The High Priestess — The Major Arcana

The word Arcana comes from the Latin word Arcanum, which represents a sacred secret or mystery that one must discover. The High Priestess is related to the Major Arcana and signifies major life lessons you’ll learn on this path, that of listening to your intuition and higher-self!

The secret paths of the Major Arcana represent the journey of the Fool, in which the Fool learns new lessons with every step of the way and overcomes obstacles and gains wisdom from lessons learned!

The High Priestess — The Whisperer

The High Priestess represents the path of intuition and meeting the Higher Self. The Higher Self is your intuitive guide that resides inside of you. The High Priestess is related to the zodiac sign of Cancer. The three astrology decans of Cancer describe the High Priestess. The Moon — The epidermal kaleidoscope of emotions that fluctuate during the Phases of the Moon. Pluto — Intuitive and the keeper of secrets. Neptune — What is hidden or invisible.

“I am ruled by the Moon, the secret keeper of what is hidden or invisible behind the veil. I symbolize everything that is hidden in your subconscious waiting to be revealed to you through your intuition, dreams, visions and spiritual realization. I am the voice of your Higher-Self.”

“Did a strong voice send you a message, urging you to be cautious, reminding you about a valuable lessons you learned in the past, but have now forgotten?” Did you hear this voice say, “You shouldn’t have done that! You knew it wouldn’t work-out, and now you’re learning a new valuable lesson or the same lesson you learned in the past!”

The High Priestess’s Ruler — The Moon

The High Priestess is connected to the Moon, that ephemeral ruler of the ocean’s tides and your emotions that change and fluctuate just as the Moon itself. During the changing Phases of the Moon, you may receive mixed messages between your heart and your head and this is a red flag alerting you that something is wrong!

Each of us has a gut instinct, though all too often you pay it no heed, only to later reflect ruefully, “I knew I shouldn’t have gone with my heart! I just knew my head was telling me it wouldn’t work out.”

In so doing, you become the impulsive Fool, driven by immediate desire. Yet deep down, you all know that you should trust such intuition as emanating from your spirit, your subconscious, and your Higher-Self. The High Priestess reflects that intuitive guide within you, that ability which you must call upon, but when your heart and head are sending you mixed signals, you need to have the courage to listen and realize something is wrong!

When the High Priestess appears in your readings, ask yourself what the hidden truth is in a given situation. But when considering the answer, place trust in your intuition, and realize that your initial thought comes from your Higher-Self — the smarter you — and usually correct. If you are receiving mixed signals, you’re not ready to move forward. You need to understand that something is wrong!

The Message Might be Gentle or Roar Like the Lion

Sometimes, you’ll receive a soft gentle message that purrs like a kitten, but other times you’ll receive a strong message that roars like a lion and creates thunder! This is the time to examine the message and stop what you are doing. You might be receiving a message from your unconscious, guardian angels, subconscious (the whisperer) or the conscious.

The Unconscious: This part of your brain contains unseen awareness. It holds all the data about you, including past memories, feelings and thoughts. It runs your entire body. The unconscious dumps information into your subconscious through dreams and visions and stores everything that you’ve experienced.

Guardian Angels: Your guardian angel sends information to you from your unconscious then to your subconscious, and your guardian angel works in a mysterious way. Guardian Angels are assigned to you on the day of your birth and stay with you until the day of your death because they are your protectors and teachers. I learned that your guardian angels are the only spiritual beings allowed to interfere with your free will!

When you hear a strong voice, roaring like a lion that creates thunder, this roar comes from your guardian angel because you might be in the wrong place at the wrong time and hear this message: “Do Not” get in your car (in the boat, on that plane, go shopping or trust that person). It’s time to pay attention and stop what you are doing and listen! If you do not listen, you will experience something unpleasant, relating to life altering conditions you cannot change!

I also learned that when you ask your guardian angel for help, you will get the help you need! You may not hear your guardian angel speaking to you, but you’ll be directed to the person or source that will supply the answers you need to solve your confusion.

The Subconscious (The Whisperer): The subconscious obeys the commands it receives from your unconscious. Your subconscious mind is related to your intuition (the time when you are searching for the truth in order to solve your problems) through your dreams (what happened in the past or will happen in the future), visions (related to a prophecy or timing of either a future or past event) and the secret memo (from your “Higher Self or Higher Source”, revealing secret information).

The information you receive from your subconscious brings you into that “AHA Moment”. This is information that you need pertaining to a particular person or a particular situation to help you make the right decision or to avoid making the wrong decision. Your subconscious mind serves you twenty-four hours a day and your “Higher Self or Higher Source” is busy writing memos to you about what you crave or what you need to let fall away from you. These memos relate to personal experiences that will lead you into good or bad times.

The Conscious: The conscious mind receives all the data that you’ll experience. The conscious makes you take action, but also asks you to make a heartfelt decision that will be either positive or negative. This is the part of you that says “Yes or “No” and you will either accept the data or you will reject it.

The Story of the High Priestess Tarot Card

The High Priestess is enumerated two in the Tarot Deck and symbolizes intuition, wisdom and secret knowledge stored in her subconscious, waiting to be revealed.

The rulers of the High Priestess are related to the mysteries behind the veil: the Moon, the planet Pluto and the planet Neptune. The rulers of the High Priestess are related to the mysteries behind the veil: the Moon, Pluto and Neptune. The Moon rules the fourth house of the natal birth chart — the area that relates to your psychic abilities that are inherited through your blood lines and ancestors. The planet Pluto rules the eighth house of the natal birth chart — the area that represents a secret transformation that will be revealed to you. The planet Neptune rules the twelfth house of the natal birth chart — the area that stores hidden secrets.

The High Priestess is poised delicately between the conscious (the busy part of you that takes action, the part of you that makes yes or no decisions) and the subconscious (the secrets waiting to be revealed to you through your intuition, visions, dreams and spiritual exploration through meditation and prayer. The time when you arrive at your “AHA Moment” because the secret is revealed to you).

The High Priestess leads toward peace in all relationships and situations. Her voice helps you avoid the ravages of karma — the cause and effect of situations whose nature is unclear.

A wise, religious woman, she helps inspect the darkest reaches of your life to examine your unanswered questions and raises your awareness of what has been long interred in your subconscious mind. A mystery as serene as it is inscrutable shrouds the High Priestess, who sits in front of the very veil that frustrates your incessant search for answers. This mystical veil symbolizes everything that is hidden, waiting to be revealed to you.

A white and blue gown adorns the High Priestess: white for purity, and blue for knowledge. She sits between two pillars, the darker representing completion and the lighter representing new beginnings. Both of these pillars represent the transition from endings to new beginnings. Deeply religious, in her lap she holds a scroll containing the Torah, the Hebrew Scripture of religious law whose mysteries she so profoundly understands.

The High Priestess is the voice that resides inside you and she is the wiser self. The High Priestess is also related to how the “Moon Phases” affect you, because after all she is ruled by the Moon. The High Priestess’ crown represents the Full, Waxing and Waning Moon and signifies how the different Moon Phases affect her.

The two pillars that frame the High Priestess represent the hall of truth and the law of the Torah. The throne’s importance lies in the High Priestess’s connections to the secrets that lie behind it, behind the mystical curtain that leads to a deeper knowledge. Her throne also signifies her elevated rank that associates her with the royal seat and higher power of dignity.

The pomegranates are a fruit that have served as a symbol of beliefs and desires throughout history in almost every religion, while the palms represent a burning heat of selfish passion during times of trial, as well as a sense of what is right and wise, a connection to the Ten Commandments. Taken together, the fruit and the palm are the burning desire of passion that lead to the beginning or completion of a secret that will be at last revealed.

As for the lotus flowers, the color white represents the beginning and the color black represents completion, compliments to the pillars. The High Priestess’s cross is fashioned after the Holy Cross where Christ was crucified, which came to be accepted as a Christian Cross. This connects the High Priestess to Christian beliefs and further signifies her devout religiosity.

The Crescent Moon at her feet is growing in size “waxing” or “increasing” symbolizing a new beginning and a period of growth. Under her feet, the yellow earth fills her with inspiration and enlightenment.

Behind the pomegranates can be seen the enormity of the ocean, whose tides are always and inextricably linked to and controlled by the powerful Moon. Your emotions are in constant flux like the tides because your emotions are being controlled by the Moon, thus allowing you to hear the voice of your High Priestess guiding you.

My Interpretation of the High Priestess Tarot Card

The High Priestess calls for the balancing of logic (your thoughts regarding the situation) and (your emotions regarding the situation) with balancing your intuition (your sixth sense regarding the situation). Sometimes the facts you seek evade you. These facts hide from you, but try as they might to stay hidden in the subconscious, they are revealed to you in dreams, visions, and spiritual realizations, releasing these secrets. Quiet the raging thoughts of your mind and strive to hear the voice inside of you and the answers to your questions will manifest.

Those times when you feel thwarted, incapable of penetrating the mystery, overwhelmed with impatience and walled in by seeming nonsense, those are the times when you will commit the fatal error of ignoring your intuition.  Your first feeling about something usually contains the truth. Once you understand this, the confusion caused by warring senses becomes resolved. The High Priestess keeps your secrets, for only you know what your subconscious covertly signals to you. Silence your mind enough to listen to your intuitive guide, and she will reveal the secret. But your intuitive guide absolutely requires your unfailing trust.

If The High Priestess appears in your reading, this is the time to inquire into your true feelings, to delineate your thoughts and assessments of your life. The High Priestess points toward the subconscious, the understanding of higher truths through dreams and intuition and a connection to the spiritual forces within. The High Priestess is the intuitive clairvoyant and her role is to create harmony and forge your inner balance. Yet unrevealed, personal secrets lurk within this card.

Upright. This is the time when you need to wait patiently until you receive the message from your higher self (the whisperer). A hidden secret will be revealed to you through your initial gut feeling, dreams, intuition or the memo from your higher self (the whisperer).

Reverse. This is the time when you might go against your intuition and make a mistake because you’re impatient and lack the commitment of waiting. However, something might be going on behind the scenes that you’re not aware of or a secret is will be revealed to you that might be good or bad.

Timing is 1 – 30 days or related to the Phases of the Moon.

New Moon or Solar Eclipse (not visible – making a wish and starting a new plan).

First Quarter Moon (growing in size – action oriented – pushing ahead to a testing point).

Full Moon or Lunar Eclipse (wishes come true – or the release of what is not working).

Third Quarter Moon (shrinking in size – strong beliefs with what you want – you will put these beliefs in action, or let go and release what binds you).

This article is also located on Lotus Tarot (tarot card articles). You can also find me on Lotus Tarot if you are interested in a reading. http://www.free-tarot-reading.net/live-readings/Safina/chat