78 Weeks of Study: General Discussion

[gregory]

jcwirish, gregory, thanks for your help on the matter of the meaning of the word hierophant. i'd actually been planning on looking up the roots "hiero" and "phant" when I got home tonight, so you've saved me some googling.

But seriously, am i the only ignoramus who had never actually heard the word used prior to picking up a tarot deck for the first time? i wonder if, along with Temperance, perhaps, simply having a big, unfamiliar word labeling this card could be something of an immediate stumbling block. I think i may try thinking of mine as the Rabbi instead.

Also, I'm assuming, as it shares its origin with hierarchy, as johanna pointed out, that it's pronounced "high"rophant, rather than "here"rophant? maybe its a british vs. american thing?

i never imagined that the very first "way" in "21 Ways" could be a stumper!

and gregory, i'm glad we're affording you a vicarious study life. please jump in and join the discussion more often!

Well that is the trouble with tarot - it has nasty habits of using religious terminology. I would bet there are quiet a few people in some parts who scratch their heads over the Pope - never mind the papess....

I believe it is pronounced hire-o-fant, with the stress on the first syllable. MY dictionary (and an online US one) agree on this.

But rabbi sounds fair enough if that is where you come from ! I never quite got over Juno and Junon.....

 

[zan_chan]

But rabbi sounds fair enough if that is where you come from ! I never quite got over Juno and Junon.....

Ugh, I don't like the "Js" either. I had an Epinal Tarot for a while that did that, and I found it terribly hard to swallow.

Rabbi is where I come from, in the most minimal sense. My mother's family was quite Jewish, but my mother herself was lapsed on the best of days. It's just that my Hierophant, the Haindl, really is a Rabbi, I think. Haindl deliberately changed the card from a Christian Papal type to an obviously Jewish figure as part of his attempt as a German to heal Holocaust wounds.

Thank you for setting my pronunciation straight. My copy of 21 Ways thanks you, too.

Next on TBS, Rabbi Ben Goldstein stars in David Lynch's seminal, "The Hierophant Man".

C'mon, these elephant/hierophant jokes will never get old...

 

[yirabeth]

I've had a bit of an issue with the whole Hierophant thing, when I bought my first tarot deck. It didn't help that the card is VERY catholic priest'ish...beautiful colors of unending rigidity. To me it meant narrow minded rigid unbending unaccepting traditionalism ...etc. To say the least, I'm anti-established-religion..hehe If I had to say one card I don't like in my IDS deck, this would be it.

I've had it in a reading where a less rigid meaning has come out, and I imagine I'll get a lot out of the 78 weeks on this one. But I far prefer to see the Hermit than the Hierophant...it will be interesting to delve into the symbolism of this card and hopefully come out the other end with a slightly less hateful view. I wonder if I'd start getting it in readings then....hehe

~Yira

 

[SarahRacheal]

I think I need to find a real life Hierophant.

 

[zan_chan]

That raises an interesting question for everyone, Sarah. Who in real life is your Hierophant?

 

[The Guided Hermit]

One of the most beautiful and telling Hierophant cards is the one in the Legacy of the Divine Tarot. Ciro Marchetti designed a card that covers the four major religious groups: Buddhists, Muslim, Jewish and Papal. Of course the card doesn't cover everyone....

To make the pill easier to swallow, he also had the smarts to rename the card Faith.

 

[DaisyDragonfly]

*Jumps in*

This is the card I really need to study, so I'm already pleased to see the discussion evolving.

See, whenever this card comes up in readings, it usually refers to me and my current employment situation. I'm a teacher, and I'm a teacher because I'm playing by the rules of steady job-steady paycheque - member of the community. But I find it incredibly restricting and frustrating...

...and every time I see this card, I see me and all of the above. I relate the card to doing what is expected and keeping to the rigid expectations of society. Yet I know the card means much more - and I think of the Victorian Romantic Hierophant as the first version of this card to suggest other possibilities.

The VR Hierophant (and I quite like the name, it seems to link to the concept of the hieros gamos which is present explicitly in Trump 6, and implicitly in Trump 4) is apparently an Imam. But I saw the card and saw some cuddly old Rabbi - Hillel, for example - teasing his students with that seemingly naive wisdom. You know, the kind who comes up with a pithy little statement that seems straightforward until you go away and think about it.

But then I see the Hierophant in a reading and I'm straight back to that hateful meme of teacher-duty-rigidity.

 

[SarahRacheal]

The VR Hierophant (and I quite like the name, it seems to link to the concept of the hieros gamos which is present explicitly in Trump 6, and implicitly in Trump 4) is apparently an Imam. But I saw the card and saw some cuddly old Rabbi - Hillel, for example - teasing his students with that seemingly naive wisdom. You know, the kind who comes up with a pithy little statement that seems straightforward until you go away and think about it.

But then I see the Hierophant in a reading and I'm straight back to that hateful meme of teacher-duty-rigidity.

I really like the Hierophant in the Paulina for its "softer" feel, close to how you see the VR.
Have you read him Rx in any of your readings?

 

[DaisyDragonfly]

I really like the Hierophant in the Paulina for its "softer" feel, close to how you see the VR.
Have you read him Rx in any of your readings?

*scuttles off to look at the Paulina*

Rx? I tend not to use reversals... I'm one of *those*. In reality, of course, it means I tend to see this as a negative card in any reading for myself (doesn't come up much/at all for other people, oddly) which isn't right and doesn't do the card Justice.

All right. I'm about to go off and get a whole bunch of Hierophants, do a bit of a comparison. :determined:

 

[SarahRacheal]

I'm off to do the same
must find some happy Hierophants!