04-The Dark King – Reversed Salem Deck

When reversed, the Emperor suggests that in some way you may have been remiss in fulfilling your role as a leader, organizer, or person in charge. Perhaps you have been pussyfooting around or, at the other end of the spectrum, acting in a dictatorial manner. Don’t be a wimp; it’s time to act your age and put your life in order. You need to analyze the situation, establish boundaries and limits, and develop a plan so that you do what needs to be done. President Harry S. Truman kept a sign on his desk that said ‘The buck stops here!’ to remind him that the president has final authority to make decisions but also ultimate responsibility for their consequences.

Keywords Reversed: Domination, arrogance, inflexibility, conventionality, butting heads, wimpishness, impotence, lack of confidence, immaturity, lack of reason or excessive rationality, indecision, disorder, loss, lack of structure, male infertility, abuse of power, vanity, inability to get things done, failure to take charge when you need to.

Key IV: The Emperor
Myths/Archetypes: The Great Father. The Ruler. The King of Kings. Zeus. Yahweh. Ouranos. Priapus. George Washington. Head of State.
Dates of Aries: 21 March–20 April (tropical); 14 April–13 May (sidereal)
Astrology: Aries, the Ram (a Fire sign ruled by Mars)
Numerology: 4 (Emperor) ~ 1 + 3 (Death) ~ 2 + 2 (The Fool)

Element: Fire

When The Dark King is reversed you can pretty much take it that life is going well but that’s when life takes us by surprise.  If The Dark King is unclear it may help to choose a card from the Major Arcana to provide more insight into what it is The Dark King is trying to tell you.  If you had a particular issue in  mind, or want to seek clarification on something else, you can also choose again to get more guidance.

This chosen card is part of your reversed card reading for The Dark King using cards from the Salem Tarot Deck. You will find many more tarot pages that will be of great help if you need tarot card meanings. Use the search at the bottom of the page. We have some amazing tarot books for you to browse. Please see below.

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Here are some snippets from a few of my favorite books

Complete Book of Tarot: Astrology: Nimble and clever Mercury in the first decan of earthy Taurus, realm of the Waite King/Thoth Prince of Pentacles (Air of Earth) and the Hierophant (Taurus). Mercury is linked to the Magician. [The church window is a reference to the Pope and the sacrament of marriage. Fickle Mercury brings instability to the earthy solidity reflected in Taurus and the King of Pentacles, thus exposing the marriage to fluctuations in its material security.]

Tarot Books

Complete Book of Tarot: Sign 1: Aries and the Emperor—How are you expressing your power, authority, and individual identity in the world?

Tarot for Beginners: When you’re just starting out, there’s plenty to learn just from using the upright meanings, so you might consider waiting until you’re more experienced before deliberately involving reversed meanings. (However, if you are intentionally keeping all the cards upright and one still ends up reversed, which has been known to happen, then you may want to consider that a particular message to keep in mind!)

• Do get in touch if you looked for The Dark King and we don’t have it listed. We would be more than happy to source the information for you. We hope you visit again for more online tarot information!

Elements of the Psychic World: 4 Emperor: sometimes shown holding sphere and sceptre, a king on his throne, representing sight, vision, realization, power, strength.