Within the Sound… of Silence
I don’t usually use actual card images for my blogs, but I couldn’t resist for this one. It asks us to immediately be peaceful, silent and to look within oneself. This so perfectly represents my thoughts for the card.
This Priestess is from a soon to be released deck, “The Divine Feminine”. It is one of a trilogy of decks. The other two being “Divine Masculine” and “Divine Spirit”. The three decks can be used as they are, or can be mixed and mingled in any combination as the reader is drawn to do.
This is not your standard “Rider-Waite” deck, and yet if you look at the emotions and the body language of the people depicted, their stories, the story of the tarot, and the messages they hold are all there, waiting to be accepted.
The deck is the work of J. Ryan Kent, of Queer Street Tarot. For me, a local artist, in St. Paul Minnesota. To learn more about these divine (pun intended) decks, and perhaps purchase your set, check out these two links.
www.queerstreettarot.com/queer-street-deck/
Now below, my story, of how the High Priestess talks to me.
Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains,
Within the sound of silence.
— Simon & Garfunkel, Sound of Silence.
While the entire song does not speak to the High Priestess, I do relate that first verse to her. Please, allow me to explain.
The High Priestess sits with the book of knowledge in her lap, between the pillars at the entrance to the temple of the moon; of knowledge. The gateway between the worlds. Many wish to enter and to learn. They come with words, questions, desire, force, and yearning. However, they shall not be granted entrance nor knowledge. Above the gateway are the words, “Know Thyself”. The key to admittance, to knowing oneself, is silence. To look within, to meditate and to listen to your own intuition. She will then guide your dreams, keep confidant your secrets and show you the wisdom you keep in the darkest most silent part of your self. Only in silence, when you stop speaking and open your mind, can you learn.
When approaching the High Priestess, you must have faith to gain knowledge. For she does not give her knowledge freely. You must trust what you know, trust your intuition, your gut. Don’t second guess yourself. You must seek her out, in her sacred space and be willing to accept and believe in things that are intangible. Don’t limit yourself to logic and reason or conscious thought, for those are the tools of The Magician, but lift the veil, and see the unseen. Trust your dreams and intuition.
In return, she will draw down the moon, govern the realm of the unconscious and offer gifts of the spirit, and of inner guidance. She will reveal perception, insight, divine inspiration and hidden knowledge, if only you will quite yourself to receive them.
Be open to the stillness and the depths within. There, you gain strength and wisdom. Be open to your dreams and intuitions. Within the sound of silence, lies intuition and dreams, where knowledge is found.
The High Priestess is young and innocent, but has a very old soul. She is virginal, but is shown with the Moon, a symbol of pregnancy and motherhood. She is a silver goddess, linked to the moon, ruling the night and safeguarding our dreams.
In warning, she tells of an imbalance between ethics and practices, of self-doubt, not heeding intuition, and of keeping secrets, especially from oneself. She tells of impaired judgment, a misuse of skills and false hopes. She reminds us not to be withdrawn, but to connect with the world around us.
