| The High Priestess is the guardian of the unconscious. She sits in front of the thin veil of unawareness which is all that separates us from our inner landscape. She contains within herself the secrets of these realms and offers us the silent invitation, "Be still and know that I am God." The High Priestess is the feminine principle that balances the masculine force of the Magician. The feminine archetype in the tarot is split between the High Priestess and the Empress. The High Priestess is the mysterious unknown that women often represent, especially in cultures that focus on the tangible and known. The Empress represents woman's role as the crucible of life. The High Priestess poses a challenge to you to go deeper - to look beyond the obvious, surface situation to what is hidden and obscure. She also asks you to recall the vastness of your potential and to remember the unlimited possibilities you hold within yourself. The High Priestess can represent a time of waiting and allowing. It is not always necessary to act to achieve your goals. Sometimes they can be realized through a stillness that gives desire a chance to flower within the fullness of time. The High Priestess sits between the two pillars representing knowledge and the years of growth in wisdom. There is a crown on her head and a crescent moon at her feet. In her arms she carries a scroll, which reads TORA and her robes the color blue, a color of spiritual knowledge. In other versions of the card, she may be seen holding an opened book. Here we have the instruments, which throughout history have been use to record written history and laws. So in this way the book or the scroll can represent knowledge learned or wisdom gained for our experience. They can also represent, a higher intuition of things to come and the growth one makes to reach good judgment. The two pillars within the High Priestess card show a need for balance. One black, one white these two pillars give off the sense that we must keep the forces in our lives in check. Making sure that one force doesnt dominate the other, as a reminder that harmony moves us forward, while an imbalance forces us to take steps back. This view of balance is also reflected in the number assigned to the High Priestess, that of the number- Two. For the number two represents the concepts of balance, harmony, and learning to understand both sides. |
