Welcome to the forty-sixth card pull for the Mundane Magic project!
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Every Monday, I pull a card from an old Rider Waite tarot card deck I purchased years ago in Salem, Massachusetts. Once a card is chosen, it will not return to the deck. The goal: 78 cards, 78 stories.
If you are subscribing for FREE, you will get to see a card pull post like this every Monday. You may choose to use it for your own entertainment or inspiration for creating a short story of your own! FREE posts will remain free for you to access for a month, and then they head to the archive.
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On to today’s tarot card pull!
The card pulled today was The High Priestess!
For my initial reaction to the card, check out the podcast, Episode 46.
First impressions from the image: Since this is the number 2 card in the deck, at the top of the card, there is the Roman numeral II. There is a background of blue in the illustration. There is blue sky, very distant, rolling landscape, so far away that it is also in shades of blue, and blue water directly behind the subject of the picture.
There is a female priestess seated on a gray bench, perhaps made of stone. She is cloaked in white, and has a blue robe draped over her shoulders that flows down, across her lap, and onto the floor. There is a white cross on her chest. She has dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin. She wears a white headpiece that has white fabric draped from the bottom of it. The headpiece itself has a round orb held in place by two upward reaching prongs. In her hand, she holds a scroll with the letters TORA written on it. At her feet, there is a yellow crescent of a moon, and the floor is a golden yellow.
On her left, there is a white pillar with the letter J in black. On her right, there is a black pillar with the letter B in white. The positioning of the cross on her chest and the letters on the pillars, if read from left to right across the card, looks like B+J. I’ll definitely be thinking about the significance of that as we move forward.
Behind her, hanging in between the two pillars, is a tapestry that has a background of leaves, and what look like palm trees with red fruits hanging from them. In the foreground, there are large, round, open fruits with multiple seeds inside that remind me of a pomegranate.
The Rider Waite interpretation of The High Priestess is as follows: Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed, the woman who interests the Querent (if male); the Querent (if female) silence, tenacity; wisdom, science. Reversed: Passion, moral or physical ardor, conceit, surface knowledge.
There’s a lot packed into the possible meaning of this card. The card was not pulled in reversed today. It was pulled right-side up. I’m interested in the duality of the card, the specifics of whether the Querent, the person who is using the cards as a tool for understanding, is either male or female. I’m also interested in the symbology in the illustration. I feel like, during the week, I’m going to be looking up this card, seeing what other people have to say about it. I’m curious about the letters, B and J, the implications of the cross and the scroll. It doesn’t really seem like the Rider Waite interpretation is referring to religion, in particular. I know that there is meaning associated with the fruit in the picture, so I think I’ll be looking into that as well.
There is definitely a lot to think about this week! If you are inspired, drop your thoughts into the comments below!
Now what?
Our forty-sixth card has now been drawn! I’ll be working on an original story during the week. I can’t wait to see what develops!
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Until next time, let’s make some magic!