Gimel Tarot Tree of Life Correspondences: The Empress & The High Priestess

In this comparative Tarot study, Gimel Tarot Tree of Life correspondences are explored through two Tarot traditions: the Rider–Waite–Smith (RWS) system most English-speaking readers encounter first, and the Tarot de Marseille (TdM). As with the earlier posts in this series, the spellings Cabalistic (Christian), Qabalistic (Hermetic), and Kabbalistic (Jewish) are used according to historical and disciplinary context.

This article forms part of an ongoing 22-part series examining how each Hebrew letter corresponds to the Tarot Major Arcana. The purpose is to place both systems side by side and observe how different assumptions about the Tree of Life shape the cards’ meaning and function.

Gimel in Jewish Kabbalistic Thought

Gimel (ג) is traditionally associated with movement, generosity, and active transmission. In classical Jewish letter teaching, Gimel represents the benefactor in motion, running toward the recipient rather than waiting to be approached. The emphasis is not on possession, but on the act of giving itself.

The letter is also linked to gamal, the camel, an animal known for crossing distances while carrying sustenance. Symbolically, Gimel does not remain at the point of origin. It conveys what is needed across space, from one domain to another.

This dynamic quality distinguishes Gimel from Beth. Beth establishes a place of beginning; Gimel enacts the beginning itself. It is not containment, but movement outward from containment.

“Gimmel is a wave rolling out into the world. Beth is the place of the beginning, but Gimmel is the act (emphasis mine) of beginning.”
— Lawrence Kushner, The Book of Letters

The image is unmistakably kinetic. Gimel does not hold potential in reserve; it sets potential in motion.

How RWS and TdM Diverge

Most modern Tarot teaching relies on Golden Dawn–derived correspondence systems, which continue to dominate how Hebrew letters and the Major Arcana are mapped onto the Tree of Life. In that framework, Gimel corresponds to the High Priestess and is placed on the central vertical line of the Tree, connecting Kether and Tiphereth.

The Tarot de Marseille approach used in this series draws inspiration from contemporary work that reads the Tree through a Sephardic Kabbalistic lens, most notably The Tree of Life of Mary Magdalene by Michel Pérez Rizzi. Please note that any Tarot correspondence discussed alongside Sephardic Kabbalah is a modern contemplative interpretation rather than a historical or rabbinic system.

Gimel in Hermetic Qabalah (RWS)

Within Golden Dawn–style Hermetic Qabalah, Gimel corresponds to the High Priestess and occupies the path between Kether and Tiphereth.

In this system, Gimel functions as a central channel through which divine influence descends from the highest source into the heart of the Tree. The High Priestess is positioned as a mediator of consciousness rather than a generator of form. She does not act outwardly; she receives, holds, and transmits inwardly.

This placement explains why the High Priestess in RWS-based Tarot often appears as silent, withdrawn, and veiled. Gimel here is not fertility expressed through growth or multiplication, but continuity maintained through stillness. Wisdom remains intact because it is not prematurely externalised.

The emphasis falls on interiority, secrecy, and the preservation of divine transmission along the central axis of the Tree.

Gimel, The Empress, and a TdM Way of Reading the Tree

In the TdM framework explored here, Gimel corresponds to The Empress and traverses the path between Binah and Geburah.

This placement shifts the symbolic emphasis decisively. Binah represents the great container of form: the deep waters, the matrix in which something can gestate and take shape inwardly. Geburah represents definition, separation, and the force that gives form its necessary limits.

Between them, Gimel marks the movement from conception toward manifestation. It is the moment when what has been held in potential becomes sufficiently shaped to appear, speak, and bear fruit.

“If The Magician symbolises the primordial spark, and The Popess the silent matrix that receives, The Empress represents the moment when that divine seed manifests and bears fruit.”
— Michel Pérez Rizzi, The Tree of Life of Mary Magdalene

In this reading, The Empress marks the point at which what was conceived in silence becomes visible, audible, and real.

Kushner’s image of Gimel as a rolling wave resonates strongly with this placement. Gimel does not remain within the waters of Binah; it carries those waters forward, across a threshold, into differentiated reality. Fertility, in this sense, is not merely generative but expressive.

This is why The Empress emerges as a strong fit when the correspondence is read through the logic of the Hebrew letter itself. She embodies fecundity that has already crossed the threshold into form. She does not guard the seed; she brings it forth.

What Changes When Gimel Changes

When Gimel is read as the High Priestess, the emphasis rests on inward mediation and the preservation of divine knowledge through silence. The central channel remains intact because nothing is released before it can be sustained.

When Gimel is read as the Empress, the emphasis shifts to emergence and fruition. Wisdom does not remain veiled; it becomes legible, audible, and embodied, shaped by the necessary boundaries that allow it to endure.

Both systems work, but the two approaches answer different questions. One asks how wisdom is carried inwardly without distortion. The other asks how what has been conceived becomes visible and fertile in the world.

Gimel Tree of Life Paths

Gimel (ג)
TdM: The Empress — Binah to Geburah
RWS / Hermetic: The High Priestess — Kether to Tiphereth