Revisiting The Hierophant's Archetypal Influences

Plus info to register for upcoming events

Join me for two exciting events this weekend!

Before we dive into today’s post, a quick reminder—two online events are happening this weekend, offering opportunities to explore dreams and tarot. Read on for the details!

Mapping the Dreamscape — Saturday March 8th | 11am PST

Join me this Saturday for the second Dreamwork Foundations workshop where we’ll deepen our skills by exploring dream series, recurring elements, and psychological patterns. We’ll learn techniques to track motifs, uncover personal themes, and map the connections between dreams and inner work. The introductory workshop is available for streaming, and we’ll also be gathering for a practice circle later this month.

Tarot Journaling Club at

The Shuffle with Chelsey Pippin Mizzi

— Sunday March 9th | 11am PST

This Sunday, I’ll be guest teaching at The Shuffle’s Tarot Journaling Club, exploring the principles of archetypes, their presence in tarot, and guiding participants through my Connecting to Archetypes tarot spread. Chelsey has generously offered a one-week free trial for new sign-ups.

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It’s been nearly three months since I wrote about how to develop a relationship to archetypes through tarot. In that post, I explored how archetypes function as deep psychological structures whose imprints and influence can be found in shared cultural aspects like mythology, art and religious traditions, or on the individual level in the patterns of emotions, thoughts, behaviors and images that shape inner and outer reality.

This interplay of personal and collective material is the rich ground for our inner work. Thematically, this is mirrored in the relationship between the Major and Minor Arcana of the tarot, whose basis is rooted in the archetypal images and symbols of the collective unconscious.

The Major Arcana represents broad, overarching life experiences that encompass the most striking archetypal imagery in the deck, exploring themes such as fate, rebirth and creation. The Minor Arcana represents everyday experiences that have a more grounded nature — the emotions, challenges, activities and concerns we encounter on a daily basis. Together, the two symbolize the macrocosm and the microcosm, the great influences of the archetypes and how they arise within us.

Thus, when we are struggling to see the impact of archetypes, we can turn to the cards and utilize them to facilitate the process.

—Excerpt from Connecting Personally to Archetypes

To put this theory into practice, I designed a spread that allows you to draw cards from the Major and Minor Arcana separately. Honing in gives us direct insight to the central archetype underlying a situation and the ways in which it manifests through the four cornerstones of daily life—the inspiring and libidinal Wands, the mercurial emotionality and relational Cups, the decisive and truth-bearing Swords and the embodied, grounding Pentacles.

In the original reading, I used my vocational work at The Artemisian—teaching, writing, and community building—as an example. The Hierophant emerged as the central archetype, reflecting my role as a guide and educator, highlighting my commitment to making psychological and archetypal knowledge accessible. In the every day, it manifests in distinct ways: the 3 of Wands affirms my intuitively-led creative expansions; the 7 of Cups reveals the emotional complexity and ambiguity of this journey; the Ace of Swords signifies constant intellectual refinement; and the King of Pentacles emphasizes the perseverance required to build something sustainable¹.

Now, months later, I want to revisit this spread with a more focused lens—how do these themes apply to the current moment and what new insights can it reveal about my path?

With this method, I am keeping The Hierophant as card 1 (the archetypal force at work in my situation) and drawing new cards for all the others.

Here’s what I got…

The cards drawn for my reading, featuring the Rider Waite Smith deck. In order: The Hierophant; King of Wands; Ace of Cups; II of Swords; VII of Pentacles

In December I was holding the seeds of a new idea closely, to launch a multi-month educational and interactive program on a single subject, giving us the space to deepen our studies and develop skills through workshops, practice circles, discussions and more. In February, I made that vision a reality and Dreamwork Foundations was born into the world. Although it has yet to finish, I’ve received positive feedback on how this offering is allowing participants to engage with their dreams in a new and meaningful way.

As wisdom-keeper, The Hierophant has tasked me to experiment with structured learning and the creation of guiding frameworks that opens the realms of psychospiritual enrichment to all.

In the realms of the Minor Arcana, it is…

• Encouraging me to channel my inspired visions into a learning space that I steward with the authority and boldness characteristic of the King of Wands. The idea is no longer nascent, but a hearth to be tended with thoughtfulness. Perhaps my sparks of passion can be sustained through skillfully applied creative will.

• Bringing a sense of renewal and heart-aligned connection via the Ace of Cups. Leading up to its launch, there was a sense of emerging tender desires wanting to flourish, to dissolve what was in service of what is becoming. There is a new emotional resonance that I am attuning to.

• Activating uncertainty and hesitation, a noticeable stalemate and deadlock reflected in the 2 of Swords. For all the good feeling and excitement, I find myself trapped in thoughts of, “Should this become a recurring offering? Does this actually work? Is change good?” I will have to meet both sides, hold the tension, so clear insights can emerge.

• Emphasizing the importance of evaluation and assessment found in the reflective 7 of Pentacles. In the liminal space between continued efforts and realization of a goal, there is an opportunity to make adjustments, to get a lay of the land. It is time to discern what is thriving, where I can plant new seeds and what should be uprooted.

An archetype constellated² in our life may be difficult to perceive, but as we step back and notice all that is gathering around its orbit, an image of where we are in psychic reality becomes clearer. For me, The Hierophant is driving a confrontation with creative inspiration and the evolutions that inevitably brings. It’s no surprise that I am oscillating, in his tendency towards tradition and dogma, I must be wary of The Hierophant’s shadowed influence to keep me rigid in what is established. The work now is honoring the archetype’s presence while navigating the call to innovation and experimentation.

Join the conversation

Have you tried the tarot spread? Which Major Arcana is underlying your situation? Any interesting patterns or insights from working with archetypes this way?

1. For a full listing of my take on the meaning of the cards, see Tarot Definitions — an ebook of concise descriptions for all 78 cards and summaries of the Major and Minor Arcana.

2. A Jungian term for when an archetype or complex is activated and energized in the psyche. It becomes detectable through patterns of behavior, emotions, body sensations, and other aspects of experience. See the Resource Library for the full glossary of Jungian terms I am often referencing in posts.