The High Priestess represents our connection to our lunar nature and trusting our instincts, subconscious influences that are hidden beneath the surface.  She suggests a need to pay attention to subleties  But it also indicates a need to connect with our inner wisdom and deep spiritual knowledge.  This card is the 2nd Major Arcana card.  Twos symbolize formation, polarity, balance, and the coming together of opposites.  The High Priestess is the guardian of the veil, the guide through to the unseen world of intuition, inner wisdom and self-knowledge.  She represents a woman's individual nature - apart from family responsibilities and expectations.  The High Priestess is a card of intuition and listening to your inner voice. 

"The High Priestess is the mysterious unknown that women often represent, especially in cultures that focus on the tangible and known. The Empress represents woman's role as the crucible of life.

In readings, the High Priestess poses a challenge to you to go deeper - to look beyond the obvious, surface situation to what is hidden and obscure. She also asks you to recall the vastness of your potential and to remember the unlimited possibilities you hold within yourself. The High Priestess can represent a time of waiting and allowing. It is not always necessary to act to achieve your goals. Sometimes they can be realized through a stillness that gives desire a chance to flower within the fullness of time." - Joan Bunning

"Attunement is needed now.  It could be valuable for you to set aside worldly worries and meditate or become unified with a larger, more Universal consciousness.  Your mediation or attunement is taking conscious, even physically observable form.  you may literally be removed fromthe activities of your day-to-day life, in retreat or in your own space, while you tune in to your inner voice adn spriritual awareness." - Gail Fairfield

So it's time to look beyond the suface, to lift the veil and see what lies beneath.  That can sometimes be a real challenge for me because I avoid looking beneath the surface of things.  It's an odd quirk of my nature - I need to know why things happen and why they work but I don't necessarily like to explore my own hidden motivations for things.  I realize that's because once I uncover whatever is buried there then I have to do something about it.  I can't just turn the rock over, look at whatever is squirming underneath and then walk away.  I have to either clean it up or understand why those things are wriggling around beneath there.  And sometimes those are answers that I just can't find, at least not on my own.

Many of the factors that have molded me and created the person I am today were external (as with everyone else) and I often had no control over them.  What I did and do have control over is how I let them impact me now.  Which, I'm sure, is the message of The High Priestess.  I need to look at those things I've been afraid to face and listen to my inner wisdom to handle what I find. 

Looking at the Modern Medieval High Priestess I am almost frightened.  This is not your typical serene, controlled High Priestess.  She looks like she's been messing around with some serious magick and is ready to share the results with me, regardless of whether I'm ready for them or not.  That's not really a bad thing but it can be a bit frightening.  Facing things I've been avoiding might be best for me but it also a jolt.