A disdainful man looks after two retreating and dejected figures. Their swords lie upon the ground. He carries two others on his left shoulder, and a third sword is in his right hand, point to earth. He is the master in possession of the field.
Divinatory Meanings:
Degradation, destruction, revocation, infamy, dishonour, loss, with the variants and analogues of these.
Reversed: The same; burial and obsequies.
Additional meanings:
An attack on the fortune of the Querent.
A young man is seated under a tree and contemplates three cups set on the grass before him; an arm issuing from a cloud offers him another cup. His expression notwithstanding is one of discontent with his environment.
Divinatory Meanings:
Weariness, disgust, aversion, imaginary vexations, as if the wine of this world had caused satiety only; another wine, as if a fairy gift, is now offered the wastrel, but he sees no consolation therein. This is also a card of blended pleasure.
Reversed: Novelty, presage, new instruction, new relations.
A man and woman beneath an archway which gives entrance to a house and domain. They are accompanied by a child, who looks curiously at two dogs accosting an ancient personage seated in the foreground. The child’s hand is on one of them.
Divinatory Meanings:
Gain, riches; family matters, archives, extraction, the abode of a family.
Reversed: Chance, fatality, loss, robbery, games of hazard; sometimes gift, dowry, pension.
Additional meanings:
Represents house or dwelling, and derives its value from other cards.
Reversed: An occasion which may be fortunate or otherwise.
The Tarot High Priestess is the ruler of what’s hidden and secret, the essence behind the scenes. She knows what really goes on. The High Priestess is not that eager to reveal it, though, at least not to those who are fooled by the superficial. You have to deserve the revelations to which she holds the keys.
The Tarot High Priestess card has a counterpart in that of the Hierophant, the pompous pope who is indeed powerful, but mainly carries the treasured symbols, having less to do with actual rulership. The High Priestess is the opposite - much more modest in appearance and rare in making public appearances, but still running the show.
She can be compared to a grey eminence, someone in charge although not carrying the office.
The Tarot High Priestess guards the secrets and ensures the master plan. In doing so, she knows to act with caution, very discreetly, and paying attention to details that are believe to be insignificant.
But it's in the shadows and the periphery that the future of the world is forged. The microcosm rules the macrocosm. The High Priestess is a master of the microcosm.
Bruce, I think your third card … Death …is from the old Marseille Tarot pack.
You do seem to have a few packs.
Edited to add: It’s a variant of the Tarot de Marseille called
1JJ Swiss Tarot. I have a well worn pack stashed in a drawer. I never throw a deck away no matter how tatty it’s got. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/1jj-swiss/
A lithe, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands, while in the act of swift walking. He is passing over rugged land, and about his way the clouds are collocated wildly. He is alert and lithe, looking this way and that, as if an expected enemy might appear at any moment.
Divinatory Meanings:
Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities thereto belonging.
Reversed: More evil side of these qualities; what is unforeseen, unprepared state; sickness is also intimated.
Additional meanings:
An indiscreet person will pry into the Querent’s secrets.
The figure leans upon his staff and has an expectant look, as if awaiting an enemy. Behind are eight other staves - erect, in orderly disposition, like a palisade.
Divinatory Meanings:
The card signifies strength in opposition. If attacked, the person will meet an onslaught boldly; and his build shews, that he may prove a formidable antagonist. With this main significance there are all its possible adjuncts - delay, suspension, adjournment.
Reversed: Obstacles, adversity, calamity.
Additional meanings:
Generally speaking, a bad card.
A sculptor at his work in a monastery. Compare the design which illustrates the Eight of Pentacles. The apprentice or amateur therein has received his reward and is now at work in earnest.
Divinatory Meanings:
Metier, trade, skilled labour; usually, however, regarded as a card of nobility, aristocracy, renown, glory.
Reversed: Mediocrity, in work and otherwise, puerility, pettiness, weakness.
Additional meanings:
If for a man, celebrity for his eldest son.
Children in an old garden, their cups filled with flowers.
Divinatory Meanings:
A card of the past and of memories, looking back, as - for example - on childhood; happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the past; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving new relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are disporting in an unfamiliar precinct.
Reversed: The future, renewal, that which will come to pass presently.
