The Hierophant
Divinatory Meanings
Marriage, alliance, captivity, servitude; by another account,
mercy and goodness; inspiration; the man to whom the Querent has
recourse.
Divinatory Meanings - Reversed
Society, good understanding, concord, overkindness, weakness.
Inner Symbolism
He wears the triple crown and is seated between two pillars, but
they are not those of the Temple which is guarded by the High
Priestess. In his left hand he holds a sceptre terminating in the triple
cross, and with his right hand he gives the well-known ecclesiastical
sign which is called that of esotericism, distinguishing between the
manifest and concealed part of doctrine. It is noticeable in this
connexion that the High Priestess makes no sign. At his feet are the
crossed keys, and two priestly ministers in albs kneel before him. He
has been usually called the Pope, which is a particular application of
the more general office that he symbolizes. He is the ruling power of
external religion, as the High Priestess is the prevailing genius of the
esoteric, withdrawn power. The proper meanings of this card have
suffered woeful admixture from nearly all hands. Grand Orient says truly
that the Hierophant is the power of the keys, exoteric orthodox
doctrine, and the outer side of the life which leads to the doctrine;
but he is certainly not the prince of occult doctrine, as another
commentator has suggested.
He is rather the summa totius theologiæ,
when it has passed into the utmost rigidity of expression; but he
symbolizes also all things that are righteous and sacred on the manifest
side. As such, he is the channel of grace belonging to the world of
institution as distinct from that of Nature, and he is the leader of
salvation for the human race at large. He is the order and the head of
the recognized hierarchy, which is the reflection of another and greater
hierarchic order; but it may so happen that the pontiff forgets the
significance of this his symbolic state and acts as if he contained
within his proper measures all that his sign signifies or his symbol
seeks to shew forth. He is not, as it has been thought,
philosophy-except on the theological side; he is not inspiration; and he
is not religion, although he is a mode of its expression.
Description
5. The High Priest or Hierophant, called also Spiritual
Father, and more commonly and obviously the Pope. It seems even to have
been named the Abbot, and then its correspondence, the High Priestess,
was the Abbess or Mother of the Convent. Both are arbitrary names. The
insignia of the figures are papal, and in such case the High Priestess
is and can be only the Church, to whom Pope and priests are married by
the spiritual rite of ordination. I think, however, that in its
primitive form this card did not represent the Roman Pontiff. |