The Year of the Hierophant and the Need for Temperance

This is a post about numerology and the Major Arcana. Often, we think about the numerology of the Major Arcana to figure out our birth cards, or our personal year cards, or the calendar year cards.

It is the fact that 2021 will be the year of the Hierophant that inspired this post, and my subsequent dive into Major Arcana numerology.

For the uninitiated, the Major Arcana is numbered Zero through Twenty-One.  If you look at the numbered cards One through Twenty-one and reduce the double-digit numbers by adding their digits together, you will see, for example, that there are three “One cards”. The three “One cards” are (Card One) the Magician, (Card Ten) the Wheel of Fortune, and (Card Nineteen) the Sun.

The Magician, the High Priestess, and the Empress each have two Major Arcana cards with which to form a triple. The rest of the single-digit Majors, that is, the Emperor through the Hermit, each have one card with which to form a pair.

There is a school of thought which ascribes the number Twenty-two to the Fool, making card Zero a Four, and thusly having the Fool join the Emperor and Death, turning that pair into a triple.

As in all things tarot, each of us must figure out what works for us and what resonates for us. I personally have no interest in re-numbering the Fool. I believe the Fool is numbered as card Zero for a reason, and, as such, must keep its own place as a singular and unique card with no specific connection nor affinity with any other card.

2021 is the year of the Hierophant because the numerals within that number add up to Five, and the Hierophant, of course, is card Five.

Five, in tarot, is a difficult number. If we think of Four as the comfort zone and Six as victory, Five is the space of expansion where we have left the comfort zone but have not yet come to the place of secure victory. I can think of many ways 2021 could potentially reflect this energy of Five.

2020 was the year of the Emperor. We often discuss Major Arcana cards such as Death, the Devil, and the Tower as sometimes being problematic or unwelcome in a reading. Many of us can sometimes have a similar mistrust of the Emperor and the Hierophant. This is for obvious reasons; they are both symbols of patriarchy and authority. The Emperor is government and state, the Hierophant is church and religion. Both these cards  represent necessary structures and can have positive interpretations. Yet, both can speak of governance and dogma in ways that can be troublesome.

The Emperor can be reliable, respected and responsible, yet can also be unyielding and inflexible. The Hierophant can be wise and learned yet can also be dogmatic and authoritarian.

When we look at the Hierophant as the card of 2021 there is at least one aspect that is extremely hopeful. The Hierophant can be associated with medicine, and good medical advice and practices. This could be a very good indication that, in 2021, we will see some needed solutions and advances in medicine.

There is another aspect of the Hierophant that is already showing itself around the globe. The Hierophant can be an indicator of strict religious adherence. In many countries around the world, we see a rise of fundamentalism.

In turning this aspect of the Hierophant around in my brain, it came to me that the Hierophant needs Temperance to keep him balanced. Then I remembered that Temperance is actually the Hierophant’s numerological pair!

When thinking about how the numerological pairs and triples operate, I have in the past confined my thinking to what it means when they appear together in a reading, or how they work together as birth cards. I have considered how my own birth pair, Strength and the Star, reflect both positive and negative traits in my personality. Never before have I thought about how the cards in pair or triple might impact each other.

In considering this, I realize that Temperance can actually temper the Hierophant. I realize how well these seemingly dissimilar cards go together.

The Hierophant is the doctor who performs the diagnosis and writes the prescription. Temperance is the pharmacist, the nutritionist, the physical therapist, and the naturopath who promotes the healing.

The Hierophant is the book of law. Temperance provides the fair and considerate implementation of the law.

Then I wondered if other pairs and triples might affect each other in similar ways. I can see that Death brings needed change to the rigid Emperor. I can understand that the Wheel teaches the Magician to work with the cycles of nature. The Sun keeps him from hiding his power from himself, and from hiding from others his trickster aspect.

In my own birth pair, I can see how the healing of the Star might allow the lion of Strength to regulate his fierce nature and allow him to safely roam without a leash.

This exercise of considering how numerological pairs and triples impact each other is something I will be playing around with for a long time.

As we approach a new year, I find hope and confidence in the energy of the Hierophant and Temperance.

The Hierophant brings us structure and wisdom. Temperance brings balance, patience and caution to that structure.

Temperance adds creativity to the faith of the Hierophant.

Both the Hierophant and Temperance can work with science. The Hierophant brings the rules of research and the structure of protocol, Temperance asks the questions and finds the solution.

The Hierophant can represent the overall structure of society. Temperance can find power in our differences by blending together the best that each of us has to offer.

If you, like me, enjoy diving into tarot cards, don’t miss StaarCon, our online conference coming up in January. It will be a wonderful way to begin the year of the Hierophant!