The Greater Trumps: (07) The Hierophant
He is obviously intended to be a holy man, hand upraised in blessing; he is obviously portrayed as a leader of the faith, with his staff of office and his seat of power. The Hierophant is framed between two pillars (of Justice and Mercy? of Faith and Hope?) and supported by two acolytes. Some say he is Moses, the violent and irascible leader of a stiff-necked people; some say he is another, of either a younger or an older tradition.
What is not in doubt is that he stands on the ground he has chosen, to defend it for good or evil. You would have to hope that he has chosen aright; for the Hierophant is the champion of Tradition in his normal aspect. Like all such, he will not bend, even if he must break. And yet, the Hierophant has felt the favour of his faith for so long that he has begun to act from Intuition. Whether normal or reversed in aspect, he does not favour Reason - it is too mechanical, reeks too much of artifice to him. There is of course some irony here, but not much.
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I've never really liked the Hierophant. He is, like the High Priestess, a dispenser of advice and knowledge. But where you feel the High Priestess might know the truth, or at least be convincing about it, the Hierophant gives the impression that there is no other truth but what he says - even if it isn't true. After all, 'hierophant' comes from the Greek for 'he who displays (the essence of) holiness'.
For some odd reason, the poem which reminds me of the Hierophant is a rather dire one by W H Auden; the following is an excerpt from it. Note that 'clever' below has a slightly negative connotation - it implies artifice.
He wasn't clever at all: he merely told
the unhappy Present to recite the Past
like a poetry lesson till sooner
or later it faltered at the line where
long ago the accusations had begun,
and suddenly knew by whom it had been judged,
how rich life had been and how silly,
and was life-forgiven and more humble,
able to approach the Future as a friend
without a wardrobe of excuses, without
a set mask of rectitude or an
embarrassing over-familiar gesture.
You can find the original here, and if you can seek out its heart in the convoluted silence, you will learn why Intuition and Tradition are the two faces of the Hierophant.
What is not in doubt is that he stands on the ground he has chosen, to defend it for good or evil. You would have to hope that he has chosen aright; for the Hierophant is the champion of Tradition in his normal aspect. Like all such, he will not bend, even if he must break. And yet, the Hierophant has felt the favour of his faith for so long that he has begun to act from Intuition. Whether normal or reversed in aspect, he does not favour Reason - it is too mechanical, reeks too much of artifice to him. There is of course some irony here, but not much.
=====
I've never really liked the Hierophant. He is, like the High Priestess, a dispenser of advice and knowledge. But where you feel the High Priestess might know the truth, or at least be convincing about it, the Hierophant gives the impression that there is no other truth but what he says - even if it isn't true. After all, 'hierophant' comes from the Greek for 'he who displays (the essence of) holiness'.
For some odd reason, the poem which reminds me of the Hierophant is a rather dire one by W H Auden; the following is an excerpt from it. Note that 'clever' below has a slightly negative connotation - it implies artifice.
He wasn't clever at all: he merely told
the unhappy Present to recite the Past
like a poetry lesson till sooner
or later it faltered at the line where
long ago the accusations had begun,
and suddenly knew by whom it had been judged,
how rich life had been and how silly,
and was life-forgiven and more humble,
able to approach the Future as a friend
without a wardrobe of excuses, without
a set mask of rectitude or an
embarrassing over-familiar gesture.
You can find the original here, and if you can seek out its heart in the convoluted silence, you will learn why Intuition and Tradition are the two faces of the Hierophant.
Labels: Greater Trumps, Symbolism
etched with acid at 8:15:00 pm
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