An Arch-Druid's Musings. Divination Celtic Style.

I am majorly depressed.  Somehow the money I had counted on to make a rent payment to my landlady evaporated,  and I am unable to make even a token payment.  I need help from all my loyal clients to get me through this situation.  One good thing: Bunko de America paid the checks, which cost me $70 in fees which I can’t afford,  being on a small fixed income.  What I need is paid readings as soon as possible.  As of this writing, 10 June, Friday, I’ve had a few readings, but not nearly enough to get me out of this hole.  I estimate I need at least 20 readings in order to give some money to my landlady. As many of you know, I really don’t like to talk about these things, but my back is against the wall.  I just found out about the situation today.  Because of this situation, I’m going to be sending out 5 free minutes early,  perhaps as early as today.  It’s not lost on me that many of you are suffering from the same situation as I am.  I’ve been very ill with asthma the last few days, and until I received this news, I was actually beginning to feel better, but then I started wheezing again.  There is a fear of eviction if I don’t raise this money quickly enough.  I usually call myself 60 years old undead, and I really don’t need the stress and fear of losing my home of eight years.  I’m in my 11^th year here on KEEN, and I want to stay here, don’t want to lose my place here because I’ve been evicted.  I would like to take advantage of the new KEEN chat system, but my computer is still in the shop being worked on.  I’d also like to activate the email readings for reasonable rates, but I can’t, because my computer is in the shop, and I don’t know when I’ll get it back. 

I send you the free five minutes coupons with the understanding that you will use them to get a good start on a good reading.  It helps neither one of us if you have the reading stop at 5 minutes.  You won’t get as full a reading as you otherwise could have had, and I move that much closer to eviction.  It’s an incentive, not a license for a free reading.  There’s an old saying.  TANSTAAFL, which isn’t Dutch or Swedish.  It’s an acronym for there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.  A reading is an exchange of energy, and things are sorely out of balance if the energy only flows in one direction.  I am open to any of your suggestions for how to deal with this issue.  My house mate Tegwedd has suggested that I pay my rent the way she does, off the top of my SSI check.  I don’t know why I don’t do that, just stubborn I guess.   It’s only the 10^th of the month, so we’re still fairly early, we have time to raise the money, but I have to start now. 

Progress on the book is still delayed until I get the computer back, since those chapters are on it.  Tegwedd still has to finish the court cards chapter, then work on  the pip (numbered) cards, then the 5 Major Arcana, then she has to send them to the acquisitions editor, with a compelling cover letter.

Another money source that I still can’t tap into, would be my class action lawsuit against IMVU, for the money they’ve ripped off from me, and others.

The Emperor is the 5^th Trump or Major Arcana card.  The numbering started with 0, the Fool.  Most of what you see here will eventually appear in the book.  The Emperor, astrologically speaking, represents Aries, the 1^st sign of the zodiac.  The origins of this come from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the Builders of the Adytum, among other sources.  The Emperor is the 5^th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Heh or window.  I like to see this as windows of opportunity.  Because the Emperor is Aries, the 1^st sign of the zodiac, he brings a certain primal energy to the fore.  As Aries, he’s ruled by Mars, the Tower XVI.  Tegwedd just relapsed into her addiction to Roman numerals, but the lapse only lasted the few seconds it took to type XVI.  Because of the Mars connection, the Emperor is truly the image of a warrior king.  To give you some examples of what we mean by a warrior king, in the Druidcraft Tarot deck by Phillip Car-Gomm, Stephanie Carr-Gomm , and painted by Will Worthington.  In that deck, he is called “The Lord,” not the Emperor.  The Lord’s throne has the classic ram’s heads.  Under his regal robes, is scale armor, reminding us that he rules through force of arms.  His helm appears to be of a bronze color, adorned with stag antlers.  This shows a relationship with Cernuunos, or Herne, Lord of the forest, and the beasts.   In my opinion, you could also call the Lord the High King.  He wears a red cloak, swirling in the wind, held together with a Celtic brooch.  This red cape motif appears in many other decks.  Red is the color of Mars, Aries,  and is the color of blood.  As the ancient saying goes, “Blood is the life.”  In the ancient blood sacrifices, the blood was given to the gods, and the people ate the flesh.  Tegwedd is helping me with this post.  In other decks there is a shield or targe leaning against the throne, and the device on the shield is of a ram’s head.  His lower garment is green,  showing his connection to his consort the Empress, who is Venus.  The empress and the Emperor go along strongly with the concept of “opposites attract.”  The Empress is the Emperor’s complement.  He represents the beasts of the field and forest, she the abundant plant life that becomes part of our food, and the feed we feed our livestock.   In the background, an eagle flies.  The eagle is the symbol of Scorpio, which is ruled by both Mars and Pluto.   So there is also a connection with Trump XIII, Death, Scorpio.  As a warrior king, the Lord or Emperor deals in death.  Also there is an eagle embroidered onto the Fool’s pouch.  So there is a subtle connection with the Fool 0.  The eagle is also the symbol of Napoleon’s empire.  The eagle is also the symbol of the Roman empire, which we think is where Napoleon got it.  The eagle is also our national bird, the symbol of the American Empire.  The Druidcraft Tarot is not officially a Celtic deck.  I will give you an example.  Inscribed on his staff of power is the Norse rune Sowelo or Segil.  In this deck it’s a staff, but in other decks it’s a scepter, with a ram’s  head, or a Mars symbol.  The book goes along with my findings about the Lord or Emperor, and adds that he is also Arthur, and he isn’t just a king but very much a High King.  The authors call him “The Lord, as God in nature.”  (p.113) They equate him to the powers of Arthur Pendragon,  and they also equate him with Cernuunnos or Herne, Lord of the animals.  They go further and say that his number 4 face value connects him to Jupiter, which further connects him with the Wheel of Fortune X.  “It also equates him with Jupiter because of the Pictish symbol of the lightening bolt, which is Jove’s symbol, also the symbol of the Norse God Thor.”  Another significant connection is the Hebrew letter Heh, and what it means , “window.”   His consort the Empress is Daleth, the doorway.   These are two important parts of the house,  which is the Magician, Beth.  If you consider the houses of ancient times, that was pretty much the entire house.  As the Empress represents our physical mother, and ultimately the Great Mother Goddess, so does the Emperor represent our own physical father, and ultimately the Father God.  The aforementioned sentence is a paraphrasing of a quote from the excellent book that accompanies the DruidCraft Tarot, by Phillip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm.  Phillip Carr-Gomm is the head Druid of the famous OBOD, Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the oldest still extant Druid Order in the world.  We really like this book.  If you get the deck and the book (which can probably still be obtained at Amazon.com), read the book slowly so that you can really digest all the knowledge and lore in the book.  His wife, the capable Stephanie Carr-Gomm, probably kept him focused.   If you live locally, you can get it at Beer’s Books.   It was published by St. Martin’s Press, of New York.  St. Martin’s has done other Tarot decks as well. 

In my system, just as the Magician rules all the Knights/Princes, the High Priestess rules the Princesses, and the Empress rules the four Queens, the Emperor rules the 4 Kings or Lords.  The system is part of the Pentacle layout/system.  

I mentioned the Death XIII card before.  The Carr-Gomms say that the Deathcard personifies the Emperor/Lord in his necessary office of destructive force, the one who “culled, punished, or excluded” beings, both human and animal from his boundaries to protect his people and his herd.  The key words for  the Emperor/Lord are:  Upright:  Masculine power, fatherhood, structure, authority, leadership, protection, boundaries, accomplishment, order.  Reversed:  Loss of authority, lack of clarity, power struggles, indecision, dictatorship, weakness, lack of self-worth.  When I talk about the Legend:Arthurian Tarot by Maria Ferguson, there are 2 titles:  IV the Emperor, the other is Arthur Pendragon.  In her 2^nd book, the Emperor has 2 titles:  IV the Emperor again, it is Bran the Blessed.  Bran was the man-god whose sister Branwyn was sent across the Irish Sea to wed the Irish King Matholwch.  But Matholwch  was a weak king, who listened to his advisors without necessarily considering what their own agendas might be.  Branwen had a half-brother, Efnisien, who was a troublemaker was offended at not having been consulted in her marriage, so he mutilated the Irish horses.    Manawydan and Bran compensated Matholwych richly for the horses.  Branwen went with her husband’s  people to Ireland, and a year was passed in happiness.  She gave birth to a fine son.  But her husband’s greedy advisors wouldn’t quit needling him about how poorly they had been compensated for the loss of the horses.  He gave in to the pressure, and treated poor Branwen most heartlessly, consigning her to the scullery, where she had to cook for everyone.    She somehow got free of her treacherous husband’s clutches and returned to Wales.  Bran got killed trying to save his sister, and his grieving men and sister took his head back with them to Wales.  On the way, Bran’s head counseled them, and kept their spirits up, even though they were sunk in grief for the death of their brother and liege lord.  He was buried at the site of what would later become the Tower of London.  There he stayed, until Arthur dug him up, not wanting anyone to defend Britain but him.  This may be the underlying cause of Britain having been invaded so many times.  Who knows?  If Arthur had not dug up Bran’s head, perhaps the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans might not have invaded, Britain.  I’m not sure who came up with it, or where I read it, but one scholar called Bran the “Welsh or Cymric King of Kings.” 

To sum up, I’m in desperate straits.  My plan to pay my landlady $400 went up in smoke, when I discovered that instead of more than $400, I had only a little more than $100 in my account, so I need paid readings.  Just 20 paid readings would get me out of this mess.  As a result of this stress and the weather, my asthma has been acting up big time.  On a higher note, we are discussing the Emperor card this time.  In the DruidCraft deck, the Emperor card is also Cernunnos,  Lord of the Beasts of both the field and forest, while his consort, the Empress , is lady of the crops. While she is Daleth, the doorway, he is Heh, the window.  In the Legend Tarot, the Emperor is Arthur, in the Llewellyn Tarot, he is Bran the Blessed, and we discussed the story behind this personage.  My house-mate Tegwedd advanced the theory that had Arthur not disinterred the head of Bran, Britain might not have been invaded as many times as she was, because the head of Bran would have been there to protect her. 

Well, this is my blog for this week.  You be good, call me for readings, and Peace!  Peace!  Peace!  And if you’re hungry, feast!  Feast!  Feast!