The High Priestess is tarot favorite as she represents intuition, inner knowledge and the powerful hidden force of the female. Her connection to the moon and water, flow and magic make her an iconic soul sister and mirror to the spirit.
Gazing at her image, I am reminded of invisible forces thriving deep inside. These unseen strains emulate via thoughts and actions. They become the gestures which ultimately create and determine our lives. What we turn into reality seems to spring from somewhere beneath her white robes.
Is your destiny written on her scroll? When you sense de ja vu, is it because she’s already whispered it to you? And where are the bubbling, rushing waters behind her leading you?
It is not her lunar energy or water connection I’ve been preoccupied with but the pillars she sits between.
Kabbalah study, in relation to tarot, is fascinating, yet challenging. How does this philosophical rendering relate to us on a personal level, let alone a reading?
The High Priestess sits between two pillars as does the Hierophant and Justice. On a basic level, the two pillars represent opposite spectrums, dark to light, masculine to feminine, push and pull, creation and destruction. The middle pillar is the fleshy figure in the card and if taken literally, is YOU.
Understanding the nature of these pillars may unlock those special parts of yourself and give you fresh, unfettered access to the High Priestess.
New Age thought tells you to follow your passion and live your purpose. Good advice. However, I think true magic erupts when you work from a collision of opposites. Acting from the middle pillar, embodying the High Priestess.
A painter uses a collision of colors to bring a canvas to life, the composer uses the combination of unexpected notes to create a symphony, novels and films use the mash up of characters to create compelling narrative. In cooking, it is the salty and sweet, the creamy with smoky, the combination of opposites, that makes our mouth water.
New and unexpected are the hallmarks of creativity. Admittedly, the most creative thing each of us does every day is craft our own lives.
And isn’t this what makes the thrill of love and infatuation so exciting? The blending of the known (you) and the unknown (your lover). The uncovering of the unknown.
Lots of the things we want and desire, be they people, objects or passions, don’t necessarily come from the same place, nor are they compatible. They are from opposite pillars. We are often told by society and the “outside world” that they are unacceptable.
But it is inside the collisions and contradictions of you that makes you … well … you.
Complicated, deep, silly and profound. Unique among 7 billion people.
And isn’t the very nature of life itself made up of the collision/integration of seen vs. unseen? When you really think of it, the very experience of life wrapped and contained inside the interpretation of our own heads.
Seen (Pentacles)
Physical world, outward appearance, stuff we can see, feel and touch.
vs.
Unseen (Wands, Swords and Cups)
Passions, desires, dreams, plans, our perceptions of the world and events and imagination, thought and most importantly emotion.
I’m paying extra attention right now to the HIgh Priestess see how the opposites in my life create interesting tension and frisson.
Do you have thoughts on embodying the middle pillar?
How you have successfully blended oppositional themes, aesthetics and desires in your life?
If so, please share them below. Would love to hear your thoughts.