Niki de Saint Phalle's Tarot Garden

The High Priestess, with The Magician above her, in mirror glass. The "venerable ox-eyed" High Priestess is the embodiment of Juno, the feisty protectress of women. For Niki de Saint Phalle, she also represents the irrational unconscious with all its potential. The "Bird of Juno", the peacock, has wandered - we will meet it later. The Magician is associated with qualities such as imagination, originality, creativity and determination to see a task through to completion even against great odds. This card could be a fitting symbol for the achievement of the Garden itself, in the face of many considerable difficulties, but the artist connects this card with the divine creator of "the marvelous joke of our paradoxical world".

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