As the Fool continues the sacred journey along the path of the major arcana, they leave behind their childhood innocence and the magic and mystery of the Magician and the High Priestess. The Fool now carries the awareness of the innate wisdom and gifts within along with the parental imprints of the Empress (mother) and Emperor (father).
Arriving at the temple of the Hierophant, the Fool meets spiritual teachings that begin to manifest outwardly in the form of rituals, sacred words, religious texts, and doctrines. In more contemporary terms, these are our beliefs (or lack of beliefs) connected to the sacred or divine as well as our personal religion. It is also related to how we connect to community through what we consider sacred—God, Goddess, nature, our own path, friends and family.
The Hierophant is a curious archetype for our modern day world. The word itself has an archaic and mystical quality to it and is derived from the Greek hierophantēs from hieros “sacred” + phainein “to show, reveal.” The Hierophant is sometimes depicted as a High Priest or Pope. Some decks have used the archetypes of medicine person or mystic to symbolize the spiritual gatekeeper and healer of soul issues. In the Star Wars deck, the Hierophant is Yoda, the classic contemporary wise being who holds the secrets to understanding and using the Force or cosmic energy to battle evil to restore what is good and true.
On the major arcana journey, the Hierophant marks the moment on the journey when our emotional, mental, and psychological selves shift to the next level through an act of initiation. He symbolizes the higher wisdom and teachings that spiritual bodies of knowledge offer us. Distilling our life experiences into this potent moment, we recognize the deep and powerful truths of Self that outlive us. The Hierophant maintains his own inner spiritual authority through the practice of self-worth. This is not worth derived from our parents, our own lives, or society but worth that comes from our higher self, connection to the divine, or the eternal spirit that lives within.
The number five in tarot symbolizes adjustment, change, dissolution, and opening. This number can challenge us, particularly as it follows the sedentary, formal, and comfortable place of the Emperor at number four. Yet grow we must on this path; the Hierophant appears to help us begin the process of examining our own connection to spirituality, authority, and conditioning. In this way, the Hierophant is the Fool’s deepest encounter thus far with something that shakes up the soul path. Meeting with spiritual knowledge and authority brings up questions and may indicate a time of questioning inner truths in relation to our previously held or family’s beliefs. We may align more deeply with these or reject them altogether.
As our awareness grows on the path, we begin to touch into the part of us that is beyond this very limited human form and experience compassion for self and others. In the pure form, the Hierophant embodies this, holding a state of clear-sighted compassion. This may be a sense of profound connection with the collective or a personal awareness of our own self-love and autonomy, both qualities that often precede moving into the vivid dance of the Lovers. This level of awareness, however, may also require the intense process of purification and burning away of attachments to old stories, relationships, and belief systems. While the pure aspect of the Hierophant invites us to embody a spiritual awareness, it also asks us to surrender outmoded beliefs, family imprints and societal conditioning. We may be pulled into work more deeply to heal ancestral trauma and negative perspectives that limit our access to love.
In the Waite-Smith deck we see two people bowing low receiving a blessing or prayer at the foot of the seated figure. This is the first time in the journey that other figures appear in the cards. The two people supplicate themselves to higher spiritual truths and symbolize the willingness to make sacrifices of the earthly body to move into the higher realms. This can indicate our own recognition of the need to release an addiction or negative pattern to make room for more vital life growth and deepen our connection to spirit.
In the Crowley deck, we see a figure standing erect with a figure of justice or balance in front of him and a child in a pentacle at his heart center. Instead of two figures supplicating themselves, they are shown as integrated parts of the human consciousness and development. The figure holds a staff with three rings indicating the merging of body, mind, and spirit—a symbol for the new age coming to earth. Surrounding the card are four masks connected to the four elements and quadrants of the astrological wheel that may govern destiny. However, these masks may also indicate the outdated conditioned parts of us that need to be discarded. While often a guide of spiritual discovery, the Hierophant may also be an authoritative figure or conditioning that no longer serves our path. Discovering our own personal growth in relation to our spirit’s path and how it reflects out into the world is the Hierophant’s teaching.
The appearance of the Hierophant in a reading may indicate higher learning, going back to school or getting a higher degree. Perhaps you feel a call to join a community, cause, or organization to become a part of something that benefits others or is your great work. This may be a time to invest your energy in social or spiritual activism. The Hierophant may also indicate a time to challenge communities, groups, leaders, or authority that feel heavy, burdensome, or even traumatic. This card encourages us to look at the deeply embedded conditioning we have undergone to become “productive” members of society. Perhaps these rules and expectations feel constraining or overwhelming for us and there is a call to throw off the old masks of the past and look for new forms of expression and truth. Use the ceremony below to release the traumatic imprints of your ancestral lines to illuminate or reveal your own personal sacred Hierophant truths.
Essential Qualities: adjustment, guidance, masks, authority, learning, warrior, teacher, teaching, student, transformation, reflection, rank, hierarchy, beliefs, conditioning
Suggestions: Meditate for five minutes every morning and evening. Seek classes, community, or a spiritual group that interests or excites you. Join a social network with common interests. Spend time examining your beliefs around money, religion, partnerships, and community—contemplate where these beliefs come from. Are they from your parents, family, social circles, society, or yourself ? Notice how beliefs make you feel and challenge yourself to turn them upside down and work on dissolving them.
Ceremony: Ancestral Fire
I have used this fire ceremony to help clients release and let go of painful trauma associated specifically with their parents, ancestral lineage, and intergenerational trauma in addition to other imprints that are connected to social systems, religious beliefs, and other deep social conditioning. The fire ceremony helps to release you, your parents, and your ancestors from limited roles and patterning. It also honors them in a respectful manner free of attachments and the heavy or toxic burdens that may be felt about parents and ancestors.
When we bring our parents to the fire, we have the opportunity to speak about our lineage in a positive way, make offerings to release them, and heal the past. In some cultures, it is tradition at the time of puberty for the child who is becoming an adult to go through an initiation ceremony to release their parents and step into the path where the earth, sky, ancestors, unseen helpers, and others in their social group all become guides. When we “fire” our parents, we relinquish them from being the only ones who can support us. Many people today have experienced so much loss and trauma from their parents and ancestral lineages; this ceremony is one way to both honor and release them and step onto the path more fully. In ceremonial work, linear time does not exist; as you heal your ancestral lines, you also heal yourself and your descendants (whether actual children or the people who will continue on when you leave).
To prepare for this ceremony, plan the timing of the fire to be around the new moon, a time of releasing and letting go. Plan a month or more in advance so you have time to do preparatory work. You will create two bundles that will be burned in the fire, one for each parent and their lineage. You may wish to choose a color for each bundle that you feel represents that parent. Use colored cloth to wrap burnable offerings such as dried cedar, lavender, or other plants. You can add salt for cleansing. Write down on paper the aspects of your parent you are clearing away, such as addictions, traumas, or obstacles. Put this paper in the bundle as well. On another paper, write down the gifts you have received from your parents, attributes that you honor and are cultivating. This will be kept separate from the bundle.
Around the new moon time, find a safe place to make your ceremonial fire with a friend or witness to assist and hear you during the ceremony. Call in the protective sphere of light and your helpers including any guardians, spirit guides, and/or benevolent ancestors. Bring to mind each parent and see them in their humanness with as much compassion as you can. Take a moment to honor and respect that you are here in this life because of your parents, regardless of the situation. When you are ready, burn the bundle associated with the parent you are visualizing with the intention of clearing and releasing them. After you have burned the bundle, read the list of values you walk with that you have received from that parent. You can do the same for the other parent. It is important to speak about them in a good way, if possible, as there is potential for ancestral healing to happen through you back to your parents and their lineage when you do this.
When finished, release the protective circle, thank the helpers, and close the ceremony. If you can, allow the fire to burn down; smother with sand or dirt if you have to leave it. Unless you have no choice, it is recommended not put out ceremonial fires with water, as this can lessen the energetic power the ceremony created. However, please observe safety first: be sure there no coals are left behind when you close your ceremonial work.