From an earthen temple in Ireland, I look out over the hills as if sailing through an undulating green ocean. Through the fog, I see traces of magic from a long gone past. The wanderess within says be silent, be still; simply be.
Trust yourself.
The specific temple I stand near is dedicated to Ireland’s most ancient sovereignty goddess- the Cailleach.
She represents the Great Grandmother spirit that holds us all in her earthen womb. Inside this temple lies great indigenous feminine wisdom; an ancient lineage of female sovereignty, power, and enlightenment. She is the divine earth mother from where we emerge and return, she is the womb and the tomb of life. She is paradox, the universal feminine life force that encompasses all cycles.
I drum in the stone circles, and see shadows of long gone priestesses, dancing. The Cailleach calls to me, whispering into my bones, “Gather the sisters of the Rose, dear one!” I see stone circles arising all over the world; the stones turn into women, lit from within, glowing and flowing like starlight, a cosmic fire in their heart.
What is Priestess?
A priestess is a woman who walks on Earth within the backdrop of a vast cosmic remembrance. They are birth guides through deep transformation. And there’s a timelessness to the priestess role that is very relevant right now.
The sovereign goddess teaches the lessons of death and rebirth. She teaches us not to fear transformation. She’s about overcoming the fear of death and seeing oneself as an energy being, a spirit having a human experience.
That’s why the sovereignty goddess is potent medicine right now, because we are going through a death and rebirth process, a transformation and evolution of consciousness.
The priestesses served a certain function for their community. They held a flame within, they were a conduit for Shakti, or feminine creative force, to flow. The priestesses lived life in ritual, like a living prayer, knowing that the feminine principle is what creates, nurtures, and nourishes the web of life.
Ancient people’s knew and understood the divinity of the womb and of the feminine creative powers. They knew a woman’s body was a cosmic temple, with a deep and primal connection to Nature’s wisdom.
The Oracle of Delphi was consulted for a reason.
In ancient, pre-patriarchial times it was known that what we now call “women’s intuition” was much more than intuition, it was a connection to Great Spirit. It was known that through the womb, heart, and third eyes were receptors of much cosmic wisdom.
The ancient priestesses of Egyptian, Maltan, Minoan Crete, Norse and Celtic cultures used to go into womb-like spaces, drum, chant, and use sound to reach altered states of consciousness that allowed the gifts of prophecy. In fact many female bones are found buried these ancient dolmens and cairns; the woman shaman played an important role in the guidance of tribal societies.
Most of the ancient sacred temples dedicated to the Goddess, such as the earthen structures of Bru na Boinne in Ireland, and the Hypogeum of Malta, are designed to resonate to 110 Herz. The temples are often also covered in rock art in geometric glyphs and symbols. They are a Goddess language, representing sacred feminine consciousness.
It is a different type of consciousness, for the goddess cultures were pre-alphabet. The symbols and glyphs are ways to attune into energy frequencies that can raise awareness into a more cosmic way of knowing.
That’s why remembering the true purpose of these ancient earthen temples is so important to the expansion of consciousness.
The priestesses were cast out, brutally, for thousands of years. But now the tides are turning, the moon is returning with a bright vengeance to shine light on old truths.
These times have been spoken of in many indigenous cultures for millennia, the Hopi, Mayan, Aborigines, Cherokee, and Sumerian prophecies all speak of the ending of an old world and the beginning of a new.
The priestess role is to be midwife to this great cosmic rebirth. They come with a flame within, and a message of hope. A hope that a great new age is upon us, and that there is nothing to fear if we listen to the voices of those eternally connected to Nature. To the indigenous voices, to the female voices, to the lost and muffled voices which now will speak their truth and wisdom.
Old structures built on unsustainable foundations must now collapse so that we may create a sustainable new earth. It seems chaotic and frightening to enter into this Void, to enter in the chaos of the unknown, but it is from this place of unmanifest potential that new energetic structures can be built.
Within the deep remembrance inside the priestess heart is a great faith. She wishes to express the love and guidance of the Great Mother, soothing the heart during times of stormy seas of change, providing courage during great rebirthing pains.
To the Priestess, a beautiful new earth is not only coming, on a deeper, cosmic level, it is already here.
All we have to do is open our third eyes, look deep within, and see it.