High Priestess As Feelings

GoddessArtemis

I don't associate the High Priestess with feelings, per se. I have a hard time reading this lady. She's mysterious and quiet, she patiently awaits 'till things change or reveal themselves. She doesn't say much, and somewhere in there, I also don't think she feels much. Am I wrong?

What does she mean as a feeling...for someone else, towards someone/something else? If someone has High Priestess feelings towards you, what feelings are those? If you feel High Priestess feelings for someone else, how is that you really feel?

Do you feel divided? Torn? Undecided? Unsure? But are those really associated with the High Priestess?

Can someone shed some light on this?

GA
 

starrystarrynight

Since my sense is that the High Priestess "governs" the area or realm between physical reality and that esoteric beyond...that place where you may not be able to pin down anything scientifically, but only know of its existence intuitively, I wonder if the person feels s/he connects with you that way. This would be in a psychic, almost secretive way. A connection that needs no words to exist, but exists by way of deep feeling.

In fact, there may not even be sensual realization that these "vibes" are there between you two, but on some level, s/he knows this connection is there.

I think this person would feel very connected to you.
 

Thirteen

GoddessArtemis said:
Do you feel divided? Torn? Undecided? Unsure? But are those really associated with the High Priestess?
More like you feel at the center of a delicate balance, one that you're maintaining.

And who says we can't feel dark and mysterious ourselves. Sometimes we do. We feel a certain delight in being in the know, in having and keeping secrets. One of the feelings you get with the HPS is that of power. Because you have inside knowledge. Others will get lost in the dark, but not you. You know your way around. You know all the traps and dead ends. You know all the secret passages. You've read all the forbidden texts, the true histories, and locked diaries.

Now, you may also feel like keeping quiet, like you want to be alone and not have company, other people may feel like an intrusion on your deepest thoughts and important ideas; even more, you may feel a little cut off from people, an observer rather than a participant. Nevertheless, you probably also feel smug. A nice, cool smugness. Because you have all this secret power. And the only reason you're not using it is because you choose not to.

As for what someone with HPS feeling is feeling toward you (or you toward them), likely they feel that smugness (or you do), they may feel they know you better than you know yourself (or you know them better than they know themselves)--that intuitive, psychic knowledge Starry was talking about. Most of all, there is a feeling that they (or you) can tilt the balance in the relationship. The feeling is that of being at the fulcrum, it's a feeling of balance, but also cool, special power. It's a feeling, as Starry pointed out, of intuitive, psychic "rightness."
 

willowfox

I would think that her feelings would run deep, as would her understanding of you but she is also susceptible to fluctuating feelings, oneday she may feel all for you and loving and the next day cold and aloof.
 

jenessa

HP feels: an intuitive CONNECTION.

However, as far as the "connection" they feel to another, it should be noted that: the Priestess commonly represents: a platonic* relationship .. ie. one that is based on the higher principles.

[& As far as the concept of the HP being "motivated" by her higher principles, this could be esoteric in nature .. OR this could simply relate to "higher principles" in the sense of lifestyle choices .. or in situations that revolve around someones sense of ethics, etc.]

[OR: The "connection" they FEEL towards another could be "purely instinctive", in which case the inference is: that @ this point in time what they feel is more or less based on their gut instincts].

[So in a nutshell, this lady is EITHER "motivated" by her principles .. or by her instincts].

In addition to which, i disagree with Willowfox re: her being susceptible to fluctuating feelings .. as i view the HP as being very "self possessed" .. so i see no tendancy to flip-flop re: her emotions. Indeed, the HP has a tendancy to "hold-back".

PS: i always read HP as a platonic relationship. However, if i want to explore the possibility of the relationships progressing BEYOND the platonic, i throw another spread.

PPS: as far as the comment of others re: HP "feeling" a certain smugness .. i don't know whether i would interpret it as such, however @ times i've seen the HP as representing an woman's "influence" on the situation.

REGARDS/jenessa
 

Sophie

The High Priestess is a woman who is in charge of her own life - therefore her feelings are influenced by the fact she is not psychologically owned, directed or otherwise beholden to anyone (even if she is married with 10 kids!). I like Jenessa's word "self-possession" - which expresses exactly that quality of the High Priestess.

The High Priestess is also the gestator of the tarot. Ideas, children, thoughts grow in the depth of her being, in the dark, before they come out in the light of the Empress's garden. Her feelings therefore are protective and patient, turned towards making sure the gestation is serene and without trouble.


I think I can understand what Willowfox means by fluctuating feelings. The High Priestess is linked to the Moon - I would say her feelings are cyclical rather than fluctuating without rhyme or reason. The High Priestess can also represent a menstruating or premenstrual woman because of the link between the Moon and menstruation - with all the different feelings that time in a woman's month brings! A reversed High Priestess can show trouble with PMS for instance. I found that meditating with the High Priestess helped with pre-menstrual trouble - she is a healer in that sense!


The High Priestess has some strong connection with Mary, the Virgin - and through that connection, I see her feelings as compassionate and ardent. She is able to suffer with others, and feel their pain as her own. She surrounds all those who need love with her tender care.


The High Priestess has been linked for a long time to Isis (who is in turn related to the Virgin Mary). Many decks actually represent her as Isis. The love of Isis for her husband and brother Osiris is well-known. When he was killed by their brother Set and his remains scattered, she wept so much she flooded the countryside. As she wept, she collected the remains of her beloved and chanted spells - finally reviving him. They had one night of love together, during which Horus was conceived, and then Osiris left to take up his place as King of the Underworld, for even Isis could not defeat death entirely. Isis/the High Priestess is therefore the epitome of the passionate lover, who will weep their heart out when they lose the one they love, yet at the same time retain enough self-possession (that word again) to work on the situation. The High Priestess, more than any other arcanum, is capable of huge self-sacrifice for the one she loves, of unstinting devotion, and of using her skill and imagination in pursuit of her love.
 

willowfox

Fudugazi said:
The High Priestess is a woman who is in charge of her own life - therefore her feelings are influenced by the fact she is not psychologically owned, directed or otherwise beholden to anyone (even if she is married with 10 kids!). I like Jenessa's word "self-possession" - which expresses exactly that quality of the High Priestess.

The High Priestess is also the gestator of the tarot. Ideas, children, thoughts grow in the depth of her being, in the dark, before they come out in the light of the Empress's garden. Her feelings therefore are protective and patient, turned towards making sure the gestation is serene and without trouble.


I think I can understand what Willowfox means by fluctuating feelings. The High Priestess is linked to the Moon - I would say her feelings are cyclical rather than fluctuating without rhyme or reason. The High Priestess can also represent a menstruating or premenstrual woman because of the link between the Moon and menstruation - with all the different feelings that time in a woman's month brings! A reversed High Priestess can show trouble with PMS for instance. I found that meditating with the High Priestess helped with pre-menstrual trouble - she is a healer in that sense!


The High Priestess has some strong connection with Mary, the Virgin - and through that connection, I see her feelings as compassionate and ardent. She is able to suffer with others, and feel their pain as her own. She surrounds all those who need love with her tender care.


The High Priestess has been linked for a long time to Isis (who is in turn related to the Virgin Mary). Many decks actually represent her as Isis. The love of Isis for her husband and brother Osiris is well-known. When he was killed by their brother Set and his remains scattered, she wept so much she flooded the countryside. As she wept, she collected the remains of her beloved and chanted spells - finally reviving him. They had one night of love together, during which Horus was conceived, and then Osiris left to take up his place as King of the Underworld, for even Isis could not defeat death entirely. Isis/the High Priestess is therefore the epitome of the passionate lover, who will weep their heart out when they lose the one they love, yet at the same time retain enough self-possession (that word again) to work on the situation. The High Priestess, more than any other arcanum, is capable of huge self-sacrifice for the one she loves, of unstinting devotion, and of using her skill and imagination in pursuit of her love.

The High priestess has links with the Moon as does Isis, who was also a goddess of the Moon.
 

GoddessArtemis

Out of what everyone has said so far, I think the ones that stick out for me are: self-possessed, deep yet fluctuating/cyclical feelings, a sense of knowing one better than they know themselves, dualistic, psychic/intuitive connection...

Those are all so very helpful. I get her a lot in my readings lately..

Thanks.

GA
 

Julien

Oh... CONNECTION, but intuitive, psychic, maybe somewhat mysterious... I've been seeing the HP a lot in readings lately, as well -- usually in the position of "bridge between you", or something similar... It makes so much sense now...

Thank you GA for posting this -- I needed it, and didn't even know it!
Julien
 

Thirteen

Fudugazi said:
I think I can understand what Willowfox means by fluctuating feelings. The High Priestess is linked to the Moon.
But wouldn't moodiness and fluctuations be a reversed HPS? As pictured, and as you point out, the upright HPS is actually following a very regular cycle of the moon, and therefore not going to fluctuate so much as adjust in order to maintain that balance between the two pillars. What I'm saying is that, I've always seen the HPS as the slowly spinning fulcrum of a seesaw. In her card, the sides of that seesaw are balanced, but we expect that moment to end and one side to go up, the other down. BUT, the HPS adjusts--goes through a cycle if you will--that keeps them equal.

This relates back to Isis, by the way, who in the story of Osiris and the conception of Horus maintains the balance between death and life. Osiris has been killed, and this has unbalanced the universe, left it without a god of light, only death and darkness. And so Isis uses her magic of restoring life, temporarily (a woman's ability to arouse a man to orgasm) in order to conceive Osiris' heir and replacement. She is the fulcrum, standing between death and life, dark and light, past and future. She, alone, knows how to maintain that impossible in-between.

Though she may look like she's remaining still, on a psychic level she is changing, like the moon; adjusting so neither side has an advantage over the other, so they both remain equal. It isn't fluctuation so much as necessary and regular adjustments, like the tides coming in and going out.