In the Christian West, there is a poverty of female archetypes—at least on the surface: womanhood has been defined in stark dualistic terms by the Madonna or the Whore. However, while Christendom focuses on the trinity of the father, the son, and the holy ghost (the ghost perhaps being the missing feminine principle)— The Tarot is full of nuanced female archetypes. For instance, there is a female Pope —otherwise known as The High Priestess—and an Empress in the style of Queen Victoria.
This is not to suggest that Tarot archetypes express the ‘modern emancipated women’—they are timeless rather than revolutionary—they show the already-present power of women. The hidden traditions have always given the feminine equal or more symbolic weight. In the Tarot arcana, The High Priestess, The Empress (as well as Temperance and the World) illustrate this point. Here we will focus on the former two.
Simply put, The High Priestess represents the restraints of culture, whereas The Empress represents the total energy of nature. The High Priestess’s book is flesh-coloured, indicating she ‘reads’ the human body— Valentine Tomberg says she represents gnosis or sacred knowledge. Her throne has the shape of wings—but she doesn’t have actual wings yet (unlike her higher counterpoint, the angel of Temperance or Arcana 14). The High Priestess guards an egg—suggesting transformation through gestation. Tomberg links her to Sophia, the feminine aspect of the divine and the personification of wisdom. Unlike The Empress, a solar archetype, we could also say she is reflective, like the moon.
While The Magician gives us mystery, The High Priestess gives us meaning and method; she creates order from chaos—she is the Logos, traditionally the masculine principle. Gender clichés are often reversed in the Tarot: The High Priestess could be a person of political power holding the symbolic order. At the same time, the male Fool or Magician dances with chaos.
This inversion makes perfect symbolic sense when we consider the yin/yang symbol with its white dot in a black space and black dot in a white space. We can also think about Carl Jung's anima (the hidden female spirit of the male) and animus (the hidden masculine spirit of the female). The feminine has a nucleus of power and intellect; the masculine has a nucleus of chaos and mystery—the core of a woman is a man, and the core of a man is a woman. The arcane Tarot points to this inner, secret and inverted world.
While The High Priestess represents knowledge and initiation. Tomberg says she gives us ‘the gift of tears’ and that we cannot approach her with ‘dry eyes’. Her wisdom is not solemn or sanctimonious, or dryly intellectual, in other words—but clear and direct. In this sense, she is the Buddhist prajnaparamita—the phallic woman who slays us with her penetrating gaze.
Importantly, we should not see Tarot arcana in isolation—each contains the seed of the next in the progressive series. The High Priestess (arcana 2) includes the egg or potential of the full-bodied Empress (arcana 3). High Priestess's wintry paleness blooms into the Golden-haired Empress of summer. The Empresses rules over nature rather than culture; she is the elemental force that makes the wheat grow, ensures the forests and streams are plentiful and bestows peace and prosperity in the empire. She holds a Griffen on her shield, symbolising Christ or the transformation into a higher mode of being.
The Empress is more significant than the Queen or Priestess because she lords over a collection of principalities. As Universal Monarch, she is neither provincial nor national; her sacred rule is not constructed; she is the natural synchronicity of the world and its cycles. Unlike The Magician and The High Priestess, The Empress does not need self-conscious art. Her staff with a globe is a sign of completeness, whereas The Magician is still on a map-making quest, and the High Priestess studies the territory.
We could say that The Empress rules over the elements and the natural world, whereas the Emperor rules over the aggregates—or the culturally constructed aspects of humanity. This resonates with Buddhist psychology, where the masculine principle is the aggregate (a combination of elements), and the feminine principle is the primary element, representing earth, water, fire, air and space. An Emperor creates order for cities and towns, whereas The Empress rules over the more unpredictable world of meadows and forests.
While the Emperor imposes top-down law and order and keeps the human world in check through war and peace, The Empress rules from the belly, the interior, and the earth. She is at once the giver of life and the devouring mother. Her red vestment symbolises passion and sensuality, which can quickly become the ‘throne of blood’ when we destroy primaeval forests and ocean plankton.
While the Masculine Emperor or Napoleon makes war by drawing borders and laying down the law, The Empress creates the entire fauna and flora of nature. However, she also brings arbitrary chaos and destruction, plagues and sickness when her majesty is threatened. She is the protectress of the ecology; she is the land's soul, bounty, and biodiversity. The Empress’s crown has twelve jewels, symbolising the twelve-star zodiac signifying the 12 months of the year, indicating her completeness again. She is The Empress of cycles, seasonal festivals, and the eternal return of life and death.
The Empress protects and blesses love and marriage and is the fruitful mother of an earthly paradise. She is the overflowing, abundant excess of solar life—she represents the birth principle, and in some versions of the Tarot, she is pregnant. If the priestess is virginal and scholarly—powerful (and even erotic) because of her aestheticism, The Empress represents the fullness of marriage, prosperity, birth, and life in bloom.
This article is part of a consideration of our study group on symbolism and Psychomagic. If you want to become a member and join one of our study groups, please write to me at andrewpgsweeny@gmail.com or check out the events calendar below for more details.