The Emperor Should be Leo. Why is Aries the Equivalent Sign?

Something that makes me very curious.

The Emperor is one of my birth cards. When I was first learning about Astrology, I learned I have a Moon in Leo. Prior to reaching that level of depth in Astrology, I learned my Birth Card was the Emperor.

So when i started getting into Tarot it does not surprise me that the Emperor matches much of Leo's description as Leo is the sign of Regality and much of the traits of the Emperor are intrinsic traits of the Leo sign.

But I was incredibly surprised that Aries was the equivalent of The Emperor.

I'm really wondering why. Aries is the sign of the warrior, not king, in Astrology. In addition Aries are known to be impulsive and hot-tempered as well as free-spirited.

The Emperor Card is described as Disciplined and Authoritarian. As well as Organized and Managerial.

Organized and Managerial are two traits that Leo is the epitome of. Only the Virgo sign is better organized than Leo (but Leo surpasses Virgo in managerial skills).

In addition, Leo is often renown as a sign of Moral Courage and Dignity, and the Emperor is described as self-righteous.

So I'm curious. Why does Aries, which is known as the Sign of Warrior and Martial, said to be the equivalency of The Emperor?The Leo Sign makes more sense to be The Emperor!

As someone with a Moon in Leo (and I REALLLLLY love the Leo Moon side of me), I'm quite baffled. I wouldn't be surprised if Aries was the equivalent of Knight of Sword Card. But the Emperor???!!!

Can people who've been into Tarot longer than I have explain the reason behind this?

Paul Foster Case goes into this in depth in his book The Tarot, which I recommend it is fantastic!
Basically he says that the Emperor is "the exaltation of the Sun in Aries", so there is a sun/leo reference but more specifically it is the sun in Aries. Aries and it's ruler Mars is war, the Emperor is war and a warrior as he gets that way by putting things in order (where the word Emperor comes from). Then you get into his steel armor and elemental correspondences and these also correlate with Mars. The Emperor is Aries because of order and dominion that he represents, rather than any of the other Leo qualities.

The Emperor is also sight, as he is Heh (if you want to pull Qabala into it lol!) and Aries the Ram rules the head and sight, and also willpower, speaking in absolutes (I AM is the Aries motto, which works for the Emperor). There are tons of reasons for the Emperor being Aries, these are just a few. At the very least it make for some very interesting reading!

Agree + You might also want to read more about astrology too, because I find that knowing your natal chart is generally more important than tarot birth cards. Your moon in leo is your "inner" emotional life -- but your outer personality will be the sun sign and ascendant (rising sun)... Everyone has a unique celestial fingerprint

More than just it's astrological sign

First off, remember that not all deck creators agree with the astrological assignments. There is a ton of disagreement, especially, on the court cards. However, when it comes to the majors there is more agreement, and as said by others, if the Emperor is going to be pictured so armored and warlike, then Aries is the sign. HOWEVER, just because he's you're birth card doesn't mean he's at odds with you if your sun-sign is something else. The astrological signs are more like a helpful hint for when a reader gets stuck. Like, "Who is this tall dark stranger that the cards say will be the love of my life?" You get the Emperor and one of the clues is "Look for an Aries" (and that usually means "Sun-sign" not moon sign).

But when it comes to a card standing for a person, the Emperor is all sorts of things beyond his astrological sign--emblem of stability, order, seeing the big picture, being able to plan, fatherly feelings, leadership, and yes, a willingness to fight to get what you want--but the Emperor runs thing after the battle has been won, too. He runs his empire. These are what the birth card says about you. Aries is just the astrological sign that represents these things.

King of Swords is Libra, actually....

Just to add, by the way, Aries can't be the King of Swords, because Aries is a fire sign, and Swords are generally seen as Air (though some deck creators see them as Fire and Wands as Air). Thus, the King of Wands is the Aries...or Leo...or Sagittarius depending on the deck (like I said, there are arguments about the court cards). Swords are about fighting, yes, but they're a metaphor about battles of the mind. Cool, Razor sharp and tactical.

Putting it another way, the King/Fire wins by giving his men a philosophy, cause, reason to fight, which gives them the winning edge over the other side. Think: St.-Crispin's-Day-speech-motivating-a-mass-of-men-to-fight-like-crazy-never-mind-the-odds. Passionate, energized--Shakespeare's Henry V is definitely an Aries (and an Emperor). The King/Air outsmarts the enemy, as in playing a game of chess (think Rommel).

And the Kings are large scale: they are generals trying to win the war, not lieutenants hoping to win a single battle like the Knights. Also, the Kings, as fire (their element), are the "spark" the energy which drives the engine of the suit. So Swords are "Fire of Air"--meaning the King of Swords is the "energy" that drives this suit of thought, intellect, communication--razor sharp wits and duels of words. He is, thus, usually seen as Libra, the Cardinal (motivating) sign of the Air suit.

The King of Wands is Fire of Fire. Blazing energy that can motivate men and women to crazy feats of courage and daring in order to realize his vision.

Does that help clarify the typical zodiac sign assignments?

I don't think the Trumps really represent people. When the 22 Trumps are lined up in order with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the Emperor is paired with the letter Heh, whose astrological attribution is Aries, according to Qabalah. Strength lines up with Teth, which is Leo. In the Rider-Waite deck, the card which rules Leo (or most of it anyhow) is the King of Wands. For Aries it's the Queen of Wands. The Qabalah provides a nice framework for Tarot if one is so inclined, but it is not mandatory by any means. If you want to identify with the Emperor in some way, then go ahead. It's only the Golden Dawn system that utilizes Qabalah in such a way that the Emperor is Aries, which is why Waite put the Rams' heads on the Emperor's throne.

Scorpio, Leo, Aries and the Emperor

Post was edited (?????)

Yep!

MorteImperator said:

I see. So its not a literal equivalency, jus tthe representation. Intriguing.

So for the Pentacles, it would be an Earth Sign thats the King and for the Cups it would be a Water Sign.

Click to expand...

Yep! Again, arguments abound over which for which when it comes to the courts. Readers who use astrology generally do one of two things:
(1) Trust the deck creator--meaning if the deck you're using as the Knight/Cups featured with a scorpion then he's Scorpio while you're doing reading with that deck, never mind which cup card you think should be Scorpio.
(2) Ignore what the deck you're using says and stick to what you think. So if the Queens are fixed signs then the Queen/Cups is the Scorpio, never mind if a certain deck has her with a pair of fishes.

And most readers who use astrology also assign not only Earth signs to Pents, Water signs to Cups, Air signs to Swords and Fire signs to Wands, but also assign Cardinals, Fixed and Mutables to all of a type. Meaning, for example, all Kings Cardinal, all Queens Fixed and all Knights Mutable. Pages don't get zodiac signs.

Dear Original Poster ~

I can't help but laugh at the frowning face you posted on your original post - which tells me you are taking yourself WAY TOO SERIOUSLY on the matter. Believe whatever you wish; do whatever you wish, think however you wish.

But to insist that your way of thinking is the ONLY way that there is and everyone else should drop their way of thinking and embrace yours ... ? RIDICULOUS! The Universe compensates for many alternative points of view, and is not controlled by the paultry attempts of man to order it.

If you want the Emperor to be Leo in the Tarot Deck you are creating ... go ahead and do it; you deck will be Leo and my deck will be Aries and Shirley's deck will be some other sign. It doesn't make them wrong and it doesn't make you right.

Just my two cents {when I see someone getting rabid over something ...}

I'd also point that in most systems of determining birth (or soul) cards and shadow cards that I'm familiar with, it's based on the numerology of your birth date and not the natal chart itself. In those systems, it may not necessarily correspond with any aspect of your natal chart. In that case, it's like comparing apples and oranges IMO.