V — The Hierophant/ Priest of Melqart
The Hierophant
… keeper of our sacred knowledge … go-between to the gods …
If the High Priestess was at one time La Papesse, the Female Pope, then the Hierophant is simply the male side of that equation, Le Pape. And as the head of the papal state, he represents our metaphysical discourse, our religious wisdom, our pantheistic teaching, stretching back from the dawn of consciousness to our modern age.
Unlike other cards in the Tarot that are cumbrous with cryptic symbolism, the Hierophant is rather simple. In the Rider Waite deck a red robed person sits on a gray throne. On his head rests a Papal Tiara, the Byzantine crown symbolizing his divine authority.
Two acolytes or disciples flank the priest, evoking the two black and white pillars of esoteric knowledge found on the High Priestess' card. Hermetic keys lay before the Hierophant's feet, not only signifying his wisdom in law and nation but, by curious coincidence, they are also the authoritative emblems of the Vatican City State.
The fact that many in the West mistrust our current religious leaders should not distract from the importance of this card. After all, corruption, depravity and misuse of authority are no more quintessential to religious power than they are to politics. What we should focus on, rather, is that at one time the Pope, like all other world religious leaders, was seen as the custodian of certain orthodox mysteries he used to help govern his people.
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The Card
A Phoenician priest stands before one of the merchant vessels that helped make his empire one of the greatest maritime trading nations in the known world. Behind the ship are the two great eyes of Melqart, the god of sailors and navigation, staring out at the world.
The worship of the Phoenician god Melqart1 spread across the Mediterranean during the first millennium BC as far away as the island of Thasos (Rawlinson, 103). His name means "King of the City," (Ribichini, 563) and as such he was ruler of all commerce the empire undertook.
Legend has it that since it was Melqart's desire to seduce the nymph Tyrus that he invented Tyrian wool dyeing from which the Phoenicians were famed for; having observed a dog eating murex sea shells one day. "Immediately the dog's mouth became deeply crimsoned and Tyrus, admiring the beautiful color, announced to Melqart that she would not accept him as her lover until he had provided her with a gown of the same hue." (Edey, 61) The rest, as they say, is history.
As the Phoenicians plied the waters up and down the length of the known world Melqart soon became god of not only travelers and sailors but of their navigators as well. Their priests were not only channels for mysterious knowledge, but being master sea traders of prestigious merchandise, commerce, market goods, they were also required to be the keepers of the sacred art of navigation that helped them steer and protect their vessels. Such knowledge came down directly from Melqart himself.
The Phoenicians for some centuries confined their navigation within the limits of the Mediterranean … But by the time of Solomon they had passed the Pillars of Hercules, and affronted the dangers of the Atlantic. Their frail and small vessels, scarcely bigger than modern fishing-smacks, proceeded southwards along the West African coast … while northwards they coasted along Spain … ventured across the mouth of the English Channel to Cassiterides (Rawlinson, 282) trading with every nation they came upon.
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The Hierophant/ Priest of Melqart in a Reading
We are all keepers of knowledge, both spiritual and mundane. If the Priest of Melqart comes to you in a reading, ask yourself what do you do with the knowledge you possess? The god Melqart passed on this wisdom of navigation to his people so they could sail the world's waters safely. Where do you get your information? How do you integrate it in your own day to day life?
Since the Phoenicians were merchants and their trade depended upon their ability to navigate it was of utmost importance to keep favor with their god. What keeps you on your goals? Ask yourself, who teaches you the sacred things you know? Are you teaching others in the same way? Many see organized religion as oppressive, but remember that servitude to one's own spiritual task is not an unhealthful activity. It is only when the Priest of Melqart is reversed that we find weakness in our spiritual leaders. Then our Hierophants hoard power, information and wealth for the sake of hoarding and oppressing. If you find you are using your spiritual knowledge to advance your own social gains instead of serving your community as a whole, beware. Empires have crumbled and superpowers wasted away due to their leaders arrogance, hubris, pomposity. Do not act like our current religious leaders, making scapegoats out of certain of their minorities in order to keep their authoritarian sovereignty absolute; only by serving all your citizens can you help promote the survival of your people.
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I stumbled upon a reference to Phoenicia I would like to share with you, since most of the tribes and nations I quote from in this sonnet are taken from it. In Ezekiel 27 there is a long list of everyone the Phoenicians traded with: Syria, Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Damascus, Judah, Asia Minor, Greece and Cyprus. Rawlinson makes a case that the Phoenicians even traded with the Armenians, "signified by 'the house of Togarmah' (verse 14)" (Rawlinson, 285 - 286, ff.2). While some of the imagery is taken directly form the verse (Lebanon cedar and Bashan oak, for example) other images are pure speculation on my part. I doubt I will ever really know whether the peoples of Lud were jolly or the peoples of Phut morose. What can I say? It made a good a rhyme.
Nothe-nothe-east: the cedars from Lebanon
made our masts. Bashan oaks our oars. Linens
of blue from Egypt were our sails. At dawn
we took the high princes of Greece, heathens
and their clan, for our rowers. Our legions
were loosed upon the waves, south sou'west, our
pilots prayed to Lord Melqart. The Persians
bought our grain. The glad Lud our spice. The dour
Phut our wool dyes. And our pilots prayed, hour
after hour, to you, O Melqart, Sea Lord,
"guide our boats home." The sea will devour
us all. "Guide us. Guide us." Out on the oared
blue, a lull, and then a great hissing fire
arose, filling the pilots with terror.
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Works Cited
Coulter, Charles Russell and Patricia Turner. Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. (2000)
Edey, Maitland A.The Sea Traders New York: Time-Life Books. (1974)
Rawlinson, George. History of Phoenicia. London, New York: Longmans, Green. (1889)
Ribichini, Sergio. "Melqart." In Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Edited by K. van der Toorn et al., 563-55. 2nd ed. Leiden: Brill. (1999)
- The various translations of his name differentiate, from Melcart, Melcarth, Melkart, Melkarth and Melquart. The Greeks were apparently fond of this god. "Some writers say the Greeks adopted [Melqart] and … later he became the sea god Palaemon" (Coulter, 316) and others "who identified Baal with Zeus, viewed [Melqart] with Heracles" (Rawlinson, 330) [back]