Ace of Wands - Pursuit of a Creative Vision

The Ace of Wands is a hope filled, powerful card that hearkens raw creative energy, a force of nature, signifying that there's an adventure to embark upon, in pursuit of a creative vision.

Drawing this card today strengthens, is life affirming, and it's message I need to hear right now. The Ace of Wands instills in me confidence, knowing that concrete limitations can always be challenged and overcome. It's message is a simple, but a powerful one.

"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light. I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."
                              
                                                        - Sarah Williams

The Emperor - Holding His Emotion

I so down with aspects of The Emperor and what he represents. I know it's my own issues with authority figures and I'm often uncomfortable, weary and I often question authority.

The power of Zeus's personality gives me pause to think, as he grew up with a violent, sociopathic father Cronos, who killed his five children except for Zeus. Cronos had intended Zeus to be among his murdered children but his mother presented Cronos with a swaddled stone instead of a baby, which Cronos promptly swallowed. Zeus escaped his fate at the hands of his violent father thanks to his mother Rhea, who'd saved her son's life.

Zeus representing both the positive and negative aspects of the father, he typifies the archetypal man who holds his emotion in check, with the kind of personality that could become oppressive, tyrannical with ideologies that interfere with life and personal growth.

Zeus's dark side can express rigidity, self-righteousness, inflexibility, arrogance, anger, and vindictiveness when and if his authority is challenged. This negative and destructive part of Zeus's personality is the worst  face of authority, is an abuse of power and control, embodying so much of what is wrong with our world today.

Many of us can be dominated by an inner dialogue and a scenario that we can repeatedly replay and act out in our lives, where there exists a dominating inner father, which restricts and constrains our relationships and happiness, especially if we've had emotionally unavailable or absentee fathers for whatever reason. It's been my own personal experience that we have to find ways to heal from this legacy or we are bound to repeat it with the next generation, passing it on to our own children, and on to our children's children.

The positive characteristics of The Emperor encourage us to foster self-respect, self-discipline, the spiritual ideals and ethical principles we need, in order to meet life's challenges, learning to rely on our own
resources and or to learn how to reparent ourselves if necessary.

The Emperor - The Father Principle

A father figure, The Emperor embodies the mythic All-Father Zeus, the creator of the world. He offers us counsel, guidance, the strength and wisdom of experience. Zeus urges us to rise above the bondage of body and limitations of nature. Both the positive and negative father principle needs to be considered. No one needs a tyrannical father, or mother for that matter. Zeus can be a miserable dude, so safe to say he's not one of my favourite mythic figures.

This Major Arcana card I think is a good reminder to not put all our faith in emperor's new clothes or in any emperor, politicians or human beings. Inspiration comes from truth and creative vision. Creative vision is embodied in the Journey of the Heroine and in our search for wholeness and in re-defining our preconceived  ideas and the principles of both what masculine and feminine means.

The kind of All-Father that I'm drawn to is really an All-Mother but specifically I think of the Sumerian Goddess of the Grape Vine Geshtinanna, who is described by Maureen Murdock author of The Heroine's Journey as being the "new feminine". An ancient mythological story and figure that's so very relevant to the contemporary meaning to our world and our identity as human beings.

Geshtinanna

The Emperor - The Father Principle

When I drew this card I admit, I wished I'd drawn the Empress instead. However this card challenges me to dig a little deeper into the meaning of the father principle, and come to terms with it's negative and positive forms.

Zeus mirrors the image of the experience of fathering that embodies our spiritual ideals, ethical codes and points to our capacity and ability to be self-sufficient in the world.

The masculine principle present in all human beings fosters self-respect to meet all of life's challenges. We can't have the masculine without the feminine principle, also present within every human being. There are both positive and negative attributes to both principles.

The Emperor can be tyrannical, rigid and self-righteous, but also ethical, without blind instinct and urges us to not blame our problems on others, because we can't find the inner experience of strength that is embodied by the father.

We all bring our own issues and concerns surrounding our relationship with  our mothers and our fathers. They shape us regardless if they were present or not, in our lives growing up. That said, we are our own individual.

I believe that our inner man and inner woman have been at war and divided for too long, each one wounded, tired and in need of care. We all need to reconnect with the inner feminine with strength and find that inner man with heart.

The Emperor - Egg Tempera on Porcelain 6"x 6" 2016 - Catherine Meyers

The Emperor - Is The World Unraveling?

The Emperor is the counter part to the Empress, though concerned with the inner world as opposed to the outer world. The Empress is the All-Mother, the Emperor is symbolic of the All-Father, creator of all the gods, a spiritual figure who concerns himself with high ideals, ethics and spiritual values.  He does have his dark side. Tyrannical authority can rear it's ugly head, where there is an abuse of power.

When I reflect on the very positive characteristics of the Emperor, he is a kind of the ideal of what men should be in this world. Unfortunately this is seldom the case, but there are some men that I can think of who set the bar high, and are men of integrity, great kindness, with a deep faith and belief in what is true and good. They stand for right, are defined by the courage of their deep spiritual convictions, to love their fellow human beings, and they set an example for others.

The world as we know it, can really seem like it is unraveling. I sure felt this way over the past few days watching the news, and it has not been the first time, nor the last time I am sure, I will feel the same way in the future.

 I could easily ask myself, where is God in all of this? What kind of a God allows for such tragic events to happen, and why is there such inhumanity toward humanity, and all living things?

It is difficult to make sense of it all, or to find some kind of resolution. My own personal experience is that sometimes the only resolution there is, is to accept that there is no resolution. I know this may sound hopeless and rather dissolute, and I might agree in some instances. It isn't the way I choose to think, in spite of what is going on around me in the world, because there is hope and that means a lot. Having hope is where acceptance enters our lives in knowing what we can and cannot change, and having the wisdom to know the difference, that is stated in the Serenity Prayer.

I am certainly not a Pollyanna, although I do love her. Rather pessimism, desolation and discouragement it is simply not a luxury I can afford, being a person in recovery from a disease of the emotions, alcoholism.

Today I recognize the things that upset me, and so I try hard to live by the law of spiritual progress, not perfection. I don't allow myself to be discouraged. I expect better things ahead, and try to be a part of the cure toward the world's ills, rather than be part of contributing to this malaise, and to be a force for good, much like a good mother and good father should be.

The Emperor - Egg Tempera on Porcelain Tile 12"x12" 2015, Catherine Meyers

The Emperor - A Blues Man of The Mind

Drawing this card today I immediately thought of how I learned of an man yesterday, who reflects the positive qualities of the Emperor card. I'm certain he would never consider himself an Emperor, but he embodies what I would expect to find in this mythic figure. His name is Dr. Cornell West. He is not an Emperor, but a very fine human being, who has the courage to fight for social justice. Here is a description of what he is, and some of his quotes that might give you an idea of what I am talking about.

He is a lover of music. " I am a jazz man in a world of ideas. "
" I am a blues man of the mind. "

He is a scholar. " Deep education requires a habitual vision of greatness. "

He is an activist. " Justice is what love looks like in public "

He is a servant. " You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. "  "You can't save the people if you don't serve the people. "

The Emperor - Re-Parenting Yourself

To draw the Emperor, the Major Arcana card, is a sign of re-affirming strength for me today, in spite of feeling rather weak. Physical strength and power, are not always necessary or even wanted. I'd rather have inward strength of the a spiritual kind.

The Emperor ruled by Aries the Ram, provides a foundation from which to build upon, and though he can be as stubborn as a bull which can be his downfall, simultaneously, it can be his strength. When times get difficult it is this stubbornness that manifests in the form of the determination, perseverance and the endurance needed to overcome. He is a mentor, an example , and a strength to others who are struggling, and who need guidance. The Emperor can be counted on to help us, like an earthly father.

I have heard it said if you are finding it hard to have faith, then borrow someone else's. I've always loved this saying, and what it means to me is to lean on the strength of another, to help get you through whatever it is you are struggling with in life. This is what the Emperor archetype can do for us, as a symbol of inner strength, stability, guidance, and having a soft place to fall.

Many individuals grow up without the love and guidance of a father that is present, for one reason or another. This does not mean we cannot find others who can, and will provide guidance to us, especially in a spiritual sense.

I remember being told in a 12 Step program that I needed to learn to re-parent myself. I thought they were all crazy as bat crap, and I was mad as hell. I had this reaction because I had long felt I was always having to take care of others needs. I felt I'd always had to put my own needs on the back burner. Now, I was being told, no one was going to meet my needs but me. I didn't have a clue how to do this, and I felt very lost.

Growing up as a child I had unmet needs, and this is why I had such an adverse reaction to being told now I was responsible for meeting my own needs, and my own happiness.

Gradually, little by slowly, I learned what it meant to re-parent myself, and how to do this. There was nothing too easy about it, nor was I comfortable doing so, because deep down, I really didn't believe I deserved to get my needs met. I felt unworthy, and was lacking in self-worth. This is what happens to children who don't get there needs met. They grow up feeling unloved, unworthy, and undeserving of love. This mindset, full of negative inner messages of self-talk, often results in a cycle of abusive relationships and self-neglect, only to reinforce an already existing low self-esteem, and inability to care, and love oneself.

Brigit-Dagda-The Emperor

 I am biased, I admit it. I am a believer of the goddess. I don't think of the Creator as gender specific. I didn't always hold this view, but my opinion has evolved, especially now I am a crone. I feel very comfortable with my own perceptions and stage of life. I do I look to the goddess for wisdom, but I know there is wisdom to be found within in all creation. The principles of the father and mother are equally as important to me. I also feel a very strong affinity with Celtic traditions because they are a deep part of my inherited identity from my Gaelic ancestors. Bagpipes and the fiddle can be spiritual experience for me!

Imbolc is the Celtic pagan festival celebrating the beginning of Spring, and the Celtic mythological fertility goddess Brigit, held on February 1st, which is approximately halfway between Winter Solstice, and the Spring Equinox. This is a uplifting thing to know right now because we are about to have a big snow storm with thin the next day.
The festival of Imbolc is still widely celebrated, ever since ancient times throughout Ireland, Scotland, and The Isle of Man, when Brigit is invoked to protect homes and livestock. She is considered the triune goddess, with attributes of the Poet, Healer and Smith. The house hold fire is sacred to Brigit. She is both sage and a woman of wisdom.

No one is above the goddess Brigit, but her father Dagda, similar to the Emperor, who embodies Zeus, King of the gods, and is also called All-Father.
Following the wisdom of the goddess is in part, a reclaiming and finding that forgotten sacred relationship
with the goddess within myself.
 

Brigit - Image John Duncan

The Emperor - Gratitude For Independence

This Thanksgiving, I am so grateful to be an independent woman. Independence has always been very important to me, and I learned this through the example of my mother. No one gets to an independent state through their own effort. Help, encouragement, the support of family, friends and even those who dissuade and discourage you, can make a person feel even more determined to do it your way, and to stand even more upright, planting your two feet, on solid terra firma. Interdependence is at the heart of independence I believe.

Having had an absentee father for much of my life, my mother, was both mother and father, in many ways. She provided that ethical code the Emperor, that inner father gives, and she imparted spiritual beliefs to me,  fostering a deep self-respect, even though I was years actualizing this in my own personal life, due to my alcohol addiction issues.

The Emperor is an image that symbolizes the experience of fathering, representing our ethical, and spiritual beliefs. We can have material wealth, and success of the Emperor, but it is all in vain if not founded on ethical values of right and wrong, embodied in having an understanding of what it means to have deep sense of humility, and gratitude to those who have generously given to us along our path.

The Emperor - Earthly Father

The Emperor, the fourth card in the Major Arcana is associated with Aries the ram, and represents the earthly father. His is the compliment to the Empress and is the personification of temporal power suggested the accumulation of material wealth. Although he is disciplined and visionary he keeps his emotion in check. A desire for independence can be indicated as well leadership, dominance, authority, governance and control. There is knowledge through experience and power is exercised for good. He is Zeus and King of the Gods. In Greek Mythology he is called All-Father. Zeus was the father of Athene (goddess of justice).

The father embodies our spiritual values and ideals, determining our ability to be self-sufficient. Domination by the inner father can be a tyrannical force and so we cannot allow ourselves and our beliefs to be crushed by inflexibility and rigid control that interferes with our life and personal growth. At some point we need to find our own inner authority that we believe in, balanced with self-respect and humility, to meet the challenges in life regardless if we have a temporal father present or not.