The High Priestess is the subconscious mind’s guardian and the educator of divine wisdom and hidden secrets. It is the Major Arcana’s 2nd card, representing intuition, mystery, and passivity.
Unlike many of the tarot cards, it doesn’t involve taking action or making a move but encourages withdrawing involvement. When the High Priestess appears in a tarot reading both upward and reversed, she generally indicates that now is the time to slow down and listen to yourself and trust your intuitions.
The High Priestess visual depiction and symbolism
A crowned woman covered in a blue robe is sitting facing forward between two pillars. The white pillar on the right has the letter “J” on it, and the black on the left has the letter “B” carved on it.
- The crown and the blue robe she wears are both symbols of the divine knowledge.
- The “J” stands for Jachin, and the “B” stands for Boaz. They are the pillars of the establishment and strength.
- The black and white symbolize duality. Her placement between them is a reminder of its constant presence in the universe and that something can always be learned from both sides.
There is a thin blue veil decorated with pomegranates behind her. She is holding a partly covered scroll titled “Tora.” There is also a cross on her chest and a crescent moon at her feet.
- Due to their many seeds, the pomegranates are a symbol of fertility, beauty, and eternal life. No wonder they are also known as the miracle fruit.
- The partly covered scroll symbolizes internalized power and that she is the teacher of sacred and hidden knowledge.
- The cross on her chest symbolizes the four organs of perception: body, heart, mind, and spirit/intuition.
- The crescent moon symbolizes the changing seasons and her connection with her feminine side, intuition, and subconscious mind.
The High Priestess Keywords
Keywords are summarizations of the Tarot card meanings. They are also excellent means to memorize them, so before we jump into the deeper connotations, let’s take a look at them here.
Upright Keywords: Intuition, divine knowledge, feminine energy, things yet to be revealed
Reversed Keywords: Secrets, detached from intuition, withdrawal, repressed emotions
Now that the visual components and keywords of the High Priestess are clear let’s progress into her meanings in love, relationships, career, money, health, and spirituality.
The High Priestess Upright meaning
The High Priestess upright proposes intuition, mystery, and stillness. She indicates that now is the time to take a moment and listen to yourself. She encourages you to direct your attention inward to listen and trust your internal voice of wisdom. Take her appearance as a notice to pay special attention to all the symbols and signs the cosmos is sending you.
Love and Relationship
In love and relationship readings, The Upright High Priestess is a signal to take a moment for yourself. This welcoming pause will make you attractive in the eyes of others.
Her appearance calls you to connect with your feminine spiritual side, even if your masculine energy is dominating at the moment. To balance your energies now is the time to embrace your emotions more than your thought and focus more on your own desires than having to please others.
If you are is a single woman, her appearance indicates that your feminine energy makes you especially desirable at the moment. Others will find you enchanting! If you are a single man, the High Priestess can signify that an attractive but unattainable woman will enter your life. For those in a relationship, the balancing of energies could make the near future incredibly passionate.
Money and Career
In money and career readings, the High Priestess appearing upright can call you to educate and develop yourself. Taking courses and gaining new knowledge will boost both your professional and financial goals. Adding your newly acquired skills to your CV will benefit your career development and make you more desirable on the job market. The High Priestess is also an excellent indicator of new opportunities or promotions that pop out of nowhere.
The High Priestess is also a card of secrets, so there is a heightened possibility that gossips and secrets are going around in your job place. Remember that not everyone is to be trusted and always be careful about discussing your economics.
Health and Spirituality
In health-related inquiries, the High Priestess indicates that you need to pay more attention to your body and mind. Take pauses both from mental and physical activities to rest and allow your body and mind to tell how it feels and what it needs. If you think that something isn’t as it should, don’t just keep it to yourself. Trust what your inner-self is telling you and take your concerns to an expert.
The High Priestess Tarot card is the most spiritual card of the tarot deck. It calls you to connect with the divine through your intuition. It is a sign that your intuition is at a high, and you have psychic potential in you.
The High Priestess Yes or No Upright
If you happen to ask a Yes or No question from the Tarot, the High Priestess is not clear. The High Priestess calls you to withdraw, reflect and allow you intuition guide you through your situation. There is a possibility that things around you are not what they appear to be.
The High Priestess Reversed Meaning
The High Priestess in the reversed position means that you do not listen to your internal voice of wisdom. You are letting external circumstances affect your actions and choices rather than taking a moment to listen and trust your intuition.
The High Priestess reversed is a reminder to regularly pause from the external world and observe what your inner self is telling and desiring. Don’t take it as a sign of distancing yourself from others, but as a reminder of the needed balance between your spiritual and material worlds. The High Priestess also warns against dangerous secrets and a lack of action.
Love and Relationship
The High Priestess reversed in love tarot readings sign that you might be out of touch with your emotions. You might be paying too much attention to what others feel and say about you rather than listening and trusting yourself. Take a moment to appreciate yourself as the beautiful soul that you are. If you are a single man, the High Priestess reversed can signify that there might be a devious female who is trying to get your attention. Be careful to open your heart to anyone before understanding their true intentions.
If you are in a relationship, it can be a sign that you keep your feelings and thoughts to yourself and avoid speaking openly about them. This will create friction and blockages, and the little secrets over time will carry more and more weight in the long run. Take the High Priestess appearing reversed as a reminder to not withdraw yourself from the present moment’s realities and face them through honesty and communication.
Money and Career
When it comes to your economics, be sure that you understand all the terms and conditions you commit to before signing any contracts. Things aren’t always as they appear to be. Somebody may be dishonest with you. Trust your intuition if something doesn’t feel right.
Career-wise, the High Priestess reversed can indicate that you have not been invited to new projects and assignments you were hoping for. It might feel that you are isolated and detached from the circle you used to belong to. Take some time to evaluate where this could derive from. Have you been lazy or negligent lately?
Health and Spirituality
The High Priestess reversed can indicate that you have slowly isolated yourself from the activities used to energize you. Try to get yourself active again, because it will do good for you. For women, the High Priestess reversed can be a sign of hormonal imbalances or challenges with pregnancy. Don’t be silent about any issues you might be experiencing and look for help available.
The High Priestess reversed in a spiritual context tells that you appear to have lost your naturally healthy contact with your spirituality. The link is not lost, but you need to tune in through time and relaxation. Meditation and mindfulness exercises are helpful.
The High Priestess Yes or No Reversed
If you ask a question from the Tarot that could result in a Yes or No answer, the High Priestess reversed is not clear. The High Priestess calls you to pause and observe what your intuition is telling.
The High Priestess important Combinations
Justice and the High Priestess
It is always interesting to look at the similarities between the two cards. Here we have to crowned archetypes that are facing forward on a chair between two pillars. Both seemed to be the masters of their castles, and they have a very ceremonial look to them. You can’t help put into thinking that you are being evaluated by them. The Justice is looking at what you have done, and the High Priestess knows all that you are not telling.
The High Priestess encourages us to tap into our inner wisdom. Justice balances the right and wrongs of the matter through facts and tries to resolve conflicts. I would read this combination that both are needed to make better judgments on the issue at hand.
Lovers and the High Priestess
The Lovers and the High Priestess combination is an excellent one—the Lovers representing union, harmony, and choices, finding something that completes you. And High Priestess calling us to be patient and to listen to our inner emotions.
Together, they remind us that it is hard to make explicit judgments and choices in the heat of the moment. Our emotions take the best of our vision to see things with clarity. Therefore we should take some time and distance to evaluate the situation at hand. Tap into our intuition, and not allow ourselves to make choices overly influenced by the butterflies in our stomach.
Tower and the High Priestess
The Tower brings profound change into our lives no matter what the issue under observation is. The High Priestess combining with the Tower is a reminder to take a moment before starting to rebuild. Tap into your inner wisdom to know what you really want to build and where you want to go.
Temperance and the High Priestess
Temperance reminds us to seek balance and indulge in moderation. The High Priestess encourages withdrawing involvement and taking time to contemplate with your inner self. I see this combination telling us that we need to understand what we want from ourselves in order to reach harmony and balance in life.
Magician and the High Priestess
The Magician is the type of man who gets joy in front of crowds and places where he can inspire people with his words. The High Priestess is no stranger to being in front of audiences herself, but she is not there to entertain. She is the educator of divine knowledge and esoteric secrets.
Perhaps the High Priestess is calling the Magician to step down and ask himself if he is entertaining for external approval. Or is his confidence and joy truly from within?
The High Priestess – Element, Astrology and other associations
Here are the usual associations with the High Priestess tarot card.
- Element: Water
- Planet: Moon
- Astrological sign: Cancer & Taurus
- Key dates: Summer
The High Priestess as a personality
The High Priestess is the type of person who seems a bit reserved but not shy. She is well behaved, wise, and mysterious. She has fantastic intuition and can read other people like books. Vice versa, it won’t be easy to read her, but often behind her “hard to read” cover, you’ll find a sensitive person inside.
The negative side of her personality is that she can be deceiving. A manipulator that can dig secrets out of you and then use them to her advantage. She is excellent at playing the victim and blaming others when things don’t go the right way.
The High Priestess as feelings
The High Priestess is a card of deep connections that encourages us to embrace our feminine energies. It tells us to listen and trust our emotions and feelings.
The High Priestess tarot card reversed represents repressed feelings. It is a signal that you do not openly show your emotions. But it could be that the downplaying of emotion is so intense that you don’t know how you feel even when alone. This, of course, can lead to problems in many areas of life, so it is better to see it as a wake-up call to learn how to understand and deal with them.