Major Arcana

Court Cards

Pips

It may give Valerie some headaches with the web site, but I want to discuss the two Minchiate Emperor cards in a single post.

In deference to the church, the traditional Florentine Minchiate had no Pope or Papess cards. The Papess is omitted entirely, and the Pope is transformed into a second Emperor card. The two emperors, in the spirit of classicism that permeates the Minchiate, are called the Western Emperor and the Eastern Emperor. The Western Emperor corresponds to the traditional tarot Emperor, while the Eastern Emperor corresponds to the Pope or Hierophant.

Unlike some of the substitutions for the Pope card (discussed in my history post last week), this one actually makes a great deal of sense. The Eastern Roman Empire persisted long after the Western Empire was overrun and broken. To western eyes, Byzantine culture seemed timeless, exotic, mysterious, and ritualistic. By the time of the tarot, of course, the Eastern Empire was Islamic, the empire of the Ottoman turks. This compounded the mystique of the east, conjuring up images of Arabian nights and connections with India and China. Furthermore, the Eastern Empire included the three "birthplaces" of European culture: Greece, the Holy Land, and Egypt. So there is something quite fitting in replacing the Pope with a Byzantine Emperor, who presides over this ancient, rich, mysterious, and sacred realm.

The two emperors appear almost to be twins; certainly they look like brothers. In the old Minchiate decks, they are practically indistinguishable. In Williams's renditions, the Eastern Emperor has gray hair and a somewhat more meditative countenance. The main point of distinction between the cards is that the Western Emperor has a live griffon (half lion, half eagle) at his side, a symbol with many heavy Roman connotations. The Eastern Emperor has no mascot at all. Also, the Western Emperor's orb is topped with an eagle, while the Eastern Emperor's orb has an eight-pointed star, a subtle reminder that Jerusalem is within his domain.

There is a difference in personality between these figures, even in the old decks, which Williams has captured in a very original way. The Western Emperor looks at us face on, and he smiles. It almost seems a smirk. He strikes us as affable but arrogant, a little cockey and perhaps ignorant of the subtleties of power. The Eastern Emperor, too, is smiling, but he's turned a bit to the side, and his smile seems more paternal, a bit wiser and tempered with experience. So we see here again the contrast between the (Western) Emperor, whose power is that of personal ambition and control, and the Hierophant/Pope, whose power is the weight of tradition. In the Minchiate, though, we are encouraged to see their similarities, rather than responding to the "separation of church and state" evidenced in the traditional tarot.

We're back, remarkably, to Williams's observations in A Renaissance Tarot, in which Emperor and Pope correspond to the brothers Jupiter and Neptune, dividing the rulership of the world between them. Both men have similar duties and similar concerns, both are powerful rulers presiding over empires spread out across this world, and neither holds the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. We can imagine them in conversation, though, and appreciate their different visions of leadership. The Western Emperor lives in the present and in the immediate future; his empire depends on his personal authority and he must work constantly to keep that authority strong. His is an empire of armies and politics. He speaks of his campaigns and appointments, his alliances and strategies. His elder brother, though, takes less personal credit for the empire he controls. In fact, he may see the empire as controlling him; he is the steward, the vessel of tradition. He looks to the past and the distant future. He gently advises his brother to attend to his legacy, to build unity and among his subjects and preserve the great works of the past.

This is a key transition in the sequence of the major arcana of the Minchiate. As small children, we gazed at the Fool with love and affection; as adolescents, it was the Magician who captivated us with his cleverness and worldly charisma. As adults, we turned to the Grand Duke for sponsorship and support. At last, we face the ultimate authority figure, the Western Emperor, whose word is law. For all of them, it is their personal authority we respond to and place ourselves in relationship with. But now, with the Eastern Emperor, there is a hint of authority that runs deeper than personality. The Eastern Emperor represents the culture itself, the enduring institutions and even the sacred rites of religion, emerging from the ancient lands of his dominion in the shadowy past.

If this is a Fool's Journey, we have now reached land's end, and can go no further on foot. This is the end of the ascending scale of human authority figures; we are ready to meet the superhuman forces of the cosmos.

Tom Tadfor Little
tlittle@telp.com

Tarot at Telperion Productions
http://www.telp.com/excursions/tarot/

The Hermitage: A Tarot History Site
http://www.crosswinds.net/members/~hermit/