This is the third installment of the Weekly Tarot Card. You can read the first two installments in the following links:
- Monday Observation and Description
- Tuesday Meditation
On Monday we spent time observing the High Priestess and noting what we found. Yesterday we took the time to step into the High Priestss Card, spending some time embodying her.
Today we’ll start looking at more universal understandings of the card, starting first with the element and number. Tomorrow we’ll go on to look at common symbolism of the card.
Element: Water
Water is the element of intuition, of emotions, of creativity, and the subconscious. It flows as do each of the attributes, and can sometimes be nourishing and peaceful, but likewise can be turbulent.
It corresponds with the suit of cups, which, as a result, also deal with emotion, creativity, and intuition.
Water is a life fource, without it, nothing can survive. We may go without nourishment, light, heat, but if we go without water for more than a few days, we perish. The implication of water and its relation to the emotion and the subconscious reveals that we need these aspects in order to survive and grow as beings.
Dreams are like water in that they can be clear and vivid until you hold on to them, at which point you begin to lose them. Dreams are an attribute of water, and a window with which can view our subconscious.
Two
The High Priestess is the number II in the Major Arcana, which holds the message of partnership, of balance, and duality.
The High Priestess is the first card to be the reflection and counterpart to another card, which is the Magician. Considering the Fool to be the first point, the Magician to be the second point, the High Priestess is the third point, which makes the first solid shape of a triangle. Thus, not only is does she have the numerological value of 2, she also has the elements of 3 within her.
The Two represents balance, and it is a balance between dual natures. In traditional depictions of the Priestess, as is seen in The Rider-Waite Tarot and the Spiral Tarot, she sits between two pillars, black and white, the combination of opposites which come together.
Similar to the 2 of Cups, the combination of the element of Water and the number 2 calls us to consider where our harmony lies. What are we reflecting, and what is a reflection of ourselves. However, being a Major Arcana, the High Priestess isn’t reflecting the mundane aspects, but the higher aspects. She calls for us to balance the inner and outer, higher and lower. She is the reflection and completion of the Masculine. She is the feminine counterpart to the Magician, and thus, she must be in balance and unity with him, the first point, as she is the second point. Together, they create.
