Week at a Glance: High Priest

The purpose of drawing a "Week at a Glance" card is to get a sense of the sort of energy, circumstances, or personal qualities I might need to be aware of during the upcoming week. I also use this opportunity to become more familiar with decks I don't work with a lot, so you will often see me quoting the creator of the deck or someone who has a closer relationship with the deck than I do at this time.

For the week of June 9, 2013 I am using the Fantastical Creatures Tarot, illustrated by Lisa Hunt and written by D.J. Conway (U.S. Games Systems, Inc.).

My card is the HIGH PRIEST.

Fantastical Creatures Tarot

Right away, I am struck by the difference between the "energy" I normally get from a traditional High Priest (or Hierophant) card and this one. In most traditional decks, The Hierophant gives me a feeling of strong, steady, stern, serious energy. I typically don't pick up much (if any) emotion from the main character on the card. It's probably my least favorite card in any Tarot deck.

In the Fantastical Creatures Tarot, the High Priest is portrayed by the _Arabian Ruhk_, a gigantic bird that appears in the tales of Sinbad the Voyager and The Arabian Nights. Like the traditional Hierophant, this card can represent "an advisor or teacher of spiritual ideas" and the keyword for this card in this deck is "spiritual advice" -- but the energy I pick up from this version is active, aggressive, angry energy that suggests (to me) unpleasant consequences if that spiritual advice is not followed.

This week, perhaps I am going to be revisiting or reexamining (again) my spiritual journey to date, a journey that includes an effort to subscribe to traditional religious teachings as well as a rather dramatic departure from significant aspects of those teachings -- and a realization that I honestly don't need or desire to latch onto one specific approach or creed or dogma. (I am amused by the fact that I originally typed "Fanatical" instead of "Fantastical" when writing about this card...)