Friday, March 20, 2015

Spring Fling Tarot Blog Hop: Saving the Hierophant


Welcome to the Blog Hop celebrating the Vernal Equinox! See the links above, or at the bottom of this post, to continue navigating through the circle of blogs, and should you lose your place, you can always access the Master list.

(Please note! The URL for this blog has changed to www.firstearthtarotandroot.com)

Our hop wrangler this time around is Ania Marczyk, and she has set a cool task for all of us hoppers: 

"The standard Tarot deck is over 500 years old and the cards are very much a product of that time, particularly the Major Arcana and Courts. So I am asking you to consider which cards you think need to be updated, removed or added to reflect our modern society?

Are there any glaring omissions? What is redundant? Which card has you scratching your head wondering where it fits in today? Or do you think that archetypes are so universal that there is still a relevant place for all, be they Hermits, Pages, Knights or Emperors?"

My basic answer to this is: no, I don't think the deck needs to be changed, updated, or altered in any way. But if I ended on this note, it'd be a very boring post! So I'm going to talk about a card that I know that many people struggle with: the Hierophant. I understand that some people are turned off by this archetype due to negative experiences with organized religion, or because they resent the idea that a spiritual authority figure might hold the only key to the divine. Setting aside the role of the Hierophant as representative of higher education, therapy, and the like, I want to focus on the role that this archetype plays specifically in terms of religion and the spiritual journey, using my own life as an example.

Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot
U.S. Games

I always felt a bit unmoored in terms of spiritual practice, as a kid and young adult. I didn’t have a tradition or framework in which to map my mystical experiences, or spiritual elders (aside from my mother and step-father) to whom I could go for deeper understanding of the mysteries of life. I knew that God existed, without a doubt, and was raised with various aspects of religion and spirituality such as Christianity, indigenous mythology and practice, and Buddhist ideology. I always had some level of sensitivity to "other worlds." I appreciated all religious paths, recognizing all of them as having beauty and truths to offer, while simultaneously understanding that none of them were the “one, true way.” How could they be? We arrive at the sacred in a multitude of ways, we pull it from inside our bodies, surround ourselves with it like an embrace from the sun, consume it with every breath we take. Yes, the divine is within us. However I was deeply missing a sense of anchoring in a specific tradition, a form of practice, and a community.

I came to Lukumí in a roundabout way. When my husband, Jorge, and I first moved in together a decade ago our altars sat side-by-side: my buckskin covered with sage picked from Pine Ridge, stones that carried special significance for me, a small vessel of earth, feathers; his Elegua and Ogun and Ochosi with honey and candy and jacks and pennies scattered about. I never thought much about it (except for once when the cable guy came to fix a cord and I realized that he had a prime view of our pair of altars, and must wonder what he’d gotten himself into by coming into our home!). It was a few years later when we’d moved on to a new house, that I decided to teach our older daughter about the Orishas (divine, saint-like beings). I created a binder for her, and each page contained therein covered a separate Orisha, and all the meanings and associations attributed to him/her. It’s funny – I distinctly remember quizzing her on them - “And Ochosi? What are his colors? Tell me about him.” - and yet I didn’t have any particular impulse at that time to practice Santería; I simply wanted my kids to understand elements of the tradition. To this day I have no idea where that binder ended up….

Wildwood Tarot
Will Worthington

I dove back into card reading more intensively in about 2006 and the years passed. Elegua and Yemaya and Ochun and Obatala, Ochosi and Ogun, had come to feel like family members to me; I cared about them. When my husband went through a difficult time in his life, it was I who lit the candles and put out alpiste for Elegua, who sat at the oceanside and quietly beseeched Yemaya to help heal him. When he took a distant trip, I was so anxious that I prayed with Ogun to protect the car. I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time; I only knew they were part of me, of our household, and that we were part of them, and I did what I could.

It was probably a year later that I had my first consulta with a babalawo in Cuba, and five months after that our close friends from Cuba came to Miami, and we reconnected. The young boy my husband had last seen in Cuba years earlier was now a young man and babalawo, and he would become my padrino in Ifá.  On the night of Ochun’s feast day, September 8th, I dreamed that Elegua, my best friend, came to me and told me that he would help organize my initiation into the religion. It was immensely touching. About three months later I received my Warriors, and two months after that I received ikofá along with my daughters, and my son (who received awofakan).

New Orleans Voodoo Tarot
S. Glassman

The religion of Lukumí has given me a deeply rich and satisfying focus, tradition, and practice for my spirituality. My relationship with the saints is humbling, empowering, strengthening, grounding, and above all, loving. I have a community of practice in Florida and Cuba, family who, along with me, experience the tapestry of life through which Santería/Lukumí is woven. My younger daughter comes to me and asks if she can take a dollar from her birthday stash and give it to her Elegua; I consent, moved by her desire. When she peeks over my shoulder to see what I’m doing online, I tease her: “Mmhmm…. Just like your sign from your itá said, too curious for your own good!” She laughs and walks away.

In Tarot, the card that always pops up in regards to my relationship to my faith community, or to initiation, is the Hierophant. The Hierophant represents tradition, knowledge, group experience, learning, and guidance. All of those are elements of my path in Lukumí. The Hierophant does not say “my way is the only way,” or “I am your only connection to the divine.” The Hierophant is simply a bridge – one of many – to help us understand our lives and explore our faith within the context of a deeply rooted traditional and mystical practice.

Vision Quest Tarot
Gayan Silvie Winter, Jo Dose

In my extended family the Hierophant manifests in many ways: my sister’s love of her Islamic faith, my cousin’s Hindu customs that she has passed on to her children, my brother’s deep Catholicism. All of us coexist harmoniously together. There are touches of Buddhism, indigenous American practices, ancient pre-Christian European influences. All of these are woven into our fabric of life, our spiritual journey, our communities of practice, and the Hierophant’s energy permeates it all.

Call it what you like - The Hierophant, the Shaman, the Master of the Head, the Ancestor, or the High Priest. In all of its forms, it has a sacred and universal place within the Tarot.

Happy Equinox!

(Please note! The URL for this blog has changed to www.firstearthtarotandroot.com)

22 comments:

  1. I'm not sure the traditional Hierophant would be welcoming of people from a different cultural background; and not tolerant of the beliefs of others ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I see the Hierophant as representing adherence to a particular tradition or practice, but not as excluding other practices for being "wrong" or "unacceptable". At least that is how I experience it. There are many wonderful interfaith organizations across the country (and I suppose across the world) where people from varying religions and spiritual traditions come together to learn from each other, work together, and to support acceptance of different view points and perspectives insofar as faith is concerned. It's a wonderful thing.

      Delete
  2. I really liked hearing about your experiences on your path. All the different Hierophant cards illustrated it perfectly. I think this is a wonderful expression of the Hierophant!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Extremely moving and insightful. You're a beautiful writer, reader and person. Happy Equinox to you! <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Giuliana!! That means a lot! Happy Equinox and New Moon to you :)

      Delete
  4. I must admit that I tend to read the Hierophant from the Rider/Waite/Smith negatively; on the other hand, I tend to read the Hierophant in the Golden Dawn deck I use positively....which means as always, I am of two minds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that's interesting! I really love the Hierophant as the Ancestor, the Shaman, etc, and at the core I feel they have the same energy. But the kind of guidance, instruction, tradition, that the Ancestor offers feels less authoritarian to some people than the Pope. I think that's why I really enjoy all the different ways that the card has been conceived.

      Delete
  5. I don't do religion so the Hierophant is nothing to do with religion for me and everything to do with Hierarchy, relationships and structure. He usually appears when someone's life has changed and they need to reassess their links and position :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. I find the Hierophant an interesting card... I think often he's a easy scapegoat that gets used to pin all of societies evil onto... Religion wise, I don't think that is religion that is the problem rather than how people twist it around... I think at the core of any religion, there are those things that are common to all... You put it very eloquently - "We arrive at the sacred in a multitude of ways, we pull it from inside our bodies, surround ourselves with it like an embrace from the sun, consume it with every breath we take. Yes, the divine is within us."
    I find the card often comes up when people are looking for a deeper meaning and significance in life and questioning what they have been brought up with... I tend to say... You don't have to throw the baby away with the bath water... Keep the parts you find personally meaningful...
    I'll stop there as I may rattle on for some time...
    Loved your writing and reading about your experiences :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I wholeheartedly agree with you that it's not so much religion itself that becomes problematic for people, but the way it can be twisted. Thanks for your great thoughts!

      Delete
  7. A beautiful post, Olivia. Like Morgan, I've never quite made my peace with the RWS Hierophant (got chucked out by his minions the first time I tried through pathworking!) And the fact I've had no positive experiences of any group religions can't help. Reading your very different perspective was very moving :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. <3 Thanks, Chloe! Chucked out by the minions, eh? Their loss ;-) I think Catholic imagery can be limiting, too, which doesn't help. That's why I love the diversity in Trump V imagery that allows for the same energy, but not the same associations.

      Delete
  8. Thank you for this wise and expansive take on the Hierophant, one of the most problematic cards in the deck in my mind.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Hierophant is one of the cards that I remember struggling most with when I was learning. I love the different facets to him in the cards that you have chosen and reading about your own experience of him.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love this card and see it in similar terms - showing my catholic approach rather than my background/upbringing which was Catholic with a capital C. A wonderful priest - who was a true Hierophant in how I see it - suggested I go and look up 'catholic' in the dictionary. What??? 'Universal'. That completely opened my eyes and changed my whole approach. So I now appy a universal take on this wonderful and enlightening card. My current favourite version of it is the Vision Quest Shaman although I do like the Cosmic Tarot version too (and many others!).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your thoughts, Mary! I love that little story about your priest :) I am so glad this is a card you enjoy so much!

      Delete
  11. Great story, Olivia, and I sense this being connected to a specific practice to be a source of comfort and divine connection, not only for you, but for lots of folks. When I was attached to a Unitarian Universalist congregation, I noticed that the denomination was quite useful in providing a space for folks to find a practice that suited them without judgement from others. There are pagan circles, Christians, Jews, secular humanists, all in one group exploring different ways of expressing spirituality.

    But I did notice that being a UU also provided an opportunity to just continue to dabble in different spiritual practices, just taking the intellectual overview, without really committing to any one way. Most folks dabbled for awhile and then found a practice that resonated and move into that exclusively for themselves. At that point they usually left the UU fold. This human desire for connection through a specific practice seems universal as well, and so the Hierophant continues to be relevant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Joanne!! I think you are right on. In fact I spent some time at a UU church when I first moved to the south. I liked how interesting and diverse it was, but I also noted a sort of lack of unifying focus that didn't feel particularly satisfying, though I greatly appreciate their presence and purpose in the world.

      Delete