Comparative Tarot 02: The High Priestess/Priestess

[Rose Lalonde]

La Papessa/The High Priestess/The Priestess

 

Please see the discussion thread if you'd like some background about the study group.

 

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As a visual start, here are the Tarot de Marseille Pierre Madenié, the RWS, and the Thoth. (You don't have to compare your deck with these, though, if you have another deck in mind.)

 

If you'd like to add a small image of the card you're discussing that would be great. If not we can google it.

 

Feedback on comments about this card are welcome here! For general questions and suggestions, please use the discussion thread.

 

 

 

Anna K Tarot

Marseille Cat Tarot/Universal Tarot de Marseille

Medieval Cat Tarot/Visconti-Sforza Tarot

Röhrig Tarot

Rosetta Tarot

Shadowscapes Tarot

Tarot of the Hidden Realm

Victorian Fairy

 

 

[Onaorkal]

I like to play ''spot the differences'' between my Marseille Cat Tarot (MCT) and the Universal Tarot de Marseille (UTM). They are really similar, but here is what I found.

 

 

On the MCT, there is a yellow Moon crescent at her feet, like you can find on the RWS version. Also the background color is a beautiful shade of blue, also similar to the RWS one.

 

I think it's a nice addition to this card, it enhances the meanings related to feminity, intuition and spirituality.

 

I know that much more can be said about this symbol and the reason why it's part of the Priestess card, but won't get into that here haha.

[Onaorkal]

In the Medieval Cat Tarot, the card is named ''The Popess'' and she doesn't look like the typical Priestess card.

 

 

She's holding a 'ferula', which is a papal staff that started to be in more frequent use during the high Middle Age.

The Medieval Cat Tarot bears some resemblances with the Visconti-Sforza Tarot and you can see the Popess holding a ferula in that deck too.

 

 

Like in most depictions of the Priestess, she's holding a book, but it's closed. Once again it's similar to the Visconti Sforza.

 

Her clothes are red and green, like the stones at the end of her staff, which is atypical, except for some Marseille decks like the Madenié.

 

She is wearing a white head scarf, which is very common in Priestess depictions, but she has no headdress or crown, only a very simple head crown jewel.

 

Behind her we can see yellow pomegranates, which are also present on the RWS depiction.

 

Finally, interestingly she is standing and not sitting, like in most versions of this card.

[Bookworm]

Here is The Priestess from the Rosetta. She bears a strong resemblance to the Thoth, but she's standing, rather than sitting on a throne. Also, her face and upper body are not veiled. Those two things make her a little more approachable, I think. Her bow, which is at her feet, is also a harp. Two pomegranates are caught in her veil, rather than lying at her feet, as they are in the Thoth. I really like the blue of the veil in the Rosetta.

[GreenFaerie]

Oh me, oh my, how I love this card! :) First of all, I love that this Seeress is visibly aged - she is not young, nubile, sexy, or innocent. She has lived life, it shows on her face and on her body, and she has enough experience and wisdom to welcome her visions without being afraid of them. As the VFT guide says,  the wild honeysuckle surrounding her assists with clairvoyance and psychic powers.

 

She is still in a private space - that wild honeysuckle thicket is a natural temple, a hidden place, and you have to be willing to seek her out in order to discover what she knows. You have to be willing to believe in what she sees and the things she knows; if you aren't, her honeysuckle temple and her visions will have no meaning for you.

[GreenFaerie]

Like the VFT, I enjoy the fact that this Priestess is out in the wild. No indoor holy temples for her; nature is her temple. Instead of a crystal ball, we have the Moon, that guider of dreams, intuition, and the subconscious. The luna moths are also beings of the night and the realm of dreams. This priestess might speak to you or she might not; she might just lead you in a dance under the moon, and help you realize that you already know the answer.

 

(Just a side note: Like the VFT, I am always impressed with the guidebook for the TotHR. The prose is lovely. I've paraphrased some of the ideas here, although the note about outdoor temples is all mine.)

[Lantana]

 

Probably one of my favorite cards in the Shadowscapes Tarot, because this Priestess is so dynamic. I've always had a difficult time swallowing that the Priestess is purely passive. The exploration of the deep, shadowy parts of ourselves reminds me of therapy more than anything (especially with the presence of a guide) and let me tell you, that kind of process is hard work. To quote my own therapist, "My clients should never work less than I do".

 

So I love the way this HPS dances just above what looks like the surface of the ocean, how an owl clutching a key (a detail you can barely see in the physical card) flies below her, and how she outstretches her arms in a gesture that hints at both receptiveness AND action at the same time. She appears as if she is removing the veil from herself, slowly but deliberately, the way me might when exploring our own depths.

[GreenFaerie]

Lantana, thank you for sharing! That is a beautiful card, and I love your interpretation of the Priestess as active. Therapy is hard work! And the acquisition of knowledge is hard work as well, and teaching it to others even more so. I love that the owl is part of the Shadowscapes card; they are such wise creatures. :)

[Trogon]

I'm falling a little bit behind on this study group! I didn't really want to do that. But, you're not quite rid of me yet! ;D

 

The High Priestess card in the Röhrig Tarot seems, at first, to (perhaps) have fewer symbols than the Thoth or the RWS. But when one looks deeper one can find a lot of symbolism. The criss-crossing lines which we find on Crowley's card appear here as well, though they are finer, more tenuous. Her own hair seems to form the curtain which we can not see past. The light of the upper part of the card contrasts with the depths of space in the lower part. And there is the High Priestess herself, seemingly in a trance, observing what mysteries we know not.

 

You might recall that Rörig's Fool was shown as being both feminine and masculine. In the Magus we saw him realized as the masculine, all physical energy and manifestation. Now, here, in the High Priestess we see the feminine part of The Fool realized. The High Priestess here is the "embodiment of femininity and it's transcendent aspect." ("The Röhrig Tarot Book".)

 

Carl Röhrig goes on to say: "Men and women who are at the stage of the Magus have solved their existential problems in a more or less satisfactory way. When they arrive at the phase of the High Priestess, however, they begin to suspect that another reality, which is beyond this so-called "reality," awaits their discovery. They embark on an inward journey to gaze beneath the veil of the High Priestess, Isis, who will lift her veil and disclose her secret to the genuine seeker."

 

I think that Röhrig has captured that feminine essence extremely well in this card. The Moon crown has been replaced here with the actual celestial body and, along with the field of threads extending from her head and the veil she wears, represent the spiritual aspects of the card very well.

[Trogon]

The High Priestess for the Anna K Tarot has some different imagery from the Waite's card. For one thing, there are no black / white pillars, no curtain behind which we cannot see. However, there is ancient truth represented by the tree against which she reclines. She watches and understands the changing of the moon and reaches into the the depths of the mind represented by the still pool before her.

 

I find this High Priestess to be more "mysterious" than many others. In large part because she basically ignores the person looking at her. She is immersed in her musings to the point that the "reality" of a person standing there. We come to consult the Oracle, yet she is unaware of the physical presence, she may, or may not hear what we ask ... she may reveal something, or she may not. To me, this heightens her mystique and allure.

 

I also see one other thing of interest. As she watches the Moon ... I realize that it is not exactly showing the typical, monthly phases of the Moon ... but rather appear to be different stages of an eclipse. If we look at the 3rd shadowed one, just before the full Moon is revealed, it is as if a bite has been taken out of the it. This is how the Moon appears during an eclipse ...