The Hierophant (V) is the fifth card of the Major Arcana and is the High Priestess’s masculine counterpart. In some tarot decks, this card is called the High Priest or the Pope. He represents authority, traditional values, and the importance of spiritual connection. He is the link between mankind and the higher power.
The Hierophant in a tarot reading encourages you to search for conventional solutions. It signals you to follow means known to be working, the path to knowledge, and education. It also calls you to connect with your spirituality and discover answers through your faith.
The Hierophant visual depiction and symbolism
On the Hierophant tarot card image, a religious figure, dressed in blue, red, and white sits in a somewhat formal environment that resembles a church or a temple.
- The Hierophant’s crown and the throne both highlight his authority.
- Blue, red, and white represent the three worlds they rule – the conscious, subconscious, and superconscious.
- The formal setting represents tradition and convention.
The Hierophant’s right hand is raised up with three fingers pointing towards Heaven and two towards Earth. The other hand is holding a triple cross. Following his ceremony are two followers. Beneath his feet are two keys positioned to form a cross.
- The act of blessing and the triple cross highlights the importance of religion with this card.
- The followers represent the transfer of sacred knowledge. They follow the path to knowledge through education.
- The crossed keys represent that through his teaching, you can unlock the mysteries of spirituality.
The Hierophant keywords
Keywords are summarizations of the Tarot card meanings. They are also excellent means to memorize them, so before we jump into the cards deeper meanings, let’s take a look at them here.
Upright Keywords: authority, conventionality, conformism, the importance of spirituality, education
Reversed Keywords: rebellion, unconventionality, non-conformity, new methods, ignorance
Now that the Hierophant’s visual components and keywords are disclosed, let’s progress into its meanings in love, relationships, career, money, health, and spirituality.
The Hierophant Upright meaning
The Hierophant tarot card, in its upright position, represents conventional values and beliefs. Instead of being innovative and soloing in your own ways, the Hierophant encourages you to follow grounded principles that have been known to work.
Seeing the Hierophant is a calling to bring back family customs, values, and traditions that have been forgotten. It is time to trust the options based on traditional ways, turn to your elders for wisdom, and nurture your spiritual values and beliefs.
Love and Relationship
The Hierophant in love and relationship readings is signaling toward traditional and socially approved relationships. You could be finding yourself drawn to the idea of a safe and long-lasting union and partners that are for sure approved by your close ones. These are partners who look great on paper and share similar values and belief systems.
If you are in a relationship, the Hierophant signifies that traditional progression in your relationship and conventional values are respected. This, of course, means that marriage and conventional family models are in the picture. It is also a sign that it could be a good time to revitalize old family traditions and reunions.
The Hierophant love meaning can also take a stand on broader aspects of love and remind us that our partners should be treated virtuously and respectfully. Even if your partner doesn’t share all of your values and traditions, the Hierophant encourages us to learn, understand, and respect the reasoning behind each other’s beliefs.
Money and Career
The Hierophant in money and career reading is an indication that you’ll find success sticking with conventional methods and group coherence. This means that now is a time to stay safe and pull the same ropes using a methodology that has been proven to work.
The Hierophant can also imply that a more senior mentor can help you progress through your career. This person can guide you through the company’s values and traditions and introduce you to the ways of working. The card also highlights the importance of education. It encourages investing in learning. Perhaps now is a good time taking courses that will expand your expertise in your area and help you with your career.
Economically the Hierophant advises you to be very conservative with money and sticking to safe, traditional, established investment options. Risky experiments or new financial instruments may cause problems for you. You should also be conservative whit your spending. Put money to the side to keep a buffer for expenses that come unexpectedly.
Health and Spirituality
The Hierophant Tarot card suggests that it’s wise to focus on traditional health routines. Diverse nutrition, daily light exercise, and a healthy amount of sleep will boost your immune system and help you feel energetic.
When reading about your spiritual path, the Hierophant is the bridge builder between mankind and the divine power. He highlights the importance of spirituality and religion in life. Therefore, he encourages you to reconnect with your spiritual side.
While this card is easily associated with traditional religious practice, it doesn’t mean that you will need to follow them if they don’t speak to you. But you will surely benefit from building some sort of ritual or ceremony into your spiritual practice. The Hierophant can also be an omen for some kind of spiritual guide entering your life to help you on your spiritual path.
The Hierophant Yes or No Upright
For inquiries that could result in a Yes or No answer, The Hierophant encourages you to explore traditional solutions and respect conventional values. He also points out that knowledge goes through education and highlights the importance of spiritual connections. It doesn’t have an assertive call for action in Yes or No related questions; therefore, the answer is “maybe.”
The Hierophant Reversed Meaning
The Hierophant reversed symbolizes non-conformity, rebellion, ignorance, and unconventionality with traditional rules and values. It can also indicate new methods of working, as well as openness and freedom. You could be feeling a desire to mold the existing rules and ways of working. Or you might be feeling that the structures and established beliefs are limiting your life.
The Hierophant reversed prompts you to be your own teacher. You should reach out to your inner wisdom to find your power. You are guided to follow your personal trail rather than following others. Learning to live by your own rules will bring you the freedom and positively expand your horizons. The Hierophant reversed may also indicate that you are adhering desperately to traditional ways and values. Or it may also suggest that you have mixed feelings of guilt and shame whenever you go against your parents’ values.
Love and Relationship
In love and relationships, the Hierophant reversed is a sign that conventional unions and values might not be on your repertoire at the moment. If you are single, you could be better off taking this time to yourself and not dreaming about traditional relationships. It could be a sign that focusing on something else will be better at the moment. Maybe it will result in something unexpected and exciting.
If you are in a relationship, a reversed Hierophant can indicate that your relationship may have become slightly stagnated. The excitement is missing, and your previously practical and secure connection has started to feel a bit too plain. If this is the case, it is essential to be open about it and talk about what would excite you. Try to find fun things together in these moments.
When wondering about the future together with someone, the reversed Hierophant indicates that you and your partner’s values do not align well. Remember that this doesn’t necessarily mean that the relationship won’t work. It will just require some compromises from both of you. Together you will teach and learn from each other, and it can connect you in ways that wouldn’t have been possible when going the conventional path.
Money and Career
Opposite to the upright position, the Hierophant reversed can indicate that you are drawn to take acknowledged risks and take on unconventional methods of making money. The idea of starting a side hustles and projects occupies your mind. Still, the Hierophant reversed reminds you to assess your returns and risk carefully before you dive too deep into these ventures.
Regarding your career, the Hierophant reversed indicates that your current tasks and perspectives may feel inadequate and somewhat frustrating. Perhaps you long for something with more creativity and freedom, and not the bureaucracy, processes, and rules that are restricting your current job. You might feel a need to change how things are done or introduce something entirely new that might be altogether different from the company’s existing culture. The reversed Hierophant calls you to assess the risks of making changes and considering how you would feel following your own path.
Health and Spirituality
Regarding health, the Hierophant reversed reminds not to be too rigid in following nutrition or exercise routines. It could be beneficial to change things up a bit and try something out of the ordinary. Maybe a subscription for a personal training app could be such a thing. This could heighten your motivation and provide an extra boost to your energy levels.
In the spiritual context, the Hierophant reversed tarot card can sign that unconventionality is the way to go. You should try to let go of old beliefs that no longer work for you. Try spiritual paths that are unordinary and find what works for you. To be a spiritual person doesn’t mean you need to follow the traditional approach.
The Hierophant Yes or No Reversed
In questions that result in a Yes or No answer, The Hierophant reversed is a “maybe.” When reversed, it represents non-conformity, rebellion, ignorance, and unconventionality with traditional rules and values. But then again, it also means new methods of working, as well as openness and freedom.
The Hierophant important Combinations
The Hierophant adds a bit of spirituality and traditional values to tarot card combinations. He guides to seek answers from education, religion, and experienced mentors.
The High Priestess and the Hierophant
This combination brings the two counterparts together. The High Priestess gets her wisdom through intuition and the Hierophant from the books he reads. They are both very spiritual cards. Seeing them together is a powerful signal to invest time in your spiritual well being.
Kings of Wands and the Hierophant
Both represent authority and lead their own realms. The King of Wands is a very masculine and visionary leader. The High Priestess is the leader that acts as a connection between the higher power and mankind. Seeing them together highlights vision and being a leader. Perhaps it’s a call to seek advice from someone older and wiser who masters both business and spirituality.
The Lovers and the Hierophant
Lovers being the card of relationships and choices and the Hierophant of conventional ways and values. I see this combination signaling strongly for a traditional progression in your relationship. If it is a fresh one, this relationship could end up on the altar.
The Moon and the Hierophant
The Moon is the card of illusion and deception. It represents that things are not as they appear to be or that there are misunderstandings in your life. Having the Moon combined with the Hierophant is a call to seek answers from your spirituality or from a person you can trust.
Ace of Cups and the Hierophant
The Ace of Cups and the Hierophant combination packs auspicious energy when it comes to relationships. The Ace of Cups brings a new beginning to your emotional world. It is a beginning that has great promise as it gets the support of the Hierophant.
The Hierophant – Element, Astrology and other associations
Here are the usual associations with the Hierophant tarot card.
- Element: Earth
- Planet: Venus
- Astrological sign: Taurus
- Key dates: Mid Spring
The Hierophant as a personality
People who have the Hierophant’s personality are intelligent, educated, and spiritual. They are a bit conservative and conventional in their beliefs and values. They are very philosophic and always continue to search for answers to life’s big questions. They enjoy conversation and love educating others with their knowledge.
If you have a Hierophant personality in one of your friends or closed ones, you are in luck. They are very loyal, empathetic, and always willing to help and support, whether you need help with simple things, sentimental sorrows, or advice on which path to take. Often times, you’ll find the Hierophant personalities in teachers.
The Hierophant as feelings
Inquiring the Tarot how someone feels about you and the Hierophant shows up is a sign that there is potential for a long-lasting relationship. You and they fit together very well according to traditional relationship standards, and your values and beliefs align well together. Your families would be thrilled to welcome each other. This will definitely impact positively on the feelings of how they feel about you.