Anne Key - Stepping Into Ourselves: An Anthology of Writings on Priestesses

Copyright 2014 by Anne Key and Candace Kant

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by an electronic or mechanical means, or the facilitation thereof, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing form the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 978-0-983-34665-4

Published by
Goddess Ink, Ltd.
Las Vegas, NV
www.goddess-ink.com

Designed by Soujanya Rao.

Front cover artwork by Betty LaDuke, www.bettyladuke.com.
All rights reserved, used with permission.

Photo by Robert Jaffe. All rights reserved, used with permission.

Title page artwork by Katlyn Breene, www.mermadearts.com.
All rights reserved, used with permission.

CONTENTS

Praise for Stepping Into Ourselves: An Anthology of Writing on Priestesses

To read this book is like attending a luscious and well-appointed buffet dinner, where one can sample a variety of tasty foods. This feast of knowledge includes scholarly essays, juicy stories, and thoughtful reflections, as well as personal poems, songs and prayers expressing what it means to be a Priestess. It is quite a satisfying meal!

Vicki Noble, co-creator of Motherpeace,
and author of Shakti Woman and The Double Goddess

Welcome the new generation of Goddess culture makers! All that was taken away from womenour Heras, their names and deeds, the inventors of poems and prose, rituals and danceswe could still not fill the the gaping, empty space if we published a million more books like this. But it is something. This work will be seeding the generations after us to continue the research, the relentless reclaiming, the constant agitation, to re-create sisterhood.

Z Budapest, Spiritual Elder of the Dianic Tradition
The Holy Book of Womens Mysteries

Every woman, it is said, is a priestess at her own altar. Some of us are priestesses at more public altars. In this excellent book, priestesses tell their tales, and in scholarly articles discuss priestesses through history (and pre-history) around the world. There is also a useful how-to section and a toolkit. This book is a must-read for beginning and mature priestesses. And be sure to read Abbi Spinner McBrides Dreamin half a page, she says it all.

Barbara Ardinger
Pagan Every Day

Stepping Into Ourselves celebrates the extraordinary diversity and depth of priestess traditions and practices from around the world. The reader is treated to historical records and contemporary stories, ancient rituals and current priestess practices that lift up the lives of women everywhere. This book is an opportunity to encounter deeply spiritual women from different religious and cultural traditions who are empowering women to celebrate the priestess in all of us.

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, She Who Dwells Within: A Feminist Vision of Renewed Judaism and Trail Guide to the Tor ah of Nonviolence

This volume is a veritable witches cauldron of brewing bits of nourishment and mystery.

M. Macha NightMare (Aline OBrien),
witch-at-large, author, ritualist and interfaith activist

As you turn these pages, you enter into a Sis-Star-hood guided by a sense of Fierce Compassion, traveling deep into the personal and collective experience of our modern-day practice. Each in her own presence, these priestesses are influencing a deeper resonance with the divine. I highly encourage you to saturate yourself in this Living Anthology of Priestess Sis-Stars who are gathering, actualizing and sharing what it means to embody the presence, power and position of the Priestess.

In essence, this anthology reflects what we found on the path of our practices: as we embody the ancient wisdom of the Divine Feminine, we become that wisdom and we must share what we have learned. I invite you to drink deeply and allow your/our voices to serve as validation of what you already know in your heart to be true. Whether for a moment, or for many lifetimes, if you feel the call of the priestess, make the time to walk with us as we share our journeys and invite HER to continue to animate our lives.

Mz. Imani, ceremonial musician, sacred activist and shamanic healer, and author of They Dreamt of Us

Enter this rich labyrinth of wisdom prepared to review every aspect of your own calling as a priestess, from lore to scholarship, scent alchemy to song, personal shadow work to utter jubilation. This is the new required reading for anyone who feels the call to serve in the often misunderstood, always sacred, role of priestess.

Holli Emore, executive director of Cherry Hill Seminary

Stepping Into Ourselves captures, in a collage of personal essays, poems and academic works, contemporary womens connection with the divine. The collective voices presented here are a vibrant, harmonious chorus singing the ancient song of the priestess. Use this book on your own journey toward empowerment, for the archetype of the priestess is a powerful template available to us all.

Lisa Levart, Goddess on Earth: Portraits of the Divine Feminine

This is a rich and inspiring offering, a wonderful compendium of creative talent, scholarship, spirit and wisdom. The papers in this anthology combine to illustrate that this world is a sacred place that women may help to heal if we but serve it as priestesses.

Miriam Robbins Dexter, Whence the Goddesses: A Source Book and Sacred Display: Divine and Magical Female Figures of Eurasia

This eclectic collection of personal narratives, poetry, history, guidelines and suggestions provides a wealth of fascinating international perspectives on what it means to be a priestess. As the role is being reconstructed and recreated to fit todays world, this book belongs on the bookshelf of every woman who believes herself to be on the Priestess Path.

Wendy Griffin, Professor Emerita, California State University Long Beach

A book for women who have dared to be religious leaders and priestesses of the ancient pre-Christian faiths, who, led by some deep mysterious impulse, have travelled forth on their own without role models.

In essays interlaced with feminist rhetoric, each contributor reminds us that these powerful, self-directed women still live in a male society that often seeks to suppress female talents. Despite the obstacles, like stubborn weeds emerging from cracks in cement, the power and grace of these women bleed through; grieving, healing, celebrating, speaking to the Divine and dancing change into the world.

There are wise words here for those of us who have been burned, and soaring words for those who aspire to step into the title of Priestess. This book is a balm for those of us who have held positions of power and then still had to carry out the garbage, and find a way to navigate through the deep projections of others. Neophytes and Elders alike will find wise guidance within.

Ellen Evert Hopman, herbalist, Druid Priestess, and author of the Priestess of the Forest