Cards I Don't Love to See in Love Readings (Part 1)

I've had a higher-than-usual number of romance readings in the past week, and it's had me thinking about lovely, and not-so-lovely cards for love. There are a lot of cards in a Tarot deck, and all offer a range of challenging-to-pleasant meanings (some admittedly much more/less pleasant than others!). There are cards that tend to provoke visceral, negative reactions in us at first sight - the Tower, 10 of Swords, 3 of Swords, to name a few. And then there are some cards that seem fairly positive at first glance, but which I often find hold difficult energy when they pop up in a love reading. There are several cards that fall into this category, but in this post I'm only going to cover one: the Hierophant.

The Hierophant

Golden Tarot/Kat Black
US Games

This is a card that many associate with "marriage," and it's fair to say that that can be one of its meanings. This is a card I feel represents teaching and learning, structured beliefs, grounded and ancestral spirituality, and group-related activity. This might seem promising as an outcome card in a love reading where the querent wants to know if a relationship will reconcile, or develop into something significant, and in certain cases it may well suggest such a positive possibility. However in most cases I've found the Hierophant to be something a bit less promising. In some instances it has shown up as a rather rigid person who is so focused on traditional roles and/or community pressure that he/she either proves to be a difficult partner, or simply isn't willing to pursue a deeper relationship with the querent. In other cases it's appeared in readings where the querent was involved, or considering involvement, with a married person. In this context it usually indicated that the married-person-in-question would remain loyal to his/her marriage when all was said and done, leading to the demise of the querent's relationship. So while it might be tempting to see the Hierophant and think "marriage, making it official," etc., it pays to be very careful with this card, and to take into very close account the other cards in the spread, and the overall feel that the reading is giving off.

..to be continued…!

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