Major Arcana Series- the Hierophant

Hi everyone,

The Hierophant is up next for review in our Major Arcana Series. Please find down below what I have to say about this tarot card:

The Hierophant

The general overview of the card

The hierophant is a card about accepting the conventional, submitting to traditional values, religion and government. The ruling sign of the zodiac for the Hierophant tarot card is Taurus, an earth sign. This means you have strength and courage and you are pragmatic. Also, an authority figure may intervene in your favour. In this situation you are dealing with large organizations such as hospitals, churches or the city hall. As a person the hierophant represents a mentor or a guru, a spiritual guide or a wise counsel in a positive sense or a dogmatic or rigid person from a more negative perspective. When the hierophant represents yourself it means you will turn towards religion or embrace spiritual practices.

Issues and Problems:

Some of the challenges you face in this position are breaking the rules, questioning authority or control from others, turning away from religion, conflict with authorities or quitting school. Another conflict can be that you are too harsh on yourself, too negative, too materialistic or you do not trust yourself and desire great power. Resist the temptation to be overly infatuated with those in power and abstain from looking down on those beneath you. You can be harsh with others if you do not agree with their way of living.

Solution:

You are in the position to manipulate and twist the rules to your own benefit, profit. You are also very practical and have the knowledge that you can use to your advantage. This is a time to teach someone something new. Help will come through traditional channels.

 

 

 

In the picture above from left to right we have the Hierophant for the following decks:

#1 the Tarot of Jane Austen, #2 The Tarot of the Celtic Faeries, #3 Nicoletta Ceccoli's Tarot and #4 the Dark Grimoire Tarot/  aka H.P. Lovecraft Tarot

 In the first deck we have Mr. Collins of Pride and Prejudice representing the Hierophant. This ridiculous individual overpraises those above him and looks down upon those he "thinks" below him, for material reasons. The Hierophant can refer to those who believe that the law is above the spirit. This card announces a time when you have to obey the rules and regulations and to respect hierarchy.
The hierophant is someone with a rigid mind, and absolutely no philosophical or intellectual inclinations.

In the Tarot of the Celtic Faeries we see maybe a more positive interpretation of this card. The Hierophant is represented by an old Druid man that can be a "trustworthy guide" or an "opportunistic guru". Without followers the Druid's (old man's) authority collapses. If the Hierophant represents yourself, you need leadership qualities to inspire others to submit to your authority or it could be that you need to become your own guide.

The Hierophant in the next deck is pictured as a "monkey in authority". I can understand this interpretation because it refers to the monkeys in the "Planet of Apes", where the monkeys take full control of the world, and rule through abuse of power and oppression. The message of this card is to be careful who you trust with your beliefs, and search for truth.

In the last deck we see the High Priest Zanthu invoking his god. He holds a grimoire to his chest who symbolizes his great desire of power.
Authorities in our society: police, judges, prosecutors etc. (especially in the US) have a great desire to rule by power and intimidation and not by reason. Under the lame excuse of "protection of the citizens" the US authorities often abuse their power on their citizens and infringe in their rights of privacy as well of the right of free thinking.

Crystal and Pleasant at Divination Nation blog actually bring up an important point: none likes the Hierophant.
Here is what they say: " ... there probably are some cards that you personally don’t like as much as the others, for whatever reason. For example, both of us are not really down with The Hierophant, he just…kinda works our nerves"

And just above in the Tarot of Jane Austen- Diane Wilkes chooses Mr. Collins to represent the card. None in the novel likes Mr Collins, he is very limited in his understanding and he thinks money is everything. He does not understand love or feelings.
Then in the next deck we have the Tarot of the Celtic Fairies- where Mark McElroy questions the true intentions of this spiritual guide, and thinks too that may be "spiritual" power the ulterior motive. Also he speaks of "fundamentalist Hierophants".

I encourage you to make your own studies of the Hierophant and see what interpretations you get of this card. I am sure there are other authors who expressed their dislike of this card one way or another.