Rí: Irish-King
Creating order out of chaos, authority, leadership, strength, establishing law and order. The carvings on the wall bear the symbols of the domain, and of dominion. The eagle rises above mountains and sea, night and day, and all the earthly creatures bow. But even though the imagery of the carvings may be magnificent, still a wall is a man-made edifice; man’s measure and means of controlling the wildness of the world by attempting to carve it into unchanging stone. The Emperor is a man rooted in his ways and views and regimens, but confident that this is the right and way of things; structure.
This card is suggestive of stability and security in life. You are on top of things and everything in under your control. It is your hard work, discipline and self control that have bought you this far. It means that you are in charge of your life now setting up your own rules and boundaries.-Traditional Tarot Interpretation
On my altar is a stone from Authur’s Seat in Edinburgh. I spent a week there in 2017 with some good friends to see the Beltane Fire Society perform Samhain, something I’ve wanted to see since 2005 when I saw the pictures online from National Geographic.
We hiked Arthur’s Seat around 3 am ON Samhain night with total stranger’s we’d met at the festival and I found this stone in the dark on our way back after enjoying a night view of the entire city and the castle. Thinking about mythic Kings and how many kings this ancient site had seen rise and fall in power, I keep the rock to remind me of this trip but also my duty to my own sovereignty.
The structure of right relationship, the constant methodical work or every day devotion is something that I’ve become acutely aware of recently. I’ve enjoyed developing these daily meditations between work and sleep and feel that they are strengthening the bounds between myself and the Morrigan.