THE HIEROPHANT AND DIVINE WISDOM
I have been thinking a lot about power, about structure, about our inner world that we either learn to tend to or neglect. I’ve been thinking about how we are not taught to honor our inner temple, or the palace of our heart, but instead must find these skills and refine these rituals for ourselves. In the day and age we live in, we’re taught to search outside of ourselves for meaning and security. We are taught to buy things to make us happier, or to be in romantic relationships to feel “complete”. And those of us who grew up in patriarchal religions are taught that to commune with the divine we must go through someone else, that we must build this relationship through a third party, since the all mighty powers that be are uninterested in what we have to do or say. We are taught that structure and tradition and hierarchy are what’s important, and it’s only after we achieve a certain level of purity or proficiency that the divine will consider us at all. In the tarot, this is seen in the card of the Hierophant. The Hierophant is the priest/ oracle/ pope blessing those below him, a symbolic representation of the outside forces we go to so we too can embody and enact the divine will. Yet according to Rachel Pollack in “Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom” Waite named the Hierophant as such because the High Priest of the Eleusinian Mysteries wore that same title. Pollack explains that this is a card that expresses the “outer way of churches and dogma”, and in this day and age this is evident as hell. Yet this name itself speaks of a deeper truth and connection to the mysteries, to our own relationship with the divine that we personally interface with. And THAT is what I’m here to talk about today.
The Hierophant
The 5th Card of the tarot + the year card for 2021
As we are officially in the month of May, the fifth month of the year, we enter the reign of the Hierophant, the fifth card in the tarot. We are also in Taurus season, the earth sign ruled by Venus known for its knack for physical pleasures and sensory delights. Taurus’ ruling major arcana card is also the Hierophant, which is why I’m writing this post; if there’s ever a time to muse on structure, connection to source/ the divine/ God/ Goddess/ the universe or whatever else you want to call it, it’s now. What I believe the Hierophant is here to tell us is that to be successful occultists, to be the most powerful witches we can be, we must attune our own antennas to the divine. We must consciously work with structures of our own volition to support us in our practice. We must remember that the Hierophant isn’t a force outside of ourselves but the own wisdom that we hold within us. The Hierophant can be thought of as our higher self or our Holy Guardian Angel; it is not up to anyone else to do the work for us, it’s up to us to create this language, reframe our beliefs and believe in ourselves as the ultimate cosmic telephone to the universe. YOU are the hierophant. And while this is an incredibly liberating, empowering and expansive realization, it is also one that asks us to take on an added responsibility. If we are not looking outside of ourselves for answers or connections, we must look within! We must realign our core values and beliefs to reflect back at us the world in which we want to live in; we must decide and commit to looking within ourselves for answers, and not expect them to come from another person who supposedly received these answers from source. This means we must live in ALIGNMENT and INTEGRITY with what WE believe in. Not what the world around us tells us to believe in, or what our pastor or preacher or rabbi or guru tells us to believe in. And when you haven’t taken the time to think back to your core beliefs and what your world revolves around, this can be scary. It is a threat to the established order (which we are currently seeing fall) to be fiercely devoted to the self, to know thyself, and to commit to that with clarity and devotion. The Hierophant WANTS this. They want you to stand in your own beliefs, in your own truths, in your own commitment. It is only when you align yourself with these pillars and stand as your own source and connection to the divine that you can shine your light as fully, radiantly and dynamically as possible. And when you do this you change the world around you and inspire others to do the same.
On Thursday morning at 3:45am PST we had the Scorpio Full Moon. An INTENSE lunation that called for the dissolution and death of the parts of ourselves that we no longer identified with; the parts of ourself who rejected our dualistic nature, that played small, that were afraid to take up space. Scorpio is a water sign that DEMANDS intensity and DEPTH. Scorpio DEMANDS that we TRUST ourselves enough to look at our own shadow, at our own reflection, and see what needs to be salvaged, what needs to be transmuted, and what needs to be destroyed. As Death is the associated tarot card with Scorpio, we can use these couple days after this lunation to integrate its messages. And as the polarity to Taurus and The Hierophant, we can think of Scorpio and Death as a reminder to let go of the structures we have upheld in our life because we inherited them, or were comfortable in them, or feared anything outside of these boundaries. Scorpio and it’s Full Moon are asking us to release these beliefs and support systems that have us looking outside of ourselves for the answers.
Death
The 13th card of the tarot
Here’s the thing. This isn’t an easy road; it’s called the great WORK and not the great REST for a reason. And yet, it won’t feel difficult. It will actually feel aligned; but this may take time. If you have always believed in the narrative you’ve been fed about your lack of power and agency when it comes to worshiping and working with whatever you believe in, then this period can feel like spiritual puberty. But it gets easier; the more you commit to searching within yourself for the answers, the more clearly the answers come. And while we do this, what we have to remember is that death of these old beliefs is not the end. Death is not the end. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, and as soon as we release what’s no longer working for us, as soon as we release these limiting beliefs, we make room for our own. We make room for OUR truth. And you may not find these quickly! It will probably take time and trial and error before you decide what you believe. But as we watch the world around us shift and change, as we are intimately surrounded by death more than ever, we must remember that we have the choice in what we believe. If we remember that death means a new beginning, we can better prepare ourselves for what’s waiting on the other side.
A TAROT SPREAD FOR RELEASING AND REALIGNING WITH YOUR CORE BELIEFS
We may not always be aware of what our core beliefs are; these are the beliefs that you live your life around and they can become so ingrained that we don’t even question them. Feelings of deep unworthiness, or negativity, or shame, can all come from the things we grew up hearing and believing. But as witches, we KNOW the power of our mind. We KNOW the power of our beliefs to shape and shift the reality around us. And we also know there’s nothing wrong with using magick to help us understand ourselves and create a world that is better aligned and reflective of our PURPOSE. Because we all have a purpose baby!!! You can use this tarot spread to shed light on the beliefs that are holding you back, and to better realign with what those beliefs that are supportive of your evolution. Use this spread to get your mind and body in alignment with whatever it is you believe in; whether that’s your higher self, God, Goddess, the universe or LOVE.
You can use a tarot deck or an oracle deck for this! Before you begin, make sure you’re in a conducive space for this ritual. Make sure pets are taken care of and that roomies or partners won’t disturb you. Turn your phone on silent, put on some ambient music (I LOVE Solfeggio Frequencies), grab some water, make some tea and do whatever else you need to find peace and a sense of center. Before you begin, you may wish to practice a grounding visualization, do some breathwork or meditate. Drop in however you need. As you feel ready, you may wish to ask the cards a specific question in regards to your core belief or you can simply ask them to help guide you in this next phase of your journey. Breathe, shuffle the cards, pull and enjoy! As always, I suggest recording your pulls and interpretations in a grimoire or journal for future reflection.
CARD 1: What are my core beliefs telling me about myself?
CARD 2: What are my core beliefs telling me about my reality?
CARD 3: How are these beliefs supporting me?
CARD 4: How are these beliefs harming me?
CARD 5: What beliefs can I align myself with to better serve my growth and evolution?
CARD 6: What do these new beliefs tell me about myself?
CARD 7: What do these new beliefs tell me about my reality?
CARD 8: How can I integrate these messages into my life?
CARD 9: What I need to remember about my own relationship with the divine
MANTRAS FOR REMEMBERING YOUR OWN DIVINITY
In my first installment of THE WITCH LIST, I shared musings on the hermetic and occult maxim, AS ABOVE, SO BELOW/ AS WITHIN, SO WITHOUT. This truth speaks of the fact that everything we experience is a reflection of everything that the divine or cosmos are experiencing. We are not separate from the earth or the solar system or the galaxy. We are actually all part of the same microcosm and macrocosm. What this reminds us is the Hierophant within ourselves IS divine. That when we commune with our guides or deities or higher self, we are communicating WITH ourselves. Our will is the divine will, our heart is divine love, our thoughts are the universe manifesting as individuals that come together to form a greater whole. When we take the time to remember and affirm our connection to whatever we believe in, we are finding strength and sovereignty within ourselves because we’re reminding ourselves that we are reflections of this divinity. This can be tricky to wrap your head around, and thankfully we can use mantras and affirmations to help.
I’ll share what I wrote about mantras in my last post here: I like to use mantras in my morning practice because speaking is a form of spellcraft. When we speak we vibrate our desires into the universe, whether conscious or not; this is SPELLing. And when we bring intention to this, it is ritual. Mantras and affirmations are a way for us to retrain our mind and how we feel about ourselves. I like to say each mantra three times, but you may say yours as many times as you need. Write them on a sticky note and put them on a mirror, make them your phone background, do whatever you can to remind yourself of these truths. Pick which ones resonate and leave the rest; or write your own to better serve whatever experience you’re moving through.
I am a perfect manifestation of the divine will
I am a perfect manifestation of the cosmos
I am a perfect manifestation of divine love
I am my own conduit and channel to the divine
I believe in the power, strength and perseverance of my soul
I am divinely held, divinely aligned and divinely protected
The only person I have to answer to is myself
I AM THAT WITCH
I find strength, support, evolution and magick in my beliefs
I align myself with the highest possible version of who I am and who I am meant to be
A RITUAL FOR SELF-DEVOTION AND SELF- ALIGNMENT
This ritual will be very simple, but it is something that will take devotion because I am asking you to do it every day. YET I encourage you to follow your own path and your own will. Remember this is a suggestion. Remember that rituals are actions we take to align our subconscious mind with our will, to remember our magick, and to let the universe know that through this container we’re creating for experience, we are affirming its value and distinguishing it from our day-to-day life. Magick is the most potent when we repeat it and reaffirm our intention. In this case, I am asking you to reaffirm one of the core beliefs you are adopting, or perhaps even strengthening. This may be something like “I believe the world is supportive, abundant and just “ or “I am worthy of all the abundance, love and magick I desire” or “I am a beautiful and worthy soul.” By connecting to this everyday, you are reaffirming this belief both to your subconscious mind and the universe.
Before you begin, make a list of the core beliefs you have that are supportive, or the beliefs that you want to ADOPT that are supportive. Now pick the one that you feel you have the most trouble accepting. Write this out very clearly in a way that supports your intention, using “I believe”, and not “I don’t believe.” Always reframe your beliefs as positive statements! Now take this statement and think of a way to ritualize it. What can you do once a day to reconnect with this belief and rekindle this as a core value? Here are some examples:
Writing this down everyday a certain number of times; maybe you write this every morning filling one page of a journal, or you write it 7 or 13 times a day (since these are both very powerful numbers)
Lighting a candle as you state this belief out loud
Cleansing with sacred smoke as you reaffirm this belief to yourself
Writing this belief into an invocation or prayer that you say at your altar every morning
Giving yourself reiki as you send this belief into your energy field and light body
Charging the water you drink throughout the day with this belief
Saying this affirmation to yourself out loud in the mirror, however many times you wish (I like to say affirmations 3 times) as you gaze in your non-dominant eye in the mirror (since it’s very hard to gaze at both of your eyes!)
Creating an altar to support this belief and standing in front of it as you breathe in this energy every morning
There’s an endless well of rituals to remind yourself of your power. Use the above as a jumping off point; maybe you weave this belief into an artistic practice, maybe you make music for it, or dance as you remind yourself of it. Remember- YOU are the utmost authority of what works for YOU! Never forget this power.
So much love to you all. Here’s to creating a better future for the collective, together. AND SO IT IS.