The Hierophant - "Subterranean Homesick Alien" by Radiohead

[Funny, I've always already imagined the title of this song to be a metaphor for Christ, and the lyrics to be evoke a distinctly post-Christian longing...]

The breath of the morning
I keep forgetting
The smell of the warm summer air

I live in a town
Where you can't smell a thing
You watch your feet
For cracks in the pavement

Up above
Aliens hover
Making home movies
For the folks back home

Of all these weird creatures
Who lock up their spirits
Drill holes in themselves
And live for their secrets

They're all uptight
Uptight...
Uptight..

I wish that they'd swoop down in a country lane
Late at night when I'm driving
Take me on board their beautiful ship
Show me the world as I'd love to see it

I'd tell all my friends
But they'd never believe
They'd think that I'd finally lost it completely

I'd show them the stars
And the meaning of life
They'd shut me away
But I'd be all right
All right..

I'm just uptight
Uptight..
Uptight..
Uptight..

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Aesop's Fables - The Hierophant

(Click here for large version)

This is one of the few tales in the book that does not provide a succinct moral in medieval typeface at the end. If I had to write one, what would it be? How about this:

"Our successes often arrive at their expense of our beliefs."

I'm reminded of Laurie Anderson's story about the Egyptians using mummy rags to power their steam engines:



"They burned their ancestors for fuel." It sounds so disrespectful, but time is such a erosive force that virtually anything from the past that adds momentum to the present must be considered a viable resource. The Hierophant is any figure who arbitrates this process, bridging the gap between history and the current moment, between the esoteric and the immediate.

He's not what you'd call a safe and transparent figure, because he will never offer any information that could possibly lead to his being deposed. In this way, he often serves just as much as an obstacle as he does as a conduit. Sure, those coins emerged at a crucial moment, but they'd also been sitting there uselessly all along while the man endured constant hardship. Eliminating the middle-man was obviously a wise decision in this case.

Previously On Arcanalogue: The Hierophant

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The Hierophant - V

1. Intuition
2. Learning from another
3. Union.

-- David Allen Hulse, The Western Mysteries

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"Consider Your Relationship With The Powers That Be..."

The weird little shadow puppets of Bendito Machine will worship just about anything that falls out of the sky, and but their humanity always proves to be too great a liability for any god or demigod to withstand. This series of animated shorts by Jossie Malis confirms wordlessly what we know all too well about our civilization's lust for knowledge and power, but there is enough humor in them to keep the medicine from being too bitter. Here's the most recent installment (though the rez is far better on the main site linked above):



There were so many Hierophant-appropriate images in this short video that I had a hard time choosing just one; as the human in charge of translating the holy teachings into a language the common people can understand, he's usually pretty conspicuous. As with many popes and leaders who are only human, history might very well prove his book of law to be a book of error, but to keep civilization from descending into chaos he's got to do the best with what he's got, and for the most part the public is grateful for it. Bendito Machine points out a truth about the Hierophant that anti-establishment types will always grapple with: a god or a philosophy isn't impossible to uproot -- sometimes it's easier than you ever imagined. But as fast as one power is deposed, it's in our nature to immediately instate another in its place. As individuals we can challenge and interrupt that tendency within ourselves, but it's very rare that a whole society can make that leap together.

Even the boldest person goes through periods when the need for clear answers is too great to ignore, regardless of one's suspicion of higher powers. Like it or not, without guidance from teachers, leaders, mentors, gurus, priests, and counselors, we'd waste our lives flying in ignorant circles. We have a lot of control as to whose wisdom we accept and whose we don't, but at some point we have to swallow our pride, allow for a margin of error, and entrust our malleable selves to others' hands.

Drawing this card presents you with an opportunity to consider your relationship with the powers that be. Do you feel oppressed and rebellious? Thirsty for knowledge? Have you already been taught what to do, but are afraid or reluctant to do it? Or is it time for you to pass on what you've learned to someone a little less worldly? No one's perfect -- and participating in an orderly, organized (and yes, profoundly flawed) world might be the most radical decision you can make. [Via]

Previously On Arcanalogue: The Hierophant

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THE HIEROPHANT

What societies deem "acceptable" or even "proper" can change very rapidly. Today's noble truth is tomorrow's blasphemy, and one of the advantages of living within a civilization (as opposed to out in the middle of nowhere like the Hermit) is that you have constant access to its current notions, conventional wisdom, and historical record -- depending on what your needs as an individual are, those can be more valuable than gold.

They can also, however, be incredibly dogmatic or outdated. When Mark Jones, the creator of the Politically Incorrect Alphabet was in school, alphabet charts would feature an Indian to represent the letter I. As an adult he decided to update the alphabet, "using only subjects that, while they might have been unremarked a few decades ago, are now outside acceptable usage. But only just." Trying to imagine a child learning the letter H from pictures of a housewife or even Hitler might seem funny to us now, but there were plenty of times and places in the last century in which either would have seemed perfectly innocuous. (Some of these cards, less so.)

For our purposes, H means "Hierophant." That's not a title you often come across outside of the Tarot, but classically, a hierophant would be someone who interprets and shares sacred information -- a sort of educational guardian, hence the armed Hun on the card above. Some older decks even refer to him as the Pope. That itself really drives home my point -- I'm sure the Pope's very sweet, and that in many situations his perspective is quite useful, but there are plenty of situations where his flavor of advice really isn't what you're looking for.

In a reading, this card points you toward what Mary K. Greer refers to as "the 'shoulds' and 'oughts' in your life that link you to traditional values and established knowledge." (Thanks, Mary -- I underlined that twice!) As opposed to the Adjustment card, the Heirophant entreats you to adhere to what is "right" in your world; it urges you to seek (and heed) the counsel of those who have been influential to you. However, it can also symbolize the forces of "right" that will hamper your individuality if you let them, so read this card carefully and proceed with an open mind!

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