The High Priestess/Popess
Updated: Mar 4, 2022
Patience and Contemplation
The High Priestess Tarot card otherwise known as the Popess, or La Papesse is the 2nd numbered card of the Major Arcana. The card is represented by a mysterious woman or goddess in front of a veil in the Marseille Tarot. She can be between two pillars as in the Rider Waite Tarot. She can also be in front of a far distant cityscape as in the Deviant Moon Tarot. In the Mythic Tarot, she stands between two pillars in front of a doorway leading to a land unknown far in the distance. She is there to serve as the connection to our self awareness and our intuition. She is associated with the moon, water and the changing tides.
She follows The Magician, the first numbered card in the Major Arcana. She is working using her knowledge and intuition. She is Number Two in the Arcanum and she is preparing, but not ready to make a decision or communicate her next move. Her mood and thinking changes like the phases of the moon. The number two has it's meaning in Tarot as a feminine type of energy that is reflective. The High Priestess reflects on her options and continues to update her knowledge from the Book of Knowledge and Life that she holds in the Marseille Tarot. Truth is important to her. The cloak she wears is opened at the neck. When we see the neck exposed, we know that truth is important and if the there is anything that veers away from truth, the High Priestess is ready to call you on it!
Number Two or II in Tarot:
This is the least amount of time or the shortest distance between two positions or elements. The Moon is the closest celestial body to the Earth. The distance between the known (what appears in front of us in the physical world) and the unknown (our subconscious). The High Priestess sits in front of the veil that hides the unknown. She is the gatekeeper to hidden truths.