On Sunday I attended a multi-faith ceremonial tree-blessing, with an Anglican woman-priest, or priestess. She wore a bright red and white outfit, with gold symbols on the front and back. She fetched a bucket of sea water to bless and sprinkle very lightly on the trees. She was followed by a Buddhist monk, a Franciscan friar, and the rest of the participants. Then the priestess painted a symbol on everyone's right hand and we all circled the tree and joined hands, imprinting the symbol on each other's left hand. It was a really lovely little ceremony and it made me really think about the role of priestessing in today's society. There’s no real standard definition (and each person may define it differently), of a priestess. Her domain may include healing, magic, foresight, connection to the divine, and raising consciousness. A priestess may be a channel of wisdom and spiritual energy to others, harnessing her innate power to influence the course of reality. A priestess may fe...

The word witch comes from Old English wicce "female magician, sorceress," fem. of Old English wicca "sorcerer, wizard, man who practices witchcraft or magic,"which in turn is of uncertain origin. Kleins Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language suggests connection with Old English wigle "divination," and wig, wih "idol." Ernest Weekley, a British philologist best known as the author of a number of works on etymology, notes possible connection to Gothic weihs "holy" and German weihan "consecrate," and writes, "the priests of a suppressed religion naturally become magicians to its successors or opponents." In Anglo-Saxon glossaries, wicca renders Latin augur (c. 1100), and wicce stands for "pythoness, divinatricem ." In the "Three Kings of Cologne" (c. 1400) wicca translates magi, plural of magus "learned magician" which originally referred to a member of ...

Hello and happy new year! So I guess this is where I explain to you what this is all about. I used to have a blog called The Sea Priestess , active from August 2002 until February 2010. I've had a few different blogs over the years, and at some points I am more comfortable with sharing my thoughts than at other points in my life. So why have I resurrected The Sea Priestess ? You may or may not be aware that The Sea Priestess is the title of a very influential novel by Dion Fortune. Under the guise of fiction, The Sea Priestess is in fact a teaching novel, with very clear accounts of practical rituals. As Dion Fortune herself admitted, "The 'Mystical Qabalah' gives the theory but the novels give the practice. ... those who study both get the keys of the Temple put into their hands." The mystic power of the sea is evoked in this novel and pervades the whole story. Some regard this as not only Dion Fortune's best novel, but the best occult novel eve...