January 6, 2010 - The High Priestess

There was a time the High Priestess showed up in many of my readings. And then she didn't. I was of the world and in it. I was mother, student, employee, woman, writer. There wasn't time to do the work of this card. I was too busy with so many other things.

Even when school was done, when there was time and certainly reason to reflect, to look deeper, I didn't. Not sure why. Denial? Did I believe I had the gift of deep seeing and so didn't think there was anything more to see and learn than what I already knew? Who knows? There were certainly plenty of reasons to look deep. I had a good life but wasn't happy, still am less sanguine than I would like.

Joan Bunning writes in learntarot.com: "In readings, 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."

In the Jane Austen Tarot, the High Priestess is depicted by Jane Austen herself. She sits in a chair between two pillars, one black and one white, much as the High Priestess is situated in the Rider-Waite Tarot. In her hand, she holds her book Sense and Sensibility, traits which Austen possessed. Like the High Priestess, Jane understood duality and the need for wisdom and balance. Two of her books, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice reflect just on this duality and the need to encompass the traits of the other.

Jane possessed wisdom beyond her years and an ability to gaze deeply into her culture and see what others could not. The High Priestess has this quality as well as an instinctive knowing about human dreams and foibles that serve her in good stead. This inner knowing is wiser and truer than any external commentary. This is my gift too. I am not missing my intuition as much as I am living it, we two so entwined there's no telling one from the other.

What Would Jane Do?

"Sit back and take in the whole situation as if from a great distance. Imagine you are not personally involved, so as to avoid emotional excess. What do you now see that you missed before? If you must choose now between action and inaction, do nothing. Events will play out in a way you have always known and understood on an internal level. Try and stay balanced, keep your own counsel, and, above all, your sense of humor." P. 16