The High Priestess is the card of hidden knowledge: study in silence and trust your intuition.
Listen before acting: a knowledge that is kept, an answer that ripens in silence rather than in words.
Listening, study, and intuition: knowing how to wait until an answer takes shape before speaking it.
Stepping back can become a closed door: you keep to yourself what needed to be said or asked.
By Thomas Guilhot · updated
The High Priestess is the card of inhabited silence.
The figure is seated, an open book resting on the lap, the gaze turned away, as if absorbed in a reading that no one sees. Many readers see in it study, waiting, and intuition: a knowledge that does not show off.
Upright, she calls for slowing down: observing, listening, letting an answer take shape. She does not push you to act but to understand, and her presence is often read as a sign that some information or some time to ripen is still missing. Her number, two, speaks of duality: two pillars in Waite’s deck, the outside and the inside, the words spoken and those you keep. She imposes nothing: she leaves room for what is ripening.
A closeness that needs no big speeches, or a time of withdrawal to sort out what you really feel.
In matters of the heart, the High Priestess speaks of reserve and depth: a bond that is built slowly, feelings that need time before they are said. She can also point to a need to withdraw, to take time to understand yourself.
A time of study, preparation, or research: the file is worked on behind the scenes before it is presented.
On the professional level, the High Priestess leans toward study, training, and behind-the-scenes preparation. Tasks of concentration and discretion suit her better than those where you have to be in the spotlight. She suggests weighing things before committing.
Getting informed, comparing, letting things ripen: the card looks at patience and knowledge of the subject, not a quick move.
On the money side, the High Priestess describes a way of acting: getting informed, comparing, waiting until things are clear. She says nothing about what to do with a sum; she looks at patience and knowledge of the subject rather than speed.
A focused calm, the impression that the essential is already inside and does not need to be said.
Take the time to read, observe, and stay quiet for a while before deciding or answering.
Blocked energy turned inward: the knowledge you do not listen to, the silence that closes and lets nothing through.
Nuanced
An answer to qualify: the High Priestess invites you to wait, get informed, and listen before deciding. The question is not closed; it still needs time.
Questions to ask yourself
A sentence to keep: “I give what I feel the time to express itself at its own pace.”
A seated figure wearing a three-tiered crown holds an open book on the lap; the gaze slides to one side, a veil stretched behind: the image invites silent reading.
The red cloak covers a blue dress, and the book stays open on the lap without any of its contents being shown. In the Marseille deck, the veil stretched behind the head separates the figure from the background. In the Rider-Waite version, the High Priestess sits between two pillars, one black and marked B, the other white and marked J. Behind her stretches a veil covered with pomegranates. A crown of lunar horns surrounds a disc, a cross marks the chest, a scroll marked TORA is half hidden in the garment, and a crescent moon rests at her feet. In both images, what is known is not put on display.
The same card in the two reference decks: Conver’s drawing, dated 1760, and Pamela Colman Smith’s scene, 1909.
| Aspect | Tarot de Marseille | Rider-Waite |
|---|---|---|
| Name | La Papesse | The High Priestess |
| Number | II | II |
| Image | The Marseille deck shows a three-tiered crown, a red cloak over a blue dress, and a sideways gaze above an open book. | In Waite’s deck, the High Priestess sits between two pillars marked B and J, in front of a veil of pomegranates, with a TORA scroll half hidden. |
| Reversal | Often not read | Commonly read (reversed cards) |
Tarot de Marseille: Nicolas Conver, dated 1760, restored by the Tarot World Project, CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. Rider-Waite: drawings by Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Images resized and compressed by Versana; Marseille Minor Arcana diagrams and card back drawn by Versana.
Two situations, two readings: in a current relationship, then in a period without one, and reversed.
The position changes the reading: 7 common positions, each upright then reversed.
Six cards calculated by the combination rules: two that reinforce it, two that nuance it, two in friction. None is “bad.”
Number II in the Marseille deck and 2 in Waite’s, the Popess follows the Magician. The Moon and the letter Gimel are her reference points.
In the Marseille deck, arcana II is called La Papesse (the Popess); in Waite’s, the same number becomes the High Priestess. Both names speak of a role of reading and keeping, not of a specific person. The Moon and the letter Gimel remain keys for comparing decks, not facts of the drawing. These links belong to tradition, and each school orders them in its own way: it is better to keep them as simple reference points.
The High Priestess is also the tarot birth card for dates that add up to 2; its reduced number, 2, links it to numerology.
The Destiny Matrix reads a date with the 22 arcana: The High Priestess is energy 2 there, and each position gives it its own meaning.
Numbers and names read on Conver’s cards and in Waite’s text; correspondences reported according to the Golden Dawn tradition, never as facts.
The High Priestess is read as study, waiting, and intuition. Her image shows an open book and a stretched veil: a knowledge that is kept. The card invites you to listen, get informed, and let things ripen before acting or answering.
Reversed, the silence closes: blocked energy stays turned inward, and inner knowledge goes unheard. The reading is about a held-back word and an intuition set aside, not about an unfortunate event.
The High Priestess is read in contrast with cards of drive, next to which withdrawal becomes a choice or an enforced pause, and in echo with cards of study or creation, where the silence goes on. The neighboring cards tell whether the waiting is chosen. The “Which cards it reads with” section, above, offers six.
For a closed question, the answer is to qualify: the High Priestess neither moves forward nor blocks, she asks for time and further information. Reread the question once a new element has appeared.
