The Priestess: Spirit Keeper's Tarot

[Joan Marie]

The Priestess card, in any deck, is an enigma. She's the one many of us aspire to be (or think we already are )

She has secrets and is the Keeper of mysteries.

But what secret(s)?

This Priestess card from this deck is unusual in that it has no actual figure of a person, no actual "Priestess."
Artistically it is unusual in that most deck artists love to create this beautiful mystery woman and imbue her with all sorts of feminine powers of otherworldliness. But here, no.

When I scried into the card (as advised) before reading anything about her, the message I got was..this is hard to put into words...something like, circumstances, good or bad, don't change or alter who we are. From beginning to end, the soul is unchanged. We find this out at the end of life when (contrary to most popular religions) we are not asked to tally all our deeds and thoughts and be be judged by them.

The ease with which we pass through the veil will depend only on how close we have come our own essence, our soul.

This is why cultivating equanimity is so important. It is the only way to survive the terror, the excitement, the confusion and the bliss of life, and of death.

The Priestess herself here is absent on this card. As we will all find ourselves one day. We will all become our essence and the only question is, can you handle that?

[Myperception]

It just like a third eye chakra for us. An eye of wisdom. A feeling of we see through in you.

[Diana]

When I scried into the card (as advised) before reading anything about her, the message I got was..this is hard to put into words...something like, circumstances, good or bad, don't change or alter who we are. From beginning to end, the soul is unchanged. We find this out at the end of life when (contrary to most popular religions) we are not asked to tally all our deeds and thoughts and be be judged by them.

The ease with which we pass through the veil will depend only on how close we have come our own essence, our soul.

What an absolutely exquisite card. This whole deck is fascinating (I discovered it when I joined CoT. No money for luxuries at the moment, but I drink in the images I see online).

What you mention in the quote above is actually one of the basic principles of all spiritual healing. No healer would be able to heal anyone without the realisation and acknowledgment of this truth.

[Joan Marie]

What you mention in the quote above is actually one of the basic principles of all spiritual healing. No healer would be able to heal anyone without the realisation and acknowledgment of this truth.

I did not know that. And I wonder if the other side is also true, that no one is able to be healed without understanding this truth, at least on some level.

I actually realised this truth (although this is the first time I've been able to put it into those words) in a dream I had when I was in the desert some years ago.
In the dream I experienced my own death and for the first time felt what "nothing" really is. Absolute nothing, everything gone including every illusion of "self" I ever had. The phrase "letting go" almost describes what was needed in order to get past the shock of it all. But concepts like that were also non-existent. And so were forgiveness, acceptance, good, bad....there was only...essence.

When I saw this card, with the Priestess herself not even present, I was instantly taken back to that dream and that feeling. I feel like that Eye is just about to disappear too.

This card represents an extremely unusual take on the Priestess artistically and I feel like it can't be just random.

Benebell says, and I think every artist knows this, that as the creator of something you don't always have full consciousness of what the images you are creating are conveying on different levels. But the more tuned in one is to the creating process, (in the zone as they say) the more likely one is to be in touch with multiple layers of meaning and expression that they may not even be aware of.

To my mind, she achieved that with this card.

You've given me something to think about in regards to spiritual healing. You have be able to look past a lot to see to the person's true heart. And maybe a real healer who can do that enables the person to see their own heart.

It's hard putting words to some of these ideas.

[Diana]

I did not know that. And I wonder if the other side is also true, that no one is able to be healed without understanding this truth, at least on some level.

Apparently not. It would appear that the mere fact of reaching out to the enlightened consciousness of the healer is enough. By reaching out, this does imply that we to some extent, even if it is only through sheer desperation, accept that there's "something greater than ourselves" out there, whether we understand it or not. It is the healer that sees beyond the veil, not the person asking for the healing (if he/she could, they would not have reached out for help).

I actually realised this truth (although this is the first time I've been able to put it into those words) in a dream I had when I was in the desert some years ago.
In the dream I experienced my own death and for the first time felt what "nothing" really is. Absolute nothing, everything gone including every illusion of "self" I ever had. The phrase "letting go" almost describes what was needed in order to get past the shock of it all. But concepts like that were also non-existent. And so were forgiveness, acceptance, good, bad....there was only...essence.

When I saw this card, with the Priestess herself not even present, I was instantly taken back to that dream and that feeling. I feel like that Eye is just about to disappear too.

That was some powerful dream you had there. I feel honoured that you have shared it here. Dreams are as real as our waking life. It seems to me that you are describing a mystical experience of quite a high order. And you had it in the desert.This is surely highly significant.

It must have been quite a shock to be only essence. To be stripped of all the trappings and to be "nothing".

This card represents an extremely unusual take on the Priestess artistically and I feel like it can't be just random.

Benebell says, and I think every artist knows this, that as the creator of something you don't always have full consciousness of what the images you are creating are conveying on different levels. But the more tuned in one is to the creating process, (in the zone as they say) the more likely one is to be in touch with multiple layers of meaning and expression that they may not even be aware of.

To my mind, she achieved that with this card.

Oh I'm sure like you that Benebell was not always conscious of what she was creating. When the spirit takes over one flies so high that one cannot see all the details on the ground that will appear in time once the creation is completed.

You've given me something to think about in regards to spiritual healing. You have be able to look past a lot to see to the person's true heart. And maybe a real healer who can do that enables the person to see their own heart.

It's hard putting words to some of these ideas.

There's nothing harder than putting these kind of things into words. It's normal. We are speaking of two different "worlds" here and the other world doesn't use words like we do.

Actually to be more correct when it comes to spiritual healing, it's not really the healer who does the work. That wonderful saying "You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free" doesn't really mean that it's YOUR or the healer's understanding of the truth that makes you free. Truth would be a hard thing to understand with the human mind - and the human mind would scoff at it anyway. The "know" is more of an acknowledgment, a recognition... and then it is the Truth Itself that sets you free, that does the "work". (Yes, it is hard to talk of these things in human speech.)