You – The High Priestess
Every now and then I get someone on social media whose nose is out of joint over me using the term “High Priestess”. They’ll hit the “WhO InItiAtEd yoU?!” – and I’m like, Isis, baby – take it up with her.
But when I’m not being snarky, the answer is something a bit different.
See, I knew quite early in life that I wasn’t going to have children. I love kids – but as the eldest of four children, where my youngest siblings is 10 years younger than me, I saw what it took for my Mum to raise a family. I have nothing but the utmost respect for women who do it – but it just wasn’t for me.
And that presents an interesting challenge when you’re in the “mother” phase of life – I spent quite a lot of time in my early 30’s soul searching on this topic. The answer came to me from one of my favourite books – Mists of Avalon. For those of you not familiar, it’s a feminist retelling of the Arthurian legend. It focuses really strongly on Avalon as a home for Priestesses who worship the goddess. And that had captivated my imagination from the time I first read it at 14.
I was re-reading it in my 30’s and was particularly taken with the character of Vivian – the High Priestess of Avalon (before she passes this to Morgan La Fey). Vivian is wise, she advises Kings and Princes, she takes care of the training of new Priestesses and moves forward Avalon’s objectives. While Vivian is a mother (to Sir Galahad) because of her role as High Priestess, she doesn’t raise him. He’s raised by the entire community on Avalon. Because her work, first and foremost, is to mother the entire community rather than singularly an individual (this causes a lot of issues between Vivian and Galahad in the book, as you can imagine!).
Look, I’m not saying you should get your friends to raise your kids – although every mother I know could use a shit tonne more help from the community – the concept of the High Priestess as a model for feminine leadership is open to all of us: mothers, non-mothers, weirdo aunts, would-be mothers, non-binary folks, transwomen and everyone else.
The High Priestess is a model of feminine leadership without the bullshit.
The High Priestess is a nurturer – but she takes no shit.
Her job is lead her congregation – and also to protect it.
She is a healer – and a warrior.
She is soft and strong.
The High Priestess is not kept cloistered from the world. She is a part of the world, moving amongst it. She isn’t powerless, locked up in a cage and denied her own sexuality. She is a woman who stands firmly in her own power, who advises Kings and Queens and who is free to do with her body as she wishes.
She is spiritual and sexual. She is part and whole.
She is the representative of the Great Mother here on Earth – but her role is to help every woman (and man) see the Great Mother inside of themselves, not to promote herself as the only conduit to the divine.
This model of leadership has always spoken to me – and now, I believe, it’s time for this model to make its way into the world so that more women can become High Priestesses in their own right, because the world desperately needs this kind of leadership right now.
It’s time.
