High Priestess – Barangaroo

The High Priestess tarot card is generally believed to represent secrets, magic, mystery, intuition, wisdom, and the art of making the impossible become possible. This card can represent a psychic connection between people, a psychic person, or someone who is a complete mystery to you. It can also represent using your inner voice to navigate through life. The High Priestess can represent your subconscious, and/or your subconscious beliefs.

Barangaroo was one of the powerful figures in Sydney’s early history. She was a Cameragaleon, from the country around North Harbour and Manly. The Cameragal group was the largest and most influential group in the Sydney coastal region.
The High Priestess may be seen in many people. As a woman who had knowledge of laws, teaching and women’s rituals the energy of the High Priestess is a powerful driving force within Bangaroo.

Barangaroo was the second wife of Bennelong, who was interlocutor between the Aboriginal people and the early British colonists in New South Wales. Barangaroo was a member of the Cammeraygal clan.

Barangaroo was an influential figure in the early contact between Aboriginal people and the British authorities in the years following the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. Having survived the smallpox epidemic of 1789 that killed her first husband, and it is believed more than half of Sydney’s Aboriginal population, she was ‘one of a reduced number of women who had the knowledge of laws, teaching and women’s rituals and she exercised this authority over younger women’

The High Priestess is an ancient archetypal energy that embodies wisdom, inner knowledge and guidance. She is associated with Mystery, Sensuality, Desirability, Fertility, Creativity, Subconscious, Thirst for knowledge, High power, Intuition, Inner voice and the Divine feminine

Barangaroo’s power came from her role as a hunter and provider. She provided for the clan’s men with fish caught in and around the harbour, using a simple black wood canoe known as a Nawi. Eora fisherwomen were the main food providers for their families, highly skilled in fishing and canoeing whilst juggling onboard fires and small children in ‘in surf that would terrify their toughest sailors’.

Your Turn

  • Identify another woman who personifies this archetype. Research and engage in an active imagination style dialogue with her. While active imagination is generally a dialogue with different parts of yourself that live in the unconscious. you can converse, communicate remotely, with another person.
  • Enrich your knowledge of this archetypal aspect by searching for pictures that personify the many facets of the High Priestess.
  • Approach her directly and chat over tea. See what new insights you come away with after chatting with her.

High Priestess or Devil?

Rosaleen Norton – High Priestess or Devil