Beyond Keywords: High Priestess Tarot Card Meanings In Context
Learn to interpret the High Priestess in any tarot reading (Rider Waite Smith deck).
To move beyond keywords and truly understand High Priestess (RWS deck), it is helpful to see the shift in meanings across contexts.
That is why this guide covers:
Meanings for all major life areas, including general, love, career, spiritual, and intellectual matters.
Interpretations for common spread positions, such as 'Situation', 'Advice', 'Obstacles', and 'Outcome'.
Key card combinations, with pulled examples like The High Priestess and The Emperor, The Lovers, or the Ace of Swords.
Arthur Edward Waite's original vision for the card from The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911).
The true benefit of this guide is that…
If you study it carefully, you will start to notice just how an experienced tarot reader can come up with so many meanings for a card.
And then you won’t need to use it anymore.
The RWS High Priestess at a Glance
Keywords: Intuition, Higher Self, Secrets, Mystery, Hidden Knowledge, Stillness
Reversed Keywords: Ignored Guidance, Secrets Revealed, Gossip, Lack of Clarity, Superficiality
Element: Water
Yes/No: Maybe / Not Yet Known
In This Article:
A.E. Waite’s Original Vision
Upright High Priestess: Meanings in Context
Reversed High Priestess: Meanings in Context
Journal Prompts for Personal Reflection
The High Priestess in Key Card Combinations
Controversies & Notes
Frequently Asked Questions
A.E. Waite’s High Priestess Card (Rider Waite Smith Deck)
A.E Waite’s High Priestess card shows a serene, seated figure, positioned between two pillars: one black marked 'B' (Boaz: negation, severity) and one white marked 'J' (Jachin: beginning, mercy). Behind her is a veil decorated with pomegranates, concealing a body of water. This veil represents the division between the outer, reasoning mind and the higher self, with the water being the vast ocean of the astral light. She wears the crown of Isis, holds the TORA scroll (representing divine law), and the crescent moon is at her feet, all signifying her mastery of intuition, cycles, and hidden wisdom.
Waite’s Divinatory Meanings of The High Priestess
In his 1911 book, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, A.E. Waite gives the divinatory meanings for The High Priestess as follows:
"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."
Upright RWS High Priestess: Meanings in Context
In Life Areas
Generally: Hidden information, a need for patience, trusting intuition. Waiting for medical test results, an intuitive prompting not to get on a bus, sensing a shift in a friendship but not knowing the secret cause.
In a Love Context: A platonic relationship with unspoken feelings, a profound and fated new romance, intuitively knowing a partner's surprise, a secret admirer.
In a Money/Career Context: A need for due diligence or patience. An intuition that a job offer is 'off', possessing confidential work information, waiting for a promotion decision, a period of study before a career change.
In an Intellectual Context: The study of esoteric or hidden subjects. A flash of insight while reading Blavatsky, deep research before writing a thesis, learning a family secret from an old diary, understanding a complex theory intuitively.
In a Spiritual Context: The archetype of the mystic. A profound insight during meditation, quiet guidance from the Divine Soul, keeping your spiritual practice private, a period of silent retreat.
In Common Spread Positions
As Advice: Trust your intuition. Accept the uncertainty. Be still and wait for more information to be revealed from the higher planes.
As (Ultimate) Outcome: The outcome is a secret. The final result is not yet meant to be known and will be revealed in its own time.
As Obstacles: Progress is blocked by secrets. You are being hindered by withheld information or facts that are not yet available.
As Hidden Energy: The intuitive, secretive energy of the High Priestess is an untapped resource. There is a powerful insight available from the higher self if you look for it.
As Resources/Alliances: Your intuition is your greatest resource. Help will come in the form of secret knowledge or a discreet, intuitive person.
Reversed RWS High Priestess: Meanings in Context
In Life Areas
Generally: Ignoring the soul's guidance, secrets revealed against your will, acting on superficial information, a disconnect from your higher mind.
In a Love Context: A partner's affair exposed, realising you ignored your intuition about a relationship, a friendship ruined by gossip, a lack of emotional honesty.
In a Money/Career Context: A career move backfiring due to office gossip, a deal failing due to undisclosed information, buying a faulty car due to a sales pitch, making a bad investment despite an intuitive warning.
In an Intellectual Context: Stating an opinion after only reading a headline, spreading rumours online, preferring gossip magazines to study, intellectual arrogance.
In a Spiritual Context: A block in your spiritual practice, being too distracted to hear the quiet guidance of the soul, joining a superficial spiritual group, mistaking psychic noise for genuine intuition.
In Common Spread Positions
As Advice: Do not trust surface appearances. It is time to reveal a secret. Stop ignoring the promptings of your higher self.
As (Ultimate) Outcome: The outcome will be a damaging secret revealed. A decision will be made based on a complete lack of insight.
As Obstacles: Progress is blocked by malicious gossip. You are being hindered by misinformation and active deception.
As Hidden Energy: The secretive energy of the High Priestess is a hidden threat. An enemy is playing dumb, or self-sabotage from the lower self is at work.
As Resources/Alliances: A secret brought to light can be used to your advantage. Wisdom gained from a painful experience is now your resource.
Journal Prompts for Personal Reflection
What is the guidance from my higher self about my current situation that I might be ignoring?
Are there any secrets (my own or others') that are affecting my path forward?
Where in my life do I need to be more still and listen, rather than act and speak?
The RWS High Priestess in Key Card Combinations
Combinations with Major Arcana
The High Priestess & The Emperor
The High Priestess (↑) & The Emperor (↑): Intuitive leadership. Disciplined spirituality. A secret project with official backing.
The High Priestess (↓) & The Emperor (↑): A rigid leader actively rejecting intuition. An organisation ignoring deeper issues. Secrets threatening a stable structure.
The High Priestess (↑) & The Emperor (↓): A tyrant's chaos blocking a wise person's intuitive insight from being implemented. A good idea that lacks structure.
The High Priestess (↓) & The Emperor (↓): A toxic workplace paralysed by excessive gossip and a complete lack of rules. A project failing from misinformation and chaos.
The High Priestess & The Lovers
The High Priestess (↑) & The Lovers (↑): A deep, intuitive soul connection. A choice based on intuition. A secret relationship.
The High Priestess (↓) & The Lovers (↑): Ignoring your intuition about a partner. A relationship threatened by secrets. A choice based on superficiality.
The High Priestess (↑) & The Lovers (↓): A relationship's disharmony blocking clear intuitive guidance from being heard. A secret causing a poor choice.
The High Priestess (↓) & The Lovers (↓): A relationship built on excessive secrets and lies. A poor choice made by ignoring the soul's guidance.
Combinations with the Suit of Swords
The High Priestess & The Ace of Swords
The High Priestess (↑) & The Ace of Swords (↑): A hidden truth revealed. A brilliant idea from the higher self. A moment of profound intuitive clarity.
The High Priestess (↓) & The Ace of Swords (↑): A secret exposed by force or through gossip. A truth that reveals a lie.
The High Priestess (↑) & The Ace of Swords (↓): Intuition being blocked by the confused thinking of the lower mind. A secret causing mental anguish.
The High Priestess (↓) & The Ace of Swords (↓): A toxic situation of gossip and confused thinking. A decision based on misinformation.
Controversies & Notes
The Keeper of the Veil
A common error is to see The High Priestess as a passive character. Her power is not in action, but in her position as the guardian of the veil between the seen and unseen worlds. She does not give away secrets freely; she represents the principle that a student must first develop the intuitive faculty required to be worthy of receiving hidden knowledge. Her silence is not emptiness; it is a profound state of receptive potential.
The TORA Scroll
Many modern interpretations suggest the scroll she holds reads "TARO." However, on the Rider-Waite-Smith card, the letters T, O, R, and A are clearly visible between the folds of her cloak. This is a reference to the Torah, the book of divine law. This grounds the card's meaning not in simple psychic prediction, but in the reception of divine, cosmic law, aligning her with figures like the Oracle at Delphi.
Frequently Asked Questions about The High Priestess
What does The High Priestess card mean as a 'yes' or 'no'? The High Priestess rarely gives a clear 'yes' or 'no'. Her answer is typically "The answer is not yet known" or "You must seek guidance from the Divine Soul." She signifies that a decision should not be forced at this time.
What is The High Priestess's elemental correspondence? In the system of correspondences used for the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, which is derived from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the primary elemental correspondence for The High Priestess is Water. This links the card to things like the higher self, intuition, emotion, and the flow of secrets.
Is The High Priestess a religious figure? Not in a conventional sense. In the RWS system, she does not represent a specific religious figure, but rather the archetypal principle of divine feminine wisdom, intuition, and the keeper of sacred mysteries that exists within many spiritual traditions.
