Episode 198 – Breaking the Frame: On the High Priestess in the Tarot

Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Society & Culture, Arts, Philosophy

4.8 • 688 Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Since 2020, Phil and JF have been creating an on-again, off-again series on the major trumps, or "arcana," of the tarot. In this episode, they continue the series with a discussion of the second arcanum: the High Priestess, also known as la Papesse, the female pope. One of the most enigmatic and powerful cards in the deck, the High Priestess symbolizes duality, contemplation, and manifestation. Support Weird Studies on ⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠. Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes ⁠⁠1⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠2⁠⁠, on Pierre-Yves Martel's ⁠⁠Bandcamp⁠⁠ page. Visit the Weird Studies ⁠⁠⁠Bookshop⁠⁠⁠ Find us on ⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠ Get the T-shirt design from ⁠⁠⁠Cotton Bureau⁠⁠⁠. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, ⁠⁠Cosmophonia⁠⁠. REFERENCES Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot Plancia Magna, Roman priestess Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth Leigh McCloskey, The Tarot Revisioned Henri Bergson, Matter and Memory Moina Mathers, French occultist Sallie Nichols, Tarot and the Archetypal Journey Rachel Pollack, Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom Yoav Ben-Dov, The Marseille Tarot Revealed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Spectrevision Radio
0:04.0	I've got a story to tell you.
0:08.0	It might sound unbelievable, but the person who experienced it once fought the same,
0:16.0	until they saw something that changed them forever.
0:20.0	Here we dive into the paranormal, the strange and the unexplained,
0:25.6	from personal supernatural encounters to some of the most infamous unsolved mysteries and history,
0:32.6	all told in an immersive, atmospheric narrative-led style.
0:38.0	Let's hear these stories and try to figure out together what really happened.
0:44.8	The world is a very strange place.
0:48.2	Someone has to record it.
0:50.6	Because after all, everywhere has a ghost story.
1:26.0	Archived in collaboration with Spectrevision and J.F. Martel.
1:57.9	For more episodes or to support the podcast, go to weirdst, this is J.F. Martel.
2:02.4	Our occasional series on the taro resumes today.
2:07.4	With a look at the major archanum, the writer-weight deck, calls the High Priestess,
2:12.1	known in the older Marseille deck as La Pappes, the female pope.
2:19.1	The High Priestess is Archanum number two, following on the heels of Arcandum number one, the magician,
2:22.1	whom we discussed back in episode 180.
2:27.5	That the female pope should appear three cards before her better-known male counterpart,
2:33.2	I'm referring here to card number five, the pope or the hierophant, is striking in itself.
2:36.1	But it makes sense if we think of the number two as a symbol of duality and reciprocity, of reception and reflection. She who holds the mirror,
2:44.5	as Leonard Cohen says of the high priestess Suzanne in the famous song, seems to embody that
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Phil Ford and J. F. Martel, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Phil Ford and J. F. Martel and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.