There is no single “tarot witch card” in the standard 78-card deck. The term usually refers to The High Priestess, the Queen of Wands, or the Moon, depending on the deck and tradition. The confusion began in the 1970s when feminist spirituality decks renamed these cards, and it persists today because themed decks continue to use the label.
We have handled this card for readers who set it down shaking. A woman in her sixties drew it during a career reading and asked if she should cancel her mortgage. A young man pulled it on his birthday and whispered that his grandmother had warned him about “the witch.” The card she held was not the Witch. It was The High Priestess, the second major arcana trump, and it carries no curses, no hexes, no broomsticks. The fear comes from a simple confusion: readers see the moon phases, the scroll, the veil between two pillars, and their mind supplies the word “witch.” The actual card called The Witch does not exist in the standard 78-card tarot deck. What does exist is a cluster of cards that have been called Witch at different times, in different traditions, for different reasons.
The truth is that there is no single “tarot witch card.” The meaning shifts depending on which deck, which tradition, and which century you are reading from. What people usually mean when they ask about the witch card is either The High Priestess, the Queen of Wands, or the Moon. Each of these carries witch-like energy: intuition, hidden knowledge, elemental power, and the liminal space between worlds. The confusion has a history, and that history is worth understanding.
Where the “Witch Card” Confusion Began
The Rider-Waite-Smith deck published in 1910 contains no card named The Witch. Pamela Colman Smith, the artist, was herself an occultist and member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. She painted The High Priestess as a woman seated between two pillars, wearing a crown with moon phases, holding a scroll marked TORA. She painted the Queen of Wands as a woman holding a sunflower and a black cat. She painted the Moon as a path leading between two towers with a wolf and a dog howling at a crescent moon. None are named Witch.
The confusion started in the 1970s. The feminist spirituality movement began producing decks that explicitly renamed cards. The Motherpeace Tarot (1978, Vicki Noble and Karen Vogel) renamed The High Priestess to The Priestess, but the imagery remained close to the original. The Daughters of the Moon Tarot (1984, Ffiona Morgan) went further: the High Priestess became The Witch. This was the first mass-market deck to label a major arcana card outright as The Witch. It sold well in women’s bookstores and New Age shops, and the name stuck in the popular imagination.
The 1990s brought the Halloween Tarot (1995, Kipling West and Corinne Kenner), designed as a novelty deck for Samhain celebrations. It renamed The High Priestess as The Witch in rhyming verse: “The Witch knows all that is hidden and deep. She guards the secrets the universe keeps.” A generation of casual readers learned tarot from this deck, and they carried the association into other readings.
Today, the confusion has three layers. Beginners see the High Priestess and call her a witch because of the imagery. Experienced readers in Wiccan traditions sometimes use “witch” as an affectionate shorthand for the High Priestess. And themed decks continue to use the label: the Witches Tarot (2007, Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans) explicitly calls its version of The High Priestess The Witch.
What the High Priestess Actually Represents
That history explains why the naming matters. What follows is what the card actually means in the tradition that produced it.
The High Priestess is the second card of the major arcana. The Fool has just stepped off the cliff. The Magician has shown him the tools. The High Priestess represents what comes next: the knowledge that cannot be taught, only intuited. She sits between the black pillar Boaz and the white pillar Jachin, the two columns of Solomon’s Temple. Between them lies the veil of the sanctuary. She holds a scroll inscribed with TORA, but the word is partially hidden. She knows the full law, but she does not speak it. The reader must approach.
In divination, the High Priestess signals a time when logic will fail. The querent needs to trust their gut, pay attention to dreams, and look for synchronicities. It is not a card of action. It is a card of waiting and watching. When a client asks “should I call him?” and draws The High Priestess, the answer is no. Stay still. The answer will come to you.
The witch association makes sense here. The card deals with hidden knowledge, lunar cycles, and the boundary between the seen and unseen worlds. But the card does not endorse spellwork, incantations, or manipulation. It endorses receptivity. The High Priestess receives information. She does not send it.
The Queen of Wands: The Witch Who Acts
The High Priestess does not move. The Queen of Wands does. And this is the second card that readers commonly call “the witch card.”
The Queen of Wands sits on her throne with a sunflower in one hand and a black cat at her feet. The cat is not decorative. In early modern European folklore, the black cat was a witch’s familiar. Pamela Colman Smith knew this. She painted the cat as a deliberate nod to the occult associations of the Queen. But the Queen of Wands is not a witch in the medieval sense. She is a person who has mastered the element of fire.
In readings, the Queen of Wands indicates someone who is charismatic, determined, and a little intimidating. She creates her own reality. When she walks into a room, the energy shifts. This is the card of the person who runs a coven, leads a protest, or manages a chaotic household with the authority of a general. She does not ask permission. She acts.
The witch label sticks to the Queen of Wands because of the black cat and because she embodies the stereotype of the independent woman who threatens the established order. But the Queen of Wands is not a spellcaster. She is a leader. The difference matters.
The Moon: The Witch’s Territory
The third card that draws the witch label is The Moon, the eighteenth major arcana trump. This card shows a path leading between two towers into the distance. A wolf and a dog howl at the moon. A crayfish crawls out of the water. The path is the liminal space between the conscious and unconscious mind.
The Moon is the card of illusion, fear, and the unknown. It represents everything that hides in the dark. In readings, it warns the querent that things are not what they seem. The partner who seems trustworthy may be hiding something. The job offer that looks perfect may have hidden costs. The Moon is the card of the shadow self, the parts of the psyche that we repress.
Witchcraft has always been associated with the night, with moon phases, and with the liminal space between worlds. The Witches’ Sabbath was said to occur at the full moon. The Book of Shadows is written by moonlight. The Moon card captures this territory: the space where rational thought dissolves and older, instinctual knowledge rises. It is uncomfortable. It is also necessary.
How the Cards Are Used in Practice
The naming confusion has practical consequences in readings. When a beginner sees the High Priestess and thinks “witch,” they often interpret the card as a sign that the querent should perform a spell or seek magical intervention. This is a mistranslation.
A reader trained in the Rider-Waite-Smith system interprets the High Priestess as a call to internal stillness. The querent should meditate, journal, or spend time alone. The answer is not found in a ritual. It is found in the silence between thoughts.
The Queen of Wands, by contrast, suggests that the querent should act with confidence and authority. She is the card of the person who knows what they want and goes after it. The witch label here is less misleading: if the querent is a practitioner, the Queen of Wands suggests that their magical work will be effective because they are channeling their will with clarity.
The Moon requires caution. It advises the querent to examine their fears and look for hidden truths. It does not recommend magical work that involves manipulation or coercion. The Moon warns that the practitioner may not have all the information they need.
Common Misconceptions About the Tarot Witch Card
Misconception 1: There is a single card called The Witch in standard tarot.
There is not. The 78-card RWS deck contains no card with that name. Only themed decks use the label.
Misconception 2: The High Priestess is a figure of witchcraft.
She is a figure of priesthood. She wears a papal cross and a crown. The scroll she holds is the Torah. She represents institutional mystery religion, not folk witchcraft.
Misconception 3: Drawing the High Priestess means you should perform magic.
It means you should listen to your intuition. The difference is subtle but crucial. One is active, the other is receptive.
Misconception 4: The Queen of Wands is a card of spellcasting.
She is a card of personal power and leadership. The black cat signals her connection to the occult, but the card’s core meaning is authority and determination.
Misconception 5: The Moon is evil.
The Moon is not evil. It is unsettling. The card represents the shadow self, which every person carries. Ignoring it is more dangerous than confronting it.
FAQ
Q: Is the High Priestess the witch card in tarot? No. The High Priestess is sometimes called the witch card in themed decks, but in standard tarot she represents hidden knowledge and intuition, not spellwork.
Q: What does the witch card mean in a love reading? If you drew the High Priestess, it suggests that the relationship has hidden depths you cannot yet see. If you drew the Queen of Wands, you or your partner need to assert independence. If you drew the Moon, something is being hidden.
Q: Can the witch card be a sign of a curse? No. Tarot does not diagnose curses. The cards represent psychological and spiritual states. The Moon may indicate that the querent feels haunted or afraid, but that is different from an external curse.
What the Confusion Tells Us
The history explains why the naming matters. What follows is what it means for the reader.
The witch card does not exist. But the energy that people call “witch” does. It is the energy of the High Priestess’s hidden knowledge, the Queen of Wands’s fierce authority, and the Moon’s liminal terror. These three cards form a triangle of witch-like meaning: the knower, the doer, and the threshold between worlds.
Witchcraft in the popular imagination is about power that operates outside institutional structures. The High Priestess operates inside the temple. The Queen of Wands operates inside the court. The Moon operates in the wilderness. None of them are witches in the folkloric sense. All of them carry something that the witch stereotype borrows.
The reader who understands this distinction will read these cards with more precision. They will not flinch when a client draws the High Priestess and asks if they are cursed. They will say: “This card does not threaten you. It asks you to sit still and listen. The answer is already inside you.”
For a complete guide to all 22 major arcana cards and their hidden meanings, see our tarot reference hub. If the veil between worlds interests you, the Moon entry in our glossary details its alchemical and astrological layers. For a deeper look at the High Priestess and her counterparts in other traditions, read our guide to the three faces of the feminine in tarot.