The High Priestess
Song Pairing
“Morning Star” by King Woman. A dark, spiritual, ritualistic droning soaked in shadow and feminine power. This track doesn’t gently suggest intuition, it drags it up from the depths.
Astrology
Ruled by the Moon, the cosmic amplifier of emotion, mystery, and rhythm. The High Priestess channels lunar energy instinctively. Spiritually aligned with Cancer and Pisces, she embodies Cancer’s emotional depth and intuitive pull, and Pisces’ dreamlike, boundary-blurring vision.
Historic Interest
In early tarot decks, this card was called The Papess, likely inspired by the legend of Pope Joan, a woman who secretly became pope. Though fictional, her story symbolized hidden wisdom and challenged the idea that spiritual power belongs only to men or institutions.
The High Priestess tarot card represents intuition, divine feminine energy, spiritual wisdom, inner truth, and the courage to express that truth boldly and out loud. This card calls you to trust your instincts and honor your voice.
Vibe
Fierce, untamed, spiritually plugged-in, and unapologetically wise.
Affirmation
“I trust the voice within me and am confident to express it loudly.”
Card Pairing
The High Priestess + Judgment. Deep knowing meets divine calling. This combo says: Your inner voice is not just valid, it’s urgent. Judgment takes what you’ve quietly sensed and gives it shape, form, and volume. It’s time to stop second-guessing and start responding. The signal is loud and clear.
Kindred Spirit
The Hermit. While The High Priestess turns inward to sense and express, The Hermit turns inward to seek and illuminate. Together, they embody the sacred act of inner listening. In love or friendship, this is a pairing of emotional depth and mutual respect for silence, solitude, and truth. One senses the signal; the other follows the lantern. Though their methods differ, both trust the felt truth over what can be justified.
Esoteric Connection
Lapis Lazuli. A stone of vision and voice, lapis opens the third eye and strengthens the throat chakra. Long associated with ancient priestesses, it bridges deep knowing and clear expression. This is intuition with a mic in hand. Unapologetic, radiant, and ready to be heard.
Element
Water. Representing intuition, dreams, and the subconscious. This is the realm of feeling over logic, symbol over fact. The High Priestess channels the emotional undercurrents we can’t always name but instinctively recognize. Like the ocean, she holds both calm and storm, mystery and clarity, depth and movement.
Misconception
The High Priestess isn’t always passive or quiet. While often depicted as silent or veiled, her power can roar just as fiercely. Stillness and noise can both be sacred.
Full Interpretation
“She is the part of you that dreams vividly, that gets goosebumps for no reason.”
For this illustration, I wanted to substantially depart from the traditional High Priestess imagery while staying true to the core, traditional meanings of the card. Rather than whispering behind a veil, I envision her as a powerful presence. She shreds. She electrifies the unseen and mystical through sound, movement, and her raw presence.
I reimagined her temple pillars as amplifiers, and replaced her scroll with a guitar. The High Priestess isn't reserved or hesitant: her truth is loud and full of conviction.
She's the guardian of the unconscious, the divine feminine, the space between knowledge and the unknown. Sacred wisdom isn't always expressed through stillness and silence. The High Priestess has complete agency to express her internal power full-throated, and without permission.
Her amps bear the ancient symbols B and J: Boaz and Jachin. They represent opposing forces: severity and mercy, dark and light, the gateway between the physical and spiritual realms. Rather than sitting passively between them, she draws power from both and lets it surge through her body and into the universe.
Her crescent moon is resting at her feet, connecting her to cycles, intuition, and the lunar wisdom that pulls the tides of our emotions.
In contrast to the Magician, who reaches outward to shape the world, the High Priestess turns inward first. She listens and integrates. But once the message becomes clear, she expresses it without restraint. Her truth isn’t always pretty. It may come in the form of a scream, a decision that surprises even you, or a boundary that feels risky to hold. But it’s truth nonetheless.
This card is about trusting what you sense beneath the surface. The feelings that haven’t formed into thoughts yet. The quiet knowing that doesn’t need to be defended or explained. In a world that prizes certainty and speed, the High Priestess asks you to pause, to attune, and to trust what lives in the in-between.
She is the embodiment of mystery. Not the mystery that hides, but the kind that reveals itself only when you are present enough to receive it. She is the part of you that dreams vividly, that gets goosebumps for no reason, or connects with the truth in a song lyric you can’t forget.
When you pull this card, it is often a sign to come back to yourself. To clear away the noise of the world and recalibrate your internal signal. But with this, comes a call to expression: What are you ready to voice that you’ve been keeping inside? What would happen if you stopped trying to justify your feelings and just honored them?
This might show up in relationships the moment you stop pretending you’re okay with something you’re not okay with, just to be “nice” or agreeable. It’s when you listen to that subtle emotional shift in your body and realize, I’m not being fully seen here. Or when you feel drawn to someone but can’t explain why. And you let yourself be pulled toward them anyway, even if it doesn’t make sense yet.
In your creative life, The High Priestess might appear when you’re sitting on an idea or vision that feels too weird, too personal, or too vulnerable to share. This is your nudge to trust your originality and intuition. This is your signal to express that strange art or crazy project without hesitation.
Spiritually, this card may signal a departure from rigid religious structures that no longer resonate, especially those that expect silence, obedience, or conformity. The High Priestess invites you to connect with something more personal and lived: a sense of the sacred that doesn’t require approval or performance. You may feel a pull toward ritual, meditation, dreams, or intuitive practices that don’t make sense to anyone but you. It’s okay to openly express that.
In the realm of self-discovery, The High Priestess often appears when you're tired of playing a role. Maybe you've been performing a version of yourself that keeps others comfortable but leaves you feeling disconnected. It could even be within your career. This card is your permission to shed that skin. You don’t have to explain your evolution, you just have to honor it.
Above all else, The High Priestess doesn’t ask for external permission. She asks for internal trust. When you honor her message, you stop asking, "Will anyone understand this? Will I be taken seriously?" and start asking, "Does this feel true to me?" That shift is where power lives.
Wisdom doesn’t always arrive quietly. Sometimes, wisdom shreds.
“What are you ready to voice that you’ve been keeping inside?”
Reversed Interpretation
Reversed, The High Priestess can signal a deep inner tension between what you feel and what you allow yourself to believe. Maybe you’ve sensed something is off in a relationship, a situation, or within yourself. But you’ve been pushing it down, telling yourself you’re overreacting or imagining things. This card asks: what if you're not?
This reversal may point to a fear of what your intuition might reveal if you really listened. Sometimes it's easier to chase clarity through logic, spreadsheets, or someone else's advice than to sit quietly with a truth that might disrupt your life. You might also be ignoring dreams, gut feelings, or synchronicities because they don't "fit the plan."
In relationships, you could be brushing off subtle red flags or failing to speak up because you're afraid of rocking the boat. Or maybe you sense a deeper connection with someone but keep second-guessing it, looking for proof instead of presence. Spiritually, you might feel disconnected. Not because you're broken, but because you're scared of what it would mean to trust your own experiences more than an external authority.
The reversed High Priestess doesn’t mean your intuition is gone. It means it’s knocking louder, asking you to stop dimming the volume. Shadow work may be calling: not to shame you, but to help you reclaim the parts of yourself you've silenced.
Ask: What would it feel like to trust my own knowing without needing permission?
Pause and Reflect
What parts of yourself have you silenced because they didn’t feel "reasonable" or easy to explain? When was the last time you trusted a feeling without proof? What were the results? What would happen if you stopped seeking approval and simply let your intuition speak? Even if you did it loudly, awkwardly, or imperfectly?
Take Action
Play a song that makes you feel something in your gut, not your brain. (I suggest metal, even if you aren't a headbanger! 🤘) Don’t analyze it, just feel it. Let your body move, even a little. Then speak out loud one personal truth you’ve been holding in. Say it into the mirror, into a journal, into the sky. Make your intuition audible. Let it echo.