II The High Priestess - 'The Third Eye'
The second archetype to appear on The Fool's journey is 'The High Priestess'.
Numbered 'II' in the Major Arcana, this card opens the doorway into humanity's spiritual aspirations. After witnessing The Magician's raw power and control over the Elements, The Fool starts to ponder where this power really comes from. The High Priestess crosses The Fool's path just as the realization that there's more to the human experience than meets the eye starts to set in. The Fool begins to explore spirituality and mysticism.
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| The High Priestess from the Tarot Grand Luxe by Ciro Marchetti |
THE HIGH PRIESTESS - The Third Eye
KEYWORDS
Seer. Oracle. Intuition. Ethereal. Subconscious wisdom. Psychic visions. Meditation. Lucid dreaming. Prophetic dreaming. Intuitive cosmic knowledge. Divine feminine. Sacred spirituality. Universal consciousness. Mysticism. Arcane secrets. Divine mysteries.
Detachment. Disconnect. Indifference. Aloofness. Spiritual confusion. Spiritual apathy. Mental struggles. Delusions. Hallucinations. Irrationality. Secrecy.
THE LIGHT
While The High Priestess' body is located right here on Earth, her mind and soul reside in the space between worlds. She seamlessly travels between the physical reality of existence and other more mystical dimensions.
She is the Seer; the mythical Oracle; the invisible link between humanity and Divinity. Her Third Eye is wide open at all times, while her physical eyes seem sightless, lost in a continuous spiritual trance. She possesses deep innate insights into the human subconscious. She dwells in the realm of dreams, elevated meditation and prophecies.
Her ability to instantly connect with the higher planes of consciousness through a meditative state is a tremendous help in times of inner turmoil. She can be a great ally in our fight against The Devil's control, by reminding us that we're more than just a body enslaved to the physical urges of the material world. We're also a spirit and a soul that need attention and nurturing in order to avoid debilitating mental breakdowns. I like to think of her as The Devil's Nemesis. As he relentlessly pulls us down into the temptations of the Underworld, she untangles our chains, calms our disordered thoughts and lifts us right back up into the Light.
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| 'Meditation' from the 78 Mythical Tarot, a Tarot collaboration by various artists |
The High Priestess indicates that it's time for our intuition to take over and to allow our inner voice to speak. That feeling we often get when we 'just know', without having the slightest clue just how we know: that's the High Priestess' influence. I'm sure that, like me, you've caught yourself many times thinking: 'I should have listened to my gut.' And doesn't that initial gut feeling end up being right on the mark nine times out of ten? It's important to never dismiss this internal alarm system. I look at it as the spiritual equivalent to our survival instinct. It's there for pretty much the same reasons. To warn us that something is wrong and to save us from sustaining potentially lethal injury. Our survival instinct protects our body, whereas our intuition protects our soul.
Close your eyes, clear your mind and let the answer come effortlessly to you. Remember that your intuition is intimately and directly linked to the flow of universal consciousness. It taps into an ancient amalgam of wisdom, sacred energies and highly evolved old souls. Channel your inner High Priestess and learn to trust and absorb their knowledge.
THE SHADOW
It's important to achieve a healthy balance in our spiritual practice to avoid drifting into the shadow aspect of this card. The High Priestess is almost completely detached from the physical world. She has divorced herself from reality in favor of a permanent state of quiet spiritual trance. This level of extreme detachment can be very detrimental to daily life and to our relationship with those closest to us. So, unless the plan is to join a spiritual retreat and live like a Buddhist monk, it's imperative to find ways to ground ourselves.
Achieving this balance will have a positive effect on our overall health. When the mind and soul are out of sync with the body it can directly influence our physical health. It can also lead to psychological issues, including anxiety, depression and delusions.
The shadow High Priestess represents a cold, aloof, secretive and indifferent state of being. It's a sign of something disjointed in our life, of severe denial. There are lies being told to ourselves and to others. It's also an urgent reminder to reconnect with the internal psychic defense mechanism that is our intuition.
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| High Priestess Variations From left to right: The Ansata Tarot (top), Servants of the Light Tarot (bottom), Magna Veritas Tarot & Margarete Petersen Tarot |
LITERALLY
As I've mentioned in previous posts, the cards are sometimes quite literal in their message.
The High Priestess can literally represent an actual seer, clairvoyant or psychic medium. She can represent a wise woman or a real High Priestess in a Pagan coven; a spiritual advisor, unbound by traditional religious dogma, open to alternative, primordial methods of approaching spirituality. It may be time to seek the advice of such a person or to develop these traits within yourself. She can also represent a Yoga or meditation teacher, reminding you to slow down and focus on your inner peace for a while.
Pay attention to nearby cards and to your own intuition to figure out when this card needs to be read in a literal sense.
TAROT ACADEMIA
The symbolic elements in The High Priestess pictorial representations reveal a wealth of information on this card's essence and, more interestingly, on how the various deck creators view this archetype. The differences generate some dramatic variations from one deck to the next and from one school of Tarot to another.
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| Left: The Priestess from the Thoth Tarot Right: 'La Papessa' from the Soprafino Tarot |
In the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot the High Priestess sits between two pillars, one black and one white, symbols of divine duality. They bear the letters B & J, a representation of the entrance to the Sanctuary in the ancient Jewish Temple of Solomon. She's holding a scroll with the inscription 'TORA' or 'Divine Law', cementing her role as the Divine Feminine. The veil behind her is decorated with pomegranates, an enduring symbol of femininity. The Moon at her feet further underscores the feminine vibe in this card and represents intuition and mystery.
In the Thoth Tarot, she is depicted not in front of the veil, but directly behind it. The veil is see-through which makes her accessible, yet shrouded in mystery. She's not so much the link between the worlds, as the guardian of age-old secrets. She will recognize the committed spiritual students and will be allow them to pass and share in her sacred knowledge.
In the Tarot de Marseille and the old Italian Tarocchi, The High Priestess is named 'La Papesse' (or 'La Papessa'), which is the feminine version of 'Pope'. As such, she is portrayed in a more conventionally religious manner. She's not a mystical, ethereal entity, but a traditional, almost rigid authority figure of the Church. She's basically a female version of the Hierophant, which in these old decks is predictably called 'Le Pape' (or 'Il Papa'). Her main role, in conjunction with her male counterpart, is to embody the Divine Feminine and Masculine duality.
AN EXERCISE
The High Priestess is a great card to fine tune your intuition with. Find the High Priestess in your deck and set it face down on the table. Shuffle your deck and lay out as many cards as you want. It can be just one card to start with, or several cards to form your favorite spread. Interpret the reading in your own usual way. Now turn the High Priestess face up and imagine how she would interpret these cards. How does your initial interpretation of the cards differ? Do you now see something different through her mystical eyes? Is the message clearer or has it become confusing? Have fun working through the various levels of intuition.