The Hierophant from the Shadowscapes Tarot
I have never had much connection to the Hierophant. He is supposed to be a voice of wisdom, more earthly wisdom than the High Priestess, but I have always had a hard time relating to him. He is often depicted with Christian trappings and usually appears to me to be the filter from the divine to me, the usual religious filter. Since this represents everything I have rejected in my spiritual life, I often do not give him much weight in a reading or I find myself looking for knowledge of negative things because he is there. My own little quirk, I admit.
But Stephanie Pui-Mun Law has created a Hierophant that I want to listen to and that I can listen to without being distracted by the organized religion themes found on many cards.
This Hierophant speaks of the wisdom of the earth because he is of the earth, not a go-between.
Here is the artist's description:
"The Hierophant's roots reach deep, entwined around secrets and traditions and the ages. He believes in ritual and ceremony, in pursuing knowledge and deeper meaning and in the rigidity of a belief system. He elucidates the spiritual and brings it to the earthly plane. He is calm and in possession of himself and he is the teacher who can help unravel mysteries."
It is amazing what a different image can do for our perceptions.
The Hierophant looks like Ent. It was first idea in first second.
ReplyDeleteIt does look like an Ent. If you google Ent and then look at images there are fantastic Ents from all over the world.
ReplyDeleteWow, that IS a fabulous hierophant!
ReplyDeleteNeat card. Funny you say you relate the Hierophant to Christianity . . . I relate it to Buddhism. I feel like he's a Zen Master . . . the teacher that wants to challenge you and present puzzling paradoxes.
ReplyDeleteI love, love, LOVE the new Shadowscapes tarot. My favorite card is the Hermit, the colors and the imagery are just stunning. I was also thrilled to see that the death card portrayed a Phoenix, finally, a fitting image for my own interpretation!
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated to your initial aversion to the hierophant. I've always seen them as incredibly powerful, sexual, deeply enlightened and personally alluring intellectually. (I've always felt hierophants carry FORBIDDEN knowledge that we can't get from any other source).
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see how you came to your bias against them (with an ultra conservative background such as I also had) but since I'm looking from such a dramatically different vantage point nowadays I marveled to read this post and realize how you felt about them.
* So neat that you're open to take another look instead of closing the lid on that idea once and forever.
Love him!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous card! Is the whole deck that beautiful? I'm off to the Aeclectic Tarot to find out.
ReplyDeleteFelicitas, did you check it out? The entire deck is just stunningly beautiful.
ReplyDelete