V – The Hierophant Tarot Card

The solitary leader in The Emperor has become a large institution of bureaucracy in The Hierophant tarot card, making a simple system of rule into the more complex governments we recognize today. However, this card can apply to much more than governments, as it can also apply to any kind of large institution like hospitals, educational establishments and especially organized religion.

The Hierophant is often seen between colors like the High Priestess, but unlike the esoteric mysteries represented by The High Priestess, The Hierophant tends to be a super official version of spiritual and esoteric knowledge. The Hierophant tarot card presents itself as spiritual, but is more politically corrupt than the purity of The High Priestess.

Think of a more forced, institutional spirituality, which probably isn’t too far a stretch of the imagination in our current times. It holds the potential for dogma and zealotry.

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”

Seneca

On The Hierophant card of the Deviant Moon tarot deck, the artist talks about how “religion holds a man like a doll in a pocket.” As you can see, this card literally bears this illustration of the potential negative influence of organized religion or any other institution.