The High Priestess
Major Arcana · number 2 · La Papessa
Upright
There is something you do not know yet, and the High Priestess asks you not to rush to know it. This is the card of secrets, of a future revealed one step at a time, of wisdom that comes from listening more than speaking. Waite also says that, if the one asking is a man, the High Priestess is the woman he cares about; if the one asking is a woman, she is the woman herself: look in the mirror, or look at her, and you will find there the answer you are seeking elsewhere. If you are waiting for an answer, in love or at work, do not force it: right now silence is working for you. The practical advice is simple: keep a project, a feeling or a piece of information to yourself for a few more days. And trust that intuition buzzing in your head, because it is usually right.
Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · read the original passage
Reversed
Reversed, the High Priestess warns against surface knowledge: you think you have understood a person or a situation, but you are only looking at the cover. In love it may be a passion that burns out fast; at work, the temptation to present yourself as an expert on something you half know. If these days you feel a little too sure of yourself, it is no accident. The advice is concrete: before you say yes or no, really read the contract, ask the extra question, and hear the other side out to the end.