Priesthood? (differences in definition)

Basically as I am scouring the forum, I see the mention of people gaining priesthood from gods and spirits. Obviously this is different than the standard meaning of it that I am accustomed to, which is a person certified and/or recognized by another group as being knowledgeable enough to be considered an expert and has a desire to help others. Now, I just pulled that definition out of my ass, but I think you get the idea.

But you guys seem to use it in a more esoteric sense, which may describe my relationship with some gods/spirits, namely Odin, that denotes a more direct channeling of their power or essence. Is that accurate? Either way, an explanation of the common definition and examples would be appreciated.

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you’re correct; Priesthood is a function within a community of believers and has to be recognized by that community in order to be valid. You may have a religious experience of a deity conferring “priesthood” upon you but if that experience is not recognized or validated by the community, you’re essentially pissing in the wind; one can not be a priest alone.

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I think it would be like calling yourself a captain. In the Army that has a very specific meaning. In the world at large it doesn’t mean much except that maybe you like boats.

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Ah thank you , I suspected as much. I thought there might be abit of smoke blowing going on but wasn’t sure. Thought I would double-check to see if you lot here used it differently.

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I always liked the priesthood dynamic, the structure and the fraternity of it all, whether it be pagan or not.

Interestingly enough the “magi” who were wise ones or “wizards” of the middle east, were considered a type of priest class.

Magi is where we get magic and magician, one could say that all priests are magicians in their own right but not all magicians are priests.

ma¡gus
ˈmāɡəs
noun
plural noun: magi
a member of a priestly caste of ancient Persia.
a sorcerer.

Like the other above have said, the priest usually tends to the spiritual needs of the community who are less inclined to to practice such things, not everyone has time for evocation & invocation.

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It could be Priest or Priestess in the sense of being a title a spirit gives you.It could be something you were in a past life when they knew you. Or as an archetype that you fit.

Belial called me priestess in a past life but now he calls me goddess. It is to remind me how our relationship has changed and how the experiences my soul has had has changed me.

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As long as nobody is throwing the title around as a means of authority without anything to back it up they can call themselves The Grand Poobah for all I care lol. But I also come from a standpoint of me being an aspiring certified Gothi, so I needed clarification of forum vocabulary.

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His most Worshipful Royal King Archbishop Grandmaster Senior Warden Supreme.

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In Catholicism, Priesthood is a Sacrament, and it confers on the man a supreme unique unity with Jesus Christ. In Latin we say that the Priest is “in persona Christi” which means, in the person of Christ. That’s why priests can forgive sins and confect the Eucharist, even when the priest himself is not in a state of grace, because it is Christ doing it through the vehicle of the Priest’s body.

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Huh that is interesting. I have actually wondered about how that is supposed to work in Catholicism. Thank you for that.

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Yeah that’s very interesting :thinking:

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Please don’t idealize priesthoods; I lived in communities of Catholic priests for eight years of my life; I’ve never had the delight to live amongst such broken hypocrites before or since. Sex offenders, alcoholics who generally held a deep antipathy towards each other. If Jesus Christ has a “supreme unique unity” with these men then He has copulated with whores of the worst kind and if these men are “in persona Christi” (which I deny utterly) then both He and the men he employs for such a function are to be utterly ignored.

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Yes, I’m sure every religious order has had corruption whether they were Greek, Roman, Persian etc.

But I’m fond of the idea and can see how it would be useful for spiritual communities & the individuals practicing.

You seem to be judging the lot by the few, this would be throwing out the champagne with the cork so to speak. it seems you are also denoting a 1 note characterization of all around “badness” in regard to the idea of priesthood.

Nothing is 1 note.

A priesthood serves in some cases the same role a magician does in society,
you know providing spiritual services to people of the same believe whether It’s their magic incantation for a client or religious mass on sunday

There are benefits
1.spiritual service to others
2.fraternity & comradery
3.structure & order
I’m sure there is more I’m unfamiliar with.

Not only this but all cultures have had their respective “priesthoods” some who you could even count on to sacrifice your friends and family on a regular. (Druids) (Aztecs) etc.

Things are more than surface deep, just because you have had bad experiences(and I’m sorry for that) doesn’t mean the idea should be written off or judged by it’s cover.

This is how some religious zealots view magic, hypothetically if I was to just believe those people about their bad experiences with magic and ignore any good I and many others might not have started practicing at all.

You don’t have to like the idea of priesthoods if you don’t want to, but I personally can see pragmatic use of them.

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Not all beliefs are the same, so an Aztec priest was unlikely to resemble a Buddhist priest.

My two cents on the topic. :smiley:

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Yes, I agree they differ in philosophy and practice but were priests nonetheless and provided a service whether for good or bad.
I prefer the good . :+1::grin:

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Keep in mind that priests require gods. And what are gods but spirits perverted from their original form by temple cults that reinforce the political power of the state and the cultural status quo. If you look at the earliest animist religions; there were no priests or shamans. In many Aboriginal cultures in Australia for example the concept of religious specialists is alien. I lived with the Kukatja tribe for
many months and they had their traditional healers; but they were in no way seen as being special intermediaries.

The very concept of the priest as being a special intermediary between yourself and the transcendent (however you wish to define it) robs you of your own inherent divine power by projecting it onto another. You are your own intermediary; you are your own priest, you are your own Messiah and prophet. Why? Because the divine is just as much within you as it is within any Aztec priest ripping out the still beating heart of his sacrifice, or any impotent old man in Rome pontificating and chanting his foolish spells or any Lama meditating in the Himalayas. You are it. So take responsibility for your own relationship with the transcendent (and the power and responsibility that goes with that). Those that require priests refuse to do just that.

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I respectfully disagree seeing as the word priest simply mean “elder”
Old English prēost, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch priester, German Priester, based on ecclesiastical Latin presbyter ‘elder’.

There was also no technology, temple being one such technology suited for both animism/polytheistic or monotheistic

one could say that about most deities, yet people still contact them in their present form

Some are better at this than others, like getting into trance and what not.
And the whole “robs you of your divine power” thing personally sounds like some made up cosmic rules that I didn’t agree to.

People project their magic into people all the time love spells, glamour magic and baneful.
Forgive me if I’m misunderstanding but this sounds like a if you use it you lose it type of deal.

Yes but some people suck at magic, you know the muggles and the normies. that’s why they come to magicians like us to work wonders for them or “projecting onto them”

Yes but we aren’t tribal anymore, we are civilisations which inevitably requires specialization, that’s how we get roads, architecture, doctors, magicians. And just because the aboriginals thought this way doesn’t make it better. if anything I’m more inclined to think the opposite.

Not everyone has time or the will to learn this stuff and needs intermediaries.
People like E.A fulfill this very function
he may not have a some religious doctrine but that’s personal choice and doesn’t matter as much.
because he is still fulfilling a role of service and intermediary,
priest is just a word no need fear it.
Druid priesthood FTW :crazy_face::deciduous_tree::mage:

Wouldn’t we all be better served by people such as these encouraging folk to do the work themselves instead of pandering to people’s laziness and lack of personal responsibility? I after all, no longer require my mother to wipe my backside for me, having learnt to do this myself long ago and having taken responsibility for this aspect of my personal hygiene. There is also the element of magical desire to consider; desire is the fuel of manifestation. It would seem that a spell for my own personal need would work far more quickly if I did it myself because the desire is immediate and personal whereas if I ask another to do it for me; they almost certainly will not feel the sae level of intensity of desire and so the working is far less likely to succeed.

Also, the assumption that some people have more inherent magical ability than others is also quite questionable if one agrees at the same time that we all have access to the divine / creative spark within.

Well yes sure, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
people have busy lives and to be a great sorcerer or wizard requires training and time that most people don’t have.
It’s also a bit unrealistic to expect everyone to be able to do this stuff.
You won’t find E.A going " Please don’t use my magic services" this would be bad business E.A even has a bootcamp he still providing a service in the form of mentorship and acting as an intermediary.

I believe a better description is that everyone has the ability but not the access
Like I have the ability to various buildings but not access to every part of it.

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why not? There are many folk on here working full time, raising families who manage to put in the hours into their ascent (myself included)