The Hierophant

✦ Belief, Cooperation, Community, Tradition

✦ Call to Join

The Hierophant asks us to join the fold: to believe how he believes, to study what he studies, and to band together to achieve a common goal. This card symbolizes a call to be part of something greater. The figure sits on a throne of rectilinear bricks, each stacked and shaped to support the greater whole. Likewise, his golden headdress reflects a similar interconnectedness, as a multitude of puzzle pieces assemble to create the entirety of the mask, obfuscating his face, an identity that garners less and less important as he takes on the meanings and teachings of his group. Men are just flesh and bone, but their ideas can live forever. 'Pass these ideas down, and become part of a greater, eternal whole.'

✦ Symbolism of the Staff

His staff reflects these words, topped by a golden nest of bees. Ubiquitous for their teamwork, these bees work, reproduce, and if necessary, die for the greater good of the hive and queen.

✦ Dual Nature of Group Beliefs

While blind obedience and iron-fisted hierarchies are common negative traits of this card, it is important to note that groups and shared beliefs are neutral in nature; they can be used to band a group together for either good or evil.

✦ Additional Artwork

Lake Mungo, Australia, is depicted behind the Hierophant. It is the location of the world’s oldest ritually cremated human remains. The presence of ritual cremation implies both a concerted group effort for burial, as well as a shared set of beliefs surrounding the death and potential afterlife of an individual, important enough to warrant a burial ceremony. This body, 'Mungo Woman,' was buried approximately 40,000 years ago, and implies that human concerns of the afterlife have existed for at least such time.