Ruth Ann &  Wald Amberstone teach, write, and publish about tarot on all levels, from divination to psychology to esotercism and magical practice. They are perpetual pioneers of new tarot techniques and remain lifelong tarot students. They are the authors of Tarot Tips: 78 Practical Techniques to Enhance Your Tarot Reading Skills and regular contributors to Llewellyn's Tarot Calendar and Tarot Reader almanacs.

CHAPTER 1

CROWNS, PILLARS, THE ROSE and THE LILY

Welcome to the Tarot School course on imagery and intuition that we'll call TheSecret Language of Tarot. In this course, we'll be exploring the meanings of thevisual imagery of tarot in considerable detail and in depth. We think that bythe time we're done, we'll have created a significant body of work that tarotstudents will find valuable for research and as important foundation materialfor the meanings of the cards.

We'll be using the Rider-Waite-Smith imagery as our benchmark, but theinformation in this course should be transferable to any deck you care to use.We think it will also give your intuition a lot of additional material to workon. The symbolism and significance of the visual imagery of tarot is partlyuniversal, partly esoteric, and partly tarot specific. All of it is historical,and all of it, we hope, will be fun to learn and useful in more ways than one.

CROWNS

We begin with the crowns of tarot. In the RWS deck there are nineteen cards thatcontain a crown, and these come in many forms, each with a meaning of its own.The nineteen cards are: The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, TheHierophant, The Chariot, Justice, Death, Temperance, The Tower, the Ace ofSwords, the 4 of Pentacles, and all the kings and queens.

We'll begin with some meanings for the crown in general, drawn from universalsymbolism. The three main aspects of the crown's symbolism are:

1. Being set on the crown (or top) of the head makes it a symbol of overridingsignificance. It shares the quality of the head (the summit) and what is abovethe head, a gift from on high. It also sets the seal of transcendence on anygreat achievement or accomplishment.

2. Its circular shape is a symbol of perfection. It is a ring, worn on the head,that marries what is above to what is below.

3. The material of which a crown is made dedicates the wearer to the form ofdivinity associated with that material. A gold crown, for example, associatesthe wearer with the alchemical properties of gold (i.e., purity, perfection, andthe attainment of the highest possible states, both inner and outer).

The word "crown" comes from the Latin "corona" and earlier from the Greek"korone" (curved) and "kornu" (horns).

A corona is the circle of radiance surrounding a source of illumination. Themain physical and symbolic example of a corona is the circle of radiance aroundthe sun. In alchemy, each planet is illustrated as receiving its specialradiance in the form of a crown given to it by the sun.

The corona around a physical or symbolic object can be shown as a concentriccircle or as emanating rays. A halo, for example, is a spiritual coronasurrounding the head of a spiritually elevated being.

A diadem is a crown in the form of a circlet around the head or around theceremonial hat on the head of a royal figure. It is a symbol of a divinelysupported secular authority.

A glory is an arc or a circle of rays around another visual symbol, suggestingdivine inspiration or protection.

Korone, the Greek word for curved, is used in this context for any form ofcircle or circlet worn on the head to signify a connection with the gods. Thisincludes the wreath, the crest, and horns, as well as the crown, diadem, andtiara.

Examples of different kinds of crowns in tarot include the:

• horns of Isis (The High Priestess)

• diadem of the zodiac (The Empress)

• domed crown (The Emperor, The Tower)

• papal tiara (The Hierophant)

• celestial diadem (The Chariot)

• toothed crown ( Justice, the 4 of Pentacles)

• glory (Temperance)

• stylized diadems (kings and queens)

The crown in all times and places has been associated with royalty, and royaltyis conferred only by the divine recognition, symbolized by the crown. The crownis also a symbol of ultimate achievement, the sign of victory and pre-eminencein any field of endeavor (e.g., a crowning achievement, a heavyweight-boxingcrown). In organisms, the crown is the top, as in the crown of the head or thecrown of a tree.

No one can become the king or the queen of a kingdom of any kind without acrown. A coronation, the ritual of establishing legitimate royal authority, isthe ritual of placing a crown on someone's head.

Each separate crown in tarot has its own symbolism. Here are three examples:

The High Priestess

The crown of The High Priestess is the crown of Isis/Hathor, two names of theEgyptian self created Great Mother Goddess who brought forth everything else.Hathor was the Queen of Heaven, and Isis was the "Oldest of the Old who existedfrom the beginning."

In both forms, as Isis and as Hathor, the goddess is said to have given birth tothe sun. Hathor was the Nile Goose who laid the golden egg of the sun, and Isiswas the womb of Horus who was the reincarnation of Osiris. The womb enclosingHorus in hieroglyphics is "Hat—Hor" or Hathor.

Isis and Hathor as a pair were sometimes known as the Bright Mother and the DarkMother. In later times, Isis was paired with her dark twin sister, Nepthys.Together they guaranteed the immortality of the pharaohs in the form of birth,death, and resurrection.

The visual emblem of these paired goddesses, as illustrated by the crown of TheHigh Priestess, was the sun disk lying between the horns of the Moon-CowGoddess. The central sun disk signifies the male spirit soon to be reborn(Horus), enclosed and protected by the horns of the goddess, one light and onedark.

In Hellenistic and Roman culture, Isis was highly revered as the Divine Mother,"eternal savior of the race of men." The image of Isis suckling Horus became themodel for images of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus. Parts of the mythand worship of Isis were transferred to Mary early in the Christian era.

The crown of Isis combines in The High Priestess with her watery robes and thesickle moon at her feet, symbols of Mary as Stella Maris (Star of the Sea), tojoin primary Egyptian and Christian spirituality in a single Hermetic image.

Also, the lunar symbolism of The High Priestess's crown (waxing, full, andwaning phases of the moon) is revered in Neo-Paganism as the special sign of theTriple Goddess (Maiden, Mother, Crone).

All together, the crown of The High Priestess is a universal symbol of theoriginal...