One fun-but-also-challenging aspect of revivalist Pagan spirituality is figuring out how to do things in the modern world when it's clear we can't do the same thing the ancient culture did.

The Minoans had huge temples in all the major cities of Bronze Age Crete, staffed with full-time clergy, part-time clergy, administrators, artisans, cooks, housekeepers and other people to keep the huge institution running on a day-to-day basis. This would have been a hierarchical organization with bureaucracy as well as religious activities - a far cry from the solitary and small-group Paganism most of us practice in the modern world.

In Ariadne's Tribe, have no desire to build giant temples and staff them with professional clergy and bureaucrats. Just thinking about gathering the resources for that kind of project is overwhelming. But many of us do act as clergy: we lead rituals, provide community support, dedicate ourselves to various Minoan deities, and help others learn about those deities in a lot of different ways.

The question arose as to what we should call those of us who function as clergy in the Tribe. High Priestess and High Priest, which are common clergy titles in the Pagan community, just didn't feel right to any of us. Besides the implied hierarchical nature of those titles, they suggest a focus on ritual - probably with other people in attendance - when many of us focus more on embodying our connection with deity and supporting other members of our community.

Turns out, the deities had a solution to offer us. Over the past several years, a number of us have found ourselves being offered titles (in dreams, visions, and meditation) having to do with our connection and personal dedication to certain deities. Instead of more generalized clergy terms, we're now identifying ourselves based on the specific deities we're dedicated to. By dedicated, I don't mean just "this is a deity I have an altar to and enjoy inviting in ritual." It's a much more serious, life-altering commitment, on par with becoming a rabbi, imam, or Christian minister or priest.

There's a sense in which these titles are names the deities have given us, more than titles that we've chosen to take on for ourselves, though obviously there are two persons (one human and one divine) involved in each of these situations, and each of them has their own viewpoint of the situation.

Either way, accepting one of these titles involves serious responsibilities toward the deity involved. As we've discovered, taking one on can be quite life-changing, usually in ways we don't expect and can't predict.

What are the titles? Here's what we have so far. I'll keep this post updated as we go along.

Those of us who are dedicated to Korydallos are called Vikaro. This includes his goat-y Horned One aspect. Please note the difference between the pronunciation of the deity's epithet (VEE-kah-roh) and the pronunciation of the human title (vee-KAH-roh).

Those of us who are dedicated to Dionysus are called Divono. This includes his antlered stag Horned One aspect. Please note the difference between the pronunciation of the deity's epithet (DEE-voh-noh) and the pronunciation of the human title (dee-VOH-noh).

Those of us who are dedicated to the Melissae and serve as death midwives or death doulas are called Melissa. This is a significant departure from the way the title "Melissa" is often used in other modern Pagan traditions, where the human Melissae are often worker-bee type assistants at rituals and events. In Ariadne's Tribe, the Melissae (the goddesses) are specifically associated with death and the spirits of the dead, since they are the Underworld guardians of the Beloved Dead.

Those of us who are dedicated to Rhea and have the responsibility of carrying the weight of the energetic temple that is Ariadne's Tribe are called Idaeja. Ida is one of Rhea's names. So far, I'm the only one with this title, but I expect there will be multiple Idaejas eventually, as the Tribe grows.

I suspect the Minoans had similar ways of identifying who was connected with which deity. They probably also had groups (guilds, clubs, sister/brotherhoods, whatever you want to call it) for people who were dedicated to specific deities or micropantheons. We may eventually have something of that sort in the Tribe, but for now we're quite small compared to the population of Bronze Age Crete, so we'll wait until we've grown some.

The Minoans probably also had clergy titles having to do with their place in the temple hierarchy. These would have been institutional titles that dealt more with administration and bureaucracy than religion (Head Scribe, for instance). I suppose our Board of Directors is the modern-day equivalent of those, but that's about as bureaucratic as we're going to get.

What about the ritual leader titles I mentioned at the beginning? Since we're a community-based tradition, people take turns leading rituals instead of having just one person always having that role. Whoever is leading any given ritual is simply called the leader, or clergy, or officiant. Depending on the ritual, there might be multiple clergy taking the lead at any given time. Then they cycle back into the "congregation" so someone else can have that role next time.

Together we are joy!