The Priest and Priestess have been coming up a lot in my conversations with people and in my mind and Fetch. I've talked off and on about this role, but haven't really put it all together. In this post, I'll use Priestess generically, though I mean both Priest and Priestess. (On a side note, Priestess was originally Priestress, which I like.)
 |
Rope bridge in Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom. |
To me, the role of Priestess is that of a Bridge. The Priestess joins the mundane and the divine together through her. Over that Bridge, the Ineffable, the Divine, G-d, God Herself, crosses over and comes to earth, comes to the people. Over that Bridge, the people cross over and come to heaven, come to God Herself. The Priestess is liminal. She isn't of the "common people". She isn't G-d (depending how you look at it). She's in between, one foot in each world. Like Witch. Taboos and Geises are part of every culture, every religion, every tradition. These are the rules that define the interactions of the members with each other and with the gods or spirits. Most importantly, they define the boundary between Human and Divine. The Priestess Bridges that boundary and allows the crossing over, unites the two sides of the line. But that Bridge is only necessary and only important and only seen for what it is if the boundary already exists. It's the image in Judaism of the curtain that separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and the Temple. There is so much symbolism in these two structures. Only the High Priest could cross over, pass through that curtain and enter the Holy of Holies, and only once a year, to sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat. The taboo was broken once a year by him to bring unite the people with G-d. But this was still dangerous. There was a rope tied to his leg and bells on his clothes, so if he was struck dead, the bells would cease and they would pull him out. There is an inherent danger in breaking of taboo. This idea of a Bridge and the Priestess is very important in my practice and my beliefs. Witch is the Priest and the Priest is the Bridge. It's jumping the broom, crossing the hedge, it's the joining of heaven and earth and earth and the lower world in the axis mundi, the compass outside space and time yet including all of it, the centre which is the circumference of all.
Going back to one sentence I just said, if the Bridge isn't needed if the boundary, the taboo, the geise, doesn't exist, why have the boundary in the first place? Wouldn't it be better to have no separation between Divine and Human? No boundary means no Bridge and no separation, right? Isn't this what we want, union with the Divine? At first glance, it seems like it. But we are Human. Without the boundary to begin with, we don't see Human as one with the Divine, we see the Divine as one with Human. We can't see the Divine because we are looking into a mirror with Human eyes and only seeing our self, and not just our self, but only the mundane aspect of our self. We miss the Divine and so end up creating a separation between Human and Divine, and unlike the taboo boundary, this is a boundary we can't see and so can't cross. We aren't aware it's there in the first place in order to cross it. The taboo, the geise, creates a boundary we can see and are aware of. We can point at it and say, on that side is the Divine and on this side is the Human. So when it's time to cross it, to break the taboo or geise, we are able to see both the boundary, the Abyss, and to see the Bridge, the Priestess, which is us. Before that point, the Priestess crosses for us and connects us, showing glimpses. But when the time comes, like the Hebrew High Priest entering the Holy of Holies, we become the Priestess and the Bridge and cross to the Divine.
 |
Kai no kuni Saruhashi no shinsha
no zu, ‘A True View of the Monkey
Bridge in the Province of Kai’
by Shotei Hokuju. Image
from JapanesePrints-London. |
One way to look at the Bridge is as spanning the Abyss. When I talk about the Abyss, I usually am referring to the concept in Kabbalah. In Kabbalah, there are four worlds. The first, Assiah, the World of Action, corresponding to Malkuth and is the physical world (where actions, change, can occur) is separated from the second, Yetzurah, the World of Forms, corresponding to Yesod, Hod, and Netzach, by the Firmament. Yetzurah is separated from the third world, Briah, the World of Creation, corresponding to Tipherah, Geburah, and Chesed, by the Veil. Briah is separated from the fourth world (or is it the first?), Atziluth, the World of Emanations, corresponding to Binah, Chokmah, and Kether, by the Abyss.
Below the Abyss are the things we humans, with our human minds, can understand. Across the Abyss are the Supernal Triad, Kether, Chokmah, and Binah, which can't be understood with the human mind or intuition, intellect or emotions. Any words we use for the things across the Abyss don't come close to describing them. It is more this abyss of ability to comprehend that forms the Abyss than anything else. Part of it is protection for us, lest we be destroyed or go insane.
In the midst of the Abyss is Da'ath, Knowing, the "false Sephirah". Depending on who you ask, Da'ath is either a trap or a treasure. It's the "false Sephirah" because it doesn't really exist on the Kabbalah Tree of Life. The Sephiroth are eternal, they are the Divine in this world and are the building blocks, the DNA if you will, of creation. Da'ath only exists in the moment, only when you're in it, then it's gone. It's a trap because you can get lost in the Abyss if you're not careful, and find only insanity. It's a gift because it is a glimpse at the Supernal Triad. In Da'ath, you get a taste of what's beyond, a glimpse that changes you, for Da'ath is intimate knowing. What you see becomes a part of you. But you can't stay there without losing yourself in the Abyss.
Da'ath, sitting in the Abyss, connecting the two worlds, is a Bridge. It connects that which we can comprehend to that which we can't. Da'ath is the Priestess. She stands in the Abyss, holding the Divine in one hand and the Human in the other and brings them together. She helps the people get that glimpse across the Abyss that will change them forever.
Though there were concepts of Priestess that I encountered before then, my current understanding of Priestess started with my understanding of the Hebrew letter Chet and the Chatoteret.
