Bat Chicken
Some opening thoughts...
This High Priestess really seems to mirror the Moon, the silver drops of fertility. There are even 18 in number! She is as faceless as the first two cards, the Fool and the Magician.
Her apparent fertility is a bit confusing in relation to the traditional HP. That said, elements of the traditional cards seem to appear just a little early in each one - The mercurial boots of the Fool, the trees of the Magician looking like the pillars of the High Priestess. The belly of the Priestess seems to foreshadow the Empress.
The markings on her belly are interesting. Each dot, a different colour and I am not sure what to make of this. I am inclined to say it echoes the tree of life again, but I can't say anything with certainty - I just don't know enough about the dimensional drawings of the 'tree'. Perhaps it might even be a wheel? Other ideas? The red marking on her chest looks like an ankh.
She seems to have emerged from the water. Her veil seems to be the primordial soup of a brackish swamp - the birth place of life - and her fingers are like the long roots of a mangrove. The flower at her feet is interesting - a theory might be it is the manifestation of the idea of 'flower' that is implied by the geometry of the last card.
There appears to be a cool Moon near her feet making me wonder what her crown means. The other baffling element is the ring connecting her breasts. At first glance, it looks like a crescent moon, and then, it is not - it is just a play of light.
http://www.mary-el.com/02.html
This High Priestess really seems to mirror the Moon, the silver drops of fertility. There are even 18 in number! She is as faceless as the first two cards, the Fool and the Magician.
Her apparent fertility is a bit confusing in relation to the traditional HP. That said, elements of the traditional cards seem to appear just a little early in each one - The mercurial boots of the Fool, the trees of the Magician looking like the pillars of the High Priestess. The belly of the Priestess seems to foreshadow the Empress.
The markings on her belly are interesting. Each dot, a different colour and I am not sure what to make of this. I am inclined to say it echoes the tree of life again, but I can't say anything with certainty - I just don't know enough about the dimensional drawings of the 'tree'. Perhaps it might even be a wheel? Other ideas? The red marking on her chest looks like an ankh.
She seems to have emerged from the water. Her veil seems to be the primordial soup of a brackish swamp - the birth place of life - and her fingers are like the long roots of a mangrove. The flower at her feet is interesting - a theory might be it is the manifestation of the idea of 'flower' that is implied by the geometry of the last card.
There appears to be a cool Moon near her feet making me wonder what her crown means. The other baffling element is the ring connecting her breasts. At first glance, it looks like a crescent moon, and then, it is not - it is just a play of light.
http://www.mary-el.com/02.html