Tag: the high priest

Says Who?

The Hierophent (Pope, High Priest) card asks us to think about who we allow to influence us. TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot is guidance for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.

Today’s card is the Hierophant. The Marseille and some decks call it the Pope. My personal favorite version of the card is the High Priest in the Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans.

There is a lot of nuance and subtle shades of meaning around this card, most of which have to do with some iteration of authority. It might be the literal political power and authority that many people grant the actual Catholic papacy. Or it may be a more purely moral and spiritual authority many people grant to the wisest among us like the Dali Lama or the late Desmond Tutu, for example.

I’ll grant you, my view of the card is profoundly influenced by western liberalism in the sense of democracy and the notion that authority is granted by those who are governed by it.

Here my thoughts turn to an interview I watched last night with Russian dissident Nadya Tolokonnikova.

Even where there is autocratic government there is choice: compliance at lesser risk and protest at great risk.

War and dictatorships aside for a moment, here in the relative safety of the western world and in our own minds, consider for a moment where you grant authority.

On International Women’s Day I want to fall back to one of my favorite Eleanor Roosevelt quotes because it resonates with the self-guidance and personal, spiritual autonomy that is the point and purpose of Tarot work. She said that “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

The High Priest agrees today.

Who do you consent to impact your feelings? Who do you give authority over your self esteem? Who do you give permission to influence you?

Are they worth it?

Another cue to think about who you consent to have influence or authority over you is the word “should.” If you catch yourself thinking that you “should” do something, take a moment and challenge that thought with loud “Says who?”

Hopefully, the who is you.

Thank you so much for reading and listening. TaoCraft Tarot blog, podcast and youtube channel are all supported through your Tarot reading purchases, Tarot Table Memberships, “buy me a coffee” donations, plus all of your likes, subs, shares and follows. Thank you so much for your support.

See you at the next sip

YouChoose on the Print Side

Whelp, yesterday was a day and days happen. The website and Etsy shop are ALWAYS open and you can order readings 24/7/365 – but this was a reminder to both of us that there might be some hiccups and delivery delays nights, weekends and U.S. holidays. Now that my daughter is older, TaoCraft has my attention most of the time, but there will always be days here and there where family gets first dibs and it might take a day to get content up here or on the YouTube channel.

There is still a learning curve for me on this YouTube thing. The lighting with this new deck on a rainy day is a prime example. While part of me wants to produce a “banger every time” edited, media production quality video there are three main reasons why I chose not to do that.

1. I don’t know how. TaoCraft Tarot is made up of me, my tablet, my deck and that is IT. I have neither the computing power nor the know-how to be the Markaplier of Tarot channels.

2. I HATE being on camera. This whole re-branding adventure is about authenticity. I don’t want to be yet another talking head speech to camera Tarot Vlog.

3. I want the YouTube videos to be as authentic as the rest of TaoCraft Tarot. If the videos are crap, it’s because I’m still authentically suckish at making them. (Not saying that won’t change as I learn on the fly) Live Tarot sessions don’t come with an edit button. If we ever work together in real time, either in-person or by phone, there will be times where I pause to listen to intuition, or have to try a couple of times to get the just-right word. It isn’t perfect but it is real.

The whole reason for having a YouTube channel is so you can get a feel for what a live session would be like. It isn’t quite there yet. In a live session is WAY more comfortable and articulate. Kind of like the blog. Ah well, it will get there. Meanwhile, let’s get comfy here on the print side.

Left: The Hierophant. Some decks call this the pope. This and the Judgement card are big triggers for me because of the overtly christian imagery. Two things brought the card into focus for me: Diane Morgan’s interpretation of the card as general “social conventions” and JoAnn Dinelli’s “keeper of the traditions.” Of those two threads of energy, this week the card leans toward the social convention side. I hear “play the game” not in a manipulative sense or to suggest hiding your true self. It is more like the adage discretion is the better part of valor. Know your audience. Dress the part for that job interview. Now is not the time to overshare. Take care who you show your true self to. It is OK to protect the pearl that is the true you when there are so many swine around. Doing the social dance might just keep you from being trampled.

Center: Four of Cups. Don’t push. Look inward more than outward. It’s a good week for introspection, meditation, and generally mulling things over. Inward can go forward or backward in time. Mull over what has happened, assess things as they are, then ponder what to do next. There isn’t any sense of urgency. Take your time, do it right. Mr. Franklin was right. This is a week where haste might make waste.

Rignt: Eight of Wands. Stay frosty. You aren’t in control at the moment but your time will come. You did what you could at the time, but now decisions and actions have moved elsewhere and you have to wait for new developements before you can make your next plans and steps. Some bit of information you need may not yet be known or clear. It is very much like archery right now. You did your part, when you pulled the bow and took aim, metaphorically speaking. The arrow is in the air now, no longer under your control. Watch where it lands. Then you’ll know the score, and what you need to do next.

Thanks for your patience with the YouTube foray outside of the comfort zone. We’ll figure that out as we go along, just like anything else in life and Tarot.

Elfcon – DONE!

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The cure for holiday stress is to celebrate YOUR holiday, not other people’s.

Christmas cards – CHECK!

Gifts mailed to out of state family (which is everybody except the hubster and the padawan) – CHECK!

Cookies – batch one, devoured – CHECK!

More cookies coming? You betcha.

All that is left is a grocery store run for the big meal itself.

This has been the lowest key, biggest Zen, fewest fucks given Christmas ever. I probably forgot something really big and embarrassing. But then there is the part about fewest….well, you know.

Here we are over a year on, and I’m still niggled about the name change. I think the big niggles come from the big symbolism. Rebranding to the TaoCraft Tarot name is both a stage of life evolution and a giant step out of several self imposed closets. This year and this holiday season is filled with more authenticity than ever. TaoCraft is starting to feel lived-in and cozy.

It never fails to amaze me how there seems to be a Tarot card for everything…even the long slow process of sweeping Christmas out my psyche. It is one of the hardest things to let go, but still necessary to release. When it comes to tradition wrangling, the High Priest is just the thing. Or, from the opposite side of the same coin, rejecting the pope / hierophant is just the thing.

For a recovering fundamentalist, there can be a lot of mixed feelings and internal conflicts this time of year. Not only do you have to come to some sort of terms with  family relationships (or the lack of them for those who ‘come out’ and are rejected) but you also have to come to terms with your feelings about the extant holiday itself. What do you do about pleasant childhood memories or a desire for all of the things about Christmas that are, after all, truly enjoyable? How do you celebrate the good stuff while letting go of the toxic stuff? In spite of the feelings at the time, looking back, all the things I cherish most about ‘Christmas’ has zero to do with the religious parts of the holiday.  By letting go of christian christmas, I lose nothing.

My ethos has always been to make some pro forma gestures and try to keep the peace with religious family members. After all, evangelicals and fundamentalist respond well to sweeping things like that under the rug. With visions of the Ghost of Christmas Present dancing in my head, I’d remind myself that a simple little card was a small thing to do to reach out to my fellow humans, and honor whatever thread of relationship may persist. Still, it felt like *I* was putting a lot of time and effort and postage into *their* holiday. Right or wrong, that is a recipe for stress and resentment. We who have “left the faith” are thought to have left the holidays too. We have been so ‘othered’ that it takes a deliberate effort to find some sort of  common ground with Christmas much less see a new path through the holiday season. It is hard to see a current spiritual or secular path through all the haze of Christmases past. It is conflicting to want to engage with the larger, more spiritual symbolism of the season but not the narrow christian-only aspects.

This year, for once, feels different. By scaling everything way back, enough evangelical energy is drained away that I can finally claim this as a holiday of my own. Call it Yule. Call it Solstice. Call it Festivus. Yes, there will still be a tree (no star on top) cookies, egg nog, gingerbread, lights, that plastic garland that I love despite it’s vintage cheesiness, and the whole holly jolly thing. But this year it’s MY holly jolly secular pagan thing. It a small and happy thing to mail gifts and write cards and bake and do when it all done in celebration of MY holiday instead of as a conciliatory gesture toward theirs. If it has some surface appearances in common with *their* holiday, so be it. But Christmas is not me. Not anymore.

When you were raised in the evangelical fundamentalist sub-culture, it is easy to forget that acting FOR something is vastly different than acting in compliance WITH something. You have every right to YOUR holiday traditions even if they are shiny new self-created ones. You have every right to celebrate nothing at all.

The moment we stop celebrating other people’s holidays all of the seasonal stress vanishes.

I give no energy to Christmas. Pumpkin soup to roasted chestnuts, Thanksgiving to New Year,  I am celebrating Yule, Solstice, Festivus, all things cinnamon, cookies, egg nog and the light of the human spirit.

You may not be celebrating those things. Jesus may be the one and only reason for your season, which is just fine. But that is not why I send these wishes. From a place of holiday spirit, from a place of those things deeply meaningful to me….I wish you all a season of love, happiness, health, safety and prosperity.

Wishing you all the best throughout the holidays and the New Year

hollycandle

 

Speaking of the holidays…I’ll be available for email Tarot readings throughout the entire month of December. There may be some delays in delivery while I get the cookies out of the oven, watch Christmas Vacation for the third time or baste the ham, but be patient. I will get your reading to you. Email readings do not need an appointment, order HERE any time.

In-person and party tarot will be closed Dec 20, 2019 through Jan. 2, 2020.

But did I mention email Tarot is open? It’s my specialty, you know. 

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