By Gary Meister, CTM
At this point, we have assigned the “pip cards” to the ten Sephiroth (spheres) of the Kabbalah’s Tree Of Life. And we’ve assigned The Fool (Potential) to Path 0 (between Crown and Wisdom) and The Magician (Attention) to Path I (between Crown and Understanding). If you need to, to get a handle on how we got to where we are right now, review the previous lessons. Actually, I would suggest that you print out the PDF copies as we go along and keep them in a loose-leaf binder for future study.
Now: Path II is a long path running between the Crown (Sphere 1) and Beauty, (Sphere 6). We assign the Major Arcana Key II, The High Priestess, to this path.
Now: on her lap, partially covered by her robe, she holds a scroll. On it are the letters, T O R A, Divine Law, indicating her hidden wisdom.
To The High Priestess we give the esoteric designation, “Remember.” As The Fool symbolized Awareness, as he passed back and forth between Crown and Wisdom, and The Magician represented Attention, passing back and forth from Crown to Understanding, The High Priestess denotes the need to Remember what we see and learn in this process. The Creative Principal followed this same pattern as It (He) created All-There-Is.
When a baby first becomes Aware of itself, it starts noticing things around it and things, like hands and feet, that seem to be part of it. After a while, it begins to find that it can control some of these things—again, like hands and feet. By giving its Attention to these things, it can move them at will. There is another important step here, though. Although the baby can control his limbs, etc., he has to start all over each time he thinks of it. So—he needs to Remember how he does this so it can become automatic over a period of time. This third step is Remember, in this life and in all processes either above or below our plane of existence.
Bring this up to the creation of a project—Somehow a creative idea enters your mind. It could be a new way to decorate your home, or the building of a new business. It doesn’t matter what the new idea is, the process is the same.
First, you become Aware of the idea; you look at it and think, “that’s a good idea!” To take it any further, you have to give it your Attention. In this Attention step, you begin to pay Attention to things you read or hear about this sort of thing. And now we come to this very important step… It doesn’t matter how much you read or hear, it doesn’t do you any good at all unless you Remember it! That’s what learning is all about; first you give the subject your Attention, and then you Remember what you have learned. So—the creative process has begun.
In A Reading: In this system, The High Priestess carries the same meaning in a reading as she does on the Tree of Life—Remember! Remember what(?) has to do with what the querent’s question is. Say the question is, “I’ve just met a new man that I really like. Could this become a good relationship?” You draw The High Priestess—Remember. You would (at least I would) describe what is going on in the card, as I did earlier for you.
And you tell her, “One of the esoteric keywords for this card is: Remember. This indicates that you have learned many things about relationships in the past. Tarot is telling you that it is important for you to Remember what you have learned. There are many facets to a good relationship—and a bad one! Try to Remember what qualities in past partners led to a break-up. Compare these qualities with those of this new man. Is he a similar person? Or, does he appear to be different, nicer? Tarot indicates that you might want to take it slow for a while before you decide if you really want to have a relationship with this new man. Once you are sure—Go for it!”
This is one way you can stretch the reading out and make it clearer to your querent. Try some of your own. Work with the High Priestess this month, so you’ll really know her before we move on.
See you next time!
Bright Blessings ~ Gary Meister, CTM