Wonderful Hierophant

[Hedera]

Yes, I am one of those lucky people in posession of the Margarete Peterson tarot....

Firemaiden posted a link earlier to a site where you can see all the cards; if it works, here is the same link:

http://www.lapalma-galerie.de/arte/show.php3?lang=&basis=tarot&bild=77&gross=true

Yesterday, I drew the Hierophant from this deck. Usually a card I have some trouble with; Robin Wood's picture of it keeps popping into my head, not a great one to have in the 'advice' position.

However, the Hierophant in the MP tarot shows a (to my mind) more positive side of the card.

The figure is almost a silhouette, a dark shape against the bright sun/light to the right and below him. His face is visible and shows a sereen, slightly smiling expression. He seems to be stepping out of the bright light (which I took to mean the blinding light of knowledge and insight), to bring us a little piece of it, small enough for an ordinary person like me to comprehend. In his outstretched right hand he holds a small ball of light. To his right, there are two similar balls being released into the dark; more knowledge? Previous ideas?
Below the figure there is a snake, I;m not sure what to make of that. Sure, symbol of temptation, or wisdom, etc, but I am still trying to find a more specific meaning for it in this picture.

This really made the Hierophant seem like someone who has great knowledge and insight, and who makes it his business to share that with people who haven;t come as far as he has (yet). A very benevolent teacher. Not someone who is about rigid structural teaching, or dogmas, just someone who tries to make difficult concepts accessible to everyone.

I'm going to look up what MP herself has to say about this card, and post a translation in this thread.

(can you tell I'm trying to get more people to buy this deck? )

 

[Hedera]

Translated on the fly from Margarete Peterson's book (I don't have a German dictionary, so Firemaiden or anyone else, if you can correct me, please do!)

The Hierophant.

Stargazer (astrologer/astronomer, someone with a knowledge of the stars), priest, shaman, initiated in the ending of the planets and the knowledge of snakes.
Keeper of the key to the kingdom of the unconscious.
The gesture of your hand shows your calling/profession.
To choose the way of serving from an enlightened state.
To turn suffering into insight.
We are being familiarized with the universe.
A breath tells us about your existance.

So, the knowledge of snakes.... Which would be what, exactly? Anyone have any ideas?

I keep thinking of 'Ewige Blumenkraft und ewige Schlangenkraft' , but that certainly makes no sense here.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

 

[firemaiden]

This should link directly to the card:
http://www.lapalma-galerie.de/arte/show.php3?lang=&basis=tarot&bild=5&gross=true

To me the hierophant looks like an african type wooden icon, rather than an actual person. This is very interesting, because an icon is supposed to be a sort of vessel which houses a spirit. The implication for us, if we don't actually believe in the spirit, is that we imbibe the vessel with the spirit we imagine, such that the hierophant becomes a reflection of our own inner-wisdom. Or, a really spectral inner-guide that we can only access through deep meditation, dreams, or transe work, or perhaps by scrying into fire.

I like the flames surrounding the icon, it implies that one must brave a sort of trial by fire-like initiation to reach this spirit.

It also sort of reminds me of the colors and burnt-on type of images one might find in a cave painting.

All together very evocative of ritualistic magic.

 

[WolfSpirit]

Yesterday, I drew the Hierophant from this deck. Usually a card I have some trouble with; Robin Wood's picture of it keeps popping into my head, not a great one to have in the 'advice' position.

I think the hierophant in the Robin Wood deck is one of the worst I have ever seen. In my opinion the image shows the reversed meaning of the card.

 

[galadrial]

So, the knowledge of snakes.... Which would be what, exactly? Anyone have any ideas?

This is from Rachel Pollack's descriptions of the snake being held by the woman in Haindl's Strength card: "In India, people describe the kundalini energy within the spine as a coiled serpent...A living snake does not just represent the power of the Goddess, it is that power. And when we find that power within ourselves we discover an identity between ourselves and the serpent. Therefore, the shaman raises her own Strength as she lifts the snake from the pool...The shaman is a healer. She or he does not travel to the Otherworld for pleasure. She does not raise the serpent just for herself. As a healer, she serves the community. This is part of what allows her to tap the energy without being overwhelmed. She does not do it for herself alone."

In Angeles Arrien's "The Tarot Handbook" (for the Thoth deck), she equates snakes with spiritual transformation: "spiritually, we transform and let go of old identities, like the snake shedding an old skin."

The snake wrapped around the Ace of Wands in the Cosmic Tribe deck is described by Eric Ganther: "The snake of our rising power climbs the wand as if it were our spine. On its way up it burns through our blocks to passionate creativity and opens us to the potential of transformative experiences."

 

[Hedera]

Ooh, wonderful, Galadrial, thank you so much!

All of those descriptions would fit the snake in this card beautifully, but I think my favourite is the one by Ms Pollack.

'She does not do it for herself alone', and serving the community, that is very much something I see in this Hierophant.

And, of course, the spiritual transformation in the other 2 quotes: this Hierophant wants to help us with that, help us shed our skins.

This is great, I think I really 'get' this card now! At least in this particular deck, although this angle will probably seep into all other Hierophants I may encounter.

 

[skytwig]

Looking at that beautiful card, one almost sees a Devil figure.

I have enjoyed these comments, but still see the Hierophant as a warning card. and maybe that's what I see in the MP painting. Spirituality and religion are like odd twins in many ways. I see the Hierophant as the rigid (sorry) maker of religion, tight with shoulds and should nots.

Spirituality, to me, is so much freer, it is risk, delving into the unknown, both Shadow and Light. Religion, to me, restricts and condemns Shadow, creating a lopsided view of Spirituality.

For me, the Hiero warns me that I may be creating parameters again, that i may be attempting to contain my Spirituality; that I may be reining in my Free Spirit.

Teacher, yes, but what kind of Teacher? What are his textbooks? What does he Teach?

Sorry, fellow journeyers, I have trouble seeing the Hiero as a Teacher of Spirit, except that he shows me what it is NOT.

..........

 

[Hedera]

Ok, just different opinions, I guess....

I just get a really positive feeling from this particular card in *this* particular deck; very helpful, someone who is willing to make a lot of effort to help someone else 'shed their skin'.

Whereas the High Priestess, in my view of the card, just sits there and stays silent.
Maybe the Hierophant is more like a handy guidebook (you know, with colour-coded tabs and a foldout map), and the HP like a deep, complicated philosophical work.

Anyway, if anyone ever calls me a Hierophant again, I will consider myself flattered!

 

[firemaiden]

I will always consider the hierophant as the spiritual teacher and healer, a Shaman, or a deeply wonderful guide.

I never have understood where the negative aspect came from, but I choose not to look for that negative aspect, because I feel that the responsibility is always with the student or follower or whatever, to choose the the good path and the right teacher. Ultimately I am my own teacher, but I choose people to guide me, and when they do, it is actually a partnership.

Even if I put myself 100 percent in somone else's hands, I have chosen to do that, and only do so, because I know it is right.

 

[ihcoyc]

I tend to look at the Pope/High Priest/Hierophant as the necessary complement of the Papess/High Priestess. Not everyone is equally able to learn from her silence, and for these, he is a teacher.

He also represents a needed counterweight to the Empress and Emperor. For he too represents a source of power and authority, but a different kind of power from the imperial couple's.

Without him, the Priestess would have no place to function; all silence would be consumed by the din of the Empress's industry and the Emperor's armies. The Hierophant is the visible defender of sacred space in the outer world, and his rules and commands are there to preserve that space. He stands to remind us that there are things more important than money or power.