What A Bean

Happy upcoming new year guys!!! The last couple of weeks of this year I've been fixated on horses and sbr might be my favourite part, so here we go with Gyro and Valkyrie again. Just imagine she's doing happy snorts here 🐴💨

Oh and i have bad news. I think I'm sick... I've caught the cowboy fever..... 😥

Anyway thank you all so much for sticking around this year! I love you all and i appreciate all the kind words you've been writing, it means a lot to me :) Happy new year!!! 🎊

Cape

No Cape

Also for @battlekilt and @ninjigma the Ani Phase 2 pallet

Somebody was overdue for taking their place as a Disney Princess, just saying. It had to be done. *nods to self*

What Does High Priest - High Priestess Mean?

I’m seeing the terms (more often high priestess) showing up more and more on social media and I think perhaps it is time to talk about them and their meaning in modern witchcraft. (As opposed to the ancient world.)

I think part of the issue is that we’re in a period where most witches are solitary and therefore don’t have the framework available to feel they can ask the right questions.

I want to set things up by asking you to consider a term, probably nearly as contentious  - professor.

In the US, if someone calls themselves a professor, it implies 2 things. That 1) they have an advanced / graduate level degree and 2) that they teach at a college or university.

I earned my MA but work in the corporate world, so it would be odd for me to call myself a professor. A friend who has taught elementary school for decades but doesn’t have a graduate degree isn’t considered a professor. Another friend who has a PhD and teaches at a university is a professor and will avoid at all costs being placed in charge of a room full of elementary school kids.

Overall - it is term that indicates a level of learning that leads to a profession or vocation. A professor can be considered to be in service to education and learning.

Now lets consider High Priest (HP) and High Priestess (HPS) as they very generally applies to modern initiatory witchcraft and occult practices. If someone calls themselves a High Priest or High Priestess, it implies 3 things. First that they have completed a cycle of study / degree levels in a tradition that uses those terms. Second that they have been awarded those titles within their tradition. And third (and probably somewhat contentious) that they are currently working in service to that tradition.

Note: the title doesn’t necessarily transfer. Being a Gardnerian HP, doesn’t mean you automatically become a Feri HP if you change traditions. Though you might be granted certain considerations if you undertake studies for an HP/HPS,

Different traditions have their own processes in place for attaining the degree of HP/HPS and their own expectation of what each HP/HPS does. So there isn’t always a one-on-one comparison between traditions. But, I think it’s important to note that this is a title held within a tradition. Much like a professor is expected to be teaching at a college or university, a HP/HPS would be in service to their tradition.

The service part does get a bit contentious as there are people out there who like to collect degrees/titles for other purposes. For example, using it on author biographies or setting up their own tradition / classes. And in many cases, people may simply have moved on from a tradition they pursued in early life.

Can someone not in a tradition be a HP/HPS?

There isn’t much need to be a solitary high priest or high priestess. You are already (or should be) sovereign in your practice. Being solitary doesn’t present the opportunity to take on the additional roles and responsibilities of a HP/HPS. Much like calling myself a professor at work would be odd because that’s not the work called for. 

What does this mean on social media or in the larger witchcraft sphere?

ASK QUESTIONS!

Look, if someone showed up at the office looking for a job and told me they were a professor, I’d expect to be able to ask them where they taught, what subject, for how long, etc. I’d be somewhat suspicious if they dodged answering those questions. (You would be surprised.)

So if someone shows up offering to teach, asking to have you join their coven, wanting to tell you how to practice because they are a high priest or high priestess, feel free to ask them -

What tradition?

How long have you held the title?

Are you still part of that tradition?

What responsibilities do/did you have in that tradition?

What was the process you followed to earn the title?

Also potentially  -

Who else can I talk to about this tradition?

What is the process for joining this tradition?

What are the core practices/beliefs of the tradition?

What part does sacred sexuality or going sky clad play in this tradition? (Not all traditions have the same practices but I want to know these well in advance.)

I’m X (gender, sexuality, etc.) what does that mean in this tradition.(Example - If I’m non-binary, what happens to the term high priest or high priestess? Answer - this would vary by tradition, but in general by the time you reach the level where the decision has to be made, you and the tradition should know each other well enough to make a comfortable decision.)

Some questions may be considered personal and not answerable. For example - can you describe your initiatory experience? Which is somewhat different than - can you describe how initiation happens? But if someone is using the title, they should be able to explain why.

Two of my fave things together ❤️❤️

Equestrian AU something 🌸

Like you I am a fem anakin appreciator, but you cannot convince me she would be so yassified. She’s gorgeous and feminine but you cannot convince me she’d be wearing makeup and have her hair down and luscious every single day. She would be a messy bun every day kinda gal (but the messy bun looks so intentional and beautiful, not legit messy)

Appreciator is an understatement, my dear anon. More like straight up fanatic. XD

And do not you worry. I detest yassification, and I 100% agree with you!

She grew up a slave turned monk in canon. And in my modern aus, grew up poor in a desert town working her ass off to support her single mother.

I cannot see anakin (canon or modern au) wearing makeup or having any type of routine besides the essentials of wash face, brush teeth, and...? And even then that's iffy. Especially when busy with a mission or project or what have you.

She wouldn't even remember to brush her hair unless someone reminder her. That or she was worried her curls would become a matted untamed mess lol.

She, just like her cis male counterpart, is just naturally gorgeous. And effortlessly so. And it would infuriate everyone around her who puts so much time into looking even half as good as she does on a bad day.

And fuck yeah! Messy hair/bun anakin for the win!!!

She love long hair and has no idea what to do with it, so up it goes into the messiness of an updo.

Only effort she ever puts forth (depending on au) is for the occasional date night or gala type event she is forced to attend and told to look decent for.

Tho, friendship with padme would def allow her to explore more 'feminine' things like fancy clothes and makeup.

(I wish I could portray this in the app I use for editing. But alas, I can not 😔. The default is makeup, and the updo options are atrocious)

Alright! Thank you @vaderkin-is-a-lightning-rod for organising this event, the Vaderkin Creative Exchange 2024! Here's my gift to @shevek on ao3! A tiny Padawan being snarky and tiny much to the amusement to his toll master + some sketches!

reminder to everyone that if you keep seeing videos of deities or animals associated with them that probably just means the tiktok or whatever platform you’re on has an algorithm that knows you like them/sees you liking them so it shows you more, my advice is to go touch some grass and look for signs in NATURE or make offerings or do ANYTHING ELSE