The High Priestess: tarot meaning, upright and reversed

A veiled priestess sits between contrasting pillars with a partly hidden scroll and a crescent at her feet.

Upright

mystery · receptivity

Attend to what remains unspoken. Understanding may need quiet observation before disclosure.

Reversed

secrecy · disconnection

Something concealed, or a refusal to listen inwardly, complicates the question.

In a reading

The position gives this card a particular task: a description of the situation, a challenge, or guidance. Read its image and meaning alongside the other cards and the question that brought them together.

Golden Dawn correspondence

Planet: Moon. This is the attribution in Book T.

Sources

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. These notes are original interpretations of the Waite–Smith imagery, informed by that text.