1. Home
2. Card meanings
3. The 22 Major Arcana
4. The High Priestess

By ModUpdated 1 Nov 2026

Upright meaning

Reversed meaning

Imagery and symbols

• The black pillar B and white pillar JBoaz and Jachin, the pillars before Solomon's Temple: the two poles of life — dark and light, receiving and giving. She sits between them as the keeper of balance.
• The veil of pomegranatesWhat lies behind ordinary knowledge. Pomegranates mean fertility and recall Persephone; a gap at the veil's edge reveals water — the unconscious behind.
• The TORA scrollLaw and hidden knowledge, half covered by her robe: some knowledge can only be partly revealed.
• The triple-moon crownWaxing, full and waning: birth, growth and decline, shaped like the crown of Isis.
• The crescent at her feetThe Moon's influence, emotions and cycles.
• The cross on her breastThe balance of the four elements and the centre of the mind.
• The blue robe flowing like waterIts hem runs out of the frame; many readers see it becoming the waters in other cards of the deck.

Details most readers miss

• She is the only early Major who does nothing at all: she sits and knows. The card's power lies in waiting and perceiving, not acting.
• The pillars marked B and J echo through the deck: the grey pillars of the Hierophant and the twin towers in Death and the Moon.
• Her path is the longest on the middle pillar of the Tree of Life, joining crown and heart directly — why tradition sees her as knowledge reached by intuition rather than reason.
• In Crowley's Thoth deck the card is The Priestess, stressing Isis and the bow of Artemis.

History and origins

In the Italian and Marseille decks the card was La Papessa, the female pope — an image at odds with the Church, often linked with the legend of Pope Joan. The scholar Gertrude Moakley suggested the Visconti–Sforza figure may be Sister Maifreda da Pirovano, a relative of the Visconti, elected "popess" by the Guglielmite sect.

Waite renamed her the High Priestess, and Smith drew a mysterious priestess seated between the two pillars of Solomon's Temple, with emblems of Isis and the Moon. The Golden Dawn gave her Gimel (camel) and the Moon. Her path runs straight from Kether down to Tiphareth, crossing the Abyss between the upper and lower worlds — the camel being the one who crosses the long desert.

The story of the card

After the Magician teaches the Fool to act, the High Priestess teaches the opposite: stop, listen and accept that not everything is understood by doing. Through her the Fool first touches the inner world and the mystery of life.

She gives no direct answer but points to the veil. If the Fool wants to know what lies behind it he must journey on through many lessons; her knowledge is both an invitation and a promise.

Element and elemental dignities

This card belongs to Water, the energy of emotion, love, relationships and intuition.

Under the Golden Dawn rules of elemental dignities, Water is friendly with Earth and opposed to Fire. Beside cards of the same or a friendly element this card grows stronger; beside an opposing element it weakens or shows its harder side.

When Water dominates a spread: sensitivity and emotional decisions — you may drown in feelings or fantasy. When it is missing: Add Water by naming your feelings, listening to people close to you and giving time to relationships.

Sign, planet and timing

This card is ruled by Moon ☽, the planet of emotions, home, ebb and flow. In the Golden Dawn system the seven classical planets belong to seven Major Arcana cards, matching the seven Hebrew "double" letters that have two pronunciations.

Moon also rules 5 decans in the Minor Arcana: Nine of Wands, Four of Cups, Two of Swords, Seven of Swords, Six of Pentacles. Those cards show the same planetary energy working in specific areas of life.

Key of Life: number, birth cards and quintessence

The card's number 2, so it belongs to constellation 2 together with Justice, Judgement. This group is the knower who sees inner truth and weighs every side. If your birth-date total is 2, this is your Personality card and card 2 is your Soul card.

To find your birth cards with Mary K. Greer's method, add your birth day, month and year, then add the digits until the result is 22 or less. Born 14 June 1990: 14 + 6 + 1990 = 2010 → 2 + 0 + 1 + 0 = 3, the Empress.

The same card can also be a "year card" when you use the current year instead of your birth year, and the "quintessence" of a reading when the numbers of all cards in the spread reduce to 2.

Path on the Tree of Life

The 22 Major Arcana are the 22 paths (numbered 11–32) linking the ten sephiroth of the Tree of Life. This card is path 13, joining Kether · Crown (the source, pure will, the highest aim) with Tiphareth · Beauty (harmony, the centre of the self), and the Hebrew letter ג Gimel, meaning "camel".

Read as a journey of the mind, the path teaches how to bring the power of Kether down into Tiphareth, or how to climb from below to above. It runs along the Middle Pillar of Balance: consciousness, balance, the union of opposites.

Uranian astrology connection

Uranian astrology (the Hamburg School) uses eight hypothetical points beyond Neptune alongside the real planets. This card resonates with Poseidon and Hades.

• Poseidon (Pos)Poseidon is the light of the mind: pure ideas, truth and spiritual experience. It reads as the inspiration that lets you see the whole picture clearly. Keywords: spirit, ideas, enlightenment, truth, clarity
• Hades (Had)Hades is what lies beneath the surface: decay, illness and neglect on one side; on the other, digging up buried truth, history and work that demands depth. Keywords: the past, the hidden, depth, decay, old things, deep research

The High Priestess guards inner knowledge: Poseidon for spiritual truth, Hades for what is hidden behind the veil.

This correspondence is TarotMod's own synthesis from the meanings of the Hamburg School factors; it is not part of traditional tarot. Cast your Uranian chart

Related cards

• JusticeSame constellation
• JudgementSame constellation
• Nine of WandsMoon decan
• Four of CupsMoon decan
• Two of SwordsMoon decan
• Seven of SwordsMoon decan
• Six of PentaclesMoon decan

Frequently asked questions

Try a reading