IV The Father

2038-01-19T03:14:07Z

Description: IV The Father is the view of a man's face from the side. He is middle aged, serious looking, but not stern. He has wrinkles around his eyes. He looks out to the distance, the creases in his face make me think he is looking for something; that he is vigilant. In his dark hair, that is still without grey, are decorative speckles of color, that might be fish scales or bits of shell. From his ear hangs a round blue earring. His forehead is decorated or tattooed with rows of diamonds. Just below the face of the man is a bone implement. It has been bored through at its end and it bears two sets of prongs in around the edges of the bored circle. Its use is unclear.
Interpretation: The Father card, like many of the Major Arcana, is difficult to misinterpret. It is a giant, masculine energy that provides structure and balance to the family. He is not the magician, a demiurge, creating something from nothing, though he is a generative force. I think of The Father more in terms of a husband, not in that he is married, though he likely is given his penchant for structure and rules, but husband in the more traditional sense of the word, meaning to manage or conserve. The father works hard to keep things going. He trusts himself and his own counsel, and is generally wary of change. He is fiercely protective of what is his own. Which is because The Father is also a father, whether literally or metaphorically. His counterpart, the Emperor is the father of a nation, and both of these remind me of the way in which Christians traditionally refer to God the Father: as Lord. They all share the common thread of masculine leader for whom there is great responsibility and on whom others depend.
Application: I drew this card on Sunday, when my wife and I were going to the annual picnic put on by the Birth Center we chose to use. It was a day in celebration of children and parents, so The Father was an appropriate card to draw. It was really satisfying to spend time around other fathers of newborns. It was a great and distilled feeling of new masculine energy, the previously undefined masculinity suddenly come into a new and challenging shape. I made plans that day to spend this Sunday hanging out with another father and his son.
Traditional Meanings: Aeclectic Tarot - The Emperor; ATA Tarot - The Emperor

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IV The Father