Comparative Tarot 05: The Hierophant

[Rose Lalonde]

The Hierophant

 

Please see the discussion thread if you'd like some background about the study group.

 

If you post about more than one deck, please add a separate post below for each to make it easier to index. You can write about the same deck someone else did.

 

As a visual start, here are the TdM Pierre Madenie, the RWS, and the Thoth. (You don't have to compare your deck with these, though, if you have another deck in mind.)

 

If you'd like to add a small image of the card you're discussing that would be great. If not we can google it.

 

Feedback on comments about this card are welcome here! For general questions and suggestions, please use the discussion thread.

 

 

Divina Tarot

Green Witch Tarot

Slow Holler Tarot

Victorian Fairy

[Lantana]

I absolutely love the Hierophant and think it's a more dynamic and interesting card than people give it credit for, so expect to see me in this thread a lot!

 

Today I'll talk about the depiction from the Slow Holler, titled The Guild:

 

 

This card sidesteps almost all religious symbolism to avoid the negative connotations people often have with this card. I usually don't like when that happens, being a polytheist with an interest in religious studies myself, but with the nature of this deck I can understand that choice. Slow Holler is a deck focusing on queer and southern culture, and for many of us in either (or both) groups, religious community had a very negative influence in our lives.

 

The removal of religious imagery also lets us delve into the more secular ideas of this card: our place in a group. The keyword "conformity" often shows up for this card, and many interpret this card as representing what society and culture at large instill in us. Sometimes though, I think we ignore the smaller collectives we are also a part of when we look at this card. Your school, work, religious group, neighbourhood, social circles... All of these are also represented here. Even if you are the most left of the dail counter-culture off the grid fellow on the block, you still belong to some sort of community and find yourself influenced by that culture.

 

Whether or not this influence is for better or for worse depends on context. This card is neutral, just as most (if not all) cards in the Tarot are. The group in question could be a great source of growth and comradery, or it could be suffocating you in ways you don't realize. It could very well be both! These are the forces at play and the questions to ask yourself when this card pops up in a reading.

 

Sadly the Slow Holler guidebook doesn't go into the symbolism in the card art, due to it being a collaborative deck I suppose, so I'll try my best to describe what I see within the card. The circle above the triple cross looks like a moon to me, though it's hard to tell if it's a waxing or waning crescent. I want to believe waxing, relating to growth that a community can instill in a person. Opposite of that shape is an eye, which might symbolize the stifling surveillance that can happen in a community as well.

 

The flowers (I'll research what they are later) and cotton plants, along with the rain, again point to growth. However, the multi-colored rainshower brings to mind acid rain, which can symbolize toxic lessons we internalize from others, and cotton has a storied history in the South connected to systematic oppression and slavery. The cicada in the center of the image can symbolize community and the individual within (they're often heard in a chorus, but are often connected to symbols of personal growth) but also (according to Greek philosophers) liminality that connects to the more religious message of the Hierophant.

[GreenFaerie]

Lantana, thank you for such a lovely reading of the Slow Holler Guild card! This is a card that I have trouble with, for many of the reasons you've pointed out. Traditional religion rubs me very much the wrong way. I especially loved your point, though, about the smaller communities that everyone is a part of, and how those influence us.

 

The VFT card symbolizes this idea of small community, I think. The card has been renamed "The Vicar," and he sits in a circle with a group of fairies, both teaching them and listening to their stories. I love that everyone in this card is on a level plane, and the vicar is down with them, part of their community, exhibiting that he is there to guide them but not to be above them. He might keep the fairy lore and have knowledge of the ancient ways of doing things, but he also recognizes that he occupies a position of trust, and that he must show his love for his community and build bridges with them.

[GreenFaerie]

As I said up above, even this card - renamed "The High Priest" in the GWT - makes me a little uncomfortable, smacking as it does of male religious authority. But, I like the renaming. It reminds me that the Hierophant/High Priest is really the counterpart to the High Priestess. She is the moon, he is the sun; she works in the realm of intuition and dreams and secrets, he within the realm of tradition, ritual, and passing on knowledge.

 

It helps me, too, that a High Priest in the Wiccan or Witch tradition does not have the same functions as a priest in the Christian church. He, too, is there to serve others and the earth, to keep the laws of magic, to listen to nature, and to pass these things on to others so that they are not lost.  He does not seek to demean others, but to help them along their spiritual path. He brings light, comfort, and help to others. :)

[Lantana]

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53692a57e4b001c88f2cf926/57c0d83be6f2e148e8cd0f6b/57c0d86c2e69cfce277c9132/1472256111994/5The+Hierophant.jpeg?format=300w[/img]

 

This Hierophant is from the Divina Tarot (created by Mary Evans of Spirit Speak) and when I saw a preview of it, I knew I had to have this deck, because I felt like it perfectly encompasses the positive religious and spiritual messages of the card while getting away from the authoritative aspects that make many so uncomfortable.

 

The hierophant, in history, was a person who interprets the sacred and arcane and brings it down to others. It relates to hierophany, a manifestation of the sacred. The imagery here illustrates this quite well, as the beings tap into the spiritual above and bring it down to earth. They take the in-tangible and make it practical, accessible even, to the community they serve. There are many types of people in many types of religions who I see filling this kind of role. I love the inclusion of the plant, as perhaps a metaphor for helping someone grow or the kind of community service that many faiths see as important.