Beyond the Veil of the High Priestess
In this volume, I make numerous references to the matriarchal roots of
the Tarot. Before I develop this theory further, an explanation of matriarchy is in order. Essentially, matriarchy is a
socio-political-religious system where woman-rule and/or mother-right predominates. These
few words, however, do not adequately express the enormous philosophical chasm that exists between matriarchy and patriarchy. The former
shares power, values life, nature, and is communal and cyclical in style,
while the latter extols the virtues of power-over, materialism,
possessions, private property, and is linear in concept. One includes while
the other excludes.
When one thinks of unconditional love, the first thing that comes to
mind is mother- love, the love a mother bestows upon her children. With
the [ideal] mother, or Goddess, as the prototype for government and religion, it is easy to see why matriarchal times were gentler times.
Matriarchy, contrary to popular opinion, is not simply patriarchy in
reverse. It is this notion of role reversal, and the patriarchy’s fear
of reprisal, that sustains the unfair treatment of women and other oppressed groups in patriarchal societies.
During matriarchal times (4,000 to 6,000 years ago), women made laws,
governed, were teachers, judges and priestesses as well as mothers and
farmers. Marriage as we know it was non-existent and there was matrilineal distribution of property as well as titles (through the maternal
side).
One of the oldest cities yet excavated is Catal Hüyük in Anatolia (now
called Turkey). Excavations revealed two secrets:
1. This city showed no evidence of warfare or weaponry in over 200
years;
2. This city was clearly under matriarchal rule.
The concept of an idyllic land of “Milk and Honey” (milk coming from
female animals and women and honey from the matriarchal bee) most certainly refers to a time when matriarchy was in flower. In fact, most
findings characterize this period as one of peace and prosperity.
According to J.J. Bachofen in his book Myth, Religion, and
Mother-Right, matriarchy, like its predecessor, amazonism, and successor,
patriarchy, was a world-wide phenomenon, not a mere regional occurrence. There
was, however, overlap--when more than one of these systems existed simultaneously, during transition periods.
I subscribe to the theory expounded by both Elizabeth Gould Davis and
Bachofen--that myth is in fact condensed history. Mythology of the East and West is riddled with tales of male conquerors or gods abducting,
raping, and killing Goddesses and female leaders, and usurping their
thrones. These myths were attempts of a people (usually male historians)
to justify the world-wide spread of patriarchy; in so doing these story-tellers bear involuntary witness to prior matriarchy.
The patriarchal revolution didn’t occur overnight and was fraught
with terrorism and bloodshed. Many occult materials are incredibly tainted with this same paradigm of “might makes right.” One must choose
carefully to gain a good reading background in herstory. Primary sources
include Davis’ The First Sex, Merlin Stone’s When God Was A Woman and
Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood, Anne Kent Rush’s Moon Moon, The Holy Book
of Woman’s Mysteries by Zsuzsanna Budapest, Patricia Monaghan’s The Book
of Goddesses and Heroines, and this book, as well as others listed in
my bibliography. With these one can develop insight into patriarchal distortions of matriarchal beginnings.
In terms of the Tarot, despite patriarchal domination, some vestiges
of matriarchal heritage can be un-earthed even in the traditional decks
such as the Rider-Waite. For one thing, though the Emperor bludgeoned
his way into a prominent position in the traditional Tarot, he still
receives his power only through his “marriage” to the Empress, whom he
follows.
Writing up his research for his traditional Tarot deck, the Book of
Thoth, misogynistic genius Aleister Crowley refers to three “Great Mother
Letters” of the Hebrew alphabet as being Aleph, Mem and Shin, and a
daughter letter, Tau. These letters correspond to Air, Water, Fire, and
Earth, respectively; thus, he gives female gender to all the elements.
This would lead one to believe that Crowley subscribed to a universe
created by, and centered on, the Female Principle. In the next paragraph
or so, he allocates the elements of Water and Earth to the Female
Principle and Fire and Air to the Male... bit of a contradiction.
Crowley made some innovative steps toward a more accurate
understanding of Kabbalistic correspondence with the traditional Tarot. He stated
that the Star and Emperor had their Hebrew letters reversed. The old
translation connects Hé, a “female” letter, with the Emperor, who is
archetypally male, and Tzaddi, a “male” letter, with the Star.
He explains that these letters needed to be reversed but never
followed through. This would have involved placing the Star in her rightful
place next to the Empress as the third–or Crone, phase of the Lunar
Trinity (High Priestess [Maiden], Empress [Mother], and Star
[Crone]) in the traditional decks. In
The Wise Woman’s Tarot Deck, I have made these placement changes which
are more in tune with a matriarchal version of the Major Arcana. The
Emperor--or, in my deck, the Amazon, should follow the Mars-ruled Tower--in my deck,
Revolution/Revelation. This combination symbolizes the
Patriarchal Revolution which did in fact take place roughly 4,000 years
ago, at the dawn of the Age of Aries.
The Crone is certainly the most potent of the Lunar Trinity, as she
controls the province of death and, most importantly, regeneration. During this time that we are inundated by the death-throes of patriarchal
rule, the Emperor in traditional decks is where he belongs for the moment,
usurping the position of the Crone. How telling that the Emperor—symbol
of patriarchal militarism and “law and order,” has taken on the divine
power of dealing death—in the most material and cruel sense; yet man,
with his total disregard for natural cycles and natural order, has yet
to attempt to provide any kind of regenerative process to offset his
wanton destructiveness.
The Star in traditional decks appears after the Tower, heralding the
coming “New Age” of Aquarius, that follows a period of revolution and
strife. As the cycle comes round again, the yang imbalance is being
countered by the more yin resurgence in women’s spirituality, symbolized by
the reordering of the Major Arcana in The Wise Woman’s Tarot. It is my
conjecture that the Tarot may always have been used in this way--as
a kind of time machine/capsule with interlocking symbols that can be
positioned by an adept not only to portend, but more proactively to subtlety
stimulate shifts in consciousness regarding pivotal global/cosmic events.
The dawning Aquarian Age should prove to be a wonderful synthesis of
the intellectual and emotional, spiritual and material, and even technological and natural energies. Former patriarchal ages saw civilizations
using the “either/or” linear system of exclusion. Hopefully we will
enjoy more of a “both/and,” cyclical, inclusive framework for the coming
New Age, so that we can benefit from the gifts and talents of all races, genders and abilities of human and non-human beings alike.
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