Hierophants and Holy Selves
I've been on yoga retreat this past weekend, staying at an ashram at the foot of Glastonbury Tor. The Hierophant card came up for me whilst I was there, and so I found myself considering spiritual tradition. The ashram followed mainly Hindu ideas, although there was the odd Buddha in evidence too. Having practised yoga for almost twenty years, I'm familiar with those traditions, although have never followed them specifically.
I don't think I've ever found a spiritual tradition that I was willing to follow wholeheartedly. I followed Christianity for a while in my early teens, when I thought it was all there was. It didn't teach me to question, in fact I'm not sure what did. I didn't want a spiritual tradition that wouldn't let me question. Then I discovered the New age section at the local library, and found paganism. I read about Wicca, and Druidry, and other pagan paths. I was part of a Wiccan group for a while, at University. But I never joined a coven, got initiated, or even committed to a specific path. Instead, like so many others, I took an eclectic approach, drawing on elements of both Wicca and Druidry for my rituals and practices. I trained in shamanism, in the Celtic tradition, and studied tarot and astrology deeply. If I have a spiritual lineage, it's the group I was a part of in north London from 2000 onwards. It was an eclectic group, drawing on the various pagan paths, humanistic psychology, and other esoteric disciplines. We always started with a grounding exercise, we followed the pagan Wheel of the Year, we planned the ritual and wrote the invocations five minutes before doing it, if we planned at all. Its where I got confident enough with the basics that I was able to improvise, and I still prefer improvising to memorising to this day. We practised simple magics, but they went deep. What I learned in that group is the framework I work in, the training and experience I draw on. Or I draw on all traditions, and none. I have wondered if I avoid following a particular tradition on principle, not wanting to conform with anyone else's system.Nothing quite fits, or I don't fit. Plus, there are so many beautiful traditions and practices out there, why would I choose just one?
The tarot Hierophant is the teacher who passes on a tradition, the guru who explains the ways of the divine to his acolytes. The Smith Waite image on the bottom left shows the [traditional] version of this, the priest guarding the pillars of wisdom and passing on his knowledge to the two monks kneeling in front of him. The Motherpeace image at the top has a similar image, and takes quite a negative view of the card, interpreting it as the "patriarchy" imposing moral and spiritual authority. The Druidcraft image on the right, on the other hand, shows a single figure, a High Priest representing the spiritual authority of the Horned God. This is a card of outer authority, of the spiritual and moral traditions society expects us to follow and to uphold. But it is also a card of inner authority, of finding our own path and having the courage to follow it, even if it means leaving behind the tradition we were brought up in.
The first time I meditated on this card, a long time ago now, I was given an image which has informed my understanding of the Hierophant ever since. I found myself, with my guide, standing in front of a huge cathedral, similar to the one at Cologne, and I wondered if that wasn’t a very conventional place for such a guide to take me. But inside was not what I expected. First I saw a huge open space, people milling around, and as I looked up and around me at the walls and ceiling of the cathedral, I saw that they were covered in branches and leaves, like a tree holding up the vast acres of stone. As we began to walk around this strange natural cathedral, I saw that there were rooms around the side. Some large, some small, some stretching away into the distance, and all libraries – walls of books and desks where monks and others hunched over reading and writing. That was one side of the building. As we came to the centre, I saw that there was a large altar, just a table with various things on it that I couldn’t see. Above it was a long white banner with symbols of all the world’s religions on, a pentagram at the top, symbols of Christianity, Islam and all the rest. My guide told me that all can come and worship here, seeking guidance on their personal Way. Now, it makes me think of the ‘all rivers lead to one sea’ idea of divinity. Along the other side of the cathedral were more rooms, this time containing temples or churches to the religions of the world. A catholic church with censers swinging, Muslims praying to mecca, Buddhist monks chanting…for some reason I didn’t want to go outside, feeling that the sacred was only inside, but my guide told me that the Temple of Knowledge (for such was this place) was outside as well as in, and led me outside. There I saw Socrates holding forth amongst a group of Greek and Roman philosophers, a medieval mummers play, and Elizabethan theatre where Shakespeare was being performed – all sorts of other knowledge coming forward through history.
And this is what the Hierophant means to me – it’s a card of seeking, of initiation. Everyone needs their philosophy, and my guide told me that this is where they find it, the explanations and codes we live by. I asked if he meant myth, and he said yes, myth and religion and story, which give us ethics and morality and the rules we live by. The more traditional tarot images show the passing on of religious authority in this card, because for centuries the organised, mainstream religions gave us the only stories we were supposed to live by. But the world changes, stories and the way they are told change and grow, as the philosophy discussions and theatre plays in my pathworking show. Now I would be more inclined to see the natural world in this card, an understanding that our spiritual and moral authority needs to come not just from human society but from the web of life as a whole. The Gaian tarot calls the Hierophant the teacher, and shows him seated at the foot of a tree, barefoot and surrounded by plant and animal allies.
So my Hierophant now is the spiritual wisdom I find in nature. Whilst at the ashram last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend an early morning fire ceremony in the Hindu tradition, which was beautiful, according to those who attended. But I was up the hill, sitting with the land, listening to the wisdom of the birds and the green. My favourite place that we visited that weekend was the White Spring, where we were able to immerse ourselves in the cold clear waters, surrounded by candlelight and altars to the Lady and the Lord. I felt at home there, part of a kind of grassroots paganism that is connected to the land and the seasons and the elements more than to ideas in books or complicated techniques. And I think that might be the most important thing about a tradition - its where you feel that you belong, where you are rooted and "at home".
I don't think I've ever found a spiritual tradition that I was willing to follow wholeheartedly. I followed Christianity for a while in my early teens, when I thought it was all there was. It didn't teach me to question, in fact I'm not sure what did. I didn't want a spiritual tradition that wouldn't let me question. Then I discovered the New age section at the local library, and found paganism. I read about Wicca, and Druidry, and other pagan paths. I was part of a Wiccan group for a while, at University. But I never joined a coven, got initiated, or even committed to a specific path. Instead, like so many others, I took an eclectic approach, drawing on elements of both Wicca and Druidry for my rituals and practices. I trained in shamanism, in the Celtic tradition, and studied tarot and astrology deeply. If I have a spiritual lineage, it's the group I was a part of in north London from 2000 onwards. It was an eclectic group, drawing on the various pagan paths, humanistic psychology, and other esoteric disciplines. We always started with a grounding exercise, we followed the pagan Wheel of the Year, we planned the ritual and wrote the invocations five minutes before doing it, if we planned at all. Its where I got confident enough with the basics that I was able to improvise, and I still prefer improvising to memorising to this day. We practised simple magics, but they went deep. What I learned in that group is the framework I work in, the training and experience I draw on. Or I draw on all traditions, and none. I have wondered if I avoid following a particular tradition on principle, not wanting to conform with anyone else's system.Nothing quite fits, or I don't fit. Plus, there are so many beautiful traditions and practices out there, why would I choose just one?
The tarot Hierophant is the teacher who passes on a tradition, the guru who explains the ways of the divine to his acolytes. The Smith Waite image on the bottom left shows the [traditional] version of this, the priest guarding the pillars of wisdom and passing on his knowledge to the two monks kneeling in front of him. The Motherpeace image at the top has a similar image, and takes quite a negative view of the card, interpreting it as the "patriarchy" imposing moral and spiritual authority. The Druidcraft image on the right, on the other hand, shows a single figure, a High Priest representing the spiritual authority of the Horned God. This is a card of outer authority, of the spiritual and moral traditions society expects us to follow and to uphold. But it is also a card of inner authority, of finding our own path and having the courage to follow it, even if it means leaving behind the tradition we were brought up in.
The first time I meditated on this card, a long time ago now, I was given an image which has informed my understanding of the Hierophant ever since. I found myself, with my guide, standing in front of a huge cathedral, similar to the one at Cologne, and I wondered if that wasn’t a very conventional place for such a guide to take me. But inside was not what I expected. First I saw a huge open space, people milling around, and as I looked up and around me at the walls and ceiling of the cathedral, I saw that they were covered in branches and leaves, like a tree holding up the vast acres of stone. As we began to walk around this strange natural cathedral, I saw that there were rooms around the side. Some large, some small, some stretching away into the distance, and all libraries – walls of books and desks where monks and others hunched over reading and writing. That was one side of the building. As we came to the centre, I saw that there was a large altar, just a table with various things on it that I couldn’t see. Above it was a long white banner with symbols of all the world’s religions on, a pentagram at the top, symbols of Christianity, Islam and all the rest. My guide told me that all can come and worship here, seeking guidance on their personal Way. Now, it makes me think of the ‘all rivers lead to one sea’ idea of divinity. Along the other side of the cathedral were more rooms, this time containing temples or churches to the religions of the world. A catholic church with censers swinging, Muslims praying to mecca, Buddhist monks chanting…for some reason I didn’t want to go outside, feeling that the sacred was only inside, but my guide told me that the Temple of Knowledge (for such was this place) was outside as well as in, and led me outside. There I saw Socrates holding forth amongst a group of Greek and Roman philosophers, a medieval mummers play, and Elizabethan theatre where Shakespeare was being performed – all sorts of other knowledge coming forward through history.
And this is what the Hierophant means to me – it’s a card of seeking, of initiation. Everyone needs their philosophy, and my guide told me that this is where they find it, the explanations and codes we live by. I asked if he meant myth, and he said yes, myth and religion and story, which give us ethics and morality and the rules we live by. The more traditional tarot images show the passing on of religious authority in this card, because for centuries the organised, mainstream religions gave us the only stories we were supposed to live by. But the world changes, stories and the way they are told change and grow, as the philosophy discussions and theatre plays in my pathworking show. Now I would be more inclined to see the natural world in this card, an understanding that our spiritual and moral authority needs to come not just from human society but from the web of life as a whole. The Gaian tarot calls the Hierophant the teacher, and shows him seated at the foot of a tree, barefoot and surrounded by plant and animal allies.
So my Hierophant now is the spiritual wisdom I find in nature. Whilst at the ashram last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend an early morning fire ceremony in the Hindu tradition, which was beautiful, according to those who attended. But I was up the hill, sitting with the land, listening to the wisdom of the birds and the green. My favourite place that we visited that weekend was the White Spring, where we were able to immerse ourselves in the cold clear waters, surrounded by candlelight and altars to the Lady and the Lord. I felt at home there, part of a kind of grassroots paganism that is connected to the land and the seasons and the elements more than to ideas in books or complicated techniques. And I think that might be the most important thing about a tradition - its where you feel that you belong, where you are rooted and "at home".