The girl who lives behind the Aura…
Exploring the mystery of The High Priestess’ rule
One of my favorite pieces of writing regarding The High Priestess comes from Sallie Nichols’ in-depth book Tarot and the Archetypal Journey: The Jungian Path from Darkness to Light. In the chapter that explores card number two, Nichols “interviews” The Popess (this book utilizes the Tarot de Marseille as its base), asking her “...many women today feel that you should be Tarot number one. Do you agree with them?”. It is at this precise moment The High Priestess moves to sharply express her viewpoint: “being first” isn’t the point of her existence. When asked if she regards to number one and number two as equals, she laughs! “ Oh. No. Not at all the same. Different. Quite different. That’s the whole point, don’t you see? Not better or worse—just different…I like to think of us as flowers—The Magician as a goldenrod and me as a rose.” Not only does she remove her answer from the analytical world in which most of us live, she simultaneously invites us behind the veil into her fluid existence, offering a viewpoint that frees herself from the cage of the human mind. The day-to-day of average human comprehension bases itself on a linear structure or timeline—things come, things stay, or things go—very much like the number system of the Tarot itself. But The High Priestess lives above the number she’s been assigned (by humans no less!). She lives in a world where everything can happen all at once, but also gives a striking caveat: “Two is the number of all life; one alone can do nothing…To make a whole, one needs the two…one needs the two.”. My analytical, human cage brain was blown.
In this exploration of the visual nuances seen within The High Priestess, I have selected the Terra Volatile by Credo quia Absurdum, the Crowley Thoth Tarot Deck by Aleister Crowley and illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris, the Pagan Otherworlds Tarot by Uusi and The Somnia Tarot by Nicolas Bruno.
A selection of High Priestesses from my deck collection. Clockwise from top left: Terra Volatile (Credo quia Absurdum), Thoth Tarot (Aleister Crowley & Lady Freida Harris), Pagan Otherworlds (Uusi), and The Somnia Tarot (Nicolas Bruno)
One, if not the most obvious of visual through-lines that exist in just about every High Priestess image within the Tarot is that of the veil. Whether thinly stretched out in front of her as in Lady Freida Harris’ painting or enveloping her in a cocoon of comfort as in Credo quia Absurdum’s depiction, the image of the veil is a vital component of card number two. Not only does it give an indication of her monumentality (more often than not fabric fills the frame of the image), but it also suggests that the High Priestess is hiding something. Whether behind or under her (or even in front of her like that in the Pagan Otherworlds), I can’t help but hear the Lady Gaga lyric Do you wanna touch me, cosmic lover?/Do you wanna peek underneath the cover? from the song Aura as I think more critically about the important role this innocuous fabric plays.
If we take a closer look at the card’s markings we will notice that the High Priestess comes complete with her own logo, if you will. To delve into the multitude of meanings behind the crescent moon within the confines of this blog would be an exercise in futility (and frustration!), but if we take on its meaning and pair it with the woman in blue (another through line by way of garments or bodies of water), we will find that it’s the purest representation of the feminine mystique. The Terra Volatile and Thoth decks place the crescent on top of their priestess’ heads, possibly marking them as goddesses (my own personal view), similar to those female deities in Mesopotamian (Inana), Egyptian (Isis, Sekhmet) and Greek/Roman (Artemis/Diana) belief systems wore. However, the priestess in Pagan Otherworlds holds in her hand not one, but three moons, highlighting the trinity that is the Maiden, Mother, and Crone, a vestige of Earth-based, Pagan belief systems. Alternatively, the Somnia’s priestess dons a crescent moon on the book she holds, subtly suggesting that the traditional rules and regulation of the Torah (Book of Law) has been subverted into a less rigid (and much less thick) set of ideas. The crescent moon, although packed to its edges with a vibrating, electric history, allows for The High Priestess to exist in her most natural state: ebbing and flowing with the rhythm of her intuition and subconscious.
But as we begin to move around the card, closely inspecting the world in which The High Priestess reigns supreme, we seem to be missing a few elements from image to image. For those of us familiar with the foundational RWS Tarot, the mystic sits traditionally flanked by two pillars, one white and one black. Save for the Terra Volatile’s ornately carved yet dimly lit colonnade and the Somnia’s smoky but absolutely stunning interpretation of columns, the other two seemingly exist without that balance, that yin and yang. The Thoth has one element that the other three do not: a bow and arrow. Although often linked to the goddess Diana, I would challenge that this weapon presents as the more “masculine” of objects she surrounds herself with, especially her mesmerizing veil. Visually, Lady Freida Harris (and Crowley by proxy) suggest that the veil and bow and arrow are not mere stand-ins for the columns, rather they are the practical tools of history that denote a revered and primal duality. Why garishly decorate the infinite with columns when the High Priestess upholds this world on her own? But where are the markings of duality found in the world of our priestess pictured in the Pagan Otherworlds? If we take a closer look just beyond her right shoulder, we see a mountain top in the background, a great, penetrative contrast to the deep pool of water she gingerly dips her toe into. I don’t think I need to go on in greater detail, do I?
Needless to say, the visual exploration of The High Priestess has the ability to take us to many places, too many I would say, but that’s part of her DNA. Every aspect of her psychology, spiritually, emotionally, and, as we’ve done here, visually, links back to where we started—in the idea that the world she inhabits is one where everything can happen all at once.