Learn Tarot: The High Priestess Meaning
Learn Tarot with That Oracle Guy Patrick. Together we'll dive into the meanings, symbolism, and history behind each card, with affirmations, journaling prompts, and theme songs to help ground the lessons into your daily life. The wisdom of tarot is yours to claim — and if you're ready to go deeper, Tarot Academy was built for you.
#2 The High Priestess, Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Deck
Meeting The High Priestess:
When The Fool meets The High Priestess, she stares serenely at him — he asks her what she wisdom she has to offer on his journey, and her face remains calm and still.
Though she doesn’t speak, The Fool intuitively knows: “You have what you seek — you are what you seek.”
Her wisdom is all around her and within her — lying in the meanings of the rich symbols she’s surrounded by. The Fool is reminded that while this is a journey on the material plane, it is simultaneously a journey in the intuitive, divine, and celestial plane. One cannot exist without the other if we wish to fully embrace this radically transformative journey.
The High Priestess is the embodiment of the Highest Divine Feminine Energy in The Universe, and she is here to remind you that hidden (in plain sight) between these two worlds are the secrets of the universe — our divine knowing, our psychic understanding, our eternal intuitive wisdom.
Keywords for The High Priestess:
Intuition
Mystery
Divine Feminine Energy & Receptivity
Spiritual Wisdom
An Profound Inner Knowing
The Subconscious
Silence & Meditation
What You Seek Is Seeking You
A Note On Judeo-Christian Symbolism
By the time the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Deck was created, Tarot had spiritual and symbolic associations with the Judeo-Christian Iconography and Kabbalistic Tree of Life — and some of this ancient imagery found its wait into the Major Arcana, like we will see with The High Priestess.
If you’d like to learn more about how this symbolism was incorporated into the Tarot by Secret Occultist Societies, please check out my other blog post: The History of The Tarot.
Associations:
The Element: Water
The Planet: The Moon (Emotions / Intuition / Home / Family / Subconscious)
Card Symbolism:
The Pillars (Boaz and Jachin): Boaz (“B”) and Jachin (“J”) originate from the Ancient Temple of Solomon, and here serve as the pillars to the entrance of enlightenment — the gateway between the conscious and the unconscious, the heavenly and the earthly, the masculine and the feminine.
The Scroll (Tora/Secret Book): Inner wisdom and secret knowledge is both obvious and hidden. The scroll is partially covered, waiting to be revealed — the knowledge is in your hands.
The Crescent Moon: Reinforces her association with The Moon — our intuition, our subconscious, our deeply private emotional world, our innate mysticism. Listen to your inner knowing.
The Cross: The intersection between the spiritual and the material, suggesting that divine energy permeates all aspects of life.
The Veil: The sacred threshold — the thin fabric that separates the material and spiritual realm.
The Pomegranates on the Veil: A symbol of abundance, fertility, and the divine feminine — initiation requires embracing the sacred powers of the feminine.
The Crown / Diadem: Her divine wisdom and authority as a guardian of spiritual secrets (we will meet other characters with Earthly crowns, but hers is Celestial)
The Blue Robe: An association with water — the magnificent depth of our emotions the subconscious mind.
Her Serene Face & Silence: Her inner peace and deep intuitive understanding — she doesn’t speak, the Fool hears her in his intuition.
The Roman Numeral (II): Duality and balance — a bridge between the two worlds and an invitation to integrate.
Upright Meaning:
When The High Priestess shows up in a tarot card reading, she is asking us to tap into our deep inner knowing — to honor and listen to our intuition. There are some things you JUST KNOW to be true, and these are messages directly from the universe, your guides, your higher self.
We all have intuition, but like everything else it is a skill that must be honed and practiced. If you have a particular spiritual practice you enjoy doing, now is a fantastic time to lean more deeply into that practice. Create space for your deep inner knowing — what you are seeking is also seeking you. And to take that a step further: You are what you are seeking.
There is a mystery to life, absolutely — can you quiet yourself enough to hear its whispers? Sincere reflection is the key to unlocking it all. You don’t need confirmation from anyone but your deep inner knowing.
Reversed Meaning:
You’re not listening to your intuition right now — why is that?
Is it because you just know something, but you don’t like what you know — so you choose to ignore it? What do you stand to gain by denying your inner wisdom?
Is it because you’ve become so overstimulated by the material world that you don’t create space for quiet reflection anymore? That’s okay — take some time right now.
Is it because you think the gift of intuition belongs to sages, psychics and oracles and not you? We’re all humans, and therefore abundance and divine inner knowing is our birthright. No one is more gifted than another, they just commit to their practice a bit more.
Now is not the time for you to go-go-go, do-do-do — it’s time for you to create stillness in your internal and external worlds. Quiet the mind, take a deep breath, and just listen — something is calling you.
If you’ve been curious about a particular spiritual practice (meditation, yoga, divination, scrying, spell work, etc), now would be a great time to create some space for that. Something expansive that you enjoy. Fostering a connection with our inner divine doesn’t have to be a chore — find what expands you, deeply connects you, and give yourself permission to explore that.
Journal Prompts for The High Priestess:
How do I connect with my inner wisdom, and what spiritual practices help me listen to my intuition?
What hidden aspects of myself or my life am I ready to explore and embrace?
In what ways can I create more space for reflection in my daily routine to deepen my spiritual insight?
What am I seeking in the external world — and how does it begin with the internal world first?
Affirmations:
“I trust my inner wisdom and embrace the mysteries within me.”
“I am open to receiving the hidden truths of my subconscious, guiding me on my path.”
“My intuition leads me toward profound understanding.”
Theme Song:
Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac, 1975
About The Author
Patrick is a professional tarot reader, author, and educator offering online tarot readings and structured tarot education. His work approaches tarot as a mirror for self-reflection, and as lived experience. The wisdom of tarot is the wisdom of our lives.
Patrick helps students and clients develop a grounded, thoughtful relationship with the cards; one that strengthens intuition and self-trust.
Based in Brooklyn, he works with clients and students around the world, and considers this work his purpose.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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