Tag: High Priestess

All You Really Need to Know About the Tarot Major Arcana

Posted C. LaVielle7 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

In her definitive book, Seventy-eight Degrees of Wisdom, a Book of Tarot, Rachel Pollack begins the first chapter with this spread:   These are the four most basic tarot archetypes arranged in a perfect pattern of spiritual evolution. I call this the “everything you really need to know about the major arcana” layout.  The vertical axis is The Fool and The World. The beginning and the end. The Aleph and the Tav. The Alpha and the Omega. Most authors describe these figures as androgynous and both figures are dancing. In fact, they are the only dancers in the major arcana. Death dances in some of the decks, but Death will always dance, and who are we to say it can’t. All of the other figures are pictured in static positions, like they’re posing for a photographer—they each represent a distinct, fixed state of existence.  The Fool is dancing along a precipice high above the rest of the world and looks to be about to leap… Read More »

The High Priestess and the Magician

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot

I found this marvelous watercolor on Mary K. Greer’s blog and had to share it because it says so much about both the tarot keys and the two magicians who created the Rider-Waite–Smith taro deck. Pamela Colman Smith and Arthur Edward Waite were both members of the Golden Dawn and were more mystics than hard core ceremonial magicians. They both lived at that pivotal time after Queen Victoria’s death when a breath of fresh air was blowing through England bringing with it new ideas and possibilities and magic. But here all similarity ended. AEW was a scholar and a prolific writer. Some critics feel he was too prolific, but I digress. He was married twice and had one daughter by his first wife. He was The Magician of the pair because the idea, or inspiration of a tarot deck was his, and he is the one who found the artist, outlined the general ideas of the designs, and found a publisher. The basic meaning of… Read More »

The Virgin Mary, Isis, The High Priestess, and the Empress

Posted C. LaVielle11 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, Uncategorized

It seems like a huge patriarchal rip-off that neither the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, nor the Russian Orthodox Church considers the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ, to be divine. They caution their flocks that they may honor and venerate Mary, but they must not worship her. In all fairness, she was a mortal. By all accounts, a nice Jewish girl that would have made a good wife for any doting mother’s son—until voila! The Immaculate Conception. This move is not without precedent. Seducing mortal women was one of Zeus’s favorite pastimes. But the key word here is seduced. At least Leda got to enjoy it. God didn’t seduce Mary. He didn’t even offer polite conversation. All she got was a visit from his messenger, the Archangel Gabriel, who said, “Honey, you’re pregnant. In nine months you will bear God’s son. Take good care of him so that he can grow up and be crucified.” She did. And he did. Mary… Read More »

Moon Magic and the High Priestess

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot

Several years ago, a group of fabulous women organized a Moon Magic weekend and invited a bunch of their feminine type friends. I was lucky enough to be included. All the attendees, either singly or in groups, had to present a workshop relating to the Moon. Everyone in the study group I belonged to at the time was going, so we decided to do a workshop together. The thing we happened to be studying was the tarot major arcana. One of the techniques we used to understand each of the cards was to place ourselves in the position of the figure on the key we were studying and meditate for a few minutes, noticing how the pose made us feel and where our train of thought went. The results were most instructive and really helped us get in tune with the message of each card. So we decided to bring all the stuff in the High Priestess card, which is ruled by the moon, and,… Read More »

The Tarot Major Arcana and the Hero’s Journey: The High Priestess

Posted C. LaVielle1 CommentPosted in Tarot, The Hero's Journey

What’s behind the curtain? That’s the whole point of this card. The front of the curtain, the part we can see, is alive with green palm trees and crimson pomegranates. It represents our world and all the things we know about it. Everything Else lies behind it, on the Other Side. This is the realm of the subconscious, the hidden memories of things past, present, and future; dark secrets; dangerous knowledge; those umpteen other dimensions mathematicians keep talking about, and all the things that inhabit them and “go bump in the night.” The High Priestess guards the veil between this world and our everyday world. She has the power to give or withhold access to it and all the hidden wisdom it contains. The scroll in her hands suggests that this wisdom is at her fingertips. Gimel is the Hebrew letter associated with The High Priestess card, and the camel is one of its meanings. To cultures in arid parts of Asia, the Middle East… Read More »