why i am a priest and a priestess.

I was ordained to the Priesthood eight years ago in the Episcopal Church—a church I love because we profess to be a loving community and to honor the dignity of every human being. It has been a wild ride in preparation for and since my ordination: leading worship, visiting the sick, serving our neighbors, teaching the children, opening hearts for spiritual growth, creating a beautiful labyrinth, and sharing in community in prayer, worship, meditation, and eating together. During this time, I also founded and created YogaMassâ, a unique worship experience that integrates east and west, body and breath, movement and stillness, thinking and feeling, doing and being, Holy Communion and meditation.

I felt called to the priesthood because I knew deep in my heart that I was a healer. I offer my gifts of healing every time I teach, preach, preside over Holy Eucharist, and offer blessings. Every action, every ritual, every teaching has been an opportunity to send healing into the hearts, minds, bodies, and souls of the people I have been blessed to serve. As an ordained priest, I am honored, privileged, humbled, and grateful. 

I am a priest. A priest is a spiritual and pastoral leader of a community of faith.  The priesthood is the leadership ordained to administer the sacraments of bread and wine, body and blood, and to bring people to know the love of Jesus Christ. A priest is strong, prayerful, faithful, focused, intentional, and loving. A priest listens deeply to God and to others, offering guidance and direction for walking in faith. A priest in the church has institutional authority to administer the Sacraments of baptism, Eucharist (Mass), confirmation, reconciliation, marriage, burial, and ministry to the sick and dying. In the Eucharist, the priest holds high the chalice filled with wine and says the words of remembrance of Jesus to invoke the Holy Spirit upon the wine being offered in the sacred ritual.  A priest leads others to God and walks with people in life’s ups and downs, joys and sorrows, and life events and transitions, always there to serve in the love of Christ.

Truth be told, I am also a priestess (self-proclaimed.) Please let me explain. A priestess also officiates in sacred rituals, connecting with the divine and deeply honoring life and creation—the earth, the oceans, and all living creatures. A priestess understands that our bodies are made of the earth and of water, and the earth’s cycles affect us too, because we are made of earth and water. Just as God’s spirit hovered over the waters, so too does the Spirit hover over us and infuse us with life force energy. A priestess honors birthing and creativity—feminine attributes—holding space for new life to emerge. A priestess naturally honors the spiritual and mystical connections she has with her Self, creation, and the unseen forces of God’s realm. A priestess intuitively seeks energetic balance within herself and in the world around her and offers healing practices for others to heal energetic blocks in their bodies and open pathways for higher knowing and divine connection. A priestess listens to her body to discover truth and offers healing through her hands, her voice, intuition, and deep listening. A priestess makes music of the angelic realm, sometimes with her voice, or a musical instrument such as a harp, a guitar, or crystal bowls. I am a priestess because I embody my spirituality and lead others to the knowing of the divine within, passionately dedicated to love, beauty, wholeness, and flow.

I wonder: why am I called into be both a priest and a priestess? I am clear that I am here to honor both the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine and to bring the Divine Feminine into a prominent and equal role for deep healing and higher consciousness to emerge in our world and in our individual bodies. The Divine Feminine is not a threat to mankind, humankind, or to the Church; she is the missing component to a healthy relationship with God, with others, with Self, and with all of creation. When the Divine Feminine is acknowledged and embraced, we will find a balance that allows us to move forward in the evolution of humanity for the highest good and potential possible.

We need priests and priestesses. We need healers who honor both heaven and earth, who honor and embody both aspects of humanity—male and female—people who are committed to bringing integration, healing, wholeness, and a balance to create harmony and peace. Jesus fully embodied both the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine. It is good news that many are collectively awakening to the realization that both aspects of ourselves—and of how we perceive God—are needed to make us whole, complete, and fully human. Perhaps this is a redefinition of the priesthood into something totally new: the integration of masculine and feminine, fiery sun heat and cooling moon energy, fully in this body with Christ Consciousness awareness. This priesthood opens all to embrace All That We Are and All That Is. This is the path to higher awareness, higher consciousness, a new heaven and a new earth. Miraculously, the Christ light always shines brightly and lights the way forward.

Namaste,

Gena+