Below is a transcript of the episode as generated by Otter.ai. (*please note, this transcript has only been edited to put in line breaks for easier readability and may contain errors where a word or phrase got lost in transcription.)

[0:35] Introduction to Episode
 
Aloha, everybody. Welcome to Your Heart magic. This is Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wright. And today we are continuing our archetypes of the Tarot series. And we are moving on to card five in today's episode, which I called the heart of the hierophant.

And we are talking about card number five today and the archetype of the hierophant. And who is The Hierophant. It's such an interesting word that some individuals maybe have never encountered until you actually study the Tarot. I think it was new to me.

And I probably had not heard that until I picked up a deck and was like, Oh, what's this mysterious word? And, you know, what is this this individual represent? Here? We're going to be looking at just what are some of the qualities? How can we understand this card on a basic level?

But really, I've been using this series as a tool to help all of us reflect on how can we bring the archetypes of these energies and to our own lives? How can we find ways where we are already embodying the qualities of the archetype we're talking about? And how can we continue to grow that energy with our lives?

[1:58] Understanding The Hierophant Archetype

So today, we are looking at how can we all be good hierophant to ourselves? How can we understand the energy of the hierophant and our life? And how can we keep growing that energy. So let's just kind of start with the basic of what does the hierophant represent. And in the, I think very, like classic tarot deck, that is the Rider Waite, or whatever the old school one is that most people use. The picture of the hierophant looks very like, like the Pope.

But it's interesting, if you look at the history of the word, it is actually a Greek word. And it was somebody who's a displayer of holy things. And it was often associated with a priest, who was a keeper of the mysteries and led chants or some sort of sacred ceremonies, to help get others in touch with whatever those mysteries were about back then.

And somehow it morphed to be displayed a little bit more like a Pope or a cardinal or something like that in some of the more traditional decks. But both of those examples give us a sense of the hierophant energy, it's typically male and the Tarot deck, and it is a teacher of Tradition, ritual, it can be associated with religious ceremony. Sometimes it's associated with marriage, and marital ceremony.

But my favorite interpretation of it really is a wise teacher, and being representative of times where we might be guided to seek out mentorship, or to seek out a wise teacher, or to connect with that energy inside of ourselves and connect with our own teacher wisdom, and connect with our own wise counsel, whether that's from our inner self, or in our spiritual time where we might seek out wise counsel from our spiritual connection.

And one of my favorite ways that I have seen this card just played is from it is let's see, the shadow escapes companion, good shadow escapes Tarot by Stephanie. Gosh, her last name, it looks like pew Minh law, and Barbara Moore. And this book was one of the first books it was actually like the second tarot deck I think I got I have I'm holding the companion book to the card deck.

And I think years ago when I was first learning to work with the cards and read them. I had bought a Greek mythology Deck- as my first one, which happened to be what was available at the bookstore that I'd gone into and there was only two are three decks to choose from it was really limited. And that one felt like the most friendly to me, it felt like the one that felt most engaging.

So that was the first deck I ever had was, I think it's like the mythological taro or something like that, I'd have to go pull it out. But I wanted to, like, continue to learn more about the cards, and I liked that deck. But I didn't like love, love, love it. And it didn't feel like one that I was meant to use to read. For other people. It felt like exactly what it was a really good place to start.

And she began to understand the concept of the Tarot and what the different cards meant. And I eventually felt Guided Very soon after to probably hop online and start to explore what other card decks were there. And I cannot remember if I got this online, actually, or if I went to Barnes and Noble. Back in Anchorage, either way, I ended up with the shadow scapes tarot, and the card in the deck is this beautiful illustration of this very wise looking tree it's very into like if you are familiar at all with Lord of the Rings. And it is really a card about being a wise teacher.

So I have a really positive association with this card. Because that was really the deck that I really learned from and I did readings for other people. So a lot of my associations with it are wonderful ones, every now and then, I have heard where people have negative associations because it looks like kind of a religious tradition card.

And some people have history around that or trauma around that or something around that where that felt very rigid to them, or they might have been in a really rigid belief system. And the shadow qualities of the card can be an overly rigid or overly moralistic belief system, doing things by the book and doing things in a ceremonial way to the point that it doesn't make sense.

Sometimes a reverse card can mean somebody who is just trying to like bust out of the conventional way of doing things and find their own voice.

[7:14] The Hierophant, Saturn, and Ballet Class

But I want to focus today on the light qualities and the healed qualities of how I like to think of as the hierophant, which really is about finding that wise teacher inside all of us. And I've often said astrologically that the planet Saturn is associated with Saturn is associated with a lot of things that can be associated with restriction and discipline and teaching and being a teacher. Solder in an astrology chart is often about learning things the hard way, and you learn the lesson.

But it often is not learned in an easy way.
And the best analogy that I've always had for that that just kind of makes sense in my own mind, is I often think of Saturn in astrology as a ballet teacher, the kind of La teacher who sees the giftedness and sees the talent that students have and wants to help them develop it to their very best capacity.

And if you have ever taken ballet, you know that ballet, it's not hip hop, it is not interpretive dance of just do your own thing. And no, it doesn't matter if your hands are slightly different in this position than everybody else's, because that's how you feel the music. That is different dance forms. And we love those dance forms.

We love as dancers, anytime that you get to go to a class and the teacher maybe wants you to learn the steps, but then like make it your own and make it really juicy or grimy or Broadway are sexy or glamorous or whatever it is that they tell you that they want you to invoke in this piece.

And they're totally cool if you're not exactly like everybody else, because they're into the flow and they just want you to have the flow and they want the idea of the movement to be the same while also showcasing everybody's unique individuality. That is not ballet class.

At least that's not my experience in any ballet class I ever took. Ballet, to me feels it's very positioned. It's very rigid in the sense that you're either doing an arabesque correctly or you're not there is not a lot of room for interpretation in that. And as you improve your dance, you can strengthen your muscles. You can lengthen them, you can create lines that are even more beautiful and even more graceful than perhaps what you might have been able to accomplish when you first started out.

Certainly over the years, your turns get better you're granted a taste going to get better things that you do, your skill set will improve. And you will master the form of the dance in accordance to how much effort you put in. But you have to work really hard, nobody bust out of the gate, being an amazing ballet dancer.

And sometimes in dance, she might find somebody who's this like amazing hip hop, or they have all this raw talent, or they're really good at freestyle, or some other dance form. And they can be taught and can pick up some technique. But there is no substitution for technique with some different dance forms and ballets.

One of those, either you've taken it, and you have a lot of it, or you don't. And this becomes very evident if you're ever at a dance convention. And you're, let's say, 14 years old, and you're a self conscious teenager. And your dance teacher makes you audition to be like a traveling, you know, caravan kid or star kid or something like that they have these names, or you can audition for a scholarship.

And if you get the scholarship, you might get some money and an invitation to travel with that convention for the next summer. And you get to be like a junior teacher or something like that. And if you have ever been in that kind of audition experience, where you had a dance teacher who's like, this will be really good experience for you, and you need to learn how to audition properly, go do it, you have to survive the valet audition.

And for me, I'd only had like shaky ballet I'd had a little bit not a lot. And it was really evident, it would really come out in those times. And like I said, I was self conscious 14 year old and that did not help.

But I survived. And I learned that if I wanted to be a better dancer, I needed to take a little bit more ballet. I even went back to ballet as an adult for a little while when I was really back in dance class again and wanting to be better. And it was never a dance for him that I felt that I achieved any level of mastery out I probably made it up to intermediate. But I did take enough of it to understand and really respect the art.

[12:13] Mentorship, Teaching and Personal Growth

And when I think of Saturn, I think of ballet class, I think of lessons that we have to learn by doing it over and over and over again, I think have some ritual around it. It can feel restrictive, because sometimes it feels restrictive, to be told, No, you can't do this, and some freestyle free flow, go back to the start position your body and do it the right way and hold this position. But you learn it really, really well.

And when I think of the hierophant, I often think of Saturn, I think of this idea of being the master teacher, the hierophant did not stumble across whatever wisdom she or he or they hold, because they are just like super smart. And they know things about life, they likely earned that wisdom, the hard way. They likely studied for it.

They maybe went to school, maybe before they stepped into a position of being the priest, or the religious leader or a mentorship position. They were the mentee, they were the one who was learning, they were the one who was being told no, go back to the bar and go do your plays again and go through first position. And you need to work on this and you need to work on this. They had to learn it in a way that felt most likely very rigid at the time.

And yet the gift that comes from that is learning something really well and achieving a level of mastery over it. So that you are able to turn around at some point and teach it with capability and with competence. And with experience that's really backed up through living it. Not just a lot of flash and lack of substance, but not a lot of flash, but lots and lots and lots of substance.

So when we're thinking about the archetype of the hierophant, we want to think about mentorship, teaching, wisdom, and a grounded kind of ritualistic way that that wisdom might be contained or something more ceremonial about it. This is a much more grounded card than some of the other cards in the deck like the High Priestess is also an initiator of the mysteries.

But when I think of the High Priestess I think a lot more of going into our inner interior or going into more of the Divine Feminine mysteries. And the High Priestess stands at the veil and says come on in and she doesn't walk with you beyond the veil. She just kind of stands there and grants you passage into the mysteries where you can have an experience with your inner self, or with spirit, or whatever mystery it is you're learning about.

The Hierophant is the ceremony leader, and really guide you through the entire thing. And there is still an experience to be had as the student who's learning, and the student who is learning to embody that wisdom. But the hierophant is much more of a leader and there's a little bit more, I think of an activity in the card than I might think of somebody like the High Priestess.

So how can we learn to be Hierophants in our own lives? And how can we take this energy and just embody it in a way that helps us live better?

[15:52] Embodying the Hierophant: Reflect On Your Unique Wisdom

So the first thing that I wrote down as a talking point today was take a little time to reflect on what you know, this would be a really fun journaling prompt, if you enjoy journaling, and enjoy reflective time. What are you a wisdom keeper at? What information and knowledge might you already have in your life.

And in your experience space, I think that all of us have some degree of expertise, and some degree of whiteness, whiteness, I guess wisdom that we embody, and that we are able to bring to the world around us. And keep in mind that when we ask ourselves this question, we are not declaring ourselves the wisest of all, or saying that we know everything about every little thing. The older I get, the more I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I know so little about so many things.

But I'm curious, and I want to keep learning. And I do gain competence, and the things that I know. And so this is about kind of finding that humble space, humble competence, of being like, well, there's many things I don't know.

But here's the things that I do now, and I know a thing or two about them. And this could be a talent that you have, this could be something that you study, and that you really know a lot about, because you've researched the hell out of it, or you've passed a bunch of tests, or you have a certification.

This could be something that you have learned from life experience, this could be something that you have learned about spirituality or love, or relationships, there might be a soul lesson that you've learned quite a bit about, maybe you know a lot about boundaries, or you just know a lot about some life wisdom that if somebody came to you, and they were in a position that you have found yourself in before, let's say you've survived a really bad breakup, or a divorce or some kind of severing of a relationship that was really meaningful to you.

And you have figured out how to move forward. How did you heal your heart in that? What lessons did you learn about what love is? What did you learn about what love isn't? What did you learn about what it maybe takes to have a successful relationship? What wisdom did you learn? And your reflections on why it didn't work out? What did you learn about finding resilience and how to move forward? What did you learn about grief, you would know some things.

And so if this person came to you, and they were going through their very first breakup, or something that they had not been through that before, and they said, I feel like my heart is splitting into I can barely breathe, I don't think I can live without this person. I don't know how I can possibly go on in life. I know that you went through this, how in the world that you make it through, you might have some things to tell them.

Now, you might not tell them exactly. Here's every step you need to do to heal your heart and make it through. But you won't have enough wisdom to impart to them some ideas about how might they find perspective and this time? What are some of the things that they might be learning what are some of the things that they might have growth in?

If nothing else, she might be able to say, You know what, this book really helped me. I'm not great with advice. But this book was so helpful for me. And it was really fundamental and helping give me some words and ideas around what I was going through and I really want to recommend it to you.

You know something about how to teach another person how you might counsel them, you have your own unique brand of wisdom. You have your own unique reflection points and how you would teach it or share it or say it even as a psychologist.

[19:54] There Are Many Unique Brands of Wisdom

It's fascinating to me how there's so many schools of thought, and so many approaches. As to psychology, and so many different theoretical orientations and rationales behind those orientations of how do we understand the nature of psychological issue? And what how do we understand the origins of where that issue came from? What do we understand about what the symptoms might be? What do we understand about how to diagnose this and treat this?

Some schools of thought don't even like the diagnose, treat? They might use completely different language and say, how do we understand this in a less traditional way? How do we understand what the soul diseases here? Or the soul ailment? Or what is going on in the human psyche that this person is feeling this way?

And what do we understand instead of treating it, what do we understand about healing it or helping them become more whole or helping them find resolution to this, so they can experience more peace and well being, you will find different language throughout the different psychological fields and approaches and schools of thoughts for how an individual and practitioner might even think about what's going on with somebody. I

t's definitely not a one size fits all. No healing modality is. And it's fascinating to me, though, the different origins and ideas and approaches that are behind that. And I have high regard for my field. I think psychologists are super cool, I love as I've continued on in my career, seeing what other people are doing and what they're teaching, and really just cool ways that people have branched off in the field and what they're learning about and how it's growing.

That's really fascinating to me. I love learning that wisdom. And some of the approaches are so different than mine. They're not my understanding. They're nothing that I would be drawn to. But I'm like, Oh, my gosh, like, you know, your stuff on this topic. And I love sitting in on continuing education courses and learning from somebody else and learning about their expertise, and why it's their expertise. It's really interesting to me.

And so this idea that we have our own authentic way of doing something, we are drawn to different ways that we might teach or counsel or guide or give advice, for a reason. So it's not about being right or wrong in it, it is about just tapping into what wisdom do you know. And this is just a fun exercise to really help get you in the groove of connecting with your inner hierophant.

And figuring out like, where are you a wisdom keeper in your life. And you don't have to be a wise old elder to have wisdom. Again, we can have wisdom for the life stage that we are at. And maybe our wisdom is relevant to all life stages, maybe it's more relevant to people that have a similar point of view to us. It doesn't mean it's not wisdom, we all have wisdom inside of us.

We all have some sort of unique light, unique genius, unique talent, unique gifts, we all alchemize that differently. And we all have beautiful ways that we feel called to share that in the world. And to embody that. Some people might be a hierophant by example. They're not a vocal teacher, they don't want to teach they don't ever want to be in the position of giving advice. Somebody says to them.

[23:38] Storytime: That One Time In New York City With Dad

I'll tell you a story. My dad is a man of few words. Sometimes he always says he has a lot to say about nothing, which is true. He knows a lot of random trivia and a lot of random facts. And you know, we can have really good conversation. So it's not like he never talks. But his forte is not being like the wise counselor when it comes to socially emotional matters.

And I remember years ago, so this is 2013 just like to do a little time travel with me. And he got sent to New York City on a business trip. And this was a really special memory for me because somehow as it happened, I decided to go along. And because he the business he was in I think they'd put him up in some hotel in Times Square. And this was close to the end of his career.

So this was one of I think the last trip I ever took with him maybe the only one I ever took with him. That was a business trip. But I ended up going to New York City with my dad. And I was at a really interesting place in my life at that time. I was single post divorce had not yet met. The man I married to so hadn't met my second husband.

I was really learning the lessons of it. heartache, I was learning about the world of dating, I was really learning about who I was as a human being who I was intuitively, I was probably a psychologist at that point about 10 years into my career.

So I was running a private practice. And I had some nice wisdom to me, at that time in life. And I was learning a lot of new wisdom about these deep soul lessons on love and becoming, and authenticity, spirituality, while being same stuff that I talk about all the time now, but just a different life phase.

And some of the lessons were slightly different. They weren't as well integrated yet. And just a beautiful time in my life, but also a really challenging time in my life, I was also learning about what it means to be a highly sensitive person.

And I want to say 2012 2013 is when I really stumbled across a lane. I think it's Aaron's work Arens work, and really learned about highly sensitive people, and that this was like a real thing. And so I was learning about being an empath, and a highly sensitive person, and how to coexist in a world that's not often set up in a way that supports intuitive, introverted, highly sensitive people.

So that's where I was at in life. And here I am in New York City with my dad. And I had this interesting timing going on, where I had been seeing somebody and it had just fallen apart, like just falling apart, I think I'd realized, maybe a couple days before the trip itself, that this person is not who they say they are. And they're never going to be able to give me what I want in a way where the relationship is prioritized.

They're not being their authentic self. And I've kind of brought the best of myself to this thing, and really left my heart on the floor, and they haven't. And I called them out on it and said, basically, what I just said to everybody, I'm sure in some much more less sophisticated way.

And that instigated this breakup and the severing of the relationship. And I thought I really loved them.

[27:23] Breakups, Bummers, and Park Benches

So this was really hard on me at the time. And it was interesting, because I'm the one who said it. And then I wanted to take it back. If you've ever been in that position where you know, something's no good for you, but you're not ready for it to end.

And you're still kind of bargaining that's like the bargaining phase of grief, maybe this could still work, maybe I didn't really mean all the things that I thought I meant, and my intuition is lying to me. I was still in that bargaining phase, but it was pretty much over.

So I show up in New York. And I think I got like a breakup text or something like that, or like a breakup Facebook message. I mean, it was not done in a way that had any kind of dignity or kindness to it.

So that was really late to, and I'm crying on my way to New York crying behind sunglasses, crying the first in New York crying the second day I had on these big Betsey Johnson sunglasses, so I'm kind of hiding my eyes, I probably looked really tired. I don't think I told my dad what was going on right away. I don't know that he noticed.

But I remember this moment, the second day on the trip. And we're sitting on a park bench, somewhere in New York City, one of those little wonderful parks that they have, and there was flowers, and it was April or May and it was springtime. And I am just sitting there crying.

And I think there was this another message that was like, I need a break. And it's really over and you know, something that like really hurt my heart that was already ripped down and hurting, and my 2013 year old mind. And so I'm just crying and I finally said I need a minute Dad and I said I said somebody just broke up with me somebody that I really cared about and going through a breakup dad.

And he kind of gazed out in this very thoughtful way. Like he was gonna say something really insightful. And then he goes Gee, that's a bummer. Last very sad, she that's really a bummer. And I was like It is sad it is it's a really big bummer.

And then we just like sat on this park bench for a while and I probably didn't talk about it at all. I didn't tell him anything about the relationship. I mean, that wasn't really how I really our relationship was like that was all he knew was that I was going through this thing and yes, it was a bummer.

And then we proceeded to like walk probably for blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks because he didn't want to take the subway has this thing about it not being natural down there with no light.

So we just walked the entire New York trip we probably walked hundreds of blocks and Um, you know, a paused every now and then at a cafe and this is back when I still drank and I was like, I think you need a glass of wine dad. Okay, well, we can stop and get you on. I mean, it was the funniest thing, I've never forgotten that I thought he was going to drop some wisdom on me, you know, and I think at some point on the trip, we talked probably a little bit more.

And he just said, you know, BethAnne, I've never been good at at this, like, I'm not good with the emotional teaching. You know, it's just not where my skill set lies. And it's true. You know, my dad's wisdom, he might not put it this way. He's really smart with finances, and banking and legal things.

And like, that's a lot of the stuff that he felt called into, he's really good with cars. Those are where his talents lie. But he's probably somebody who teaches through example, and probably doesn't know it might not realize that about himself.

Not perfect example. But the things that he does really well, like I picked up on those over the years. And that's the wisdom that I've embodied through him. And that there are some people who are higher fence, and they lead by example.

So if you're listening to this, and you're not a talker, or you feel like, if somebody came to you for advice, you would be like, Oh, my gosh, don't ask anybody. But don't ask me, I have nothing to say. I want to suggest perhaps that you don't underestimate the impact of just your example.

And that if you are trying to live in a way, that's an integrity in a way that embodies your light, that that impacts the people around you, they're paying attention, whatever it is that you're good at whatever your expertise is, whatever you have to teach, we can teach by example to, you don't have to be the loudest voice in the room to have an impact.

You don't have to be the person who writes the book, or does the podcast, or does this for a living, or, you know, slap some label on you, because you went to school a long time. And now you're a coach, or you're a therapist, or you're this or you're that you don't have to be any of those things, you have your own wisdom.

And you have been given a voice to communicate that. And that voice might be through example, it might be through vocally, it might be through acts of kindness that you do for others, it might be through having a heart for service.

And maybe you're just the person who shows up and you roll up your sleeves, and you get to work and you see where a need is, and you fill it. There's many, many ways that we teach.

So whatever that is for you, this is all about empowering yourself to reflect on that and own that and know that that is just a beautiful place to be. All right.

[32:50] Always Keep Seeking While Learning To Value What You've Already Found

The next thing I wrote down was always keep seeking more learning to value what you've already found. I wrote this down with this idea that part of embodying our own wisdom is to give ourselves credit for what we know, and to recognize our unique talent and wisdom keeping, while also staying open to other sources of wisdom.

And I think this is a tension of balance that we work with throughout our entire lifetime, where we are really invited to go inward and to journey into what does our heart have to tell us?

You know, your heart magic is really about connecting with our heart wisdom. It's about connecting with our heart and the voice of our heart. And through that connection, is how we learn to access our intuitive knowing. It is how we learn to feel in coherence with our spiritual relationship. It is how we learn to listen to our inner guidance. It is often the genesis of creativity and feeling inspired to move ourselves in the world in a new way.

So your heart magic is not like somebody else's heart magic becomes yours. It's your heart magic. So this podcast is really about the idea of you being your wisdom keeper, you being the magician of your heart, the keeper of the magic that's in there and the more you learn to access that, the more you empower your heart wisdom, and your specific guidance for how you feel called to move yourself in a world, this world in a way that's in alignment with your authenticity, your truth, your path of love.

That's what your heart magic is all about. We also respect on this podcast learning and we respect wisdom and finding other sources of wisdom that help us bring new ideas into our mind that help inspire us to new philosophy. these new ways of being part of I think what we are guided to do as soulful beings on this human path is to learn to continue to add to the wisdom that we have pretend that you are building a metaphorical library inside of yourself, of different wisdom sources, different knowledge bases.

And the more you build that library inside of yourself, the more it empowers you to access your spiritual connection, to access your heart wisdom and more multi dimensional ways to feel competent, like you feel empowered to live your best life.

Knowledge is this beautiful thing that opens the doorway to so many new avenues for us from opportunities that might happen on the material plane, just to our imagination and perspectives that can help us live with more peace and ease and creativity, and a little bit more joy and play in our lives as well.

So I think it's really a value to seek out external sources of wisdom. And I think there is a tension between recognizing we are our wisdom keepers, we can be our own personal wisdom keepers and sacred holders of certain kinds of wisdom, and at the same time giving ourselves permission to seek that out in other forms.

And I've talked about this before, but I shared a story. Think years ago where I was having an Akashic reading.

And I remember asking about should I go to the ceremony, I was thinking about going to the ceremony and Manitoba Canada, Turtle Lodge. And I remember what came through and this Akashic reading was like, Well, yes, this feels really good for you. And if something speaks to your heart, and you feel really called to do it, it's a pretty good rule of thumb, then you're probably being called to do it.

But there was a caveat there from the Akashic records and this reading I had. And the caveat was, you're not going to gain all this external wisdom that is somehow like going to give you something, you're going for your own reasons, you're going to have some growth that comes you're gonna have some nice ceremonial stuff that happens.

[37:28] Learning To See Ourselves As Wise Beings

But you really have to learn to start seeing yourself as your own wise being. And get out of that mentality of constantly seeking and feeling like you have to seek sources of other wisdom and other spiritual teachers.

And instead, shine your light on yourself and see you are a spiritual teacher, you are a wise woman, you are a wise being. This was a really profound Akashic reading for me. I mean, this is back in 2016.

When I received this guidance, I'm talking about it years later. And I've never forgotten it, because it created a paradigm shift inside of me, where I began to realize that I always was outsourcing my sense of wisdom. Now I gave myself credit. As a psychologist, I didn't feel like I was the best psychologist ever who knew everything. But I felt like I was a competent psychologist, and I was running a successful practice.

And so I would give myself credit for being a good psychologist, because I felt like I'd done it long enough, you know how to degree had some level of competency behind it. But what I was not doing was giving myself credit.

For more of my spiritual teacher, that part of my my, I guess we'll call my hierophant wisdom. I wasn't really looking at myself as somebody who I felt was ready to teach that yet, which is really funny to say, because I probably have been teaching some of those spiritual concepts for years, they were just couched a little bit more in a psychological understanding. I've been doing tarot readings for people for couple of years.

At that point, I was writing beautiful poems that were really impacted by nature, nature's really the master hierophant she always has something to teach us. She always has something to embody. She always has wisdom that we can learn and that we can take from her elements and learn something about a truth of life or truth of the natural laws are something that allows us to live better.

She really is when I think of like who is the epitome of the hierophant I'm like, Mother Nature takes the cake. She wins hands down. And I hadn't realized that I was really tapping into that wisdom. I've spoken before that my gateway into intuition was really my relationship with nature.

And it was my relationship with observing nature and observing like the clock. out shift, and then I'd write a little poem about what the clouds had to teach me. And I didn't even realize there was lessons there. I didn't realize I was intuiting, the voice of nature and perhaps shaping the lessons into my own voice through my poetry.

But I didn't see myself as a nature intuitive because my idea of that would have been more like somebody who's a really gifted animal communicator. And I didn't, it didn't really crossed my mind that maybe I was receiving messages from the sky or from nature itself, or the energy of nature, or nature beings are however you want to think about that. I hadn't seen those things.

So it was a little bit life altering to be told, you have to stop showing up for everybody else and trying to be like, their wise teacher and feeling like you have to keep outsourcing wisdom and always seeking and growing more and pulling in wisdom like yes, you will keep growing. Yes, you're gonna get more wisdom along the way.

But how could you be your own wise person right now? And how can you see that in yourself? And so that's really what I encourage all of us to do. When we think about tapping into the heart of the hierophant inside of ourselves. It is this idea of the heart of the hierophant is a teacher.

So how are we already our own wisdom teachers, our own wisdom keepers? And how can we own that in a way that helps us stand a little bit taller and be like, Yeah, I know some stuff. And at the same time, how do we stay in a space of humility, and also realize, but there's always more I can learn and respect other brands of wisdom, and not feel threatened by those, if for some reason, they're different than our own. I think that going back to the dance metaphor, I was taught, you are never too good to show up and take class.

And this has served me well throughout the years, because I think this idea of none of us is like, so wise, or so whatever, that we can't just show up and learn from somebody else, or glean something from how somebody else is doing it. And I recognize that not everybody might be a good fit. And some people maybe have something to teach, and it really is discordant with our heart energy.

And it's not for us. And so we can kind of say, oh, okay, well, that's not for me be well on the journey. You know, not my ideal, but it's cool that somebody else's. But I think we don't need to, we can check our ego at the door that other people are wisdom keepers as well. We don't have to be the best out there.

Remember, we're already the expert of ourself, we already can own the wisdom that we do have, we don't need to be threatened by somebody else's. That's ego stuff. That's not really what a hierophant would do. I think the hierophant would say that none of us is ever too good to just take class, and to be a good student of the universe, even while recognizing that we're also here to teach and to share the wisdom that we know.

[43:13] Understanding The Value of Ritual and Ceremony in Our Lives

Understanding the value of ritual and ceremony. This is the next point that I wrote down for how to be good hierophant and our life. And I think it was episode 15 that we talked about on the your heart magic podcast life as a ceremony and talked about the idea of why ceremony is valuable, and how can we bring the art of ceremony into our lives.

A lot of times when we think of the word ceremony, we might think of something that's a very traditional ceremony, like a marital ceremony, maybe we think is something religious.

There's often ceremonies around something like confirmation or a baptism, or something like that graduation ceremony, there are certain rites of passage in life where there's some sort of big to do made about it. And there's a ceremony that takes place. And certainly there's value in all of that. And there's value and the rituals that we might do.

On a more mundane level, I suppose it's not really mundane, but a more all of us have rituals around different holidays, usually. And if we have no ritual, maybe that is the ritual of I hate this day, and I don't like it at all. And so I always pretend like it's not happening and order a pizza. You know, most of us have, though some form of a ritual around something that we love to do, whether it's some sort of a holiday, which is really just a holy day, whether it's around Solstice or different points on the Wheel of the Year for more Celtic type practices.

So we already have rituals that some of us have put in place and it can be really fun to just think about what rituals do we appreciate And why there is something that can be comforting about a ritual. There's something that is kind of fun about saying like, Oh, you know, every Halloween II, we watch hocus pocus and eat, I don't know, caramel apples or something like that.

There's something really fun about making up your own rituals as well. And when we talked about ceremony in that episode, that was probably the main focal point, it was a little bit less about somebody else's ceremony and more about creating ceremonies in our life and creating rituals on our life, because they bring sacred purpose to our life.

And I'm a big fan of do it yourself and sort of create your own ceremony, create your own ritual, or take something that you were taught, that might be from your religious or your cultural heritage or tradition.

And then maybe you put a unique spin on it, and you make it your own. I think there's something grounding about ceremonies and rituals, I think they take something that we might just glance over, or kind of pass by really quickly, and they help us slow down and take a moment and celebrate or appreciate or honor, whatever it is that we are doing this ritual or ceremony around.

[46:23] Monthly Rituals and Astrological Forecasts

I have definitely shared on here that I do these little rituals around the beginning of every month. I always write down in my journal, my intentions for the month, I usually go through on the last day of the month of the first day of the month.

Some different astrological forecast energy forecast, different monthly messages that I get from various spiritual teachers that I feel connected to their work. And then I will also bring in what did the Akashic Record say about the month ahead, and I will write all of that down in my journal, I usually make a note about the big Astro transits and the moons that are coming up.

So I have it as a reference point, I'll normally draw a card for the month ahead. Every year on the New Year, I actually draw a card message for the year ahead. And I've been using the same deck now for this for like the past three or four years. So every now and then I'll be like, Oh, maybe I shouldn't mix it up this year and use a different deck. But I've kind of established a ritual around it.

And sometimes rituals are meant to be shaken up and reinvented. But most likely, I'll use the same card deck this upcoming year. And I will do a card for like the month ahead, and then the overall theme of the year for me.

So right now in October, my card is the it's the eight of cups, but the deck that I'm using is it's like the mystics Tarot or something like that, I'd have to go look at what it is.

And the card itself is really about spiritual seeking and spiritual truth. That's my message for the month of October. And then my card for the year about my theme for the year. 2023 is the two stones.

And in this particular deck, it has a bear that is kind of passing out of winter into spring. And there are these two stones and the bears kind of about to leap over one into this from kind of winter into spring. And the message behind that card is about working with the emerging energies and working with life shifts and transitions.

And the idea for me this year for my personal reading was that it was a year of energy shifting around me energies emerging things continuing to shift and emerge in my life. And that guidance is really about working with what's emerging and staying open, staying flexible, staying fluid, staying adaptive.

So, at the beginning of every month, when I'm doing my little monthly ritual, I will flip over like what's the card for this month, I'll reread the message I usually look at the card for the entire year I think about how is this been showing up for me. And it's fun.

It makes it special. It makes it magical. It brings sacred into the every day. It helps me never pass by a new blank day for a shiny new month without appreciating it and saying oh my gosh, I get a whole fresh 31 days of October and I get to write the story for whatever this October is going to be about for me.

And yes life is going to happen. Eclipse seasons coming up. I think this episode actually drops the new moon where that enters eclipse season next next week. Emerging energies are happening big energetic shifts are happening, stuff is happening in our world stuff is happening in my life and people I care about and people I love life is going to do what life is going to do.

I don't know why we always expect it somehow to line up in perfect accordance, just because we want it to. It's not really how life works, it has a force and a will all of its own. And it kind of is going to do what it's going to do.

And we're along for the ride. And when we really learn to work with that, it becomes a lot more fun to be on that ride instead of feeling like it's working against us. But in the middle of all of that, these are my points that I take to be still.

And to do these little ceremonies that say I don't want to step into a new month without being mindful, without being present, without being conscious of heart and mind without having a moment of clarity that says, Hello, October, I'm here, I am ready for you.

And here's some of the things that are coming spiritually that I find exciting and interesting. And I'm really curious to see how this energy shows up.

[51:06] The Beauty of DIY in Creating Rituals

So we do ritual and ceremony because it gives us pause, and a other, I guess what we could otherwise just as I said, kind of glance over skip over paths over. And it allows us to bring meaning and some form of sacredness into the every day.

And the longer I live, the more I'm convinced that the moments that we spend on top of the mountain, where life is grand and gray, and we feel like we've accomplished something are wonderful moments, but there are a lot less than the moments that we spend down in the valley or just climbing the mountain where not a lot is happening.

And it's really up to us to bring meaning to our life, it is up to us to slow things down. And to take a breath and to see what is the gift in this day. What's the lesson in this day?

What am I learning right now, that is what it is to bring the art of ritual and ceremony into the average day, and to embody the hierophant energy on a daily basis or a monthly basis. And a way that we feel empowered to see something ordinary and make it extraordinary through the art of ritual or ceremony.

So you can always make your own app, you can always do an internet search around like easy to it yourself rituals for. And then you get to fill in the for, for the full moon for a new moon for Eclipse Season, for the beginning of the month. There's wonderful books that are written out there on day to day things that you can do. I mean, there's a lot of things out there for self love practices and self love rituals.

And, you know, there's just so much information available to us now. And when we again, look at seeking outside of ourselves, sometimes we might say am I well is really try right now I have no inspiration.

So I'm going to outsource this and see well, what does somebody else have to say, and I'm going to go buy this really fun workbook and this affirmation card deck and I'm going to use somebody else's inspiration. And you know, bring that into my sphere in order to feel more inspired, because I need some support right now.

And then I'm going to integrate that and see what do I learn from doing this as a ritual practice where I decide to pull a card a day for the next month, there's always a way that we can take something and make it a little bit more sacred, make it meaningful to us and grow ourselves in the process of doing that.

[53:44] You Are Your Own Expert

All right, you are your own expert. I wrote that down for the last point today. And I think I mentioned that already in the podcast today. But I felt like it shouldn't be its own talking point.

Because the truth that is going to be most helpful to you in your lifetime is really the truth in your heart. It is understanding your point of view. It is understanding what feels authentic for you. It is being your most authentic version of self.

And I really believe that part of why we're here. soulful beings having a human experience is to become more real, to become our most authentic version and to learn all that we can about being human, to find the light that we can to learn to not be afraid of the shadows, inside of ourselves or in the world but to work with those constructively and create light where we can to transmute darkness as we can to protect against it when we need to.

And in this process of being our most authentic self, we really began to embody the trail of being Being a true human, there's I didn't write it down, so I can't quote it exactly. But there's this beautiful quote from Dances with Wolves that I've always loved, where it talks about like the trail of being a true human, and how you know, he's on that path. And I've always loved that quote, and this idea of being a true human, because yes, we're all here having a human experience.

And from a really bigger point of view, you can't do it wrong, it is an experience. I think, from a soulful point of view, nobody's screwing it up, though, I would definitely say that there's better choices that we can make. And some people are making a really big mess for humanity.

And there's probably some work that they have to do when they cross back over to understand the mess that they caused while they were here.

But we'll just pretend for the sake of this podcast, and staying away from the philosophical question of people who do cruelty and wrong in this world, I'm not going to attempt to answer that, I'm just going to bring it back to kind of the normal person who is doing their best to kind of live well have a good life, they want to be a good human.

They can't really do it wrong. You know, if you are really trying to be here and be a positive contribution for the light and be a positive contribution to humanity, then you are just here on this journey.

And you're doing the best that you can, and you're learning and growing as you go. And part of why you are here is to continue to become your most real self. And that sounds so easy.

And yet, it's actually a very hard thing to do, I don't think we often realize how many voices are always impacting us all the time, how many constructs have been dumped into us about who we should be in this world, how much of the stuff that we learn might have been something that we saturated in from our family system or society around us, or cultural norms or messages. And a lot of times in order to undo all that and to keep unbecoming.

So we can become, it takes a lot of courage to do that. And it takes a lot of heart fortitude, in order to truly be our most authentic self. And it's easy to look around and see people who might really be walking a path where it looks like they're just trying to be like everybody else. You know, we see people kind of go with the flow all the time, that don't seem invested in authenticity and heartless.

But if you are here for the light, and you're here, somebody who's really trying to be a conscious contributor to humanity, then you're here for authenticity and realness. And so you learning to be your own expert, you learning about you. It's one of the most beautiful things that you can do as your contribution to yourself, your contribution to the light, your contribution to humanity.

As an example to the people around you, you never know who you might inspire to be more of their true self, simply through embodying the art of being like your truest version of self.

[58:22] Experts: Selected Reading from Transformations of The Sun

So I'm going to end this today with a passage from my book transformations at the sun. That's actually called experts. And this is really about being an expert in ourselves. And again, I think this is really what the hierophant is all about when we talk about the heart of the hierophant. The Hierophant is the wise teacher, but they're only the wise teacher because of their expertise in something. And all of us are higher offense of ourself, we are experts of ourselves.

So this is from transformations of the Sun 122 passages on finding new life after loss. I can't stop being me just because somebody doesn't understand me. Just as you can't stop being you, because somebody doesn't understand you.

We need to be ourselves in this life. It is the only path to authenticity there is trying to stoop lower, and reduce yourself to meet somebody where they are at will only serve and making you small, just as trying to reach down, do the work for them and pull somebody up to meet you where you are at will only make you realize how tiring it is to carry somebody.

We are who we are, where we are, each of us navigating our paths according to our own dictates of heart and soul. And so it becomes important to recognize those who have a parallel journey were meant to walk beside and those whose paths split from ours, each of us free to move in the direction that resonates. I believe this is one of the hardest lessons to learn in life, to grow beyond a model where we seek others validation and approval, to do the work of self so diligently that we turn inwards when our buttons get pressed.

And instead of saying, how can they act like that, we learn to say, what is this triggering inside of me? And how can I bring healing to this space, to find the courage to simply be ourselves and to find the courage to let others do the same? Recognizing this as a two fold process of courage, because it does take courage to let go.

It does take courage to recognize others will see you through a distorted lens, and that you may see them through a distorted lens, that you can't do a thing about the cloudiness of their lens, but you can work to keep your ears clean, and let those times it clouds become a teacher.

We must do this work in order to free ourselves in order to embody ourselves and learn to be our own experts. And as time goes on, those that don't understand you may still sting or hurt or ache a bit. But the benefits gained from walking your own path will become so great, you wouldn't want to go back.

And any words of dissuasion that others may say, will begin to pale in lieu of the magnificence of you claiming your own brilliant light.

[1:01:40] Coming Up Next Week

Thank you so much for joining me today for this podcast. Coming up next week, we will be talking about developing discernment and looking at what is discernment?
 
How can we learn to grow this practice and our life? Why is this so important for our human journey? Why is it so vitally important for our spiritual journey? And how can we maybe do this in a way that also makes the growth of disturbing
your heart? Dr. Kapansky Wright chuckle

So that is coming on the podcast, and a new episode is released every Thursday at 6pm Hawaii time.

Have a beautiful week. Happy Eclipse to everybody. Be well. Be Love, be you and be magic