Everything you need to know is already inside you. You just need to pay attention.
Keywords
staying nonactive
- withdrawing from involvement
- allowing events to proceed without
- intervention
- being receptive to influence
- becoming calm
- being passive
- waiting patiently
accessing the unconscious
- using your intuition
- seeking guidance from within
- trusting your inner voice
- opening to dreams and the imagination
- being aware of a larger reality
seeing the potential
- understanding the possibilities
- opening to what could be
- seeing your hidden talents
- allowing development
- letting what is there flower
sensing the mystery
- looking beyond the obvious
- approaching a closed off area
- opening to the unknown
- remembering something important
- sensing the secret and hidden
- seeking what is concealed
- acknowledging the Shadow
UPRIGHT: Intuition, sacred knowledge, divine feminine, the subconscious mind
REVERSED: Secrets, disconnected from intuition, withdrawal and silence
What does your heart tell you?
While the Magician is the guardian of the conscious mind and the tangible world, the Sorceress is the guardian of the subconscious mind and the teacher of sacred knowledge and hidden mysteries. Standing at the threshold of the conscious and subconscious mind, the Sorceress has an innate ability to travel between these realms effortlessly. She teaches you that the world is not always as it seems and more profound influences are often at play. She ushers you through the thin veil of awareness, offering you a deep, intuitive understanding of the Universe and a heightened awareness of secret or hidden information.
The Sorceress signifies spiritual enlightenment, inner illumination, divine knowledge and wisdom. She shows up in your Tarot readings when the veil between you and the underworld is thin, and you have the opportunity to access the knowledge deep within your soul. Now is the time to be still so you can tune in to your intuition. If you find it difficult to meditate, simply Listen for the hypnotic Ticking of her Clock. The answers you are seeking will come from within, from your deepest truth and ‘knowing’. Allow the Sorceress to become your guide as you venture deep into your subconscious mind and access this inner wisdom. Connect with your intuition and your Higher Self through meditation, visualization, shamanic journeying, and being part of spiritual communities.
Your intuitive sense right now is providing you with useful information and is assisting you to become more in touch with your subconscious mind. Knowledge of how to fix these issues will not come through thinking and rationalizing, but by tapping into and trusting your intuition, so allow yourself the time and space to meditate and attend to your inner voice. Look for areas in your life that may be out of balance or lacking ‘flow’ and ease.
Now is also a time of heightened intuitive ability and psychic insight. If you are developing these skills, the Sorceress offers you further encouragement to continue your journey and trust that you are on the right path. The more you listen to your intuition, the more it will flow.
Finally, the Sorceress is a signal that you are being called to embrace your connection to your intuition, compassion, empathy, and inner wisdom. Regardless of your gender, it is vital for you to balance and integrate your masculine and feminine energies, and the presence of the High Priestess signals that your sacred feminine needs your attention right now. Feel, rather than think. Collaborate, rather than compete. Create, rather than destroy. Trust your Divine Feminine energy, even if the masculine energy around you may appear to be stronger. Be proud of your ability to nurture, trust, sense, and empathize instead of hiding it away.
If there is a card that symbolizes the tarot reader it is the Sorceress . A woman of psychic powers, intuition and secret knowledge. Where the Magician is about revealing, the High Priestess is about keeping things hidden behind the curtain. Where he urges the querent to verbalize what he’s thinking, the High Priestess urges her to silently reflect on her feelings.
She is not only the complement to the Magician, however, but to two other majors. She is the counterpoint to the The Voodoo Warlock, maintaining secret traditions and rites passed from seer to successor, rather than advocating community traditions. And she is the natural moonlight to the Hermit’s manmade lantern, equally solitary and of the night, but acting as restful librarian of information rather than restless seeker of it.
If the reader feels the Sorceress stands for the querent then this is a time of solitary investigation for them or perhaps just a time to trust their instincts. Things kept secret will be revealed, either passed on to them by another or coming to them psychically by way of visions or powerful feelings. Insights may be found in crystal balls, tea leaves, dreams or conversations with spirits.
Standing for someone other than the querent, the Sorceress is usually read as a spiritual woman or medium, a teacher of archaic knowledge, librarian or just a reclusive relative who knows many family secrets. She may come across as cold, unpredictable and scary, but her instincts and insights will be uncanny.
The Sorceress is NOT viewed as an emblem of fertility, a “mother,” but rather as a still, quiet incubator where the “idea” (child) can remain stable and protected.
“I’ve a new idea,” says the querent–thanks to the Magician. But now there are decisions to make. What direction should one take this idea? The Sorceress not only offers illumination, revealing secret paths and hidden dangers, but also a still, quiet place between the pillars of dark and light, existence and negation, wax and wane where one can pause, see, feel and reflect on what one really wants to do with this idea.
Now that you know what you want to do, how do you make it real?
The Sorceress both guards and revels in the mysteries of life. She is an archetype of the great unknown. Her kingdom is the inner plane. Her wisdom comes from the vast field of the unconscious that underlies all that we say and do here in the physical world as well as her connection with the unseen world. Behind her rises the moon with her own secrets.
The unexplained Scorpion’s tails peeking out from behind her suggest mystery and unanswered questions. The Clock in her hand suggests she always knows what time it is, and can help you understand the season you are in in your life. On her wrist hangs the key to many answers.
We may feel called to follow her and perhaps even join her in the dance of inner knowing. It may be time to withdraw from the outer world and spend some time looking within for answers. Allow yourself to be guided by your intuition and you may be called to follow your own bliss.
Once you have an idea, you also have decisions to make. The Sorceress holds the key to arcane information on her wrist. In addition, the moon overhead indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see about a job possibility, an investment, love, career, family, etc. But you need some alone time, some quiet time to meditate and reflect.
This is what the card is all about. The Sorceress is not about making a decision so much as holding decision-making at bay while you take the time to listen to your inner voice. She wants you to gain knowledge before you act: instinctual knowledge, supernatural knowledge, secret knowledge, self-knowledge.
The Sorceress, however, goes beyond even that for those who seek more. Behind her are hidden creatures that lead to the deepest, most esoteric knowledge; the scorpion’s tales remind us of death and Persephone, who was taken down into the land of the dead, and became the only goddess allowed to travel to and from that strange land. The High Priestess is our guide to all that is mysterious and mystical.
Reversed
The reversed Sorceress calls on you to be still and direct your attention inward to listen to your voice and wisdom. You may be swayed by other people’s opinions or swept up in their drama when what you really need to do is focus on what is right for you. It is time to get quiet and withdraw yourself from the external world to observe what your inner guidance is sharing with you now.
Ask yourself: Do I struggle to trust my intuition fully? Perhaps you doubt yourself or feel silly or guilty for listening to your intuition, and as a result, you deny your ability to tune in and receive this potent information. You may also keep your intuitive capabilities hidden from others, fearful of their judgments or opinions. If this resonates, know that your intuition is your superpower, here to guide you and help you. Have faith in the Universe and allow yourself to be in flow with its energies. Surrender and let go.
Think of the Sorceress as the calm center inside of you that is untouched by your external world and trust that she is always there when you need her. Whenever you worry that things are just getting too crazy, find a quiet space and meditate so you can hear her voice. If you stop thinking or fretting about your issue and instead clear the way for your intuition to speak to you, the answer will follow.
Finally, the secretive nature of the Sorceress – including the curious scorpion’s tails peeking out from behind her, may suggest gossip and hidden agendas. Others may be keeping information from you or talking about you behind your back and sharing mistruths. Rather than making assumptions or diving into the depths of paranoia, have an open and honest conversation to surface and address these secrets.
