The Emperor as Intentions: To Set the Terms and Provide

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Emperor as intentions is a plan with rules in it. Here is what I would read in it, upright and reversed, and why the rules are the care.

If you want the short answer, I would read the Emperor as intentions that are serious, structured and protective. In an intentions position the card suggests the person means to establish something stable with you: to provide, to set terms, to build a structure and defend it. The intention is committed in its own way. Its own way involves being in charge.

This is the figure on the stone throne with the rams and the mountains. He intends to build. He intends to rule what he builds.

The Emperor upright as intentions

Tina Gong's the Emperor guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with authority, structure, control and fatherhood. When the card lands in a position that asks what someone intends toward you, I read those meanings as the shape of their plan rather than as a promise about what they will do. Feelings and intentions are different questions; the Emperor as feelings covers the first, and this page covers the second. The Major Arcana overview at Biddy Tarot is a useful second reference.

Upright, I read the Emperor as a person whose intention toward you is to provide security: a plan, a position, a foundation, protection. They are not planning romance in the soft sense. They are planning to take responsibility for you, and they express that as rules intended to keep you safe.

What I would not read into it is flexibility or tenderness on demand. The Emperor intends what he intends, and negotiation with him is possible but has to be done directly and early.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm the person's plan has room for your wishes, that their protection is not control, or that they can soften once the structure is built. No card lets a reader see another person's plans. What a card can do is describe the kind of intention that fits the person's behaviour, and give you something to check against what they actually do.

The Emperor reversed as intentions

Reversed, the Emperor as intentions describes structure as domination: an intention to control, to rule by fear, to own rather than to partner. It can also describe an Emperor who intends to provide and cannot, and who covers the failure with rigidity or withdraws into bluster.

In your own question, ask whether the person's care feels like being ruled, or whether they seem to have abdicated entirely, present in name and absent in fact. A reversed card as intentions is a prompt to compare what is said with what is done, not a diagnosis of bad faith.

The Emperor as an ex's intentions

Asked about an ex, the Emperor as intentions can suggest they still feel responsible for you and would step in if you needed help. That is lasting regard. It is rarely an intention to reopen the relationship, and it is often accompanied by a firm decision not to. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

The Emperor as a new person's intentions

For someone new, this card describes serious, slightly formal intent from someone who will show it by building something stable with you. It is slow to warm and tends to hold. If you need tenderness early, ask for it in plain terms.

What their intentions look like in action

Look for protection and reliability: they handle things, they make you feel safe, they keep their word. An Emperor intention is structural. Whether it includes tenderness is visible only when you are vulnerable with them.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, the ways the person has provided structure or protection, and whether that is the kind of intention you want. The third note matters as much as the card.

For comparison, the Empress as intentions and the King of Swords as intentions describe different intentions. The the Emperor card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Emperor as a person and the Emperor as a yes or no cover the other questions people most often ask of it. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.