In this dream, I was once again in a Catholic School like the one I grew up in only this was a stricter Catholic School. Fellow Blogger Persephone Rose and myself were taken to see a Popelike figure. Apparently, word had gotten around that we were using Tarot Cards. This Hierophant asked us to renounce Tarot Cards. If we did not we were going to get in trouble at school.

Persephone Rose was silent and I could sense she was in conflict. I spoke up saying, that being asked to renounce Tarot Cards was like being asked to renounce one’s Religion. Tarot Cards were a big part of many of the New religions. Here I was thinking of a set of Spiritual beliefs that technically are not one set religion.

This is all I remember of the dream, but I will note that the night before I had drawn the Hierophant as the daily card for today. I think that the card referred to this Dream.

I think that the Hierophant is an interesting card to have in the Tarot deck because it represents in part the Traditional Church. Often it is referred to as the Pope Card. Yet, not a modern hip Pope but an old-fashioned kind of Pope. The kind of Pope from when Catholicism was the only Christian Religion in Eastern Europe. A kind of Pope that very well might have burned you or hung you for using Tarot Cards.

While Tarot Cards have a long Tradition themselves, they tend to be used by those who have distanced themselves from the kind of church of the Hierophant. As most religions have decided they are ‘sinful’ I doubt that many Nuns, Priests, Minsters, etc, are drawing Tarot Cards.

I remember the next bit of the dream now. As I protested, in the dream, to the Hierophant I felt as if I was no longer speaking to the Traditional Church. That the Church was going to transform to be more accepting in the future. The Hierophant also recognized in me certain qualities that would have made me a Saint.

The Spiritual Knowledge, that I was telling him, matched the Theology of the Church. I sounded as if I was one who had studied philosophy. I had a knowledge that many of the things being taught in ‘New Age’ philosophy matched what you would learn if you studied Catholic philosophy deeply.

I am pretty sure that is all I can remember of the dream.

The Hierophant is the ruling power of external religion. It is representative of the need to be accepted by society, of conforming to the norms presented all around us. Sometimes this card is representative of feeling like an outcast, judged by society and sometimes this is the card that represents one’s own desires to be a part of the religious world.

http://www.auntyflo.com/tarot/hierophant

The Hierophant’s message is for you to take your concern to God and to pray, and to allow the stillness and peace of your prayers to bring calmness to your heart and intuition to your mind.

Also: http://www.auntyflo.com/tarot/hierophant

Auntyflo.com seems to have a good explanation of The Hierophant card. I picked out those two quotes from a much longer passage. They stood out to me as what the card is trying to tell me.