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2 The High Priestess

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(2015), graphite pencils on paper, 5.5"x10.5" backed with digital frame.

The High Priestess stands for all that is not part of wakeful, rational thought. She represents dreams, intuition, instinct and the subconscious, the truths and revelations that may be accessed through meditation or in sudden flashes of insight and enlightenment. In traditional decks she is seated between two columns, one dark and one light with a veil suspended between them to show that the secrets she holds are hidden. There is a moon at her feet and an open book on her knees to show that she will grant access to her wisdom if the querent is prepared and ready for it and does not try to take her knowledge by force. The moon hints at the High Priestess' lunar nature, the ebb and flow of the tides and the realm of sleep and dreams.

Crowley associated the High Priestess with the Egyptian goddesses Isis and Neith and the Greek Artemis. In his Toth deck he gives her a bow instead of a book and she herself holds and lifts the veil that covers her. There is a lot of hinting at the eternal feminine mystery and veils/ hymens, to the point that for a female reader the whole working with this card can become somewhat tedious.

In my design I got rid of some of the traditional iconography that makes the High Priestess look somewhat of an avatar of the Virgin Mary as well as Crowley's chauvinistic projections. Drawing a Tarot deck at the beginning of the 21st century the artist is working on a palimpsest. Originally a palimpsest is a piece of parchment that has been scraped clean of its original writing in order to be reused, which made sense when books were written by hand and instead of having a copy machine or a printer crammed full of paper at one's beck and call, every scrap of writing material was scarce and precious. Often the old writing is still visible under the new covering, and some ancient texts have only come to us buried under layers of overwriting.

In modern deconstructionist thinking all works of art are really palimpsests - interpretations overlaid with recreation after recreation as artist after artist tackles the same images, the same stories and archetypes. No matter how original we think we are we merely provide the surface layer over something that is much richer and deeper than we can ever make it.

 So for this deck the artist is the High Priestess. This layer of the palimpsest, this veil over thousands of interpretations of the cards that have come before me is mine. I do not pretend to hold the secrets to eternal truths, because this is the post-modern age and there is no ultimate truth. There are dreams and nightmares, there is one's personal intuition that may guide a person right but would probably be completely toxic to the next guy. There is no bow and no book, just a spread of the cards that correspond to the High Priestess in the deck: The Moon and the Twos among the pip cards. I kept a few nods to the iconography of the traditional card - there is still the veil behind, but the light and dark columns have been subsumed into an archway with a day and a night-side.

The card is an invitation to work with the Tarot, to make it yours and to take from it the insights and the guidance that you require. That is the ultimate gift of the High Priestess - to let the cards draw out the answers that you already have, you are just not yet aware of them. Often intuitively we already know the right path to take, but consciously all we manage to do is pose the question.

In a spread the High Priestess indicates that we should listen to our inner voice and look within the self for answers. Go back into your memories, remember your dreams or something seemingly random someone told you or showed you recently. It may hold the answer to the questions you have. If not in the position of the self the card can indicate that someone comes into your life who can give you advice. The card could also signify that you or someone close to you has a secret or that you want to play your cards close to your chest for a while.

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© 2015 - 2024 Ellygator
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ArdenEllenNixon's avatar
I thought that was you, and what a very fitting interpretation of a concept that is meant to be precisely that: open to the most personal interpretation of anyone who consults it.  The veiled arch gives this piece a lovely nouveau vibe, as doe the sun and stars on either side (Mucha's evening star series comes to mind).  The figure's triangle makes for a pleasing run of the eye, constantly circling, and kudos to you if you're actually that limber!  The casual and realistic looseness of the figure's clothes recall the veil behind nicely and increase the sense of softness in this appropriately feminine feeling piece.