Stories of the Tableau 4
Emperor – Justice – Moon; Community Building
Bringing order to chaos is no easy task. Organizing diverse interests into a synergistic collective is fraught with difficulties. It requires an agreed upon set of rules and guidelines so everyone involved understands the limitations they can work within. It also requires an agreed upon set of consequences so everyone has a fair understanding of what happens when they choose to act outside the rules and guidelines. Then it requires an agreed upon task force to uphold those rules and guidelines. This collective understanding works best when all involved are treated with respect and all involved treat everyone else with respect. This is the only way a large number of diverse people can live together in harmony.
The success of the community requires the collective to hold a higher common goal. The job of the Emperor is to help set and remember that common goal, to help the collective come to an agreement of the rules and guidelines and then to support the ability to implement the agreements fairly. It is not the Emperor’s job to set the rules but it is his job to enforce them. Luckily his hand is guided by mercy so there is compassion while enacting justice. These are the requirements for good governance. The Emperor wears armour as he is prepared to fight for his collective and do what is necessary to help them reach their goal.
People are creatures of community. When we are directed by a common goal we work well together. This can be seen by the vast civilizations we have created and the amazing things we have done together. Man stepped upon the Moon for the first time because a great Emperor managed to get his nation to focus upon that goal. The Moon card talks about being able to reach beyond our limitations to achieve great things. It may seem like a dark and difficult time but that is just a side effect of stepping outside our comfort zone into the unknown. It is the pictographic story within the Moon card that tells us that we have evolved out of the primordial soup (crawfish) into a collective tribal mentality (dog and wolf) then into civilization (two towers) then onto the Moon. When a civilization is directed by a fair and honest Emperor (leader/government) who understands the importance of Justice and that he is in service to his people, we can accomplish wonderful things.
Today I contemplate our collective civilization. As much as civilization needs strong leadership it also needs participating citizens. The only way leaders know what to do is for us to tell them. If collectively we were to choose to save the planet we could do it, but the leaders need to know that this is what we want. Mobilize your voice through your vote. In North America less than 35% of us enact our right vote. No wonder we are in such a mess. No wonder big business and lobby groups are able to buy our leaders. If we expect our leaders to do better then we also need to do better.
