A. I don’t know about you but I just noticed (after some half-a-dozen copies of the Conceptual Mathematics textbook beginning with the blue one to the present red one) that the text of definitions is in italics.  So studying math with me is, as they say in Rajahmundry, like trying to swim across the raging river Godavari tethered to the tail of a dog   Please don’t blame me if you find yourself

P.S. On stating the obvious

“2012 adds up to the number 5, the Hierophant.  This suggests a year of learning and growing as we manage the various number 5 card “lessons.”  These are the 5 of Crystals “Negativity,” 5 of Cups, “Disappointment,” 5 of Worlds, “Setback,” and 5 of Wands, “Oppression.”   These cards are red flag “watch outs!”  Watch out for getting negative, holding onto to unrealized expectations, getting stuck in a setback, and limiting and holding ourselves back.  Relish these lesson-learning cards in your Readings because it’s a time of growing on your spiritual path.

And remember that these so-called negative cards have a positive side to them. Reframe “Negativity” to the positive use of “no.”  Transform “Disappointment” into higher understanding and acceptance.  Use “Setback” as a strategic retreat to take one step back to go two steps ahead.  Turn “Oppression” into structure and discipline.” - VOYAGER TAROT

“The Hierophant is also associated with the ‘marriage of the Self’ — a cornerstone of Jungian analysis — where wholeness is achieved by journeying within rather than through the search for something outside us. Furthermore, it speaks to me of discipline on that journey. Not intractable discipline, or dogma, but the commitment to the full and conscious participation in our own unfolding nature — that is, the gradual discovery that at the heart of all creative processes — no matter how challenging, how hidden to us, how painful sometimes — is love. We express it fully when we surrender to its moving through us without resistance, or fear, or the need to hold on to it. Our journey towards love of self leads us to love for others and, by extension, love for all creation.” - 2012 HIEROPHANT

V – The Hierophant

Sun in Sagittarius as a symbol for the teacher of inner values, Jupiter in Pisces as the vision of eternity
Zodiac: Taurus
Tree of life: From Chokmah to Chesed
Element: Earth
Number: 5 as quintessence, the power that exceeds the four elements

“The Hierophant is a symbol for a world of belief and confession, may it be a church, a sect or an occult society. He’s the pope, the druid or the High Priest in a system of creeds and dogmas. He represents the religious and intellectual tradition of a person, and may be the one the person is born to it or possibly the one who has chosen it by himself.

In the positive aspect, the Hierophant represents the search for knowledge and illumination, the desire to study creed and dogma instead of simply accepting them, to research and achieve further development. It also stands for the deep fulfillment someone can find when really trusting their own beliefs.

In a negative view, the Hierophant can stand for bigotry, the blind faith in dogma, intolerance towards everything different from the own confession. It can also mean gullibility, running to any kind of new belief just because the traditional one is suddenly considered boring or unsatisfying.

Drive: Search for hidden truths, trust in inner instincts
Light: Wisdom and knowledge as an experience independent from dogmatism and science
Shadow: Intolerance, esoteric nonsense” – HIEROPHANT THOTH