How Tarot has become my teacher and spiritual mentor
I am lucky I’m a tarot reader and am therefore immersed in the Tarot. The insight, wisdom and guidance it offers me and my clients never fail to amaze.
If there was one card I had to choose to represent these qualities it would be the Heirophant. Although the Hermit is my favourite card because of its message to ‘follow the path that is right for you’, the Hierophant is the conduit of moral values, wisdom and sacred knowledge. A conduit from ‘the heavens’.
Huge credit goes to Pamela Coleman Smith for her extraordinary illustrations of the Rider Waite tarot deck that reveal the meaning of each card.
The Hierophant always speaks to me first, of Moral Purpose. For years I started my daily meditation with the intention to connect to the Divine in order to be in/of service to …..‘my purpose’, to love, joy, the universe, humanity…..you get the drift.
In my mind the Hierophant is about the marriage between the self and something greater than ourselves, our sense of purpose, our connection to Spirt and the mystery of life, and therefore speaks to being ‘of service’ to a partnership that exists between my earthly self and, perhaps the Soul, my higher power/the Divine/Gaia/the universe.
It is also known as the Marriage card representing the partnership of Holy matrimony, when two people who pledge their troth to each other ‘till death do us part’ under the auspice of religious conventions and doctrines. It represents social structures that an established in well tried tradition
It turns out I am a very traditional person and have ingrained ideas about the authority of the church …..very Hierophant…..another good example of the Hierophant is the medical profession, its partnership with the morality of the hypocritical oath combined with well established traditional healing methods, and orthodox methods of healing.
In the card, the Pope or Spiritual leader (representing our representative, a conduit of sacred knowledge) blesses two acolytes. Their robes suggest different lineages, the rose for the Tudors, the lillies the Lancasters or perhaps the French emblem fleur de lis reminding us that this knowledge is transmitted from our ancestors and their lineage.
This is the second time I have received this card on the same issue and I persist in meeting the card initially with all its traditional values missing an essential missing key. Ironically hinted at by the crossed keys at the feet of the pope-like figure that dominates this card. The keys are at his feet, suggesting that any mortal may pick up the keys and unlock this sacred knowledge.
The triple crown of the Hierophant indicates connection with mind body spirit, faith hope charity, inner outer and superconsciousness.
The symbol is in the long lappets from the headdress hanging behind the Heirophant’s ears. They point to his super power of listening. Inner listening,
The Hierophant reminds us to listen to an inner voice that speaks when we are quiet, of an inner knowing. A key understanding is that we have the knowledge within us.
We are teachers and mentors ourselves and able to access and impart wisdom by listening to our inner voice. We are the conduits of our ancestors and lineage.
Do come and have a tarot reading with me online or come to battersea for an in person reading. Both connect to the divining power of Tarot.