Welcome to the year 2011! (Key space odyssey music, please!) The year 2011 is a number four year – one for defining ones direction, setting foundations, putting in the work, and getting results. You may recognise this energy as that of the Emperor, card number four in the Tarot. The year 2011 is also termed the year of the Emperor.
January 4th saw a New Moon in Capricorn, and a partial Solar Eclipse, also in the sign of Capricorn. This sign is all about doing the work, taking responsibility, and organisation. Grounding and centering is a natural activity for this earth sign. Discipline, structure and authority are keywords here.
Finding Focus In Your New Year
We are entering a new year, filled with new beginnings, new (and bigger!) dreams, and new directions along our path. (Once we find our path, it doesn’t change, but it does develop side-roads that help us see the bigger picture of life.) This is going to be a tremendous year, with the power of the Emperor behind us! January starts out with a heavy emphasis on Capricorn, which helps us to place intent and purpose behind our focus.
Setting goals is not something that we do only at the calendar new year – it can be done at the fiscal new year,on our birthday (a mark for our personal new year), or at any time there is a need to review and revise. Life tends to run just a tadmore smoothly when we (a) have a plan (i.e. set goals), and (b) when that plan works (i.e. we achieve our goals).
Setting Achievable Goals
Bottom line – we want to set goals that are achievable, that help us stay on our path and grow as individuals. Our goals should support our vision of who we are – not someone else’s vision. We need to be able to “own” our goals, rather than fearing them. (As in – “I will never be able to achieve that!) To own our goals, they have to be based on our personal belief system, and on our own values. As our belief system and personal values become more fine tuned, so do the goals that we set.
Break your goals down into bite sised increments – short term, mid-term and long term. Check your progress along the way, and fine tune as necesary. Areas that we routinely set goals in are:
- finances
- career
- home
- family
- spirituality
- personal nurturing
Write your goals down, and form a clear vision in your mind about what you want to achieve with each specific goal, and how your life willbe changed when you achieve this goal. Create a storyboard – a visual picture of your goal. Sketch in the components yourself,or, if you are a non-artist like me, print pictures out from the Intenet, or cut them from magaines. What you do, and how big you make it, is up to you. The idea here is to create a tool that will help you to see just what your goal is going to accomplish for you. How it will change your life.
Achieving Your Goals
These are the steps that I take to achieving my goals. You may want to revise this to reflect the steps that are most comfortable for you.
- Set your goal.
- Commit to your goal.
- Visualie your goal in as much depth as you can.
- Set the steps that will need to be taken to achieve your goal.
- Break the steps down into smaller steps, so that you will see what you are manifesting as you are manifesting it.
- Review your progress on a regular basis..
- Fine tune your goal as necessary.
Meditation With The Emperor
One way to bring the energy of the Emperor strongly into our being is to meditate on the card itself. Go through your decks and find the imagery that you most connect with (or print the card from the Intenet, if you do not have the deck). Set aside time to do the meditation- between fifteen and thirty minutes is a good place to start. You can meditate inside or outside – pick somewhere that you will be comfortable, where there will be minimal to no noise, and where you will not be disturbed. Be sure to seat yourself comfortably, preferably with your feetflaton the floor.
A very simple meditation would be to prop the card up where you will see it, light a candle (if you wish), play some instrumental only background music (if you wish), and focus on the card. Picture yourself entering the card, introduce yourself to the Emperor, and quietly listen to what he has to say. When he is done talking, thank him. Ask him if he has any questions for you. If so, respond to them. If not, come back out of the card and bring your consciousness into yourselfas you are seated in yur chair.Movearound a bit until you are sure you are firmly back in reality, then write down in your journal what the Emperor had to say to you.
You may choose to do a slightly more formal meditation. You set the meditation up as before, but take time to make a list of (a) qualities that the Emperor carries,and (b) in what ways you need his energy. Some of the qualities that you might want to list are patience, perseverence, attention to detail, organiation, implimentation and stability. This gentleman moves us away from procrastination into a world of movement and manifestation.
As you enter the card the card, introduce yourself to the Emperor, and ask to speak to him. Explain your goal(s), and in what way you need his energy. Ask him how to best impliment his energy in your life. When he is done talking, ask him if he has any questions for you. If he does, respond to them. When you are ready, come back out of the card and into the room you started out in. Write in your journal any messages that the Emperor had for you. Spend a few minutes allowing the energy of these messages to become one with you.
Wishing you all a new year filled with joy, abundance, peace and
prosperity. Remember that you are a co-creator in your own life, and that the energy of the Emperor is yours for the asking!
Bonnie Cehovet – has written 21 posts on Tarot Elements.
Bonnie Cehovet is a Certified Tarot Grand Master, a professional Tarot reader with over twelve years experience, a Reiki Master/Teacher and a writer.
