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

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

Author: SpectreVision Radio October 1, 2025 Duration: 1:19:45
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

At the heart of Weird Studies, a podcast from SpectreVision Radio, you’ll find long-form conversations between Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel. Their discussions aren’t simple reviews or straightforward analyses; instead, they wander through the tangled undergrowth where art and philosophy meet, giving generous time to concepts that resist easy understanding and to creative works that fracture our ordinary sense of the world. This podcast deliberately lingers in that ambiguous space, treating the “weird” not as a genre but as a particular mode of experience-one that reveals the cracks in what we comfortably assume is real. Each episode feels like joining a deep, meandering dialogue between two friends who are both deeply knowledgeable and endlessly curious, covering a vast terrain that includes literature, film, music, and esoteric thought. It’s a show for anyone who suspects that the most profound truths are often found in the shadows, the anomalies, and the strangely beautiful. As part of the SpectreVision Radio network, which specializes in content that explores the uncanny edges of creativity, Weird Studies builds a unique community of listeners who are eager to think differently. You won’t find pat answers here, but you will encounter compelling questions and a shared sense of exploration that makes each installment a distinctive journey.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 230

Weird Studies
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