Worthwhile Mentors

From the Alchemical Renewed Tarot, the Hierophant:

Were it not for the elaborate chair and three-tiered crown, I might imagine this picture as story-time with grandpa.  Place explains that this trump deals with exoteric spirituality, the outer form taught to the masses.  Just as the sun and red candle represent the masculine/active principle and the moon and white candle symbolize the feminine/receptive principle, so are there two spiritual streams that can quench my thirst.  Maybe it is the American in me that always wants to blaze my own trail, but I do better with the inner/esoteric type that I find in meditation and contemplation.  Yet I know too well how easy it is to rationalize and twist my ideas into something acceptable, which is why I also need to be willing to listen to and heed the philosophies of other teachers. 

From the Oracle of the Radiant Sun comes "Fortune:"

Sun (fortune) in Leo (creative self-expression)

There are those who find themselves in the public eye not so much because they desire it, but because they are sought out.  Then there are those who have an intense desire to be the center of attention, not for humanitarian reasons but because of their big egos.  Think Gandhi and the Dalai Lama versus Pat Robertson and Fred Phelps.  I much prefer humble, loving teachers with a sense of humor than the judgmental, hellfire-and-damnation ones as mentors.