Archer Tarot | Let’s Hear it for the Hierophant!

Let’s Hear it for the Hierophant!

Hierophant - Morgan Greer (US Games)

 I forget what I was doing, but the other day I came across a 2006 poll on Aeclectic Tarot which asked "What's your favourite major arcana card?" As you might suspect, the Star came out on top (where else could a Star go?) But can you guess who came last? Of course you can - you've read the title of this post.

Out of 167 votes, the Star got 26 and the High Priestess, the second most popular card, got 19. But the poor old Hierophant only got one. That's 0.6%. Not even 1 in 100 people would say the Hierophant was their favourite major. Consider that for a moment: more people have warm and fuzzy feelings towards the Devil, Death, even the Tower. So why is the Hierophant so unpopular? And is it deserved?

Bonnie Cehovet | Lunch With The Four Aces

Scene: An upscale restaurant in New York City. Four well dressed gentlemen dining in a private room – a monthly ritual for longer than any of them care to remember.

Ace of Cups: Gentlemen, we meet once again. How have you all been doing?

Ace of Wands: Aside from having to work with that darn Magician on one of his off days, I have been doing fine. (Sighs, drinks deeply from the amber liquid in his glass.)

Ace of Swords (laughing uproariously): Better you than me! The Magician on a bad day – worse than the Hanged Man! One step forward, two steps back. He can never quite decide how to use his power, or where to use it. No clarity whatsoever! For heaven’s sake – what does he think we are here for!

Ace of Coins: Swords, I completely agree!  Remember the new moon when you and I were working with him on bringing in a new home for that young couple?

Ace of Swords: Do I ever! There was no agreement on what kind of house they wanted, where they wanted to live, what they wanted the down payment to be. Then there was the financing … they had no clue! What a fiasco! The house they ended up with … well, it gave new meaning to “fixer upper”!

Bonnie Cehovet | In Flight -Ten of Air |Gaian Tarot

In the “Gaian Tarot”, author/artist Joanna Powell-Colbert has depicted the Ten of Air (Pentacles) as Canadian Geese flying in a “V” formation during fall migration. Anyone who has seen this formation has certainly been affected by its sense of power and control. Joanna notes that in European tales of the Wild Hunt flocks of geese or swans embodied the souls of the dead as they flew through the winter sky.