The Hierophant tarot card meaning: upright, reversed and symbols

The Hierophant is card V of the Major Arcana, the card of teachers, traditions and the wisdom we inherit. A religious leader sits between two pillars and raises his hand in blessing over two students. For many beginners it is the hardest card to love. Here is what the Hierophant means upright and reversed, the symbols in the 1909 card, and why the oldest decks simply called him the Pope.

At a glance

• Upright keywords: tradition, teaching, mentors, shared values
• Reversed keywords: blind conformity, empty authority, a needed break
• Number: V (5) in the Major Arcana
• Element: Earth Later tradition
• Astrology: Taurus Later tradition
• Yes or no: Maybe Modern

The element and astrology come from the Golden Dawn system of the 1880s and 1890s, not from the first tarot decks, and the yes or no lean is a modern reading habit. Use them if they help you remember the card, and skip them if they get in the way.

The card: what Pamela Colman Smith drew

Smith drew a formal, symmetrical card: a seated leader, two pillars, two students, two keys. Waite said the raised hand is “the well-known ecclesiastical sign” that distinguishes “between the manifest and concealed part of doctrine”, and he called the Hierophant “the ruling power of external religion”.

The raised hand

His right hand gives a blessing. It is the gesture of a teacher passing on what he was taught. The card is about learning from those who came before.

The two students

Two figures kneel before him, their robes decorated with roses and lilies. They are learning inside a tradition. The card often points to a class, a mentor or a community.

The crossed keys

Two crossed keys lie at his feet, the old symbol of the papacy, the keys of heaven. They also stand for access: a tradition can open doors you could not open alone.

The pillars and the triple crown

He sits between two gray pillars, a public temple rather than the hidden one of the High Priestess. His triple crown and staff with three crossbars are signs of rank in an institution.

Upright meaning

Upright, the Hierophant stands for tradition, formal learning, mentors, shared rituals and institutions that carry wisdom across time. Guidance often comes through a teacher, a class, a faith community or a recognized path of study.

In a reading, ask which tradition still teaches you something and which has become empty habit. Learning from those who went before can save years of avoidable mistakes. The card can also point to commitment, a ceremony such as a wedding, or advice from someone ethically grounded in a tradition.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, the Hierophant can mean blind conformity, a corrupt or controlling teacher, or a necessary break from a system that no longer fits. Rebellion here can be wise, or merely a reaction.

Ask whether you are leaving because you have outgrown the form, or only because obedience has become uncomfortable. Keep what is alive and release what demands your silence. If you teach others, stay accountable.

Reversals are optional. Many readers never use them and read every card upright, and that is a complete way to read. If you do use them, decide before you shuffle what a reversed card will mean for you, and keep to that choice for the whole reading.

In love, work and spirituality

Love

Upright, shared values, commitment, perhaps a traditional step such as an engagement. Reversed, a relationship that follows a script that denies who you really are.

Work and money

Mentorship, training, certification, a structured workplace. Reversed, a culture that rewards loyalty over truth.

Spirituality

Learning inside a lineage or a group with integrity. Reversed, either rigid dogma, or rejecting all structure and drifting with no anchor.

As feelings

As feelings, the Hierophant shows serious, conventional intentions. They want to do things properly and may care about what family or community thinks.

The Hierophant as past, present, future and advice

• Past: A teacher, a school or a tradition that shaped you.
• Present: Learning from others, or a question about whether to follow the usual path.
• Future: A commitment, a class or a mentor who will matter.
• Advice: Learn from the tradition, and keep your own conscience awake.

A Major Arcana card names a theme, not a sentence passed on your life. When the Hierophant shows up among mostly Minor cards, give it extra weight: the theme of tradition runs under the whole question. If it keeps coming back over several days, write down what was happening each time. Patterns like that teach you more about the card than any list of keywords.

Is the Hierophant a yes or a no?

In modern yes or no readings, the Hierophant is a maybe. It depends on whether the question fits the usual rules. Following a proven path leans yes. Breaking with convention leans no, or not yet. Tarot is better at showing the shape of a situation than at handing down verdicts, so if the question really matters, turn it into an open question such as “What do I need to know about this?” and draw again.

Affirmation and journal prompts

Affirmation: I learn from living tradition and keep my own conscience awake.

Reversed affirmation: I question empty authority and choose the teaching I can stand behind.

Journal prompts:

• Who taught me something I still use every day?
• Which tradition in my life feels alive, and which feels empty?
• What would I teach a beginner?

The history and art behind the card

In the Tarot de Marseille pattern the card is called Le Pape, the Pope. Read against that French name, the Italian Papa and the Popess form a pair. In a fifteenth century card game the Pope was simply one of the ranks of the world, between the Emperor and the Lovers.

Protestant and later French decks sometimes swapped the Pope for Jupiter or Bacchus to avoid religious offense. Court de Gébelin called him the Hierophant, an ancient Greek word for a priest who reveals sacred things, and Waite kept that name for his 1909 deck.

When A. E. Waite published The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in 1910, he listed these divinatory meanings for the card: “Marriage, alliance, captivity, servitude; by another account, mercy and goodness; inspiration; the man to whom the Querent has recourse.” Reversed, he gave: “Society, good understanding, concord, over-kindness, weakness.” Waite himself called the fortune-telling meanings of the trumps “artificial and arbitrary”, and on this site I read the picture first and treat lists like this as history.

In the modern teaching map called the Fool’s Journey, this card belongs to the first stage, becoming a self (roughly the Magician to the Chariot): tools, intuition, care, structure, tradition, choice and will. This map is a teaching aid made popular by twentieth-century guidebooks such as Eden Gray’s, not a medieval doctrine. Use it when it helps.

A spread for the Hierophant

Use this spread when you are deciding whether to follow a path or a tradition.

1. What does this tradition offer me? What I can learn by staying.
2. What does it ask of me? The price of belonging.
3. What does my own conscience say? The voice that has the final word.

Lay the three cards in a row, read each one on its own first, then read them together as a short story. Write one sentence for each position and one small action you will take.

Common questions

What does the Hierophant mean in love?

Usually commitment and shared values, sometimes marriage. Reversed, a relationship that feels too scripted or a need to set your own rules.

Is the Hierophant about religion?

It can be, but it covers any tradition or institution: a school, a profession, a family custom or a teacher.

Why was the Hierophant called the Pope?

In the old Italian card game he was the Pope. Later writers renamed him to make the card less tied to one church.

Related cards

• The High Priestess: the hidden, inner side of spiritual wisdom
• The Emperor: authority in the world, the card before
• The Lovers: the next card, where personal choice comes in

Keep learning

The Hierophant is part of the lesson The Fool to the Chariot in my free Tarot for Beginners course. To keep walking the Major Arcana, read the card before it, The Emperor or the card after it, The Lovers, or go back to all the card meanings. For every card with keywords, affirmations and examples, see my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot. If you would like a printable cheat sheet for all 78 cards, my 45-page Tarot Workbook is on Etsy.

Sources

• A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), Part II and Part III, section 3.
• Pamela Colman Smith and A. E. Waite, the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot (London: Rider, 1909).
• Nicolas Conver, Tarot de Marseille (Marseille, 1760).
• Eden Gray, A Complete Guide to the Tarot (New York: Crown, 1970), epilogue “The Fool’s Journey”.
• Lauri Mukkala, The Novice’s Guide to Tarot, entry for The Hierophant.