High Priestess, is thy name Cassandra?

This came up recently in a reading I was giving a friend. The High Priestess came out and in describing her to my client, I said she was like an Oracle.

“You mean she’s like Cassandra?” he asked.

It took me back a moment.

I mulled it over and realized he was right. The High Priestess can sometimes be like the Cassandra of Greek mythology; blessed to see the future but also cursed so that nobody would listen to her or believe her. While not relevant to the reading we were performing at the time, I vowed to come back to the concept and explore it further.

If you choose to read reversals you can look at the H.P. as someone with wisdom, but no way to communicate that wisdom to others. By whatever means, their words are not understood, ignored or just not heard. I don’t generally read reversals and instead look at the shadow of a card. Whenever the High Priestess comes up in a reading I am performing, I think about the Oracles of myth. In my mind, the higher wisdom that Oracles channel into this world doesn’t easily fit into a human mind or language, which is why Oracles speak in riddles and cryptic khresmoi.  That is the shadow of the High Priestess: her esoteric wisdom and mystic messages are inherently apocryphal. Those that seek the High Priestess’ wisdom must be prepared to untangle words, decipher codes and think outside the box.

So, dear readers, have any of you had occasion where the High Priestess has presented herself and yet cannot get her message across? Or have you had insight, precognition or premonitions that others just didn’t listen to?

~Drew

7 thoughts on “High Priestess, is thy name Cassandra?”

  1. This is the story of my life. Over and over, I say things and people don’t believe me. They later come back to me and say, “you were right, I should have listened to you.”

    The most dramatic example of this was with a (now former) consulting client – they wanted to make a change to their compensation structure. In both email and a phone call, I told them not to do it because it would come back to haunt them and cost them more money than they would be saving. They said, “Oh, it will be fine”, and did it anyway.

    Three years later, they settled the class action lawsuit for several million dollars.

  2. Thank you for sharing, Anastasia!
    I think, if I ever get around to making a tarot deck, that the High Priestess’ name will be Cassandra.
    (I’ll just have to work with whomever does the art to make it subtle…)

  3. Thanks for another fantastic article. Where else could anyone get that type of info in such an ideal way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such info.

  4. Hi Antonette,

    Try wikipedia for the basic, crib-notes on Greek mythology. There are tons of quality books written on Greek mythology as well. Hit your library and local bookseller.

    As for Tarot, again there are tons of great books out there. I could (and should) write a post on good books to start with.

    As for writing: everyone’s different in their writing style. The way I write may not work for you. Probably the best advice I can give is don’t try to hammer out the perfect draft on the first go. Take multiple passes at editing. Walk away and come back later if you can, then revise.

    good luck!

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