Our card today is number 2, the high priestess. In the last post, the fool met the magician. Active and energised, he represented the outer physical world. In contrast, the high priestess is calm and passive, almost a statue, but the fool knows she’s for real. The passivity is niether apathy nor disinterest. She appears cool and detached for a reason.
Guardian of mysteries and secrets behind the temple veil, the high priestess is a symbol of the divine goddess and sacred feminine. The magician was active and energised. Representing the outer material world, he showed the fool he’s a conduit between the physical and nonphysical. Channelling the life force and energies of the universe gives him the power to make change happen.
The fool liked the magician. He’d struggled a bit with some of the lessons but there was a vitality about the card which appealed. He felt a sense of connection.
In contrast, the high priestess is thought, dreams, synchronicity and instinct. All that in the world which has no easy answers. Mysterious and secret, she’s the past and the future combined in the present moment.
Her knowledge is all encompassing. She has the skills of augury, prophecy, and divination but without saying a word out loud. The high priestess is that which is felt rather than spoken. She’s the principle of unity and balance between the material world of the magician and the non-material world of her temple.
The fool could be an initiate, a young hunter or hero, whereas the high priestess is a symbol for intuition, emotions and feelings. Only those with prerequisite knowledge can pass and enter her temple.
Background to the high priestess
Originally the high priestess was called the papess or female pope. Tarot dates back to the 15th century, a time when the church had control over belief and behaviour. Alternative viewpoints were labelled heresy and drew the attention of the inquisition.
The function of the church was social and cultural. As well as representing religion and faith, its primary role was to ensure the dominance of Catholicism. Roles available to women of these times were limited to marriage and childbirth unless they too joined the church, beginning as a novice or aspirant but with the potential to become a martyr or saint.
The papess in the Visconti Sforza tarot from the late 1400’s is thought to be Guglielma (or Wilhelmina) of Bohemia, known as Sister Manfreda. In later packs she’s said to be Pope Joan and older tarots often show her holding a bishops’ crook or crozier, with a book of knowledge, while wearing the papal crown and holding the keys of St Peter, also called the Keys of Heaven.
The card didn’t become a high priestess until the shift to occult interpretations of the tarot in the 18th century.
In his book, Le Monde Primitif (or The Primitive World), published in 1781, Antoine Court de Gébelin renamed the papess as the high priestess (La Grande-Prêtresse) and changed card 5, the pope, to the high priest (Le Grand-Prêtre). de Gebelin’s ambition was to show tarot had roots in ancient Egypt although hard evidence is lacking for this claim.
During the 19th century, Eliphas Levi wrote Transcendental Magic (1856). Levi interpreted the high priestess as the egyptian goddess Isis. She wore a solar cross and represented the guardian of inner mysteries, associated with the moon, and in possession of esoteric knowledge and secrets.
Today she remains a symbol of pagan femininity; more a goddess than a female pope or saint.
The Waite/Coleman Smith high priestess combines these ideas. Waite suggested a connection to the ancient cult of Astarte. The twin black and white pillars emphasised her role as the keeper of secrets.
As representation of the divine feminine, she is often interpreted as having the power of a witch or sorceress as well as that of a high priestess.
Examining the high priestess
The primary colours of the card are blue and blue has long been associated with the Catholic Mary. This complex card contains multiple layers of imagery.
Many contemporary designs show her with a crescent moon at her feet. Across cultures, it was a god who had responsibility for leading or dragging the sun across the sky each day, while it was goddesses like Luna, Selene or Hecate who were responsible for the appearance of the moon.
The moon has long been connected to women. Both have a monthly cycle or rhythm. The moon controls the tides so there’s a stress on the element of water, long associated with emotions, whch are also connected to the feminine.
Some say the crown on her head represents the crown of the goddess Isis, the sun between two horns. It can also represent two crescent moons linking her to the sky goddess Hathor. Others have suggested her crown shows a full moon with a waxing and a waning moon on each side, a symbol of the triple goddess, often described as the maiden, mother and crone.
These variations remind us there’s a degree of freedom in how tarot images are interpreted. Everyone will read them individually depending on personal situations.
She sits between two pillars, one black and one white. The letters ‘B’ and ‘J’ traditionally stand for Boaz and Jachin, the names of the pillars at the entrance to Solomon’s Temple, a king renowned for knowledge and wisdom.
The pillars also represent the binary opposites which run through the major arcana. Black and white can refer to many pairings that symbolise balance; the yin and yang, darkness and light or masculine and feminine.
The high priestess shows the fool how conscious reality is full of dualities or opposites.
The cross on her robe has arms of equal length. Some see it as a plus sign suggesting her position between the two pillars is a symbol of unity. While the traditional crucifix is a symbol for Christianity, the arms of her cross are of equal length. As well as being called a solar cross, it might also signify the four tools or elements we saw on the magicians table; the cup, sword, wand and pentacle.
The book she’s holds is titled TORA which might be with or without the H of TORAH. The TORAH contains the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, known in Christianity as the Pentateuch. The word torah derives from the jewish to teach or to guide so regardless of the detail, she is holding a book of knowledge.
The high priestess symbolises an integral part of your being, one you might be unaware of or have chosen to ignore. She’s there to guide the fool towards his inner self. So much of what we do is driven or motivated by our unconscious. You might think or act in ways which can be self harming or destructive but don’t yet understand why.
There may be dreams which disturb or haunt you or you might be driven to repeat certain behaviours even if they don’t feel quite right. The impulse for these often emerges from the unconscious layers of personality. If we want to understand ourselves, we need to look inwards as well as outwards.
However, now is not the time for all the answers. They’ll come later as the fool travels through the cards. For now it’s enough to know the high priestess sits in front of the temple which is veiled. There is a glimpse of water which has long been used to represent the unconscious mind but we’re not being invited in – not yet.
There are five cards yet to meet on the first line and the fool is still operating from his conscious self.
The archetype of the high priestess is reminding him of the need to consider the hidden unconscious.
Ways include writing down dreams, keeping a journal to record feelings about different aspects of life, or maybe doing some mindfulness or meditation. Try taking some time from a busy life to be alone and see how it feels.
The tarot tells us we can better understand the world if we understand its construction. To get started, turn things around. Think in terms of binaries. The fool is being shown the outer physical world he exists in also has inner non-material, some might say spiritual, dimensions.
At first, the fool might dismiss the high priestess. His journey feels exciting, especially after meeting the magician who is all about action and creative energy in the physical world. The fool may see her as an example of new age thinking or psychobabble. Alternatively, her cool and calm exterior might intrigue him. Something inside responds, even though she hasn’t yet spoken.
The next card in this series, walk through the tarot, is card number 3, the empress. Another feminine card, the empress represents the natural world of fertility cycles. Of life and death. An earth mother goddess.
Join us we take the next step on the journey…
images my own, copyright free from wikipedia commons or from https://pixabay.com/