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Divination & Tarot:
The Illuminated Journey:
Guiding the Way in 2012: The Tarot Year of the Hierophant
by Beth Owl's Daughter
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As 2012 dawns, for better or worse, we find ourselves navigating through profound change that, to many, feels like a Great (and perhaps Final) turning.
If you follow the astrological interpretations, you may be experiencing this as the shift from the Piscean to the Aquarian Age, or the revolutionary meltdown of our old institutional forms of government, religion, and finance, thanks to the Pluto in Capricorn influence.
For Earth stewards, global climate change, population stress, wildlife extinction, dubious food safety, and habitat loss for all species are reaching a point of no return, the results of which will shape the reality of life on our planet for generations to come.
Those whose viewpoint is focused on geopolitical situations can clearly see that the old Age of Empire we have endured for the past 5,000 years must give way to a cooperative “Age of Earth Community,” as visionary David Korten calls it (1). Otherwise, we face catastrophic results as peak oil, dwindling access to drinking water, territorial and wealth conflict, and tensions among competing religious, social and political powers reach a flash point across the globe.
There are numerous others who are feeling this, too. Many are following speculative interpretations of the Mayan calendar system. Esoteric and New Age spiritual paths, and even a number of indigenous and mainstream groups are seeing indications that we are in profound transition – perhaps even the end times of human history as we have known it.
Although these groups are, in many respects, wildly diverse (some differences even driving them to war with one another), ironically, they agree that life as humans understand it on Mother Earth is at the tipping point of irrevocable, cataclysmic change.
Now, into this much-hyped year that many have pointed to as the moment of truth, comes the archetype of The Hierophant, because in the system of the Tarot, this is his year.
Every year has a “personality” that corresponds to the Tarot’s Major Arcana (the trumps). By adding 2+0+1+2, you get 5, which is the number of the Hierophant Major Arcana card. (Of course, there are many cultures who number their years differently, but for our purposes, we will stick with the generally accepted Western dates.)
The Hierophant is the High Priest, the most exalted human go-between and intermediary between the Divine and society. In many older Tarot decks, the fifth Trump card is named and illustrated explicitly as “The Pope,” head of the Roman Catholic Church.
We must remember that at the time that the Tarot was first created, about a century before the Reformation began, the Pope was not just the highest spiritual authority in Christendom, he was also a temporal commander of armies and land. He was, in fact, the most powerful man in Europe. Every Emperor bowed to him, and only by his leave were they crowned and recognized. His word was absolute, beyond question or reproach, upon pain of execution.
But, Popes have not been the only translators and messengers between the Gods and humanity. So, thanks to the late 18th century essays of Antoine Court de Gébelin, who was the first to ascribe esoteric meanings to the Tarot, this card was dubbed The Hierophant, in reference to a priesthood far older than the Bishops of Rome.
The word hierophant comes from Ancient Greece, where it was constructed from the combination of ta hiera, "the holy," and phainein, "to show." It was the title given to the high priests of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the ancient festival renowned for its many days of secret rites and mysteries. It was the hierophantes who granted initiation to the postulants, hence The Hierophant is one who bestows upon the seeker the most sacred mysteries and arcane principles.
How is The Hierophant Relevant in 2012?
Beyond the obvious importance of the “The Patriarch of the West” to the world’s millions of Roman Catholics, to whom else is he actually relevant? And what does it mean for this archetypal energy to infuse this crucial year of change?
Like de Gébelin, Arthur Waite, mastermind of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, also rejected calling this card the Pope, even though it was illustrated as such, because he felt that it was too narrow an interpretation, specific to only the Roman Catholic faith.
Thus, The Hierophant extends well past Christian beliefs, and is an archetypal energy that is available to all.
In fact, it is my belief that his lessons in particular have the potential to shepherd us wisely and well through what will surely be a time of testing.
Just as easily, though, he could also emerge as the perfect symbol of our failure. How we, ourselves, integrate (or ignore) the exoteric Mysteries of faith and spirit may be precisely what determines whether humanity thrives or falls.
The Hierophant: Shaman or Priest?
In the The Power of Myth, a series in which journalist Bill Moyers interviewed the famed comparative mythographer, the late Joseph Campbell, Campbell discussed at length the contrast between the shaman and the priest.
Campbell explained, “The priest is the socially initiated, ceremonially inducted member of a recognized religious organization, where he holds a certain rank and functions as the tenant of an office that was held by others before him; while the shaman is one who, as a consequence of a personal psychological crisis, has gained a certain power of his own.” (2)
But Belden C. Lane, professor of theological studies at Saint Louis University, notes, “Joseph Campbell was uneasy with theology because of its penchant for codes and creeds and its abandonment of poetic language. He cited Jung's warning that religion can easily become a defense against the experience of God.” (3)
Lane explains, “Raised a Roman Catholic and continually drawn to the image world of medieval Christianity as symbolized in the cathedral of Chartres, Campbell recognized the force of Christian myth. Yet he also harshly criticized Western theology and carefully distanced himself from the church. He saw in Christianity a deep distrust of nature and creation, an overemphasis on fall and redemption, and particularly a tendency to be bound within a cultural prison. Christian theology, in his view, needs the intensive and universalizing influences of mythology.” (4)
With a huge upsurge of popularity in shamanic studies and practice, many are already bypassing the middle man (and occasional woman) of traditional religion. Instead, we are hungry for the visceral, intimate encounters with Other that shamanism and other ancient practices offer. Direct contact with The One(s) is hard to come by in the mainstream religions and in fact is forbidden in some of them. Yet with such adventures come tremendous commitment, responsibility, and sometimes difficulties that are not always easy to resolve.
Writing of The Hierophant, Tarot scholar Rachel Pollack notes, “We may chafe at the idea of an institutional system serving us our mystical knowledge second-hand. But these institutions were created with good intentions and our permission. The truth is, most people believe they have neither the time, nor the inclination to personally undergo the sometimes terrifying, often life-shattering encounters with Mystery.” (4)
As the face of conventional religious doctrine, The Hierophant offers us the Mysteries in forms that we can absorb and use. He makes available spiritual awakening through prescribed practice, rather than through the isolation, rigors and risks of personal shamanic initiation.
But can our free-wheeling culture accept and live by practices handed down by long-dead teachers and guides? Tradition is a word that chafes for many. We moderns may equate tradition with the stodgy, the outdated, or stiff-necked rigidity.
However, such impressions of the Hierophant describe his reversed, or shadow aspect, not his upright form. And how strong will the make-it-up-as-you-go-along belief systems be, when life tests us?
Author Caitlín Matthews notes, “There are those who have little or no purchase on any tradition. Rather than finding the tree of tradition, they cling to the wind-blown twigs and leaves of the –isms, -ologies, and self-help theories, the very tattered remnants of tradition that bear little relationship to the tree on which they once grew.”
Indeed, she points out, it is these rootless seekers for whom, “every little movement is a sacred omen and anyone who sounds authoritative is someone to follow, as we saw when the US preacher Harold Camping’s belief that the world would end…caused believers to imagine they would ‘enter the rapture.’
“Many believed implicitly in Camping,” she writes, “selling their goods or sending their children’s education money to his campaign funds. False prophets and those voices that whisper ignorant stories into our ears are also part of the reversed Hierophant who undercut our primal, sacred belonging and replace it with fear.” (6)
Will ignorance of the our ancestral myths and spiritual legacy lead to more misguided and tragic outcomes for those who are invested in the End of the World theories revolving around Armageddon or the Winter Solstice of 2012? Is the inclination to reject formal spiritual institutions simply childish ego, or is it the doorway to personal empowerment?
At the other extreme, there are those who ridicule and reject all things that do not fit into that strange and pernicious myth of scientific objectivism. Will the worship of reason belittle, commoditize and ultimately replace what we experience as the Divine within the human heart? (7)
Or will an unquestioning obedience to would-be, present-day Hierophants further reinforce the fundamentalism, intolerance and spiritual bigotry that seems to be ticking like a time-bomb in nearly every major religious tradition?
In the Year of The Hierophant, all these possibilities are before us. But there is another, and it is the one that I hope for.
For at his best, The Hierophant is the holy man or woman who is the priest, priestess, teacher, and arbiter who both leads and serves the spiritual practitioner. He holds the keys of initiation, he is the channel for the Word. He represents those whose knowledge we can trust for guidance, and he carries forward the laws, myths, and faith of our ancestors.
The Hierophant offers the reinforcement of group experiences and understands our deep soul need for belonging. He supports, preserves and interprets the lessons of humanity across time, into patterns and systems of behavior that serve the greater good.
This year, we are challenged to make peace with The Hierophant, and bring ourselves into a healthy, respectful balance with him. We must not elevate him to a position of spiritual tyranny, or sacrifice our own volition to him. But we imperil ourselves when we stubbornly turn away from his wisdom, just because it is old, or different, or not from our direct experience.
The formality of rituals, groups, traditions, and institutions are important and natural to humans. Choose wisely when to give your trust to the guru, expert, or spiritual leader, and when to follow your solitary path, finding your own way.
May the Hierophant bring blessings to you.
(1) The Great Turning, by David Korten. ©2007, Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN-10: 1887208089 http://www.davidkorten.org/great-turning-book
(2) Joseph Campbell on Power of Myth With Bill Moyers, Television mini-series,1988.
(3) The Power of Myth: Lessons from Joseph Campbell
by Belden C. Lane, from The Christian Century, July 5-12, 1989, pp. 652-654. Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation
(4) Ibid. 3
(5) Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom, A Book of Tarot, by Rachel Pollack, © 1980, Published by Thorson’s © 1997.
(6) Showing Forth The Story: Belief, Tradition, Prophecy and the Hierophant, by Caitlín Matthews, © Soundings, June 8, 2011.
(7) Will religion survive the Aquarian Age? © 2012 Lynn Hayes, Astrological Musings http://astrodynamics.net/blog/2012/01/06/will-religion-survive-the-aquarian-age/ |
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Beth Owl's Daughter,
Internationally recognized author, teacher and leader in the Tarot community.
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For nearly four decades, Beth Owl's Daughter has been a practicing seer and guide in the non-ordinary realms. After being fascinated by the I Ching and astrology (calculating charts by hand, mind you, and with a life-long aversion to math!), one day in 1972, Beth stumbled upon the first Tarot deck she had ever seen: the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot.
It was love at first sight, and evidently the feeling was mutual, because ever since, the Tarot has been a profound, lifelong friend and guide for her and for those with whom she shares her gifts.
Beth Owl's Daughter [http://www.
owlsdaughter.com]
* is a member of the American Tarot Association, Tarot Professionals and the Tarot Association of the British Isles.
* is an internationally recognized author, teacher and leader in the Tarot community. She has published many articles, reviews and columns about the Tarot, served as ethics columnist for the debut issue of Tarot World Magazine, and has been featured in many radio interviews and podcasts.
* serves on the Board of Directors for Cherry Hill Seminary, the world’s first and only graduate-level education for Pagan ministry.
* is founder and organizer of one of the world’s oldest and largest Tarot social groups.
Beth is a trained, full-time intuitive, an Usui Reiki practitioner, and an eclectic Witch practicing in the Reclaiming and Faerie traditions of the Craft. She is also an award-winning blogger: http://www.owlsdaughter.
com/owls-wings .
She has extensive "real world" business experience, having worked for many years in management, career development, information technology, and as a professional writer. For this reason, she is passionate about teaching people to use the tools of ancient wisdom for practical, modern applications.
She offers readings readings and workshops for motivated, creative people who are reaching for high standards of personal excellence and who understand that to live deeply, joyfully and in balance is a form of spiritual service.
Beth Owl's Daughter will spark your sacred wisdom and connect you to your heart-centered power and vision.
Awaken your dreams, focus your creativity, and manifest your vision.
Web:
www.owlsdaughter.com
Email: beth@owlsdaughter.com
Blog:
www.owlsdaughter.com/
owls-wings
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