Hierophant reversed

JennyM

Can you see this card for unorthodox spiritual advice or spiritual advice from an unusual sorce? For example, would Edgar Cayce be the Hierophant reversed?
 

Grizabella

I think I'd consider it to be more of a lack of education of any kind.

Or maybe a poor teacher.

Or maybe a cult leader like Jim Jones or that Waco guy. Maybe the people who waited for the Hale Bop comet and committed suicide----the cult that produced that tragedy.

Or how about Charles Manson?

Of course, I don't mean that everyone you read for who gets a reversed Heirophant is going to be a Charles Manson, but I just think a reversed Heirophant might be some kind of warped pied piper type who deceives followers into thinking weird things.

Or how about a priest who molests children?

Maybe a fanatical fundamentalist religion that causes harm on a lesser scale than the Manson and Jim Jones examples.
 

JennyM

So, you tend to see it as something bad? Do you always see it as something bad or can you think of more positive meanings?

The reason I suggested someone like Edgar Cayce is because the picture of the Hierophant on my deck, the Rider-Waite, shows an image all about tradition. It shows the Church or spiritual advice coming from a traditional source. So, reversed I thought it might mean spiritual advice coming from an UNtraditional source, from someone with UNorthodox ideas.

Or, the traditional source has chosen unorthodox methods to get the message across. For example, liberation theology and the many priests and nuns who go to places like Africa and Central America in order to preach and do things which the Church considers rather unorthodox.

OR..since the Hierophant's role is to connect heaven with earth, how about the reversed Hierophant as something like a spirit medium, giving answers from 'above' but in an unorthodox manner?
 

Grizabella

Sure, it could mean things like that, too.
 

balenciaga

H -rx

Or someone who is untraditional in lifestyle; or non-religious, like an atheist. Someone who lives with their own rules, not necessarily those of the group.
 

willowfox

JennyM said:
Can you see this card for unorthodox spiritual advice or spiritual advice from an unusual sorce? For example, would Edgar Cayce be the Hierophant reversed?


I think any kind of spiritual advice would be Hierophant upright, and lack of any spiritual advice(absence of teaching) would be Hierophant Rx
 

sharpchick

Hierophant reversed can also be the seeker bucking conventional or traditional spiritual teachings. The Hierophant teaches the masses, and in a reversed position, this could even be a solitary witch, bucking the established Church - or someone who wants to make changes in the church and realizes the change will have to come from within the establishment.

I don't always see a reversed Hierophant in a negative way.
 

Sophie

To me, the Hierophant reversed is a perversion of the Hierophant. Instead of being a reliable spiritual guide, he can be a con. Instead of being a good teacher, he can be a guru who seeks to dominate your mind. Instead of being a bridge between human and divine affairs, he is a wall or a wrong path. A false teacher, not necessarily uneducated (though he can be), but who uses his learning and authority to manipulate tradition for his own benefit and self-glory.

As an institution, it also denotes abuse of spiritual power, like the worst days of the Church of Rome or other established religions.

It can also mean rejecting tradition for its own sake, throwing away good traditions - the baby with the bath water - or turning to a wholly secular life, unable to connect with a spiritual tradition at all.

But in his institutional role, he can also mean divorce, rejection of traditional relationships, and solitude that is imposed rather than chosen.
 

Tzabaoth

In regards to having or lacking spiritual convictions or faith, I usually look to the star. The star card to me has been the card about hope, spirituality and connection to a higher source in a wholly spiritual sense. The star reversed would be more of a lack of spirituality. The card reversed has indicated for people in the past that they have lost hope and lack a sense spirituality. They have lost touch with their spiritual/religious convictions which may have been a large part of their motivation and inspiration.

The heirophant on the other hand has been a card of structure, religion, a sense of belonging to the group; group reinforcement.

Then you have to think of the motives for this group mindset. The upright position of the heirophant being the need for or the act of participation in faith, belonging, and group conviction; a desire for stability, security, and family. In the reversed sense, to me, it is group identification for all the wrong reasons. You become swept up in a faith or group because that's what you are "supposed" to do. Fear of moving too far from conventional and acceptable practices, opinions and ideas due to a fear of being singled out and ostracized.

So, yes, I guess I can see how the card can represent an atheistic mindset or eclectic values that diverge from majority tradition, but the stone heavy and sometimes stubbornly traditional values that the heirophant exudes aren't completely able to be swept away. The reversed may be the atheist or the teenage pagan who keeps their new found faith or lack of faith on the down low, as to not upset their family or community. Those who pay only lip service to their supposed faith.
 

starrystarrynight

Fudugazi said:
...But in his institutional role, he can also mean divorce, rejection of traditional relationships, and solitude that is imposed rather than chosen...
Yes, or even someone who never even made it to the marriage, but got left at the altar--stood up and feeling the ramifications of having been left behind, while putting on a good mask to hide his true feelings about it.