Zoning out? Hard to say. For a card as quiet as The Hierophant in this deck, it seems so busy- so many things not being said or being said in whispers. It's like a silent panic attack to me; so many things to take in and look at at once.
The statue in the back; the man looks like he's begging or in pain or in some sort of anguish. There's something unnatural about the way his neck is bent and the way he holds out his arm, like "listen! please!"
The nuns in the courtyard don't seem malicious or bad... but they do feel like they're whispering. Even though we only see one nun, there's no doubt in my mind that she's talking amongst her peers, about the things that are going on. It doesn't even seem to matter what they say. All I can really picture is the shape of their lips moving quickly, muttering amongst themselves and glancing quickly at one another.
The clergyman... he's so interesting to me. He's spacing out, hardly paying attention to the fact that he's crumbling the piece of paper he's just read or that he's slid down in his seat and is sitting improperly. Whatever he's thinking about is pretty deep or world shattering or shaking or whatever. Do I think it's something good or something bad? I don't know. Whatever it is, it stirs his soul and its really taken him out of his present situation. If I were to try and get this man's attention, he might not hear me at first and then "snap out of it" in a start.
The mood in his card- as I said- seems QUIET, but so darn anxious and tense. I can't really see a reason for it, either; it just IS. Trying to look at this from another perspective, wherever this monastery or church is, I think it'd be in the mountains somewhere where it snows. For some reason the card is just dark and somber and maybe a little bit chilly... all the time. There might be the sound of a nearby stream... I kind of think back on Hamlet and Ophelia drowning in the river.
Overall, I don't really know what more to say about this card; it really feels like it needs to be in context. Then again, I might feel a little stressed about this card right now because it was my daily draw card this morning :O