#thothmagickelitarotstrickingly.com

Above all things, know thyself!

For self is a sea boundless and measureless. -K. Gibran, The Prophet

[The Supernal Womb with a view}

"Secrets, Mystery, the future as yet unrevealed".

-A.E. Waite- 1909

What follows may seem—at first glance—like a daring or even impossible attempt to articulate the many-layered, shape-shifting Mystery of the Divine Feminine. She is the First Mother, the Abyssal Womb, the Supernal Sea, the Serpent-Sophia, the Shekhinah, the She of All Faces. To write of Her is to sketch lightning with a feather.

And yet—it is worth every heartbeat spent in contemplation.

For any aspirant walking the Hermetic Path, one must eventually confront the truth that the Divine Feminine cannot be understood through intellect alone. She must be entered, received, and ultimately surrendered to. This is the Mystery before which the ego must bow—not in humiliation, but in recognition.

To meet Her is to meet the part of yourself that existed before your name, before your stories, before the mind began its endless narration.

In Qabalah She is Binah, the Great Sea into which all forms dissolve and from which all forms arise.
In Tarot She is the High Priestess veiled in silver, the Empress radiant in gold, the Moon shifting in opalescent tides.
 

In the soul She is the hidden architecture of intuition, birth, perception, and the deep night in which transformation ripens.

This blog is an offering to that Mystery—
a lantern held at the threshold of Her Temple,
a humble attempt to articulate what ultimately demands experience rather than explanation.

If you are willing to step through the veil,
you will not leave unchanged.

ATU II – The Priestess, known in more traditional systems as Key II – The High Priestess, embodies the androgynous universal principle that stands prior to gender, prior to form, and prior to the dualistic mind. She is the Power of Pure Perception, the unconditioned awareness that knows without thinking, reveals without speaking, and guides without demanding.

Her qualities—intuition, independence, self-trust, self-knowledge, and self-resourcefulness—are not “gifts” but inherent powers of the human soul. The Priestess does not teach you intuition; she reminds you that you have always possessed it.

On the Thoth ATU-2 card, Crowley and Harris depict her as an androgynous figure precisely because the Priestess is the equilibrium point between polarities. She is the first “Child of the Supernals,” the mutable intelligence that translates the lightning of Kether through the understanding of Binah into the subtle language of the psyche.

Chinese metaphysicians recognized this interior balance long before Hermeticism gave it a Tarot image.
The curved, magnetic, receptive Yin corresponds to her upper half—soft, silent, open to the descent of spirit.
The straight, electric, dynamic Yang corresponds to her lower half—radiating will, clarity, direction.

Thus her form is a living pillar of the Middle Way, the axis mundi of the inner Temple.

This Yin–Yang doctrine does not float on the periphery of the Thoth system; it is woven deeply into the Court Cards. The Yin-Yang symbol appears in the seed-shield of the Princess of Disks, the Persephone archetype, because:

• Souls begin in the hidden Knowledge of the Priestess.

• Souls manifest through the labor and density of the Princess of Disks.

The High Priestess is the immaculate blueprint of the soul.
The Princess of Disks is the fertile ground where that blueprint incarnates.
Between them is the entire mystery of descent, embodiment, and return.

This is also why the sacred fruit assigned to the Priestess is the pomegranate—the red womb-fruit, heavy with seeds, rich with menstrual symbolism, birth symbolism, and underworld symbolism. It is the fruit of Persephone, the fruit of cycles, the fruit of the womb that gives life and the abyss that receives the dead.

To bite the pomegranate is to accept the dual path of incarnation:
light and shadow, spirit and flesh, innocence and depth, ascent and descent.

It is also to accept the Priestess as one’s inner guide—the voice that speaks in silence, the knowing that requires no proof, and the androgynous intelligence that reconciles opposites within the sanctuary of the soul.

The High Priestess—whether viewed as ATU II of the Thoth Tarot or Key II of the traditional Arcane Tarot—is inseparable from the ancient mystery of the Sacred Blood of the Goddess (Arcane High Priestes red inner robe), the primordial Life-Force that shapes worlds, incarnates souls, and feeds every cycle of creation. Long before scriptural religions arose, countless cultures honored this living current: the menstrual, lunar, and cosmic blood that symbolizes the undying power of the Divine Feminine, the radiant Shekhinah behind all form.

The Sacred Blood as the Creative Pulse of the Feminine Divine

In pagan and Wiccan temples, this Blood is the Goddess Herself—Her energy, Her vitality, Her creative fire.
In Hermetic Qabalah, this same force is mapped onto Binah, the Great Mother, the Ocean of Understanding, the dark womb where Light becomes form.

The Priestess stands precisely at this boundary—
where the formless becomes the formed,
where the cosmic becomes the personal,
where the Divine Mother’s blood becomes the soul’s memory.

Her red fruit, the pomegranate, reflects this ancient truth.
Its seeds recall the menstrual mysteries, the Lemniscate cycles of death and rebirth, and the descent-ascent journey of Persephone. Crowley places the Priestess as the immanent link between the Supernal Triad and the human psyche, and thus her Blood is not merely biological but metaphysical—the river through which the Eternal nourishes the incarnate.

Fertility, Creation, and the Blood of Cycles

The Sacred Blood echoes the lunar rhythm, the waxing and waning that governs tides and fertility alike.
It is the secret of the Priestess's intuition: her knowledge is cyclical, not linear.
She reveals truths gradually, through phases, through ripening, not through force.

For the ancients, “the blood of the goddess” was the matrix of life, the purest symbol of renewal, the eternal return.

Ritual Engagement with the Blood Mystery

Throughout the Mystery Traditions, symbolic offerings—red wine, berry juice, pomegranate elixirs—were used to invoke the Goddess’s presence. These were not mere representations but living keys to her current, a way to resonate with the receptive, fertile, magnetic field of Shekhinah.

In Hermetic Magick, this current becomes:

• the Dark Sea of Binah,

• the Grail of Understanding,

• the Vessel of Form,

• and the Blood of Sophia, the wisdom that shapes worlds.

The Priestess is the gateway to all of this.

Esoteric Interpretations: The Priestess as the Keeper of the Blood

In deeper Hermetic symbolism, the Sacred Blood is the higher-dimensional life-substance from which the soul descends and into which it is absorbed upon death. It is the formula of 0 = 2, the secret of Two-from-One, and One-through-Two.

Therefore, the Priestess stands as the Transmuter of Polarities:

• receptive Yin above the navel,

• electric Yang below,

• woven into an androgynous unity of Spirit and Form.

This androgyny is not aesthetic; it is metaphysical.
To know Her is to reclaim the complementary forces within oneself.

Empowerment: The Sacred Blood as Inner Sovereignty

For modern practitioners, connecting with the Sacred Blood is deeply empowering.
It awakens intuition, dissolves shame around embodiment, and restores the ancient truth that the body is a temple of cosmic cycles. Ritual contact with this current calls forth healing, regeneration, and a profound sense of belonging to the Great Mother’s design.

The Priestess as Reminder of Our Inner Polarity

Thus, the High Priestess whispers:

“You are composed of both currents:
the receptive magnetic Feminine and the assertive electric Masculine.
You are the child of both.”

And as every Initiate eventually discovers, the Higher Self—the Greater Self from which all the smaller “selves” emerge—is conceived in that sacred union. The Priestess preserves this secret within her veil: the soul arises from the embrace of the Two, and through the Two returns to the One.

There is only One-Self, that cannot be created nor destroyed only transformed into selves and transmitted as individuality.

In Qabalah symbology the Higher Self or Greater Self, is shown as Adam Khadmon, the Hominoid Archetype (Relm of Atziluth) and is translated into English as "The Heavenly Human".

The Thoth Priestess wears a crown of Sun and Moon, for she alone holds the secret of their reconciliation. She is the luminous bridge between strength and softness, radiance and receptivity, conscious will and unconscious knowing. Her dual crown teaches every aspirant that the inner equilibrium of Solar clarity and Lunar intuition is not optional—it is a sacred commitment written into the architecture of the soul.

Behind her, the faceted crystal veil reveals the true complexity of intuition. Harris did not place these forms casually; each crystalline geometry corresponds to a distinct mode of perception, a specific way the unconscious communicates with the incarnate mind:

• Mental intuition – expressed through the triangular crystal, the symbol of analysis, insight, and pattern recognition.

• Emotional intuition – seen in the round crystal, the sphere of feeling, empathy, resonance, and the lunar tides of perception.

• Spiritual intuition – perfected in the diamond crystal, the radiant clarity of direct knowing, the “knowledge and conversation” awareness that requires no proof.

• Physical intuition – grounded in the octagonal crystal, the body’s language of sensation, instinct, subtle somatic signs, and the awareness that rises through matter itself.

Together, these facets reveal that intuition is not a single talent but a spectrum of internal senses, each operating at a different frequency of consciousness.

This is why Crowley calls the Priestess the “Womb of Light”—the quiet universal medium through which all impressions arise. Intuition is the Great Sea, the reflective depths of the Universal Collective Unconscious. It is immense, silent, contained, receptive, and always present—waiting for the mind to soften enough to hear it.

It is, quite literally, a Womb with a View:
a deep inner chamber where the soul can see beyond time (the lemniscate of her eyes), beyond ego, beyond the surface of appearances.

But there is a spiritual law tied to this mystery:

One cannot receive the Priestess until one trusts oneself.
Self-doubt clouds the water; self-love clarifies it.
She is accessed through stillness, through honesty, and through the willingness to listen to what has always been speaking within.

Thus the Priestess becomes a living visual affirmation—a scrying mirror for the aspirant who seeks self-trust, independence, and the sovereignty of inner knowledge. To meditate on her is to call forth the original resourcefulness of the soul, the autonomous knowing that arises from Binah, the Great Maternal Intelligence of the Tree.

Her symbol reinforces a forgotten truth:

Intuition is the Life-giving Mind of the Creatrix,
and the Priestess is its living Gate.

To work with her is to remember yourself.

And like the Intuitive Mind, the Divine She speaks in a language untouched by word-hypnosis, untouched by the spells of logic, culture, or conditioned perception. Her tongue is not shaped by grammar but by symbol, rhythm, feeling, and direct knowing. She communicates through the shimmer behind an idea, the pulse beneath emotion, the subtle shift of atmosphere within the soul.

To understand Her, one cannot merely study Her—you must become porous to Her current.
You must loosen the rigid armor of identity, soften the mind’s insistence on naming, categorizing, and controlling. You must surrender the voice of ego long enough for the deeper Voice to arise.

For the Divine Feminine does not speak to you;
She speaks through you.

In Qabalistic terms, this is the state where the Nephesh quiets, the Ruach relaxes its grip, and the Neschamah finally has space to breathe its truth into awareness. The High Priestess is this very threshold—the place where the soul ceases to interpret reality and instead experiences it directly.

To understand Her, you must enter Her,
and in entering Her, you discover that She has always been your own deepest Self,
waiting for you to return to Her temple within.

The Priestess, or High Priestess, is not a literal return to the warm enclosure of the Cosmic Womb—that domain belongs to THE EMPRESS, the fertile matrix of form, growth, and sensual manifestation. The Priestess dwells in a far more subtle and perilous realm. She is the Supreme Androgyne, the birther of the Soul/Self before it takes on masks, roles, gender, or personality. She does not seduce with the perfume of life—she unveils with the diamond-cold clarity of Spirit.

Unlike the smiling, initiatory face of Inanna, she is Ereshkigal,

Queen of the Underworld,
revealing the unadorned truth of Being.
Her beauty is stark, crystalline, uncompromising.
Her gaze pierces illusion as easily as light through a prism.

When we encounter the Priestess, all veils are removed.
All self-constructed fantasies dissolve.
No comforting narratives survive.

What remains is pure free will, naked and absolute—
a task only the brave can endure.

This is why the Priestess has always been portrayed as one who holds hidden knowledge, the keeper of ineffable mysteries that do not cosset the seeker but demand their full sovereignty. In the earliest Western Tarot, this Supreme Androgyne was portrayed in a female form as La Papessa, “the Popess,” a figure derived from Sister Manfred of the Visconti lineage—whose image survives in the deck now known as The Golden Tarot, featured throughout these blogs.

Even then, beneath her ecclesiastical robes, she was never merely a woman or a nun.
She was the veiled Sophia, the sacerdotal gatekeeper,
the whisper of Binah clothed in medieval iconography.

Her outer form was feminine,
but her essence was—and remains—beyond gender:
the luminous, terrible, beautiful intelligence
that gives birth to the Soul without binding it to illusion.

Sister Manfreda was a member of a small heretical sect called the Guillelmites who elected Sister Manfreda as their pope in accordance with their belief that the male-dominated papacy (Patriarchy) was soon to be replaced by a line of female popes. Hence, male authority which we know as the Patriarchy was to end. Past history has proven this to be a bit overly optimistic. Yet we are in that timeline of herstory now.

There was also a Medieval legend of Pope Joan, and one may ask if she was another version of Sister Manfreda. While both Pope Joan and Sister Manfreda touch on female spiritual authority in the medieval period, they are not the same historical or legendary figure, though they can be compared thematically in terms of challenging patriarchal religious power.

🜁 Who Was Sister Manfreda?

Sister Manfreda da Pirovano was a real historical figure from a noble Lombard family. She was:

• A member of the Humiliati, a lay monastic order known for promoting spiritual equality and reform.

• Elected pope of a Guglielmite sect — a heretical, mystical movement in 13th-century Milan that followed the teachings of Guglielma of Bohemia, a mystic who was venerated as an incarnation of the Holy Spirit.

After Guglielma's death, her followers began to proclaim the coming of a feminine age of the Holy Spirit, drawing from Joachim of Fiore's apocalyptic trinitarian framework. They believed:

• Guglielma would return in spirit to usher in this age,

• and Sister Manfreda would reign as a female pope, the Vicar of the Holy Spirit on Earth.

She was elected spiritually by the sect as this female pope around 1300 CE — an act that the Inquisition found heretical.

In 1300, Manfreda was condemned and burned at the stake for heresy by the Inquisition in Milan. Records of her trial survive and clearly show she existed and was executed for her role in the Guglielmite movement.

🔥 Pope Joan vs. Sister Manfreda

🜂 Hermetic Reflection

Where Pope Joan is the Veiled Isis hidden within the structure of male authority, Sister Manfreda is the Manifest Sophia, a herald of the coming Aeon of the Holy Spirit — feminine, inclusive, transcendent.

In Western Hermeticism, Manfreda and Guglielma resemble a manifestation of Binah (Understanding) breaking through the Saturnian shell of institutional rigidity. Their movement parallels the Age of the Holy Spirit — what later occultists and Rosicrucians would call a new Aeon of spiritual illumination (Aeon of Horus).

Guglielma = the Immaculate Shekinah, the Holy Spirit made flesh.
Manfreda = her High Priestess, her Pope, a Sophia enthroned on Earth.

The High Priestess or Priestess is a significant archetype in Tarot cards, and she often draws upon various mythological and cultural influences. To the Patriarchy she was also known as the Ice Queen, simply because she is not intimidated by the male false sense of superiority. Here's a mythological report on the High Priestess archetype in diverse cultures:

1. Ancient Egyptian Influence: In many Tarot decks, the High Priestess is associated with the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis. Isis is a symbol of mystery, wisdom, and the divine feminine. She is often depicted as a veiled woman, which parallels the High Priestess's mysterious and enigmatic nature. Isis represents the secrets of life, death, and rebirth, much like the High Priestess's connection to hidden knowledge.

2. Greek Influence: The High Priestess can also be linked to Greek mythology, particularly to the goddess Persephone. Persephone's journey between the underworld and the surface world reflects the High Priestess's role as a mediator between the conscious and subconscious realms. Persephone's transformation and wisdom gained in the underworld mirror the High Priestess's association with esoteric and hidden knowledge.

3. Judeo-Christian Influence: Some interpretations connect the High Priestess with biblical figures like the Virgin Mary or the Shekhinah in Jewish mysticism. The Virgin Mary embodies purity, maternal love, and divine femininity, which are qualities associated with the High Priestess. The Shekhinah represents the presence of the divine in the material world, aligning with the idea of the High Priestess as a bridge between the mundane and the spiritual.

4. Chinese Influence: In Chinese culture, the High Priestess can be likened to Guanyin, the goddess of compassion and mercy. Guanyin is often depicted as a serene and compassionate figure, echoing the High Priestess's connection to intuition, empathy, and nurturing qualities. Both figures represent the feminine aspect of wisdom and healing.

5. Hindu Influence: The Hindu goddess Saraswati, associated with knowledge, music, and art, shares similarities with the High Priestess. Saraswati is often depicted in books and musical instruments symbolizing her connection to wisdom and creativity. The High Priestess's association with intuition and esoteric knowledge aligns with Saraswati's attributes.

6. Native American Influence: The High Priestess archetype can also be linked to Native American cultures, where spiritual leaders, often women, act as mediators between the earthly and spiritual realms. These leaders possess deep wisdom, intuitive insights, and a connection to nature, resembling the qualities of the High Priestess.

The High Priestess, as represented in Tarot, draws upon these diverse mythological and cultural influences, emphasizing the universal themes of intuition, mystery, wisdom, and the feminine divine. It reflects the idea that these archetypal qualities are found across various cultures and traditions, making the High Priestess a symbol of profound significance in the world of Tarot and Western Hermetic Metaphysical exploration.

The Arcane Tarot – Key II: The High Priestess is the embodied principle of intuition, inner knowing, and the subconscious strata of the soul. Whenever she appears in a reading, she signals that the seeker is already receiving the answers—but is blocking or doubting them. She is the voice beneath thought, the lunar current behind emotion, the subtle presence that whispers truth long before the intellect catches up.

The High Priestess in the RWS Tradition

In the Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot she sits within the Temple of Solomon, positioned between the twin pillars:

• Boaz – “Strength,” the receptive, lunar pillar

• Jachin – “Establishment,” the active, solar pillar

These pillars are the architectural expression of polarity itself. Between them rests the gate to the Mysteries—and it is here that the Priestess stands in the Arcane Tarot variant. She no longer sits; she actively guards and guides the threshold.

She holds a golden scepter terminating in a red opal-like egg of Akasha, symbolizing the primordial substance from which all reality unfolds. Surrounding her are the lunar crescents, stellar glyphs, and a blazing solar disk behind her head, merging the currents of Moon, Star, and Sun into a single androgyne consciousness.

Her inner red robe signifies the Sacred Blood of the Shekhinah, the life-force of the Divine Feminine flowing through creation. With her right hand she cups her solar plexus—the inner womb of knowing—symbolizing the “Womb with a view,” the intuitive center where revelation first arises.

As a human embodiment of the High Priestess archetype, she is one who through devotion, discipline, meditation, and spiritual practice channels the divine realm into the physical world. She becomes a living bridge between the seen and unseen.

Upright Meaning

Trust your intuition.
The answers you seek are already within you, rising from your subconscious like moonlight through still water. Pause, listen, and feel into your inner knowing.

• Relationships: Your emotional intelligence is the compass. If your gut speaks—heed it.

• Career: You may be overthinking or intellectualizing. Return to instinct. Let intuitive understanding guide your next move.

The High Priestess reminds you that clarity comes not from more thought but from deeper presence.

Reversed Meaning

A reversed Priestess speaks of disconnect—a clouding of inner perception or an overreliance on external voices. You may be silencing your instincts or seeking validation from others rather than trusting your own internal authority.

This card calls you back to yourself.
Back to your center.
Back to the quiet voice that has never lied to you.

Therefore each of us is a mysterious Child of the High Priestess, a living emanation of I AM, not a personality manufactured by social conditioning or human opinion. We are the unfolding of a divine declaration, not the product of a cultural script.

In Qabalah, I AM is the sacred name Eheieh, the God-Name of Kether—the primal shout of existence, often translated as “I Will Be.” It is the original self-announcement of the Logos, the Celestial Self, the first spark of identity before form, gender, culture, memory, or ego.

This primal “I Will Be” is understood by Binah, the Great Mother, the Goddess of Ten Thousand Names. She is the profound Intelligence of Understanding that takes the raw brilliance of Kether and gestates it within the Supernal Womb. What Kether declares, Binah comprehends, shapes, and prepares.

But it is through the High Priestess—the pure, immaculate, and androgynous Womb of Light—that this divine spark is given its first subtle form as Soul, as Solar Self, as the Child that is Horus.

Thus the Priestess is the Womb with a View, the transparent membrane between unmanifest spirit and manifest consciousness. She gives birth not to the physical body—that is the domain of the Empress—
but to the inner light, the radiant solar identity that descends into incarnation.

All Solar Selves, all Souls, all Children of Horus arise from this hidden gateway.

We are not merely human.
We are the result of Kether’s “I Will Be,”
understood by Binah,
and born through the luminous womb of the Priestess.

To recognize this is to remember our origin:
We are beings of Light emerging from the silent Intelligence of the Divine Feminine—
eternally unfolding, eternally becoming.

Since the Priestess / High Priestess holds power over life, she must necessarily hold power over death—for in the Mysteries, these two are not opposites but phases of one continuum. What the Priestess governs is transition, the movement of consciousness from one state to another. She is the silent hinge upon which incarnation turns, the threshold where the soul descends into form and later sheds it like a garment.

This power is not hers alone; it is a power inherent in all of us.
We wield dominion over material forms—not by brute force but by the simple fact of being Souls incarnated within them. We are destined to be—that is the decree of Kether’s “I Will Be.” But how we unfold, express, shape, and evolve that Being remains in our hands.

This is the Hermetic paradox:

• Destiny is fixed: you are meant to exist.

• Fate, however, is fluid: you sculpt it through choice.

Freedom of Choice is not a gift granted reluctantly by the Divine—it is a fundamental property of the soul. To exist is to choose. To be conscious is to shape destiny. To incarnate is to participate in creation.

The Creatrix—She of Ten Thousand Names—permits each soul to assume its identity, to clothe itself in the patterns, qualities, and potentials that best express its inner light. She does not dictate who you must become; She offers you the freedom to become what your highest Self perceives.

Therefore, if you are free to “assume your identity,”
then assume the Best Self, the Solar Self,
the Self She Herself sees when She beholds you.

For the Priestess reminds us of a sacred truth:

The Divine Feminine does not command you to be small.
She invites you to become the most radiant form of yourself.

To choose that Self is the greatest act of magical will—
and the truest expression of your freedom.

The crown of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, with its crescent moon and full moon orb in the center, symbolizes her association with the cycles of the moon and the heavens. The crescent moon typically represents the waxing and waning phases of the moon, signifying renewal, growth, and change. The full moon orb in the center represents the culmination of the lunar cycle, symbolizing fullness, completeness, and the peak of power.

In Hathor's context, this crown reflects her roles as a goddess of fertility, love, music, dance, and joy. The lunar symbolism ties her to the rhythms of nature, particularly the cycles of birth, growth, and renewal. Additionally, Hathor was often linked to the sky and celestial bodies, emphasizing her cosmic significance and her connection to the divine forces that govern the universe.

Overall, Hathor's crown embodies themes of femininity, regeneration, and celestial influence, emphasizing her multifaceted nature and her ability to preside over various aspects of life and the

The planetary power of the Priestess is the Moon, and in every true esoteric system she carries its full spectrum. Her crown, whether in the Thoth Tarot or the Arcane Tarot, reveals the lunar trinity: crescent, full, and waning. These are not merely astronomical phases—they are the three faces of the Divine Feminine, the cyclical expression of feminine consciousness as it waxes, blooms, and dissolves.

In the Arcane Tarot, her lunar crown is also a direct invocation of the Wiccan Triple Goddess, a symbol of the eternal rhythm of life, death, and rebirth:

The Waxing Moon — The Maiden

She is innocence, curiosity, beginnings, inspiration, and the first stirrings of intuition.
She represents the youthful aspect of the soul, the Opening Eye of wonder, possibility, and rebirth.

The Full Moon — The Mother

She is fullness, abundance, nourishment, creation, and the power to manifest.
This is the Priestess as Shekinah-in-form, the Giver of Life, the radiant Grail overflowing with potential.

The Waning Moon — The Crone

She is wisdom, release, completion, and the mystery of endings.
She preserves the knowledge only gained through experience, loss, reflection, and surrender.
She is the keeper of the deeper intuitive currents—the moonlight that illuminates shadows.

Together these phases form the Trinity of Woman, the eternal cycle found in every occult tradition from Wicca to Hermetic Qabalah. They are also the cyclic rhythms of the soul itself:

• We wax when we grow.

• We become full when we create.

• We wane when we release.

• And through each cycle, we return changed.

Thus the Priestess, crowned with the lunar trinity, does not simply symbolize intuition—
she is the cycle of consciousness itself,
the ever-shifting tide by which the soul perceives, gestates, and transforms.

Her Moon is the mirror in which your inner life is revealed.

On the Qabalistic Tree of Life, the Path of the High Priestess is assigned the Hebrew letter Gimel, meaning camel. This is profoundly appropriate: the camel is the creature capable of carrying life across vast deserts, storing the water of endurance for long and perilous journeys.

So too does the Priestess carry our Personality and ego across the desert of the Abyss—the immeasurable expanse between the Ruach (the mental soul) and the Supernal Triad. In this sense, the Abyss is not merely a void; it is the Womb-Darkness, the Sea of unformed potential, the “Dark Energy” (33% of the Cosmos) from which all Light is born. She is the quiet Guide who transports the seeker safely through this terrifying and transformative passage.

Across traditions she has been seen and invoked as:

• Diana, the pristine huntress of moonlit forests,

• Freya, the radiant Norse sorceress and chooser of the slain,

• Brigid, the Celtic flame-bringer and keeper of sacred wells.

Whatever the mythic face, the underlying power is the same:
She is the Lunar Initiatrix, the one who moves between worlds.

The Three Lunar Paths of the Middle Pillar

There are three Qabalistic Paths that collectively express this lunar intelligence, each an aspect of the Maiden–Mother–Crone continuum:

1. The Path of Gimel – THE PRIESTESS

   • The Maiden-Moon

   • Pure intuition, direct knowing, the secret passage from Tiphareth to Kether

   • The silent ascent of consciousness toward the Crown

2. The Path of Samekh – THE ART (Temperance)

   • The Mother-Moon

   • Gestation, transformation, alchemy in the womb of the Self

   • The great inner Work between Yesod and Tiphareth

3. The Path of Tau – THE UNIVERSE

   • The Crone-Moon

   • Completion, dissolution, embodiment, the wisdom of the end of cycles

   • The gate where spirit fully descends into matter

Together these three lunar paths create the devotional Middle Pillar, the central channel of spiritual evolution in the Tree of Life.
They correspond to three modes of lunar consciousness, three stages of inner development, and three functions of the soul.

The Indigo Path of Aziluth

In Aziluth, the highest of the Four Worlds, the color attributed to the Middle Pillar—particularly to Gimel—is Indigo: a deep, dark, nearly-black water-blue. This hue is not arbitrary. Indigo is the color of:

• moonlit depths,

• intuitive perception,

• the silent waters beneath creation,

• and the Mystery that the Priestess guards.

It suggests the moon reflected upon an infinite ocean, the place where consciousness dissolves into the Great Mother and emerges renewed.

Thus the three lunar paths—Gimel, Samekh, and Tau—form the Triple Lunar Current that flows through the soul as Maiden, Mother, and Crone. They reveal the Priestess not only as a Tarot figure, but as the very mechanism of spiritual ascent and descent, the tidal pulse of inner evolution itself.

The pure state of Intelligence that is The Path of Gimel, will carry those cleansed of indoctrinated thinking across the longest and most important Path on the Tree of Life; A path which radiates down from the Supernal Triangle (The Archetypal World), composed of unimaginable potential, to the Ethical Triangle, the "actual" (Briah), also making this the path a position between the Unlimited No-Thing in Kether, and the Son/Sun (Solar Self) in the 6th Sephiroth-Tiphareth, a Path of the Highest Initiation.

The common description of the traditional High Priestess/Priestess is that she is the most pure essence of consciousness, symbolized in Tarot as the very source of all Water (Consciousness) and the purest light symbolized as the moonlight is reflected through ice; However, to the initiate, she is considered The Lower Chokmah (Wisdom), wisdom is being expressed here as both masculine and feminine (The Goddess Sophia of the Greek Gnostics-represents Wisdom) When applied to Chokmah, a female noun in Hebrew the word Wisdom is a feminine receptivity through Masculine expression, for here it is "sent forth" and as the Seed of wisdom is ejaculated, it expands outward, and in this action the seed of expansion contains its own limitation (measurement and/or Time). Hence, Androgynous.

Therefore, she is the Diana who shoots Chokmah's captured "Will-to-Force" out into the universe as a bow and formed arrow, and it is her Understanding that limits the expansion of his “seed” and/or the target hit. The Feminine Force is Formative. Here Wisdom is taken into the most Spiritual manifestation of the feminine and formulates it into herself as any geometrical point into which to contemplate any possibility, i.e., the “All Seeing I Am” of the original consciousness.

Now I know this concept of the mysterious solar- self may seem an impossibly difficult one to understand and the most descriptive of Qabalistic terms may seem nonsensical, but the Priestess is the Womb of Consciousness, and yet she is both Male and Female...much like a Hermaphrodite (Hermes-Aphrodite) that can impregnate itself with Understanding.

The human brain is a copy of the hermaphrodite Psyche phenomena as it both male and female in its approach to thought and can impregnate itself both with logic and an intuition that gives birth to emoted and limited thought forms and/or images, and even "feelings" as the body responds to the emoted thought. It is a biochemical AI, not the Celestial Light and Mind of the Divine Creative that you are to represent.

 The Higher Chokmah is a specific Sun (left brain), and the Lower Chokmah is a specific Moon (right brain). Thus, when viewing THE PRIESTESS Thoth Tarot card, you will see a slight feminine figure with arms raised in the shape of a cup, behind vibrations of light and a strong lower masculine leg section with the Diana's bow across the knees. Yet she is a virginal force because no "Outside" Male force fertilizes her.

Thus, the myth of Diana adds understanding to this card. From her, the source of Water /Consciousness is the idea behind the idea of form, I think the well known western Qabalist Dr. Paul Foster Case said this best in saying that,"... no matter how many forms develop from it, the virgin substance is itself unchanged. Like Water, which holds matter in suspension or solution, this substance remains over itself. Here is one key to the alchemical mystery of the First Matter. Here, too, one may find a clue to the inner significance of the Virgin Myths of all Religions."

The (High) Priestess is often identified with the Prima Materia, the Root Matter or First Substance, because she is the earliest crystallization of existence emerging from the primal flash of Divinity. When Kether utters its holy Name—Eheieh, “I Will Be”—that first declaration of Beingness requires a medium, a womb, a matrix in which to unfold.

The Priestess is that matrix.

She is the first veil that gives shape to Consciousness as it descends from the Infinite.
She is not “matter” in the physical sense—but the pre-matter, the subtle medium of awareness, the first shimmering interiority that makes self-experience possible.

In this sense, the Priestess is the very moment when:

• I Will Be becomes I AM,

• pure potential becomes self-awareness,

• Spirit beholds itself.

This emergence of Self-Awareness—the golden seed of “I AM as a Being”—is what the Mysteries call the Soul, the radiant Solar Self housed in Tiphareth. But before the Soul can stand in its beauty, it must first be conceived in the Supernal Womb.

The Priestess is that Womb—
the first membrane of consciousness,
the primal field in which light differentiates from the undifferentiated.

Thus she is called the Prima Materia because she is the first form of Light, the initial feminine receptacle into which Kether’s intention flows. Everything that later becomes the individualized Solar-Self—child of Tiphareth, child of Horus—begins within her indigo silence.

She is the threshold between Absolute Spirit and emerging Identity.
She is the Womb of “I Will Be,”
and the Midwife of “I AM.”

Prima Materia → Priestess → Tiphareth

The Birth Cycle of the Solar Self

A Hermetic–Qabalistic Diagram

I. PRIMA MATERIA (Root Substance of Being)

Location: Pre-Tree, the Infinite Light before emanation
Divine Name: Eheieh — “I Will Be”
Aspect: Kether’s unconditioned Will-to-Exist
Symbol: The radiant Point / limitless Light
Function:

• The original flash of Being

• Pure intention without identity

• The divine proclamation: “I Will Be”

Description:
Prima Materia is not matter—it is pre-matter, the subtle, undifferentiated field from which consciousness condenses. It is the first whisper of selfhood arising within the Infinite.

↓ Gimel — The Path of the Priestess

The Lunar Womb, Vessel, and Veil

Hebrew Letter: Gimel “Camel,” carrier of consciousness over the Abyss
Color (Aziluth): Indigo, deep lunar blue
Planet: Moon
Tarot: ATU II — The Priestess
Role:

• Receives Kether’s “I Will Be”

• Gestates it within the Supernal Womb

• Forms the first interiority of awareness

• Creates the membrane of Self

• Is the Womb of Light where spirit attains self-reflective awareness

Symbolism:

• The crystalline veil

• Androgyny (0 = 2 in equilibrium)

• The lunar crown (Maiden–Mother–Crone)

• The Great Silent Intelligence

Description:
The Priestess is the first shaping of consciousness, the subtle field where pure Will becomes the beginning of identity. She is called the Prima Materia made visible, the form that receives spirit so it can become Soul.

↓ Birth into Tiphareth — The Solar Self

The Beauty of I AM

Sephirah: Tiphareth — “Beauty”
Sphere of the Soul: The Solar Self, Higher Ego, Child of Horus
Divine Name: YHVH Eloah va-Daath
Symbols:

• The Sun

• The Rosy Cross

• The Child-God

• The Sacred Hexagram

Function:

• The emergence of fully formed Self-awareness

• The “I AM” born from “I Will Be”

• The consciousness that mediates Spirit and personality

• The radiant Heart-center of the Tree

Description:
Tiphareth is the birth of the Soul—the stage where identity becomes coherent, radiant, and aware. It is the Child born from the union of Kether’s Will and the Priestess’s Womb of Understanding.

This is the point where the divine intention becomes a Solar Self, capable of incarnation, choice, growth, and mastery.

Summary Diagram

KETHER (Eheieh) “I Will Be” – Prima Materia | | (Gimel – Priestess) v Supernal Womb / Womb of Light Formation of Interior Self-Awareness | v TIPHARETH “I AM” The Solar Self / Beauty / Soul

Esoteric Formula of the Birth Cycle

1. Prima Materia = Kether’s Will-to-Be
2. Priestess = The Womb that receives, shapes & gestates that Will
3. Tiphareth = The Soul born as radiant “I AM”

This is the Hermetic Genesis of the Self—
the invisible alchemy by which Spirit becomes Soul,
and Soul becomes the incarnating human.

In his text, THE THIRTY-TWO PATHS OF WISDOM, Dr. Case calls the Path of Gimel, the Uniting Intelligence, because it is the "Essence of Glory" and/or "The Grace of God". No matter the terms, the fact is that your personality must be shed of all the false sensual reality and animal desires that our indoctrinated false ego (Social/Racial Egregore) has constructed before she is able to carry one's consciousness across the Abyss, into the invisible Sephiroth of Daath (Knowledge) that is the well-known in Qabalah, as the invisible Chakra of the Tree of Life. This Sephiroth resides below Kether on the Middle Path of the Tree and into the Dark Abyss of the Universal Collective Unconscious (Bottomless but filled with Energy and Data).

It is that Knowledge that our conscious essence/Soul/Psyche is conceived of, so that it could become the operator of the Images of God/Self. [Daath is no longer invisible to one who has entered the Garden of inherited Knowledge that resides between the mother named Understanding and the father named Wisdom for they become the visible Daath.]

The term "Abyssal Womb" or "Abyssal Womb" as presented in various esoteric and occult traditions, including Western Hermeticism, Qabalah, and certain branches of mysticism, the Abyssal Womb symbolizes the primordial or cosmic womb from which all creation emerges.

Here are some interpretations and implications of the term:

1. Primal Source: The Abyssal Womb is often seen as the ultimate source or origin of existence, akin to a cosmic womb from which all forms manifest. It represents the deepest, most profound level of reality, beyond ordinary perception.

2. Transformation and Rebirth: In some contexts, the Abyssal Womb symbolizes the process of spiritual transformation and rebirth. It represents a state of dissolution or annihilation of the ego, leading to a new, higher level of consciousness.

3. Unity of Opposites: The Abyssal Womb may also embody the concept of unity of opposites, where darkness and light, chaos and order, are harmoniously integrated. It signifies the transcendence of dualities and the realization of oneness.

4. Mystery and Depth: The term "abyssal" conveys a sense of profound mystery and depth, suggesting that the Abyssal Womb holds secrets and truths beyond ordinary understanding. It invites seekers to explore the depths of their own consciousness and the universe.

Overall, the concept of the Abyssal Womb encompasses themes of creation, transformation, unity, and mystery, offering a powerful symbol for contemplation and spiritual exploration in various mystical traditions.

If you have questions about this blog, or Thoth Tarot cards, or Thoth Tarot Master classes, Western Hermetic Qabalah or even your own layouts. Log onto Eli's Thoth Tarot Guide and get quick and concise answers.

When the High Priestess or PRIESTESS, is thrown during a reading: for the non-initiated (who haven't experienced the dark night of the Soul and/or Her Pruning of the dead-Manmade ideas of self):

• The querent is experiencing the principle of self-trust, indicating an easily working state of harmony and inner independence.
• A self-knowing.   
•  Accessing hidden Knowledge from the unconscious.  
• Self-sufficiency, self-trust, and intuition.
• Binary.
• Good judgment.
• Platonic love.
• Spiritual evolution.
•  To the initiated male.
•   She represents the Spiritual Bride of the Just man (The Prince, no longer of this world) When he reads the Law, she gives him the Divine Meaning/Understanding of her language. 
• The Arcana is revealed, the Mystery is unfolded, and futures are seen.
• Anima-Life.
• To the Initiated Female.
• She is the Papess, associated with St. Mary Magdalene, or the Great Shakti of the triple Hindu Goddess Kali, or the Greek Gnostic Sophia, the original Mother of the Holy Trinity. 
• Considered one of the Highest and Holiest of the Major Arcana. Complete development of the Creatrix Feminine Powers (Womb rite) that go deeper in meaning than the words, intuition, or insight, can convey. 
• She is the Law of inherited Wisdom.

If ill defined by the surrounding cards, it implies:

• A time for action.
• Daydreaming.
• Escape from reality. 
• Moodiness.
• Phoniness.
• Existential dread.
• Proud and arrogant behavior.

Thank you for your interest, comments, and supportive donations. Your generosity blesses your prosperity. May you live long and prosper.

Experience Tarot Readings with a Magus of the Thoth Tarot

Most people think Tarot is about fortune-telling, party tricks, or vague “mystical” predictions you’ve seen in Hollywood films. But the Tarot of Thoth—when read by a trained Magus—is something far more profound.

As a Western Hermetic Magus and Master of the Thoth Tarot, I offer one-on-one online readings that go beyond surface-level card meanings. Each session is a direct resonance between myself and the querent—spirit to spirit, mind to mind, body to body.

This is not about guessing your future. It is about awakening clarity, unveiling hidden forces, and aligning you with your own Solar Self. The Thoth Tarot is a Book of Universal Archetypes, encoded with Qabalistic, astrological, and alchemical wisdom. A reading with me brings these forces alive in your life in real time.

How My Readings Differ

• Beyond the Mundane: I don’t just “interpret cards.” I read the dynamic flow of your Spirit–Mind–Body alignment through the Tarot’s Qabalistic architecture.

• Direct Resonance: My one-on-one sessions are not mechanical. I attune to your presence and read both the seen and unseen currents shaping your life.

• Hermetic Depth: As a Magus, I integrate the Tarot with the Tree of Life, planetary forces, and the Divine Archetypes that govern transformation. This opens insights that ordinary readings simply cannot access.

• Empowerment, not Dependency: My goal is not to trap you in predictions, but to empower you with vision—so you can consciously co-create your path.

Why Choose a Magus Reading?

Because a true Magus does not read for you—he reads with you. Together, we explore your unique resonance with the living archetypes of the Tarot, peeling away the illusions of false ego and awakening your authentic Self.

✨ Book your private online reading today.
Special sliding-scale pricing is available so no seeker is turned away.

Discover the Tarot not as superstition, but as a sacred key to self-sovereignty, clarity, and transformation.

May you live long and prosper.

For more information on Thoth Tarot Readings, and/or Master Tarot Classes, log onto my website-elitarotstrickingly.com-and click on the Tarot Pricing page tag. Thank you.

Traditional Tarot card comparisons and Tarot readings store.

Western Hermetic Magick ritual and invocation site and blogs.