Not too long ago, I read a blog post (which unfortunately, I cannot find now to link to) which pointed out that much of our desire for “clergy” in the modern sense is very different than the type of priests and priestesses who existed in the pre-Christian Greek and Roman world. In a very real way, everyone was a priest or priestess of the Theoi with very few people holding even semi-permanent positions outside of the home within the greater community. Examples of these would include the Oracle of Delphi and the Hierophant of the Eleusinian Mysteries. However, these are the exceptions to the rule.

This got me thinking about my personal resistance to the title of priestess because of my feeling that this is a title that needs to be EARNED within the greater community and not claimed willy-nilly. However, I am apparently also considered a “go-to person on Hestia” by a person who I consider to be a Demetran Priestess (Suz of the SuzMuse Wordpress site), so is calling myself a “Priestess of Hestia” off the mark at this point? And what about my being a devotee of the other Daughters of Khronos? How does that factor in?

I know that CALLING myself a Priestess doesn’t mean anything in a society that values paperwork and earned credentials because of the way that monotheistic clergy have had create a “job description” out of priesthood instead of it being just something everyone did in their daily lives….. But what is more important to my mind, is it proper in these days in the eyes of the Theoi? I hope so….