How to Interpret The Hierophant and Temperance

The Hierophant is a card of tradition and honoring the rituals of your ancestors, institutions like school, and community. There is often a religious connotation with this card, however in the larger picture it is about obtaining higher knowledge from the right teachers that come across your path for the wellbeing of the community. The Hierophant holds a special role in upkeeping traditions, to honor history, and to shine light on the wisdom of the past.

Temperance is a card of spiritual alchemy, traditionally showing an angelic figure pouring a substance like water between two goblets. Temperance is about having the right ingredients for synergy and how that can ebb and flow based on what is needed in your life at the moment. This card is all about patience as you create the right balance of honoring tradition and creating your own.

Blessings of The Hierophant and Temperance Tarot Birth Cards

Like the Tarot, duality is present within the cards. Each Tarot birth cards pairing bestows blessings and presents potential blockages. First, let’s go over the blessings:

1. Synergy

Both the Hierophant and Temperance thrive in group energy as giving back to community gives these cards energy, flow, and abundance. The key is to produce a harmonious combination between everyone involved so that the sum is greater than all its separate parts. When brought together and played to each person’s strengths, this can create an unstoppable force of positivity that can benefit everyone involved. You are gifted at bringing people together and seeing the light that they can contribute to the collective.

2. Teaching

The Hierophant card brings a natural influence for teaching and sharing knowledge with others. People can look to you for guidance and mentorship, being the go-to person for life advice. Your base knowledge from the influence of the Hierophant can honor traditions of the past and the history that comes with it as well as taking into account the lessons of Temperance, where you put in balance the different parts of what worked in the past to apply for a harmonious future. You’re able to connect the dots and see patterns.

3. Legacy

It’s important for you to carry on legacy, whether it’s the traditions of your ancestors or organizations that you belong to. You have an ability to be a keeper of faith, ethics, and core values that you can pass down to others. Something that is important for you is to lead by example so that even the way you behave can inspire others to lead a life aligned with their values. Part of this legacy is to define it on your own terms of what you’d like to honor and what you’d like to let go.

Blockages of The Hierophant and Temperance Tarot Birth Cards

With blessings also comes blockages that can present itself on your journey. Here’s some potential challenges to look out for:

1. Fanaticism

Having full faith in your beliefs is admirable, but not to the point of becoming intolerant of opposing views. This shuts down the path of constantly learning and obtaining knowledge so that you can discern what information resonates with you the most. Learn to recognize the difference between opinions and beliefs and come to conclusions that is still respectful of other people’s beliefs. The key is to create harmony, not discord.

2. Playing Devil’s Advocate

For the sake of debate, you might play the devil’s advocate to produce more interesting and elaborate conversations, however if you constantly take on this role, you may cause distrust with those you are conversating with. While you may hold strong opinions and tend to hold your stance, being able to see other people’s views from a place of acceptance can create safe spaces rather than debating on who is right or wrong. 

3. Guilt

With many opposing views with religion, it can become confusing what to believe in and which traditions to honor. You could be exploring what traditions most resonate with you, whether you choose to honor them or not. This could produce some guilt as to if you are embodying that faith enough, however the lessons of the Temperance is to bring these beliefs in balance to the lifestyle that you choose. Release any guilt and give yourself full permission to just be yourself without identifying too strongly with any belief.