Reading Tarot Like The Emperor

When I first hung out my shingle as a professional astrologer, I got an e-mail from a woman I’d never met. She was having marital trouble, and she wanted me to tell her if she should divorce her husband. I had the skill to do the reading she wanted. I saw in her chart that she had Saturn, the planet of limits, moving into her House of Marriage. She was entering a defining moment. She could choose to accept the limitations of her marriage, or she could end it. I was confident in my assessment, but I was terrified that she might follow my advice and a relationship might end because of things I’d said.

This story is a classic example of an Emperor test. In my practice, I had explored like the Fool. I had studied like the Magician. I had learned how to trust my intuition like the High Priestess, and I had learned to bring the compassion of the Empress to my readings, but I didn’t have the authority to tell my client what I saw. I couldn't bring myself to do the reading, and I returned her money.

The Emperor is the card of authority. In an empire, the word of the emperor is the law of the land. In Rome, the emperor and the empire were so connected, people called the empire the body of the emperor. If an emperor is wise, he will surround himself with advisors, but the ultimate decision has to be his.

Authority is an interesting word. It comes from the same root as the word “author.” An author is a person who tells a story. Storytelling is one of the most important things diviners do. Whether we are Tarot readers or astrologers, we tell a story about the situation our client is in. Storytelling is the beginning and end of our authority.

If I had been secure in my authority as a reader, I would have understood that my job was to tell my client a story about her marriage. I would have outlined the choice that was in front of her, and I would have left her at the crossroads to take the road she chose.

She came into the reading with a vague sense of unease. If the reading had gone forward and she had accepted my story, all of that vagueness would have been focused down to a single, specific issue. She would have left the reading with the belief that she was in a story about limits.

Since that ill-fated reading, I have had a lot of experience working with Tarot readers who are struggling with this aspect of our craft. One of the most common strategies I’ve seen them use to deal with the fear is to hide behind vagueness. I am convinced that this is where the stereotype of the enigmatic, incomprehensible diviner comes from. While the diviner seems confident, they are actually deeply unsure of their own authority and are hiding it behind a veil of occult mystery.  The key to solving this problem isn’t to puff yourself up and force yourself to feel confident when you’re not. The key is, actually, to bring a little humility to your practice. Your job is not to solve your client’s problems. Your job is simply to tell a story as you see it.  Your responsibility is to tell the truth, be honest about what you see, and tell a true story. The authority of a Tarot reader begins and ends with the crafting of a story.

Whether or not my client accepted the story I told her was up to her. If she did, she would have left the meeting more aware of her own boundaries. She would have, hopefully, spent some time considering what her limits were and talking with her husband about how their marriage could honor them. But the choice was hers. My job was simply to look at her chart, to tell her what I saw, and release her back into the world to live her life as she chose.

A good Tarot reading is a meeting of emperors. The reader recognizes the authority of the client over their own life, and client recognizes the authority of the reader in reading the cards and telling their story. This can be a bit tricky when we’re reading for ourselves. In this respect, it’s a bit like playing two sides of a chessboard. You have to take turns being the reader and being the client. But if you can pull it off and tell a good story, Tarot has the ability to reshape the way you see the world and change your life.

This post was originally published on Aquarius Moon Journal on 21 May 2020.