Priests and Priestesses

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In its broadest sense, a priest is a person who performs religious ceremonies and duties. A priestess then is a female priest. And while priests can be found in both Christian as well as non-Christian religions, priestesses are almost exclusively found in non-Christian religions.

Throughout the ages priests and priestesses have had their own domain in the grand scheme of things. The priests were connected with the Heavens, the Universe, the cosmos even. The priestesses were connected to the Earth, to the fertile, nurturing aspects of our existence.
Both, priests and priestesses were our means to communicate with the Higher Forces; with the Gods and the Goddesses. Priests would call upon the active, vital energy of the sun to perform the rituals and ceremonies that were needed to communicate with, and appease the Gods. Priestesses would call upon the intuitive energy of the moon and the fertile energy of the Earth to interact with the Goddesses.
Because of this ‘hands-on’ approach, both the specific male and female abilities, and yes, also anatomy were sacred, and often used in ceremonies or to accomplish specific things, like for instance divination...
A well-known example of that is the oracle of Delphi where priestesses divined the future events.

With the growing interest in shamanism and the ‘old religions’ in this point in time, I am wondering, what would be the place of the priests and priestesses in this age? In our culture?

A number of the old practices are outdated, or from a cultural perspective are frowned upon in this day and age. Like animal (not to speak of human) sacrifices, the use of drugs, and to a lesser extend the use of our sacral energy, our sexuality for ceremonial purposes.

It seems easier to find new ways to bond with nature and allow a modern version of shamanism to emerge than it is to find approval for using Tantric practices to bring Heaven and Earth together in its most sacred way, to ensure an abundant harvest...
In this time, science seems to have taken over the responsibility for our crops to ripen.

We have for numerous years labeled our sexuality something that needs to be kept very private; and when we didn’t it has definitely been something to feel guilty about... On top of that, we have measured it according to a double standard, making sexual activity much more acceptable for men than we do for women.

So where does that leave the priestess of old?
It seems that in our world today, we would permit her to reclaim her very intimate bond with the Earth and with nature ~ but we disallow her the ancient sacred tools to express this bond...

Almost like we treat the earth itself! We depend upon nature for our nourishment, yet we don’t allow nature to express its fertility in her own way...
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