History of the High Priestess

wandking said:

Thanks Ross, Necromancy or black magic, which communicates with the dead, is almost Jungian in the way it crosses cultural lines in practice. Can you offer more from the account by John Bale you mentioned?

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Unfortunately no. It was mentioned in a 17th century Church history, in a part which summarized a lot of things about Pope Joan. The editor of this book merely attributes to Bale (Balaeus in his Latin name) a factoid that Pope Joan wrote "De Necromantia". But I haven't been able to get any of the Chronicles or the History of the Popes that he wrote to investigate further. He was an ex-Catholic monk, and his history of the Popes is probably far from flattering.

But as soon as I can find out more, I'll post it.

Okay guys, this is my first post--so please no rotten tomato throwing. I kind of searched this thread and did not find any mention of Pope Gregory The Great in A.D. 591. I noticed a couple of mentions in this thread regarding MM being a prostitute or fallen woman. Here are some quotations from Newsweek, December 8, 2003, "Women of the Bible" article, "Was Mary M a prostitute? This misconception probably began with a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great in A.D. 591 in which he conflated several figures into one. In 1969 the Vatican officially overruled Gregory."

Time Magazine, December 22, 2003, "The Lost Gospels" article, "Other interpretations of Mary Magdalene. Feminist biblical scholars like Harvard's Karen King use some of these texts to argue that far from being a wanton prostitute, Magdalene was seen by some as a disciple whose standing rivaled that of the Apostle Peter (see Time, Aug. 11, 2003)."

and

U.S. News & World Report, December 22, 2003, "The Jesus Code" article, "The Roman Catholic Church acknowledged as far back as 1969 that Mary Magdalene was not a fallen woman, but somehow the word has not gotten out."

On a personal note, the protestant church that I used to attend had a kiosk devoted to statutes all of the Virgin Mary in all colors, shapes and sizes. I remarked to our woman priest there, "Gee, I just can't get used to seeing the Virgin Mary as a white, blue eyed woman. She was jewish after all." Her answer taught me a lot, "She represents all of us--in all our varying forms."

Perhaps that is what the High Priestess is telling us. She is after all the male counterpart to the Hierophant (at least according to what I have read so far). She and he are all part of possible manifestations of ourselves in the Tarot. She represents the transcended female wise (woman) figure whether it be MM, the Virgin Mary or ourselves.

Just for fun does anyone think that Jesus is The Magician? After all he did ascend death in the resurrection (not unlike the Phoenix). Or should this be a new thread?[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

Scion said:

So that leaves me with the argument that the card is a symbolic representation of an abstract idea or organization: the Church as repository of knowledge. But then, why name it Papesse?

Scion

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The name 'papesse' I think does provide a challenge or a twist to an interpretation of the figure as an allegorical one. If it is an allegorical figure such as 'Ecclessia', to which it certainly bears resemblance, why not call it 'Ecclessia' or 'Papacy'. Papess I think a somewhat strange word with its feminine suffix to a masculine noun; the 'she father' could intimate a transvestite figure such as 'Pope Joan'.

In terms of the 'occult' tradition that links this figure with the Shekinah we may note the Shekinah too is associated with that similarly strange divine name 'Elohim', strange in that it has a feminine plural suffix with a masculine noun, 'she gods'.

Kwaw