Studying the Cards: Four-- The Emperor

The interpretation given by my Everything Tarot book states:
When the Emperor appears, look for issues related to authority. Although the Emperor represents worldly power and wisdom, he is not simply a figure who gives commands to others. His achievement is to understand that the maintenance of peace and security requires the willingness and ability to defend it. "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
The emperor is a teacher figure, and what he teaches is the meaning and use of power in this world of the here and now. Though not overtly aggressive, he tells us that it is necessary sometimes to take up arms against negative or evil forces. With the Emperor, there is no compromising with one's knowledge of what is right and good, no rationalizing that the ends justify the means. As a protective male force, especially of the home and of domestic harmony, he personifies the ideal that what is worth having is worth fighting for.
The Emperor in a reading can also indicate issues relating to one's relationship with one's personal father, or to authority figures in general. He can mean that the time has arrived to become the authority figure rather than depending on others to wield the sword in one's behalf. In my experience, the Emperor often appears when the person is struggling to achieve personal independence, to overcome the inner parent tapes, to become his or her own person.
The Emperor says that one must, often at a late date in life, come to terms with what "father" means in his or her life, and face and reconcile issues related to this issue. Whether the personal father relationship has been positive or negative, it is important to realize that at some point an adult must in fact become his or her own father.
When the Emperor appears, he can be an indication that the real father of the person has either recently died or may die soon, a situation which can bring up feelings of being abandoned by a protective father figure. If this is the case, then the person must face up to responsibility for his or her own life. Even if the personal father was a negative factor, there is always a yearning for someone else to take care of us, protect us, advise us. Yet, in the final analysis, separation from the parents is a crucial stage in human development and must be accomplished.
Another interpretation is that there may be someone in the person's life who is acting as a father figure, a boss or a husband. Whether this is positive or negative will be indicated by the placement of the card in the layout.

In a reading:
This is an indication that you are involved with the established order, or involved with someone else who is a representative of the "establishment." You may have a need to identify with a powerful group, whether religious, ideological, intellectual, or political. You may be attending meetings related to a particular culture, social group, institution, economic group, company, or community that enable you to identify with this power. You may be feeling a need to belong--to be "one of them." Or you may be associating with someone else who has this need.

Description:
My book describes the Emperor as being a figure of supreme authority. Usually seated on a throne and flanked by animals, my deck shows him standing alone up on a high cliff, and although not flanked with animals, his headpiece has the horns of a ram and an eye mask that reminds me of a bird somehow. In the Waite deck, the animals that flank him are ram's heads (so the same symbolism is present anyways) which is symbolic of traditional masculine power. He is often portrayed as wearing robes over a full suit of armor, holding a scepter in the shape of an ankh, and is crowned elaborately. In my deck he does seem to be wearing armor of a sort, though it appears to be a thick leather. He wears a cloth cape over his shoulders, and his "crown" is indeed elaborate. It has three golden points in the center of his forehead, a reddish-orange mask over his eyes, and thick ram's horns. He also holds the ankh scepter, but it's more of a staff. Some decks give him a shield with an imperial eagle; my deck shows a large bird flying overhead, possibly an eagle. My books states that he is often shown against a backdrop of mountains, another reference to worldly power. He has experience and wisdom. He is shown as a warrior, but he is a kind ruler. He has a passive attitude, as his body language portrays on my card, though he is willing to fight for what is right and what he believes in, as well as what he knows is his responsibility to protect. He is the leader, who has worked hard to reach his position of authority. My books says that this is a positive card in terms of worldly power.
As the Empress before him is the mother figure, so the Emperor is the father figure. In the family hierarchy, he is the one who sets the morals, traditions, and values for the rest of the family to follow. My books lists him as personifying solidarity, being the builder of the material world and striving for his constructs to be everlasting.

Details I've noticed:
On my card, the Emperor stands tall on the cliff of a mountain. He seems very regal, although he is wearing rough leather armor and an elaborate crown with ram horns (signifying worldly power). He seems to be overlooking things, and has a green ball in the center of his chest, one hand casually resting above it, as if it is hovering just below his fingertips. I'm not entirely sure what that ball represents, but I know it's important. It could represent the world, or it could represent morality, righteousness, wisdom, and experience. It could also be his "eye" to the world, since the bird who flies above him carries a greenish crystal ball in its talons. The two could be linked, with the bird helping him see over his domain... I'm not sure. He has a level of mystery about him, not just because of those balls but also because he wears a mask. His staff has the ankh on top of it, being the Egyptian "key of life", symbolizing (literally) eternal life and the duality and joining of male and female. Being that an ankh has four points, I see it also as a symbol of nature and the four elements. That says to me that not only is he strong and wise, but he rules over his domain, both physically and mentally. There is a lot of reds, oranges, and yellows in the background of the card, which to me just screams "power." He is Tarot Arcanum Four, with the number four representing foundation. Four, according to my book, is about "working hard and planning for security... a time for self-discipline through work and service, productivity, organization, unity." It suggests that if you are in a happy place, you have to work to keep it stable, and if you are in an unhappy place, you have to work to make the appropriate changes. The word "foundation" seems to fit the Emperor well.
Taking what I have gathered, I believe the Emperor to be the ultimate father figure, representing authority or perhaps an establishment or community of some sort. He can also represent an actual father or someone who is thought of as a father figure. He is experienced and wise, and knows not to go looking for a fight. However, he knows how to stand up for what he believes in and fight for what is right and good. I love the way my book worded it. The emperor is a teacher figure, and what he teaches is the meaning and use of power in this world of the here and now. Though not overtly aggressive, he tells us that it is necessary sometimes to take up arms against negative or evil forces. With the Emperor, there is no compromising with one's knowledge of what is right and good, no rationalizing that the ends justify the means. As a protective male force, especially of the home and of domestic harmony, he personifies the ideal that what is worth having is worth fighting for. I think he's a very respectable man.

Update:
Today is February 8th, 2014 and I am reviewing the cards I have already studied. Upon looking over the Emperor, I see a few things that I might view differently. I didn't pay quite a lot of attention to the book's interpretation when the card appears in a reading, which is more involved with the established order in terms of religion and following. As the Empress is the social aspect of our feminine, so too is the Emperor the social aspect of our masculine. Where the Empress and High Priestess are involved with our selves and inner worlds, the Hierophant and  Emperor are involved with the earthly world and our outer selves. The Emperor represents our masculine sides, our authority, morality, and the force within ourselves to fight for what we believe in. It is the father figure, and the dual opposite to the empress's mother figure. The swirls on his tabard go in both clockwise (deosil) and counterclockwise (widdershins) directions, showing his duality of creation and destruction. As the number four represents foundation and stability, so too does he represent the foundation of the family as a father, and the foundation of established religion, as a leader. This card in a reading might allude to ones need to connect with their inner masculine side and pair it in harmony to their feminine side. It might also represent someone's issues with authority, or trouble with their own father or their selves in relation to being a father. When it comes to dealing with the established religion, whichever it is you follow, he reminds you that he is a teacher and is there to help guide you, much the way the Empress does. The horns he wears on his head not only represent "world order" but stand for the horned god that accompanies the Great Mother (in most representations, as well as later in this deck, that representation is depicted as the horned god Pan).