Perhaps you’re magnetized to this word…
It’s likely you simultaneously sense a remembrance and a distinct feeling of discomfort.
Maybe it arouses a deep fear within you of being mocked, scorned, or humiliated.
These are common responses to such a powerful word and historical role.
Let’s dispel some of the mystique together.
In ancient times, our temples were in every corner of the earth, built in every form imaginable…
We lay in dream temples, dreaming our world into being.
With the rhythm of the waxing-waning of the moon, we bled together, speaking in languages of light and vibrational beauty.
We trained in various healing arts:
Astrology, magic, alchemy, divination, oracle, prophecy, energy, dreamwork, herbal medicine, blood mysteries, sacred sound, sexuality, and theater.
The Priestess was part healer, oracle, visionary, and ceremonial leader.
She held a position of great importance and was the container—the alchemical vessel—for her community’s hopes and dreams.
When people visited the temple, they were received by priestesses who blessed them with oracle readings, sacred healing, sexual initiation, soul challenges, penetrating love, acceptance, and forgiveness.
She:
The Priestess was part healer, oracle, visionary, and ceremonial leader.
She held a position of great importance and was the container—the alchemical vessel—for her community’s hopes and dreams.
When people visited the temple, they were received by priestesses who blessed them with oracle readings, sacred healing, sexual initiation, soul challenges, penetrating love, acceptance, and forgiveness.
She:
We sat with the scorned.
We aided the ill.
With embodied grace, we held the Mystery in our hearts and wombs.
All of us—men, women, two-spirits, every being—bowed to the Goddess.
We loved Her, honored Her.
The winds bit like the sting of a scorpion.
You could taste the bitter air, ripe with blood and fire.
Iron and ash were on the edge of the horizon.
There was an infiltration of fear, swift and sly as a trained intruder.
Eeriness spread, dense as a poisonous fog.
Our sacred spaces became vacant, mired with hostility.
Our music dimmed to hushed chanting prayers.
Fear howled on the ethers, ricocheting across the plains.
We recognized the chill in our bones…
It became the deepest winter of winters.
–The Sacred Call of the Ancient Priestess,
Elayne Kalila & Rebecca Cavender
Over the past 3,000 years, Goddess temples have been destroyed, Her image defiled, and our collective knowing of Her left in ruins
We’ve been navigating with the absence of the Divine Mother in our cultural and spiritual lives.
Without our sisterhood and temples, it became easy to believe lies the toxic patriarchy told us to stifle our freedom and feminine power.
This has had catastrophic consequences for our world with the demise of how we honor all nature, the Earth herself, and one another.
Eventually, all forms of priestess arts and folk medicine became outlawed and banished…
Those of us with priestess ancestry and encoded memory of other lifetimes, remember, in our bodies, being punished, maimed, tortured, killed.
Consequently, we’ve been conditioned to distrust our intuition and our innate wisdom.
We still feel the repercussions of this today…
Although her mystical presence was a crucial ingredient in communities globally, the Priestess has not been recognized with the reverence she deserves in our culture for thousands of years.
The diminishment of the Divine Feminine and the sacred role of the Priestess has created wounds that continue to reverberate.
So many women with priestess wounds have the fear of being truly seen, of being visible.
There are compelling reasons for hiding out. I hear them almost every day from the sisters I walk beside:
“It’s not safe to come out.”
“I will fail if I do.”
“People won’t like me.”
“I will be be shamed or humiliated.”
“I am not enough.”
“I am too much.”
…and so the list goes on.
You’re not alone if you’ve felt this way.
The Goddess has risen again and you’re now safe to be seen and embody your priestess wisdom.
As you do, every part of your life will shift to create the space for you to radiate your power and divine liberation!