The Pope, The Hierophant

• historic → The Pope
• esoteric → The Heirophant
• VS → showing old man sitting on throne, blessing, opulence, tripartite tiara (c.f. 2), guide, teacher
• MT → 2 figures kneeling in front of the Pope, sceptre,
• BT → depicted as bachus > pompous
• solid, reliable, providing comfort, teacher/guide, tradition
• light from sky falls on him

• oak (possibly Quercus_robur) detox
• potato

• white
• gold
• orange
• grey-brown
• blue

• a wise man with a conscience, sometimes indulging in irreverence of wisdom and enlightenment

The Hierophant is a robust, tall canopy tree. Its trunk is wide and stable, made out of many smaller trunks and aerial roots. In the middle of the trunk there is a large spherical protrusion where the plant stores an alcoholic brew, procured from its underground tuberous symbiont. The bark surrounding this belly is rough and cracked, revealing soft, feathery brushes on its inner edge. The brushes are used to cleanse the belly of alcoholic toxins, that are exuded through the cracks in the bark. The crown of the tree is covered in red-golden foliage. The leaves are able to attract rays of light, as magnets attract metal, so light surrounds the crown as a shining aureole. The leaves, shaped as a pope's tiara, transform sunlight into a knowledge nectar, a potent brew of symbols and equations, known to heal ignorance. This is why the tree is surrounded with seedlings, eagerly awaiting the nectar to be spilled on the ground, where they can absorb it through the roots, growing wiser. Their roots are shallower than the hierophant's, whose roots are a mirror-image of the tree above ground, reaching deep and wide. At the end of the roots grow the potato-like tubers, underground distillation factories that provide the tree with the alcohol. The mild intoxication that the tree experiences from the alcohol gushing through its trunk makes the tree sway lightly and the leaves to spill the nectar. The hierophant lives very long, most of its life spent inebriated on mystical wisdom with a touch of irreverence.

note: work in progress for PARN. not general reference

major arcana