The Legacy of the Divine Tarot’s Hierophant
Almost everyone I’ve talked to about this card just loves what Ciro Marchetti has done with it. Renamed Faith and showing four different religious traditions, it does have a more inclusive feel. Ciro’s stated goal was to show that despite differences in practice or theology, all religions share a common core of faith.
This changes the focus from teachings or practices to a more fundamental one of faith or belief. It is a subtle shift but an intriguing and an important one.
What are your thoughts on this card, both the new name and the image?
After a month of thinking about The Hierophant and reading the comments of others, how has your understanding changed? What was particularly interesting? Annoying? Liberating? How, if at all, will this experience change how you react to or interpret the Hierophant? Does he need a makeover? What would your ideal Hierophant look like and be called? What would the interpretation in the accompanying book say about the interpretation?
I think Ciro’s transformation of the card was brilliant and gave me a more balanced perspective of the true meaning of The Hierophant. When I saw the card, I had an “Ooh! Now I get it!” kind of moment. The Hierophant card is one of my favorites in the Legacy of the Divine deck.
I loved the examination of this card in your posts this month. The posts you’ve written and the comments from other readers have given me a deeper understanding of its meaning. I try to always remember each card has both negative and positive energy, but The Hierophant has always felt very negative to me. I’ve been able to see the upside of this card through reading the posts you have written and by reflecting on the images of each of the cards.
I believe The Hierophant gets a makeover in each of the decks you’ve presented here because each deck presents the energy and meaning of the card in a unique way.
I love this card, the sense of the core of all spirituality being the same belief in the divine, however that manifests. However, even better, to my mind, was Ciro’s Faith in the Tarot of Dreams – a monk-like figure praying, with symbols of eight different religions shining like magical glyphs around him. For me, the difference lies in whether the religion is institutional (Legacy’s Faith, which is closer to the more traditional Hierophant, though still with a more inclusionist feel) or whether it is truly personal and lived, in line with spirituality rather than religion.
I’m not saying religions can’t be spiritual, just that they aren’t always or necessarily so. For me, spirituality is far more positive than religion and this is expressed in the Tarot of Dreams “Faith”.
As for this month of Hierophant’s, I applaud both the idea and the execution. I am another of those who often finds the Hierophant a little hard to come to terms with, and this has been a reminder of some of the more positive approaches to the card. Another naming and approach I like is Rachel Pollack’s Shining Tribe Tarot where V becomes Tradition – the sense of what comes from your ancestors, and perhaps a cultural/spiritual approach, rather than just a religious one. This echoes some of what you said about the Hierophant also being a teacher.
Still, what I also return to is that there is a lot of rigid thinking and dogma in the world, so it’s good to have a tarot card that can express that, too.
😉
I really love this interpretation of the Hierophant. Ciro makes it feel more sacred and less authoritarian.
I agree with Brandi’s comment above – the in depth examination of this card was a breath of fresh air and helped me to look at the Hierophant with some different perspectives. I love reading the other comments. It’s always interesting to me to see how much we all think alike or think differently on tarot! I hope you do this with another card in the future. I have a whole slew of ’em I’d like to see examined in depth here!
Blessings!
Theresa
Stunning! Reminds me of the saying that “all paths lead to one.”
The Hierophant is the bridge between our outer perceptions and our inner world of spirit. He is there to offer his wisdom and can be an adviser of truth. In essence, he represents man’s search for meaning.
-Carolyn
Tarot Reader and Webmaster of http://tarotreadingpsychic.com
I have always loved Ciro update, on the hierophant. Like Chloe’s comments, I prefer the image of Faith in the Tarot of Dreams, a bit more than the one in TotDL.
The imagery of the genderless monk in ToD, and the multitudes of faiths really speak to me.
In TotDL; the strict male imagery leaves out the female oriented faiths. I found the Faith card in ToD to be more inclusive.