Why Priestessing in far away lands?

Sometimes one hears via via that the work you do, or the reasons for why you bring your gifts, are called into question by those who don't actually voice the, quite often perfectly justified, question for clarification. I am always grateful for those who do express the secret whispers that otherwise fester, those who ask into the open that which is hidden behind our backs.

It is part of being a priestess of the Goddess that you stand up an out for what you believe, for what you walk, even if it means you are obviously marked as different by this, or open yourself to projection and critique.

Recently this has come up for me around the new Priestess of Old Europe training in the Czech Republic. It is of course challenging in many ways to bring Goddess work and teachings to other lands, and even though mostly I love it and find such connection and warm welcome in the great co-operation and mutual appreciation, it is perhaps good to clarify where i'm coming from when, for example, teaching a Priestess training and a Goddess Wheel in a land where i do not live.

The year long Priestess of Old Europe Training is a unique opportunity for working with a Goddess wheel of the Czech Republic; the Wheel of Libuse, centre Goddess of that land and people. It will start in a couple of weeks and is co-taught between myself and Lila Khousnoutdinova, with the assistance of Katka Kramolisova. We are excited and fully booked out (with a waiting list) for this Priestess training of the Lands of Old Europe, cradle of all European Goddess cultures, a journey which is a returning to source through the reclaimed Celtic Goddess wheel of Avalon.

In essence what is at the center and important to understand is that Goddess manifests in the form we recognize as Her in all Her aspects, at the interface of land and people….not people born of the land, but a part of, connected to. Like our long-ago nomadic ancestors, the voice of Goddess speaks to us where ever we may go.

The question is there for not one of who is of which nationality, but how we connect to Her as She speaks and expresses to us, how do we open to hear/feel/see Her, rather then a case of who has ownership of Goddess. The teachings of the Lady of Avalon and of Rhiannon hold universal keys to how to open and connect to Her vibration, to Her wisdom and presence, and initiative and well-worn practices of cultivating the skills to hold that presence.

In my opinion, Old Europe is the seed place of all the Goddess cultures of Europe; there are strong connections between the Deities of the Celtic people and the Deities of central Europe, as there are all over the whole of Europe and in fact all over the world.

This is why a template such as the one we have developed and are living in Avalon, works in many places, as a map to finding our way back to Her source. It is the same but different all over the world!

Personally I feel very connected to the land that is called the Czech Republic, and also to Slovakia, as I also do to Nordic lands, Mediterranean lands, edge places, wild lands and seashores.

I do not live in all those places, however 'at home' i may feel there, but I enjoy meeting and talking with people who do and share the sacred places they have knowledge of, the ceremonies, the language-sounds, the stories as well as finding my own connection to Her and how She shows Herself to me in those places…it fascinates and delights me…it is so rich, such an enrichment of both of our cultures/traditions to share like this, to learn and open with each other into what Her energy is in different places.

For me, Prague is a city dripping with Goddess, mostly unseen by those who live there. The river Vltava is a Deity, a Great Goddess, whom I always visit when lucky enough to be there to celebrate/honour Her of the Flowing Waters, no matter how short my visit, Her energy is amazing.

I do not pretend to know the faces or names or stories of all the Czech Goddesses, but nor, in my experience, do those who live and work in circle on those lands. I can feel Her and see Her on Her land and hear Her in the names and stories that are all around, and in the resonances of connection in the archetypes of the goddesses of my wheel, but so can anyone who cares to look and listen. I am as qualified as anyone who walks in service to Her of 10.000 names to re-find Her where ever I go, and I do know how to find and reconnect to, honour, serve and remember Her.

I also know how to hold space and create places of deepening into Her mysteries for others to experience, as anyone who’s ever been to any of my workshops will tell you. This is what I shall be bringing to the Priestess of old Europe training, my unique priestessing skills. These are, where ever I go, based on the teachings of the Lady of Avalon and of Rhiannon, Lady of Love, Goddesses I work with personally and intimately, both Mirror Goddesses, Goddesses of the Mysteries and of Transformation.

The format of the wheel of Avalon, the Wheel of BridgetAnna as reclaimed by Kathy Jones, has been taken all over the world and used as a blueprint for the creation of Goddess wheels in places as diverse as Argentina, Germany, Spain, California, Holland, Sweden and South Africa to name but a few.

This then is what I am essentially bringing: a roadmap, based on the sound and profound teachings of Avalon and the Wheel of the Celtic Goddesses, and a deeply intuitive wisdom and guided connection to newly interpreted ancestral ways and ceremony, which open the gateways into remembering Her, into reclaiming or even inventing Her names, into the practices of what it takes to be Her priestess.…

This is what I’ve brought to Goddess women groups in Prague 5 years ago, when we re-found A (not THE) Goddess wheel of the Czech lands, of Old Europe, and this May 2012, the same process powerfully and movingly was brought to Slovakia, which now has an amazingly rich Goddess wheel with which women work, both in Her lands where Her names are called and sung again, and in other temples and lands, like the one here in Glastonbury, when we weave the web of connections between the lands and people (Her Lands and People) in connection and support, inclusivity and sisterhood.

To be Her priestess takes skill, practice, surrender, dedication and a particular calling, which, as far as I am aware, does not have a ‘school’ or place of learning in the Czech Republic or in any of the other countries with broken indigenous traditions, where, before the Avalonean spirals and priestess training, there was no remembered way of training into this life-path way. This November, Lilia and myself will be bringing some of the teachings and techniques of how to reclaim and relearn priestessing skills. These are not the only way, but they are a unique way, and they are not presently held by anyone else in the lands of Old Europe.

I have a challenge for those who question what I bring to Prague or what the motives of my priestess work is, and who do not contact me directly to ask:

Why is it that the names of the Goddesses of the Czech lands are not known to the women who seek Her there? Where is Her wheel? Where are Her priestesses? Where is Her sacred knowledge practiced openly, Her ways taught? Or why isn’t it? despite many years of women’s circles? There certainly is a deep longing and a big demand. This is a question, not an accusation. Much deep and beautiful work has been done and is being networked between all of us who love Goddess in all Her lands and all Her faces, and this is a great mutual joy and privilege.

I am not saying that the priestess path is for everyone, there are many ways to serve the Devine and to reclaim and connect to Goddess, but for those who do feel called to this path, in lands where it is not already held by those who have reclaimed the ways of priestessing, the Priestess of Avalon training teachings and it’s blue print of finding local Goddess wheels and working with Her seasonal aspects and energies, is an amazing gift and gateway.

The invitation of the training I am bringing and have designed is to co-create Her wheel, to bring the stories (in other words, apart from what She has shown /given me, I do not know what those are in completeness), to sit in circle to remember and breath back the sacred names of the Goddesses of Old Europe, and to practice and teach Priestessing! 

This I do know and live and have as my own soul-path practice and that is my joy and delight, both to walk and to share. For me, in the Czech Republic this work started 5 years ago, by invitation, now it is taking the next step into becoming grounded into a year long practice in Prague, which will, hopefully, blossom out from there all over Her lands.

Blessed Be

Katinka