The High Priestess by Nema (From the N'Aton Tarot)
Priesthood
By Nema
(Samhain 2004)
Lecture Notes
Priesthood is a condition of a soul on fire with love.
One aspect of Priesthood concerns leadership of a group: covens,
groves, lodges. A subset of this aspect can be as a spokesperson for
the esoteric life to the general public, in person or in various media.
Another aspect concerns individual spiritual development, open to all.
This is our main topic of consideration.
Three general stages of spirituality are Initiate, Adept, and Priest.
These roughly
correspond to Apprentice, Journeyman and Master in the guild system.
Prior to the Initiate stage, a person experiences a discontent with
common religious or philosophical systems. They do not speak to the
person's own Inner experiences, and so the Seeker begins self-knowledge
by exploring foreign and exotic methods of hunting Mystery.
The Initiate pursues self-knowledge while sampling these methods.
Sometimes there's a match between his/her needs and a particular
pre-existing means, and sometimes the Initiate has to invent a new way
of understanding.
• Sometimes a person hunts alone, sometimes he/she
finds kindred souls for sharing discoveries. It's possible to learn
from books, and it's possible to learn from more experienced kindred
spirits. Danger to one's progress can be found in a teacher-student
/guru-chela relationships if caution isn't maintained.
• With companionship comes the possibility of
distractions in the form of control attempts, falling in love or hate,
secrecy for its own sake, the formation of doctrines, etc. It's
difficult but necessary to ward against any of these.
• A balance of solitude and companionship helps to
avoid the excesses of either. Practice is essential in both modes. Just
reading about something, or discussing it can provide intellectual
knowledge, but only in practice can one achieve grounding.
• It's important to keep a Magickal Record, Book of
Shadows, or Spiritual Diary. It helps consolidate new knowledge about
oneself and about discoveries and events that expand one's boundaries.
It's the Seeker's best friend through all the stages of Inner growth.
When a particular method is chosen and regular practice of it begins,
the Adept stage begins. This means physical action as well as
continuing study. A practice can be as simple as a daily Tarot reading,
to begin with, or a devotion to a particular deity with offerings and
silent conversations with him or her.
Many simple practices lead to branching interests that complement each
other. This is a natural progression that can be followed to the point
of taking up too much of one's time. Certain physical objects are
obtained and used in a practice, but again, it's best to keep the
number of acquisitions reasonable and proportionate to the space
available for them. Space isn't a concern for the trans-physical
planes, but organization is necessary
• Tools of the trade: physical plane. Temple, altar,
elemental tools, garments, Tarot deck, I Ching coins/yarrow stalks,
incense, stones, jewels, plants etc.
• Astral plane: lucid dreaming, animal forms for
travel, creating one's astral temple, evoking the Forgotten Ones/
Chakras.
• Mind: analysis, categorization, curiosity.
Qaballah, systems
• Nature-linking, creativity, higher love
• Balance, beauty, charisma. True Will.
The Initiate, persevering, comes to live in a state of awe and
reverence for the essential holiness of the universe. This holiness
includes the Initiate; one's ethics derive from the truth of one's
perceptions. One never blasphemes or degrades what one sees to be sacred
The Adept operates from this awe as a wise Taoist. Increasingly, the
Adept perceives his/her Will and Work as aligning with, and therefore
becoming, the flow of things, the Magickal Current, the Tao. Action
becomes easier as one approximates the natural course of events. One
begins to perceive the natural course of events being diverted or
delayed by those whose blindness to larger patterns causes them to act
only for short-term goals and local benefits.
When the Initiate-Adept realizes that one's function consists of
removing obstacles to Intelligence's reunion with Itself, when one
perceives that opening the ways to Tao is necessary, sufficient and
inevitable then the Initiate-Adept arrives at the point of Priesthood.
A Priest is one who undertakes the responsibility of working in all
possible ways for universal awakening, not ceasing until the reunion of
Intelligence be completed. This same concept is phrased in the
Boddhisattvic Vow: "I shall not cease from existence until every
sentient being in the Universe is enlightened."
Before a task can be undertaken, the need for it must be perceived.
Until we directly experience the unity of Intelligence, we are acting
on faith and hope.
