The Tarot is a deck of 78 picture cards dating back to 15th Century Italy. In the past it was used for divination although most modern practitioners see it as a tool for self-discovery rather than fortune-telling.I always use the Rider-Waite deck because these traditional images reflect my own Jungian view of the way in which we relate to the cards. If you would like a more in-depth look at The Tarot and its place in the modern world go to www.mistletoemoon.com – other websites are available!
Like many other people, I use the Tarot as a focus for meditation – which is just a fancy way of saying that the cards give me the basis for a daily practice of just a few minutes of peaceful time to contemplate an aspect of my life. It is not as self-absorbed or navel-gazing as it might seem. It provides a foundation for my thoughts about something or somebody else in my life.
Why not give it a try?
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Tarot Card of The Week April 11th – April 18th
The Hierophant
The Hierophant is sometimes known as the High Priest, Chiron, the Pope or the Shaman according to which deck is used.
In Tarot readings, the Hierophant card often stands for the rules that we have to follow in our daily lives. That moment when the angry teenager shouts, “Why do I have to do what you say?” Everything from the rules of the road and speeding tickets to the regulations that we have to abide by at work or at our local club, a hospital waiting room or public transport. Rules are necessary and provide a safe framework for our lives but they can also be annoying and restrictive.
When The Hierophant appears in a reading, it is time to look at your relationships with others in a group, in your family or in your community and to ask whether you are doing what is expected of you. Being part of a group can enrich our lives, giving us a sense of belonging in which we are nurtured and are rewarded by nurturing others. Groups can also be stifling and can make us feel excluded. We can feel bullied or suppressed by other members of a group or institution or by the need for conformity to tradition – “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
The Hierophant can also speak to you as a wise counsellor – we all benefit from the advice of others sometimes. Perhaps now is the time to talk to a friend or someone who knows more about how to solve a problem: this could be your doctor, or solicitor or a member of your church to whom you can go to for good advice about a problem. Don’t try to solve an issue on your own when there are others who are experts in the field and are there to help you.
The Hierophant reflects the moral and ethical values of right and wrong that we hold dear. He is our inner conscience and sometimes he taps us on the shoulder to say “Do you really think that you should be doing that?”
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Fun Fact of the Week
There are more ways to arrange a deck of 52 cards than there are atoms on Earth.
I am indebted to that great site https://boingboing.net/tag/family for this wonderful TED video.
The Tarot deck has 78 cards this which means 78 factorial possible arrangements of the cards, which is roughly 1.13 x 10¹¹⁵, or 10 followed by 115 zeros. That is WAY WAY more than all the atoms in the known universe – which is10²⁷to 10⁸² by the way. Quite a lot then!
Miranda Smith
