the lady pope

A couple of historical figures have been suggested as models for the Lady Pope. Except the famous "Pope Joan" wasn't really historical, and Guglielma of Bohemia, a legendary Visconti relative of the late 13th century, are both discussed by Rachel Pollack on page 29 of her "Complete Illustrated Guide."

Also, the Lady Pope in modern times has morphed into a high priestess, but I wonder, was she a high priestess before she was a pope? The archetype of the wise, powerful, mysterious woman is embedded deep in our past and our minds.

The priestess image is older than tarot, or dirt, for that matter. Consider this from Robert Graves, the poet, historian and cultural anthropologist: "The whole of neolithic Europe, to judge from surviving artifacts and myths, had a remarkably homogeneous system of religous ideas, based on worship of the many-titled mother goddess, who was also known in Syria and Libya.

"Ancient Europe had no gods. The great goddess was regarded as immortal, changeless, and omnipotent; and the concept of fatherhood had not been introduced into religious thought. She took lovers, but for pleasure, not to provide her children with a father. Men feared, adored, and obeyed the matriarch.

"Not only the moon, but (to judge from Hemera of Greece and Grainne of Ireland) the sun, were the goddess's celestial symbols. In earlier Greek myth, however, the sun yields precedence to the moon -- which inspires the greater superstitious fear, does not grow dimmer as the year wanes, and is credited with the power to grant or deny water to the fields." (note: Farmers in many parts of the world still plant according to the phases of the moon.)

"The tribal Nymph, it seems, chose an annual lover from her entourage of young men, a king to be sacrificed when the year ended; making him a symbol of fertility, rather than the object of her erotic pleasure. His sprinkled blood served to fructify trees, crops, and flocks, and his flesh was torn and eaten raw by the Queen's fellow-nymphs -- priestesses wearing the masks of bitches, mares, or sows."

This old gal's got a lot of high-powered, juicy juju, and she'll change your life if she's in it. She knows what's in our minds, even though she's not always aware of her own power; she's your fondest dream or sometimes your worst nightmare; she's intuition; she's the moon in all its phases.

Tarot card, The Female Pope, ©2001, 2012 by Dave B, a.k.a. catboxer.

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