The Secret of The High Priestess

Manara Erotic Tarot- High Priestess

Does this image make you uncomfortable?

Excited?

Embarrassed?

Offended?

Wishing you were a fly on the wall, or the person in the picture?  Or maybe it is a mirror...

This image is an exaggeration of the madonna/whore complex many, many people struggle with.  Actually, I am quite sure some of them actually enjoy it, whether consciously or not, because none of us continue any behavior that does not give a pay off, so let's call it the madonna/whore people many of us "experience".

A nun is the most sacred icon of femininity in many cultures, and the premise is they are married to Christ, so they take no earthly husband, and have no carnal knowledge.  Of course, nothing is saying this is not a picture of Himself, and this is how she communes with Him.

I know I have many readers who are not in America, but as an American I have noticed a strange juxtaposition in which our media is filled with violence, but our people are offended by the sight of a breast feeding mother.  We are fascinated by sex, but it must be kept very secret.  Our young women show their bra straps, let their thongs peek out, all suggestive, but the idea of a nun flashing her lover, even if her only lover is herself, mirrored and delighted with her secret, is probably shocking to most of us.

The High Priestess asks us to examine how sexuality and sanctity are entwined in our lives, and if we have any shame feelings around sex, she can, gently, help us figure out where they lie and how they can be addressed, if we want to.  There is a undeniable thrill to feeling a little bit ashamed, at least for some of us, but when feelings of shame keep us from experiencing any amount of joy, and the pleasure our bodies are designed to enjoy, there is an issue and something needs to be done.

As for our naughty nun, she clearly has no shame, and is taking absolute delight in exposing her most secret self, assured of her beauty and sensuality.  I like to imagine this is a mirror, and she simply delights in herself, as we should all be free to do, or it is a high tech device in which she is free to communicate with her lover.  The notion that sex is dirty or ugly needs to be eradicated from our collective conscious, and that happens one free nun at a time.

Let the High Priestess whisper her secrets to you, and notice the frisson of excitement, but don't let anyone or thing make you feel shame at your beauty and your sacred sexuality.

In these deep solitudes and awful cells,
Where heav'nly-pensive contemplation dwells,
And ever-musing melancholy reigns;
What means this tumult in a vestal's veins?
Why rove my thoughts beyond this last retreat?
Why feels my heart its long-forgotten heat?
Yet, yet I love! — From Abelard it came,
And Eloisa yet must kiss the name.

From the epic "Eloisa to Abelard" by Alexander Pope (1688–1744).

You don't need a lover to experience passion, sensuality, and delight in your body, nor, unfortunately, to feel shame in the same.  Ask The High Priestess how to be freed from the bonds that hold you, and how to tighten the ones that thrill you.