Editing The High Priestess

{{Short description|Tarot card of the Major Arcana}}
{{for-multi|the 1915 novel|Robert Grant (novelist)|the album by Lido Pimienta|La Papessa (album)|other uses|High priestess (disambiguation)}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=May 2024}}

[[File:RWS Tarot 02 High Priestess.jpg|thumb|The High Priestess or The Popess (II) in the [[Rider–Waite Tarot]], depicted with the pillars of [[Boaz and Jachin]]]]

'''The High Priestess (II)''' is the second [[Major Arcana]] card in cartomantic [[Tarot]] decks. It is based on the 2nd trump of [[Tarot card pack]]s. In the first Tarot pack with inscriptions, the 18th-century [[woodcut]] [[Tarot de Marseilles]], this figure is crowned with the [[Papal tiara]] and labelled ''La Papesse'', the '''Popess''', a possible reference to the legend of [[Pope Joan]].

In the creation of the [[Rider–Waite Tarot]] deck, the Popess of the playing card packs was changed into The High Priestess of cartomantic cards. She wears a crown similar to the one used by the goddess [[Hathor]], and is depicted with [[Mary, mother of Jesus|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]] or Mary as a representation of the [[Mother goddess]].{{sfnp|Waite|1926}}

==History==
[[File:La Papessa.jpg|thumb|An untitled Popess on the "Rosenwald Sheet" of uncut [[Tarot]] woodcut designs, late 15th-early 16th century (National Gallery, Washington)]]

===''La Papesse''===
This Tarot card was originally called ''La Papesse'', or "The Popess". Some of the cards directly linked the woman on the cards to the papacy by showing the woman wearing a ''triregnum'' or [[Papal Tiara]]. There are also some modern versions of the [[Tarot of Marseilles]] which include the keys to the kingdom that are a traditional symbol of the papacy.{{sfn|Dean|2018|p=[https://archive.org/details/TheUltimateGuideToTarotABeginner/page/n65 65]}} In [[Protestant]] post-[[Protestant Reformation|reformation]] countries, Tarot cards in particular used images of the legendary [[Pope Joan]],{{sfnp|Crowley|1991|p=[https://archive.org/details/bookofthothshort0000crow/page/24 24]}} linking in to the mythology of how Joan, disguised as a man, was elected to the papacy and was only supposedly discovered to be a woman when she gave birth.{{sfnp|Rustici|2006|pp=1–2}}

===Other variants===
In the [[Rider–Waite Tarot]], illustrated by [[Pamela Colman Smith|Pamela Coleman Smith]], the Popess was changed into The High Priestess sitting between the pillars of [[Boaz and Jachin]] (which has a particular meaning to [[Freemasonry]]). She wears a crown similar to the Egyptian goddess [[Hathor]] and is depicted with the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Marian]] imagery of a blue mantle and the [[Woman of the Apocalypse|moon at her feet]]. [[A. E. Waite]], the co-creator of the Rider–Waite deck, dismissed the idea that the card originally depicted [[Pope Joan]] and speculated that it was instead connected to the ancient cult of [[Astarte]].{{sfnp|Waite|1926}}

Other variants that came after Rider–Waite are the [[Virgin Mary]], [[Isis]], the [[metaphor]]ical [[Bride of Christ]] or [[Holy Mother Church]]. In Swiss Troccas decks, she is called ''[[Juno (mythology)|Junon]]'' ("Juno"), the Roman Queen of the Gods. The "Flemish Deck" by Vandenborre (c. 1750-1760) refers to this card as ''Le Espagnol Capitano Eracasse'' ("The Spanish Captain Fracasse"), after a version of [[Il Capitano]], a character from ''[[Commedia dell'Arte]]''.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

===Sister Manfreda===
[[File:Bonifacio Bembo.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Visconti-Sforza Tarot]] card]]

''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 of Milan|Visconti family]] who was elected Pope by the heretical [[Guglielma|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. 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 I Visconti|Matteo Visconti]], the first Duke of Milan{{sic}}, for his very slight connections with the sect.{{sfnp|Moakley|1966|p={{page needed|date=July 2019}}}}
}}

This identification has been supported by other Tarot historians, such as Michael Dummett in his book ''The Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards''.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

==Symbolism==

===Rider–Waite symbolism===
In the Rider–Waite–Smith tarot, the basis for many modern tarot decks, The High Priestess is identified with the [[Shekhinah]], the female indwelling presence of the divine.{{sfnp|Waite|1979|pp=13, 79}} She wears plain blue robes and sits with her hands in her lap. She has a [[Woman of the Apocalypse|lunar crescent at her feet]], "a horned [[diadem]] on her head, with a globe in the middle place"{{sfnp|Waite|1979|p=76}} 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, water, earth, and 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&mdash;'J' and 'B' for [[Jachin and Boaz]]&mdash;of the mystic [[Temple of Solomon]]. The veil of the Temple is behind her: it is embroidered with palm leaves (male) and [[pomegranate]]s (female),{{sfnp|Sharman-Burke|1985|pp=[https://archive.org/details/completebookofta00juli/page/35 35–36]}} growing on a tree shaped like the [[Tree of life (Kabbalah)|Tree of Life]].

The motif that hangs behind the High Priestess’s throne, veiling whatever mysteries she guards, is suggested in the pattern of [[The Empress (Tarot card)|The Empress]]' gown. The two are sisters, one bringing life into the world, the other inviting the living to the esoteric mysteries. Further behind appears a body of water, likely the sea, with water flowing through most cards of the Rider–Waite–Smith tarot.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

===Tarot of Marseilles symbolism===
In the [[Tarot of Marseilles]] it is noticeable that she wears a blue cape and red robe, in contrast to [[The Pope (Tarot card)|The Pope]], wearing a red cape and blue robe.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

== Interpretation ==
The modern interpretation of the High Priestess represents the unknown, mystery, intuition, spiritual knowledge, and the subconscious mind. She is an esoteric figure, unlike [[The Hierophant]]. Reversed, the High Priestess can be interpreted as secrecy and disconnection from your intuition.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

According to [[A. E. Waite]]'s 1910 book ''[[The Pictorial Key to the Tarot]]'', the High Priestess card is associated with:

{{blockquote|Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed; the woman who interests the Querent, if male; the Querent herself, if female; silence, tenacity; mystery, wisdom, science. Reversed: Passion, moral or physical ardor, conceit, surface knowledge.{{sfnp|Waite|1979|p=283}}
}}

In [[astrology]], the High Priestess's primary correspondence is to the Moon.{{sfnp|Crowley|1991|p=[https://archive.org/details/bookofthothshort0000crow/page/24 24]}} On the Tree of Life, she is on the path leading from Kether to Tiphareth.{{sfnp|Crowley|1991|p=[https://archive.org/details/bookofthothshort0000crow/page/266 266]}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

=== Works cited ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Aleister |author-link=Aleister Crowley |title=The Book of Thoth: A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians |year=1991 |orig-year=1944 |place=San Francisco, CA/Newburyport, MA |publisher=Weiser Books |isbn=978-0-87728-268-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofthothshort0000crow |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Dean |first=Liz |year=2018 |title=The Ultimate Guide to Tarot |publisher=Fair Winds Press |url=https://archive.org/details/TheUltimateGuideToTarotABeginner |url-access=registration}}{{ISBN?}}
* {{cite book |last=Moakley |first=Gertrude |title=The Tarot Cards Painted by Bonifacio Bembo for the Visconti-Sforza Family: An Iconographic and Historical Study |publisher=The New York Public Library |year=1966 |isbn=978-0-87104-175-3 |id={{OCLC|460200678|948799524}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Rustici |first=Craig M. |year=2006 |title=The Afterlife of Pope Joan: Deploying the Popess Legend in Early Modern England |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-11544-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Sharman-Burke |first=Juliet |title=The Complete Book of Tarot |publisher=Pan |location=London |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-330-28974-0 |oclc=1029289960 |url=https://archive.org/details/completebookofta00juli |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Waite |first1=Arthur Edward |author-link=A. E. Waite |title=The Great Symbols of the Tarot |journal=The Occult Review |date=February 1926 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=85–86}}
* {{cite book |last=Waite |first=A. E. |year=1979 |orig-year=1910 |title=The Pictorial Key to the Tarot |place=New York |publisher=[[Samuel Weiser]] |isbn=0-87728-218-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/pictorialkeytota00arth |url-access=registration}}
{{refend}}

;Attribution
*{{KeyTarot}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Boureau |first=Alain |year=2001 |title=The Myth of Pope Joan |place=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-06745-2 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Stanford |first=Peter |year=1999 |title=The Legend of Pope Joan: In Search of the Truth |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |isbn=978-0-8050-3910-8 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Venn-Lever |first=Barbara |year=2007 |title=Tarot for the Curious Spirit: Awakening the High Priestess Within |publisher=John Hunt Publishing |isbn=978-1-84694-003-3 |ref=none}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{wikiversity|A Psychological Interpretation of the Tarot#The High Priestess}}
*{{Commons category-inline|Popess (Major Arcana)}}
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{{Major Arcana}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:High Priestess}}
[[Category:Major Arcana]]
[[Category:Fictional Christian priests]]
[[Category:Pope Joan]]
[[Category:Astarte]]