High Priestess Yes Or No [True Meaning]
When the High Priestess card is drawn in a tarot reading, there is as much revealed as there is concealed. Symbolic of secrets, wisdom, and intuition, this mysterious woman tends to call upon the subject of the reading to search inside themselves for understanding, or to be wary of as yet unknown circumstances. So how should you interpret a card so representative of things obscured when doing a simple yes or no tarot reading?
First of all it’s important to understand that the Tarot takes meaning from an entire spread — not a single card. The meaning can change drastically depending on the other cards around it and using a single card to answer a yes or no question is very easy to misread If you’d like me to do a full tarot spread for you just click here and send me the details. Your reading will be sent to you within a few hours tops.
Assuming you understand this (and it is important) let’s look at the major arcana the High Priestess and what it means for your question.
Is the High Priestess yes or no? It may not surprise you at this point to learn that the meaning is unclear. The nature of the High Priestess does not lend itself to straightforward answers. When this card is drawn, it is a way of saying that the question does not have a simple yes or no answer. This can sometimes be literal — the question may simply need to be more carefully phrased. Other times, the cards are withholding a straightforward answer to encourage soul-searching and self discovery. While this card’s reluctance to yield easy answers may be frustrating to some, it is meant to work out for to the subject’s advantage.
Understanding the High Priestess
As demonstrated above, even an unclear reading from this card comes with a suggested course of action. In order to divine this, you should understand the symbolism of the High Priestess and apply it as it relates to the individual.
The High Priestess is traditionally depicted as a woman in robes, seated between two pillars. The black pillar is labeled “B” for Boaz, and the white pillar is “J” for Jachin, named for the pillars that stood at the entrance to Solomon’s temple in Jewish tradition. These pillars have come to identify the gates to knowledge. Their color’s being black and white represent the presence of two extremes. The priestess being seated in the middle identifies her as both a gatekeeper of knowledge and a symbol of balance. When you ask “is the High Priestess yes or no”, reflect on how she is pictured, symbolizing the middle path between the two.
Behind her is a veil that obscures the tree of life. She holds a book labeled “TORA,” though it too is partially obscured by her robes, and likely spells “TORAH”, representing the Jewish book of law. See how this motif of obscuring both knowledge and direction repeats. This represents such forces in the life of the subject, and encourages them to seek out what is hidden, what is secret, and thereby gain the wisdom necessary to move forward.
An Alternate Reading
While the nature of the High Priestess is unlikely to serve up a clear yes or no, each reading is unique, and the cards speak differently to each practitioner in the moment. Even so, non-typical results will still be in line with the underlying meaning of the cards. In the case of the High Priestess, some read it as a conditional yes, the condition being that the action be “for the greater good.” As this still requires a great deal of introspection to determine what course of action is best, this is still compatible with the card’s emphasis on intuition and the application of forethought before action.
