The High Priestess – Tarot

So the real question in my mind is what Waite, who seems the least womanly of all the Golden Dawn men, would have to say about this card. I mean you had the men who adored women in the Golden Dawn, but couldn’t quite get them. The men who raised women up but then also treated them almost like ritual objects or ornaments for their own spiritual practice and frankly didn’t ask the women how they felt about this, *cough* *cough* Crowley *cough* *cough*. And then you had Waite who seemed to barely know what a woman was, besides his wife and daughter. A man who sought companionship almost solely from men in masonic orders. Who felt the masonic orders were where he would come to know the light. Orders which almost entirely banned women. So really the first question in my mind is “what would he think of when is comes to this card?” and secondly, “Is its rich symbolism, that surpasses some other cards, from him or is it, more likely, the invention of the woman who actually painted the brush strokes?”

The High Priestess is also known as the Priestess and the Papess. Some decks intend to have the 4 cardinal virtues Prudence, Justice, Courage (Strength) and Temperance. Later decks seemed to be missing Prudence, but some elements of Prudence are worked into the High Priestess card. Early decks call this card the Papess which may reference a time when a woman was established as Pope. The female pope who was burned at the stake within a matter of hours of being ordained does not feature in the mood of the card. In early decks such as the Visconti-Sforza, she has the same crown and staff as the Pope / Hierophant, but her clothes are more humble than his. I wonder if that reflects what has later become the interpretation of this card. She is the esoteric card with a direct relation to the divine. Therefore her clothes are unimportant as the humble beginnings of figures such as Joseph and Jesus are often deified biblically. Alternatively, for her it is what is inside that is important. However, the pope/hierophant is exoteric so he must wear clothes to project his authority outwards. I postulate. However, we should remember that the original card and this interpretation are at least 300 years apart.

Let’s look at what the parts of this card are believed to mean to see if we can corroborate or deny the interpretation above.

Interpretation of the Card

Pillars

The High Priestess sits between 2 pillars. They are called Boaz and Jachin, sorry for all of you who got excited when seeing the letters B.J. They are pillars of an imaginary version of Solomon’s temple. They represent how the divine interacts with us through punishment and reward, still not B.Js. They are opposites and she is in the place of perfect balance, between them. Eliphas Levi is very happy to render the pillars are equivalent to Yin and Yang. Traditionally they would be said to mean male and female, but I don’t accept that, because male and female are not opposites, but instead, the pillars mean active and passive, the maker of forces and its receiver and the creator and his material. Long gone are the days we see women as men’s material so we should drop the gender interpretation rather than change the meaning that has persisted.

We see similar pillars on the Hierophant card however both pillars are grey. While she sits before the holy of holies in front of the most sacred and separated part of the temple, the hierophant is at the front gate of the temple bringing the light to the world. She is esoteric (inner spiritual meditation) and by comparison, he is exoteric (outer religious ritual or action).

The Veil

Behind the Priestess is a veil. This is likely the veil of Parokheth of Solomon’s temple which keeps the holy of holies separate from the profane. The Holy of Holies is like a sacred space within a sacred space. It was considered so divine that only once per year would it be entered by a priest and the rest of the time it was considered that was where god dwelt so would not be entered at all. It was likely the resting place of the art of the covenant. The singular priest who entered it once a year would have fasted and ritually cleaned himself. He would utter the most holy name of god to evoke the spirit of god and ask the spirit of God to remain with them and then leave. It is said that in case he fell or died, a rope was tied around his waist so he could be removed from the Holy of Holies without another enter such a sacred space.

The veil’s design features pomegranates, but this time they appear to be cut open exposing the fruit. I explored this idea with the Fool card, but I believe the fruit symbolises the hidden mysteries of Qabalah. In between the pomegranates are what appear to be palm trees. I can only presume a connection to the Tree of Life.

Her Crown, the Moon and the Letter Gimel

The High Priestess wears a crown which is often associated with Isis and the moon. Its shape also reminds us of the waxing, full and waning sides of the moon. This card is associated with Gimel the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Gimel is one of 7 letters which Sepher Yetzirah associates with the astrological planets. It is often associated with the Moon. We also notice a moon at the bottom of the card. The moon as a planet is associated with our feminine side, dreams and inner thoughts. Weirdly Eliphas Levi puts the moon at the bottom of the Empress card, but he associates that with the Hebrew letter gimel so perhaps it is gimel rather than the empress that has this connection. When the fool is put at the beginning (position zero) instead of the end (after card 21), this card becomes gimel so maybe the moon is placed at the bottom of this card instead.

Robe

Her robe is mostly white and therefore likely resembles purity. Its colour could be associated with the moon, if the moon did not appear on the card painted yellow. Where the Magician has a robe that is red representing activity she is slightly greenish blue and passive to the divine forces rather than directing them.

Eilphas Levi provides that she wears a “mantle“. This is a robe that shows authority.

Equal armed cross

Waite refers to this cross as the solar cross, which is a name he takes from The Book of Hermes section of Eliphas Levi’s doctrine of High Magic. Its equal-armed nature represents to me a perfect balance between the 4 elements. It is odd to me that any part of this card is intended to be solar.

The message

The priestess holds a scroll in the Waite version. In earlier versions of this card, such as the Marseille deck and the Visconti-Sforza, she holds a book which is what Eliphas Levi describes. In the Smith-Waite-Rider version, the scroll has the word TORA written on it potentially with another letter hidden beneath her sleeve. It is believed that this is the Torah and represents the divine law containing pearls of qabalistic wisdom. These letters appear on the Wheel of Fortunate as well where they could spell out ROTA and TARO. Where rota means wheel and Taro around the edge of the wheel. “Tarot” could be read if reading the first letter again at the end. This message is clearly from the divine world immediately behind her for which she is a channel.

What does this card signify?

We started off by saying that this card was esoteric rather than exoteric. So it signifies a personal relationship with the divine. The character is perfectly between active and passive columns so maybe the message is received through inner-balance or perhaps through dreams and visions which are so frequently associated with the moon.

Remember this might be the limit of what we can say about what Waite thought about the card which he commissioned and we can walk away from this article with a thorough and complete understanding of Waite’s mind on the matter as much as can be gathered with the evidence, but there is no limit to the more modern interpretations of the card that you can come up with as well as read from others. Don’t be afraid to consider some of these more modern ideas as well! We human beings often evolve and more on from what we were in the past. If the cards are an epiphenomenon of the evolving human minds, they will have changed as humans have changed. Alternatively, they might exist as separate entities to which we have attempted to connect through with these symbols. Even if they are separate entities, there’s no guarantee that they have not undergone some evolution themselves. So while this might have been a complete understanding of the High Priestess card in 1912 according to the mind of Waite, that might not be what she means to us today or what she means to herself. I am however limited in time and cannot provide every interpretation for you since the card was drawn in 1500s. In fact, new interpretations would probably be appearing faster than I can type to be fair. So I will call it a day for this card and leave you to find your own truth building on the knowledge we have gained here.

Interpretation in Readings

As with each card, I normally have a story I associate with them and when doing a reading for someone I see what part of the story I am drawn to, hopefully by my intuition.

With this card, I imagine that the High Priestess knows her role is to be receptive to the divine. She has an important job and she has come bringing divine inspiration or a message for the querent. She must remain in perfect balance to bring the message. She channels it from the moon goddess which makes her fruitful and fertile. She exemplifies the love of Isis who is a powerful magic wielder, mother and lover.

The Tarot

This is part of the Tarot Section.