Tarot: High Priestess

[pyraxis]

And she turns to me with her hand extended, her palm is split with a flower, with a flame...
(Suzanne Vega)

She is a rsakk high Grehti and therefore a master of both the delicate and that which consumes.



The strands of shells are a superstition older than most people can remember; it's believed that sleeping under them will protect a priest from evil spirits.

It is actually true. A toren could not shift back out of their insubstantial form within striking range without ending up with strings and shells embedded in their body.

Link to a traditional interpretation of the high priestess card.

Comments

[yonjuunana.livejournal.com]

Oh wow... This is really cool. Nothing stands out at me that I want to critique. I really like the concept and I love that song, hadn't seen the video for it before. Hahaha, I think e. was surprised at seeing the song in a different way, since it's something that's been very familiar to us since we were very young, our parents were always playing that CD when we were tiny... took me a while to be able to find words for a comment here because e. was too busy staring and being sort of bewildered at the song being in a new context both in the picture and the video, but they finally said "I like it." :)

[liminaltime]

Is there any symbolism behind the double moon?

[shashigai.livejournal.com]

Your priestess has that same expressionlessness that causes people to read their projections into her expression.

[tigerweave.livejournal.com]

Ok *steals herself* you asked for critique, well the absolute first thing I did when I saw the picture was puzzle about the hand extended out, and why it looked out of proportion big.
Which is soooo not what I want to do when looking at a card to read. I need to not be puzzling over the artist's technique.
Verdigris (who got me to write this as we gotta go counselling soon and I/Imoh am staying in the centre for that, not Verdigris) reckons it is that the hand is out of proportion for the extend the arms are extending it forward, which isn't much, as her upper arm is glued to her side.

The lines on the face seem like paint more than expression-lines, is that the intent?
The flower in her hand - it isn't clear what it is and how it is sitting, again making me puzzle instead of sliding into that reading state.
I am not sure if I like her other hand or not as in am I puzzling over the technical stuff or not? but it does ... almost give me that open ground for interpretation, but I think you could skate a bit more clearly as to what it is supposed to be holding without losing that interpretive quality.


Ok what we LOVE:
The general translucent feel to the colours of the priestess.
The symbology of the shell strands.
Her cobwebby collar. (Mind if we crochet one and put it on a blouse? so kewl!)
The ... kinda normality of her hair, which makes her seem so very human but at the same time the other things give that Otherworld air.
The general composition.
The general colour tones.

I gotta read up on the Priestess interpretation as I would like to see the card in that context next, but gotta run :-)

- Imoh