Hello. Thanks for being here today. I like to imagine you in your place, cards by your side, beverage of choice steaming gently, stealing ten minutes from the bustle of the daily. Well met, wherever you are.
It’s the end of a working day and suddenly I realise I have spent most of it embodying this card. In my day job I’m a tutor. I realise that this is the “issue” I have with this card. For me it is about school and work and being “serious”. Rather like my reaction to The Emperor, I used to turn this card and hear a bell ring in my imagination, signalling the end of play time. Line up now, no pushing, back into class, heads down, there’s work to do.
Gradually, though, I am beginning to see it in another light. In the Gaian Tarot and also the Steampunk tarot (see below – with apologies for picture quality, I had a cat “helping”) teachers share wisdom in an open posture. This gentle sharing of the soul self, of life’s experiences, resonates. The teacher as guide, pathfinder and holder of the light, as we find the road for ourselves. A mentor who helps us uncover truth for ourselves, rather than one who presents us with a block of received “knowledge”.
The key thought for me from this card: tradition, passing on culture, wisdom, knowledge, learning, seeking a teacher, being a student, exploring what I have to teach, exploring what I have to learn and what might teach me e.g. what can I learn from my environment, unlocking understanding, initiation, accepting the baton as it’s passed to me.
[Image: The Steam Punk Tarot]
Exercise 14
After you’ve sat with your Hierophant a while ask him/ her what s/he has to teach you, and ask yourself what you are ready to learn? You might like to see if you can unlock this through automatic writing or speak it to yourself in the mirror. Note down anything which strikes you as particularly unexpected or exciting. If you would like to, come and share a little of what you uncover in the group.
[Image: The Gaian Tarot]
Tea-break Tarot School 
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