MEDITATION ON THE EMPEROR CARD IN THE XULTUN (MAYAN) TAROT DECK

The Emperor (IV) in the Xultun (Mayan) Tarot by Peter Balin

Below is a transcipt of a meditation I did several years ago, that I think illustrates the power of symbols to move and teach us. I always recommend meditating on a deck’s cards in order to develop a personal relationship to the deck's symbols, above and beyond the meanings assigned to them by any accompanying literature.

I should mention that in the Xultun Tarot, the Major Arcana can be laid out to make one large picture, as at one point I talk about it in relationship to the High Priest card. The Resource link at the bottom is to Aeclectic Tarot where you can see more of the cards from this beautiful and unusual deck.


"MEDITATION ON THE EMPEROR CARD IN THE XULTUN TAROT:

I chose The Emperor card to meditate on tonight because he gives me trouble, this archetypal patriarch with all his stuff hanging around him. Whereas the High Priest seems to have his possessions in proportion, The Emperor is weighed down by them. He almost looks immobilized, imprisoned. His hands look as if hand-cuffed and his feet as if manacled: a prisoner of his materiality. Yet I yearn to redeem him! The jaguar cloud of the High Priest's speech seems to reach him, and he appears to listen to and even look toward the High Priest. This is hopeful. But he needs much softening and lightening up in order to be approachable, at least by me.

On a whim, I turn The Emperor card upside down. The green feathers on his head-dress appear to strain upward now, strain to grow, to be heard or seen. He appears more to hold a necessary heavy burden in the crook of his arms: a load of firewood for the house, or a bunch of toys for his kids, or a wonderful new tree for his wife's garden. He is pausing to catch his breath. It's been a long hard day of building, and at the same time, of trying to keep those green feathers from growing too obvious. They disturb him. Tenderness is not something he is comfortable with. Hard work, logic, deep thinking, yes; but not this tickling at the base of his skull, where he can't quite get a grasp on it. Maybe the wife will give him a good neck rub when he gets home. “

* * * *

Please see the top of the sidebar for my background with the Tarot and a recommendation to beginners.

* * * *

P.S. The post for today on Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm is also about Tarot (link at bottomof this post).

Resource: Sample Cards from Xultun Deck on Aeclectic.Net; overall, this is one of the best Tarot sites I’ve found on the web.

‘til next time, keep seeing things from new angles and enjoying The Tarot,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for some articles about Tarot.****

THE HIGH PRIESTESS REDUX (A Meditation)

Years ago when I was still offering Tarot classes, I would study a deck new to me along with my students. Each evening as "homework" we would meditate on a card in our respective new decks. During a class I taught in 1987 I studied the wonderful Xultun (Mayan) Tarot by Peter Balin.* I have previously posted here my meditation on The Emperor in this deck. Today I'm sharing the results of my meditation on The High Priestess (please excuse those light stripes starting on the left of the image, my scanner has trouble with the surface coating on some Tarot cards):



THE HIGH PRIESTESS MEDITATION (done in 1987)

I chose The High Priestess tonight because I sometimes identify with her intense intuition. This one, however, doesn't move me as much as those in other decks. She looks rather more stern than necessary. And too active. She's obviously speaking and gesticulating in an almost irritable way. Most High Priestesses invite, in an unconscious way. Their imperatives are usually in the content of what they say, not in their manner. There's a vaguely asian flavor to this card (as in many of this deck's cards) and the sense of a guru. I find the latter off-putting. Is this because I'm still (even after all the years of consciousness raising) not accustomed to women gurus? I find I'm not taking her quite as seriously as I do The High Priest, her male counterpart. Actually, I think it is only partly my sexism, the rest is in the design. I am irritated by her apparent irritation. I remember my grandmother Hill and her voice, and I feel better; my Grandma's wonderful deep voice. What is this card trying to tell me? Ignore the package or picture, and consider the content? This High Priestess has many eyes and does not care if she's liked or not, share her wisdom she will. She sits behind or beyond all contradictions. Knowing them to be only illusions, categories we cling to for a certain clarity. She does not face us directly. Her knowledge reaches us via other than conscious channels. Her dress is modest by The Emperor's and High Priest's standards (IV on left and V on right):



The material world means little to her, and less if it weren't for all the manifested lives who need her wisdom and guidance. She is intimate with the night sky; it's colors wave on a staff in the foreground. She is almost as much at home in its cold reaches, as she is in the watery depths of the sub- and unconscious. New creations wait to be manifested just beneath her feet, carved from and clinging for now to the base of her throne. Is this her irritation, that they will not let go and fully take on incarnation?

* * * *

In typing in this meditation I got quite a nostalgic giggle out of the term "consciousness raising." It's been years since I've thought of those days, and all those meetings and heady feminist ferment. Also, you may note that the images on The Emperor and High Priest in this deck "fit together." The 22 Majors of this unique deck form one large picture.

If you have never done a meditation on a different Tarot card over a series of days, it's an excellent way to become familiar with a new deck. By meditate I mean simply finding a quiet time and space and sitting just looking at the card you have chosen (for any reason or at random). You need not ask any questions of it or plumb it for information, but rather let impressions, thoughts, questions, reactions to the specific images on the card rise in you as they will. Then, after several minutes at least, or when you feel the meditation is over, take notes. The notes you keep of all the work (and play :-D) you do with The Tarot will ultimately become a rich diary.

*The Xultun Tarot, Arcanum Publishing Co., P.O. Box 2, Wilmot, WI 53192 copyright 1976 by Peter Balin.

* * * *

Resource: Online Reading with The Greenwood Tarot, I sometimes find an online reading helpful, and the Greenwood Tarot is a lovely deck.

Please see the top of the sidebar for my background with the Tarot and a recommendation to beginners.

‘til next time, keep being sensitive to what's behind the surface, and enjoying The Tarot,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for some articles about Tarot.****

FURTHER EXPLORATION OF THE HIEROPHANT (V)

It's been a long time since I've done a thorough post exploring THE HIEROPHANT (V) and in that time I've gathered many more thoughts and "meanings" for this card, which I'll share later below. But first, here are some more unusual versions of this card.

The Hierophant (V) in the Gothic Tarot of the Vampires

This is a rather unusual imagery in some ways for V, yet it carries that sense of bowing to a greater power and/or knowledge. It almost looks like a torturous baptism. BTW, I like this deck as a whole, even considering its occasional bloody images.

The Hierophant (V) in the Mother Peace Tarot

I'd waited it seemed for ages "back in the day" for this deck to be available. But was somewhat disappointed as much of the artwork leaves a bit to be desired. Simply as artwork, without even considering the content/meaning of the images. V in this deck always gave me a bit of a giggle as The Hierophant (in the black "skirt") looks like a man in drag. Which, given this is a feminist deck, can be rather meaningful, actually. Is the power and wisdom V is seeking to bring through and in that process identify with, that of the Great Mother Goddess? Of course, if that figure is meant to be a woman, the same might be true.

The Hierophant (V) in The Xultun Tarot

This one of my all time favorite Hierophants. It's so rich (pregnant? or has V been swallowed by the mystical Jaguar? etc., etc.). I'll leave it to you to explore on your own what it may be saying. (See that Jaguar patterned "speech balloon" in the upper left?)

The Hierophant (V) in The Rider/Waite/Smith Tarot

And for comparison, this RWS deck version is probably the most commonly recognizable Hierophant.

I would have had a very hard time choosing which card to post more exploration about today, as I have a huge folder of notes, covering all 78 cards. However, each year at Samhain (Halloween; ancient Celtic New Year) I randomly pull one card from the Majors to represent and offer some guidance for the New Year. This year I got The Hierophant. The first "meaning" below is the one I keep coming back to when seeking to ease anxiety about my inner-self and outer-world relationships.

MEANINGS/INSIGHTS/READINGS FOR THE HIEROPHANT (V) (a/k/a The High Priest or The Pope), SOME LESS COMMON OR EVEN QUIRKY -- Please note: The below is not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of this card; a quick Google will produce a wider variety of takes should you not be familiar with it. (Given my heavy reliance on projection of my feelings and experiences onto the cards, I recognize that I may very well reveal more about myself here than I do about any particular card. However, this is exactly my point: I use the cards as a path to self-discovery and healing. I hope what I post here that comes out of that process will be useful in some way to other seekers.):

-- Secrecy is part of life ... can one know the Great Mystery's mind? Most deception is simply ignorance wearing the disguise of knowing what's going on.

-- Two paths for one sacred energy. Choose the less conflicted, if less exciting one.

-- Don't take things at face value. Wait for your intuition's whisperings.

-- Be more in your body, and less in your head.

-- Clinging to traditional thought in order to deny possibly disturbing new thinking and (especially) the subtle prodding of intuition.

-- Understanding is not an end in and/of itself. What we do with it; how we live it out in the world is the fruition of that knowledge.

-- Domineering personality, at the very least, intensely charismatic.

-- Can sometimes herald a mediumistic state on the part of the reader. If V doesn't offer enough connection on its own, surrounding (or additional) cards should.

-- Time to hear what established wisdom has to say about this. As opposed to your own creative or intuitional sources. You need not give over to that conventional thinking in order to learn from it.

-- Heavy handed, fundamentalist, narrow minded guilting at its worst.

-- The moral underpinnings are what are important here. Not the details, or emotions and fuss surrounding it all.

-- Can indicate someone like a snake oil salesman. Impressive, giving a good show, but selling worthless stuff. And watch the snake oil salesman within: Don't believe everything you think.

-- Don't waste your time and energy trying to thoroughly explain to others what you believe to be true. Attend to your own beliefs as they evolve. They are both guiding and reflecting your actions.

-- Having trouble learning from others and sometimes one's own intuition. The very newness being defended against may herald a treasure's advent.

-- Information; i.e., that which bridges the mental and physical aspects of being. (A similar triangulation is seen on The Lover and The Devil cards. What differs may be where that bridging is being done. Maybe: V = Conscious; VI = Superconscious; and XV = Unconscious.) BTW, that old name for V, The Pope or Pontiff, means bridge builder.

Lastly, for an abstract Hierophant card, scroll down to The Found Tarot post just prior to this one.

And if you'd like to read other posts on this card, click on the "THE HIEROPHANT" Label at the bottom of this post. Then scroll past a repeat of this new post to get to the older.

* * * *

N.B. A small thing, but just in case: some of the extra reference links offered at the very end of my oldest (years old) posts no longer work. As there are so many posts here to go through I am choosing not to search for and change all of those links that are "dead." (Though I immediately delete any I now stumble across that lead to questionable sites.) If you are interested, you can try Googling for the name of the site or article referenced. I'm finding that some are still around in new locations or incarnations, some not.

'til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot, in whatever ways it comes to you in your life,





[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile")**** SEE ALSO: United Haiku and Tanka Society (UHTS) (charter member); Roswila's Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila's Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); Trying to Hold A Box of Light for digital photos only; and THE MARKER TAROT.

FURTHER EXPLORATION OF THE FIVE OF PENTACLES

[If you're curious about my previous post on the Five of Pentacles, click here.]

The Five of Pentacles (5P) is one of those cards that elicits a strong response from Tarot innocents. In this case, "Oh, how sad" pretty much covers it. Here's the Rider/Waite/Smith deck version of the 5P in which one can clearly see why this might be so:

And, very generally speaking the 5P in other decks provokes similar reactions. Yet, for me, I sometimes wonder why the figures on this card don't just go into that church, either for shelter or to seek help. That said, though, what drew me to post on the 5P today was a blue mood I've recently left behind. I'd been feeling outside of every good thing. In the cold and impoverished in any way that really seemed to matter. And not able to avail myself of any warm lighted space I might stumble by, to walk into for comfort or aid.

This next 5P is from the "Sacred Circle Tarot", a lovely deck that evokes mythic feelings, which I studied and read with a great deal when I first got it many years ago:

And this version is from The Pathfinder's Tarot (the link is to the site of the artist Sylvie Daigneault, as I can find nothing on the publisher online; BTW her work -- both Tarot and otherwise -- is delightful). The 5P in this deck is intriguing in that one can see those pentacles as either heading up into freedom and growth in the light, or marching themselves deeper into the cold stony dark:

And this last 5P for today is from another very old deck of mine, that I studied and read with way back when, and rather extensively, The Xultun Tarot". One flag word for the 5P in general is "worry" and the figure in the top right of this one certainly looks worried about the jaguar stalking him. Despite how well-armed he appears to be:

I've already mentioned above why I chose to expand on the 5P for today's post. I'll simply add that one tack I take with a deep mood of alienation is to look at it as a lesson. What can I learn from this? The issue of lessons, BTW, is something I often see in the fives in the Tarot. I seem to recall that this is said to be an aspect of the number 5 in numerology. And, if so, it certainly fits with the Tarot fives. Omigosh, I may not be as far from the grasp of that blue mood as I'd thought. I just re-read these notes and thought that they seem to be at a bit of a remove from this card. I hope my notes on the 5P below (or my previous post linked to at the top of this post) will bring at least a few of its wealth of aspects more clearly into view.

MEANINGS/INSIGHTS/READINGS FOR THE FIVE OF PENTACLES (5p), SOME LESS COMMON OR EVEN QUIRKY -- Please note: The below is not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of this card; a quick Google will produce a wider variety of takes should you not be familiar with it. (Given my heavy reliance on projection of my feelings and experiences onto the cards, I recognize that I may very well reveal more about myself here than I do about any particular card. However, this is exactly my point: I use the cards as a path to self-discovery and healing. I hope what I post here that comes out of that process will be useful in some way to other seekers.):

-- Monkey wrenches. All fives can have this quality, which can be seen to fit with the number 5 being one of lessons. I.e., what can we learn from that monkey wrench just tossed into the works. Might it even be used in a positive way.

-- This card can highlight a strong strain of self-pity.

-- There's a difference between moving on and running away. Your urge right now to pass all this by is based in assumptions of having been excluded from it. Whether you have been or not is beside the point. Get over indulging in "poor me." Then you can freely choose to move on, or not.

-- Are you letting material concerns drain and impoverish your spirit, in a damaging and/or debilitating way?

-- Stubborn thinking that leads to trying to hold on to things, in spite of change that's beginning to shine through.

-- You'll be shut out of that option or decision for some unrelated reason. The upshot is that the time is just not right to move ahead on it.

-- You may feel out of it soon; disconnected, even from yourself. Be patient. You'll feel connected again soon. Use this "disconnect" as a time to catch your breath, to relax.

-- They don't appear to even notice the church within which they could inquire for help. This may indicate it's inner resources that are needed at present. Try meditating or journaling or asking your dreams for help.

-- Attachments (e.g., to people, money, situations, beliefs, goals, etc.) that one gives up or that have been taken away, can free one. Letting in fresh takes on everything. Not necessarily a fun or quick process. Bu it can have a very positive and concrete outcome eventually.

-- What are you holding almost deliberately outside your awareness? It may cost nothing to let it in and may even enrich things.

-- An introvert whose community is aspects of her inner life. This may seem lonely to others but it's not. It's necessary and natural ... for this particular person.

-- Own the decisions you made to bring you to being so outside of things. It's OK to need/want a vacation from social involvement. It can be a time of renewal. And everyone will manage OK without you for the duration.

-- Can indicate that you are being unfairly pressured ("guilted") into doing something.

-- Outsiders are often the bearers of what is new or long forgotten, and therefore unfamiliar, even frightening. But nonetheless valuable.

-- Don't let pity for others blind you to the lesson you personally need to learn from this situation.

-- Step outside your usual warm fuzzy, comfort zone. There's a lot more world to be learned about and experienced beyond your habitual and familiar boundaries.

-- The stresses in your life right now are beginning to impact your physical health. Small, even five minute breathing breaks in your day would be very salutary. Especially if you think about all you have to be grateful for.

-- Out of touch with important aspects of self or of one's life in general.

-- Finding comfort within one's self at a time when all external supports seem to have failed and/or fallen away.

-- You may feel impoverished in all ways right now. But it's at times like these that the riches of spirit are most available. Even letting this possibility settle into your thinking can have a profoundly helpful effect.

-- Delicacy that needs not only acknowledgement but protection.

-- Can sometimes indicate a return to a sort of innocence, a time of not knowing what to do, or where to turn. Or that one is more innocent in this particular situation than one realizes. Therefore, both the beauty and vulnerability of innocence are in play, and need to be acknowledged.

I'll end with the feeling expressed by that comment immediately above. Only adding that I was surprised when it surfaced for this card. That, and the delicacy referenced just prior to that. Though I suppose after all these years I should not be surprised at the layers and depths that a Tarot image offers. Then again, maybe the lesson here is to be grateful that I am still being surprised.

* * * *

N.B. A small thing, but just in case: some of the extra reference links offered at the very end of my oldest (years old) posts no longer work. As there are so many posts here to go through I am choosing not to find and change all of those links that are "dead." If you are interested, you can try Googling for the name of the site or article referenced. I've found that some are still around in new locations or incarnations, some not.

'til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot, in whatever ways it comes to you in your life,





[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile")**** SEE ALSO: United Haiku and Tanka Society (UHTS) (charter member); Roswila's Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila's Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); Trying to Hold A Box of Light for digital photos only.

A NEW MEANING EACH WITH IMAGES FOR: The Hierophant, all 4 Pages, The Eight of Wands, The Eight of Cups, The Seven of Swords, & The Three of Pentacles

I'm trying a new approach to posting additional meanings I've stumbled across for the cards. Usually I cover only one card in depth, but I've collected a great many more meanings for most of the deck since my last post. So thought I'd include one card each from the basic sections of the Tarot: The Majors, The Courts, and the four Minors. Each will be preceded by an image for that card from a different deck. I had great fun searching for an appropriate image to go with the one meaning I've chosen to post for each. And I chose what I consider to be somewhat unusual or maybe quirky meanings from my readings for myself.

Please note that the below is intended as only a tiny taste of the cards; a quick Google will produce a wide variety of takes should you not be familiar with them. (Given my heavy reliance on projection of my feelings and experiences onto the cards, I recognize that I may very well reveal more about myself here than I do about any particular card. However, this is exactly my point: I use the cards as a path to self-discovery and healing. I hope what I post here that comes out of that process will be useful in some way to other seekers.)

First card for today is:

THE HIEROPHANT (V)

-- The world's teaching and pressure deeply impressing/forming both the conscious and the unconscious mind.

This Hierophant image is from one of my favorite old decks in my collection, The Xultun Tarot (Mayan mythology). He always looks to me as if he's really into inculcating his audience and that he has a great deal to say.

Second card for today is:

THE FOUR PAGES

Well, not "a card," but "cards," actually. I sometimes get a feel for the overall effect or function of type of card (by its number, say, or suit, etc.) In this case, it was for the four Pages in the Court cards:

-- Pages in general can encourage taking a more youthful stance, i.e. less about one's stash of knowledge and experience, and more about just putting one's self out into the world to see what will happen. The particular suit of the page and/or the details of its illustration can help further refine what the card is representing.

The four pages above are from the Rider/Waite/Smith deck.

Third card for today is:

THE EIGHT OF WANDS

-- Spirit breaking through in a moment of mystical union with everything manifest.

The Eight of Wands above is in the Lo Scarabeo Tarot. Most frequently the wands on this card are up in the air, nowhere near the ground. I like the sense of imminence and the physical world in this one.

The fourth card for today is:

THE EIGHT OF CUPS

-- Putting a distance between one's self and some emotional event(s) in order to survive it all. To have time to heal enough not to be destroyed or destabilized by it. In a more difficult sense, using drugs or alcohol, etc. to create that distance. Though even there what looks to the outside world as destructive, can very well be life saving on the person's inner plane.

The Eight of Cups above is in the Anna K. Tarot. Usually the figure is walking away from a bunch of cups, and almost as often, away from the viewer. Here, it's from a relationship (anyone remember that old song "Silhouette on the Shade"?). And the movement toward the viewer makes it more personal, more immediate. Of course, those two figures could simply be sadly watching the foreground character leaving. And I'm sure there are other readings that could be made. But that makes my point about how evocative this particular Eight of Cups version is.

The fifth card for today is:

THE SEVEN OF SWORDS

-- Feeling that things have been stolen from you; taken away by life or some actual person(s). But it's how life goes: we lose stuff, we lose out, we lose people. Shit happens!

The Seven of Swords above is in the Rider/Waite/Smith deck. I looked at a lot of Seven of Swords cards, but none of them (IMHO) beats this one for getting across that feeling of thievery.

The sixth and last card for today is:

THE THREE OF PENTACLES

-- You are being put on alert. Someone around you may be quite a piece of work. Watch out. The nastiness may be extremely well hidden by an earnest, sugar wouldn't melt in his/her mouth aspect. [I laughed in a somewhat embarrassed way when I found this meaning, as this is my primary card in The Tarot, right up there with The Hierophant. Blush! Having stumbled across this meaning with respect to a situation I've been in, will (hopefully) serve to keep me honest, too.]

The Three of Pentacles above is in The Circle of Life Tarot. I'm not overly fond of round cards, but this one is too perfect. Those little figures are either sneaking in or sneaking out of that window, and I always feel they can't be trusted to be up to any good! :-)

And on that self-conscious note, I'll end this post. Now that I've actually put it all together I don't think its approach can make any difference in the long haul, in how fast I get new meanings posted here. But it was entertaining to produce and there's a lot to be said for that in my life these days. LOL ... my moods are like those little figures in The Three of Pentacles above, not to be trusted one inch in all their comings and goings!

* * * *

N.B. A small thing, but just in case: some of the extra reference links offered at the very end of my oldest (years old) posts no longer work. As there are so many posts here to go through I am choosing not to search for and change all of those links that are "dead." (Though I do immediately delete any I stumble across that now lead to questionable sites.) If you are interested, you can try Googling for the name of the site or article referenced. I've found that some are still around in new locations or incarnations, some not.

'til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot, in whatever ways it comes to you in your life,





[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile")**** SEE ALSO: (charter member); Roswila's Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; Roswila's Taiga Tarot for taiga (illustrated tanka); Trying to Hold A Box of Light for digital photos only; and THE MARKER TAROT.

THE EMPEROR (IV) (on Father's Day)

TODAY'S CARD is The Emperor (IV). This version is by Thalia Took, and is used by permission.



For comparison, here's The Emperor from the Rider/Waite/Smith deck:



THE EMPEROR: Well, it's Father's Day and The Emperor is often seen as the archetypal father. (Kings are also sometimes seen as fathers.) For a meditation I did on a particular Emperor card, see my post of May 23, 2006, THE EMPEROR IN THE XULTUN (MAYAN) TAROT DECK. For a view of my personal father relationship and one dream-based poem, see my dreams and poetry blog post for today (link at bottom of this post).

DIFFERENT TAKES ON THE EMPEROR CARD (IV):

Using anger to deny other feelings such as grief, sorrow, loneliness, etc.

A lot has been done, built, accomplished to get this far and can form the basis for further action.

Difficulty coping with responsibility.

Clairvoyant awareness of (possibly foundational) changes that are coming. If what you see is unsettling, try not to force your awareness on others or fortify yourself against the changes you see, as these behaviors can be experienced by others as beligerent.

Feeling "at home," either in one's literal space (office, house, etc.) or within one's self.

* * * *

Resource: Llewellyn's Free Online Tarot Readings. Years back when first exposed to online readings, it took me awhile to realize that they have a valuable position in the Tarot universe. When reading for myself, I go online when I suspect my vision is too clouded by the issue of inquiry to rely solely on my own responses.

Please see the top of the sidebar for my background with the Tarot and a recommendation to beginners.

‘til next time, keep feeling at home within yourself, and enjoying The Tarot,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for some articles about Tarot.****