Transparent Tarot - 2 - High Priestess

This card shows a crescent moon over an open book. Written on the facing pages is this, "In the pages of a secret book, lies the key to your inner look. This insight is a truer gaze. The wisest light to guide your days."

Moon

• corresponds to the intuition or the unconscious
• can represent desire, romance, yearning, or sexuality and passion
• corresponds to cycles and the measurement of time
• can represent chastity, mutability, fickleness and “cold” indifference
• can represent inner knowledge and also the irrational and subjective
• can represent human reason as reflected light from the divine sun

Crescent (Waxing or Waning) Moon

• waxing moon symbolizes light, growth and regeneration
• waning moon symbolizes that which is sinister or demonic or that which is on the decline

Book

• contains intelligence and revealed wisdom
• transmits higher knowledge
• open book represents learning and revelation
• represents science and scholarship
• “don’t judge a book by its cover” means to not form an opinion about someone or something based solely on outward appearance

Rodney

This is such a wonderful card, and it just goes to show how much light and magic, shading and colour can be done with a few little dots!

This High Priestess isnt a mediator like in other decks, its not someone we can aspire to, this is a card that is asking us to open our eyes and open them again, to listen to our own High Priestess within. Thats what I like about these landscape Majors is that it brings us back to ourselves and our own journeys, not calling to external figures/archetypes.

So anyways the moon is a radiating first cresent, with the blue aura of the moon being almost as dazzling as the moon itself. Its the light thats important, what we can reflect on and see, what we can do with that 'sight'.

I also wonder, if the card was MI in a reading, that we would be calling on the crone rather than the maiden energy. As if someone was trying to decieve us, removing light, putting a veil in the way and so preventing us from seeing. Of course we dont need our eyes to tell us that someting is wrong so the crone can be that very mischievous energy of the Magician if reversed/mi.
I've got the magician and the hps cards on my desk as a CI, and when the hps is mi, it lights the white dragon, and when the hps is the right way it lights the red one. Im not sure what that means to be yet but it feels significant... hmm.

And I feel that i have to be careful not to call this hps the moon. If you look at the CI of the moon and hps, you can see how the blue aura of the hps is covered by the blue aura of the moon. So theres a fitting together of a puzzle here that I like. I also love how it looks like the Moon is deep in her magical self and as she has opened her third eye the book has happened to the material realm - like a gift from the Mother, to the Maiden and then to us..
But then the Moon card is one I personally associate with Crone energy. But thats probably best for the Moon thread lol.

Lots of waffling here lol.

You should create new study group threads for both the High Priestess/Magician and High Priestess/Moon combinations. (hint hint hint....)

RIGHT..
I was lying in bed last night, trying to sleep (my brain wouldnt settle for one reason or another) and it suddenly dawned on me I had got my moons confused. Oh yes Ms Carding I can hear you giggling from over there lol.
So, whilst I was tempted to jump out of my nice warm bed to work out what the HELL i was waffling on about, I decided to cuddle up to my hot waterbottle and try to sleep.

So.. When the HPS is in SI (standard image) the moon is n its last cresent in the northern hemisphere... (maiden in the southern but then they are all queer below the equator HAHA). And when I thought of that I had the HPS from the Druidcraft in my head. That this is the energy she is drawing from, this is the raw energy of the HPS.
And ya know the HPS doesnt have to be maiden as in young woman. The powerful sorcerer type women I think of are WOMEN, they are old and wise, dedicated their lives to the universe and have something very special about them.
And like a wise woman she knows that sometimes we need less light to see whats important. So as the HPS is taking our 'vision' we get a true picture of what is important.

So, MI or reversed might be the reflection of thinking rather than knowing with your being. Its like that rush of love and your confessing undying love after 2 weeks, rather than waiting until you feel something in your heart that is unshakeable.

Sorry for me confusing you all folks lol.

I feel so dumb here, but isn't the crescent moon facing with the horns to the right the symbol of the Crone?

)O(

The Maiden ) Mother O Crone (

Right? So the crescent moon depicted on the High Priestess card SI is the Crone?

No need to feel dumb, dear Grizabella. Cause I don't know the answer either. I think you're right, but I can't say with 100% certainty. It makes sense to me though that the SI image would be of the Crone, who has the most wisdom to share and the MI image would be of the Maiden who generally has the least wisdom to share (and/or doesn't have as much wisdom to share as she might think - that whole folly of youth thing ).

Rodney

Also, random thought here... that the waning crescent moon reflects when energetically we are more receptive rather than projective. So the waning crescent, is that last glimmer of light before we are plunged into darkness when all we can do is absorb and feel and use our intuition.

Another thought, the waning crescent reflects the Enchantress energy of a female psyche, of feeling power, connection, because we are absorbing it. Whilst the waxing moon is about projecting something, the arrow of artemis or Diana the Huntress, here we have the arrow pointing within ourselves, hunting for truths long buried by time and by darkness.