Kingfish
Bit of background--have been interested in th Tarot for years---recently purcased a whole bunch of books and decks. I've basically been studying the philosophical, historical, and practical background to Tarot, and have been studying the major Triumphs. I've read many interpretations of each Archetype, and have been more or less synthesizing and sifting the information, finding the common, most general all inclusive thread, and most of all, what the particular Archetype means to me --how it relates to my experience, in fact, how it is me---(yikes!)
Anyways, I've been stuck on The Hierophant for sometime. All the references to religous authority have never kicked in for me perhaps due to the fact that my parents never had any interest in Religion per se let alone religous authority. It simply wasn't a part of their world to the extent that it was never quite mentioned one way or the other. Consequently, it was never a part of my world.
However, being a classical pianist/musician/teacher and artist in general, I certainly can relate to spirituality in the broadest sense, that is, the manipulation of material or matter into spirit. That, I think, is what all masterpieces of art accomplish. It is the process that I strive for through music and what I teach to my students, more or less. The mastery of one masterpiece of music can and does take years, and never really ends--it's always transforming, offering different and greater insight---higher levels of consciousness, being in touch with spirit, leaving the self behind, freedom, or whatever you want to call it.
Anyways, that brings me to the point and thank you for bearing with all of this "blabber". A friend of mine today was talking about a certain species of chimpanzee in Africa that are the most advanced of apes and the closest to us. One in captivity has been taught a vocabulary of over 3000 words and sentences, with complete comprehension. They have been observed in the wild as actually being in an evolutionary process. The have recently discovered swimming for instance and have taken to the rivers, which is unprecedented for the species. They also are making tools for killing various prey---different tools adapted for specific prey, and are refining these tools. Scientists say that the biggest block to their learning is the need for immediate gratification. During this discussion I started to picture the Hierophant. It occured to me that the cornerstone to learning is "delay in gratification." You must learn what you need to learn and with patience and accepting that there is no "instant" product----just a process or a road towards accomplishment if you will. To me, "delay in gratification" is the essence of self discipline. Without it, there would be no civilization--no one would have the patience to create or finish anything. I am excited because I now have a concept to wrap around the Hierophant and pull everything together for myself. To me, the Hierophant holds the key to Civilization. He IS the spritual teacher, but what he TEACHES is the PROCESS by which we touch a spritual level. It's the hard, hard work, the self sacrifice, the support and guidance, the struggle to go beyond your self, the love for and mastery of the material--or as I mentioned before, the manipulation of matter into spirit. That's how I am seeing the Hierophant now.
The reversal would be the need for immediate gratification and could manifest itself as a learning block or could plummet to drug addiction which is, instantly inducing pleasurable or altered states without doing the work, and becoming obsessed with it.
Thanks for bearing with this. I never came across quite this angle as a way of viewing the Hierophant, in my readings, although it must exist somewhere. I was curious about opinions on my take.
RGRDS,
Kingfish
Anyways, I've been stuck on The Hierophant for sometime. All the references to religous authority have never kicked in for me perhaps due to the fact that my parents never had any interest in Religion per se let alone religous authority. It simply wasn't a part of their world to the extent that it was never quite mentioned one way or the other. Consequently, it was never a part of my world.
However, being a classical pianist/musician/teacher and artist in general, I certainly can relate to spirituality in the broadest sense, that is, the manipulation of material or matter into spirit. That, I think, is what all masterpieces of art accomplish. It is the process that I strive for through music and what I teach to my students, more or less. The mastery of one masterpiece of music can and does take years, and never really ends--it's always transforming, offering different and greater insight---higher levels of consciousness, being in touch with spirit, leaving the self behind, freedom, or whatever you want to call it.
Anyways, that brings me to the point and thank you for bearing with all of this "blabber". A friend of mine today was talking about a certain species of chimpanzee in Africa that are the most advanced of apes and the closest to us. One in captivity has been taught a vocabulary of over 3000 words and sentences, with complete comprehension. They have been observed in the wild as actually being in an evolutionary process. The have recently discovered swimming for instance and have taken to the rivers, which is unprecedented for the species. They also are making tools for killing various prey---different tools adapted for specific prey, and are refining these tools. Scientists say that the biggest block to their learning is the need for immediate gratification. During this discussion I started to picture the Hierophant. It occured to me that the cornerstone to learning is "delay in gratification." You must learn what you need to learn and with patience and accepting that there is no "instant" product----just a process or a road towards accomplishment if you will. To me, "delay in gratification" is the essence of self discipline. Without it, there would be no civilization--no one would have the patience to create or finish anything. I am excited because I now have a concept to wrap around the Hierophant and pull everything together for myself. To me, the Hierophant holds the key to Civilization. He IS the spritual teacher, but what he TEACHES is the PROCESS by which we touch a spritual level. It's the hard, hard work, the self sacrifice, the support and guidance, the struggle to go beyond your self, the love for and mastery of the material--or as I mentioned before, the manipulation of matter into spirit. That's how I am seeing the Hierophant now.
The reversal would be the need for immediate gratification and could manifest itself as a learning block or could plummet to drug addiction which is, instantly inducing pleasurable or altered states without doing the work, and becoming obsessed with it.
Thanks for bearing with this. I never came across quite this angle as a way of viewing the Hierophant, in my readings, although it must exist somewhere. I was curious about opinions on my take.
RGRDS,
Kingfish
