A good deal of my Priestessing has been child rearing as of late, I am at home with a three and a half month old and a three and a half year old. For those of you that haven't heard of threenagers or haven't experienced the joys of a baby that wants desperately to be on the move and talking, yet lacks the skills to accomplish such desires, let me assure you our home is full of great big emotions, including this Mama working daily to redirect her passionate energy away from impatience and explosions and into gentle guidance through the beautifully bright rainbow landscape of emotions.
Though I have much less physical time and energy to write, give readings and be in circle at this juncture of my life, I do get surpluses of time to sit and contemplate, meditate when I'm on my game, play Gummy Drops! on my phone when I'm not. These chunks of time generally come with a babe on the breast, my daughter with her Father playing. Sometimes they come when I'm making breakfast and washing dishes simultaneously, when Estrella is content to wriggle around nude on her blanket and Gracious is momentarily contented cutting paper into tiny pieces, tiny pieces that I will be cleaning up afterwards, but it's worth the trade off for a few moments of quiet.
In between meditation and Gummy Drops! is a space that I can use, a space of contemplation, and as I've written about many times before, my contemplation often comes back to how I am fulfilling my role as Priestess in this life. I have considered that this is a time to just be Mother devoid of Priestess, and have come to the conclusion that being Priestess is just as intrinsic a role to me as Mother, though Mother duties may be much more pressing and in need of focus during this cycle of life than Priestess duties outside of the home, both roles are equally important for me and for my family.
One of the area's that I've been contemplating is the freedom that comes with being Priestess, I've been doing this by comparing the difference between Priestess and Priest. While both roles share some similarities, both being dedicated to a Higher calling, focused, called to sacred work, holders of mystery and truth. One archetype takes in the mysteries from on high and holds them to himself, sets himself up as teacher, whereas the other archetype is a living, breathing conduit for these mysteries and ushers the truth from on high down into this realm for all who wish to touch and experience.
This is what inspires me on my path, whether it be touching Heaven while I change a diaper and sing a song to entertain my three year old during the diaper change, or if it be gathering a group of women and girls in circle and guiding us through a transfiguration circle (I guided my first circle since birthing my second born last week), each moment I am offered the chance to Priestess the new world into being.
I won't be the first or the last to recognize what most of us already know, that the children are our future and will be carrying the vibration that we help to imprint them with into the next seven generations to come, who am I to determine a circle of women as being more holy than preparing breakfast for two children? Who am I to diminish the role of Prietessing while I change a dirty nappy? If the sacred duty of a Priestess is to bring Heaven to Earth and to raise the earthly energies up into the Heavenly vibrationary levels, then how or where I do this is of no consequence.
I understand the necessity that once existed for women called to the Priestess path to forsake all other callings in life, to live away from the world in Priestess temples, raising the vibration of Earth and offering services to those called to receive them. I long for those temples, especially in the midst of my most uninspired, overstimulated , child addled days. Yet, I also recognize what a great freedom it is to not need to choose one role over the other anymore. The world I live in is not divided into spiritual and non-spiritual people. Spirit moves through the yoga breaks in boardrooms, the meditation done before athletic challenges, the prayers whispered on transit in the early morning rush to work.
Our world has evolved, thanks in a great deal to the Priestesses that dedicated their life to temple living, the monks, the sages, the gurus that forsook all to focus solely on raising us up as a society, and now here we are, taking these truths into all areas of life and women like me are being both Priestess and Mother, Priestess and Wife, Priestess and Artist, Priestess and Businesswoman, and on and on, and what this means to me is that wherever I go and whatever roles I decide to try on in life, the Priestess archetype comes with me and finds the highest truth in each and every circumstance available.
For this summer that means finding Heaven on Earth with two tiny fey children in a small, often conservative town. It is lighting up my daughter's consciousness to possibilities that exist outside of the patriarchal construct that is still being dismantled. It is teaching reverence for new life, and it is carving out space to do my craft.
The other day, my eldest, Gracious, said to me: "Mommy, remember when you worked and I came with you to work?"
"Oh you mean when you and Daddy visited me at the restaurant Mommy worked at last year?" I had only been there very part time to add a little inflow to our family for a few months a year ago, maybe she was thinking about going out for lunch?
"No, no, when you worked at the place with the crystals," she reminded me.
"Oh, you mean when I worked as a Priestess? Yes I do remember that, in fact I am doing some Priestess work tonight," I let her know.
She was remembering driving with me out of town to do psychic readings at a local temple when I was pregnant, that very day she was asking me about work just happened to be the day that I was that I was restarting our Goddess Gatherings, she would be present while I prepared the circle. She would watch me light the sage, lay out the cards and see the women coming in with their arms full of food and magic, then she would go off with her Father to play at the beach and return to pick me up when the circle had been closed. This is the vision she has of me at 'work'.
Although the majority of our days are filled with nature walks, trips to the sandbox, visiting other little children, when she thinks of me, my daughter knows that my work is in the realm of magic. We don't need to leave the home to seek out a sage, we can be that presence in our homes.
For now, my largest opportunity to be Priestess is as a Mother, I 'get' to be:
- The Earth to my children as I ground them and surround them with safety and the protection of the great Mother.
- The Moon as I create a rhythm to our day, a predictable inflow and outflow of energy.
- The Sun as I offer warmth and an optimistic view of what is to be as we daydream about life.
- The Ocean as we explore new depths of consciousness as their minds expand.
- The Goddess Herself, as they look to me as the Divine incarnate for this short moment in time.
Those are my inspiration points as the majority of my time is spent with my darling daughters. It doesn't always feel like a 'get', nor do I always feel like the Earth, Moon, Sun, Ocean and the Goddess Herself, however, I can tap into that, my Priestess self gives me that opportunity. Every day I have two beings that believe in the magic of 'me' more than I do sometimes, having children it seems, is reminding me of the power and the magic that I have within.
As I enter the summer season, the season of watery surrender, I am offering my role of Priestess up to the Divine, yet again. I offer that role up so that I may be reminded of how I am to live out my life as Priestess and _____, a reminder that everything I do and everywhere I go I bring myself as Priestess with me.
Grace Be With You,
Priestess of Grace,
Candise Soaring Butterfly
image taken from: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/a1/8a/7d/a18a7d5d42b55e46d0fdcbe47e788ed6--mother-mother-blessed-mother.jpg