The High Priestess Tarot Card Meanings
The High Priestess’s Upright & Reversed Meanings
Ideas: Connection, face value, revelation
Traits: Active, logical, open, rational, shallow, superficial, tolerant
Emotions: Caring, eagerness, enthusiasm, optimism
- Actions:
- Acting on the information
- Connecting with others
- Improving your listening skills
- Revealing some information
- Taking someone or something at face value
- Thinking rationally rather than intuitively
Ideas: Profundity, sixth sense, spirituality
Traits: Discreet, intuitive, mystical, passive, patient, perceptive, quiet, reflective
Emotions: Contentment, hope, relief, satisfaction
- Actions:
- Exploring unconventional spirituality
- Keeping secrets
- Listening to your feelings and intuitions
- Observing others
- Preserving purity
- Reflecting instead of acting
- Waiting for the right time
Ideas: Conspiracy, disconnection, spy
Traits: Aloof, asocial, enigmatic, intolerant, invisible, repressed, uncooperative
Emotions: Alienation, isolation, loneliness, pride
- Actions:
- Failing to take advantage of an opportunity
- Keeping out of sight
- Obsessing on secrets and conspiracies
- Refusing to become involved, even when involvement is appropriate
- Repressing or concealing feelings over time
- Spying on others
The High Priestess’s Advice
Personal Growth
Learning to listen can be the most difficult lesson of all. Invest energy in the transformational discipline of silence. Disengaging from the drive to respond will free you to reflect. As an observer, you will see patterns participants will overlook.
Relationship
Your heart is your best source of information now; listen to it. Set, communicate, and respect sexual limits. Don’t tell everything you know; one element of attraction is mystery. Still, don’t be a puzzle; communicate your needs and the reasons for them. Watch and learn.
Career
Play your cards close to the vest. Reveal your insights to a chosen few. Rather than take rash action now, keep still and observe. Hold your tongue and learn by listening. Listen to your gut instincts. When the time comes for action, you’ll know.
Spirituality
The unconventional image of a papess recalls the legend of the heretical, cross-dressing Pope Joan, whose true gender was revealed when she unexpectedly gave birth. Consider alternative spiritual paths or nontraditional applications of your familiar faith.
The High Priestess’s Symbols & Insights
The Scroll of the Law
Often, the Papess or High Priestess holds an unopened book, occasionally labeled TORA (“law”), an anagram of TARO. What laws govern your situation? Have they been expressed, or kept secret?
The Lunar Crescent
The Priestess is closely associated with the moon and, by extension, with all lunar cycles (including menstruation). Which cycles are at work in your situation?
Boaz and Jachin
The “B” and “J” often seen on the columns to either side of the Priestess are the two pillars of Solomon’s Temple. Their names mean “in strength” and “God will establish.” What might God (or the universe) be using your strength to establish?
The Pomegranate Veil
Symbolizing fertility, pomegranates connect the Priestess with the myth of Persephone, whose consumption of three pomegranate seeds linked her with the underworld. The veil is the veil of the temple, symbolically marking the division between the realm of humanity and the realm of God. Might the seeds of this situation have been sown by a belief in an obstacle between you and the Divine?
The Waters
The water often seen behind or beneath this archetype represents the unknown depths of the subconscious mind. What is your intuition telling you?
More About The High Priestess Tarot Card
- Prediction
- A mysterious woman arrives.
- A sexual secret may surface.
- Someone knows more than he or she will reveal.
- Timing
- Within 28 days
- Archetype
- The virgin/maiden
- Hebrew Alphabet
- Gimel/Camel/3
- Numerology Number
- 2
(the other: division, debate, duality) - Classical Element
- Water
- Astrological Planet
- Moon
- Myth/Spirit
- The feminine aspect of divinity, particularly when expressed through virginity, as with the Virgin Mary or Isis
- Story Character
- An unexpected event contains seeds of discord with potential to disrupt the main character’s everyday world.
- Questions to Ask
- What might a rebel against tradition do?
- What isn’t being said or revealed?
- What could be achieved by observing and reflecting?
