![\"CrackedEgg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/750\/2015\/10\/CrackedEgg-300x300.jpeg\")
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Peeling back the layers of the rose, we are all the same, but what makes the difference between the seeker and the Priestess? The Priestess has been where the seeker is, not just once but many times. They heard the call, fearlessly jumped off the ledge and then proceeded to fall, stumble, scrape their knees; yet they got up and moved forward. They haven\u2019t reached the destination, because none of us will ever truly reach the end until death, but they have been on the path before. They know how to navigate the land, where the thorns are, where they aren\u2019t, and how to untangle snags. They have been educated in the ways of the craft, clergy, and ritual. In fact while the seeker is out partying, in school, work etc. the Priestess has dedicated her life to learning, taking classes, teaching, and facilitating ritual. They are not arm chair pagans; they do the work every day because they answered their call from within. They are not ascended masters or even gurus; they are trail blazers, guides, and most importantly, have experience that the seeker doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Glamour<\/b>
\nEnchantment and Glamour are often magical practices where the practitioner would choose to create a masked view of themselves so that people will perceive them in a certain way. This is most often done on purpose so that the person can achieve power or prestige.
\nEnchantment and Glamour magic is its own system, and there is much to be
\nexplored but this is not the blog post for that. However I have found,
\nrecently, from my own experience as well as that of my Priestess (Lady
\nGreenflame) and a conversation with a trusted friend, that Enchantment and
\nGlamour can be placed on a person from outside sources as well. In this case it
\nis usually unknown; a heavy weight that can\u2019t be described and until you have
\nexperienced it, you might not know its happening to you. \u00a0It seems to
\nhappen when the Priestess is unaware of how other perceive her. Of course it
\nwould be crazy to expect the Priestess to know on a deep level what her
\nstudents and the community see her as. She is only responsible for her actions,
\nthoughts and emotions; she is not responsible for how people perceive her.
\nWhile many might disagree with me, I will stand firm that what a Priestess puts
\nout into the world she is responsible for but what others perceive about her,
\nwhat she does and how she serves is not her responsibility. This would require
\nher to invade each and everyone\u2019s mind and find out what they think. Not only
\nis this intrusive, but it is not the job of the Priestess. I personally have a
\nrule: I will not look in at my student\u2019s personal lives, energy, etc. through
\npsychic means, divination or \u201cgeneral stalking\u201d. It is not my responsibility to
\nmanage their life, it is theirs to seek me out when they need help. For
\nexample, I recently had a student blame me for being a bad priestess because I
\ndidn\u2019t know she was being abused. This is a student I had met with \u201cmaybe\u201d 3-4
\ntimes and was just getting to know. How horrible and how violated she would
\nhave felt if I had invaded her privacy and looked, then confronted her about
\nit. I\u2019ve been battered woman, with police reports detailing my body and
\nbruises. I know what it is to be a battered woman and sure as hell won\u2019t poke a
\nstudent who is actually going through it, and force them to get help, leave or
\ntalk to me. This can actually lead to so much more damage and loss of trust.
\nHowever, if a student comes to me with an issue, tells me about it and asked
\nfor help, I will bend over backwards for them. The Priestess is not a life
\nvest, she is a swim teacher\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n
This type of Glamour and Enchantment is a cruel magic. There is absolutely NO informed consent in this type of magic. Speaking from my experience as a student, I loved my Priestess so much that it became unhealthy, more of a co-dependent obsession. I was so broken and wanted to be whole, to be wise, smart, and have all the elegant graces of a Priestess that my own Priestess exuded. I took my ideal version of what a
\n\u201cPriestess is\u201d and placed it on her. She never consented to this and she never
\nwas informed. Rather she was beautifully flawed, in her wholeness, and I warped
\nthat by placing expectations and rules on her that she was not aware of. So
\nwhen the day came that she was not perfect, not acting in accordance with my
\nwill, and was going through her own dark night of the soul, she shattered and I
\nlooked at the glass on the floor with distain, disappointment, and failure. I
\nshould have looked at her and said, \u201cYou are beautifully whole, you are
\nbeautifully shattered, because one day I will shatter, and I too will be
\nbeautiful and whole just as you are.<\/p>\n
Guilty <\/b>
\nSay no, early and say it often<\/b>. Advice recently given to me from Lord Spanish Moss.I am guilty of being too kind and for stuffing my feelings back so that I didn\u2019t \u201churt a student\u2019s feelings\u201d. I am guilty for making exceptions to the rules, and then exceptions to those exceptions while still holding other students to the original standard. I am guilty for allowing them to walk on me, and violate and abuse my energy anytime
\nthey damn well pleased and mostly for hoping for them to grow rather than being
\ntruthful to them about their own skill level. I am guilty of accidentally
\nfeeding the glamour, for not saying no more often, and for actually providing
\nexcuse after excuse for bad behavior, laziness and mostly I\u2019m guilty for
\nwanting to save the \u201churt feelings of others\u201d and provide space for everyone. You
\ncan\u2019t hold space for everyone<\/b>, and you really can\u2019t for people who are out
\nof control. Say no often, if you say no to a student and are met with a violent
\noutburst, recommend a good psychologist and walk away from the student; you are
\nnot qualified to help those with mental illness, you are required to send them
\nto get help, and then help yourself. I know this now\u2026<\/p>\n
The Persona<\/b>
\nNaming gives power, and while many of use choose to use our craft names as our regular name, some of us don\u2019t and still others change their names. As a Priestess, we were charged with taking up a mantle, the color and charge may be different for each Priestess, but the mantle is similar. Take the Mantle off often<\/b>. By not observing this practice, it has gotten me into trouble. I was under the impression that I was
\nthe Priestess and that the Priestess was me. That meant no vacation days, or
\ndealing with student in crisis on my vacation, on the weekends, in the middle
\nof XYZ, or my son\u2019s sports games. This leads to burn out and fosters the bad
\nstudent teacher relationship even more. Take the mantle off often, be you, and
\nallow yourself MUCH \u201ctime off\u201d from being a priestess. You are a Priestess,
\nthe Priestess is not you\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n
I have been the student that thought my Priestess was perfect and held her in such high esteem that she was on another planet. I also watched her fall and with it my own self. I then was doomed to make the same mistake because I had no idea what was happening to her
\nor that it could also happen to me. They will put you on a pedestal and each of
\nthem may have their own perfect version of you and this must be dissolved
\nimmediately. It is not healthy for you to carry the weight of the glamour and
\nit is not healthy for them to be placing such expectations on you because inevitably they will fail.<\/p>\n
The Priestess is flawed, imperfect, deficient, and in many cases not nearly as experienced as we perceive them. Or perhaps she is more experienced than what she is able or willing to project. Sometimes through our own arrogance, ego and self-righteousness we think that we are more experienced than the Priestess. This is often when we begin to put unspoken rules and regulations on her and try to force the priestess to act in
\nour own accordance by bullying, gossip, and slander. Most of the time emphasis
\nis placed on the priestesses deficiencies to cloud the deep troubles of the
\nstudent\u2019s shadows. \u201cIf my priestess is bad, it means that I\u2019m right and
\ntherefore I don\u2019t have to look at how nasty my soul is right now.\u201d When this
\nhappens to you as a Priestess, there is nothing you can do about it and trust
\nme, this will happen to you if you travel down the road of the Priestess for
\nany significant length of time. You can\u2019t stop it and you can\u2019t change it. You
\nsimply have to hold on and do what you can to take care of yourself during those moments.<\/p>\n
The Unhealthy Student\/Teacher relationship<\/b>
\nA priestess is not a dictator,\u00a0however she MUST have complete Autonomy over her life, coven\/circle, and her student\u2019s course work. She is charged with creating space, courses, rituals,\u00a0mediations, etc to help others navigate through their own lives. She has no time to \u201ccheck\u201d if her every move, decision, and action is \u201cok with\u201d or in \u201caccordance with\u201d the student. She is not a life vest, and is not a slave to her students or coverers wishes and desires. Rather she provides what she can from her own experience, teaching, and all the learning she has done to get her to the place of Priestess. It is a very very thorny path; it requires self-esteem, ego, and humility.<\/p>\n
Some will try to force you to create what they want rather than what you are able to give and what you can create. They will then reward you by turning on you and try to destroy you, try to shut you down, stop you from serving your community and gods, because \u201cthey\u201d think that they know better; that because you didn\u2019t act in accordance with their will it somehow gives them the impression that it is ok to gossip, tell lies, and
\nto \u201chave meetings about you to inform others of your actions\u201d. I want to note
\nhere, that the \u201cwill\u201d I am speaking of is the ego driven will, and not the
\n\u201cWill\u201d of the divine heart.\u00a0 While all of this is uncomfortable, it IS
\npart of the Priestess Path. Yet, you do not need to stay in this place. Your
\ninstinct might be to lash back in defense, but remember that regardless of who
\nis right or wrong, they are hurting and their feelings are valid.\u00a0 Often
\nthe best course of action in the best interest of the Priestess is to remove
\nyourself from the situation and to not engage their energy. Their actions and
\nwords will be dealt within their own Karmic energy and you do not have to let their words devour you.<\/p>\n
Why is broken bad? When we are ALL so broken? Why do we look at someone, who isn\u2019t acting in accordance with our will and throw them under the bus? Or think that because they are not acting in the way we want that we must destroy them to feel better about ourselves? While the situations between what made me shatter and what made my priestess shatter were completely different and can\u2019t even be compared, the result seems similar. A \u201cglamour\u201d about who and what we really are, met with violent outburst from
\ncritics who can\u2019t balance their own live out. When the Persona is removed you
\nare left with a \u201cNaked and Raw view of the Priestess\u201d and if you can\u2019t handle
\nme naked, you don\u2019t deserve me clothed. Not only that, if you think your
\nPriestess should be perfect, act only in accordance with your will and that
\nanything different is to be destroyed, then you are an abuser. Priestess cut
\nthis out of your life ASAP, it is a worm in the root of your sacred tree; cut
\nout the worm and the tree grows beautifully.<\/p>\n
The thing is that priestess\u2019 are human beings too, let me say that again, Priestess\u2019 are human fucking beings, and they will make mistakes, they will have flaws, and deficiencies. They will
\nbe disappointed in your behavior, they will be angry when then hear you talking
\ncrap about them, and other people and they will be insulted when you try to
\ntell them how to do their job. Being spiritual and balanced doesn\u2019t mean
\nperfection; it means for the most part we keep it together and show you how to
\ndo the same. Most Priestess\u2019 will have a peer group that you don\u2019t know about,
\nthat is not affiliated with your group, that they can seek council when they
\nneed help. The student is never to mentor the Priestess, even if they want to.
\nNot acting in accordance with your students will does not give them permission
\nto try to destroy you, and spread gossip and vicious slander. If this happens
\nwalk away, walk away from the drama and walk away from the student and refuse
\nto ever teach them again, and for the LOVE OF ALL THE GODDESSES, DON\u2019T SEND
\nTHEM TO ANOTHER PRIESTESS. Have respect for yourself and fellow priestess\u2019 and
\ndon\u2019t let them try to destroy another one\u2026 There is no \u201cgossip goddess\u201d so don\u2019t fucking worship her<\/b>, don\u2019t play the game, don\u2019t fall victim to the petty nonsense, practice \u201cTo Keep Silent\u201d and keep you thoughts and feelings away from this baneful magic\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The unknown and accidental Glamour that comes with Priestesshood and how to not make the same mistakes I did. Peeling back the layers of the rose, we are all the same, but what makes the difference between the seeker and the Priestess? The Priestess has been where the seeker is, not just once but many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2917,"featured_media":646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n