How does your Tarot Year card play with The Hierophant?

2021 is a Hierophant year according to the Tarot.

So who or what is the Hierophant anyways?

Originally the Hierophant appeared in the cards as the Pope, and some decks still refer to him in this way.

He was transmuted into the Hierophant as a shift towards more esoteric traditions, and away from the conventional church, with this name change.

The word Hierophant means “The Displayer of Holy Things”, or “He who shows the sacred things”. In Ancient Greece, the Hierophant was the High Priest of the Eleusinian Mysteries, nine days of ritual, ceremony and initiation into the cult of the Goddesses Demeter and Persephone.

Whatever the title, this card represents someone who is the intermediary between us and the Divine, someone who is able to bestow blessings and benediction. The Hierophant/Pope/Priest is a wise teacher who shares valuable and time-honoured knowledge, rather than inspiring internal or personal revelations.

But this is a complex card, isn’t it?

The Hierophant can also represent hierarchy, patriarchy, and an authority figure who keeps those with less power obedient and controlled by religious dogma. He can weigh us down with tradition and the expectations of society.

Just as with the Emperor in 2020, I expect we will see both sides of the Hierophant in the year ahead.

Now, take a look at your own personal Tarot year card for 2021.

If you don’t know what that is, here’s how you figure it out.

Add your day, month and 2021 together as you see below. That will give you a four-digit number. Then, add those four digits together. If you get a number that is 22 or lower, that’s your number. If it is higher than 22, add those two digits together to get your number. That number corresponds with a Major Arcana Tarot card, you can find it in the chart below.

Your Tarot Year card gives you an idea of the energy around you in the year ahead, what will motivate you, opportunities that are waiting to be taken advantage of, challenges that will need to be navigated and overcome.

How do you feel when you look at your Year card? Do you feel happy about it? Blah? Not so thrilled? Before we head into the New Year, get to know your card, how it impacts you, what it evokes in you. Try to get to know it on a personal level. Meditate on the image. Ask the cards for more information about it. Here’s a Tarot spread to help you do that. 

By the way, I HIGHLY recommend “Who are you in the Tarot” by Mary K. Greer to take this much deeper and further.

Here are a few simple key words and concepts related to the Year cards:

Fool – trust, taking a leap of faith, living fully
Magician – force of will, using your talents, harnessing your power
High Priestess – initiation, raising psychic and intuitive awareness, understanding your power
Empress – creativity, productivity, fertility
Emperor – establishing your authority, creating stability
Hierophant – establishing yourself as an expert, study, teaching
Lovers – relationships, communication, making choices that are right for you
Chariot – take action, move forward, focus on your goals
Strength – courage to face challenges, understand your own emotions, know your strength
Hermit – introspection, complete what needs to be completed, find your path forward
Wheel of Fortune – Highs and lows, luck, momentum, change
Justice – decisions, purpose and responsibility, ethics, be true to yourself
Hanged Man – release, surrender, sacrifice, new perspectives
Death – endings and new beginnings, transformation, clear away old for new growth
Temperance – balance and flow, combining the parts of your life beautifully, finding solutions
Devil – Indulging material desires, freeing self from negativity, looking at shadow issues
Tower – freedom, release, old structures in your life coming down
Star – hope, following new dreams and aspirations, finding your talents
Moon – higher level of perception, trust and use your intuition, seeing through illusion
Sun – joy, success, recognition, new opportunities
Judgement – evaluating your life, personal awakening, following your calling
World – end of a cycle, successful culmination and achievement, integration, freedom

Now, put your card next to the Hierophant (or perhaps your card IS the Hierophant). What do you notice about them? Do they have a similar energy? Do they look like they would support each other, or fight with each other? By doing this, you can gain further insights into how 2021 may best flow for you.

For example, my 2021 Year Card is The Chariot. How do you think he’d get along with that Hierophant?

I can see benefits and challenges here.

The Chariot wants to take action, and to move strongly towards his goals. It takes self-discipline to do this. So, I think the atmosphere of being in service to a higher power, structure and staying power that we see in the Hierophant will a source of support for this juggernaut.

Also, the Chariot is driven, and picks up momentum as he goes, so some divine guidance would welcome, a force that can keep him on track rather than going around in circles or off-roading.

But, the Chariot is fiercely independent, and he doesn’t like being told what to do. So, he may resist following the rules or doing what that Hierophant wants him to do.

So what does this mean for me, in my Chariot year?

I am indeed feeling driven to achieve certain goals next year, and to move ahead personally and professionally. I know that I will have a strong energy of self-discipline and confidence around me in 2021 (which was lacking in 2020), so I intend to make the most of it and to focus on what I want to accomplish. In 2020 I have felt easily distracted, because of the state of our world and worry about loved ones (it was has been a Lovers year for me), so I am going to ride that Chariot focus, ambition and momentum to the fullest.

If I find myself making bad decisions out of that resistance to authority and doing what I’m told, I’ll make sure that I check that, and keep things in perspective. Also, if I find that I am moving ahead too fast, or getting off track, I’ll take myself back to why I started this journey, to my longer term purpose, and I’ll seek guidance and wisdom from people who I respect and have more experience and knowledge than I do.

Take a look at your Tarot Year card, and that Hierophant, and incorporate their energies, resources and guidance into your planning for 2021. Why not add these powerful tools to your toolbox, and get crafting a year that will bring you great happiness, success, and satisfaction.

Wishing you a magnificent 2021!

Ready to go in deep with your Tarot Soul and Year Cards, and find out how they play with that Hierophant? Book your reading now.