The Hierophant is a blessing with a catch. In many decks, it’s called the Pope – wise keeper of ancient mysteries, but also a bit of relic himself. This card represents the “shoulds” of society, and all the ways in which you force yourself to adhere to traditional values. But it’s also about knowledge – generally book-knowledge – teaching and learning. Think of any academic environment, and you’ll see these things go together like kicking and cans.
Like the High Priestess, the Hierophant is somebody you can turn to for depth and guidance, but the Hierophant’s wisdom is backed up by the powers that be. He represents the collective information of libraries, temples, and other institutions. Court rooms, universities, churches – these are his domain. This bro goes by the books. While decidedly conventional, this sort of knowledge is every bit as important as, say, mystic traditions like, ya know, tarot.
I often wed the High Priestess and the Hierophant in my mind, in fact; they are like the yin and yang of higher guidance, two sides of the same coin. The Hierophant deals in his own kind of divine knowing – but his has been given solid form, often over centuries. It’s been brought down to earth, so to speak. Verified and validated. Recorded in depth. Scratched on scrolls and penned into big ol’ tomes. At the end of the day, il Papa is just as spiritual as any esoteric recluse – he just places his faith in well-established moral paradigms rather than personal inner knowing.
And that, too, has its place.
The Hierophant Upright
▹Guidance, sage advice
▹Following a system or philosophy
▹Obedience, conformity
▹Moral laws
The Hierophant Reversed
▹Repression of free thought
▹Feeling oppressed by “shoulds”
▹Rigidity, dogma
▹Feeling betrayed by the system
▹Clinging to outdated ideas
▹Confusion over “right” and “wrong”
▹Reacting with rebelliousness
No matter how you draw it, the Hierophant calls us to take a look at our relationship with the systems within which we live, and make an honest assessment of our relationship with them.