Friday 26 March 2010

The Hierophant (Tradition) as Shadow

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This year, S and I have occasionally drawn one tarot card each. Today we used the Goddess deck to do this. I drew the 2 of Cups and will make a separate post of my productive journal work with this card. S drew the Prince of Staves - I will leave him to draw his own conclusions on this one.

What was most interesting, was that S had left one solitary card face down and I was drawn to uncover it as my "shadow" card for the day. This is based on an interesting tarot book I am using: "Tarot Shadow Work, Using the Dark Symbols to Heal" by Christine Jette.

The card was Goddess Juno as "Tradition", or The Hierophant. One or two of the bullet points in Jette´s book were uncomfortably close to home especially;

  • adopting principles without thinking them through or considering what they really mean in your life.
  • exhibiting hostility toward the established order while lacking an inner guide.

Here are my thoughts on this card;

  • the full moon is shining, as with the 2 of cups.
  • Juno may indeed represent tradition, but this is by no means a traditional dress she is wearing. Reminiscent of water, and therefore echoing the moon, her beautiful blue /green / purple dress emphasises the feminine side of tradition.
  • her silvery crescent headress again echoes the moon.
  • her face is pale with dark circles around her eyes. Too many late, moonlit nights maybe?
  • the peacock is a symbol sacred to Juno and peacock feather "eyes" are sometimes considered unlucky, or at least a token difficult to handle.
  • not sure what the trees are meant to be on either side of the card but, to me, they are like little orange trees. Also, the orb she has cradled in her hands, looks to me like a orange "pomander". The frieze and floor are also orangey coloured. I was thinking of the sacral chakra, which is orange, and had picked out the orange crystal (carnelian) at the same time. This connects the card to energy, power, primal drives. So, Junu´s power derives from the feminine and is rooted in her hara or sacral centre.
  • something about her slightly sideways look makes me think that she is a bit uncertain about something.

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