Classic meanings: Marriage, alliance, captivity, servitude, by another account, mercy and goodness, inspiration, the man to whom the Querent has recourse.

Additional omen for love: As she reveals herself in layers, her beauty has all the shades of life, but I fall short of colours to paint her glory.

Original description of the card by the author – Arthur Edward Waite: He wears the triple crown and is seated between two pillars, but they are not those of the Temple which is guarded by the High Priestess. In his left hand he holds a scepter terminating in the triple cross, and with his right hand he gives the well-known ecclesiastical sign which is called that of esotericism, distinguishing between the manifest and concealed part of doctrine. It is noticeable in this connection that the High Priestess makes no sign. At his feet are the crossed keys, and two priestly ministers in albs kneel before him. He has been usually called the Pope, which is a particular application of the more general office that he symbolizes. He is the ruling power of external religion, as the High Priestess is the prevailing genius of the esoteric, withdrawn power. The proper meanings of this card have suffered woeful admixture from nearly all hands. Grand Orient says truly that the Hierophant is the power of the keys, exoteric orthodox doctrine, and the outer side of the life which leads to the doctrine, but he is certainly not the prince of occult doctrine, as another commentator has suggested.

He is rather the summa totius theologiæ, when it has passed into the utmost rigidity of expression, but he symbolizes also all things that are righteous and sacred on the manifest side. As such, he is the channel of grace belonging to the world of institution as distinct from that of Nature, and he is the leader of salvation for the human race at large. He is the order and the head of the recognized hierarchy, which is the reflection of another and greater hierarchic order, but it may so happen that the pontiff forgets the significance of this his symbolic state and acts as if he contained within his proper measures all that his sign signifies or his symbol seeks to show forth. He is not, as it has been thought, philosophy—except on the theological side, he is not inspiration, and he is not religion, although he is a mode of its expression.

Classic meanings: Succor, providence, also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble.

In relation to love and feelings, this card has additional arcanum: The slowest kiss makes too much haste.

Original description of the card by the author – Arthur Edward Waite: An erect and princely figure carrying a drawn sword and corresponding, broadly speaking, to the traditional description which I have given in the first part. On the shoulders of the victorious hero are supposed to be the Urim and Thummim. He has led captivity captive, he is conquest on all planes—in the mind, in science, in progress, in certain trials of initiation. He has thus replied to the Sphinx, and it is on this account that I have accepted the variation of Eliphas Lévi, two sphinxes thus draw his chariot. He is above all things triumph in the mind.

It is to be understood for this reason (a) that the question of the sphinx is concerned with a Mystery of Nature and not of the world of Grace, to which the charioteer could offer no answer, (b) that the planes of his conquest are manifest or external and not within himself, (c) that the liberation which he effects may leave himself in the bondage of the logical understanding, (d) that the tests of initiation through which he has passed in triumph are to be understood physically or rationally and (e) that if he came to the pillars of that Temple between which the High Priestess is seated, he could not open the scroll called Tora, nor if she questioned him could he answer. He is not hereditary royalty and he is not priesthood.

Classic meanings: Departure, absence, flight, emigration. A dark young man, friendly. Change of residence.

The meaning for love is clarified by specific arcanum: Something about him tossed off sparks that set your nerves on fire.

Original description of the card by the author – Arthur Edward Waite: He is shown as if upon a journey, armed with a short wand, and although mailed is not on a warlike errand. He is passing mounds or pyramids. The motion of the horse is a key to the character of its rider, and suggests the precipitate mood, or things connected therewith.