Gilded Tarot Study Group - II High Priestess

HoneyBea

bluefairy said:
yes i agree but when i said down to earth and simple i meant it to be that she wasn't a martial person and is able to connect better because of this.


ahh. now I understand what you mean :)
 

bluefairy

LOL i have this thing that i think of what i am going to say and it's great but my fingers just write on their own it's crazy i know..but you did say it better..
 

HoneyBea

bluefairy said:
LOL i have this thing that i think of what i am going to say and it's great but my fingers just write on their own it's crazy i know..but you did say it better..


LOL :D
 

DeaconBlues

It seems to me that by the positioning of the moon and the golden hoop behind her, she is "crowned" by both the sun and the moon, as well as the orbs (I see them as stars!) on her headdress.

I'm every bit as in love with this card as the rest of you are. :)
 

PAMUYA

High Priestess

This is a beautiful card, my favorite? There are too many beautiful cards in this deck to choose from.

I see the scene on this card as the Priestess removing her robes to spend time behind the veil. She dips her toes in the waters of the unconscious and hidden truths. The water is still, the secrets hidden in the depths, much like ourselves; our turbulent unconscious is hidden by our placid layer of consciousness.

A cresent moon hangs in the sky. The moon and the High Priestess are connected on many levels. Moon light is misleading, the moon does not emit light of its own, it simply reflects the light of the sun. The High Priestess reflects back the knowledge that is in your unconscious back at you. The moon represents the unknown, mysteries, your fears and desires. The High Priestess helps you to understand them.

There are two pillars emerging from the water. This represents all dualities; light and dark, good and evil, day and night, male and female. On the pillars are carvings of a human form. I believe this to be the Fool. The Fool is there to remind us not to stay to long in this place and to continue on our way.

This is a passive card and can become extremely attractive. We are no longer connected to the outside world, stresses are far behind us. But this is an empty place devoid of meaning and passion. If you stay too long depression and fear will set in.

The High Priestess is the mystery of life and symbolizes what we are unable to conceive. She represents the cause behind all actions and creation. When she appears in a spread she asks us to seek new paths to wisdom. The knowledge that we seek is within ourselves awaiting our questions. To use our intuition and listen to our Inner voices. Everything you need to know already exist within you. It is not always necessary to act; sometimes goals can be realized through inaction.

This card is alluring indeed! But as the Fool reminds us to move along, back to the real world.

other tread on the Gilded HP http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=54569
 

veniteangeli

Evidently, this High Priestess knows something we don't. Perhaps it's that knowledge that is allowing her to glide the way she does, at once of this world and not of it. I don't think that even her toe is touching the water, but her silky robe is, indicating that that which clothes her is of the mundane world, while she herself is not.

I'm looking at the water where it reaches the sky, and it's just become apparent to me that apart from her two pillars, there is no land, nothing tethering her to the earth. Water is so... I can't think of the word I want here, but it's like... it has no shape of its own, it just fills whatever space it is given - perhaps that's the way of the HP's knowledge. It has no shape of its own, no boundaries, just fills her, molding itself into the very corners and edges of her being.

And perhaps what we don't see, water spilling off the edges of the picture - there's no shore for it to lap against, certainly - is like her knowledge, filling what it can and spilling over in its abundance.

I am not saying this well lol but it makes a lot of sense in my head!

Edit - after looking closely, I've noticed that at the tops of the pillars, there are little carved figures, that look a little like the Fool, or at least like the head on the wand he's juggling in the Gilded Fool card. Does anyone think this means anything? I might not know much about Tarot, but I know enough that images in cards are never accidental!
 

inanna_tarot

This HPS is so very very different from our traditional images of the HPS... and I have to admit I was very jarred by that. She's just some flimsy looking floosy - not your 'proper' HPS.

And yet, when I work in Circle as a High Priestess, I feel exactly like this image. As I feel the energy of the Goddess, I feel my sub-concious becoming conscious and tapping just a small bit into the power of the Gods I feel like her. I float and yet I feel 'heavy', I rise and yet I fall - I am in a moment where I am suspended between the powers, between the pillars of Severity and Mercy and between them there is only Love. I am between the worlds, where there is no laws of mundane physics, just the Divine Force awakening and deepening.

I love this card. It shows more mystery... it is one thing to feel that power and to even get a glimpse of a meaning from the shadows. It is another thing to be able to wield it and use it effectively. This is where the Moon in the Gilded comes into place - it is as though this power here is being used in a 'scientific' way, to tap into the powerful times and make them our own, in the ways of magic.
 

dicey

The High Priestess seems to be suspended in time while floating in air. On top of the pillars look like time mechanisms that are currently put on halt while she moves in expression.

The moon reflects back to us the mysteriousness of the subconciousness, that is sometimes locked in time and space until we are ready to access the truths hidden with ourselves. So does the secrets and wisdom that the High Priestess has, she keeps it hidden till we seek out for it.
 

spuffy87

The High Priestess to me symbolizes balance, however she is not completely grounded. She seems to master many of the elements. Very imaginative, knowledgeable. I don't see her as a card of action. More of that in between period where you are learning about something before reaching a decision.