transfer: Tarot, The High Priestess

(all excerpts sourced from Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

"Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed; the woman who interests the Querent, if male; the Querent herself, if female; silence, tenacity; mystery, wisdom, science. Reversed: Passion, moral or physical ardour, conceit, surface knowledge"

"The scroll in [the High Priestess'] hands is inscribed with the word Tora, signifying the Greater Law, the Secret Law and the second sense of the Word. It is partly covered by her mantle, to shew that some things are implied and some spoken."

She is adorned with the headdress (Waite calls it a diadem) of the Ancient Egyptian god Hathor. However, its symbolism represents the god Isis: the roles of Hathor were eventually assimilated into those of Isis. Isis is a mother god, and is associated with light, life, and the earth. Her ethereal robe, the crescent moon at her feet, and her solar cross exemplify her maternal aspect.

"She is, in fine, the Queen of the borrowed light, but this is the light of all. She is the Moon nourished by the milk of the Supernal Mother."

Behind the High Priestess are two contrasting pillars, bridged by a netted tapestry depicting pomegranates and palms. This arrangement is analogous to that of Soloman's Temple, the first Temple in Jerusalem. The left pillow symbolises Boaz (strength), the right Jachin or Jakin (establishment or founding).

The arrangement of the pomegranates on the netting behind the High Priestess form the shape of the Tree of Life, the Kabbalistic path to God. Theologically, she is associated with the Kabbalistic Shekinah:

"According to Kabalism, there is a Shekinah both above and below. In the superior world it is called Binah, the Supernal Understanding which reflects to the emanations that are beneath. In the lower world it is Malkuth--that world being, for this purpose, understood as a blessed Kingdom that with which it is made blessed being the Indwelling Glory. Mystically speaking, the Shekinah is the Spiritual Bride of the just man, and when he reads the Law she gives the Divine meaning."

"The scroll in her hands is inscribed with the word Tora, signifying the Greater Law, the Secret Law and the second sense of the Word."