Welcome to Tarot for Scholars, a resource that helps you weave the deep wisdom of tarot into your daily life and work. In each post, we offer reflections and prompts for exploring your own inner world and unlocking the unique creative power of your scholarship.
The Emperor
About this card
The rules, laws, and boundaries that order society, and the power to enforce them for the sake of creating a stable space where new life can emerge and flourish. The structure, organization, control, and discipline that can foster creative potential even in inhospitable environments. While the Emperor creates safe, stable structures, its energy can also become rigid or merciless, or be abused for coercion. In its healthy expression, the Emperor is the disciplined hand that brings forth life’s potential.
Other interpretations
Margy’s cards, clockwise from top left: Radiant Tarot; New Chapter Tarot; Cosmic Slumber Tarot; Shining Tribe Tarot; Elemental Tarot; Navigators Tarot of the Mystic Sea; Spolia Tarot; Tarot of the Spirit.
Helen’s cards, clockwise from top left: Moon & Stars Tarot; Light Seer’s Tarot; Japaridze Tarot; Canes Arcanae; Star Spinner Tarot; Muse Tarot; Tarot of Mystical Moments; Forest of Enchantment Tarot.
Questions and prompts
How comfortable does the Emperor archetype feel to you as a scholar? Do you have a sense of what healthy authority and structure look and feel like in your scholarly life? If not, where can you look for examples of healthy authority?
What strategies help you impose order on your materials and create well-organized scholarly products? (Think organizational strategies like outlining, wall mapping, etc.) If organization is an area of your writing where you want to improve, what’s one new strategy you can try in the coming weeks?
Imagine yourself sitting on the Emperor’s throne, embodying the highest expression of this archetype. What is the armor that you wear? What are the tools in your hands? Reflect on the role that your armor and tools can (or already do) play in your scholarly process.
Thanks for joining us for Tarot for Scholars! Your hearts, restacks, and comments brighten our day. 💫
Yours in scholarship,
HELEN SWORD is a scholar, poet, award-winning teacher, and founder of the WriteSPACE, an international writing community with members in 30+ countries. Her research-based books, articles, and online tools empower scholarly writers to write more clearly, confidently, prolifically, and with greater pleasure.
Visit Helen’s website here.
MARGY THOMAS is the creator of ScholarShape, a body of work dedicated to elucidating the patterns of Story-Argument across genres, disciplines, and life itself. Through services and DIY resources, Margy helps scholars use Story-Argument patterns to design their work — and to find its deeper meaning and higher purpose.
Visit Margy’s website here.
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