CARD NUMBER 8. – Rest (Eteilla). (This card replaces The High Priestess card of the traditional tarot. It also represents the female Consultant.)

Upright. – Happy retirement, rest, wisdom. Near numbers 14, 16, 18: bad omen.

Reversed. – Traps, tricks, dangers.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle

Listen to Your Inner Voice

In order to take any sort of lesson away from a situation, one must be willing to dedicate themselves to finding the hidden messages in the difficult and mundane. Learning these lessons will take deep levels on concentrations, introspection, and retrospection. One must allow themselves to look farther into their inner self than they ever have before, exploring new corners of their spirit that they have never had the chance to address and develop in the past.

The High Priestess in the master of learning such lessons and is able to act as her own teacher, finding hidden meaning in even the most trying situations. She understands the importance of time dedicated to the spiritual, and takes it as seriously as any other necessity in life. By giving her spirit time to grow and heal from the wounds that every-day life inflicts upon it, she is able to keep herself optimistic and content with her abilities in even the bleakest of times.

You are much like The High Priestess, and take great pride in your ability to listen closely to the voice that comes from inside of you. You are very in tune with your spiritual nature, and use your inner voice to guide you towards the right decisions. You have no troubles leaving reality behind, and at times would much rather prefer to retreat into your own personal realm than interact with the tangible. While you have the innate ability to connect with your inner self, this does not mean that you always put this skill to practice. While it is very easy for you to pay close attention to the spiritual, it is just as easy for you to lose the connection that you have with your inner self.

These periods of disconnect can be incredibly jarring, and may lead you to making decisions that you will later regret. In order to avoid these situations, this may be a sign that you need to make a routine out of consulting the spiritual. Try to make your efforts consistent and genuine, instead of connecting in spurts of hyperactivity that are separated by periods of silence and disconnect.

While relationships are constructed out of the merging of two souls into one, this does not mean that each individual loses their unique inner self. Your inner voice will not disappear, although it may be largely changed due to the presence of another spirit that you value as highly as your own. Just as much as it is important to dedicate yourself to your partner, it is also essential that you take the appropriate time to take care of yourself and your own spiritual needs. This is not something that should take place only when you desperately need it; by regularly taking time to listen to your inner voice, you are also preventing the potentially disastrous consequences that come from not taking care of your psyche. In the end, these consequences will most likely serve to do far more harm than regularly taking time out of your day in order to take care of your own mind could even imagine inflicting upon your relationship.

Lately, you have allowed yourself to slip into an extremely imbalanced state between reality and your inner realm, leading to a neglected state of one or the other. Perhaps you are placing far too much importance on the comfort of your partner and the attention that you give them, leading you to neglect your spiritual routines. Or maybe you’ve allowed yourself to become so absorbed in the conversation with your inner voice lately that your relationship with your partner is beginning to suffer. What you need right now is to find a healthier balance between these two things so as to maintain the health of these reciprocal facets of your life and wellbeing.

If your partner is actively blocking you from dedicating time to the spiritual, then this may be a sign that it is time to remove yourself from that situation for the sake of your own health. No partner has the right to tell you how to care for and listen to your inner voice. At the same time, remember that part of being in a relationship is the inclusion of your partner’s spirit into your considerations. With this comes the maintenance of your relationship in the physical realm as well; after all, you can never hope to truly connect with someone on a spiritual level if you have an unhealthy or nonexistent relationship in reality.

TWO. THE HIGH PRIESTESS

She has the lunar crescent at her feet, a horned diadem on her head, with a globe in the middle place, and a large solar cross on her breast. The scroll in her hands is inscribed with the word Tora, signifying the Greater Law, the Secret Law and the second sense of the Word. It is partly covered by her mantle, to show that some things are implied and some spoken. She is seated between the white and black pillars—J. and B.—of the mystic Temple and the veil of the Temple is behind her: it is embroidered with palms and pomegranates. The vestments are flowing and gauzy, and the mantle suggests light—a shimmering radiance. She has been called Occult Science on the threshhold of the Sanctuary of Isis, but she is really the Secret Church, the House which is of God (Nature) and man. She represents also the Second Marriage of the Prince who is no longer of this world; she is the spiritual Bride and Mother, the daughter of the stars and the Higher Garden of Eden. She is, in fine, the Queen of the borrowed light, but this is the light of all. She is the Moon nourished by the milk of the Supernal Mother.

In a manner, she is also the Supernal Mother herself—that is to say, she is the bright reflection. It is in this sense of reflection that her truest and highest name in bolism is Shekinah—the co-habiting glory. According to Kabalism, there is a Shekinah both above and below. In the superior world it is called Binah, the Supernal Understanding which reflects to the emanations that are beneath. In the lower world it is Malkuth—that world being, for this purpose, understood as a blessed Kingdom—that with which it is made blessed being the Indwelling Glory. Mystically speaking, the Shekinah is the Spiritual Bride of the just man, and when he reads the Law she gives the Divine meaning. There are some respects in which this card is the highest and holiest of the Greater Arcana.

Work is something that is largely based in the material realm. Most of the time, we work for the sake of earning consistent income and maintaining economic stability. Unless we are working in our dream field, we usually don’t start on a career path in the hopes of making any groundbreaking spiritual discoveries. However, this does not mean that we have nothing to learn from our career. Even the most mundane job can teach us invaluable lessons about our inner selves. As we learn and grow from the situations that we face in our everyday jobs, our inner voices will subsequently be altered to better reflect the lessons that we are taught about ourselves and our positions within reality.

However, recently, your fixation on your work has led you to stagnate in your spiritual practices. Perhaps dues to economic constraints, particularly stressful developments at work, or a lack of motivation to do anything outside of work due to exhaustion, you have failed to stay in touch with the intangible realm. This has left you in a state of discomfort and discontent, and you feel as though you have been floating forward through life without any particular purpose, making no real progress towards wherever you are supposed to be in life at the moment. Now is the time for you to take some time to reconnect with your spiritual practices, even if it may take a significant chunk out of your otherwise very busy day.

While it is healthy to listen to your inner voice, this does not mean that you should fall into the habit of completely ignoring the voices of tangible reality. When The High Priestess appears in the reversed position, it may be a sign that you are spending far too much time in your own personal realm, leading you to neglect your real-world relationships and responsibilities.

Not only could this serve to harm your real-world connections, but it may lead to a state of burnout that leaves you temporarily unable to make any meaningful connection with the spiritual. Take some time to learn how to moderate the way that you dedicate your attention to these two aspects of your life. After all, the lessons that you learn from the spiritual are valuable largely due to the fact that they have practical applications in reality.

The High Priestess is a divine and intuitive card, representing higher power. You are not currently inclined to take action or make a decision, unless that decision is to step away from the narrative and instead draw on possibility and instinct. She, like you, needs to look within for wisdom. She is a very likely a YES card.

• Upright High Priestess – Yes or No?
• The High Priestess Reversed – Yes or No?
• The High Priestess Meaning for Love – Yes or No?
• The High Priestess Love Reversed – Yes or No?
• The High Priestess Meaning For Advice – Yes or No?
• The High Priestess Meaning For Advice Reversed – Yes or No?
• The High Priestess Health – Yes or No?