In the Hierophant Card in the Major Arcana of the Rider Waite Smith deck of Tarot cards you can see a Religious looking figure, often called the Pope, sitting on a grey stone throne between two stone pillars. He is dressed in rich red robes and wears a three tiered papal crown and carries a papal sceptre.
The Hierophant raises his right hand in what is known esoterically as the Blessing, with two fingers pointing skyward and two pointing down, thus forming a bridge between heaven and earth.
Meaning of the Hierophant Upright
The Hierophant represents the ruling power of orthodox and external religion, established education, traditions and belief systems, dogma, doctrines and recognised hierarchy within any structure or organisation.
This is the organised, structured and ritualistic approach to spiritual growth, usually through some sort of group identification.
In the Hierophant, we see a large figure presiding over two smaller ones.
The idea is that the larger figure is attempting to mediate between two aspects of life, such as between the intellect and emotions, and to hold them in balance without necessarily resolving the potential conflict between them.
It is likely that the person represented by the Hierophant has a preference for the orthodox and conventional, probably has a need to conform, to fit in with established and structured groups and to be socially acceptable.
They probably accept discipline, have an inner sense of obedience and are happy to honour ritual, ceremony and traditional ways of doing things.
The Hierophant is also your inner counsellor and represents facing your own psyche, making your own decisions and living by them as well as developing the inner qualities of balance alongside the outer power.
It is also dealing with your own beliefs, whether religious or spiritual and whether you are being true to yourself or you are blindly following the dogma of others.
As a person, the Hierophant will often have the role of a trusted advisor, counsellor, teacher or someone who is an expert in their field, who can give you guidance.
It may sometimes be useful to seek guidance from someone else, who is a guru or an expert, however you need to be able to take what they say and follow your own beliefs and your own path.
The Hierophant may be indicating that the conventional beliefs of others are blocking the expression of your independent free spirit.
It is important that the power given to a Hierophant figure is not then used for personal gains instead of enlightenment.
In its highest form, The Hierophant is a seeker of knowledge and education and is a great believer that knowledge leads to power, both inner and outer and as such is able to guide others to help them to find their own answers, wisdom and truth without preaching or being judgmental.
Meaning of The Hierophant Reversed
In the Reversed position the Hierophant can point towards slander, poor advice, misrepresentation, unconventionality, maybe a distortion of the truth or high-handed judgemental advice and ego.
It maybe that structured learning not working at the moment or this is not the right time to take it up.
Someone may be experiencing a clash of values between the traditional beliefs systems of their upbringing, education or religion and their personal belief systems.
There may be a resulting lack of conformity and a rejection of all or part of those traditions.
When someone no longer identifies with a group, and is forming their own ideas and beliefs, this can be quite a challenging time for them, as they can be made to feel as an outcast and considerable pressure can be placed on them to conform.
Amanda Goldston
Tarot Author and Coach
©2009 Amanda Goldston
Amanda Goldston is the author of Develop Your Intuition Through Tarot Book, a speaker and Tarot Coach. She has been reading Tarot cards for over 16 years and has helped 1000s of people to make the best choices for themselves.
She now teaches others to read the cards for themselves for fun, profit and personal growth. For details of Tarot books and courses from Amanda Goldston, please visit her website at:
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