The Hierophant Tarot Card Meaning

The Hierophant, in our words

Our version of The Hierophant portrays Cthulhu as the central player and male counterpart to Medusa in The High Priestess. Towering above the sunken city of R'lyeh, Cthulhu is flanked by two mountainous buildings. His ability of cerebral persuasion, enormous size, and cosmic origin symbolize his dominion over the subconscious, conscious, and superconscious realms respectively. This is also signified by the three tiers of his crown. He blesses his worshipers with his right hand, pointing two fingers toward the cosmos and the other two fingers toward the city of R'lyeh.

Below him, near the forefront of the card, we see an array of decaying worshipers making their way toward the underwater burgh in hopes of becoming enlightened by the one they praise; not even death could keep them from pursuing The Hierophant’s sacred knowledge. These followers represent our own path toward higher thought and learning. They chant the words “Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn”. Directly translating to, “In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming,” these words are written into a book located on a pedestal. The aforementioned dictum originates from Cthulhu’s ability to manipulate the human mind (subconscious) and as a result, manifested itself through spoken dialect (conscious). The podium balances these two mediums in written text.