 |
|||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
|||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||
Offering the third; the High Priestess  The High Priestess, in most decks, sits with the moon at her feet, crowned in the sun. Two pillars frame her throne, one black (Boaz) and the other white (Jachim). Some decks just keep the color symbolism; others detail down to alphabet letters--'B' and 'J', or to the Hebraic characters added very, very long ago. She wears a blue gown that appears to be turning into water, and the water of her interior knowledge flows through many of the remaining tarot cards. At times she is depicted holding a book. At times she holds a pomegranate, inviting comparisons with Greek Prsepnei, the goddess of Death, later re-invented as Persephone and relegated to the status of kidnap victim. At other times, the High Priestess is depicted wearing a cross. In fifteenth-century tarot decks, the High Priestess card was called La Papesse, or, the Female Pope. One explanation as to why lies in the legend--true or false--of 'Pope Joan'--which was popular at the time. Another explanation can be found on this tarot site:
The High Priestess represents solitude, reflection, mystery. The price of learning as demonstrated by inaction. Not because she cannot act; but because she chooses not to act. It is an important distinction. The High Priestess can also indicate the effects of the subconscious on the conscious mind. She is the principle of intuition. You know something is wrong but you do not know why, or how you know; this is your subconscious speaking to you, whispering words you cannot consciously hear, arming your heart to step away from the dangerous places. Getting the High Priestess card in a reading can mean the querent needs to put more trust and faith in their intuition, needs to listen more closely to their 'inner voice'. It can indicate a need to access dreaming and the unconscious, to wait and listen as the universe unfolds. It can indicate a need for patience, for trust, for allowing inner skills, talents, and abilities to blossom naturally, unfettered by any intellectual thought that this might be 'wrong', or 'bad', or 'evil'. The Priestess also indicates that the shadow self must be embraced, and brought to a place of seeing--not dragged into the light of reason, but acknowledged as a formative part of the Self, a real and necessary half of the personality. Put at its simplest, this is what the pillars--and the animals generally seen pulling the Chariot--mean--the unification of the conscious and the unconscious, the unity of the Self that walks in the light with the Shadow Self that knows the secret being. From the Learn Tarot site:
Where the Empress is the lush feminine, fertile and overbrimming with sensual life, the High Priestess is the silent, restrained Anchoress, seeking revelation from within, waiting to pass truth on to others. 'The teacher will come when the student is ready' is one saying. The truth works the other way as well--the student will come when the teacher is ready to give. In this light, the High Priestess is both teacher and student--eternally teaching, eternally learning, the mysteries surrounding all. Post a comment in response: |
indifferent| © 2002-2008. Blurty Journal. All rights reserved. |