Hero's Journey Part 1.
The High Priestess





Other Projects

Part 2
Canvas with swirling paint has patches of stars, aircraft, an ancient Greek Amazon, and a mother and a baby in the center.
Hero's Journey Part 1.
The High Priestess
Mixed media on Canvas 9" x 9"
Emily Schleiner, 2021

Wisdom is drawn down from above. Wisdom that I learned from my mother. We look down together.

In the early years of my life (0-18), my mother imparted her love, wisdom, and aw. She was an intellectual and yet a devoted Catholic with an interest in science and feminist Marxist theory applied to studies of Early Modern literature. As a child, I visited the Smithsonian Air and Space museum with her, which inspired me.

In Hero's Journey Part 1, the Greek woman warrior is an Amazon, whos fierceness reminds Emily Schleiner of her mother's unapologetic engagement with the world's uncompromising mysteries, the small Bhudda refers to Emily Schleiner's mother's tendency to meditate and live mindfully, and the astral bodies in a night sky represent the mystical puzzles that seemed to activate Emily Schleiner's mother's imagination.

A dignified woman with a headdress holds court.
The High Priestess card from the Rider Waite Smith Tarot deck was created by A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith (also called the Rider-Waite Tarot deck). It is now a part of the Public Domain.