Taking up space does not come easily to me.
Regardless of how loudly I’m yelling at the time.

I skip words like stones across a pond
To see how many I can set free
before they sink.

Breath is life
and power.
Breath is intention
and desire.

Be fearless.
Speak the thing into being.
Write it on your heart and whisper it
if need be
but give it form.
Give it fullness.
Give it life beyond what’s expected.
What you’ve been told is allowed.
What you’ve been told is proper.
Redefine what it is
to rule.

~~~~~

Today’s deck is one that wasn’t in the original lineup. The reason is because it’s a majors only deck but fingers crossed they do the minors because this deck is lush and beautiful. It’s the Temperance Tonics Tarot with art by Cindy Fan by and I love it. And honestly, bumping Edward Dulac and his weird dark edgy fairy tale cards isn’t the worst thing. He’s dead, he didn’t even know he was a contender. And similarly bumping Salvador Dali’s deck in lieu of one that celebrates diversity, queerness, and women seems so appropriate smack dab as we are in the midst of lesbian visibility week.

The Emperor was a card I never really connected with until one weird day when someone spoke of his relationship with the Empress, which is a card I love. It suddenly occurred to me that they were consorts, and that changed everything. Yes I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me sooner, it seems really silly in hindsight. But I just saw the Emperor as this stoic sort of militaristic dudebro, who came along in the deck right before the Hierophant, another card I wasn’t really excited about.
But given the context of his being the foil to the Empress, well, she wouldn’t waste her time on someone who didn’t have some pretty solid qualities. So that helped shift my thinking a bit. The Emperor comes up for me a lot, often with some really interesting questions.
My favourite and the one I return to the most?

Who rules you?