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[[File:02 The High Priestess.png|500px|thumb|Depictions of The High Priestess from various Tarot decks]] | [[File:02 The High Priestess.png|500px|thumb|Depictions of The High Priestess from various Tarot decks]] | ||
'''The High Priestess''' is the second card in the [[Major Arcana]] in most traditional [[Tarot]] decks. | '''The High Priestess''' is the second card in the [[Major Arcana]] in most traditional [[Tarot]] decks. | ||
It is associated with the [[sefirot|sefira]] of [[Chokmah]] ("Wisdom") on the [[Kabbalah|Kabbalistic]] [[Tree of Life]]. | |||
==French variant== | ==French variant== | ||
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''La Papessa'' in the [[Visconti-Sforza Tarot]] has been identified as a depiction of Sister Manfreda, an Umiliata nun and a relative of the Visconti family who was elected Pope by the [[heresy|heretical]] Guglielmite sect of Lombardy. In ''The Tarot Cards Painted by Bonifacio Bembo'', Gertrude Moakley writes: | ''La Papessa'' in the [[Visconti-Sforza Tarot]] has been identified as a depiction of Sister Manfreda, an Umiliata nun and a relative of the Visconti family who was elected Pope by the [[heresy|heretical]] Guglielmite sect of Lombardy. In ''The Tarot Cards Painted by Bonifacio Bembo'', Gertrude Moakley writes: | ||
<blockquote>Their leader, Guglielma of Bohemia, had died in Milan in 1281. The most enthusiastic of her followers believed that she was the incarnation of the Holy Spirit, sent to inaugurate the new age of the Spirit prophesied by Joachim of Flora. They believed that Guglielma would return to earth on the Feast of Pentecost in the year 1300, and that the male dominated Papacy would then pass away, yielding to a line of female Popes. | <blockquote>Their leader, Guglielma of Bohemia, had died in Milan in 1281. The most enthusiastic of her followers believed that she was the incarnation of the Holy Spirit, sent to inaugurate the [[New Age|new age]] of the Spirit prophesied by Joachim of Flora. They believed that Guglielma would return to earth on the Feast of Pentecost in the year 1300, and that the male dominated Papacy would then pass away, yielding to a line of female Popes. | ||
<br> | <br> | ||
In preparation for this event they elected Sister Manfreda the first of the Popesses, and several wealthy families of Lombardy provided at great cost the sacred vessels they expected her to use when she said Mass in Rome at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Naturally, the [[Inquisition]] exterminated this new sect, and the "Popess" was burned at the stake in the autumn of 1300. Later the [[Inquisition]] proceeded against Matteo Visconti, the first Duke of Milan [sic], for his very slight connections with the sect.</blockquote> | In preparation for this event they elected Sister Manfreda the first of the Popesses, and several wealthy families of Lombardy provided at great cost the sacred vessels they expected her to use when she said Mass in Rome at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Naturally, the [[Inquisition]] exterminated this new sect, and the "Popess" was [[death by burning|burned at the stake]] in the autumn of 1300. Later the [[Inquisition]] proceeded against Matteo Visconti, the first Duke of Milan [sic], for his very slight connections with the sect.</blockquote> | ||
==Rider-Waite version== | ==Rider-Waite version== | ||
In the creation of the [[Rider–Waite Tarot]] deck, the Popess was changed into The High Priestess. She wears a crown similar to the one used by the goddess [[Hathor]], and is depicted with Marian imagery. [[A.E. Waite]], the co-creator of the Rider–Waite deck, speculated that the card was connected to the ancient cult of Astarte. | In the creation of the [[Rider–Waite Tarot]] deck, the Popess was changed into The High Priestess. She wears a crown similar to the one used by the goddess [[Hathor]], and is depicted with Marian imagery. [[A.E. Waite]], the co-creator of the Rider–Waite deck, speculated that the card was connected to the ancient [[cult]] of Astarte. | ||
The High Priestess is identified with the Shekhinah, the female indwelling presence of the divine. She wears plain blue robes and sits with her hands in her lap. She has a lunar crescent at her feet, "a horned diadem on her head, with a globe in the middle place," similar to the crown of the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor, but with the horns having a shape more like half-crescents, and a large cross on her breast, the balance between the four elements; [[fire (element)|fire]], [[water (element)|water]], [[earth (element)|earth]], and [[air (element)|air]]. The scroll in her hands, partly covered by her mantle, bears the letters TORA (meaning "divine law"), that symbolizes the memory we carry inside about the past, present and future, named Akasha. She is seated between the white and black pillars—'J' and 'B' for Jachin and Boaz—of the mystic Temple of Solomon. The veil of the Temple is behind her: it is embroidered with palm leaves (male) and pomegranates (female), growing on a tree shaped like the tree of life. | The High Priestess is identified with the Shekhinah, the female indwelling presence of the divine. She wears plain blue robes and sits with her hands in her lap. She has a lunar crescent at her feet, "a horned diadem on her head, with a globe in the middle place," similar to the crown of the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor, but with the horns having a shape more like half-crescents, and a large cross on her breast, the balance between the four elements; [[fire (element)|fire]], [[water (element)|water]], [[earth (element)|earth]], and [[air (element)|air]]. The scroll in her hands, partly covered by her mantle, bears the letters TORA (meaning "divine law"), that symbolizes the memory we carry inside about the past, present and future, named Akasha. She is seated between the white and black pillars—'J' and 'B' for Jachin and Boaz—of the mystic Temple of Solomon. The veil of the Temple is behind her: it is embroidered with palm leaves (male) and pomegranates (female), growing on a tree shaped like the tree of life. | ||