Synchronicity – My Tarot Card Focus for 2010
Cat ‘N Owl has an interesting writing prompt “Picking your tarot card focus for 2010” that can kick start the new year and help you focus one Tarot card for the entire year. Aside from journaling and generally reflecting on it, you can take it one step further by meditating with it. If you let your imagination roam free and lose yourself in the imagery, you will learn something new.
Grab a deck and remove all of the Major cards from it. Shuffle the Majors only and focus on the question: What do I need to be focusing on this year?
I drew The Hierophant from The Victorian Romantic Tarot. Since I am also using The Bohemian Gothic Tarot to offer a shadow interpretation, I pulled the Hierophant from that deck so that I could view them together.
Synchronicity in the works. The Hierophant is key 5 in the Tarot journey. And, the number 5 is my number of the year based on my yearly numerology forecast, which I figured out earlier today. Some things aren’t random.
This Hieropant denotes order versus chaos, being a teacher or guide or following one, learning something new and focusing on it.
The Victorian Romantic Tarot card shows a teacher going over a lesson with his students. One boy is holding a book, looking at the teacher, and the other boy appears to be studying. Both students don’t seem under duress. In fact, they seem to enjoy themselves. Both students wear white, symbolic of innocence and purity, and have purple robes, denoting knowledge. Their red hats represent the passion and desire to make strides. The Hierophant in this card looks a wizard, and has a long beard, a metaphor for being older and wiser. He also wears white, indicative of he purity of his lessons. A brown robe could represent his connection with the earth and intelligence attained by being well grounded.
The Bohemian Gothic Tarot shows a more pious figure in a church, which is traditional in most Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) decks. This Hierophant wears a purple robe and a red hat, indicating that his knowledge came from his desire for it. He gazes to the right and also holds a scroll or document in his right hand, symbolic of unconscious thoughts. Behind him is a stone statue of an angel that looks towards the heavens. He is sitting by an iron gridded window, separated from the nuns outside. This Hierophant appears to be contemplating something. In contrast, he does not appear to be a a questionable role model. What lessons is he teaching? What would I learn from him? In this case, I would rather follow my own path.
The number 5 is significant for movement, travel, new adventures, figuring out a new path. But, with lack of order, it can result in unwieldy behavior. Balance will be essential. And, I will post my reflections throughout the course if the year.
Image: The Victorian Romantic Tarot © Magic Realist Press
Image: The Bohemian Gothic Tarot © Magic Realist Press
© 2010, aurarcana | A Tarot Blog. All rights reserved.
I really like that Hierophant from the VR (I’d not seen it before) – he seems more personable and engaged that the Rider-Waite version, as though he brings the knowledge to people, rather than people needing to seek him out and request it (which is the vibe that the traditional RW image gives me)
The Victorian Romantic Hierophant is my favorite. It’s a different take on the traditional RWS version which uses the Priest as an archetype for order and gaining knowledge; Karen Mahoney states this in the companion book for the deck. The VR card offers a more broad range of ideas that can be associated with the card, and I find that refreshing!
Cheers, Nicole