Hierophant
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A hierophant is a person who brings religious congregants into the presence of that which is deemed holy. The word comes from Ancient Greece, where it was constructed from the combination of ta hiera, "the holy," and phainein, "to show." In Attica it was the title of the chief priest at the Eleusinian Mysteries. A hierophant is an interpreter of sacred mysteries and arcane principles.
Rider Waite Tarot
In the Rider Waite Tarot deck and similar decks, "The Hierophant" (sometimes called "The Pope") is one of the twenty-two trump cards comprising the "Major Arcana", and represents conformity to social standards, or a deference to the established social moral order. As the guide towards knowledge, insight, and wisdom, in a tarot reading it might, for example, represent a priest, scholar, therapist, or teacher although these individuals are more definitively represented by the Hermit, or suggested by the traits attributed to the King of Cups.
Notable hierophants
- Eunapius
- Nestorius
- Priskus
See also
- Mystagogue
- Daduchos
- Pontifex, "bridge-builder" between heaven and earth or between the spiritual world and the temporal one
- Patriarchate
- Sacred Mysteries
