The High Priestess, Intuition, and a New Moon in Pisces
On Sunday, March 10th we’ll welcome a New Moon in Pisces.
If you want to super-charge your manifestation work, you can align your intentions with the phases of the Moon.
You can read my full Moon Manifestation guide here. In brief, we begin our new manifestations at the New Moon, then grow our plans at the Crescent Moon phase. At the First Quarter (half) we get into action, and at the Waxing Gibbous we take stock of all we’ve done. At the Full Moon we release whatever has still to be done to Spirit and then release with gratitude and surrender until the next New Moon.
As soon as I learned about manifesting with the Moon, it made perfect sense to me.
We can observe the impact of the Moon over Earth’s tides. The Moon is also aligned with cycles of menstruation. Our planet, our bodies, and our imagination are all pulled by the Moon, so to me it seems a matter of course that our intentions and dreams can be supported by her as well.
I’ve been practicing manifesting with the Moon for years now, and it’s honestly changed my life.
Unlike the Sun, we can look directly at the Moon, but until I started using the Moon for my manifestations, I had really never made a practice of following its stages. Now that I’ve made it a practice, I can automatically tell you where we are in each lunar cycle (lunation) by where my energy is at.
If the practice of Moon Manifestation is new to you, welcome and get ready to be amazed!
In the Tarot, we have a few cards that are directly associated with the Moon.
- Major Arcana XVIII, The Moon, which as astrologically associated with Pisces
- Major Arcana VII, The Chariot, which as astrologically associated with Pisces, whose planetary ruler is the Moon
- And Major Arcana II, The High Priestess, whose planetary ruler is also the Moon
I’ve covered The Moon in Pisces and The Chariot before, so I want to use today’s post to focus on The High Priestess.
The High Priestess
It’s helpful to look at the preceding card, The Magician, alongside The High Priestess.
Numbered I and II of the Major Arcana, these cards are the initiators of our human experience. They represent the masculine and the feminine, the Yin and Yang energies of life.
I personally like to imagine them as 4 year old brother and sister twins. If you were to enter their homes, The Magician might boldly point out, “That’s my room, and that’s my train set, and this is my picture!” while his sister might quietly observe who has entered while simlutaniously humming a song of her own invetion.
The Magician takes inspiration from the divine and like a lightning rod brings it right down into being.
The High Priestess pulls insight from divine and holds onto it for herself. She represents intuition and inner wisdom at its most profound levels.
The symbolism on this card is very rich. On her head she wears the crown of Isis, representing three phases of the Moon. At her feet, we see another crescent Moon as her robes turn into flowing water.
On both sides of the High Priestess, there are two big pillars. One is black with the letter B (Boaz), which means “in his strength.” The other is white with the letter J (Jachin), which means “he will establish.” The black and white pillars show opposites like male and female, dark and light.
She is shrouded in cloaks, she holds an ancient scroll with mystic wisdom, and the cross at her chest shows the intersection of the vertical and the horizontal, masculine and feminine.
The veil between the pillars is covered in pomegranates, a nod to the goddess Hecate and Persephone who could travel to the underworld and return in spring.
Behind all those symbols, behind the veil, we can see an enormous body of water, representing Source. The High Priestess is capable of listening to the wisdom of source, which we call intuition.
Like the Moon, like menstruation, The High Priestess is associated with feminine and has therefore also been labeled as mysterious, but that’s not the whole truth. Her access to spiritual connectivity isn’t a secret, it’s just not for anyone but herself.
Like the little girl I mentioned, she’s not concerned with explaining herself or making you feel comfortable with her gaze.
If you’ve ever met a four-year-old little girl and tried to engage her in a sugary voice saying, “and what’s your name little lady?” you are likely to to receive a non-smiling stare that looks into your eyes and sees something of your soul.
And at one time we all inhabited the self-possessed wisdom of childhood. We inevitably learn that it’s not polite to stare. As children, we may have a gut feeling that something isn’t as it should be, but we’re told not to worry. As we grow up we learn to distrust out intuition and to tune out the listening skills we innately posses.
When we manifest with the Moon, we are re-tuning our listening instruments so that we can collaborate with spirit.
For this New Moon in Pisces, I invite you to use the High Priestess as your guide to re-engage with your own intuitive channel.
A Pisces New Moon Ritual
While I encourage you to play with Moon Manifestation in accordance with the Moon’s cycles, there is never a wrong time to drop into deep listening with The High Priestess and Spirit.
When we think about manifestation and intention setting, we naturally begin to think about what people places and things we’d like to invite into our lives; however, that can sometimes lead us to think about what we are lacking, and a key manifestation principle is that we cannot manifest from a place of lack.
For this lunation, I want to encourage you to set aside any specific desires and set an intention to simply deepen your listening to Spirit.
Remember, when we listen for the voice of God, it doesn’t sound like thee or thy or like old an white man, it sounds like our voice.
To Begin:
For this ritual, I encourage you to grab a blanket and a bowl of water and head outside.
When you are ready, find a space under the sky and get comfortable in the moonless night. Place the water before you.
Just because the Moon isn’t visible, doesn’t mean it’s not there. That there is no moonlight, doesn’t mean there is no light. As you adjust to the quiet and the darkness, notice the serenity in stillness.
As you bring your attention to the center of your body, state either in your head or aloud:
“Divine/Spirit, I am resonant with a desire to connect with you and with what is in my highest and best. I desire to open my channel for receiving your wisdom. What is in my highest and best to know? Thank you. I am listening.”
And then, listen.
I think that many of us have an idea that meditation is this really hard thing to do because it involves clearing your mind have having no thoughts and that the goal is to achieve some state of zen or nirvana. I used to think that too. But, the truth is that meditation is simply observing the busy mind and returning back to the breath, back to the part of us that simply observes.
When we can call upon the High Priestess to help us listen to Spirit, we can simply sit at our own feet in observation and receive the gentle and quiet wisdom that wants to come forward.
The brain will want to come along with us, and that is fine. Sitting in stillness at night the brain may volunteer judgments like, “I’m bad at this” “I am not hearing anything” and “I don’t know how to listen.” When we notice words like should, not, bad, we know that’s the voice of the ego and not Spirit.
The High Priestess allows us to let go of the idea that Spirit communicates in loud long treatises.
If the brain offers a judgment, simply decline the invitation and return to The High Priestess for guidance and protection. And then, relax.
You may experience this deep listening in your body. Take note. Are your hands tingly? What does your stomach say? Is your breath shallow or deep?
Be patient and kind, you are beginning a practice that will continue to grow the more you revisit it.
Remember, just like your inner four-year-old little girl, the voice of Spirit will never ask you to follow her down a dark alley. She will never ask you to believe a lie about yourself. She will always be on the side of your highest and best.
When you are complete with your listening, take your bowl of water and have a drink from it, then pour the rest onto the ground.
This is an energetic reminder of your connection to the Moon, to Spirit, to your intuition, and your deep self wisdom.
Pisces and the High Priestess are both deeply connected to our dreams, and so before you go to bed, Ask Spirit to communicate further with you through your dreams. You can continue practicing this deep listening by asking sure your have a pen and paper at the ready to write down whatever comes to you in slumber.
Remember, this New Moon is really the first in a new cycle. There is plenty of time for deep and patient listening. The High Priestess is here to support you and to help guide you towards your deepest purpose in life. She speaks softly, so as you begin the practice of listening, enjoy the peaceful quiet between her whispers.
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