It’s not your job to be perfect.

Something that turns up again and again on this priestess journey of ours is feeling like we don’t deserve to have this special relationship with the goddess. Feeling that we are in some way not special enough to be her Priestess.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with feeling like I should be this magic perfect person, and if I can’t be, then I shouldn’t even try. My brain goes, you know what a Real Priestess looks like? She uses perfect oils anointed on the perfect candles, and has a huge cabinet of crystals and herbs and misc witchy stuff for every purpose. She wears mejeeval gowns and crushed velvet all the time. Goddess time is the only time that matters to a real priestess – nothing else is interesting. A real priestess loves making spells and oils and has specially scheduled time every day to do a spell or a complicated meditation or practice tarot or something. A real priestess meticulously plans every full moon or new moon or sabbat ceremony weeks in advance and always uses the exact astrological timings to do stuff, no exceptions.

Oh yeah, and of course her life is totally together and perfect and nothing ever goes wrong ever.

All the above? NOT TRUE.

Do you know what a real priestess actually does?

A real priestess might miss the full moon because she is out working a night shift. But she will whisper prayers to the full moon on the train ride home, take a deep breath under Her frozen skies, and feel the presence of the Goddess wherever she is.

A real priestess wears whatever the fuck she wants, be that trackkie bottoms, 40’s vintage, or flip flops. Maybe you are the kinda priestess who hates that mejeeval stuff. That’s 100% OK.

A real priestess has a life and loves outside her “spiritual” life: her kids, her career, her garden may be just as important to her as her specifically spiritual time, and that’s just fine. (Besides, in a world where God is in Everything, where does spiritual end?)

A real priestess may not have time to spend hours every day in meditation and communion, but she does make time to check back in with the Goddess, pray for help, centre and recharge in little bits throughout her day, every day.

A real priestess tries to see every action as an opportunity to connect with the Divine and make some magic in her life. This doesn’t mean she always remembers, because Life is Busy and, y’know, she’s human, not superhuman.

A real priestess has shitty times too, because her life is like everyone’s life – it’s got good bits, crappy bits, bits where she looses her keys and forgets her niece’s birthday and leaves the washing in the machine all night by accident so it smells weird the next day. But she always asks for help from the Divine wherever she can and offers gratitude as often as possible.

A real priestess knows that her priestessing doesn’t stop as soon as she steps away from her altar or leaves ceremony. She knows that whatever she is doing all day long is her sacred work – compassionately taking phone calls, creating divine order and clarity in spreadsheets, or just spreading a little more beauty in the world.

A real priestess knows that God doesn’t want her to be this perfect person. She knows that all God wants is for her to turn up and check in, just as she is, because she is exactly as divinely perfect as she needs to be.

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Thing is, we are not perfect. I’m not perfect. And that is totally OK. We don’t need to completely change our lives to become closer to God and to our inner Priestess selves. She just wants us to turn up, exactly as we are, right now. One of the biggest things we can learn is that it’s OK to be exactly as we are – to treat ourselves with kindness and compassion and forgiveness.

I read somewhere that it’s not our job to be Perfect, because God’s got that covered for us.

I like that.