Major Arcana
The High Priestess
secrets, silence, patience, wisdom
Upright
Secrets, silence and wisdom belong to this card. A seated figure keeps a scroll half covered between a dark pillar and a pale one, with a veil behind that hides whatever lies beyond. Some of the answer is still out of sight.
Facing an offer or a relationship question, hold off on announcing a decision. Read the details, notice what nobody has said, and give your own quiet sense of things some time. You can stay silent for now and still be honest later.
Reversed
Passion, conceit and surface knowledge sit on this side. The scroll has been thrown open too early, and someone is talking with more heat than information.
Check how much you really know about the person or project on your mind. One article or one rumour makes a thin basis for a strong opinion. Ask the question you have been too proud to ask, then wait for the answer before you act.
A card is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
In Waite's words
Upright: Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed; the woman who interests the Querent, if male; the Querent herself, if female; silence, tenacity; mystery, wisdom, science.
Reversed: Passion, moral or physical ardour, conceit, surface knowledge.
From A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), Part 3, on Wikisource. The meanings above are by Cast & Chart.
Card art by Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.