Doctor Who and the Major Arcana: The Hierophant

We are nearly on the eve of a new year. 2021 is a Hierophant year: 2+0+2+1=5. There are lessons to be learned in the coming year. Are you ready to learn them?

To find a quote representative of the Hierophant, the fifth major arcana in my ongoing #22DoctorWhoTarotQuotes project, I’ve gone way back to the beginning, to the First Doctor and the very first season of Doctor Who: “As we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves.”

The Hierophant is a complicated card, one of the more challenging ones for me when it comes up in a reading. It’s about teaching and mentorship, traditionally from the perspective of spiritual learning, rituals, conformity and tradition. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the First Doctor of all the Doctors was perhaps most like the traditional reading of the Hierophant: a teacher who keeps slightly separated from others, they are the keeper of knowledge, and share it at their prerogative.

I tend to favour a reading of the Hierophant that focuses more on learning as something we do throughout our lives, especially as it relates to community and society, and about establishing a spiritual practice that helps us to be mindful. The Doctor, an alien time lord who is centuries old (or millennia, depending on where you pick up the story,) may begin as an authoritarian source of knowledge and wisdom, but you can see them evolve as they learn from their companions over the years. And, as the Doctor learns from the experiences shared with their companions, so the companions do, too.

On the Fool’s journey, as we move from the structure and rigidity of the Emperor’s worldly domain, the Hierophant encourages us to work with a mentor or spiritual leader to begin to develop our belief systems. We need to rely on others on our journey, as the First Doctor observed, to learn about each other so we can learn about ourselves.

What will the Hierophant mean for us in 2021? I think it will start with looking and reaching outward, towards others, in community and society. We should focus on what we can learn from others, and on empathy and compassion, and learning and growing. Mindfulness will help us act for the greater good, not just to satisfy self-serving impulses.

Speaking of focusing on others, the next stop on our journey through #22DoctorWhoTarotQuotes is the Lovers. Meanwhile, I’m always curious what you think: does this Doctor Who quote illustrate your understanding of the Hierophant? Like I said, this is a challenging card for me, so I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Doctor Who and the Major Arcana: The Emperor

On today’s stop in the journey through #22DoctorWhoTarotQuotes, the major arcana as framed by quotes from Doctor Who, we’ve reached the Emperor. The Emperor is our card of authority, of order, of leadership and structure. Did you know that we’re in the waning days of an Emperor year? It may have seemed a chaotic one, but think of the conflict around exertion of control through the rules and lockdowns put in place by governments, and (at least here in Canada) how the government has stepped in to also protect those most at risk. It has been a year exemplified by the struggle for societal order to contain the perils of the “natural” world – in this case, the spreading virus.

To illustrate the Emperor’s bold leadership style, I’ve selected a quote that was uttered by two Doctors, and echoed by a third. In the 50th anniversary special, David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor responds to Clara’s question about his name being a promise. He says, “Never cruel or cowardly.” The War Doctor adds, “Never give up. Never give in.” And then, several seasons later, the Twelfth Doctor echos the sentiment in the farewell speech I quoted last week: “Never be cruel, never be cowardly, and never ever eat pears!” I almost wanted to invert the posting of these two quotes, because I think the fuller one I chose to represent the Empress shows an evolution in the Doctor, as he goes from the patriarchal nature of the Tenth and War Doctors’ quote to the more nuanced consideration in the Twelfth Doctor’s speech.

In a lot of ways, the Doctor is like the Emperor. A natural and powerful leader, he encourages you, like the Emperor, to stand up for what is right, to assert leadership and respect order (as it applies to timelines, at least.) He is a defender to those without power, asking loyalty in return. Of course, the Doctor has a wildly chaotic side – the Emperor would probably not condone stealing a TARDIS for a joyride that lasts for millennia. And the later Doctors, in particular Twelve and Thirteen, have stepped away from the bombastic universe-leading president-of-the-world style to a more quiet, behind-the-scenes enabler, so the humans (and others) can save themselves with the Doctor’s benevolent mentoring. But that, too, is a powerful form of leadership.

As a bonus, I found this illustration on Reddit by Redditor jpw3bb – a beautiful render of this quote in Gallifreyan.

Illustration by redditor jpw3bb

As always, I’d love to know your thoughts. Is the quote “Never cruel or cowardly. Never give up. Never give in.” evocative of the Emperor for you? Why or why not?

Doctor Who and the Major Arcana: The Empress

As we work our way through #22DoctorWhoTarotQuotes, my collection of quotes from Doctor Who that illustrate or align with traditional interpretations of each tarot card of the major arcana, we’ve reached the Empress. The Empress is the archetypal earth mother, a powerful being of feminine energy who comes to reflect your joy and love in life back at you. To illustrate her, I’ve chosen a snippet of a longer quote: “Remember – hate is always foolish and love, is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind.”

These words are spoken by the Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi, in the moments before he regenerates in the series ten Christmas special “Twice Upon a Time.” He’s talking to his future self (who the audience knows but he does not is about to regenerate into female form) but also trying to reassure his current self, I think. Here’s the full quote:

You wait a moment, Doctor. Let’s get it right. I’ve got a few things to say to you. Basic stuff first. Never be cruel, never be cowardly. And never ever eat pears! Remember – hate is always foolish and love, is always wise.

Always try to be nice and never fail to be kind. Oh, and – and you mustn’t tell anyone your name. No one would understand it anyway. Except…. except children. Children can hear it. Sometimes, if their hearts are in the right place, and the stars are too, children can hear your name. But nobody else. Nobody else. Ever.

Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.

Doctor – I let you go.

I like this quote for the Empress for a lot of reasons. The Empress is about abundance, generosity, and kindness, and tells us that our needs will be met. The Empress is a maternal figure, and this advice to be kind is indeed very motherly. Certainly, as a mom to three, I’m most concerned that they grow up to be kind humans first and foremost. The Empress is about nurturing and looking inward for grace, something the Doctor is doing as he passes the baton to his next iteration, exhorting his next regeneration to be a better version of himself. And, most interestingly for me, this quote is spoken from a male incarnation of the Doctor who has learned through his travels how to be not just clever and witty but kind as well, and he has learned that largely through the females in his life: Clara, and River, and Bill. And then with these words he regenerates into the first female Doctor in the storied 50+ years of the franchise.

As an aside, I truly loved watching Capaldi’s Doctor and his preoccupation with goodness and being kind. You can see this evolution from his query to Clara (“Am I a good man?) and Clara writing him crib notes on how to be nice to his stirring exhortation to Missy to “just be kind” to his regeneration muse to his future self. I had a hard time choosing between the quote above and his final speech to Missy to use for the Empress. It’s another beautiful quote:

“Winning? Is that what you think it’s about? I’m not trying to win. I’m not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone.

It’s not because it’s fun. God knows it’s not because it’s easy. It’s not even because it works because it hardly ever does. I DO WHAT I DO BECAUSE IT’S RIGHT! Because it’s decent! And above all, it’s kind! It’s just that.. just kind.

If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live. Maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, you know, maybe there’s no point to any of this at all. But it’s the best I can do. So I’m going to do it.

And I will stand here doing it until it kills me. And you’re going to die too, some day. And how will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand.. Where I stand is where I fall. Stand with me. These people are terrified. Maybe we can help a little. Why not, just at the end, just be kind?”

Oh my goodness but I love the Doctor. I can’t read these quotes without feeling my heart soar. I was truly fascinated by the way the Twelfth Doctor’s sojourn explored gender issues. But what do you think? Do you think this idea of embodying kindness is in alignment with your understanding of the Empress? Do you think the Doctor’s regeneration from a male form into a female form aligns well with the characteristics you associate with the Empress? As always, I’d love to hear your perspective.

As we approach the end of an Emperor year, come back next Monday and we’ll look at a Doctor Who quote that embodies the Emperor in our continuing series of #22DoctorWhoTarotQuotes.






Doctor Who and the Major Arcana: The High Priestess

Next up on our journey, visiting all the major arcana tarot cards through the lens of quotes from Doctor Who, is the High Priestess. In this project, #22DoctorWhoTarotQuotes, I’ve been using quotes from the Doctor to interpret traditional meanings and understandings of the major arcana.

Last time, we looked at the Magician, who is all about manifestation and taking action. By contrast, the High Priestess is about stillness and the things that we cannot see. She exhorts us to embrace our spiritual side. Where the Magician makes things happen by doing, the High Priestess makes finds her power by being still and paying attention.

It’s this sense of things known and unknown, tangible and intangible, that made me find this quote from the Fourth Doctor to be representative of the High Priestess: “Never be certain of anything. It’s a sign of weakness.” Certainty is not what the High Priestess seeks or offers; instead, she is the keeper of secrets, explorer of the unconscious mind, and her strength is her intuition. She is an enigma.

The symbols on the Rider-Waite-Smith version of the High Priestess card illustrate her links to that which is uncertain: the Moon, the veil behind her, her hidden right hand, and the pomegranates on the veil are all symbols of that which is unknown. She is the embodiment of mystery, and tells us to look beyond the obvious to what is hidden and obscured.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you think this quote is a good link between the Doctor and the High Priestess? Why or why not? Why does the Doctor think certainty is a sign of weakness? Can certainty be a weakness in a tarot reading or tarot reader?

Come back next Monday, as we continue looking at the major arcana through #22DoctorWhoTarotQuotes with another feminine archetype, The Empress.