The Spirit of the Tarot. Claudine Aegerter

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