(Tarot Prompts for Writers)
What I See in the Card:
The High Priest, aka the Hierophant, is old, and maybe a bit dusty, but he knows a great deal and he has his wits about him. He has lived a life of the spirit, but he rules a colourful landscape and he cares about the world. He is grounded in his community.
In my deck, the High Priest sits on a throne shaped like a star of David, with white and black posts that symbolize balance. These pillars represent the establishment but also the balance of knowledge that the High Priest holds (and shares, at least with his flock). Those posts stand like a gate through which knowledge leads (and which lead to more knowledge).
The hand on the High Priest’s heart represents his honesty. His three-tiered crown and rod represent the physical, emotional, and social realms that combine in each of us. The High Priest has more than book-knowledge; he has lived a long life with all sorts of people who confess everything to him. He knows a great deal about human life and its joys and sorrows.
The High Priest looks intently and compassionately at his supplicants. Though seated on a throne, he is grounded in the people, the community. He is there to help and to serve. You can ask him for advice and he’ll do his best to steer you towards goodness.
The High Priest is not a televangelist or an inquisitor. He’s not selfish or punishing or even excessively rigid. There’s a dark undertone to this card in modern times because we know so much about the abuses of power in the Catholic church (and pretty much wherever there’s a power structure) and the evils perpetrated throughout history under the name of some god or other. A representative of institutional religion is suspect. Even the best of them control their followers to some degree. They believe their way is the Way.
But don’t mistake this card to represent the oppression of institutions. It represents a religious life, a life devoted to a spiritual path, and the wealth of wisdom such a life brings. While there is a traditional nuance to the card, it is really a card of the spirit.
If you are a lapsed Catholic like me, it’s hard to see this card as positively as it’s meant to be. And if you value individuality and freedom more than community and tradition, you may be less inclined to like the High Priest and his traditional path. But paths are there to make it easier to walk, and maybe there’s something in this direction you need to get to. Just know that the High Priest is kind and wise, and you and I are likelier to cast judgment on him than he on us.
Read will take you to my notes on how to tell a fortune with the High Priest — traditional interpretations; what the card might mean in different positions; keywords to help memorize meanings; and questions to ponder or ask the querent.
Write will take you to a few prompts for launching from the High Priest into a story. A first line, a character, and a theme — three possible ways to turn the High Priest into fiction.
Gallery will take you to a central Tarot-Prompts page.
Go ahead, confess.
Images on this page are by the following artists:
Banner (and top box), left to right: Marseilles deck engraved by Nicolas Conver; Dragon Tarot illustrated by Roger and Linda Garland: Tarot Balbi by Domenico Balbi; Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti; Druid Craft deck illustrated by Will Worthington; Radiant Rider-Waite deck illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith.
Mid-page boxes: Tarot Balbi; the Wild Unknown Tarot created by Kim Krans.
Catherine Austen 