Tarot has been a part of Barbara Moore's personal and professional lives for nearly twenty years. Right from the start, tarot intrigued her with its marvelous blending of mythology, psychology, art, history, mystery, and magic. She has studied under...
The Hierophant is often thought of as one of the most difficult cards in the deck—not to interpret but because many people have negative responses to anything representing what they consider a restrictive or repressive organization. Its original name was the Pope, which to many people unfortunately represents oppressive or abusive religious control. The Golden Dawn changed the card to the Hierophant, which most people assume is an esoteric name for the Pope. It comes from the word hierophany, meaning the manifestation of the sacred. A hierophant, then, is one who teaches, who shows us how to live by our beliefs—in short, how to walk the talk. There is still the element of teaching and instruction, but there is a difference in focus. This is not about following the rules of a demanding and illogical deity. This is about how we can live our lives in a way that brings our faith or beliefs to life; it is how we manifest the sacred in this world.
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In the Universal Waite card, it is easy to focus on the formal and ritualistic nature of the card as well as the implied hierarchy. More to the point, here is the idea that the Hierophant has the formal training, personal experience, and required accountability to make him an appropriate teacher. His upraised hand has two fingers up and two down, representing the connection of higher ideals and earthly experience. His wand is topped with crosses, which symbolize the intersection between the spiritual (vertical lines) and earthly (horizontal lines).
Core meaning: Living faith in everyday life.
#CROWN
i. Being set on the crown (or top) of the head makes it a symbol of overriding significance. It shares the quality of the head (the summit) and what is above the head, a gift from on high. It also sets the seal of transcendence on any great achievement or accomplishment.
2. Its circular shape is a symbol of perfection. It is a ring, worn on the head, that marries what is above to what is below.
3. The material of which a crown is made dedicates the wearer to the form of divinity associated with that material. A gold crown, for example, associates the wearer with the alchemical properties of gold (i.e., purity, perfection, and the attainment of the highest possible states, both inner and outer).
• papal tiara (The Hierophant
The crown of The Hierophant is a three-tiered, toothed golden crown-three gold diadems signifying divinely sanctioned rule over three kingdoms. The segmented, or toothed, top of a crown is a symbol of rays of the sun's light.
The papal tiara is a triple diadem over a simple cap called a camelaucum from the Byzantine court of the seventh and eighth centuries, where it was a sign of high social status. The diadems were added one at a time over several hundred years and probably are more ornamental than symbolic. Still, the papal tiara signifies both a spiritual and a secular authority-rule over the Catholic Church and over the territory of the Vatican.
