Bean Feasa
A very arresting lady this. I think she's more akin to the Marseille High Priestess than the Rider Waite, even though she's flanked by the cleverly shadowed dark and light pillars as in the traditional Waite depiction. Somehow she's more 'in your face' than the HP in the RW deck. She isn't lost in shadow or swathed in dark head-draperies. She looks like she has something to teach us and she's coming forward to meet us, because she earnestly wants us to learn it. She also looks like a straight-talking lady; there'll be no beating about the bush here. I think that in some ways she's the very embodiment of this deck, beautiful, intelligent, and teacherly in the best sense of the word.
Although she's not looking straight out of the card at the viewer, still her gaze is very direct and unflinching - it seems to take in the whole world of phenomena, of human behaviour - as if she's seen it all. There's a very ageless look to her. I love the shades of purple in her robes and the book cover (reminds me of the Knight of Cups colouring). Doesn't purple symbolise wisdom? - I'm sure I read that somewhere.
I also love the way the sky behind her has been turned into a delicate veil, by a light tracery of darker blue on light. The book tells the endearing story associated with the church that's visible behind the veil. It's reputed to be a place 'where good souls can rest for a moment when they choose to leave paradise to travel the world'.
There's a sense about this High Priestess that she will put you on the right road, but that the knowledge she brings will not necessarily mean an easy life. The serpent curled around the globe in front of her recalls the myth of the Garden of Eden, the idea of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I feel certain that an encounter with this High Priestess will mean opening to an inner knowing that will bring inevitable life-changes, and from which there may well be no going back.
Although she's not looking straight out of the card at the viewer, still her gaze is very direct and unflinching - it seems to take in the whole world of phenomena, of human behaviour - as if she's seen it all. There's a very ageless look to her. I love the shades of purple in her robes and the book cover (reminds me of the Knight of Cups colouring). Doesn't purple symbolise wisdom? - I'm sure I read that somewhere.
I also love the way the sky behind her has been turned into a delicate veil, by a light tracery of darker blue on light. The book tells the endearing story associated with the church that's visible behind the veil. It's reputed to be a place 'where good souls can rest for a moment when they choose to leave paradise to travel the world'.
There's a sense about this High Priestess that she will put you on the right road, but that the knowledge she brings will not necessarily mean an easy life. The serpent curled around the globe in front of her recalls the myth of the Garden of Eden, the idea of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I feel certain that an encounter with this High Priestess will mean opening to an inner knowing that will bring inevitable life-changes, and from which there may well be no going back.