From the Anna K Tarot, the Emperor; from the Meditation Cards, Heart Centered:
The Emperor knows that every person and society needs some guard rails if they are to make progress without continuous setbacks. His solution is law and order, truth or consequences. But the black and white tiles in this card imply how easy it can be to slide from guidance to rigid control and black and white thinking. Today is my sixtieth birthday, and I feel this Emperor offers me some wise advice. The physical changes that come as the result of aging (as well as the prospect of death) can easily make a person who has no control over these things develop an inflexible perspective. A hard-line stance can give the illusion of being in charge and temporarily soothe the ego when life feels unstable and uncertain. Yet Heart Centered pulls me back to reality with a quote from Al-Suhrawardi:
If words come out of the heart, they will enter the heart, but if they come from the tongue, they will not pass beyond the ears.
This life, with all its joy and suffering, invites me to reach out to others rather than push them away. Such connections are what help us all stay sane and open-hearted on the journey. In the words of Ram Dass, "We’re all just walking each other home."
