The Gilded Tarot-the high priestess and the moon

Valyria

This weekend, I started sudying the card of the high priestess.

While studying, I noticed that the picture on the card of the high priestess slightly differs from the RWS image. The two columns in the picture of the Gilded Tarot have the same color and you can see straight through them. No 'peak of a mystical land', so as to say. Furthermore, on top of the columns, there are two 'mechanical devices' (if a device at all).

How does the difference change your interpretation of the card, as compared to the RWS symbolism? How do you interpret the 'mechanical devices'? These 'devices' can be seen on other cards as well and have mentioned in other threads already, but I couldn't find much about the meaning threof (or I didn't use the search function properly *blush*).

The two columns in the picture on the moon card are supposed to be the same columns depictured in the HP card, only from the other side. Now however, the 'devices' have disappeared! Instead, the columns end in a beam of light (and there is one of the mechanical whatever in the center of the picture, too)! How does this influence your interpretation, or what does it add?

Valyria

P.S.: since there still seems to exist an interest in the Gilded Tarot study group, maybe this thread could be added thereto as well?
 

beatrix

Hi Valyria,

I just finished studying the HP card for a friend, who wanted more information about it (her soul and personality card is the HP). I hadn't looked at the one from the Gilded Tarot, but now that you mention it, I've thought more about her.

To me, in this deck, we get to see what the HP is like when she goes behind that curtain. Her pose reminds me of Christian art, in which women are posed in positions that evoke sexual ecstacy, while they are overwhelmed (in the Christian representation) by the spirit of God.

As for the devices, they remind of me of the issue of the HP in being able to listen to intuition. The devices represent that which is rational, mechanical. While they stay on either side of her, they do not seem to dominate the picture. It is as though she has stepped beyond them and can walk on water in this mystical land where physics, science, and wrote reason do not hold sway. Her time is not that of men and their sun based clock, but that of the mystical moon and its tides.

Often when I see the HP in other decks, I think of an aloof kind of woman who is very controlled on the surface. However, in this deck, I think of someone who has totally surrendered, in a way. So I guess, for me, the difference in reading this image with this deck has to do with issues of control and a sort of, oh, I guess I would say, public versus private persona. It reminds me to look for the mysteries within and to trust that they will not make rational sense. I will feel what is right rather than know it through processes of logical reasoning. To not be afraid to be overwhelmed- it can be scary, but my god, look how beautiful she is!