V The Hierophant--Archeon Tarot

FaerieStorm

This is quite an eclectic hierophant! He's got it all: runes, candles, chalices, clergy robes, a crown.... Lantz broke down the up-tight image of the Hierophant and turned him into something everyone can relate to. He looks much like a priest or a king, but he's clearly much more: he's a Gypsy, a Psychic, a Priest, a Wizard, and a Healer. He's everything a Hierophant should be: the embodiment of Spirit in physical form.

A full moon floats to his lower left--which suggests that he has more connections with magick and mysticism than for which we give him credit. Furthermore, he seems to have something of a halo around his head, which suggests a level of divine guidance and wisdom. He kinda looks sad, though. Maybe his wisdom has brought him to many conclusions that are disillusioning and sobering (most of us could name a few).

All in all, I find Lantz's Hierophant to be a nice balance of tradition and New Age thought.

Thanks, FS.
 

FaerieStorm

I can't believe I'm answering myself!! But anyway...

I just realized that Lantz chose the rune Hagalaz, which might give some indication was to why the Hierophant looks stern or sad: he just found out something bad is gonna happen--or that it already has. I'm sure Lantz didn't want to paint the Hierophant as being negative or disasterous, but I like the connection with Divine Punishment...or Karma (I personally like the latter).

-FS
 

la-luna

Well looking at the Hierophant I found a possible explanation for him looking sad, yes he is surrounded be the symbols of his power and knowledge but if I look at him a do not see as much a living person but more a statue or a mummy with a bronze mask a petrified guide or spokesman. With could mean that he is standing for the community of man in connection with the divine, a community that’s falling apart with many turning away from religion (any and all religions -) and growing toward a selfish solitary world of with no longer the divine in all its forms is the center but the power-hungry ego is.

But he is still there holding all secrets with him ready to share them with who are searching. The legend around the findings of the hermetic knowledge of Hermes Trismegistus or the finding and opening of the tomb of Christian Rosenkreutz and the discovery of the knowledge hidden within it.
 

Sar

It seems like what the Hierophant have of knowledge in his life does not make him happy.
 

annik

Personally, the mask makes me wonder what is behind it. The mask hide the real face and what he is really thinking. We don't know what is really happening behind the mask. He seems to do his job without much emotions and do it because somebody had to do it.

With the setting, I have the impression he is in a ritual of some sort. Or he is in contemplation in front of the candles and cups.
 

Mi-Shell

The mask of office- - stern calm and collected the knobs of the crown that is part of this mask remind me
1)of the spokes of the wheel of a ship = the organized church and all its cliché and power trappings and
2) the budding horns that a shaman would wear as a symbol for more than ordinary knowledge.
Behind the mask however is the mortal man holding this office.
With all his / her human strength and faults - trying to fill / fulfill his/ her own as well as the community's vision of his office.
His headdress suggests feathers = Shamanic flight as well as AIR = thought
The tunic is yellow, for sun, but also for being alert covered by pinkish purple = impeccability and love.
All the items of his domain in front of him/ her are just that: paraphernalia o aid concentration on the task ahead. Guiding people through the labyrinth of faith.