The Hierophant
Now we come to something very intricate, and you must be very patient.
The imposing CROWN on the head of THE HIEROPHANT has hanging from it TWO
TABS OF YELLOW-DEEP YELLOW, which represent the self-conscious mind and
the subconscious mind. He controls both the self-conscious and the subconscious
mind. He communicates only through the subconscious mind. His Tiara represents
the dominion over Nature. He extends down into the self-conscious and
the subconscious, and stretches down into them his possession of the 15
emanations of consciousness and his functioning in the four planes. There
will come a time when we have his 15 extensions of consciousness and we
can function on the four planes also. It is because of him that we can
do this.
If you will look closely, you will see that these tabs are not pale YELLOW,
the pale YELLOW of THE FOOL, but the darker YELLOW of THE MAGICIAN. If
you turn to THE HIGH PRIESTESS card, you will see that the portico in
which she is sitting is pale YELLOW, not the darker YELLOW of THE MAGICIAN.
She is sitting in the gateway of the Temple and the Temple is the opened
Pineal Gland. The opened Pineal Gland means that the personality is functioning
and is inspiring the activity of the body.
This Tiara on the head of THE HIEROPHANT is made in the shape of the Pineal
Gland, made in the shape of a pine cone. It is made to designate the opened
Pineal Gland, which is the Temple in the body in which the Soul functions
and from which it directs the personality. The Crown and the Scepter also
mean dominion. The Crown of THE EMPRESS means that she has dominion over
the 12 signs of the Zodiac in the Body.
What has THE HIEROPHANT dominion over? His Scepter indicates that he has
dominion over the four planes. The Archetypal Plane is indicated by the
knob at the top, and the three lower planes are indicated by the three
cross pieces: The Creative, Formative, and Physical planes. The Tiara
indicates the same thing, but in a far more detailed and complicated way.
There are three circlets in the Tiara to correspond to the three cross
pieces. They are surrounded by three nails meaning "Three in One,"
and they are the three same things as the circular little knob on the
top of the Scepter.
What are these three? They are the self-conscious, the superconscious,
and the subconscious, and they comprise the ALL of existence. In the Archetypal
World these three exist as one. To come down into the matter of the three
lower planes they must split up and become three separate things. These
circles in the Tiara you may regard as the self-conscious, subconscious,
and superconscious.
The smallest and highest circle is that of the Crown, where it is constructed
with three trefoils with little clover leaves. The three trefoils, in
the smallest circlet, represent these three kinds of consciousness when
they exist separately, and they also represent matter as well as consciousness.
When they represent matter they represent the three qualities of matter.
By the manipulation of these three qualities of matter all creation is
accomplished. The three qualities of matter are called by the Hindus,
Satva, Tamas, and Rajas.
Satva is the tendency of matter to collect into form.
Tamas is the tendency of matter to remain in that form or to be stable.
Rajas is the tendency of matter to disintegrate after the form has
served its purpose.
So you can think of these three trefoils as matter when they represent
the three qualities of matter, or as consciousness. When we think of them
as consciousness, they represent the superconscious, the subconscious,
and the self-conscious. There are no separate entities corresponding to
these names. They are merely the three ways the One Energy transcends
itself. Christianity makes them into the three separate entities because
it is the need of the human mind to make ideas personalized. Christianity
calls them Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Theology insists that these are
separate, and yet they exist together at the same time as a Trinity.
The next circlet is wider and has five trefoils. What do these five trefoils
represent? They represent the fivefold activity of the formative world.
This, the formative world, and its activity, is fivefold and is in the
formative world the subtle principles of the five centers of sense. These
are not the faculties that we have now in the physical body, but are their
subtle principles as they appear on the higher plane: hearing, sight,
taste, touch, and smell. It is the extension of these five senses into
their subtle principles, so that we can perceive them upon higher planes,
which we seek to accomplish by our practice with the Tarot cards. These
subtle principles correspond to the five elements which, in forms other
than ours, exist on all planes.
Ether corresponding to Hearing,
Fire corresponding to Sight,
Water corresponding to Taste,
Air corresponding to Touch, and
Earth corresponding to Smell.
These subtle principles correspond to the five elements.
Now you come to the last circlet. There are seven trefoils. They represent
the seven forces of the physical plane. The Hebrew God "Jehovah"
was the synthesis of these seven forces. He was called the Seven Elohim,
or He of the Seven Elohim. They are beautifully symbolized in Judaism
by the seven branched candlesticks. Seven branches, but one flame. The
branches are the seven differentiations of the One Flame. The New Testament
calls them the Seven Spirits before the Throne. In the solar system we
have seven sacred planets. In our bodies there are seven interior stars,
or Centers (chakras), whose vibration we seek to quicken by color and
sound practice. This Tiara may well be large and elaborate, as it sums
up everything there is in the Universe. The One becomes the Three becomes
the Five becomes the Seven by dividing itself, whether you call it on
the one side consciousness or on the other side, matter. The difference
between consciousness and matter is only relative. In reality they are
the same thing in different aspects. All matter has consciousness and
all consciousness exits in matter.
The alchemist called the seven forces the seven alchemic metals, and they
symbolized control over all manifestation. All this is represented by
the Tiara. The larger part of this manifestation is invisible to us. We
can increase what is visible a great deal by enlarging our Spiritual perceptions;
but always the larger part will be invisible to us while we function in
the body.
This is what the partly closed, uplifted hand of THE HIEROPHANT means.
His hand says that the world to be contacted by the senses is only a small
part of the story. That is just the point. The rest of the hand is closed
up, which means you cannot contact as long as you are using the physical
sense, however sharpened by practice. The major part of the world will
always elude you as long as you are in these bodies. The Higher Self can
see it all.
REMEMBER: The message received in this card is from the Higher Self and
is called Intuition (THE INNER TEACHING). He wants to warn you particularly
against thinking of the INNER TEACHING as teaching the self-conscious
alone. That is what it is doing in this card. The teaching deals with
telling the two forms of the subconscious in you all that is necessary
to bring about the physical changes, which they must work in the body
in order for you to become truly spiritual in the occult sense of the
word. The teaching of the Higher Self is destined to reach the self-conscious
ultimately. It comes through the Venus Center in the throat and is passed
up to the Pituitary Gland, where she sends it into the thinking lobe of
the brain as a thought, or into the hearing area, where it registers as
a voice.
When you impersonate THE HIEROPHANT you will remember what you are to
do in your affirmations-talking to the two forms of your subconscious:
your Empress and your High Priestess. Remember, while you are impersonating
them, performing all the acts they perform, you must still all your emotional
associations, compose all your emotions and impulses, and listen to the
word of the inner voice. It might come to you at any time.
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