Pause for Poetry
...welcoming taurus season with Hafiz.
Before I jump into our next set of decans, I thought I’d welcome Taurus with a poem! The tarot card that corresponds to Taurus season is called the Hierophant and when I pulled the card out yesterday it reminded me of a poem from Hafiz. I heard this poem a few months ago on my good friends’ podcast, Foundations, and feeling inspired by Oak Moon Tarot (who regularly pulls a card for a book/poem they are reading) I decided to pull a card.
Dropping Keys
The small man
builds cages
for everyone
he
knows.
While the sage,
who has to duck his head
when the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys
all night long.
For the
beautiful
rowdy
prisoners.Hafiz
I shuffled my cards and randomly drew a card: the 5 of Swords. The figure in the card has a look of dismay on his face as he looks back down the road. It seems like a fight has occurred (been lost?) and there are swords strewn on the ground. Could this be the small man? He who uses his swords (words, ideas, ideology) to put others in cages and ultimately lead to his own disappointment and disconnection. All of the 5 pip cards1 also relate to the 5 in the major arcana - the Hierophant2 - so I took that out of my deck as well. What a surprise to see two beautiful keys crossing his chest! The Hierophant represents our traditions, religious upbringing, and unfortunately (at least in my experience) the spiritual gate-keepers. But how beautiful to imagine the Teacher as being the best version of our traditions dropping the keys and setting us, the beautiful rowdy prisoners, free! May it be so.
Next week I’ll be back to exploring the decans and I’m excited to learn more about the cozy warmth of Taurus. We will explore the 5, 6, and 7 of pentacles and their grounding, earth energy for spring! I’ll share the poem one more time as a send off.
Dropping Keys
The small man
builds cages
for everyone
he
knows.
While the sage,
who has to duck his head
when the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys
all night long.
For the
beautiful
rowdy
prisoners.Hafiz
Pip cards are numbered cards Ace-10, with four suits just like a typical deck of cards. What makes a tarot deck unique is the addition of 22 major cards which were originally used for games & gambling, but later took on cultural and allegorical significance.
5 of Swords = 5 of spades (pip in a typical deck)
Hierophant = #5 card in the major arcana
The Hierophant: heiro (latin: holy), phantes (to show, make known); in some decks this archetype is called the Pope, Priest, Teacher, or Ancestor.
Lovely poem and reflections, Lindsey, on smallness vs the keys to freedom and growth. I drew the Hierophant card a few months ago. I think that card plus Christine's writings and yours inspired me to resume writing again as my way of being a teacher and elder.