Tarot Writing Prompt: The High Priestess

The High Priestess, Rider Waite Smith

We see a robed woman wearing the crown of Isis with a cross on her chest holding a sacred scroll. She has pillars on either side of her. There are palm trees and pomegranates on a veil behind her. There is a crescent moon at her feet. The card is predominantly blue though yellow, black, white and red are also well represented.

This card bears the numeral two representing balance. The High Priestess upright is divinely feminine and associated with intuition, divine wisdom, and clarity. The reversed meaning can be secrets, doubt, and uncertainty.

Most often when the High Priestess appears in a reading for me it is a time for me to take a moment and look within myself. To be honest with myself and reflect on the situation. To allow my subconscious to weigh in and listen to my gut. I have always been an intuitive person and like most I have had to learn the hard way to trust my instincts. I believe that the subconscious mind sees more than the conscious mind and a gut feeling is a way for us to tap into the insights of our subconscious observations. Our subconscious is composed of primal instincts adapted through evolution and behavior learned through experience. The subconscious has a way of processing all of the patterns of your stored memories and learned behaviors with your evolutionary instincts to quickly gauge a situation. It can assess a situation much more quickly and efficiently than your conscious mind and signals to you when you should heighten your awareness or perhaps avoid a situation all together. If you have read some of my other articles you may know that I am as spiritual as I am scientific and I also believe my intuition is my spirit guides way of tapping me on the shoulder and providing a helping hand.

What do you think is the source of your intuition and what is one time you wish you had listened to your gut?