it holds onto its prey and kills it with its beak. It has its wings well spread out and its talons are ready to grasp, but it is actually not holding onto anything. It is going to be flying, following our Emperor in rising and being transmuted into gold. Black is the first colour of the alchemic work, so we are see ing an eagle in the process of being transformed into gold. It wants to fly and is using the best in itself. It has hope, which is one of the great characteristics that The Emperor offers, so it is the hope of all the would-be flyers and transmuters. This is the equivalent of the Black Virgin. The black eagle knows it needs to change. This is like the initiate, who has the quality of the mind of The Emperor within him, so he knows that he will have to put his black eagle through the process of transmutation by going through a crucifixion. This is the energy coming through the 4. It is the balance between the spiritual aspiration and the separative downward pull of matter. The eagle is looking towards the West, which is the direction of death, for Spirit has to receive the heavy materiality of the technological mind of the west, in order to uplift it and make it its tool for good. The thirteen protrusions of its feathers (13/4), speak of that state of transforma tion that it is undergoing and it is uplifting with ease.

The sceptre in the right hand of The Emperor has a crescent Moon at its base, which represents receptivity. The Empress was in complete control of the whole of the psychic world, so her moon was turned down, but The Emperor has to receive so he uses it the other way up, to denote that he is not going to go into illusion. It is in his active hand, so that we know that man receives and has to act with intuition, rather than rationality. On the top of the sceptre is the fleur-de-lys, which tells us of the purity of all his actions. Between the moon and the fleur-de-lys, there are two little things that look like fishes, to represent the Spirit coming down into incarnation, then coming up again with matter after hav ing transmuted it. This is the divine sacrifice. The fleur-de-lys is a symbolic flower rather than a real one, because we are all myth and symbolism; the only thing that is real is the power of pure intent. We are surrounded by transitory illusion, so nothing of what we see is truely viable unless it is manifested out of pure intent.

The globe or orb is green, with the cross of Spirit at the top, representing the alchemic transformation of humanity and of the Earth. It is held in The Emper or’s left hand, for it has to have love and care from his feminine, nurturing side so that he can act with love. The balance is completed by the sceptre being in his other hand.

The flower under his right knee is an open tulip. In The Magician we saw a closed flower, a little bud, but here we see it open to symbolise the manifested initiate.

The golden egg shape on the sock on his left leg pro tects the vulnerable shin on the front of the leg. The socks are sky-blue to represent the truth, which touches the Earth as he walks, so like the Buddha he’s pure. The intent is to bring the sky or cosmos down to the Earth. He has wisdom and his point of vulnerability is covered by gold, so he is rendered invulnerable. His red stockings tell us of action and fire, for he’s an initiate who fires things up.

If we do not find in nature the way by which we can see our selves, so enabling the God we live in to see itself, then there is no life. The only reality is perception, which is an attribute of Spirit. We are not the centre of the world for if we die life carries on, but if there are no more witnesses to allow awareness, there is no light in life because there is no perception.

A keyword of the 4 is ‘severity’, which tells us that it is only out of the experience of knowing every little bit of the suffering in the human chain that we can become an Emperor. He is severe because he is trying to take people out of their misery by saying to them “Go to your death quickly my son, you will feel better after”. This idea is appropriate to mercy, or ‘misericord’, for it uplifts the one who exercises it as well as the one who needs it. It is energetic and mag netic, so the weak ones who want to become strong will be attracted to the strength of The Emperor. We keep on working at the process of rising up to God, without being able to know, feel, or understand that greater life and then God comes down to us. We work at being ‘magnetic’ enough and ‘light’ enough by transmuting and forget ting all the heavy, dense memories, so that we can magnetically be a good receptor for the plan and vision of the Solar System. A lot of us might want to go to another universe or into the heart of the Sun, but actually it happens the other way round; it is the heart of the Sun that comes into our hearts, because we are not of much use on the planet if we are actually on the Sun. If we become what we are channelling from another star we can be excellent teachers, but not for planet earth!

How can we ever get out of what is heavy, dense and useless, if we do not first put our nose in it? It is the same idea with the Sun; the minute we give room for that tiny bit of light in us, which is the aware ness of Soul, by looking at our actions and reactions we can burn off all those weaknesses, so that the light of the Sun can keep on expanding in us. The problem is that most of us think that we are aware all the time when we are not; we think we have got the answer when we haven’t. It is not about seeking answers, it is about being truthful.

We all have to remember stages we have been in so that we can heal them. The minute we have understood and healed something from the past, the door is closed underneath us; this is ‘closing the door where evil dwells’. If, however, we are working through this life and suddenly we click and understand something for the first time, it is going to take a little bit more time, because we have to bring all the levels of reaction (mental, emotional and physical) into that little realisation or Sun, to be purified. Little by little we lighten the pot.

The Emperor puts everyone in front of themselves; it is that princi ple in us that we have to recognise. To be able to face ourselves is the beginning of being able to materialise a higher principle and a better world for tomorrow. The intent and hope may be true, but we have to face ourselves. Water will not boil until it has reached the right temperature, so keep watching yourself and that kettle will boil. This is watching in the sense of being a witness, so is different from self-development. It does take time, but eventually the water boils.

The key to the 4 is discovering truth, working to ensure justice and then, when that is undertaken its power cannot be resisted. The first duty and the only justification of power, is to know and discover truth, without pretension, prejudice or self-interest; only then can we operate justice. This doesn’t happen through brute force. If we are going to bring the kingdom of God onto the planet, then all the little units in humanity are going to be joyful and beautiful instru ments. Justice then would mean that every single unit is going to be able to get back what it gives, which would be completely fair; this is nothing to do with good and bad. Everyone has to become truly realised so that they can be true witnesses. Everybody will have their share of light, but the way they are going to do it is by taking full responsibility for their actions and reactions. The personality has to respond to the Soul and accept truthful witnessing; the Soul has to respond to Spirit by loving the work it has undergone. This is a fantastic justice. The man who is true to himself is an Emperor, who is able to mould the world in the way it is going to be eventu ally. All he can do is guide, watch and help, but not impose himself on anybody else, although he has to persuade by saying “Well done, you are doing all right, carry on”.

The Emperor gives us the understanding of three-fold golden plait of the co-creators, who are building the plan on Earth.

Figure 5. The golden plait. The golden plait of the brothers of the wisdom.

When we understand it we realise it is the top of the triple Heaven, the 1 2 3 (as above so below) and once we see it we bring Heaven down to Earth so the Trinity can be manifested.

Figure 6. As above, so below. Heaven coming down to Earth.

We are here to transmute through alchemy, for it is the power of pure thought and unconditional love that makes it happen.

The Magician was part of the active absolute, made of the first three or the Trinity, then to start the new line we have the active rela tive, in the form of The Emperor, who has to relate.

The Emperor is the vivifying principle. The 1, 2, 3 comes back as the Trinity into the web, then the 4 is the one that makes the form, not the one that creates; it is very important to understand the difference. The 4 has far too often been put as the one who puts the furniture together, but it is formative not creative. We are looking at the divine will in manifestation and the realisation of that in the world, which is brought into being by creation.

So we have three steps to take:

1. Realisation of the divine will by creation.

2. The realisation of an idea, by measuring all the possibilities of manifestation in order to bring in a solution.

3. Realisation of action conceived by the 2, through the direction of the 1.

The 4 has to give form to the realisation, so he will meet the resistance of matter as he brings more light (therefore possibilities of change) until a harmonious compromise is found and a new order has been realised.

We know that The Emperor is a transition point from one cycle to another; this transition enables mankind to move from nature to Spirit.

The 4 is definitely a first reflection of the 1. That first reflection, when it reflects the divine, is the will. The guidance of the will of the greater life is what our Soul is seeking.

At the human level, we are a reflection of Adam and the seed of the power of the greater life. At the natural level the reflection is the universal creative field, or the Soul of the universal nature. We mustn’t forget the roots we came from in nature, because they are the ones that have to become gold through the perception of their divinity; they also give us the foundation for the golden future.