It was almost one month to this day that we shared our last entry in this series, highlighting the High Priestess as a Guardian to the Water Gate. In that post, we speculated that The High Priestess contained keys to a path that, if followed, would lead to unlocking hidden faculties and a greater sense of awareness. Today, we will continue with that exploration, diving straight through the gates of The Emperor into the land of Fire. Of course, if you’re feeling a bit lost, you may want to go back and read the full introductory post. Now is also a good time to remind readers that these are just ideas and in no way are we making any definitive claims. This is just one way of many to understand tarot and we hope others find it interesting and resonant.

We are delighted to share our newest Musickal Meditation, designed in the essence of The Emperor! This series is rolling along much quicker than anticipated. As it stands now, we have the next 4 Major Arcana sampled and ready for mastering. I suppose that is a testament to the energy available when a project feels really aligned.

As with all meditations, you may opt to simply enjoy the music on its own, or work with some of the suggestions provided to perform a fuller ritual. We do hope you enjoy the sounds! We will be updating the YouTube page regularly as we add more tracks as well as storing all links on a separate page of this site, so they are easy to find! Keep reading to learn more about connecting with The Emperor.

The pillared cards in tarot are among the most fascinating. They act as gateways or portals to elsewhere...but where do they lead? What lies beyond their veil? In what way should we approach them? And how may we be granted access?

When we first decided we would write about the pillared cards in tarot, we did so with the intention of producing one article with our speculations and explorations. But we've realized that there is more to say than can be contained in a single post and so this will be at least a 5 part series, starting with this one, an introduction to the whole scheme.

What are the pillared cards in tarot? Simply put, they are the Major Arcana cards which feature a central figure sitting between 2 pillars. There are 3 which are obvious - The High Priestess, The Hierophant, and Justice. But examining these 3 cards, the set feels incomplete. A reliable structure, after all, is typically defined by its 4 posts. As well, we have only 3 of the 4 elements represented, so it stands to reason we’re missing a fourth. The elements so far accounted for are water, earth, and air - so, where’s the fire?

This is the third edition of our series “Reading In The Flow: Cards in Combination”. If you missed the first two posts (can be found via Resources), “Reading In The Flow” is a term I use to describe taking a bird’s eye view of a spread in order to observe all the ways in which the cards interact.

Similar to the last combination, I will be working with my partner Tim to break down the possibilities within a set of 3 cards. We will explore elemental distribution, note-worthy observations, how the cards Qabalistically correlate, and what the message may be with all things considered.

The three cards we’ll be using for today’s exercise came about through “random” shuffle. They are The Emperor, the 8 of Cups, and the 2 of Cups (again!). I have arranged them sequentially in a horizontal manner and have not ascribed a question or positional meanings. This is a general reading where the cards are meant to be read in tandem.

Similar to the last time, I am asking readers to take a step back and observe the landscape at large. Consider what is similar about the cards, what is different, how they interact, what the figures are posturing, the colours, repeated imagery or anything else that stands out! There are no right or wrongs about this approach. Bring in any elements you personally work with (numbers, astrology etc.) whether I’ve mentioned them or not. This isn’t about guessing what I’m going to see, it’s about expanding your own unique vision. So, take a look at the image below, and using the prompts above, note what you observe!

2020 was a collective year 4, which we arrive at by adding the digits of the year together and reducing until we have a single one. In this case, 2+0+2+0 equals 4, which is associated with The Emperor among other things. There is much that can be said about what The Emperor meant for our year and how we could apply its lessons. I wrote a good chunk about this in my 2021 Personal Year Guide which you can still grab if you want to know more about the collective and personal energies for the coming year.

The Emperor, besides its obvious implications around building foundations, enforcing stability, creating boundaries and understanding authority - harbors another auspicious aspect, and that is its relationship to vision. The Hebrew letter associated with The Emperor is heh, which translates to window, and the physical sense associated with this key is that of sight. The year 2020 (as in, 2020 vision) may be interpreted as one where we had the opportunity, even through challenge and chaos, to see with more clarity. Yes, there were many distractions and a lot of the outside vying for our attention - but beyond this, what else were you able to glimpse? In the comfort (or discomfort) of our personal homes (houses as well as bodies) maybe we had the chance to look out and witness things about ourselves or our worlds that we haven’t noticed before.