HIGH PRIESTESS ARTEMIS by Iona Miller https://holographicarchetypes.weebly.com/artemis.html In the Tarot, Artemis is corresponded with both the XIV Path 'Art' in her huntress nature, and II 'High Priestess' in her solitary role as Virgin-Mother. In both cases she is associated with the Moon or Lunar Consciousness. She is Queen of the Night, Thea. In Rome she was Diana, in Egypt Isis, for the Jews Shekinah, to Moslems Sakina, in India Shakti, Prakriti and Maya, in Scandinavia Disa. Artemis as Virgin-Mother expresses the archetype in its most exalted form. Paradoxically, she is Great Mother and Immaculate Virgin, the White Goddess. She is a variation of Celestial Queen, the deepest mysteries of nature. She personifies pure self-reliant Feminine power, with an esoteric knowledge of visible and invisible forces, mediumistic abilities. She embodies our submission to faith in destiny. She encourages us to seek our own mystical experiences in receptivity. She represents our oneness with the universe, our essential "be-ing," with attention to natural rhythms and cycles. Paradoxically, she is Great Mother and simultaneously Immaculate Virgin, containing the entire cyclic process of nature and its relationship to time. She transcends time, living constantly in a co-temporaneous eternal Now. her paths up the Middle Pillar exemplify the Way of experiential discovery of these mystic truths. Her way is through symbolic and meditational means -- through the senses and transcendence even beyond the mind, essentially through soul travel. Her Way is the Middle Way, in tantric philosophy the opening of the Sushumna channel and the raising of Kundalini toward the Crown. Union with her is consciousness of primal existential self, and our deepest ecological self. Beneath the layer of alienation from nature which our culture has created lies a deep resource we can tap which is fundamental wisdom about the unity of life. The Virgin helps us balance emotions and desires, directing our thoughts toward higher consciousness. In ancient times she was known as Isis, who exemplified her impenetrable mystery by reiterating that, "I am Isis; no man has lifted my veil." She is bathed in the Light and concealed by it; she is a multifaceted brilliant Solitaire. Thus she alludes to her virgin nature, that sense of wholeness within oneself, which is the source of wisdom. She is the secret powers of nature, Sophia, Shakti, Shekinah. This wisdom is deep ecology which reveals the way of living in balance through intuition. She is the natural Light of the Soul--illumination. This archetype has reverberated down through history as the sublime matriarch known as the Great Mother. She is the possibility of bringing creative ideas to birth, to manifestation. She contemplates the possibility of various manifestations. The matriarchies of ancient times reflected societies intimately in touch with seasonal cycles and natural rhythms. We all yearn for "the mother."
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