The Hierophant: The Gatekeeper
a person with long box braids in a bun on the top of their hair. they’re wearing a blue-gray collared shirt and a brown blazer. they are holding a textbook and smiling.
I bet you would never give me your grandma's potato salad recipe. You can bet I'd never give you mine.
My grandmother, I'm proud to say, was thee potato salad maker of my extended family.
We're know for having the oldest family reunion in New Jersey. We haven't missed a last Thursday in November since the early 1700's.
When I was a kid, everyone clamored for a slice of my mema's apple pie. I later learned she had placed in a pie competition in the 60s against other domestic workers and housewives alike.
My mema tried and failed to teach me her apple pie secrets. They had become too innate, too inborn to teach.
But as she felt herself prepare to die, my grandmother made a point to teach me her potato salad recipe.
Other recipes preceded it. Corn pudding, for instance. Her hot cocoa preferences. The weird things she learned before she stopped watching The Frugal Gourmet.
The Thursday she shared her potato salad recipe was ominous. I wasn't home for family reunion. I was with the holiday agnostic family and friends of my best friend.
I was considering a divorce from my (very recently married) husband. Everything in my life felt ajar.
Now my grandmother was virtually announcing that death was near.
As I've hinted at before, my grandmother was nothing if not a Hierophant.
She worked as a test proctor at Rutgers for decades. After that she learned the secrets of cutting company checks at Paychex.
She was a sunday school teacher, and the historian of the church at which she was a founding member.
As she passed me potato salad recipe, she did what every Hierophant must. She created another Hierophant to keep the gate of insider knowledge.
When I opened Tarot in Community (which is now open again) I was struck by just how much people hate the Hierophant.
I won't recount exactly what was said. Yet themes of hierarchy, religion, and tradition inevitably emerged.
Yet as hoodoo, I know certain things are gatekept for good reason. Many practices survive to this day because of our ancestors' commitment to privacy and restraint.
The Hierophant's connection with Christianity isn't overstated. Yet it would be a mistake to think such a link was exclusive to Christianity.
The Hierophant exists wherever we must pass information along, but not to everyone.
Safeguarding sensitive information is The Hierophant's most fundamental duty.
This is why importance of The Hierophant's role is inarguable. Everything ain't for everybody to know.
That's why cultures, religions, and institutions have designated wisdom keepers.
This could be through initiation, which The Hierophant symbolizes. It could be rites of passage, or the beginning of formal training.
This is how The Hierophant gained association with colleges and universities. Of course, those too are often affiliated with religious institutions.
Without spaces and individuals who document how things are done, traditions dissolve.
It's too easy to resent these gatekeepers for their inflexibility. These people tell you what things were like before you were a thought.
Wisdom keepers are a through line between the past and the future.
Sometimes traditions must change. Even then, our wisdom keepers help us identify what part of the past we should take with us. They also help us figure out what we're in no position to improve upon.
The Hierophant's "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach to the past can mean they're slower to move towards justice, yes. But they also remind us how our ancestors and elders resisted what they faced.
Those who do the work of the Hierophant should be treasured. They should also be trained.
People who show up in the role of The Hierophant may entrench outmoded beliefs into traditions. They may prevent such biases from being excised.
When we treat gatekeepers as teachers, we can consider their wisdom even if we go another way.
There are also times when they are uncannily correct. As students of history, Hierophants can often predict the future based on the patterns of the past.
This is why the world needs historians, storytellers, and teachers of all kinds.
We can critique the self-serious tendencies of those moving in a Hierophant role.
Yet we should also acknowledge the fact that becoming a Hierophant isn't easy.
It takes time, humility, and dedication. The work of becoming a Hierophant often takes many years.
The Hierophant could not be so without having been someone else's student. The Hierophant is what happens when the student is ready to teach.
Social media has unleashed a wave of half-formed Hierophants on the world. They are learning in real time. They are sharing as they learn.
Why is such behavior rewarded, while we malign the Hierophant?
I'm obviously very online. I see how the hatred of gatekeepers has led people to choice personality over expertise. The COVID lockdown spiritual boom didn't help.
Our age is crying out for Hierophants. And their are Hierophants being made. Some of them are online, sure. Many more are doing the humble work of learning in private.
I salute the diligence that it takes to be a student, and the learning that goes into being a teacher.
I'm glad I'll never have the nasty potato salad at the function. My potato salad is immaculate.
hey, i'm cyree jarelle. I run Collective Cartomancy. I help queers, feminists, and leftists connect with their intuition using tarot and cartomancy. More on me.
