The Hierophant: Chiron, the greatest of the centaurs, is our Hierophant.  Now, most centaurs were famous for knowing how to have a good time: wine, women (or a nice, docile mare) and song, that was their motto, with some occasional burning of villages for a laugh.  But not Chiron.  Oh no.  Because he wasn’t just any old centaur, but the son of Cronus, the leader of the Titans, and thus half-brother to Zeus.  And he never forgot it. Or allowed anyone else to do so.  He considered himself a gentleman—or half of one, anyway—and acted accordingly.  He never got drunk, he didn’t chase the ladies, he kept his singing to graceful ballads on the lyre that never, ever veered into the bawdy and he refused to use his weapons against humans.  He was, in other words, a real stick in the mud. 

The gods eagerly pawned off their troublesome youngsters onto him to learn some manners and to get them out of their hair.  Some of those turned out okay: Asclepius, for instance, learned herb lore from the old centaur and later became the demigod of medicine.  Others, however, had more problematic futures.  Chiron’s students were a virtual pantheon of who’s who in the Greek legends: Jason, Achilles, Theseus and Hercules all passed through his school for wayward half-gods.  And, of course, you may notice a trend there: each and every one grew up to wreak some serious havoc.  For a wise, mild-mannered old gentleman, Chiron noticeably failed in training up others in his own path.  Indeed, one might even go so far as to attribute the general hellishness of many Greek “heroes” to a reaction against being brought up by such a boring old fart.       

The Hierophant card can indicate a number of things: the need for approval from a person or society, the importance of conformity to societal rules, or someone who is stubborn, parochial and stodgy.  Chiron was known for his knowledge and had much good advice to give, but he presented it in such a way that it was not only ignored, but at times actually provoked the opposite reaction from the one he’d intended.  Rules are great, but too many of them stifle creativity and breed resentment. The legends say that Chiron was “accidentally” shot by Hercules, which eventually led to his death.  But there’s always a chance that Herc just snapped after one too many lectures and got postal on the old god, and Chiron didn’t want to admit that he’d finally driven someone to deicide.

The Hierophant reversed:

Chiron, the centaur known for his encyclopedic knowledge and elegant manners, is our Hierophant. Unfortunately, Chiron’s conception of good manners did not stop him from interfering in matters that, frankly, had nothing to do with him.  The most famous example is the help he gave Peleus, a Greek prince.  

It all started because Thetis, a lovely goddess, caught Zeus’s roving eye.  This wasn’t exactly hard to do, but unusually, Thetis successfully refused the chief god’s advances.  This, according to legend, was because she revered Zeus’s wife Hera too much to betray her (for “revered” read “feared the wrath of.”)  Hera was pleased with Thetis’s decision, but decided that the gal needed a husband as soon as possible. Why is a bit of a mystery as marital status had never been a big deterrent for Zeus.  But then, when you look at who, exactly, Hera picked out as the lucky bridegroom, it becomes a little clearer.  Peleus was tall, dark and handsome—and human.  Thetis took the match as it was probably intended, as an insult and as punishment for attracting Zeus’s attention in the first place, and refused to have anything to do with her husband.  Peleus, having the usual ancient Greek respect for women, responded to this decision by trying to rape her.  But he got more than he bargained for when sweet-looking Thetis turned into a tiger in his arms (literally) and almost killed him.  Not being one to give up—he’d been promised a goddess for a wife, damn it—he went off to Chiron for advice.

Now, Chiron, being a hidebound traditionalist, was sympathetic to Peleus’s problem. And while the old coot was usually pretty close-minded, there were moments when he could be quite creative and ingenious.  Unfortunately for Thetis, this was one of those times.  He advised Peleus to hold onto his wife no matter what form she took and to wear her out.  This the prince subsequently did, even when she transformed herself into water and fire.  The (presumably) badly burnt bridegroom eventually won their struggle, and Thetis conceived a son, who grew up to be the hero Achilles.  Did the advice Chiron had given her less-than-beloved husband bother Thetis?  We don’t know for certain, but we do know that she sent Achilles to study with the old centaur, and that the little demigod put him through hell for years.  Finally, the proud old god was forced to humbly beg Thetis to take her darling little boy away.     

What’s the moral?  A reversed Hierophant indicates a period when the querent is especially capable of thinking outside the box and of seeing solutions where others see only obstacles.  Just remember to use your power for good.