Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
(Luke xiii, 35)
Dear Unknown Friend,
The less superficial a person is — and the more he knows and is capable of — the greater is his authority. To be something, to know something and to be capable of something is what endows a person with authority. One can also say that a person has authority in proportion to what he unites within himself of the profundity of mysticism, the direct wisdom of gnosis and the productive power of magic. Whosoever has this to a certain degree can found a "school". Whosoever has this to a still higher degree can "lay down the law".
It is authority alone which is the true and unique power of law. Compulsion is only an expedient to which one takes recourse in order to remedy a lack of authority. Where there is authority, i.e. where there is present the breath of sacred magic filled by the rays of light of gnosis emanated from the profound fire of mysticism, there compulsion is superfluous.
Now, the Emperor of the fourth Arcanum of the Tarot does not have a sword or any other weapon. He rules by means of the sceptre, and by the sceptre alone. This is why the first idea that the Card naturally evokes is that of the authority underlying law. The thesis which proceeds from meditation on the three preceding Arcana is that all authority has its source in the ineffable divine name YHVH and that all law derives from this.
The implication here is that the human bearer of true authority does not replace divine authority but, on the contrary, cedes his place to it. He has to renounce something to this end.
The Card reaches us in the first instance that the Emperor has renounced compulsion and violence. He has no weapons. His right hand holds the sceptre forward, on which his gaze is fixed, and his left hand holds his tightly-fastened belt. He is neither standing nor sitting. He is simply leaning back against a lowered throne and has only one foot placed on the ground. His legs are crossed. The shield adorned with an eagle rests on the ground at his side. Lastly, he is wearing a large and heavy crown.
The context of the Card expresses active renunciation rather than the renunciation of constraint alone. The Emperor has renounced ease, being not seated. He has renounced walking, being in a leaning position and having his legs crossed. He may neither advance in order to take the offensive, nor move back in order to retreat. His station is by his seat and his coat-of-arms. He is on sentry-duty and as such he does not have freedom of movement. He is a guardian bound to his post.
What he guards is fundamentally the sceptre. Now the sceptre is not an implement with which one is empowered to do something or other. It is, from a practical point of view, a symbol serving nothing. The Emperor has therefore renounced all action having pledged his right hand to the sceptre that he holds before him, whereas his left hand holds his fastened belt. It is no longer free, because the Emperor restrains himself with it. It serves the function of holding the impulsive and instinctive nature of the Emperor in check, so that it does not intervene and divert him from his post as guardian.
The Emperor has therefore renounced movement by means of his legs and action by means of his arms. At the same time, he wears a large and heavy crown and we have already meditated on the meaning of the crown with regard to that of the Empress, which has a double meaning. It is the sign of legitimacy, on the one hand, but it is also the sign of a task or a mission by which the crown is charged from above. Thus every crown is essentially a crown of thorns. Not only is it heavy, but also it calls for a painful restraint with regard to the thought and free or arbitrary imagination of the personality. It certainly emits rays outwards, but these same rays become thorns for the personality within. They play the role of nails piercing and crucifying each thought or image of the personal imagination.
Here true thought receives confirmation and subsequent illumination; false or irrelevant thought is riveted and reduced to impotence. The crown of the Emperor signifies the renunciation of freedom of intellectual movement, just as his arms and legs signify his renunciation of freedom of action and movement. He is deprived of the three so-called "natural" liberties of the human being — those of opinion, word and movement. Authority demands this.
But this is not all. The shield bearing an eagle rests on the ground at his side. The Emperor does not hold it with his hand, as the Empress does. The shield is certainly there, but it belongs rather to the throne than to the person of the Emperor. This means to say that the purpose for which the Emperor is on sentry duty is not his but that of the throne. The Emperor does not have a personal mission; he has renounced this in favour of the throne. Or, in esoteric terms, he has no name; he is anonymous, because the name — the mission — belongs to the throne. He is not there in his own name but rather in the name of the throne. This is the fourth renunciation of the emperor — the renunciation of a personal mission or a name, in the esoteric meaning of the word.
It is said that, "Nature has a horror of emptiness" (horror vacui). The spiritual counter-truth here is that, "the Spirit has a horror of fullness". It is necessary to create a natural emptiness — and this is what renunciation achieves — in order for the spiritual to manifest itself The beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew v, 3-12) state this fundamental truth. The first beatitude — "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" — means to say that those who are rich in spirit, who are filled with the "spiritual kingdom of man", have no room for the "kingdom of heaven". Revelation presupposes emptiness — space put at its disposal — in order to manifest itself This is why it is necessary to renounce personal opinion in order to receive the revelation of the truth, personal action in order to become an agent for sacred magic, the way (or method) of personal development in order to be guided by the Master of ways, and one is personally chosen mission in order to be charged with a mission from above.
The Emperor has established in himself this fourfold emptiness. This is why he is "Emperor"; this is why he is authority. He has made a place in himself for the divine name YHVH, which is the source of authority. He has renounced personal Intellectual Initiative — and the emptiness which results is filled by divine initiative or the YOD of the sacred name. He has renounced action and movement — and the void which results is filled by revelationary action and magical movement from above, i.e. by the HÉ and VAU of the divine name. Finally, he has renounced his personal mission, he has become anonymous — and the emptiness which results is filled with authority (or the second Ht of the divine name), i.e. he becomes the source of law and order.
Lao Tzu reveals the arcanum of authority in his Tao Te Ching. He says:
Thirty spokes unite in one nave, and because of the part where nothing exists we have the use of a carriage wheel. Clay is moulded into vessels, and because of the space where nothing exists we are able to use them as vessels. Doors and windows are cut out in the walls of a house, and because they are empty spaces, we are able to use them. Therefore, on the one hand we have the benefit of existence, and on the other, we make use of nonexistence ... [and again:] Be humble, and you will remain entire. Be bent, and you will remain straight, Be vacant, and you will remain full. Be worn, and you will remain new. He who has little will receive. He who has much will be embarrassed. Therefore the sage keeps to One and becomes the standard for the world. He does not display himself-, therefore he shines. He does not approve himself, therefore he is noted. He does not praise himself-, therefore he has merit. He does not glory In himself-, therefore he excels. And because he does not compete; therefore no one in the world can compete with him ... (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching xi and xxii; trsl. Ch'u Ta-Kao, London, 1953, p. 23 and p. 34)
... because he has authority.
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