The High Priestess tarot card: upright and reversed, in love, work and hard times

What the card shows

The High Priestess is card 2 of the Major Arcana. A woman sits calmly between two pillars, one black and one white, marked with the letters B and J. Behind her hangs a veil patterned with pomegranates, and past the veil you can just make out water. She holds a scroll that is only half visible, and a crescent moon rests at her feet.

Everything here says "half seen, half hidden". The two pillars are opposites, and she sits between them without picking a side. The water behind the veil is what lies beneath conscious thought. The half-rolled scroll is knowledge not yet fully revealed. The High Priestess knows a great deal, but she is not saying it. Not yet.

Upright: the answer is in you, so do not rush to say it

The core of The High Priestess upright is intuition and patience. It says your sense of this situation is more accurate than you are willing to admit. That does not mean acting on the feeling right away. It means watching, checking, and letting that vague sense come into focus.

It also often signals information you do not have yet. Things look one way on the surface, and there may be another layer underneath. Upright, time is on your side. Wait a little, and a lot of it will surface on its own.

Reversed: not listening to yourself, or hiding too much

The High Priestess reversed usually shows up in one of two ways:

• Ignoring your intuition. You felt it clearly and keep pushing it down with "I'm probably overthinking". The reversal says that feeling deserves to be taken seriously.
• Keeping too much hidden. Your real thoughts are buried so deep that even the people closest to you cannot guess them, and the relationship drifts because of it.

A reversal can also mean a secret is about to come out: something that was kept hidden is getting harder to keep hidden.

In love questions

In love, The High Priestess often stands for what has not been said. Maybe you have not told them how you feel, or maybe you cannot read what they are thinking. Upright, she does not advise pushing them to declare themselves. She advises watching what they do: when they reach out, and when they pull back.

If you are trying to read someone's feelings, it is worth pairing this with does he love me. Reversed, it may be that you have been holding your own feelings down, or that something you have both been avoiding is now ready to be talked about.

In work questions

The High Priestess suits research, observation, study, and plans that are not ready to go public. Upright, you do not need to stake out a position in the next meeting. Gather the full picture first; what you notice quietly is often more useful than what others argue about loudly.

Reversed, pay attention to undercurrents at work: news that is not reaching you, or decisions being made in private. Rather than guessing, find one reliable person and ask them straight.

When you are low or facing a decision

Here is a concrete example. You ask: "He has been slower to reply lately. Should I just ask him what is going on?" You draw The High Priestess upright.

The card is not saying something is wrong with him, and it is not saying you are imagining things. It is saying: do not force the conversation yet. You have picked up on something, and what you need now is to separate the feeling from the facts. For the next week, write down only what you actually observe (which days he replied late, what he said, what he did) and keep it apart from the story your mind fills in. When you read it back, you will know which specific question you want to ask, instead of walking in with a cloud of worry and asking "Have you changed?"

Drawn reversed, the reading changes: the question you are holding back is already affecting the two of you, and keeping it in is doing more harm than saying it. Pick a quiet moment and open with one specific sentence.

As a yes or no answer

In yes or no tarot, The High Priestess belongs to the not yet group: the answer is already in you, but it is not time to say it out loud. Reversed, "not yet" turns into "stop putting it off": whatever needs checking, check it now.

Before The High Priestess comes card 1, The Magician; after her comes card 3, The Empress. The Magician acts outward, The High Priestess looks inward, and The Empress slowly grows what has been seen clearly. For every Major Arcana card, see tarot card meanings.

Frequently asked questions

Does The High Priestess mean someone is hiding something from me?

Not necessarily. She points to a part of the picture you have not seen clearly, and that part may sit with someone else or inside you. First work out whether you are missing information or already know and do not want to face it.

Is she telling me to do nothing?

Not nothing. She is telling you to observe first. Noting what you see and confirming what you want to know is action too, just a quieter kind.

Is it a good time to confess my feelings if I draw her?

Upright, she usually suggests waiting a little and getting to know the person better. That is not a ban on speaking up. A bit more patience now means you will speak with more confidence when you do.

The High Priestess and The Hermit both look inward. What is the difference?

The High Priestess sits still and lets the answer rise to her. The Hermit leaves the crowd and goes looking for it with a lantern. One is stillness; the other is searching.