← Encyclopedia of Tarot · lesson 6/121
The Hierophant
The Hierophant is the card of tradition: the teachings, rituals and institutions through which knowledge is passed from one generation to the next. He is often read as learning, belonging, convention and guidance — a teacher, a mentor, a school, a faith or a community with its own ways. Where The High Priestess keeps the inner mystery, the Hierophant gives the outer, shared form of it.
The image
A religious figure in red robes and a triple crown sits between two grey pillars. He raises his right hand in blessing and holds a staff topped with a triple cross. Two crossed keys lie at his feet, and two followers kneel before him, their heads tonsured. The keys are usually taken as the power to open doors of understanding; the kneeling pair as students, or as the community that receives the teaching. Older decks call this card the Pope.
Upright
Tradition, education, guidance, ritual, commitment, belonging to a group. Waite gives "marriage, alliance, captivity, servitude" and, by another account, "mercy and goodness". The card can point to formal study, a ceremony, a mentor's advice, or the comfort of doing things the established way. It can also describe a commitment made before others.
Reversed
Waite reads the reversal as society, good understanding and concord, but also overkindness and weakness. Modern readers more often see rules questioned, a break from convention, or a feeling of being constrained by an institution — sometimes the need to find one's own path. Some readers do not use reversals at all.
Correspondences
Major Arcana, card V. In the Golden Dawn system, which most English-language decks follow, he carries the Hebrew letter Vau ("nail"), the 16th path on the Tree of Life, joining Chokmah and Chesed, and the sign Taurus, so the element of earth — steadiness, patience and what endures. French tradition (Papus, the Marseille deck, where the card is the Pape) gives some Majors different letters and signs.
In a reading
In the past, the Hierophant can describe an upbringing, a school or a set of values. As an obstacle, he may point to pressure to conform. As advice, he tends to suggest seeking a teacher or a proven method. Beside The Lovers he is often read as a formal commitment, such as a marriage.
In astrology
The Golden Dawn's correspondences, which most English-language decks follow (French, Marseille-based tradition differs for some Major Arcana).
Sign: Taurus
Element: Earth — the element of Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn
Mode: Fixed — Taurus is a fixed sign