Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

The entry of the Sun into Taurus this month leads me to reflect on The Hierophant, which has a very special meaning for the new Aeon.

Where the Hierophant and The High Priestess stand now in the Thoth tarot we originally found La Papesse and Le Pape in the Tarot de Marseille, exoterically representing the religious authority in this world and its “wife” (i.e. the body of the church).

In a new Aeon the energies of these cards take on their inner and esoteric meanings: that secret church of occult gnosis, and the dynamic initiatic force standing at the threshold of a new magical age.

The Hierophant was the chief priest in the Eleusinian Mysteries, responsible for revealing sacred objects and explaining the secret rites to initiates. This was before Christianity domesticated the Hierophant into a pope.

Crowley’s keyword for the card was “Offer thyself Virgin to the Knowledge and Conversation of thine Holy Guardian Angel. All else is a snare.” The deepest meaning of the Hierophant is not with any outer teacher or institution, but with the inner initiator: the HGA.

The outer Hierophant is thus a symbol pointing at the inner Hierophant: the higher self or divine genius that conducts the aspirant through the grades of being. No outer authority can substitute for this encounter.

Love is the law, love under will.

— Fr. Ishmael

Initiations 

On behalf of Scarlet Woman Oasis, Fr. Ishmael thanks and congratulates recent initiates of the 1st and 2nd degree, who traveled from Austin and San Antonio to Houston, marking a return to performing the Man of Earth degrees in this area.

For those of us performing or coordinating the initiations, it was an honor and privilege merging with that broader egregore of Initiation within the Scarlet Woman lineage. The furniture and tools of initiation are passed down through the decades: each generation establishes its magical link to these implements of the ritual; the light is received and passed down from one generation to the next.

For those taking the journey, may you meet that inner and true Initiator who is your own personal Hierophant.