Comments on: Surprise in the Initiatory Tarot of the Golden Dawn

By: Ethereal Spirit

Ethereal Spirit — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:31:52 +0000

Seeing them this way (and wow! thnx), I see embodiment(Empress), application (Emperor), and accountability (Hierophant). Then (sunrise to sunset) the progression of steps to mastery.

But in this view/deck it seems more of a progression without end, since the Hierophant appears to be holding the scroll, instead of writing or showing/teaching, and is looking back in contrast to the other two looking forward, as if in review.

I have little knowledge of Golden Dawn too, and would be interested as well as why this deck shows the Hierophant in a different perspective.

By: lada

lada — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:17:21 +0000

nothing maternal nor nurturing in the expression of THAT empress, is there?

By: Irmata

Irmata — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:41:27 +0000

Very cool! I’m guessing you’ve looked to see if there are any other cards in the deck that fit together, whether in progression or not?

I have been grouping the Hierophant with the Emperor & Empress in the little tarot games I play while learning. The energies of the Magician and HP came together and are made manifest in the Empress, who is joined with the Emperor by the Hierophant. They become the (alchemical) lovers and have to sort out their differences in the Chariot etc.

Like “BB”s observation of the Trinity too – this is probably n keeping with the Golden Dawn tradition, right?

By: Morgan Eckstein

Morgan Eckstein — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:34:26 +0000

Something that did not immediately occur to me (until a couple of hours later after reading this post) is the fact that according to Golden Dawn, the paths these cards are assigned to arise out of the same sephirah, Chokmah.

By: Blackbird "BB"

Blackbird "BB" — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:46:10 +0000

On 2nd glance, notice the dove over the Empress, the Lamb at the Emperors Feet.

Dove, Empress, Sophia.
Lamb, Emperor, Son
Hierophant is then Father … Father Son Sophia (Ghost)
the Christian Trinty Manifest on Earth, no?

By: Ty

Ty — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:48:30 +0000

Being trained in medieval and Renaissance studies, the arrangement caught my eye (as an art historian, I’m always looking for such arrangements- it was great to actually find one!)and brought to mind the (often uneasy) marriage of church and state for about a 1000 years in Europe, built on the Classical tradition. I’ve always been intrigued by the ‘herirarchy’ of the major arcana, particualry this triad. This arrangement makes it pretty blatatant, and very organic, as previosuly noted. It’s one of the surprises that makes this deck unique, beyond ‘just’ being a fully illustrated GD deck.

By: helen

helen — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:17:36 +0000

I don’t know if this makes any sense at all but relating to the dawn, day and sunset part of this card the idea that the Empress is there at the beginning of her creation (mother – dawn) the Emperor forms the stability and support for that creation (father- day) and the Hierophant helps to inform that creation (teacher -sunset)

It’s in that first part of the Fool’s journey 0 -7 which I call the education stage

Anyway me just waffling. :O)

By: Maribeth

Maribeth — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:20:53 +0000

Definitely does away with the notion of separation of church and state!

By: Morgan Eckstein

Morgan Eckstein — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:33:33 +0000

I have always associated these cards with the Imperator (Emperor), the Hierophant (Hierophant, of course), and the Praemonstrator (Empress). For lodge attending members of the Golden Dawn (such as myself), it is hard not to think of them as a single unit; these three officers all sit on the dais and are engaged in the running of the lodge. Thanks for drawing my attention to this bit of artwork.

By: Theresa

Theresa — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:09:50 +0000

Wow – how cool is that? I love surprises like that.

Connecting the Hierophant with the Empress and Emperor is interesting.