Shadowscapes~ Hierophant

Kloeyy

H I E R O P H A N T

"I would like a story," says the salamander to the Hierophant.

"And what would you like to hear, little one?" The words come slowly. Each syllable seems to be drawn from deep within, pulled up from an individual rootlet. The salamander is used to it, and patient.

"I want to hear how I may fly. I was content. And then one day friend Caterpillar said he was sleepy. He slept for a long time until I nearly forgot him. Until...yesterday a moth came to laugh at me. He laughed with Caterpillar's laugh, and with Caterpillar's voice he said he had had a dream of wings."

"Ah." The sonorous exhalation seems to go on forever. "Ah, little one; I am sorry. Caterpillar has that blessing. He may sleep and dream of flight. He weaves a silken ritual around his body, and then comes the day when that vision transforms him. You..."

"I wish to dream of flight too!" says Salamander very seriously.

"You may dream of it," says his friend and teacher, "I will not be the one to deny you divinity. But just know that your own divinity shall be attained along a different path than Caterpillar's. Do not relinquish your dream, Salamander."

Meaning: The Hierophant's roots are deep reaching, entwined around secrets and traditions and the ages. Ritual and cermony, pursuing knowledge and deeper meaning, the rigidity of a belief system.
 

Kloeyy

I absolutely laughed out loud in reading the story, the salamander is so innocent like a child. So far this is my favorite card. "Do not relinquish your dream, Salamander." Looking at Hierophant's roots makes me think back to the ancestors, history, old ways, rituals of the past bringing forth a deeper understanding.

~Kloeyy
 

Water Lady

Do not relinqish your dream, we must keep our dreams if to be complete in our lives along with learning and intuition
 

JSNYC

Oh, I really love this card. Of all The Hierophants in all the Tarot decks, this may be the best. The Hierophant is symbolized by the wise old tree. The old tree has seen and done many things and has a lot of wisdom. His golden leaves representing the experience and wisdom of the ages. However, the tree is old and has deep roots. When experience and wisdom is needed, the tree can be a fount of it. But in times of change...

Also, the wise old tree appears to have a third eye, representing wisdom of a different sort... possibly hidden in his stories. That is why the little red salamanders seek his advice.
 

Inkscape

How curious that a treant, a creature of wood, should be handling salamanders, creatures of fire. I think I see some mistletoe on his lap, which means "all-heal" in Celtic.
 

Sagefire

Hands down BEST Hierophant ever. Still beautifully representing all the great and terrible things about this character. When my friends first saw this card they both exclaimed to me something like, "Omg, little dead lizards!" I was dubious but sure enough, little dead salamanders..and one living, very curious one as well. They are very in keeping with the feel of the card, wisdom from the living and the dead, the knowledge we can learn only from things that scare us... I love the cairn, another symbol for ancient knowledge, or knowledge of ancestors, his shepard's crook with a wee sheepy on top, and his red ribbon holding one solitary green leaf, ivy if I'm not mistaken...to go with the holly, both plants that are green in the depths of winter. :D This guy is really, really, wise. :heart:
 

Peregrin

I agree, I love this card.

He's a very trippy hierophant. The emperor was slightly a tree, but this guy is emphatically a tree! His treetop is ablaze in yellow, and his roots embrace the sun, the moon, and other magical things.

I like that his staff is a question mark, reminding us that the question is as important as the answer. And what's that tiny beast on top of the question mark? I want it to be a zebra, but truthfully it's too small for me to make out.

He's taking a visit from red flying lizards with halos. Or is this the chameleon from the story, having finally learned how to fly?

And what should we make of the single green decorative leaf on the tree? We know this leaf is a decoration, because it's hanging by a red thread, not growing from the tree. In this deck red is apparently the color of ribbon by which all special little ornaments hang.

Holly on his lap, and a special pouch or bag -- his own tarot deck? -- on the ground by his foot.

There are many things I don't get about this card, but clearly this hierophant is a figure of great wisdom, and someone with many stories to tell.
 

bowl_of_glow

Aww I love this Hierophant :heart: It helped me see the positive aspects of this card, while in the RSW deck I could only associate it with narrow-mindness, bigotry, and other not-so-nice things of the like :D
The Hierophant might hang to traditions, but he can be a helpful teacher, a mentor, and this card managed to show me a compassionate side I couldn't see in him before :)
 

zyncathe

Does his third eye have any connection to Siva-the Hindu deity?