Fruit of the Underworld: A Reflection On The High Priestess Archetype.
The High Priestess from the Tarot teaches that we must go inward to emerge again with healing wisdom. The High Priestess archetype is associated with the story of Persephone, who withdraws into the underworld/inner world each year, causing the Winter and Fall season in her descent. The Spring and Summer seasons are associated with her emergence.
As the Winter Solstice approaches we don’t tend to ask ourselves,
‘How do we prepare for the inner months?’ These months are difficult; they naturally take us inward to a place of quiet and still introspection (often in solitude).
In a culture where those qualities are not valued, it is hard to navigate our instincts the withdraw.
Looking to the High Priestess archetype has been helpful in allowing myself to enter the interior world for healing and self realization.
(Solstice Altar)
The aim of this project was to recreate the High Priestess imagery based on the Rider Waite Tarot, which is the most quintessential in my imagination. My mom primed my young mind with a “Color-Your-Own Major Arcana” and I so this image had seeped in long ago with a deep rooted imprint.
Image of the High Priestess card in the Rider-Waite deck from Pam’s Vintage Tarot
My story is that I have been in the Persephone realm for quite some time now. Life has that “ebb and flow” “contract and expand” cyclical nature and you could say that I have been in the “contracted” state to learn some essential lessons. I can’t really apply words to express the complexity and intensity of these
“Essential Lessons”.
Through every lesson I keep learning that going within is the Medicine (with a capital “M”).
That’s where you start with the High Priestess. The rest of the story is about finding out that you ARE
magic.
itself.
fully embodied.
Rider Waite Inspired rendition of the High Priestess archetype
It was healing to imagine and create the theater of the High Priestess . I designed the set and the costume for my imaginative version of what it is like to live in this mystery dimension of “innerness” .
Inspired by the Rider Waite version of the image, I focused on symbolic props that spoke to me and created the archetype as I had been experiencing her:
The Goddess is powerful and confident and engages with her the surrealism as sovereign of her world.
The light source in the inner realm in illustrated by the moon. Her surroundings thus appear cold and detached as if it is a dream of familiar things that you can’t remember- this is not the physical realm.
The chains in which once held her captive she wears now as hallowed ritual garments.
She is adorned by resplendent insignias of change and transformation.
In the Underworld, she becomes all-conscious awareness from where she can see beyond the mind and into the heart.
Standing between pillars of light and dark, the pomegranate, erotic as the deepest life force, is her sacred offering.
Creating an image out of your mind is powerfully healing. It becomes a portal.I am lucky to have worked with two wonderfully witchy women to create a portal here. Kristen Marie Greene (Of KMG* Photography) has been a massive collaborator and we’ve been able to create some really clear visions together. I am really grateful to know and work with her.
The character of the High Priestess is played by Emma Dubin; an ethereal creature who is a human model and performance artist.
Both Kristen and Emma’s presence on Earth continue to be a source of inspiration for me.
In sacred collaboration we helped each other prepare for the “inner months”. .
@emmadubinmodel https://www.facebook.com/emmadubinmodel/
@kristenmariegreene ( KMG*Photography) https://kmgphotography.smugmug.com
Image of the aftermath of the photoshoot with some closeups of her adornments.
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She holds the fruit of the underworld
A seeded womb, spirit of life.
She is the gateway
allowing passage into the moontime mystery.
She is our moontime mystery.
Working in silence and stillness
She is silence and stillness.
She answers our questions wordlessly.
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