II — The High Priestess/ Qqaaxhadajaat
The High Priestess
… the embodiment of gnosis … the combination of the human and divine … our own powers of intuition …
I agree with many critics of the Tarot who tend to attribute to this card in the Rider-Waite deck the concept that the High Priestess represents the extremity of human knowledge. In other words, if the Magician has the tools to connect with Spirit but not the experience, knowledge or discipline, then the High Priestess not only has gone through the shadow worlds to seek out that knowledge, but she has returned to tell us what she witnessed.
Depending on the deck and the reader of the Tarot, the High Priestess is either a hand maiden to the Goddess, or some sort of avatar to help guide human learning. Before she was changed into the current spectacle we know her as today, the card was called, "La Papesse," the Female Pope. Perhaps this was a more direct concept; she was not just a priestess among many, she was the ultimate source of spirituality, authority and knowledge among her people. In many ways, it is too bad we do not go back to the older version.
No matter. The current card shows a woman sitting passively in the temple of Solomon between two pillars of polar opposites. On her head she wears a diadem, a Christian cross rests upon her breast and in her lap she carries a scroll with the Judea word "Tora" written on it and at her feet lies a crescent half moon, symbol of Diana and Pagan religions. The diadem is an ancient crown signifying the supreme right of kings and popes. The Tora contains sacred Hebrew laws. Combine all of this with the Pagan moon and the Christian cross and the High Priestess represents all that is spiritual and occult. No longer the novice, she serves the divine and keeps its laws.
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The Card
On a calm, deep night a dark haired woman stands off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, waves lapping at her chest. In back of her a crescent moon hints at esoteric mysteries. On her naked flesh a large, tribal tattoo depicting a shark is just visible. Behind her, on the shore, she is flanked by the silhouettes of two ancient totem poles, each representing her house's spirituality and wisdom. This is Qqaaxhadajaat, the Dogfish Woman. Having returned to the human world from under the sea all forms of knowledge, both studious and native, are open to her.
The Haida are a people inhabiting the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia, Canada, as well as Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. "K'aaxada awga" is the Haida word for the dogfish (Squalus acanthias), a small variety of shark that inhabits the waters of the Pacific North Coast. The dogfish, as well as a variety of other mythical sea creatures, appears in a variety Haida art1 especially as a figurehead in totem pole carvings. This particular crest is recognized by its half-moon gill slits, its crescent shaped mouth turned down at corners and filled with pointy teeth (Keithahn, 723) The folklore around Dogfish Woman tells that, having insulted the gods, Qqaaxhadajaat finds herself transformed from a mortal woman into one of them:
A woman went traveling with her husband. She used to make fun of the dogfish. They went to visit a small rock in the sea. When they were out there, the dogfish, whose home it was, came and took the woman down into the sea. There she discovered that the dogfish were really people. They had taken off their dogfish blankets. After she had stayed in the house for some time, fins began to grow upon her arms, her legs and her back. Her husband was searching for her everywhere … After a number of years he found her … Ever since that time her family have used the dogfish crest and their house is called Dogfish House. (Bringhurst, 139 - 141)
Unlike her counterpart in the Rider-Waite deck, the High Priestess Qqaaxhadajaat is devoid of any Western trappings usually associated with "the pursuit of wisdom." Gone are the robes, the crown, the cross. Whereas the seated female in the Rider-Waite deck holds a scroll with certain holy texts written down on it, Haida wisdom and knowledge is all recounted orally, passed down through the generations. Only the large, complex tattoo that symbolizes her abilities to move between worlds proclaims her as a laureate of secrets. Qqaaxhadajaat is not only a divine being but she is also the repository of all her people's traditions, mythologies, customs. In other words, she is what an avatar should be; the female divine, the intrinsic guise of Spirit made flesh, the union of the mortal and immortal.
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The High Priestess/ Qqaaxhadajaat in a Reading
When the High Priestess calls your name, attend to what she has to say. She calls on you to trust your suspicions, intuitions, hunches. We live in a highly categorical society, everything must have its place. But suspicions and intuitions are still a tool at our disposal. What is stopping you from using them? What is preventing you from connecting yourself with Spirit? If you are not gathering knowledge to help understand your dreams and desires better, what are you gathering knowledge for? But know that the pursuit of wisdom comes at a price. Will you be like Qqaaxhadajaat and arrive through the darkness of the ocean transformed and wiser? Or will you be the mother in this little poem?
Mother in the ocean
did not see the big wave.
Now she is lost in the kelp. (Swann, 33)
Blinded by her own pursuits she could not see the dangers right in front of her. A word of caution if the High Priestess is reversed in the spread. A search for other people's wisdom can create vanity, conceit, bluster in a person. What are you searching? What are your goals? Beware of the person with only surface knowledge and no life experience to back it up.
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Note: Most of my poetry I have been writing for this Tarot deck needs little or no introduction. I try to reflect the elements of a particular card in the sonnet with greater or lesser success. However, I use two Haida words in this poem. I start out the poem with 'wáayaat, which translates simply as, "now;" a way of getting the listener's attention. The poem ends with háw'aa, which is a form of "thank you." The Haida language is a highly fascinating one; however, since there are only a couple of dozen people who fluently speak it anymore and of those the average age is 70, it is a language that is also on the verge of becoming extinct. If you have the time the Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau, Alaska, is offering language courses. I highly suggest you attend.
Wáayaat. First it was dark. Cold
I can deal with. But dark? They took my face,
my name, my mink skinned gloves, all that I hold
dear, they took. My husband searched for a trace
of me. The Dogfish are a secret race,
good at hiding; so my husband never
found me. Now I accept so much. Embrace
it all, I say. Every truth about water
is mine. I'll tell you the ocean's pleasure
and the sea's whimsy. Now that I've returned
to you with my new name, my new fur
gloves, my new body. All that I have learned
I will tell you. The Whale Law, the Seal Law,
the Dogfish Law, I will say. Háw'aa.
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Works Cited:
Bierhorst, John. The Sacred Path: spells, prayers, & power songs of the American Indians. New York: Morrow (1983)
Bringhurst, Robert. A Story As Sharp As a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre (1999)
Keithahn, Edward L. Monuments in Cedar. Seattle, Washington: Superior Publishing Co. (1963)
Swann, Brian. Wearing the Morning Star: Native American song-poems. New York: Random House (1996)
Swanton, John R. Haida texts and myths, Skidegate dialect. Washington, Govt. print. off (1905)
- Haida folklore is full of stories, legends, motifs connecting its people to the ocean. There is the story of Wa'sg.o, the water monster with the head and body of a wolf and the fins of a killer whale (Swanton, 193, 207 n. 13); one myth concerning Sea Otter Woman (ibid., 236) and another of how a man became the first seagull (ibid. 264 - 68). The Haida shamans were said to be able to talk to sea lions (ibid., 282 - 85) and furthermore there are many myths relating how humans and spirit sea creatures often married each other. Two such noted stories worth research are The Man Who Married a Killer Whale Woman (ibid., 286 - 287) and He Who Married the Daughter of the Devilfish Chief (ibid., 292 - 93). J.R. Swanson recorded a shaman's song placating a god in charge of storms at sea with the following chant:
Ocean Spirit
calm the waves for me
get close to me, my power
my heart is tired
make the sea like milk for me
yeho
yeholo (Bierhorst, 99) [back]