High priestess Tarot Card Meanings

Major Arcana Tarot

High priestess Tarot Card Meanings

Upright Card Meaning

The High Priestess is one of the more mystical cards of the tarot, representing the divine feminine. She is a symbol of all that cannot be understood through scientific reason and rationality alone—intuition, psychic forces, and deep inner knowledge. The High Priestess enjoys a very close connection with the moon, the target of much of humanity’s psychic imaginations.
The High Priestess in a reading is an invitation to deepen your connection with the spiritual side of yourself. We often neglect quieter, less glamorous spiritual pursuits in the daily hustle and bustle of life, but developing our spiritual side is crucial in order to achieve deeper inner meaning.
The High Priestess’s power comes from quiet and passivity. Through withdrawal from the daily passions of life, she is better able to understand its deeper meanings and meditate on higher truths. In a reading, The High Priestess reminds you to embrace passivity, to allow situations to develop before acting and approach problems with tenacity. Mindless action will not help you achieve the unrealized potential hidden in the card.

Major Arcana Tarot

High priestess Tarot Card Meanings

Reversed Card Meaning

The High Priestess reversed has distanced herself from the passivity and detachment of the card’s meaning when upright. She is full of passion and ardor, both physical and spiritual. The High Priestess reversed can represent a person in your life that manifests these qualities, or it can represent your own connection to your passions. Perhaps you are reconnecting with life’s everyday joys after a long period of withdrawal. Congratulations, one cannot live on introspection alone!
However, too much passion clouds one’s ability to connect to inner knowledge, and the High Priestess reversed has distanced herself from her natural position as a seer. The card asks you when is the last time you have engaged in serious introspection? Are there any emotions that you are repressing that are preventing you from engaging with life more deeply?
Alternatively, The High Priestess reversed represents an excess of withdrawal and passivity. While some passivity and accepting that which you cannot change is a good thing, too much of it causes you to lose the ability to influence your own future. Are you taking an active role in your own life, or letting it pass you by?