Tarot Without a Net: The Emperor

I am really enjoying getting to know the Heart of Stars Tarot deck by Thom Pham (used in the blog series with his permission). The idea of using modern movie and TV icons on the deck as he does is SO in my wheelhouse. Pop culture is a conceptual Rosetta Stone, a perfect analogy for communicating the more esoteric or arcane parts of Tarot.

I was totally fangirling over seeing a Star Wars image. I’ve been a Star Wars fan from the word go when Episode IV first hit the world back in ’77. Given that there is an actual Emperor in the movie it took a little squinting and staring to wrap my head around seeing Obi Wan on the Emperor card. The villain Emperor certainly wouldn’t work for the card, but at first blush I would have pegged Obi Wan more of a Hermit type, since we first meet him at his isolated home in the Tatooine desert. Fast forward to the scenes in the Millennium Falcon where Obi Wan is teaching Luke to use the force in light saber training, and the conversations he had with Luke as a Force ghost in later movies.

Every Jedi is an emperor. Every one of us is an emperor.

It isn’t explicit by any means, but think of Qwi Gon and the earlier Jedi in the prequals. Think of the independence, self-direction and responsibility. The Jedi counsel were harsh taskmasters in some respects. They had to hold each and every Jedi to account. Each and every Jedi was ultimately responsible for their actions. Each and every Jedi was the emperor of their own being and their own destiny and their own actions.

And so are we. We may not be able to control our external circumstances at all. Internal emotions are normal, natural, and are not meant to be stifled, suppressed or in themselves controlled. We DO have 100% control AND 100% responsibility for how we react to those external circumstances and internal emotions. What we do and chose in response to those things determine our destiny. We are the absolute Emperors over our internal world even as we work to be in harmony with external energies and our internal emotional pulls. We are the rulers and protectors of our actions, even if we strive to serve as the Jedi do.

Let’s see what the artist has to say about Obi Wan…

He says it’s Anthony Hopkins as Odin in the movie Thor.

Ah well, that makes sense in the leader / ruler context WAY more than Obi Wan Kenobi. I totally missed that. Funny, since I’ve seen Thor and am a big fan of Marvel Universe movies (sorry DC folks)

But I get the vibe. He adds a mentoring, paternal element, as Odin was Thor’s father. I guess Obi Wan is close, a surrogate father with a connection to Luke’s actual father. Either way….older male father figure lends stability,  & teaches us to be responsible leaders