The fool meets the hierophant and is not happy. He isn’t a fan of the church. As a child he was dragged along to listen to sermons where he felt bored and irritable. His first thought is to walk on by but something catches his attention.
The men kneeling at the hierophant’s feet have robes with red roses and white lilies. The fool remembers these from the magician. He also sees the two pillars on either side of the card and wonders if there’s a connection with the pillars of the high priestess’s temple.
So he pauses, and waits…
In the mid 1450’s, when the first tarot packs appeared, the hierophant was called the pope. In Italy, the pope as gods earthly representative, was a military force as well as a spiritual one. Whoever sat on the vatican throne also had control over the papal states and the pope was an integral component of social structure.
The change of name from pope to hierophant is attributed to Antoine Court de Gébelin who believed the tarot had much older origins.
The word hierophant is from the ancient greek for holy (hiera) and to reveal (phainō).
Long before christianity, there were secret sects such as the eleusinian mysteries. Their roots went much further back in time and hierophant was the name used to denote the leader or high priest of these groups.
Lets look at the Waite/Coleman Smith hierophant more closely.
A man sits between two pillars, similar to the high priestess, justice and moon cards, and also hinted at in the mountains of the emperor, and structure of the chariot.
The throne depicts the papal keys, known as the keys of heaven or St Peter’s keys (Matthew 16:19). Keys are used to open locked doors and one of the functions of this archetype is to be broker or emissary between god and the people.
On his head is a rich papal crown. In his left hand he holds a golden sceptre or rod (named triple cross by Waite) while the other is raised in a traditional blessing or benediction.
The hierophant is dressed in red and white, colours mirrored in the red roses and white lilies of the priests’ robes who kneel before him. The fool recognises these from the magician card.
The fool has encountered the natural world of the empress, the socio/political world of the emperor, and is now meeting the hierophant who represents higher belief systems and traditions.
An intermediary between what can and can’t be seen, his function is almost shamanic in that he has access to the world of spirit and all that considered divine.
If we only see him as the pope or any head of an established church, we also need to acknowedge how dogma and absolute truths can lead to inflexibility and intransigence.
Think of the inquisition and religious wars between catholics and protestants. The prevalence of catholic beliefs such as their stance on reproduction, not allowing contraception or abortion and their views on the ordination of women.
The fool remembers a local woman accused of witchcraft. The smell of burnt flesh and fear. He’s reminded of lengthy sermons based on the principles of heresy and his parents’ beliefs in the bible as being the direct word of god.
The fool has never been a fan. The church’s restriction of belief was one of the reasons he set out on this journey to search for answers.
What can he learn from this card with its popish appearance which triggers memories of feeling out of place?
The renaming of this card from pope to hierophant is a clue.
We need to think of him more as a high priest, called to serve a higher power and representative of older traditions.
The high priest was the translator of sacred mysteries, of the intangible and unseen. The mythic tarot portrays the hierophant as Chiron, the centaur from greek mythology, who Homer portrays in the Iliad (11.831) as wisest and justest of all.
High priests in ancient Mesopotamia were called the En. In ancient Egypt the high priests of Amun. Zoroastrianism and older Iranian religions had the magi, while Vedic religion, the precedent to hinduism, was presided over by Pujari or Archaka. In Chinese Taoism they were daoshi and Japan has their own Kannushi.
We need to think of the hierophant as one who initiates. Not the baptism of babies but rituals for adults who’ve studied and explored alternative ways of thinking.
The hierophant’s role is to show the fool he’s free to choose his own path. To find what resonates for him. An archetype of spiritual belief, this card signifies the path rather than any generic destination. The fool has to make his own decisions. He might not yet be ready but the hierophant is saying when the time is right he will recognise it and know the way.
This is a card of power; an eponym for all things occult and esoteric. While some might call this religion, for others it’s more abtruse and hidden.
The fool’s early experience of church didn’t fit. The dogma was dodgy. There was an absence of comfort or joy. Now the hierophant is inviting the fool to find the path that suits him and take responsibility for himself, rather than slavishly following a doctrine he was born into.
We’re only on card 5. It might be too early and the fool still far away from what feels right.
In this case, he can take from this card an awareness that alternatives exist but to find them he needs to study and learn.
The hierophant reiterates the magician’s lessons on the need to take action. To open the door. Take the first step.
He also pairs with the polarity of the black and white pillars of the high priestess, and how the world behind the veil of the temple will always be there, waiting to be discovered.
The only reason the fool is on this journey is because he felt the need for excitement. His life wasn’t enough and he wanted more, even though he isn’t sure what that is.
The hierophant is the intermediary between the fool’s own burgeoning perception and the mysteries he doesn’t yet know or understand.
At any time he can return to card 5 to revisit and reflect. It might be that he needs some of the lessons from cards still to come before he finds what he’s looking for. The hierophant will always be there, waiting for his return.
The next card on our journey is number 6 the lovers.
Join me as we take the next step on a walk through the tarot.
images my own, copyright free from wikipedia commons or from https://pixabay.com/
