I've met a few Hierophants in my life - the good ones and the difficult ones - though sometimes, the same Hierophant can be in turn beneficial and a nuisance. Your favourite teacher - the one who got you really working and disciplined but also who made you understand what you were learning and get excited about it: that's a Hierophant. The teacher who tries to mold you in his image - that's also a Hierophant.
Hierophants are the guardians of tradition - for all that is good and bad about tradition. He passes on tradition, and keeps it tied up; he transmits and he freezes.
The Hierophant also represents any profession that has some kind of spiritual or mental authority - teachers, doctors, justices of the peace, and of course - spiritual leaders (of whatever tradition, Eastern, Western, etc.). It can be a priest, a shaman, a martial arts master, an esoteric leader.
But the Hierophant card is not only about a person: a situation can be a Hierphant situation. You long to leave your family firm but feel bound by a father-to-son tradition? That's the Hierophant at play in your mind. You like a girl and want to marry her in a traditional way? - that's also the Hierophant.
In my case, the best Hierophants have taught me, disciplined me and challenged me - and brought me to another place, spiritually or mentally. They have taught me tradition without making me its prisoner. I have a shamanic teacher who has some wonderful Hierophant qualities about her, but she loves freedom and would never be a guru. She gives great advice too. I don't do too well with the other sort, so I avoid them
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In my own mind, I know I am working with the Hierophant when I adhere to tradition - for good or ill. For example, when I put on a correct funeral suit and a suitable face when going to a funeral; or when I go to a Church for a wedding, though I am not Christian. I am paying my dues to tradition in those ways.