Sophie-David
Card II of The Lover's Path Major Arcana, Wisdom, the story of Shahrazade and Shahriyar is a fitting equivalent to The High Priestess of most decks. Shahrazade is the storyteller who entertains, enraptures and educates her husband each night for A Thousand and One Nights until she at last wins his heart and becomes his full queen. In the secret darkness of the night Shahrazade spins her husband stories of wisdom, excitement, allegory and satire. Like the inner beloved of a man's dreams, she gradually asserts the power of his feminine unconscious, gaining attention, respect, love and equality.
The complete text of The Thousand Nights and a Night, the definitive translation by Sir Richard Francis Burton, is available at Project Gutenberg. Select "Advanced Search" and enter "thousand nights" in the Title Word(s) box. The text runs into sixteen volumes or file downloads, but the last six books were an addenda that Burton offered after the initial publication proved so popular. The actual reconciliation of the couple occurs in Volume 10.
The whole text is also available in more readable HTML format at The Thousand Nights and a Night which is the title Burton gave to the collection.
Kris Waldherr has slightly simplified the story to make the meaning clearer. In the original Shahrazade actually starts by recounting the tales to her sister Dunyázád. Her husband Shahriyar overhears and becomes spell bound. The lady is initially a consort rather than a queen, and by the end of the thousand and one nights she has born the king three children. She appeals to the king on behalf of their children to remove her from the nightly death sentence. Shahriyar repents of his treatment of her and of the women of his country, arranges a full and lavish marriage to Shahrazade as his queen, treats Shahrazade and her sister with high honours, entertains his subjects both high and low with an extended open house feast to show his contrition, and gives his wife's father a kingdom of his own. Like the typical High Priestess, both ladies are associated in the final scenes with the beauty of the moon.
Although high-born Persian women of the time were cloistered in the harem, they did have some significant advantages over their European counterparts, including the right to own and inherit property, a full education, and a high degree of autonomy and control within the household. It would have been a bit much more likely that a Persian wife would have the depth of knowledge and artistic training that she could actually assume the role of a Shahrazade.
Part of my personal connection to the story of this card is Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite Scheherazade which I have enjoyed since childhood. A hauntingly beautiful theme for a seductive high violin over luxuriant harp arpeggios represents the voice of Shahrazade weaving her stories together.
In the card itself Shahrazade sits in a relaxed but upright posture, with the hint of a smile behind her veil of inner mystery. She is no longer looking at her book, but has perhaps stopped reading for the night, and the king looks anxiously towards her, appealing for her to continue. But her hour of peril is past and she is safe until the next night. The hero here holds a book in typical High Priestess symbology, but the Shaharazade of A Thousand and One Nights spoke from her creativity and memory. This queen of the night is also dressed in the typical blue of the High Priestess, and wears a gold crown with perhaps a sapphire centre - a symbol of truth, purity, wisdom and faithfulness. The intricate floral designs on the curtains speak of the lady's fertile and imaginative inspirations.
The king seated on cushions behind her is in contrasting earthy tones, with a conspicuous phallic sword resting next to him. Depending on the querent's point of view, the king can be thought of as the animus to the lady in blue, or the lady becomes the anima to the king. In Mary Greer's The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals, page 45, the author notes of the High Priestess that "perhaps you have a transformative, healing encounter through a sexual experience". Sexuality is important both in the story of the card - the couple made love, slept, and then Shahrazade told her story - and in the narratives of The Thousand and One Nights themselves. The healing power of intimate empathy can occur both with a human partner and with the internal counterpart or Inner Beloved. In either case, the practice of sacred sexuality can raise consciousness.
The courtyard in the background is planted with what appear to be cypress trees, symbols of both the unconscious and faithfulness.
The complete text of The Thousand Nights and a Night, the definitive translation by Sir Richard Francis Burton, is available at Project Gutenberg. Select "Advanced Search" and enter "thousand nights" in the Title Word(s) box. The text runs into sixteen volumes or file downloads, but the last six books were an addenda that Burton offered after the initial publication proved so popular. The actual reconciliation of the couple occurs in Volume 10.
The whole text is also available in more readable HTML format at The Thousand Nights and a Night which is the title Burton gave to the collection.
Kris Waldherr has slightly simplified the story to make the meaning clearer. In the original Shahrazade actually starts by recounting the tales to her sister Dunyázád. Her husband Shahriyar overhears and becomes spell bound. The lady is initially a consort rather than a queen, and by the end of the thousand and one nights she has born the king three children. She appeals to the king on behalf of their children to remove her from the nightly death sentence. Shahriyar repents of his treatment of her and of the women of his country, arranges a full and lavish marriage to Shahrazade as his queen, treats Shahrazade and her sister with high honours, entertains his subjects both high and low with an extended open house feast to show his contrition, and gives his wife's father a kingdom of his own. Like the typical High Priestess, both ladies are associated in the final scenes with the beauty of the moon.
Although high-born Persian women of the time were cloistered in the harem, they did have some significant advantages over their European counterparts, including the right to own and inherit property, a full education, and a high degree of autonomy and control within the household. It would have been a bit much more likely that a Persian wife would have the depth of knowledge and artistic training that she could actually assume the role of a Shahrazade.
Part of my personal connection to the story of this card is Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite Scheherazade which I have enjoyed since childhood. A hauntingly beautiful theme for a seductive high violin over luxuriant harp arpeggios represents the voice of Shahrazade weaving her stories together.
In the card itself Shahrazade sits in a relaxed but upright posture, with the hint of a smile behind her veil of inner mystery. She is no longer looking at her book, but has perhaps stopped reading for the night, and the king looks anxiously towards her, appealing for her to continue. But her hour of peril is past and she is safe until the next night. The hero here holds a book in typical High Priestess symbology, but the Shaharazade of A Thousand and One Nights spoke from her creativity and memory. This queen of the night is also dressed in the typical blue of the High Priestess, and wears a gold crown with perhaps a sapphire centre - a symbol of truth, purity, wisdom and faithfulness. The intricate floral designs on the curtains speak of the lady's fertile and imaginative inspirations.
The king seated on cushions behind her is in contrasting earthy tones, with a conspicuous phallic sword resting next to him. Depending on the querent's point of view, the king can be thought of as the animus to the lady in blue, or the lady becomes the anima to the king. In Mary Greer's The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals, page 45, the author notes of the High Priestess that "perhaps you have a transformative, healing encounter through a sexual experience". Sexuality is important both in the story of the card - the couple made love, slept, and then Shahrazade told her story - and in the narratives of The Thousand and One Nights themselves. The healing power of intimate empathy can occur both with a human partner and with the internal counterpart or Inner Beloved. In either case, the practice of sacred sexuality can raise consciousness.
The courtyard in the background is planted with what appear to be cypress trees, symbols of both the unconscious and faithfulness.