Are You or Are You Not? That is the Question – Priest/ess

English: Priestess of the Egyptian goddess Isis, holding a situla (a bronze jug). Roman statue of the 2nd century AD, on display at the Museo Archaeologico Regionale, Palermo, Sicily. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A true musing of my mind for you today folks. If you get “scared” grab a Plushie to hold, squeeze and cuddle (or a pet). If you get confused, which may or may not happen because I’m going to try my best to be pretty clear and not jump around too much, please ask me to clarify my meaning in comments. Thank you.
This is dedicated to all the Priests, Priestesses and others of that nature of all paths, orders, traditions, faiths or whatever and wherever you may be.

As primarily a Solitary Priestess on her path it has not always been easy, as I am sure it has been much the same for others like myself. People don’t often understand the trials, struggles and tribulations we experiences. The hardships and ridicule we endure. We’ve done nothing wrong except be ourselves and pursue a path that “fits”, “makes sense”, a part of who we are we cannot fight that brings us great joy and happiness in following that path. Conversely, there is also much sadness, sorrow, worries, doubts and fears too.

In modern society most people expect that anything you can/could do in the world can be proven with a single piece of paper that supposedly “claims” you’ve done some kind of official study with someone, somewhere to achieve this new level of understanding or learning. This too goes the same for Priests and Priestesses. I can’t tell you how many times, because honestly I don’t remember, I’ve told someone, “I’m self-studied” or “I’m self-taught/trained” and immediately they’ve ceased all contact with me or they’ve completely mocked, berated, belittled and ridiculed me.

It hurts, it sucks but there isn’t much you can do about it, except have faith in yourself and that you are following the right path for YOU.

Too many people, as I hear, get discouraged by these sorts of things, but again – it’s like what I’ve heard many a good Christian say, “It’s a test of your Faith. A test of your Dedication. A test of your Endurance, perseverance and personal strength.” I actually and honestly believe that, to a fair degree. See, when you follow a path that is considered, “Reconstructionist” to me, in a way, anything goes or your Path, can be whatever it needs to be or wants to be so long as it runs in the same vein of what your initially trying to pursue as your actual path.

A Thankless Job – Or Maybe Not?

Image via Wikipedia

This is a VERY special story near and dear to my heart, for it is NOT something someone like myself sees everyday, but when it happens people like myself are filled with a VERY warm feeling inside and a gladness that cannot possibly described adequately in words. Firstly, some brief re-cap for those of us just joining in on the L.G. train. For those of you out there who don’t know, I’m a Priestess. Don’t ask what Tradition, you won’t get an answer for personal reasons.

In my personal experience and field, the job of the Priest/ess can be and largely is lots of hard work, dedication, long hours, often doesn’t pay (monetarily) for a VERY long time, and more often than not is a THANKLESS job but someone has to do it and we know that. We do this job regardless because we understand sometimes seeing a “Shrink” isn’t the first option people want to think of when it simply comes to “needing someone to talk to you can trust”.

In our field, I’ve come across two types of “Thanks yous” in my life thus far. The ones that are out of obligation and the ones that are given out of PURE and HONEST gratitude. The latter is the one I would LOVE to hear the most – but often we as Priest/esses don’t hear these types of “Thanks Yous“. We often have to convince ourselves that what we do is for the highest and greatest good of those who come to us and it doesn’t matter if they return to give that heartfelt “Thank you” we have to learn to accept not everyone WILL return to do just that. So we must be satisfied by the fact we “tried” to help the individual whether they take our advice or no, it is their free-will, and it’s in Spirits hands after we have done our job.

Congratulations! You Are Ordained!

Image by ξωαŋ ThΦt (slowly back...) via Flickr

Now I know not everyone takes the Universal Life Church seriously, since ANYONE can go on the site and register to become an ordained minister, but for those of us not entirely savvy on how we’d go about getting this done under the religion of our choice, it does make things easy. Not to mention if we plan on starting our own religious organizations it is very handy.

Today I finally broke down and went on the Universal Life Church to register and become an Ordained Minister in the belief system of my choice. This to me is MOST excellent considering I have followed my own path for a VERY long time and still have met very few who walk the same path as I in perfect love, trust, and respect for one another no matter sex or slight differences in ideology.

So today, I am proud to say I am officially an Ordained Minister of my Faith/Path and can perform any and all rights of passage or religious ceremonies. Yay! Very few people can truly understand how much this means to someone such as myself, even if it was NOT given to me by someone within my own path except by “Spirit” itself-I am happy regardless and in a way somehow relieved.

~Namaste~

Image by Tilemahos Efthimiadis via Flickr