What is a Modern-Day Priestess?

A Priestess is one who embodies service and surrender.

She is a servant of the Light, and an extension of Love.

She is in union with the Divine, and facilitates transcendence via the unification of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine principles within herself, as well as within the Collective.

A Priestess understands the divinity of the human body, the flesh.

She revels in the alchemy created when flesh and Spirit coalesce.

The Ancient Role of the Priestess

5,000 years ago the priestess was revered in society beyond what we can comprehend now. She was not peripheral — she was central. The temples and their priestesses stood at the heart of community, culture, and cosmic connection. The High Priestess’ power and authority was similar to that of the Pope in our recent past, in that she had tremendous religious, political, and economic power. It was the High Priestess who ordained the kings, and it was she who the kings went to for guidance, including political and socioeconomic guidance. The Priestess was the bridge — between sovereign and Source, between earth and sky, between the people and the divine. She was the Oracle and direct Word of the Goddess. She was deeply revered.

Societies were matrilineal with property, inheritance and family names passed through the mother line. Women carried the lineage of blood, power, and continuity. The feminine was recognized not as lesser — she was the vessel through which civilization itself flowed.

She understood the potent sexual energy to be God/dess energy and life force – the same as that which brings Life into being. All women were revered as the givers of Life, and the Priestess was revered as the messenger of the gods. Sexuality was known to be powerful and holy. It was alchemy, creation, and communion. 

There have been priestesses from many different traditions and lineages throughout the ages, scattered across the expanse of the Earth. From Egypt to Sumer, from the temples of Inanna and Isis, to Delphi, Avalon, and beyond — the archetype of the Priestess lives in many forms, cultures, and names. She rises wherever women remember the sacredness of life, and wherever the Great Mother is honored.

The Trigger & The Memory

Are you triggered when you hear the term “Priestess”? If so, know that this is very common. Does the term light you up, or does it rub you the wrong way? If you experience either of these reactions to the term Priestess you likely have the priestess energy within you.

A negative reaction to the term Priestess is because priestesses were purposefully demonized during the Patriarchal age. For the Patriarchy to gain power they brainwashed the masses (including other women) to fear, detest and vilify spiritual women: seers, priestesses, witches, shamans, etc.

Many of us were tortured, killed, and forced into hiding in past lives for simply being who we are, and for using our innate spiritual gifts to help and empower others. Therefore, even today, the title of Priestess may be incredibly revolting and terrifying to you, as it literally ties back to the fear of death.

The wounds inflicted upon women and the feminine principle during the Patriarchy cannot be underestimated. It is helpful to remember that each of us have most likely participated in — and had soul-learnings in — both sides of this dynamic: as both the oppressed and the oppressor.

Yet, having incarnated as a female this lifetime, we have chosen to use womanhood as a vehicle for change. We are in the era of the Rising of the Divine Feminine, once again, while simultaneously the rise of the Divine Masculine, with the ultimate goal being a sacred balance of the two.

Self-Exploration: Soul Memory & Inquiry

Let us explore our soul’s history together. When answering the following questions, quickly jot down the first answer or message you receive. Do not second guess it, simply observe your answer with a curious and open mind.

1. What does the term “Priestess” mean to me?
2. What are my fears around being considered a Priestess?
3. What are my fantasies around the term Priestess?
4. What are my prejudices around the term Priestess?
5. Was I a Priestess in a past life?
6. Was I killed, tortured or hunted for being a Priestess?
7. Was I venerated as a Priestess?
8. What is the role of a Priestess?
9. Why are Priestesses important?
10. Why is the Priestess energy and power being awoken in multitudes of women right now across the Earth?

Notice, without judgement, what these questions brought up for you. What awareness did you gain?

The Modern-Day Priestess

The Modern-Day Priestess
The role of the Priestess in modern day is the same as in times past. A modern-day Priestess is a door between the mundane and spiritual worlds. She is an open conduit for messages, and she embodies service and surrender. She is a servant of the Light, and an extension of Love.

She listens deeply — to intuition, to the whispers of the unseen, to the softening within her own body. She offers presence, remembrance, and restoration to a world that has forgotten the sacred.

A modern-day Priestess brings the role of service and surrender first to herself, and then to those around her. Her life becomes prayer. Her breath becomes devotion. She remembers who she is, and from that remembrance she guides others home to themselves.

Home as Temple
The modern-day Priestess’ temple is her home. It is a sanctuary that reflects her inner state — a place where the sacred becomes ordinary and the ordinary becomes holy.
Notice: does my home feel like a temple? How can I accomplish this? Start small… perhaps by decluttering, buying fresh flowers and plants, or bringing in colors that make you and your loved ones light up.

Maybe it begins with one candle, one corner, one altar-like space where you place items that hold beauty, memory, meaning. Over time, the vibration of your home shifts — uplifting you and all who enter.

Reflection & Practice

Ask yourself:

• How can I serve my Highest Self and my life-purpose?
• How can I surrender to the flow of Life and Love?
• How can I serve those in my home and community? What kind of service brings me joy?
• How can I be a messenger of Spirit to those in my home and community?
• How can I embody Light and Love?
• How can I surrender to the great Law of Life and Love? How can I inspire those in my home and community to do the same?
• How can I transform my home into my temple? What needs to go, and what needs to be invited in?
• Which areas in my life align with the Priestess vibration, and which do not?

Example: Manifesto of a Modern-Day Priestess

This is a manifesto I wrote for myself when I first started embracing the Priestess Path. 

I invite you to write your own and read it aloud - as part of your meditation practice - for 21 days straight. 

A Priestess is a woman of the Earth and the Light, a conduit for information, messages and healing for others. She is a servant of the Great Spirt, Mother Earth and her own Soul, and strives to live in Harmony in her internal and external world. She sets her ego aside to be a channel for healing and transformation. In serving others she is Blessed and upheld by multitudes of luminous beings who are at her beckon call. She moves with Lightness of Being because she lives in the Flow state. She is supported physically, emotionally, mentally, financially and spiritually by the Universe. She serves in community with other Lightworkers. They support one another in love. She serves the community-at-large and is greatly appreciated, loved and honored by them. Society listens and heeds her wisdom with great respect and love. It fills her with great joy to be a Priestess of the New Earth. 

— Bethany Joy

Soulwork: Self Anointing and Your Priestess Manifesto

To solidify this new recognition of your role as a modern-day Priestess, I invite you to re-write the role of a Priestess, including the way she is treated by society, by writing your own Manifesto of a Modern-Day Priestess. 

This is more than words on a page, it is a reclamation. A remembering. A declaration to your Soul and to the Universe of who you are becoming. Write as if you are speaking from your Higher Self — from the Priestess within you who has always known. Describe how she walks, speaks, loves, serves, creates, and leads. Define how she is honored by her community, how she holds herself, how she is seen, respected, and revered. Allow the ink to be an initiation. Let the remembering move through your body. This is a rite of passage — a devotional act of self-anointing — a way of stepping fully into your lineage, your power, and your sacred calling.

Remember, read this aloud (with self-sovereignty and self authority) for 21 days straight. 

I’d love to read your Manifesto! Feel free to send it to [email protected], and let me know when you have finished your 21 day practice. 

Much love,
Bethany