Soror mystica

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 13 Jun 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Rusty Neon	13 Jun 2004
I was perusing von Franz's Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology, and at p. 20, noticed an old alchemical engraving and von Franz's caption. The caption reads: "Alchemist at work with his soror mystica (female assistant), representing the collaboration with his own feminine side" The Latin expression translates into English as 'mystical sister'. In that regard, it's interesting that two of the most seminal tarot decks in the 20th century, the Rider-Waite and Thoth decks, were created by male occultists in conjunction with women artists. As well, Jodorowsky, in his new book, also mentioned the importance of the collaboration of a women co-author in the writing of his book. Anyway ... Back to regularly-scheduled programming.

DeLani	13 Jun 2004
It makes perfect sense to me...you can't go far without both male and female. In the Kabbala, the two pillars are male and female, like the Taoist Yin and Yang. The two halves of humanity complement each other, need each other. To deny the value of one or the other is to lead a wounded, miserable life - or to have a wounded, miserable society.

Kiama	14 Jun 2004
Very interesting Rusty Neon! Tarot and Alchemy is something I've been looking at recently. Crowley said that the Lovers and Temperence cards were the most important cards of the Major Arcana- and no wonder! They show the masculine and feminie uniting together to create something new. :D I've begun to see the Temperance card as the act of Alchemy itself. Kiama

Le_Corsair	14 Jun 2004
I know this: if I were a woman and no one was using soror mystica as a username, I'd snap it up in a heartbeat. It's a great name. Bob :THERM

Alissa	14 Jun 2004
It is my limited understanding that a one prevalent theme in alchemy is dedicated to learning the magical process of combining the male and female essences, in spirit, utilizing breath, consciousness, and form (or corporeality, our bodies). I've read this was the "gold" they sought after, changing the lead of our bodies into the rarified stuff of Spirit power, when learning to work with "the energy of the opposites".

Ravenswing	14 Jun 2004
Rusty-- I was recently in a collaboration with a woman in the production of a tarot deck. She gave me her thoughts and interpretation, I did the images. It was turning out as a great deck. Unfortunately, she pulled away from everything with only the deck half done.... Like DeLani said, it takes a balance fly well Raven

Luminessence	16 Jun 2004
In the book Highways of the Mind by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, I read that often the best pairing for creative and/or occult work is two men and a woman. I don't remember why, exactly, but I do remember reading that. Are there any decks that were done with this combination of people involved?

The Soror mystica thread was originally posted on 13 Jun 2004 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.