By Sarah Taylor
There is a calling towards Soul in a significant way this week. We have two major arcana cards in the reading, along with a senior member of the Court of Cups: Temperance in the centre, The Hierophant to the left, and the Knight of Cups to the right.
I drew Temperance first, and it is the card on which the other two ‘hinge’ — which makes sense, given that Temperance is an alchemical synthesis and the endeavour to balance and work with two apparent opposites. The first thing I thought of when I saw the two streams of fluid pouring out of the bowls before the figure of Temperance was “blue pill” and “red pill.” Except here, the paradox is that, instead of choosing one over the other, there is the invitation to dance with both and see what comes of their ‘separate union’. The two streams come together — dance together, guided by Temperance herself — but they do not mix. There is interdependence rather than codependence.
Can we align with the paradox, moving it, guiding it, while holding both qualities as separately together in our consciousness? This is the card of ‘growing up’ and understanding that nothing exists in isolation — that, in fact, we need contradiction in order to locate and feel ourselves in the time and space of our own existence, and in the existence of the world at large around us.
The Hierophant is card 5 in the major arcana. It appears as an archetypal concept of ‘marriage’ that is held in place before our descent into matter in the form of The Lovers (card 6). The writing on the card:
“Spiritual master,” “teacher,” “advisor,” “initiate,” “inner leader,” “spiritual father,” “highest transformation.”