Know Thyself: an Ancient Path to Understanding Myself Better
The inscription at the temple of Delphi read know thyself. The High Priestess in tarot holds the same invitation: to listen to your own voice before searching for answers outside.
At the temple of Delphi, in ancient Greece, an inscription read know thyself, a reminder that every important answer passes through self-knowledge first. The High Priestess in tarot carries the same quiet invitation: to stop looking for answers only outside and learn to listen to what you already know within.
Today's page
This week a reader wrote to me asking which card, which sign, which signal from the universe would finally tell her what to do with her own life. I understand the wish, I've wanted that too, an answer from outside that would solve everything for me. But today I want to bring to this page a very old wisdom, carved in stone at a Greek temple thousands of years ago, that points in a completely different direction: the answer you're looking for doesn't live out there, it lives inside you, waiting to be listened to with more calm and less rush.
The oracle of Delphi
In ancient Greece there was a temple at Delphi dedicated to the god Apollo, and people travelled from far away to consult a priestess who spoke on behalf of the gods, seeking guidance for wars, marriages, big life decisions. At the entrance to that temple, carved in stone, was a phrase that's still famous today: know thyself. It's curious that, in a place dedicated to hearing the divine voice from outside, the very first instruction was this: before you ask the gods, look inside yourself. The Greeks understood that much of human suffering comes from acting without understanding our own desires, fears and limits, and that no answer from outside truly makes sense if the person doesn't know the ground they're going to plant that answer in.
What this isn't
This doesn't mean that seeking advice, therapy, a chat with friends, or even a tarot reading is wrong or unnecessary. Quite the opposite, these spaces help a great deal. What this ancient wisdom teaches is that none of these tools replace the work of knowing yourself, they work best when they're one more mirror, not a shortcut to avoid looking inward. Searching for answers outside without ever pausing to listen to your own voice is like asking someone for directions without knowing where you're actually starting from or where you truly want to go.
The High Priestess and the veil
In tarot there's a card called The High Priestess, seated between two pillars, one dark and one light, with a veil behind her hiding what can't yet be seen. She holds a scroll partly covered, as if to say that not all knowledge is ready to be read all at once. This card speaks of a wisdom that doesn't come from outside, from a book or someone else's advice, it comes from silence, from intuition, from what we know even before we can put it into words. When The High Priestess appears in a reading, she tends to ask for less rush for an answer and more room to listen to what's already whispering inside, behind the veil, waiting for attention.
Where this shows up in real life
This shows up in real life every time someone asks ten different people what they should do about an important decision, and ends up feeling more lost than before asking. It shows up in whoever follows a career, a relationship, a city that others approve of, without ever having stopped to feel whether it truly fits who she is. It also shows up in whoever fills every silence with noise, phone, a show, conversation, because stopping and being alone with your own thoughts brings an almost physical discomfort. In these moments, the voice that needs to be heard first is the one inside, not the one outside.
The common mistake
The most common mistake is thinking that knowing yourself is something that happens once, in a single flash, and then it's settled forever. It isn't like that. Self-knowledge is a practice that repeats your whole life, because we change, and the person you were five years ago isn't exactly the same as the one you are today. Another mistake is confusing knowing yourself with judging yourself, endlessly going over your own flaws, as if self-knowledge were a synonym for self-criticism. Knowing yourself does include the flaws, yes, but also the true desires, the limits, what brings pleasure, without the constant weight of judgement pressing down on every discovery.
A practice to carry with you
Set aside ten minutes today, without your phone nearby, and write on a piece of paper this question: what do I really feel about this, before asking anyone else. Fill in 'this' with a decision that's been occupying your mind. Write without stopping to edit, without policing yourself, letting your hand follow whatever comes, even if it looks messy or contradictory on the page. At the end, reread it and notice what surprised you in what you wrote, because often the answer was already there, just waiting for enough space and silence to appear without any rush.
Closing
I end this page with the phrase carved millennia ago in the stone of the Greek temple: 'know thyself'. I'm not here guessing your future or promising a ready-made answer, tarot and these ancient wisdoms don't work that way with me, and I would never promise you that. What they offer is a symbolic mirror to help you listen to what already lives inside you, behind The High Priestess's veil. If you feel that inner voice has been muffled by too much noise outside, maybe it's worth coming to sit with me for a reading, so we can look together at what it's trying to tell you.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the phrase know thyself come from?
This phrase was carved at the entrance to the temple of Apollo at Delphi, in ancient Greece, where people travelled to consult a priestess in search of guidance. The inscription was a reminder that, before seeking a divine answer outside, you had to look inward first.
What does The High Priestess card mean in tarot?
The High Priestess represents inner knowledge, intuition, and wisdom that isn't fully revealed yet, symbolised by the veil behind her. In a symbolic reading, she tends to signal that it's time to slow down and listen to your own voice before seeking outside answers.
How can I understand myself better day to day?
Setting aside moments of real silence, without your phone or other distractions, to write or simply feel what comes up before asking anyone else's opinion, already helps a great deal. Self-knowledge is an ongoing practice, not a one-off event, and it deepens with repetition over time.
A card's meaning shifts with the question, position and context. No single card should be read as a verdict on its own.