Driley
Haindl’s High Priestess is a card filled with a luminous quality that makes her association with the moon natural. She is depicted as floating above the landscape, her dress nearly translucent against the background. Above her head, the moon lights the sky. On her brow, she wears a crescent crown. Her hands are raised, palm outwards in a gesture of appeal. In the very center of each palm is a tiny dot of glowing light that suggests that her appeal is not without power.
Below her, laying down, is an albino camel that has turned its head to regard her. Manifesting before her is one of Haindl’s large, clear bubbles which is surrounded by smaller, similar bubbles that make the scene seem almost to be occurring under water. The land at the base of the card is divided by a small stream.
The High Priestess isassociated with the Hebrew letter Gimel, which means camel. In this card, perhaps more than any other, Haindl has made clear the association with the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.
On that Tree, the path of the High Priestess lies along the middle pillar, connecting the Sphere of Beauty to the Sphere called Crown. This path travels the greatest distance of any on the Tree, crossing an area known as the Abyss. In order to understand the meaning of this path, we need to learn a little bit about the Kabbalistic view of creation.
The Divine, it is held, is possessed of an infinite capacity to give. And originally, giving was satisfied by a creation that wanted only to receive. But as a result of contact with the Divine, creation changed slightly. When you pour hot water into a cool mug, the mug becomes warm. In an analogous fashion, creation’s contact with the Divine created a desire to give. In order to permit this, the Divine withdrew slightly so that there would be a place of need into which creation could pour itself. When this occurred, a shattering happened. This is depicted in the Tree of Life by the unbalanced depiction of the Tree – the middle pillar, on which our High Priestess stands, has fallen. This created the Abyss that she crosses.
Humanity was then created to engage in no less an act than to become co-creators with the Divine and repair the universe. Every kind act, every duty fulfilled, every obligation met, brings the Universe slightly closer to wholeness.
The High Priestess’s association with the camel, then, is particularly appropriate. The Abyss, a sort of spiritual desert, is challenging to travel. But with a camel, even the deepest desert may be crossed.
All this talk of deserts, makes the water in the Haindl card remarkable. This card depicts the High Priestess as the giver of the oasis. She is the still, cool waters that cause life to flourish even in the desert. In ancient times, desert people guarded knowledge of the location of an oasis as a great treasure. Here, the High Priestess both guards and reveals the oasis. The camel, tired from his travels, finds rest and refreshment in her presence.
It doesn’t take much imagination or knowledge to see that Haindl’s High Priestess is a creature of mystery. Portions of her can barely be seen. Others seem almost to fade into rain. And her gesture seems it might be one of greeting, but might also be warding us off.
Some occult schools whose founders have had a background in psychology associate the High Priestess with the authentic, integrated self. While her nature is depicted as feminine and she is associated with the moon, the quintessential feminine emblem, she seems complete in and of herself. The High Priestess doesn’t seem to require a High Priest (Hierophant or Magician) in quite in the same way that the Empress demands the Emperor.
Like High Priestesses in the ancient, pre-classical Cathonic religions, of which the Pythia of Apollo was one remnant, she brings the petitions of mortals to the Divine and the word of the Divine to mortals. Her body forms a conduit through which the material may, for a moment, touch the spiritual and the mundane may become, for a short time, consonant with the Supernal Sepheriot, the reality that lies behind everything.
Below her, laying down, is an albino camel that has turned its head to regard her. Manifesting before her is one of Haindl’s large, clear bubbles which is surrounded by smaller, similar bubbles that make the scene seem almost to be occurring under water. The land at the base of the card is divided by a small stream.
The High Priestess isassociated with the Hebrew letter Gimel, which means camel. In this card, perhaps more than any other, Haindl has made clear the association with the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.
On that Tree, the path of the High Priestess lies along the middle pillar, connecting the Sphere of Beauty to the Sphere called Crown. This path travels the greatest distance of any on the Tree, crossing an area known as the Abyss. In order to understand the meaning of this path, we need to learn a little bit about the Kabbalistic view of creation.
The Divine, it is held, is possessed of an infinite capacity to give. And originally, giving was satisfied by a creation that wanted only to receive. But as a result of contact with the Divine, creation changed slightly. When you pour hot water into a cool mug, the mug becomes warm. In an analogous fashion, creation’s contact with the Divine created a desire to give. In order to permit this, the Divine withdrew slightly so that there would be a place of need into which creation could pour itself. When this occurred, a shattering happened. This is depicted in the Tree of Life by the unbalanced depiction of the Tree – the middle pillar, on which our High Priestess stands, has fallen. This created the Abyss that she crosses.
Humanity was then created to engage in no less an act than to become co-creators with the Divine and repair the universe. Every kind act, every duty fulfilled, every obligation met, brings the Universe slightly closer to wholeness.
The High Priestess’s association with the camel, then, is particularly appropriate. The Abyss, a sort of spiritual desert, is challenging to travel. But with a camel, even the deepest desert may be crossed.
All this talk of deserts, makes the water in the Haindl card remarkable. This card depicts the High Priestess as the giver of the oasis. She is the still, cool waters that cause life to flourish even in the desert. In ancient times, desert people guarded knowledge of the location of an oasis as a great treasure. Here, the High Priestess both guards and reveals the oasis. The camel, tired from his travels, finds rest and refreshment in her presence.
It doesn’t take much imagination or knowledge to see that Haindl’s High Priestess is a creature of mystery. Portions of her can barely be seen. Others seem almost to fade into rain. And her gesture seems it might be one of greeting, but might also be warding us off.
Some occult schools whose founders have had a background in psychology associate the High Priestess with the authentic, integrated self. While her nature is depicted as feminine and she is associated with the moon, the quintessential feminine emblem, she seems complete in and of herself. The High Priestess doesn’t seem to require a High Priest (Hierophant or Magician) in quite in the same way that the Empress demands the Emperor.
Like High Priestesses in the ancient, pre-classical Cathonic religions, of which the Pythia of Apollo was one remnant, she brings the petitions of mortals to the Divine and the word of the Divine to mortals. Her body forms a conduit through which the material may, for a moment, touch the spiritual and the mundane may become, for a short time, consonant with the Supernal Sepheriot, the reality that lies behind everything.
