The fact the pillars are labeled gives significant clues to the orientation of The High Priestess. We know Solomon's Temple faced east:
"Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar." Ezekiel 47:1
The only question that remains is whether Jachin was to the north and Boaz to the south, or vice versa. 1 Kings 7:21 of the King James Version says Jachin was set up on the right and Boaz on the left. Whether right was north and left was south depends on the orientation of the viewer, inside the Temple looking out or outside looking in. Just a few verses later in1 Kings 7:39, it says the "sea" was on the
right side, toward the
southeast:
"And he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward over against the south."
Josephus confirms this orientation (Antiquities Bk. Vlll, 3). This shows the right/left orientation was from
inside. That would make Jachin to the south and Boaz to the north.
What does all of this have to do with The High Priestess card? If Waite's orientation is Jachin south and Boaz north, that would put The High Priestess
inside the Temple. It's interesting to note that if that's the case, the water that flows from her robe flows south and toward the east to join the river behind her (east), as described above in Ezekiel 47. The image linked to below shows how it would look.
It's hard to say if all of this was intentional by Waite or Smith, but it does make me wonder.
Temple