Process- A Personal Outlook

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 Dec 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Laurel	02 Dec 2002
A mythical truth. Umbrae is a Heirophant, I am a Magician. The Magician utilizes the elemental tools to create changes in self-consciousness, to preform spiritual alchemy. The Magician is the creator of a subjective creation... themselves. The Heirophant was once a Magician. However, they have created a self that satisfies them. They seek something more. Self-creation might very well still be part of the work of the Heirophant, but behind the scenes. What is going on, in the forefront is a very different kind of creation... the creation of a School. A School is a community where knowledge is developed and exchanged. Unlike communities created by lineage, class, geographic location, it is a community where each and everyone who participates does so because they ~want~ to be part of that community. Eventually, however, communities members have to do more than just want to be there: they have to learn knowledge and demonstrate the capacity to apply it. This particular Heirophant is offering a School of Process... suggesting that we, as readers, should be asking ourselves questions about motives and actions and reactions, about how we ~think~ and how querents ~think~. The knowledge of this School of Process is to Know Ourselves... not just know our emotions and thoughts and behaviors, but know how our actions effect our immediate environment and particularly, what we can do to facilitate genuine communication between ourselves and our querents in order to best serve both our interests and theirs. This was all enlightening to me.... and its making me think. I'm not a Heirophant yet. Magicians are kinda selfish; its part of our archetype to be so busy creating our own subjective universe so that we start forgetting that the objective universe doesn't revolve around us. Tarot readers can fall into almost any Major Arcana archetype or display a multitude of them: I've met Priestesses and Hermits and Devils and Empresses and other Magicians, and yes, even a Fool or two here at Aeclectic over the last six months. The Heirophant is one of the most misunderstood and maligned of the Major Tarot these days. We look at the traditional imagery and see Religion, because the kinds of knowledge the Heirophant offers and the kinds of questions the Heirophant asks us to ask ourselves do touch upon the realm where the spiritual meets the psychological meets the philosophical.... and once upon a time, all three were not separate, but one. The Heirophant can be pompous and imperial and dogmatic and impatient in extreme situations; every archetype, every card has its Shadow. But the Heirophant is also one of the real keys to personal enlightenment, a part of each and every one of us that is there to be tapped into, each time we pick up the cards and most especially when we open ourselves up to communication with another human being. Communication is communion, in a lower octave. Every reader, no matter "why" they are reading cards, is going to be in some shape or form at least partially the Heirophant to their querent. Laurel

Sulis	02 Dec 2002
Wow! Love and light Crystalmynx xx

Alex	02 Dec 2002
The Emperor. Quote: Originally posted by Laurel Umbrae is a Heirophant...

jmd	03 Dec 2002
Wonderful thread, Laurel :) To paraphrase the opening Logos of the Tao Te Ching: The way which can be discussed is not itself the way any more than the process which can be talked about is itself the process - hence one of the reasons it can be so difficult to do it Justice! And in this sense, Kiama's post (in one of the other threads on 'the process') seems so right - implying, at least, that each part can be extrapolated and separately discussed: the individual cards, the various decks, the clothes one wears when reading, the meditations one may do, the cloths upon which the cards are spread - indeed the various spreads, our own philosophical and religious stance(s) and prejudices, astrology, alchemy, psychology - the list, by its very nature, cannot be complete, for in the process of reading, something transcends the cards. As MeeWah posted in that same thread, we each become, in this forum, learners... and teachers - hence the responsibility and care we need to take - and which I, at least, at times know fall short of. As such, and though we each vary in our chronological ages, our Tarot experience, our personal lives and our professional or social positions, we are each, it seems to me, Magicians and Hierophants and Charioteers and Devils and Fools (to name but five!). To be sure, our own orientations in the way we relate draws us more closely to reflect particular cards in the eyes of others (and maybe ourselves) - perhaps also we at times elevate others or ourselves to heights best and squarely remaining on the level! Is I - the Magician the best narrowed representation of Laurel? Is V - the Pope the best narrowed representation for Umbrae? By seeing either in either of these cards, what is being encouraged - and discouraged? The process of even participating within this community has its distinct qualities - yet I also hope that, over time, the fullness of each of us emerges, without the constraints of being perceived as only one of the cards. This itself is a process which requires more than one Forum focus! The 'process' - opening oneself to the right words, the right judgement, the right view, the right reflection, the right acts, and maintaining presence of mind, reverence, and discriminating the essential from the inessential in any specific situation can certainly be discussed - but it is not the process.

Laurel	03 Dec 2002
*mind continues to explode with growing understanding and appreciation* Thank you, JMD!

Major Tom	04 Dec 2002
Quote: Originally posted by jmd we are each, it seems to me, Magicians and Hierophants and Charioteers and Devils and Fools (to name but five!). Is I - the Magician the best narrowed representation of Laurel? Is V - the Pope the best narrowed representation for Umbrae? By seeing either in either of these cards, what is being encouraged - and discouraged? The 'process' - opening oneself to the right words, the right judgement, the right view, the right reflection, the right acts, and maintaining presence of mind, reverence, and discriminating the essential from the inessential in any specific situation can certainly be discussed - but it is not the process. You raise a good point JMD - no person is an archtype but at any time can take on the qualities of a particular archtype or even combination of archtypes. This can be a concious decision, one which I think Umbrae and perhaps Laurel have taken on for this discussion. It's a powerful magickal technique - but that's a subject for another thread. :) I agree with you regarding process and think you've nailed what Umbrae really wishes to discuss. Sounds a lot like encouraging tarot readers to take on the aspect of The Heirophant (or High Priestess) when they read for clients to me. })

allibee	04 Dec 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Major Tom Sounds a lot like encouraging tarot readers to take on the aspect of The Heirophant (or High Priestess) when they read for clients to me. }) Thank you, Major Tom, for explaining the gist of the thread... because it had quite gone 'over my head' I'm afraid.:confused: allibee

fairyhedgehog	04 Dec 2002
Laurel, this is fascinating. The idea of using tarot archetypes to examine the way we are relating to each other... I realise that I am not at all at ease with the Hierophant. Which explains my reaction to some of Umbrae's posts (which have given me much food for fruitful thought despite my reaction to the Hierophant.) So what is it in me that denies the Hierophant in me and relegates it to part of my shadow? I'm not sure I'm ready to go there yet (other issues are even more pressing) but I sense a change already in acknowledging that the Hierophant is part of me too. Thanks for your thought provoking post :)

Khatruman	07 Dec 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Major Tom You raise a good point JMD - no person is an archtype but at any time can take on the qualities of a particular archtype or even combination of archtypes. Or also, sometimes people take on characteristics of an archetype for us. Someone can be our Magician, but that doesn't make that person a magician. That is just the particular role they play in our lives. I am just finishing a historical fiction novel in which George Washington works as the Magician for my protagonist. It is not that Washington necessarily is a magician, but in the eyes of my protagonist, he is. Peace!

The Process- A Personal Outlook thread was originally posted on 02 Dec 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.