My interaction with the Hierophant has been a long and colorful one. There are times when I have welcomed his presence in my personal Tarot spreads. There were other times when the mere mention of this card caused my upper lip to curl in a way that can only be described as a sneer.
The Hierophant is definitely a Major Arcana Tarot card that has caused me some real mixed emotion because the ideas associated with this card are pretty much a living paradox.
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The Hierophant (Number 5) also goes by the name of the High Priest and the Pope. In ancient Greece, the Hierophant was the chief priest who oversaw rites, rituals and ceremonies associated with the country’s infamous mythological culture. His role was to supervise the precarious blending of tradition, structure and spirituality. It was his responsibility to interpret, explain and recommend how the average person could best navigate the dangers of the mortal world, and hopefully find himself worthy of reward in an afterlife amongst the Gods.
I don’t know about you, but that is quite a tall order to fill – especially in a world where uncertainty and fear were the regular themes of the day. Even today, these themes are still a very powerful presence in the psyche of the average person.
When the Hierophant appears in a spread, he is signaling the need for – or presence of – guidance.
When the Hierophant shows up it can be indicative of a person who is attempting to enact order, structure and direction in the life of the querent. This person can be a counselor, teacher, a mentor, a spiritual leader or someone else who is available to guide the client.
This sounds great right? Someone is there to save the day; to show you the way out of trouble. After all, there is nothing like order and routine to provide a person with a false sense of security about their ability to control their lives. That is the beauty of social order and organized religion. It suggests the false presence of answers and security in a world that is seriously lacking both.
However, The Hierophant is associated with the number 5 – a number of change, spontaneity and disorder. How is that possible? The energy associated with the number 5 is almost the antithesis of the Hierophant’s energy. When I was first learning the Tarot, I remember thinking this must be some kind of mistake. I was sure that someone, somewhere – long ago in history – accidently screwed up the numbers of the Major arcana.
But, as I thought more about the card and what it represented, I began to appreciate this apparent dichotomy. If you think about it, there is a significant down-side to the type of order the Hierophant represents. In a reading, the Hierophant can also signal restrictions in your life – the feeling of confinement that comes from having to live within the stricter rules of social order. The Hierophant can represent conformity for the sake of conformity, rather than for fulfilling the individuals’ needs. While some people thrive in this structured set up, others wilt. When operating from lower energies, The Hierophant can indicate a system that interferes with an individual’s ability to manifest his creative and Authentic self. This card can represent social order, restrictions or groups that are meant to elicit some type of authority over the individual and force them to act in a way society believes they should act.
Therein lies the challenge of interpreting this card. As with any structured unit – parents, educational systems, governments, churches – it is a fine line between nurturing growth and fighting for control. We must be careful to not obsess about the need to maintain order. If we prioritize the preservation of the very thing we created to advance ourselves, it will limit and eventually destroy us. By clinging to structure for the sake of structure, we will become like a stagnant pool of water that eventually recedes and dies.
Instead, we must embrace the higher energy of the Hierophant and search for genuine and healthy connections between the earth and spiritual planes. Structures, organizations and leadership are systems that help us evolve while we are visitors in this life school. However, these systems are only effective when there is a healthy balance within them. When the Hierophant appears, it is a message to us to use the earthy tools available but to also embrace the change associated through the number five on this card. Only through realizing our need to change and allowing our “structures” to grow, can our mortal life evolve into the realm of a God-like existence.
