written in 2022; revised 2026
Recently I've seen a lot of discussion
about what exactly pagan priesthood is and should be, which is a good thing.
This is a topic that needs to be discussed more often and more thoroughly in a
community where many people clamour for the title but fewer are perhaps willing
or equipped to do the actual work. John Beckett has written about pagan
priesthood in several blogs including 'Preparing for Pagan Priesthood' and 'The
Limits of Accessibility for Pagan Clergy' and Lora O'Brien has an entire book
on the subject: 'A Practical Guide to Pagan Priesthood'. These are all vital
aspects of the ongoing conversation and I sincerely hope that they move the
wider understanding of modern pagan clergy forward.
From my own perspective, admittedly as
someone raised a bit feral and without structured religion, it has often seemed
to me that Pagan priesthood today is heavily modelled after Christian clergy.
There is an ingrained idea that a single person can or does serve all roles -
ritualist, teacher, counsellor, mediator between humans and spirits, magician,
organizer. I don't often see the idea of pagan priesthood specializing, or the
acknowledgement that a single person may not be equipped to handle all aspects
of such service. There's also a pervasive sense that the clergy person may be
serving the Gods or spirits but is primarily serving the human community and in
place to aid that human community and to help it grow and flourish in its
spirituality.
I am not part of that kind of priesthood,
although do consider myself clergy.
I can obviously only speak for myself here
so I'm not trying to make any blanket statements for everyone who may feel they
are clergy serving the Other[1] and whose experiences
differ from my own. Hopefully other voices will add themselves to this
discussion and a fuller picture will appear of what this type of priesthood is
like. For now I will at least offer my own ideas and experiences here.
The first thing that I would say here is
that this is not a path I chose and I suspect that those who end up serving the
Other don't do so because they set out to. I'm not implying that I'm special in
any way - I don't think I am at all and I know other people who have similar
stories - but I do think that it isn't for us to decide that we are going to do
this the way we might decide to set ourselves to learn a skill or train for a
job. This is a calling, something that we are compelled to do. In point of fact
while I can certainly look back all the way to my childhood and see a trail of
interaction that logically led me to where I am now up until 2016 I was quite
happily focusing on other things; my connection to the Otherworld was only a
part of who I was, not the sum total of my identity. That didn't change because
I decided it was going to but because They intervened, and I think that's how
it tends to go. This is not a choice we make but one we can only fight against
or consent to.
Whereas those who are priests/priestesses
for the human community are logically focused on serving the human community
the focus for those who are clergy to the Other is unrelated to the human
community except when and where that human community must be dealt with for the
sake of the Other. Let me give an example. Human focused clergy work up rituals
whose ultimate purpose includes honouring and connecting to the Gods but which
is also meant in large part to offer a meaningful spiritual experience for the
human participants which facilitates their spiritual growth or feeling of
connection. How much or how little this is the focus will vary, but I have yet
to personally see a pagan ritual in this format whose purpose isn't at least in
part the experience of the human participants. In contrast when I engage in
ritual for or with my spirits it's not about me, it's about them and while I
may get a feeling of increased connection out of it that isn't the point - and
quite frankly I don't think they care whether I feel moved or not as long as
they get what they need from it. I have had experiences when I didn't remember
to offer something or do something and they simply took it because they
considered it their due, which illustrates my wider point.
Another thing I would note based on my
experiences is that when the Other puts a person into a position of teaching it’s
for their own benefit not to better humanity. The idea isn't that you are
acting to help humans evolve into better humans or achieve some higher
consciousness but to help Themselves regain some of their lost respect and
position. And those two goals are antithetical. I'm sorry if people disagree
with me there, but it's true - in our current hubris-rich, human-centred
culture we can't encourage a focus on the importance of humans and act like the
Other is hyper focused on helping us be better and also return to a place where
the Other was given an atavistic respect and even fear. And trust me some of Them
do want to be feared again.
This service is also not predicated on
helping or counselling the human community in relation to the Other. Now it is
true that people do contact me for guidance about problems relating to the Good
Neighbours, but in this context I am not advocating for or trying to assist the
humans - I'm on the side of the Other and trying to act as their intermediary
in the situation. To use an analogy I'm a bit like a wildlife rehabber who
comes in to deal with situations where a wild animal and humans have caused
each other problems; the rehabber is trying to get the best outcome for the
animal and secondarily the humans. That's basically me in these situations with
the Othercrowd. I am not a pastoral counsellor or spiritual therapist, I'm an
Otherworldly troubleshooter.
Being clergy to the Other is also not in
any way easy. My particular focus is the Daoine Uaisle (Gentry) and they are
demanding, uncompromising, and unrelenting. This isn't hyperbole. Not to
downplay the difficulties that come with serving Gods as clergy because I know
that isn't easy either, but in my own experience there is something that is
more relatablely human in the Gods, or in how they choose to interact with us
anyway, that is absent in the Other. Macha might be sympathetic to my needs as
a new mother for sleep and even Odin could be negotiated with but the Good
People have only their own agenda to worry about. How their clergy manages to
enact that agenda in the human world is the priest or priestess’s problem, not
theirs. They can also be unremitting in their expectations and their
requirements - I have things I'm expected to do, no matter what, and I have
prohibitions that I must not violate, no matter what[2]. I also have layers of
things I should not do that are less dire in their consequences, but still
present. This service is not easy, and it isn't something to be entered into
lightly. It has a heavy cost and it only grows heavier the deeper one goes.
Ultimately serving the Other means focusing
on the Other and enacting their will, in some sense. The things that make pagan
clergy useful to the human community may or may not apply to clergy for the
Other but in my experience for the most part they don't overlap as much as I
might have expected. To use another wildlife based analogy I might say that
pagan clergy in general are like park rangers their purpose being to aid humans
in interacting with an environment and its animals safely and to take care of that
place, while clergy for the Other are like those people who wander off to live
off grid in the woods and see themselves as part of the environment not a
visitor to it. That's a very rough analogy of course but hopefully it gets a
bit of the idea across.
Priesthood to the Other rather than the
human community is a multi-layered thing, just as priesthood to the human
community is, but it is different in essential ways. Priesthood for the human
community is about serving the Gods and spirits in order to maintain balance
and gain their favour for the human community. Priesthood for the Other, quite
frankly, isn't concerned with the human community's overall well being. In
point of fact in my experience serving the Other as clergy has only the most
tangential connection to the human community and instead is focused on the
Other. All those things that are usually listed as so essential to pagan clergy
fall by the wayside when you are centred on beings who aren't interested in
humanity at large, groups of worshippers, or even individual spiritual
advancement. The only comparison I can think of here[3] is the difference between
parish priests and monks or nuns; both serve their God but one is community
faced and the other is deity focused.
This is also not a path for someone who has
divided focus or who isn't comfortable othering themselves more than they may
already be. It is a hard thing to do and one that once you start doing you
can't - as far as I know - stop. It is consuming. It's also important. The Gods
and the human community have clergy and as paganism grows those numbers grow
and develop, but the Other increasingly is speaking and wants to be heard - and
needs more of a voice.
They are reaching out and finding those who
can serve that need.
PART 2 My Practice
So having written more abstractly about
what I think being clergy to the Others is like in contrast to being clergy to
the human community I felt like maybe I should follow that up with a bit of a
more personal take on it. A discussion of what being that sort of clergy
actually means in my life.
Again this is reflective of my own personal
experiences and may not apply over to other people. Nonetheless I feel like
sharing it may be helpful not only to illustrate what this sort of clergy
actually can be but also for other people doing this same thing.
I want to state at the beginning that this
is not something I actually encourage people to do, although I think the Other
is recruiting at this point. It is not easy or light work, and while it comes
with blessings it also is a full life commitment. It changes you. It changes
you physically and it changes you on deeper levels and I can't emphasize this
enough. I think many people either underrate of downplay this aspect of service
to Themselves when it needs to be highlighted. My life is almost unrecognizable
to what it was 10 years ago in many ways and not all of those changes are
things I would have chosen for myself.
Cave pulchro populo.
I will also state up front that the words
clergy and priest are not the best fit for what I actually do - that would be
echlach[4] - but they are the closest
words in modern pagan parlance.
There's a reason that I only-half-jokingly
call myself the Fae Propaganda Department. A big part of what I am tasked to do
is to carry messages and to spread information. Good information. Information
grounded in actual folklore and genuine living belief, as opposed to modern
fiction and fancy detached from belief. This means a lot of research, a lot of
paying attention and respecting the cultures - particularly Ireland - where
these beliefs are rooted and still found as they have been. It means knowing
when to listen to others who know more and how to evaluate what is quality
information and what isn't. It means sharing native voices and raising
awareness of those people in Irish (or Welsh, or Scottish, etc.,) culture that
are writing and talking about the older beliefs and keeping them alive. And it
also means writing about and speaking about these things myself, and speaking
up in cases where the misinformation out there is egregious and really needs to
be addressed. Whether I want to speak up or not. What I've found is a lot of
emphasis from them on people shedding the twee ideas and returning to older
beliefs, those that are more respectful and even those that include fearing
them. They don't want to be viewed as inconsequential or harmless, but want
people to remember their power and what true awe is.
I am also sometimes asked to share more
personal things I am told, what would be termed personal gnosis. This might
include sharing a recipe from a dream which they wanted shared or a method of
cleansing. I actually don't like sharing my own personal gnosis especially in
open formats but this is something they insist on. They want certain things
brought forward and sometimes I have to do that – whether I want to or not.
As their clergy I have sometimes acted as
an intermediary between humans who are having issues with Them, and Them. In
those cases my purpose is usually to identify the problem going on and help the
humans to realize what they need to do to fix it. I do know how to do things
like exorcizing them from a person or place, or curing elfshot, but I see these
as last resorts in extreme circumstances. My role is to serve Them and help
advocate for Them, not to protect the human community in general.
Another aspect of my own service is to
create rituals that help facilitate their presence in the human world, and to
help ground them here. I believe this is in order to reclaim places and space
where their influence has been eroded. Seo Helrune wrote eloquently about this
in their blog 'Restoration not Re-enchantment' and I recommend giving it a
thorough read. This is an issue anywhere that the Good Folk once held sway and
were driven out but also can be felt in places where they may not have been
initially but have moved into with the people they are connected to. I have
removed iron from trees and spaces they claim or wanted to claim and I've
undone energy that they were averse to, when and where I could. I've also
unburdened fairy trees of rubbish in the guise of 'rags'[5] tied to them that was
harming them - I can't not do this because preserving these trees which are
sacred to Themselves is part of what I have to do.
And of course I make offerings to them. I
could include that as part of my clergy service I suppose. I do make offerings
as well on behalf of other humans and sometimes even to try to mitigate things
done by humans. for example I once went out the site of a fire started by a
carelessly tossed cigarette and did what I could to soothe the anger of the
spirits there. I also will sometimes act on behalf of a group for the
Othercrowd, usually for safe passage or a safe visit in a specific place.
None of the above are contingent upon my
mood or feelings. I have had to do things whether or not I wanted to, and I
have had to do them when I was sick and would really, really rather not. I
realize how ominous that sounds, but here's the thing - at least when it comes
to me but I suspect in general - when you agree to this particular service you
are committing to doing what you are required to do. I agreed to be Their
clergy and that means I agreed to do what they need done. Not if I want to or
if I feel like it, but if they need it done.
There are prohibitions that come with this
type of priesthood and they aren't negotiable. There are places I can't go and
if I edge into violating that, there are real world tangible consequences. I
have told the story before about the dietary restrictions so all I will mention
again here is that I have had to give up two of my favourite things - coffee
and chocolate - because they decided I should not have them. Why? I suspect the
caffeine, which a friend suggested may interfere with connecting to them. They
don't hesitate to remind me of the control they have over my body and my life,
which again sounds ominous, but is a reality.
My hair isn't straight anymore, my life isn't my own anymore - if it
ever really was. Free will is not a concept that the Good Folk have much
respect for, and in the instances were I went against things I was asked to do pressure
was applied until I relented; and by pressure I mean for example going blind for
three days or suffering the worst migraine of my entire life.
It's also worth mentioning that They are
possessive. They are possessive of their places and their trees and anything
else that they claim, including people. Shortly after I was fully claimed by
them my ties to the Gods I'd been dedicated to began to shift and within six
months the first had fallen away; within a year everything else was either gone
or changed so that they were my main focus. They had always been in my life,
since childhood, but before always as part of a larger whole. After my initiation
they became the whole.
I also want to once again emphasize that
this priesthood in no way makes me special or exceptional. It's important to
know your own worth and not too be too humble but I'm going to emphasize this
aspect precisely because I see so many people in relation to the Othercrowd who
tend to put themselves in aggrandized positions. The Good Neighbours are not
impressed with humans, in my experience, and they don't play to human egos
unless they are playing a game - one I discourage anyone from engaging in. The
Fairy Queen that I serve and the wider group of Daoine Uaisle that I am
connected to are clear they need me for certain purposes and that I do have
value to Them but the Queen's nickname for me translates to 'maid servant' and
the actual title she gave me is older Irish for messenger or courier[6]. While it’s true that
there's lots of historic precedent for the Fairy Queens and Kings taking human
lovers (yes that happens in folklore and anecdotes) this doesn't indicate that
those humans were actually special - just the opposite actually it was common
enough to indicate that the human probably wasn't particularly special but may
have filled some interchangeable ritual or cosmological role.
I feel very blessed to be doing what I am
doing and there are good aspects of it, but it is also very difficult. I've had
experiences that people wouldn't believe if I told them, although at least I
have witnesses sometimes - like that time we were travelling and I made some
offerings at a fence only to have a fairy ring appear at the spot the next
morning. Or the time I pushed a prohibition and went into a cemetery only to
find my car wouldn't start; only when I finally acknowledged that I was edging
close to breaking that prohibition and promised not to do so again did the car
finally start (after I'd called the tow truck of course). Much of the time when
I open up about my actual service to Them and the experiences I can share I
feel like other people will think I am crazy, and perhaps that's why I have
such fondness for the song Bedlam Boys. This is not the romantic, idealized
service to the Fair Folk that some people describe but a gritty, painful,
wonderful obligation. I wouldn't trade it for anything, despite the cost but
people need to understand there is a cost.
PART 3 The Trouble With Terms
I began this inspired by conversations I
was seeing in the wider pagan community about clergy. I felt that it would be
good to add my voice into this as someone who serves a different role but one
which has been identified as a 'priest/ess' and willingly took on that word and
its associations. This has opened a fascinating dialogue on social media that
has given me a lot of insight about how other people perceive the ideas of
clergy and priesthood in contrast to my own existing ideas. This dialogue has
affirmed certain things for me and also made me reassess other things.
In part 3 I'd like to look at some of the
things I've learned about the way the ideas of clergy are viewed, how those
really don't apply to me (quite frankly) and discuss the difficulty that we
face in witchcraft and paganism seeking accurate terms and labels for things we
do. And yes, as much as we might not want to have to deal with them, labels
really are useful and even necessary in interacting with others.
So, confession. I wasn't raised Christian
and while I studied Christianity later as an adult I don't have the best grasp
on its nuances. In point of fact I wasn't raised with any formal religion but
with a loose secular agnosticism. Because of this my understanding of the words
'clergy' and 'priesthood' come from a wider view of the words as they are used
across world religions and the dictionary definitions; this is well enough in
itself but it does lack the nuanced associations that come with understanding a
word in specific contexts.
After I shared[7] my first post about
priesthood in service to the Other there were several comments made across
social media where people were, from my perspective, reading in different
things to what I'd said than I had intended. This came from the disconnect
between my admittedly simple use of the words versus the way people who have
grown up using the terms think of them. There were assumptions that I was
implying an authority for myself over other human beings or that I was trying
to make myself seem special. My understanding of what clergy was implied that
they would only have authority of those specific people who chose to adhere to
that religious tradition - a catholic priest doesn't have authority over
Baptists, and an Imam wouldn't have authority over Sikhs. By my logic I didn't
think anyone would assume I had any authority over other humans, which as far
as I'm concerned I don't. I will advise people, I will answer people's
questions, I will teach. In extreme circumstances I might intervene directly.
But as I once said to some friends in the context of a Fairy Ball (riffing off
the idea of a designated driver) "I am no one's designated dark court
fairy". In other words I'm not responsible for other people's safety
or fate in relation to the Good Folk. I have no spiritual authority over human
beings and I don't want any.
I also want to clarify, since this also
seemed to have caused some confusion, that my service may in part involve
teaching and relaying messages but I am in no way the voice of the Other. That
is impossible. No one person can speak for the Other in toto and I wouldn't
trust anyone who claimed otherwise. Also while I may speak of the Other
generally I am tied to a very specific group and that is where my service lies;
I may have some knowledge or experience with those outside that group but my
focus is specific in practice not general.
I
used the term clergy because it's a nice gender neutral term that seemed to
loosely fit - by the dictionary definition of clergy[8] - and its one that's used
in often enough in neopaganism. To say clergy or priest is something that
people understand and there is an ease in that. I do create and share rituals
for Themselves, and I do in some circumstances engage in group ceremonies. I
was proclaimed a priestess of the aos sidhe in a ritual setting[9], which was one of the most
profound moments of my life and feel obligated to acknowledge that. So there
are aspects of the words that I did feel applied to me and which I associated
with.
However the discussion which ensued after this
conversation began highlighted an aspect of the term clergy that doesn't fit
what I do at all. I'm starting to realize that the English words clergy and
priest might not be adequate even though they are the default equivalents. I
admit I was missing nuances with the words which many people clearly inherently
associate with them. It’s fascinating to see the layers and life the terms take
on even in neopaganism because of external assumptions beyond the dictionary
meanings.
In short as I explained in part 2 there are
specific ways that I serve the Other - and I am not unique in this. I know
other people who do the same or similar and I firmly believe They are
increasingly active in the human world and seeking people to connect to,
including witches. Some of the ways that I serve them do overlap with aspects
of priesthood, although perhaps not enough for me to continue using the word; I
am currently debating whether I will or not. I am really grateful for the
discussion that was opened up by these posts and how much it has made me think
- I would much rather use these terms consciously than by default.
If I decide not to use clergy or priesthood
what then would I call what I do? I am a witch of course but that is such a
broad word as to be almost meaningless without further context applied. In
specific I'm a bantúaithech but most people aren't familiar with that older
Irish term - it doesn't exist in modern Irish. It does describe my witchcraft
much better though with its connotations of the Good Folk and of tuathail
movement. There are a few modern Irish terms that partially fit what I do but
firstly I don't want to apply cultural terms to myself that were usually given
by community members (not self-labelled) and also even these specific terms
don't fully fit. Most are meant with the intent of a person who serves the
human community by intervening and mitigating harm caused by the Other. As my
friend Steve rightly pointed out, my actual purpose is "primarily to
keep [humans] from annoying the Other" and he's not wrong there,
although there's some additional layers as well.
The term for what I do in relation to the
Daoine Maithe, as they told me, is echlach (modern Irish eachlach). It means a
servant and also a courier or messenger. I've been hesitant to use this
generally in part because I know most Americans won't understand it at all, and
in part because I'm not sure I should use a modern Irish term for myself (just
not wanting to seem presumptuous). There is no easy English equivalent though
and there's a...shall we say...humorous or humbling double meaning built into
eachlach that can't be conveyed with a single English word.
The Good Folk have a sharp sense of humour.
So I don't know if I should use the term
echlach, or not, or bantuáithech, or try to find another term that accurately
defines what I do for Themselves in context. I have yet to find any English
language word that is close at all. I hesitate to use the Irish but perhaps I
need to accept that Irish is the only place to find the accuracy I want. There
will always be situations where priestess will be the default because people do
understand it better although I think I may avoid clergy and priest now due to
the nuances so many people have for the words. In the same way I default to
neopaganism to define my community although that too may be more habit and
comfort than accuracy.
As our community moves forward I think
these discussions are important and we do need to work out for ourselves what
words we are going to use for the varying roles we fill. This is an ongoing
conversation and I am looking forward to continuing to explore these concepts
and terms. I have really appreciated the feedback and diverse points of view
being shared with me.
[1] non-human
spirits under any iteration
[2] there
is of course some crossover here with some Gods but I mention it so people are
aware that this is a part of service to them and needs to be considered.
[3] With the understanding that I may not fully
grasp these roles within a Christian context
[4] modern
Irish eachlach. There are two definitions, and while it’s the
messenger/attendant one that applies I'm not going to argue with the second
meaning either.
[5] I
mean literal rubbish here not legitimate rags. The rag tree tradition is an
important cultural practice that has sadly been misunderstood and misused,
particularly by tourists. The result is that the material tied to the trees is
often not the biodegradable fabric it's supposed to be but plastic and man made
materials that will kill the tree. Rags are also tied to trees that aren't even
properly rag trees, but rather any tree that people randomly decide must be
special in some way.
[6] With a humorous double entendre meaning which
also acts to keep me humble
[7] On social media in 2022
[8] clergy
- a person ordained to perform sacred or ceremonial functions in a religion
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRXqLDL7gLg
