Tarot Pull: The High Priestess
After a week-long hiatus due to #PitDark madness, here we are again with another weekly tarot pull – allow me to introduce you to The High Priestess!
As with a number of the tarot articles I’ve published lately, I’m focusing on the tarot archetypes I used while creating THE HIEROPHANT, the horror/sci-fi manuscript which I am currently querying.
Each of the four pivotal characters in the book corresponds to a member of the Major Arcana: The Hierophant (obviously); The Fool; The Magician; and The High Priestess. This article wraps up our journey through those archetypes.
Pictured: The High Priestess card from the Ethereal Visions deck
The High Priestess is such an important and fascinating member of the Major Arcana that I’m not promising I won’t write about her again at some point.
She is a card I work with quite frequently in my own personal practices and carries huge significance in readings, particularly related to women. The High Priestess represents the feminine divine— the undercurrent in the Universe that, while being a creator, is fundamentally unknowable. She’s not what I would describe as a “warm” figure of the Major Arcana (look to The Empress or The Lovers for that kind of emotional support); she is transcendent. For me, The High Priestess is another representation of many feminine deities across world religions.
Given the strong connection I have with this card and the weight it carries in a reading, I hesitated to use her as an archetype for one of the characters. However, tapping into the ethereal and transcendent was essential for this particular character, even if her motivations may be questionable. This character is tapped into forces within the Universe that are far greater than herself to an extent which is frightening— even disorienting. Regardless of whether the force behind Cleo is good or bad, she presents as its messenger. She is the manifestation of a universal divine.
Pictured: The High Priestess card from the Rackham tarot deck
Common Keywords for The High Priestess are:
Upright – Intuition; sacred knowledge; divine feminine; the subconscious
Reversed – Secrets; withdrawal; repression; superficiality
For more in-depth information about the card itself, see Biddy Tarot’s article here.
Pictured: The High Priestess card from the Wonderland Tarot deck
Because of the significance of The High Priestess in tarot, you’ll often see a lot of attention placed on the art related to this card. Frequently, she is the main female character in themed decks like The Wonderland Tarot deck. It’s meant to catch your eye and naturally place emphasis on the card.
Pictured: The High Priestess card from Madam Clara’s 5-cent Tarot
Meanwhile, other decks often depict The High Priestess as mythical, mystical and mysterious. For example, Madam Clara’s 5-cent Tarot uses a magnificent owl adorned with a diadem. Those of you in the crowd who are a bit more woo-woo are probably aware owls are frequently used to represent intuition and the unknown divine in folklore and magickal practices. Some of you who are woo-woo plus weird (like me) are probably also aware owls have been associated with certain ‘paranormal’ events with some individuals even suggesting owls are either extraterrestrials or a favorite creature for extraterrestrials to imitate while watching Earthlings bumble life.
I’m not quite so far down the rabbit hole to climb aboard the owl-alien connection, but I do think the choice to use an owl for this version of The High Priestess aligns well with the established lore surrounding the creature. It’s an automatic visual cue that this archetype is ‘next level.’
Pictured: The High Priestess from the Linestrider Tarot deck
In working with this archetype while creating the character of Cleo Howard, I started to dig into what it really meant to be on this ‘next level’ when it comes to The High Priestess. One of my biggest takeaways was that The High Priestess (similar to The Magician) is morally ambiguous. Whether she is “good” or “bad” in character isn’t the point of The High Priestess. It is instead her role that gives her supreme significance.
The High Priestess carries sacred knowledge; she is the embodiment of the feminine divine; she is the force opening up the subconscious and heightening intuition. All of these things are morally neutral. The High Priestess is simply operating in this role, serving to show humans what exists beyond themselves and deep within themselves.
In the end, there was simply no other better archetype to align with Cleo than that of The High Priestess.
