Grigori
I’ve been studying qabala and it application to tarot of late (Golden Dawn variety), and am just at the point were I have a rudimentary understanding of the system. This occurred to me last night while pondering before sleep, so I thought I would share. I assume this is a pretty basic observation, but I like it
I had learnt that the High Priestess (Moon) was Gimel (camel) and that she crosses the abyss from Kether (1) to Tiphareth (6). The catch was that when I was studying qabala I was using the Thoth deck. Much later when using the RWS for a change, I was happy to realise that in fact her moon crown is placed in the position of Gimel on the Tree of Life illustrated by the pomegranates on the veil behind her. Also that might be a Daath pomegranate that you can see poking out to the side of her crown. (Its kind of cool that the veil has “oasis” illustrations, for a card that is related to Gimel, the camel.)
The High Priestess would also be the Pillar of Balance, sitting between Boaz (for the Pillar of Severity) and Jakin (for the Pillar of Mercy). So then the veil behind her is an illustration of the Tree of Life, but also could be seen as the position/vicinity of daath, blocking the view of the supernals (the water) behind the High Priestess, with which she communicates.
The cool part comes when you think about the Empress. She travels across the Tree of Life between Chockman (2) and Binah (3) intersecting Gimel (the High Priestess at right angles +), and is related to Daleth (door). But she is a door that goes 4 ways (hence a turnstile, no offense intended ).
She communicates horizontally between Chokmah (King) and Binah (Queen), and so when you think about the courts, she is kind of the bedroom door between the royal couple. But also she intersects the path of Gimel and so is the vertical door between the supernals (1-3) and the formative world (4-10), which is the path (door) that the High Priestess walks down (through).
So in a way the veil that is hanging behind the High Priestess is actually the Empress, crossing from Chokmah (on the Pillar of Mercy, Jakin) across to Binah (on the Pillar of Severity, Boaz), and obstructing the view of above the abyss to all below, except the High Priestess). So now it makes a extra sense to me that the High Priestess’s veil and the Empress’ gown are both illustrated with pomegranates, because they are kind of the same thing. Also of course you could say the real world of the Empress is what blocks our view of the supernals.
I really like having this relationship between the two cards to consider. I first learnt tarot on the Mythic deck, so always think of the Empress as Demeter and the High Priestess as Persephone (her daughter) so now I have a little of that relationship in the RWS.
(PS thanks for reading, sorry for rambling )
I had learnt that the High Priestess (Moon) was Gimel (camel) and that she crosses the abyss from Kether (1) to Tiphareth (6). The catch was that when I was studying qabala I was using the Thoth deck. Much later when using the RWS for a change, I was happy to realise that in fact her moon crown is placed in the position of Gimel on the Tree of Life illustrated by the pomegranates on the veil behind her. Also that might be a Daath pomegranate that you can see poking out to the side of her crown. (Its kind of cool that the veil has “oasis” illustrations, for a card that is related to Gimel, the camel.)
The High Priestess would also be the Pillar of Balance, sitting between Boaz (for the Pillar of Severity) and Jakin (for the Pillar of Mercy). So then the veil behind her is an illustration of the Tree of Life, but also could be seen as the position/vicinity of daath, blocking the view of the supernals (the water) behind the High Priestess, with which she communicates.
The cool part comes when you think about the Empress. She travels across the Tree of Life between Chockman (2) and Binah (3) intersecting Gimel (the High Priestess at right angles +), and is related to Daleth (door). But she is a door that goes 4 ways (hence a turnstile, no offense intended ).
She communicates horizontally between Chokmah (King) and Binah (Queen), and so when you think about the courts, she is kind of the bedroom door between the royal couple. But also she intersects the path of Gimel and so is the vertical door between the supernals (1-3) and the formative world (4-10), which is the path (door) that the High Priestess walks down (through).
So in a way the veil that is hanging behind the High Priestess is actually the Empress, crossing from Chokmah (on the Pillar of Mercy, Jakin) across to Binah (on the Pillar of Severity, Boaz), and obstructing the view of above the abyss to all below, except the High Priestess). So now it makes a extra sense to me that the High Priestess’s veil and the Empress’ gown are both illustrated with pomegranates, because they are kind of the same thing. Also of course you could say the real world of the Empress is what blocks our view of the supernals.
I really like having this relationship between the two cards to consider. I first learnt tarot on the Mythic deck, so always think of the Empress as Demeter and the High Priestess as Persephone (her daughter) so now I have a little of that relationship in the RWS.
(PS thanks for reading, sorry for rambling )