Major Arcana · II
The High Priestess
Upright
- intuition
- mystery
- inner knowing
- stillness
- what is not yet revealed
Reversed
- ignored instincts
- secrets withheld
- surface knowledge
- disconnection
- doubt
Your notes on The High Priestess
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The image
A woman in flowing blue robes sits between a black pillar and a white one, a scroll half hidden in her lap, a crescent moon at her feet and a horned crown with a full moon on her head. Behind her hangs a veil embroidered with pomegranates and palms, and a glimpse of water shows at its edge. She is utterly still and looks straight at you.
Upright meaning
The High Priestess is what you know without being able to say how. She sits in front of the veil, not behind it, and the scroll in her lap is only partly shown. In a reading the card points to intuition, to a truth that is present but not yet speakable, to patience, and to the value of waiting and listening before acting. It often means that the answer is already in you, and that the next step is quiet rather than motion. The pool behind the veil is the unconscious, and it is deeper than it looks.
Reversed meaning
Reversed, the veil is torn or ignored. The card shows instincts overridden by logic or by other people's opinions, secrets kept that should be shared or shared that should be kept, knowledge that stays on the surface, or a disconnection from your own inner life. It can mark a time of doubting what you know. The scroll is still in her lap. The remedy is a return to silence long enough to hear yourself.
The High Priestess: yes or no?
- Upright
- Yes
- The High Priestess leans yes, on the strength of intuition and mystery, though it asks something of you in return.
- Reversed
- Not yet
- The High Priestess reversed is a yes held back. The promise of the upright card is there, but ignored instincts and secrets withheld delay it; the timing or the approach needs to change first.
The High Priestess with other cards
- The Magician and The High PriestessThe Magician and The High Priestess are the two halves of knowing, doing and listening.
- The High Priestess and The MoonThe High Priestess and The Moon both ask you to trust what you cannot yet explain.
The High Priestess by topic
How the card reads when the question is about a particular part of life. Choose a topic on any spread and these appear beside each card’s position reading.
love and relationships
Upright. Something in this relationship has not been said yet, and you already sense it. Trust what you know without proof. For a single reader, the right person may arrive quietly rather than with fanfare; keep room for that.
Reversed. Secrets, or an intuition you keep overriding because it is inconvenient. You may be withholding your feelings until it is too late to share them. What you are not saying is shaping the relationship as much as what you are.
work and career
Upright. Something at work is not being said, and you sense it. Hold back before committing; information will surface. Knowledge, research and discretion are your assets this season.
Reversed. Secrets in the workplace, or your own instincts overridden by what you were told. You may be withholding something that needs saying. Trust the quiet knowledge, then act on it.
money
Upright. Money matters not yet in the open: an unseen factor, a figure not disclosed, information still behind the veil. Wait for it before you commit. Your instinct about the deal is worth listening to.
Reversed. A hidden cost surfacing, or a financial instinct you keep overriding. Something you have not said about money is shaping the decision. Say it, then decide.
health and wellbeing
Upright. Listen to your body before you act. Something you already sense about your health deserves attention, even without proof yet. Rest, stillness and intuition are the remedy of this season.
Reversed. Ignoring a signal from your body, or a worry you keep pushing under. Something unsaid is affecting how you feel. Get it looked at, or speak it aloud.
family and home
Upright. Something in the family has not been said, and you already sense it. Hold your knowledge quietly until the time is right. Intuition about a relative is worth trusting.
Reversed. Family secrets, or an instinct about someone at home that you keep overriding. What you are not saying is shaping the household as much as what you are.
personal growth
Upright. The inward turn: listening before acting, trusting what you know without being able to prove it. Dreams, silence, the unread book in your lap. Growth now is receptive.
Reversed. Ignoring your instincts, or hiding from yourself behind busyness. A truth you already know keeps being overridden. Sit still long enough to hear it.
the spiritual path
Upright. The threshold of the inner temple: stillness, intuition, knowledge that arrives without words. Sit with the scroll unread. What you need to know will come in its own time.
Reversed. Ignoring the inner voice, or hiding behind mystery. An intuition overridden by what you were told to believe. Be quiet long enough to hear it.
a decision
Upright. Not yet. Something you do not know is still shaping this choice, and your instinct already senses it. Wait for the veil to lift before you commit.
Reversed. You are overriding what you know in your gut, or a hidden factor is distorting the choice. Say the thing you have not said, then decide.
Waite’s divinatory meanings
Quoted from A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), public domain.
Upright: “Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed; the woman who interests the Querent, if male; the Querent herself, if female; silence, tenacity; mystery, wisdom, science.”
Reversed: “Passion, moral or physical ardour, conceit, surface knowledge.”
From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot
Waite’s full description of the card, Part II of the 1911 text, public domain.
She has the lunar crescent at her feet, a horned diadem on her head, with a globe in the middle place, and a large solar cross on her breast. The scroll in her hands is inscribed with the word Tora, signifying the Greater Law, the Secret Law and the second sense of the Word. It is partly covered by her mantle, to shew that some things are implied and some spoken. She is seated between the white and black pillars--J. and B.--of the mystic Temple, and the veil of the Temple is behind her: it is embroidered with palms and pomegranates. The vestments are flowing and gauzy, and the mantle suggests light--a shimmering radiance. She has been called occult Science on the threshold of the Sanctuary of Isis, but she is really the Secret Church, the House which is of God and man. She represents also the Second Marriage of the Prince who is no longer of this world; she is the spiritual Bride and Mother, the daughter of the stars and the Higher Garden of Eden. She is, in fine, the Queen of the borrowed light, but this is the light of all. She is the Moon nourished by the milk of the Supernal Mother.
In a manner, she is also the Supernal Mother herself--that is to say, she is the bright reflection. It is in this sense of reflection that her truest and highest name in bolism is Shekinah--the co-habiting glory. According to Kabalism, there is a Shekinah both above and below. In the superior world it is called Binah, the Supernal Understanding which reflects to the emanations that are beneath. In the lower world it is MaIkuth--that world being, for this purpose, understood as a blessed Kingdom that with which it is made blessed being the Indwelling Glory. Mystically speaking, the Shekinah is the Spiritual Bride of the just man, and when he reads the Law she gives the Divine meaning. There are some respects in which this card is the highest and holiest of the Greater Arcana.
The High Priestess in a spread
How the card reads in each position. The first ten are the Celtic Cross; the rest are used by the Horseshoe, Relationship and Two Paths spreads. The smaller spreads reuse these positions.
The Significator
What is at the heart of the matter right now?
At the centre of your situation is something you already know and have not yet said, even to yourself. The reading's job is to make room for that knowing to surface. Sit still and let it.
At the heart of this is a disconnection from your own instinct. You are listening to everyone but yourself, or keeping a secret that is costing you. The matter turns on hearing the quiet voice again.
Crossing Card
What crosses, challenges or shapes it?
What meets your situation is a mystery or an unknown, something that cannot be forced into view. It frustrates action. Treat the waiting as part of the work.
The force across your path is hidden information or an instinct you keep dismissing. Something is being withheld, by others or by you. Until it surfaces, decisions will miss.
Foundation
What is the root of this?
This grew from a deep intuition, a sense of what was right that preceded reasons. That inner knowing is the ground beneath the present, even if you have forgotten you had it.
At the root is a secret or a time when you ignored your instincts and paid for it. The present carries that silence, or that regret.
Recent Past
What is passing out of the picture?
A period of stillness, waiting and inner attention is receding. The veil has done its work. What was hidden is beginning to show, and the time for silence is passing.
A stretch of self-doubt or of ignoring your gut is losing its hold. You are starting to trust what you sense again. Do not argue yourself out of it.
Crown
What are you consciously aiming for, and what could this become?
What you consciously want is understanding, to know what lies behind the veil. That knowledge is coming, but not through effort. Aim at listening, and the revelation arrives on its own schedule.
You may be aiming at certainty you cannot have yet, or at explanations for something that asks to be felt. Set the goal as patience, and the clarity follows.
Future
What is coming next?
A period of quiet is coming, when the right move is to wait and listen. Something hidden will reveal itself, but only if you do not rush it. Make space for stillness.
You are heading into a time when a secret surfaces or when you are tempted to override your instincts. Trust the first feeling. It is usually right.
Emotions
How are you meeting this, inside?
Inwardly, you are receptive, intuitive and more certain than you admit. Your quiet knowing is the strongest thing in this reading. Act on it when the time comes, not before.
Part of you knows and is pretending not to, perhaps because knowing would require action. Notice the pretence. The scroll is in your lap.
External Forces
What are others, and the wider setting, bringing to it?
Someone around you, often a quiet and perceptive woman, understands more than they are saying and may be an ally. The atmosphere favours listening. Pay attention to what is not spoken.
Your surroundings are full of secrets or of noise that drowns out intuition. People are not saying what they know. Keep your own counsel and watch the edges of the veil.
Hopes & Desires
What do you hope for, and what do you fear?
You hope to understand what is really going on, and may fear what you would see if the veil lifted. The card suggests you already sense it. Hope for the courage to know.
You fear being deceived or fear your own intuition, and part of you may hope that not knowing will protect you. It will not. Trust what you sense and the fear becomes clarity.
Outcome
Where does all of this lead?
This resolves through intuition and patience: a hidden truth revealed in its own time, a decision made from inner knowing. Keep listening and the result holds.
Left as it is, this ends with instincts ignored and the real matter still behind the veil. The spread shows where you stopped listening to yourself. Start again, and the ending changes.
Hidden Influences
What is at work here that you cannot see yet?
There is knowledge here that has not been spoken, in you or in someone else. Something behind the veil is shaping events, and your intuition has already registered it. Trust that sense before you have the proof.
You are overriding what you know. The hidden influence is a gut feeling you keep dismissing, or a secret someone is keeping that you have decided not to notice. Listen inward.
Advice
What should you do about it?
Wait, and listen. Do not force the answer; sit with the question long enough for what you already know to surface. Say less than you could. The scroll is in your lap.
Stop ignoring your instincts and stop filling the silence with other people's opinions. If you are keeping a secret that is costing you, consider whether it still needs keeping.
The Other Person
What are they bringing to this?
They know more than they are saying and feel no need to explain themselves. Expect depth, reserve and strong intuition. Their silence is not coldness; it is how they hold what matters.
They are disconnected from their own feelings, or keeping something from you and from themselves. Expect mixed signals and a reluctance to say what they actually know.
What Joins You
What holds the two of you together?
What joins you is unspoken understanding, a sense of being known without having to explain. The bond lives below words and that is its strength. Protect the quiet between you.
The two of you are joined by what is not said, and the unsaid has started to include things that should be spoken. Secrets are doing the work that trust should be doing.
What Divides You
What pulls the two of you apart?
Reserve divides you: one of you keeps the veil down and the other wants it lifted. Mystery that was alluring has become distance. Ask one direct question and allow one honest answer.
A secret, or a long refusal to trust intuition about each other, is the gap here. Something known and unspoken sits between you. It is heavier than saying it would be.
A Path
What happens if you take this road?
This road is the quiet one: waiting, watching, letting understanding ripen before you act. It leads to a decision made from deep knowing rather than pressure. It asks patience you may not feel you have.
This road means ignoring what you sense in favour of what you have been told, or keeping a veil down that should lift. It leads to a choice you will later recognise you already knew was wrong.
See where it falls for you
Deal a spread and read every card in its position.