What is a Priestess, Really?

By Mellissa Seaman
©2010 All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission.

The first time I was asked to call myself a priestess, I felt sick to my stomach.

I was raised Catholic, and was trained that only men are supposed to be priests. Even the word “priestess” conjured up an old rule-breaking shame, along with anger against systems that deny full acknowledgment of full feminine power.

But as I led women in the discovery and embodiment of our own unique forms of feminine spiritual power, I found that there are lots of different kinds of Priestesses—women who stand in spiritual leadership.

A mommy who shares reverence for the mystery of the natural world with her kids through song, art, and play is a Priestess. A hostess in a restaurant who consciously shines forth her Spirit and graciousness in the course of settling people into their tables in a restaurant is a Priestess. A wife who consciously raises and directs her sexual energy towards healing and wholeness in lovemaking with her husband is a Priestess. The form, the ritual, the tradition – these are not important to me. The intention, the devotion, and the acts of “walking the talk” in REAL life as a courageous chooser of love – a leader and example of embodied feminine mystery and power – THIS, to me, is a Priestess.

A new Priestess Initiation Circle is starting up next month in San Diego. Check it out at PriestessPower.com. Participate, Priestess! Life will never be the same.

Mellissa Seaman is Founder of our priestess lineage and the HeartWisdom Temple. She provides long-distance and in-person profound shamanic healing sessions in Northern and Southern California. Want more? Go to YoniShaman.com

The new temple priestess

By Jennifer Masters

Throughout history as we know it, we’ve been taught to feel ashamed of our bodies, or ignore it when in pain—which is how our body tries to tell us something is wrong. We don’t meet our own standards of beauty. Nudity is taboo. Sex is taboo. Deriving pleasure from sex is even more taboo—to the point where the whole of humanity has forgotten how to allow themselves, to give themselves permission to experience these pleasures.

The Temple Priestess recognizes that her body is sacred. It is a temple which houses her spirit. It is a perfect representation of the Goddess incarnate on earth. She knows it is a gift to explore, conduit through which the world is experienced, and the vehicle through which she expresses herself and the will of Spirit.

She acknowledges the connection between body, mind, and spirit. She is able to be present in her body, to be in the moment. She knows how to listen to her body and take care of herself. She recognizes that her body is a conduit for healing others, through touch, movement, dance, telling herstory—even her mere presence. She knows her humanity is not perfect in the common sense—but nature in its most perfect state is imperfect. She leads by living her life in example, and strives to do her best in all things.

She knows that she holds the power to be herself, to be free from judgment, from self and from others. Everything she needs to be a whole human being, she contains within herself. And she recognizes that she is part of a greater whole, that all of life is connected, we are not separate and alone.

She is the feminine counterpart to the equation, working in partnership, in balance with the masculine, the priest. One cannot function without the other. Yin and yang, receiving and giving, magnetic and electric. She recognizes that we all have both masculine and feminine energies, and our outer relationships can be just as diverse as our inner selves. A priestess is not just about one religion or spirituality, she is the element of the sacred feminine in any religion or spirituality—something that has been largely ignored, left out or forgotten in mainstream religion. She celebrates her femininity not despite or in contrast to masculinity, but in connection to it.

Every woman is a priestess in her own spiritual journey, but in a more formal sense, what defines a priestess is the willingness to step into the leadership role. A priestess is a position of leadership when she holds feminine strength and power while acting in service to others, holding sacred space within which anyone may come into connection with their divine source. A leader is a person who guides or inspires others (inspire = in spirit) to pursue that which is in their highest good. A true leader is someone who isn’t afraid to be different—she can stand by her principles, stand in her truth, regardless of what others do or think.

The path of the priestess is to lead the way into a life more abundant, more joyful. It is about how to be a woman in balance, and about living one’s life fully, being more in tune with her self, her body, her relationships, and her world. This is a state of being that each woman—all shapes, ages, cultures, and creeds—already has within her nature, whether she is conscious of it or has yet to explore. The priestess illuminates the path of self re-discovery.

Click here for information on Temple Priestess Training with Jennifer and Kaliani»