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 Moon	The Full Moon The Swamp		The Waning Moon The Lovers
	Significator #1 Balance The Secret of the High Priestess	Significator #2 The Star
The Dark The Empress	The Emperor		The Light The Sun
	The Next Step The Tower

 

 

 

Significator #1 

 

Balance

AKA Justice in traditional Tarot.

Not the scales of a common religious moralist and no longer a cardinal virtue, but the raw, heartless justice of nature.

 

 

Significator #2 

 

The Star

AKA The Star in traditional Tarot.

In this case it's Perseus slaying Medusa, a homage to Marqueste's sculpture.

Crowley explained every man and woman is a star. Astrologically, we all effect the fates with our rises and falls. We also congregate into bodies which are no mere illusion, but powerful forces in time. Other people have power over you, but you too have power over them.

 

 

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

 

The Lovers

9:00 – Card 6

Male, Air, Sagittarius.

Ceration is the alchemical act of adding a liquid to the substance while heated, yielding a softer substance with a wax-like texture. Not to be confused with alchemical union, but an important step toward it.

 

 

 

The Full Moon is the current influence at this time. 

 

The Swamp

8:00 – Card 1

AKA Temperance in the traditional Tarot. Male, Earth, Scorpio.

Stagnation, nothing moves, nothing changes. Barriers block every effort to improve or change, not that rock has anywhere to go. The elements and life move around it, grow from it, decay upon it, but it goes nowhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

The Moon

Tranquillity, calm, beauty, and for some reason I never understood, lobster. Don't ask me, blame antiquity.

 

 

The Light is what is clearly recognized. 

 

The Sun

Damn bright thing always vomiting heat and blinding light onto the populous. The artist of this deck isn't a fan.

 

 

 

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

 

The Empress

Regime change in action, it happens more in the sewers than the senates. One goes out, another comes in.

 

 

 

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

 

The Tower

10:00 – Card 4

Male, Earth, Libra.

Failure and Loss. Defeat and ruin. The higher it's built, the harder it falls and the more it crushes when it does. That doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't worth building. Defeat can be accepted and the ruins left behind in favour of greener pastures, or one can start to rebuild. The latter is more difficult, but often more rewarding.

 

 

 

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. 

 

The Emperor

In this case King Sargon of Akkad. A great ruler in his own time rarely even makes the history books in ours.