Secret of the High Priestess Spread

 

 

Difficulty: Average

This spread makes a nice alternative to the Celtic Cross, which covers basically the same ground. It is useful when a question doesn't quite call for the Ankh spread. This tarot spread is helpful for looking into a current trend. The High Priestess may or may not present a mysterious secret to be analysed after the rest of the spread.

1. & 2. Main impulses representing the topic at hand. They may compliment or oppose one another.

3. This is the current influence at this time.

5. The Waning Moon is the influence that is moving into the past.

4. The Waxing Moon indicates what is on the horizon, or the approaching influence. This is the immediate future.

7. The Light is what is clearly recognized, consciously.

6. The Dark indicates what is there but not fully perceived, though noticed on a deeper level of consciousness.

8. The Next Step is the near future, where this journey leads.

9. The final tarot card, only if it happens to be of the Major Arcana, reveals the Secret of the High Priestess. This is a special message that should be given added weight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Secret of the High Priestess Reading

The Waxing Moon The Star	The Full Moon 9 of Pentacles		The Waning Moon The Sun
	Significator #1 7 of Swords	Significator #2 4 of Wands
The Dark Ace of Pentacles	The Secret of the High Priestess 9 of Wands		The Light 5 of Cups
	The Next Step 10 of Swords

 

 

 

Significator #1 

 

7 of Swords

A man in the act of carrying away five swords rapidly; the two others of the card remain stuck in the ground. A camp is close at hand.

Reversed Meaning:

Good advice, counsel, instruction, slander, babbling.

 

 

Significator #2 

 

4 of Wands

From the four great staves planted in the foreground there is a great garland suspended; two female figures uplift nosegays; at their side is a bridge over a moat, leading to an old manorial house.

Reversed Meaning:

They are for once almost on the surface – country life, haven of refuge, a species of domestic harvest-home, repose, concord, harmony, prosperity, peace, and the perfected work of these.

 

 

The Waning Moon is the influence that you are putting behind you, as it moves into the past. 

 

The Sun

The naked child mounted on a white horse and displaying a red standard has been mentioned already as the better symbolism connected with this card. It is the destiny of the Supernatural East and the great and holy light which goes before the endless procession of humanity, coming out from the walled garden of the sensitive life and passing on the journey home. The card signifies, therefore, the transit from the manifest light of this world, represented by the glorious sun of earth, to the light of the world to come, which goes before aspiration and is typified by the heart of a child.

But the last allusion is again the key to a different form or aspect of the symbolism. The sun is that of consciousness in the spirit – the direct as the antithesis of the reflected light. The characteristic type of humanity has become a little child therein – a child in the sense of simplicity and innocence in the sense of wisdom. In that simplicity, he bears the seal of Nature and of Art; in that innocence, he signifies the restored world. When the self-knowing spirit has dawned in the consciousness above the natural mind, that mind in its renewal leads forth the animal nature in a state of perfect conformity.

Divinatory Meaning:

Material happiness, fortunate marriage, contentment.

 

 

 

The Full Moon is the current influence at this time. 

 

9 of Pentacles

A woman, with a bird upon her wrist, stands amidst a great abundance of grapevines in the garden of a manorial house. It is a wide domain, suggesting plenty in all things. Possibly it is her own possession and testifies to material well-being.

Divinatory Meaning:

Prudence, safety, success, accomplishment, certitude, discernment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Waxing Moon indicates what is on the horizon; the approaching influence. 

 

The Star

A great, radiant star of eight rays, surrounded by seven lesser stars – also, of eight rays. The female figure in the foreground is entirely naked. Her left knee is on the land and her right foot upon the water. She pours Water of Life from two great ewers, irrigating sea and land. Behind her is rising ground and on the right a shrub or tree, whereon a bird alights. The figure expresses eternal youth and beauty. The star is l'etoile flamboyante, which appears in Masonic symbolism, but has been confused therein. That which the figure communicates to the living scene is the substance of the heavens and the elements. It has been said truly that the mottoes of this card are Waters of Life freely and Gifts of the Spirit.

The summary of several tawdry explanations says that it is a card of hope. On other planes it has been certified as immortality and interior light. For the majority of prepared minds, the figure will appear as the type of Truth unveiled, glorious in undying beauty, pouring on the waters of the soul some part and measure of her priceless possession. But she is in reality the Great Mother in the Kabalistic Sephira Binah, which is supernal Understanding, who communicates to the Sephiroth that are below in the measure that they can receive her influx.

Reversed Meaning:

Arrogance, haughtiness, impotence.

 

 

The Light is what is clearly recognized. 

 

5 of Cups

A dark, cloaked figure, looking sideways at three prone cups two others stand upright behind him; a bridge is in the background, leading to a small keep or holding.

Divinatory Meaning:

It is a card of loss, but something remains over; three have been taken, but two are left; it is a card of inheritance, patrimony, transmission, but not corresponding to expectations; with some interpreters it is a card of marriage, but not without bitterness or frustration.

 

 

 

The Dark shows what is there but not fully perceived, though it has been noticed on a deeper level of consciousness. 

 

Ace of Pentacles

A hand – issuing from a cloud – holds up a pentacle.

Divinatory Meaning:

Perfect contentment, felicity, ecstasy; also, speedy intelligence; gold.

 

 

 

The Next Step is the near future, where this journey will take you. 

 

10 of Swords

A prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card.

Divinatory Meaning:

Whatsoever is intimated by the design; also, pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation. It is not especially a card of violent death.

 

 

 

The Secret of the High Priestess - if, and only if, this card a Major Arcana, it reveals the Secret of the High Priestess. This is a special spiritual message that you should pay extra special attention to. If it is not a trump, the Priestess has revealed no secret. 

 

9 of Wands

The figure leans upon his staff and has an expectant look, as if awaiting an enemy. Behind are eight other staves – erect, in orderly disposition, like a palisade.

Reversed Meaning:

Obstacles, adversity, calamity.