The High Priestess

The High Priestess - This is the card which has dominion over what will and will not be allowed to manifest at a given time. Did you ever wonder why you could work and work, bitch, demand, weep and sulk, and still your God/dess did not send that one thing, that wealth, fame, soulmate... Well this it the card that addresses that.

When reading the Major Arcana as "the Book of Life" this card is Hecate, the supreme governess of the borders between the normal world and the spirit world. She knows all about the Fool's past life, and his game plan for this life, and will gift him with a new body only if he is deserving, because bodies are in hot demand.

In a spread this card may stand for the querent as the one who must ultimately decide whether or not to "step through the door" of opportunity opened by the Magus; whether to stay engaged in the comfortable known, or to engage an unknown. In mundane terms this is the cerebrum, charged with the duty of seeing to it that we survive, unfortunately survival can be a gilded cage, one that ultimately shortens life, because there is no reason for a stagnant life to go on. On another level this card may be saying that you do not deserve your soulmate (or what ever) yet. Perhaps you haven't learned to love yourself yet. If not, how can you love your other self? You are the same person. And further, sometimes we don't get what we want because it is the carrot spirit is using to drag us forward, out of tradition, out of judgemental attitudes, out of stagnation and into evolution.

The symbolism in the cards reads thus -
Her foot is on the moon because she has risen above her lesser, lunar/estrogenic nature. Hekate was a virgin Goddess. She sits at the gateway of rebirth. The pillars are paired male and female, just as people are on this material plane. The veil behind her is covered with pomegranates, and palms, the tree and fruit most symbolic of motherhood. But this goddess obstructs the way. In her hand is a scroll that says "Tora_", Torah (Hebrew: "learning" or "instruction," sometimes translated as "Law") which likely has the verdict in it as to the Fool's fate, rebirth or wait. She has the symbol of the cross roads on her chest. Her crown is a stylized brain, with frontal lobe, and the two hemispheres as wings or horns. Her clothes are blue-white to indicate her spectral nature, as well as her virginity.

The Magus

The Magus - This is the card that represents the action of making manifest a physical object. And it represents the spiritual truth "as above so below".
When reading the Major Arcana as "the Book of Life" this card is, in fact, Hermes the psychopomp. He is guiding the Fool through the process of rebirth. Most people need to be helped through the process because, either they aren't aware going back is an option, and. or they don't recall how they did it last time, having drunk the waters of forgetfullness.

In a spread the Magus may stand for the querent as a manifestor. We all are manifesting our current reality all the time. If reversed it may indicate that the querent is creating their lives unconsciously, rather with intent and purpose. It can also mean that something is very close to manifestation. It can mean pregnancy.

The symbolism in the cards reads thus -
First, he is standing amidst a garden of lilies and roses. The lilies represent the underworld goddess, the High Priestess. The roses represent the mother goddess, the Empress. The Magus works with both of them. The lily goddess of the underworld/afterworld may permit or deny the Fool be released from her realm, perhaps judging that he did not live well in his past life and so he must wait while the more deserving get their turn to be reborn. The Rose/Mother goddess may also accept or refuse the person seeking reincarnation. The table in front of the Magus is all of the physical plane, and it has on it emblems of the four elements of which everything on this realm is made(staves for fire, cups for water, sword for air, and the pentacle coin for earth). He wears the ourobouros, symbolic of reincarnation(the snake became associated with many lives because of an old sumerian pun, where the word -ti meant both life and rib) as a belt. He wears white and red as the colors of life and death. The infinity symbol over his head recalls to us the forever ongoingness of life, with or without the body. The wand he has upraised is really Hermes wand, the Caduceus, which is the central nervous system with the kundalini rising up from the base. Having it uplifted tells us his main purpose, in this card, is to renew physical life.

The Fool

The Fool - this is the card which represents any person about to embark on a new adventure. And it represents the spiritual directive - Go forth and make known the unknown.

When reading the Major Arcana as "the Book of Life" the Fool is the virginal soul seeking rebirth. Virginal not necessarily in that it has never been born before, but in that it has drunk from the waters of forgetfullness, and has no memory of past lives to hamper it in this lifetime.

In a spread The fool may indicate that a would-be child spirit is near the questioner, seeking a chance for rebirth. Or, more likely, that the querent will soon have the opportunity to embark on a new adventure in life, the opportunity is becoming manifest.

But why does this card say these things?
First, he is striding down a mountain out of the lofty heights. This means descent from an etheric place into a more material state. He is at the cliff's edge. This referrs to the unpleasant falling sensation that often accompanies a return to the body after astral travel. His yellow boots say he is immature. The white rose and undergarments say he has been cleansed of his memory of his past life, or possibly he has never been incarnate before. The rod, or stave he carries is of the element of fire and represents the kundalini, which is the life force - notice how it seems finite, but when you look closer it might go on and on; this is because, I am told, if you keep making known the unknown you don't fall into stagnation and therefore there is no reason for God to shorten your life. The dog and the sack represent two aspects of the soul; the dog represents the guide (before we are born we create a destiny for our selves, which is suposed to help us resolve our imbalances, and this destiny is carried in the soul), and the sack represents the recorder of this life's events. Like a beechcomber's bag we get to fill it up with grand memories(and likely some not so grand). His dress represents his mother's fruitful womb, rather like the caul and the afterbirth. The feather in his hat is the new brain he is comming into possession of, with his new body.

Symbolism in Literature - Harry Potter

I love the use of symbolism in literature, and lately I especially love J K Rowling's use of it in her Harry Potter books. One aspect of what I love is that symbolism is the language of God. If you want to communicate to someone's, or your own, divinity, the language you use is symbolism. So, you can be telling a story to someone's intellect, amusing it, and also be telling a deeper story with this other language, and unconsciously the person will understand.

When I recognize that an author is using symbolism I am always intrigued to understand what their other message is, and sometimes the translated symbolic message is so advanced, and so not what the author appears to be about, that I wonder if they have included their symbolism unconsciously, and the message is directly from their God.

J K Rowling, however, is using symbolic language quite consciously, and in a common sense sort of way. Here is a bit of it:

Air - this is Ravenclaw house. It's animal is the golden Eagle. it's emblem is the tiara of Roweena Ravenclaw. It's colors are blue and bronze
Location: Ravenclaw Tower, which is located on the west side of the castle
The common room, like the other House common rooms, is decorated in House colours (blue and bronze silk wall hangings, in this case, and a midnight-blue carpet decorated with stars). The room is wide, circular, and very airy, with a domed ceiling painted with stars, and walls with graceful arched windows that provide a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. There are bookcases, tables, and chairs, and opposite the entrance is another door leading to the dormitories. Beside this door is a plinth on which stands a life-size statue in white marble of Rowena Ravenclaw wearing her diadem

Fire - this is Gryffindor. It's animal is the Lion. It's emblem is the sword. it's colors are red and gold. The entrance is located behind a large painting of a Fat Lady in a pink silk dress. If you know the right password to tell her, she swings open to reveal a round opening in the wall. The common room contains a lot of squashy armchairs, a fireplace, and tables. The fireplace is connected to the Floo Network.

Earth - this is Hufflepuff. It's animal is the black Badger, a burrowing animal. It's emblem is the cup of Helga Hufflepuff. It's colors are yellow and black. Of their quarters we hear - "as dissimilar as possible" from the Potions classroom. As we have seen in the other common rooms, it is decorated in House colours, which in this case means that there are lots of yellow hangings; like Gryffindor Tower, it has a lot of comfortable armchairs. There are "little underground tunnels leading to the dormitories, all of which have perfectly round doors, like barrel tops" (BLC, JKR).

Water - This is Slytherin House. It's animal is the snake. It's emblem is the locket of Salazar Slytherin, whose secretive and enclosing properties are comparable to the chamber of secrets. It's colors are silver and green. The Slytherin common room is a low-ceilinged, dungeon-like room with greenish lamps and chairs, with skulls all around and views into the lake.

This symbolism would identify the houses with the body so: head - Ravenclaw, heart - Gryffindor, stomach - Hufflepuff, and lower abdomen - Slytherin. It also identifies certain houses with directions. Ravenclaw is on the west side of the castle, thus intellect is associated with west, and loftiness in general. And we can deduce that if the mountains are to the west, around the castle than the lake must be to the east, and thus Slytherin is associated with east and emotion, especially painful emotion as is further demonstrated by the painful childhood of Snape, and the suicide of it's ghost, the Bloody Baron. This leaves north and south for the other two houses. North is traditionally associated with spirituality and south with physicality, so very likely north belongs to Gryffindor and south to Hufflepuff, though I am only guessing.

She has kept with traditional symbolism for directions in so far as I can tell, but has broken with tradition and used common sense symbolism for their emblems. Tradition associates the sword with air/intellect, the cup with water/emotion, the wand with fire/soul or spirit, and the platter or coin with earth/physicality. Perhaps because everyone had wands she needed to change things, or perhaps she wanted symbols that added something to our understanding of the properties of the four elements. She gave Air a Tiara, quite an appropriate symbol of mental brilliance. Fire was given the sword. The sword is truth, always - as far as I have seen. Is this to say that it is spirit that is the source of bravery, and that spirit is the source of truth. I think so. Earth is given the cup, and it is symbolic of kindness and generousity, which Helga Hufflepuff displayed well. It sort of speaks to plenty, and the generosity of nature, which feeds and suports us and gives us this lovely play ground to evolve in. And water got a locket, a sort of secret chamber in which evil was hidden. That goes well with her story, but is she giving water a bad rap? Not if you think of water as a force for chaos and erosion, which it is. Also, she has identified water with negative emotions; the green and murky kind which we hide from others so that they perhaps fester in secrecy. Jealousy. Envy. Insecurity. Draco Malfoy displays all of these.

The four house ghosts give us more confirmation of, and information about J K Rowling's ideas on the four elements. I have already mentioned the pain which drove the Bloody Baron to murder and suicide. But the Fat Friar is also apt for Hufflepuff, as is the cold maiden, Helena Ravenclaw. Nearly Headless Nick is a bit of a puzzle. Does she mean to say that people driven by spirit, the truly heroic, often don't pause to think. They aren't so much clever as virtuous? This is certainly true of Harry, throughout the book. He does the right thing, usually without regard for his own well being. And it is true of Neville, when he defies his friends in the first book and Lord Voldemort in the last.

The four friends - Lupin, Sirius, James, and Peter also give us more to ponder. Lupin, associated with the moon, and painful emotions seems to be the watery one. James, the seeker, would be fire. Sirius, as different from his family as he could be, and named after the brightest star would be air. And Peter the rat would be earth. Each gives us another view of these elemental personalities. Lupin is filled with painful emotion but he takes it to a different place than the typical slytherin. Instead of tearing others down to feel better about himself, he has humility. James shows us the negative side of fire, arrogance and thoughtlessness. Sirius is an air personality with passion, he deeply loves James, and is a man of action. Recall also that Sirius, the star was called the dog star, and the scorcher, as it seemed to herald in the hottest days of summer, the dog days. Peter seems to be the dark side of earth, a survivalist; one who will betray anything for the sake of his own physical survival.

There is another tradition which associates the four elements with the four upper chakras. These correspond to the endocrine glands in the human body. In this tradition water is associated with the Thymus, near the heart. Air to the Thyroid, in the throat. Fire to the Pineal gland which regulates wakefulness and sleep, and is located near the back of the brain. And Earth, as diamond, the crown chakra and master gland. This symbolism is seen in our common playing card deck - water is hearts, earth is diamonds, fire is clubs(a descendant of the tarot suit of wands), and air is spades(a descendant of the tarot suit of swords). In this tradition the four fixed signs of the zodiac - Taurus/earth, Leo/fire, Scorpio/water and Aquarius/air - also correspond to the four upper chakras. These are the four living animals mentioned in the bible, and are to be seen on old European cathedrals, with the eagle replacing the scorpion, a well known alternative symbol. Their importance is that the three lower chakras control everything that makes one human, in a muggle sense of the word; while the four upper seals represent evolution spiritually. The heart chakra is love. The throat chakra is expression of love. the pineal is seeing Divinity in all people and things. And, the pituitary is seeing the Divinity of self.

The four treasures of the Tuatha De' Danann fall into this tradition, with the Undry Cauldron corresponding to water and the heart chakra due to it's power of feeding and healing; the Sword of Nuada being a sword of truth equates with air and the throat chakra, speaking truth being a sure spiritual weapon against ignorance; The Lugh's spear Luin symbolises fire and the quickening when the pineal is activated; and the Lia Fail, stone of kingship, represents earth, exalted. The king was also the spiritual leader of his people. He was earth exalted, and thus the stone recognized him.

It is possible certain characters in the Harry Potter books are meant to exemplify these upper four, but it is not explicitly shown. However the three lower chakras/seals are seen in the deathly hallows. The three lower ones are sexuality; especially male, as the female sexual glands are higher, and more associated with the second seal/chakra, which is emotional pain. And the third is power, the will to have our own way, to control. As deathly hallows we see the first seal in the wand, which is a power tool, but more brutish, and phallic. The second seal/chakra, emotional pain (people who dwell primarily in this seal are very psychic, and likely to see thinks of the next world) is symbolized by the black stone. The cloak of invisibility is left to correspond to the third seal/chakra, and at first it seems an ill fit, but if true power comes from knowledge, what better way to gain knowledge than to be able to go anywhere undetected. That Harry becomes master of the three is to say that he has evolved beyond the human condition, and of course the voluntary self sacrifice, for love of his friends and peers, and subsequent resurrection, makes him a Christ-like figure of the sacrificial lamb sort.