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Divination & Tarot:
The Illuminated Journey:
Tarot Profiles of the U.S. Presidential Candidates:
Rick Perry
by Beth Owl's Daughter
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Welcome as we continue our examination of the leading American Presidential candidates from the viewpoint of their Tarot birth card profiles.
Beth's previous articles for :
Barack Hussein Obama
Mitt Romney
This month we explore a Tarot personality that is in vivid contrast to last month’s Hermit/Moon profile of Mitt Romney.
Rick Perry, until recently one of the strongest frontrunners among the Republican candidates for President, was born March 4, 1950. That makes him the very interesting and unsurprising combination of The Emperor/The Fool/Death.
If you’ve been reading my previous columns, you know that by adding up the month, day and year of birth and then reduce the sum, the resulting numbers correspond to the cards of the Tarot Major Arcana. This reveals what I call a person’s Tarot profile.
Because I use the method taught by Angeles Arrien and Mary K. Greer, in Perry’s case that would be 3 + 4 + 1,950 = 1,957. Then 1+9+5+7=22.
As you may know, the Major Arcana cards are numbered from zero (The Fool) through twenty-one (The World). Because no combination of numbers can ever reduce to zero, and because he is not only the Alpha, but the Omega of the journey, The Fool is frequently considered Trump card 22.
Thus, Rick Perry’s Personality card is The Fool. Of course, 22 further reduces to 4. The single-digit card that the birth date reduces to is the Soul Card, so Perry’s Soul Card is The Emperor. Therefore, he is the (22) Fool/ (4) Emperor profile.
In addition, the Tarot profile of the Emperor has a Shadow card, sometimes called the Teacher Card. This card is the other possible combination between 1 and 22 that could reduce to the Soul Card of 4. That would, of course, be card number 13, the Death card.
The Soul Card reflects the steady, golden thread of your inner self and the soul work that you are working on in this life. The Personality Card indicates your more fluid personality traits as they change and as you grow with this life’s experiences. And the Shadow/Teacher card shows us the hidden factors of our deep self. These are influences that challenge us, and therefore, ultimately have the potential to be our greatest Teachers.
The goal of our soul’s journey, of course, is to integrate and bring into harmony all of our facets, even when they seem to be in conflict.
The Emperor/Fool combination is not an easy one to reconcile, for it is marked by strongly contradictory attitudes and values. In my experience, Emperor/Fool people often have clearly defined life phases where they switch from Fool to Emperor, perhaps even swinging back and forth many times. They may also attempt to handle both parts of their nature simultaneously by firmly locking their Fool side away from their Emperor aspect.
Emperor Rick Perry
As you may recall, in August http://www.themetaarts.com/2011august/bethowlsdaughter.html
and September,
http://www.themetaarts.com/2011september/bethowlsdaughter.html
I wrote a two-part article about The Emperor of the Tarot because this is the Tarot year of the Emperor (2011 reduces to 4).
The Emperor represents the highest authority of earthly power. His is the mastery of worldly success, and he is the supreme commander of family and fortune.
Never one to rest on his laurels, The Emperor continues to wear his armor under his ruling mantle, ever prepared for, and perhaps longing for, battle.
Despite the severity of his expression in the R-W-S deck, I believe that the Emperor is an idealist. He is, after all, the core of that beautiful dreamer personality that is his other profile aspect -- The Fool.
Rick Perry is an almost perfect example of the Emperor. Ambitious, with high ideals, he is a self-made man from very humble beginnings. He even served in the military, joining the Cadet Corps while in college.
The Houston Chronicle writes of him, “He’s an Eagle Scout. An Aggie, not a Yalie, so he’s got more street cred than George W. Bush. And as a ‘yell leader’ at A&M, he assumed one of the highest-profile roles on campus…
“He’s been known to carry a gun while jogging, wear cowboy boots with a tuxedo and gather a crowd of 30,000 to pray. Perry is a winner, having never lost an election in a state that’s bigger than France. And at 6-1, he fits the mold of the long, tall Texan.” (1)
Like most emperors of history, who unite and rule their warring petty kings, Rick Perry’s candidacy has been especially effective in uniting the most fractious elements of the right wing, including apocalyptic, evangelical Christians, Tea Party members, and fiscal conservatives.
He galvanized these groups by positioning himself as strongly anti-tax, anti-big government, pro-business, anti-abortion, evangelical, tough on crime (he vetoed a ban on the executions of mentally retarded prisoners in 2002), and an outspoken denier of global warming. (2)
And true to his Soul Card, he makes the rules and he breaks them when it suits him. For instance, he started his political career as a Democrat and was even the Texas chair for the 1988 Al Gore Presidential campaign.
With typical Emperor savvy, he learned from that failed cause and one year later he switched parties, getting himself elected as the Republican Texas Agricultural Commissioner. That switch served him well, as it led to his election as Lieutenant Governor under George W. Bush. After Bush was elected President, Perry became Governor of Texas, where he has remained, making him the longest consecutively serving governor in Texas history.
Ever the Emperor strategist, Perry justifies his years as a Democrat by positioning himself as “one of millions of conservative Reagan Democrats.” Further down his own biography page, he notes that he is now a “Reagan Republican.” (3)
Emperor people are usually fascinated with power – how to acquire it, how to wield it, how it flows and how to hang on to it. His decade of executive leadership is one of his strongest selling points. And Emperor people tend live big, think big, and play big – an attitude right at home in the famously big state of Texas.
They also may have trouble conceding defeat, unless it is a strategic move to ultimately win the day. Although his popularity has slipped, don’t look for Rick Perry to give up this race any time soon. The Emperor is a warrior king who is often driven by a powerful sense of destiny.
So it is not surprising that Rick Perry told Time Magazine in August that he felt “very calm in my heart that this is what I'm supposed to be doing." (4)
Perhaps it is this sense of his sacred calling that has endeared him to the radical theocratic movements like New Apostolic Reformation (5) and the evangelical American Family Association. (6)
Lastly, one of the nearly universal characteristics of Emperors that I have found is that they are fiercely independent. They are unimpressed by systems that favor seniority and often find it very difficult for to work under someone else.
They need lots of autonomy, and decision-making is their strength. While they can collaborate and cooperate with those who have earned their respect or admiration, the chain of command for its own sake is mystifying and even infuriating to many Emperors.
Authority and leadership are as natural and necessary to them as the air they breathe. They have a deep need to be the alpha in most situations, and would much rather be the boss than the employee.
Again, Rick Perry bears this out.
“Perry is a ‘no’ man,” writes James Hoggard, an author and English professor at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls.
“He fits into what Stuart Chase, a political economist, called ‘no’ men and ‘yes’ men. ‘No’ men tend to be associated with a rural or an agrarian society, which means they’re farmers and they’re going to be working by themselves as opposed to in groups, the way people in towns work. ‘Yes’ men – town men – think more in terms of cooperation and pooling ideas.” (7)
And of course, what could be more Emperor-like than his dislike of having to answer to the Federal government? Perry did not disagree when it was suggested that Texas secede and become a sovereign nation. That would naturally put him at its head. (8)
In Walks the Fool
Emperor people who have The Fool as their Personality card, as is the case for Perry, are a study in contrasts.
The Fool is often associated with spontaneity, playfulness, risk-taking, and naiveté. Its energy is very creative, adventurous, and sees things as simple. The Fool just wants to follow his bliss. Their lifetime challenge is to nurture the courage to be who they truly are, without pretense.
But of Fool/Emperors, author Mary K. Greer writes, “You always live with the paradoxical nature of wisdom and foolishness. Your purpose is to establish self-control and set the standards in your field, yet you must be prepared to admit ignorance, cast your fate to the winds, and make wild leaps of divine inspiration.”
She points to Sally Nichols’ view of The Fool in Jung and the Tarot, noting, “‘The job of the fool is to remind us of our folly and keep us from hubris – overwhelming pride.’ But few 22-4s have the wisdom to play the fool with grace and humility.” (9)
As Greer also notes, many Fool/Emperors are surprisingly youthful in their attitude and appearance. Rick Perry, of course, is known for his handsome features, with political columnist, the late Molly Ivins, dubbing him “Governor Goodhair.”
As I mentioned earlier, often, Emperor/Fools will often manage their two contrasting personas by separating them into different chapters of life. They may also reserve some aspects of their lives for the lighthearted Fool aspect, keeping it strictly separated from their Emperor life.
The way I most often see this played out is that they will indulge in “youthful folly,” and then spend their adult years discarding that time, opting instead to be more serious, settled and conservative.
In his early life, we can certainly see Perry’s Fool aspect. He admitted in a 1989 interview, “I was probably a bit of a free spirit, not particularly structured real well for life outside of a military regime. I would have not lasted at Texas Tech or the University of Texas. I would have hit the fraternity scene and lasted about one semester." (10)
Although he became an Eagle Scout, he was also a “yell leader” (the male equivalent of a cheerleader) at Texas A&M. He was well-known there for his ingenuity as a practical joker and his disdain for the pecking order of upper class members.
“Rick chose his targets pretty carefully,” fellow classmate and political crony John Sharp told the Abilene Reporter-News in a 1989 interview. “If he chose you, it was a pretty good clue that everybody else hated you, too. Perry just did it with a lot more style.”
On one occasion, Perry put live chickens in the closet of an upperclassman and left them there during Christmas break. “You can just imagine the smell,” Sharp said. “Needless to say, he didn’t mess with Perry again.” (10)
Although he has moved on to more serious matters as Governor of Texas, has his Fool persona made a comeback?
His recent speech in New Hampshire has been characterized as rambling, giddy, and nearly incoherent. In fact, it was so strange, some political observers have speculated he was drunk or on pain medication. He has denied that and simply said he was just kidding around and otherwise, it was a typical speech. It might not be typical for most Presidential campaigners, but for a Fool Personality, perhaps it was. (11)
And then of course, as this article was going to publication, he made a complete Fool of himself during the Nov. 9 nationally televised GOP debate in Michigan by failing to be able to recall the third of the three of the government agencies he’s been promising to abolish. (It was the Department of Energy). Although everyone was laughing as if it was a joke, the failure was a colossal gaffe from which he may not recover.
The Delicate Dance with Death
Fool/Emperor people do not like thinking about Death. Of course, few folks do, but they really don’t. Physical death is not problematic in theory, because as an Emperor, in their grand scheme of things, other people may sometimes be dispensable. And they naturally accept the facts and rules of “How Life Is.”
But unless 22/4s successfully integrate the lessons of their Shadow card, the concept of personal oblivion is shocking. The prospect most disturbing is the loss of their control, their ego and conscious awareness. They would do almost anything to avoid thinking about such things.
Hence, those spiritual paths that promise the least abstract or complicated kind of afterlife may be the most compelling. Some opt for pure atheism: forget the God myth. You die. That’s it. Let’s talk about something else.
Others might embrace those creeds that promise the most fundamental, literal afterlife. In fact, the less Fool/Emperors have to think about such ethereal matters, the better.
This would certainly be right in line with Rick Perry’s 2006 declaration that the Bible is inerrant and that those who do not accept Jesus as their personal savior would be going to hell. No muss, no fuss.
As a Soul teacher, Death is one of the best. People are often driven to greatness by their issues around their own mortality. So when the lessons of Death are integrated well, Fool/Emperors can be more far-seeing than most, and more disciplined about their priorities.
But without making peace with one’s personal mortality, Death all too easily becomes the enemy. Fool/Emperor profiles can end up in a vain struggle to fight and overcome Death.
They may become obsessed with denying Death. They long to feel they are immortal, whether that is through overindulgence in pleasures, death-defying behavior or religious carte blanche. Doing so, they may become inured to the suffering of others.
Was this a component when Rick Perry declared in the September 7 GOP debate that he hasn’t lost a minute of sleep while overseeing the executions of 234 people in Texas?
This includes, of course, the notorious case where he directly intervened to interrupt the exculpatory forensic process, replaced three members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, and kept the execution moving forward. Perry refused a stay of execution, despite mounting evidence favoring the innocence of the accused. (12)
But if embraced instead as a Teacher, Death can help them realize that by coming to peaceful terms with this one inevitable fact of existence and by releasing their fears around its ultimate form of loss of control, they can achieve true, permanent liberation.
Then their spirits can be truly free, and the greatness they long for, and of which they are truly capable, is at last possible.
(1) http://blog.chron.com/rickperry/2011/08/perrys-rugged-texan-image-can-send-conflicting-message/
(2) http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/rickperry.html#ixzz1d81p0VrG
(3) http://www.rickperry.org/about)
(4) http://articles.cnn.com/2011-08-11/politics/perry.gop.appeal_1_perry-tea-party-fiscal-conservatives?_s=PM:POLITICS
(5) http://www.npr.org/2011/10/03/140946482/apostolic-leader-weighs-religions-role-in-politics
(6) http://www.afa.net/
(7) http://blog.chron.com/rickperry/2011/08/perrys-rugged-texan-image-can-send-conflicting-message/
(8) http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21295.html
(9) Tarot Constellations, Patterns of Personal Destiny © 1987, New Castle Publishing. Revised and republished in 2011 as Who Are You in the Tarot: Discover Your Birth and Year Cards and Uncover Your Destiny, Red Wheel/Weiser Books, by Mary K. Greer
(10) http://www.texastribune.org/texas-people/rick-perry/perry-aggie-years/
(11) http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/nh-republican-leaders-defend-perry-speech-no-reason-to-suspect-he-was-under-the-influence/2011/11/03/gIQATf9wiM_story.html
(12) http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/laura-chapin/2011/09/09/rick-perrys-death-penalty-record-is-nothing-to-brag-about |
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Beth Owl's Daughter,
Internationally recognized author, teacher and leader in the Tarot community.
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For nearly four decades, Beth Owl's Daughter has been a practicing seer and guide in the non-ordinary realms. After being fascinated by the I Ching and astrology (calculating charts by hand, mind you, and with a life-long aversion to math!), one day in 1972, Beth stumbled upon the first Tarot deck she had ever seen: the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot.
It was love at first sight, and evidently the feeling was mutual, because ever since, the Tarot has been a profound, lifelong friend and guide for her and for those with whom she shares her gifts.
Beth Owl's Daughter [http://www.
owlsdaughter.com]
* is a member of the American Tarot Association, Tarot Professionals and the Tarot Association of the British Isles.
* is an internationally recognized author, teacher and leader in the Tarot community. She has published many articles, reviews and columns about the Tarot, served as ethics columnist for the debut issue of Tarot World Magazine, and has been featured in many radio interviews and podcasts.
* serves on the Board of Directors for Cherry Hill Seminary, the world’s first and only graduate-level education for Pagan ministry.
* is founder and organizer of one of the world’s oldest and largest Tarot social groups.
Beth is a trained, full-time intuitive, an Usui Reiki practitioner, and an eclectic Witch practicing in the Reclaiming and Faerie traditions of the Craft. She is also an award-winning blogger: http://www.owlsdaughter.
com/owls-wings .
She has extensive "real world" business experience, having worked for many years in management, career development, information technology, and as a professional writer. For this reason, she is passionate about teaching people to use the tools of ancient wisdom for practical, modern applications.
She offers readings readings and workshops for motivated, creative people who are reaching for high standards of personal excellence and who understand that to live deeply, joyfully and in balance is a form of spiritual service.
Beth Owl's Daughter will spark your sacred wisdom and connect you to your heart-centered power and vision.
Awaken your dreams, focus your creativity, and manifest your vision.
Web:
www.owlsdaughter.com
Email: beth@owlsdaughter.com
Blog:
www.owlsdaughter.com/
owls-wings
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