The Hierophant Tarot Card Meaning

The Hierophant upright

Waite shows a figure in a triple crown blessing two kneeling ministers, crossed keys at his feet. He calls him the authority of "outer" religion — the recognised path. In a reading he points to established ways: take advice from someone experienced, follow the proper process, honour the commitments and rituals that hold a community together.

The Hierophant reversed

Reversed, Waite gives society, concord and agreement — and also over-kindness and weakness. Today it often means a healthy questioning of "how things are done", or saying yes to everyone to keep the peace.

A reversed card (What does Upright / reversed card mean?) is one drawn upside-down.

Is The Hierophant a yes or no?

Upright: Mixed / not yet. Yes, if you go through the proper channel; no if you are trying to get around it.

Reversed: Reversed, The Hierophant reads as mixed — not a clear yes or no: unconventional path, over-indulgence, weak commitment.

The yes/no lean is BornClock’s reading convention drawn from the card’s meaning — Waite himself did not assign one.

Symbolism in the The Hierophant card

What appears in the 1909 Rider–Waite–Smith picture, as Waite describes it:

• Triple crown and triple cross — recognised, institutional authority
• Crossed keys at his feet — Waite: "the power of the keys" — access to accepted teaching
• Two kneeling ministers — the recognised order beneath him
• Hand raised in blessing — Waite: a sign that separates the outer teaching from the hidden one
• Two pillars (not the High Priestess's) — the outer, public temple rather than the hidden one

In Waite’s own words (paraphrased)

Upright: marriage, alliance, captivity, servitude; mercy and goodness; inspiration; a man to whom one turns.

Reversed: society, good understanding, concord; over-kindness, weakness.

Source: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910, public domain). Some of Waite’s 1910 fortune-telling meanings are old-fashioned; the plain-English reading above is ours.