Card 5

The Hierophant

Brief Description

The Hierophant represents tradition, organized religion, group identity, stability, and conformity, embodying comfort within established structures. It symbolizes the impulse to control primal instincts through social constructs, as pictured by the Minotaur confined in a labyrinth. Its shadow side enforces group ideals even when they contradict logic or justice, causing rigidness and suppression of individuality. This confinement can become suffocative, sometimes prompting a return of the beast within that may rule the self again, for better or worse.

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Card Name

The Hierophant

Poem:

Poem - Stanza 1

My ways are tried and true my walls not just confining; I am quite safe in here, without want or pining.

Poem - Stanza 2

What could there be for me outside the comfort of these walls? Would freedom lift my spirit up? Or weigh it as it falls?

Poem - Stanza 3

I feel content, why should I change? For I like the norm, and discard the strange.

Meaning:

Meaning - Description

The Hierophant is a card of tradition, organized religion, group identification, stability, and conformity. The Minotaur stays confined within his labyrinth of social construct, hoping to control his beastly instincts.

Meaning - Shadow

His shadow may take this to an extreme, upholding a group ideal even when it conflicts with logic or justice. Conversely, this restriction may prove suffocative and force the beast within to rule the self once more — sometimes for better — often for worse.

Upright keywords:

Upright - Keywords

tradition, organized religion, traditional values, conformity, community, social contracts, conventionality, group identification, socially acceptable behavior

Reversed keywords:

Reversed - Keywords

non-conformity, rebellion, restrictions, unconventional lifestyles and/or relationships, rigidness, disillusionment, forced conformity, suppressed individuality, restricted expression

Visual Description

A bull-headed figure fills the oval frame, wearing a ceremonial robe and a triangular ornament on its forehead. A triple cross hovers above the head and two ornate keys are crossed at the chest, held by the figure's hands. Laurel branches and carved pillars form a symmetrical backdrop, while geometric lines and warm gold and red tones emphasize ritual and authority. The banner at the bottom reads 'The Hierophant' and a Roman numeral V appears at the top.

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Children of Litha tarot

✍️ Deck author(s): Alexandria Huntington

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