The Emperor

The Emperor appears after Strength as the passage between recognising our own power and putting it into action. In the work, he holds a large needle like a sceptre and works on a red cloth, guiding a thread that extends beyond his own body. It is as though, stitch by stitch, he were constructing his own narrative.

The needle brings the idea of precision: one must choose where to pierce, where to join, where to continue. Red, in turn, runs through the image like a thread connecting action, word and history. The Emperor is the one who recognises that we also construct our reality through what we do and say — and that having power means taking responsibility for what we put into the world.

For the artist, this arcanum appears as a call to believe in her own power to bring things into being. After finding the strength to open what had been kept hidden, the possibility now arises of doing something with what has been found: taking the needle in her hands and beginning to sew.

What do you wish to build when you finally trust in the power of your own hands?