I was at an event once, and a woman twice my age, on her knees, threw her arms up to the sky, and with her head back called out “Come in priestesses! We need you! Come in priestesses! We need you!” She said it again, and again. And again. I took her seriously. There’s a certain tone of voice you can’t ignore, when it’s connected to a true need.  One so deep and visceral that you can recognise the same need in yourself.

I was embarrassed at first to think about taking on that role for myself. I didn’t want to be perceived as - or even worse actually become - a self-aggrandising wanker. But I’m a history nerd, and roles equivalent to what we’d call priestess/priest/etc have been important and in a sense, common-place roles all throughout human history. People who have helped members of the community to cross life thresholds through ritual and ceremony, who have honoured the changing seasons with gratitude, who have payed attention to the messages and gifts of the natural world and brought other people’s awareness to it all.

When I had to distil it down, the role is about moving energy for the health of the community. I don’t have any special gifts or skills. In a sense, the opposite is true – whatever I feel I have to offer that is of value are the intrinsic abilities that are the birthright of every person no matter where or when they were born – to be connected to themselves and the world around them and then to sense what needs to happen next.

I’m not stepping into this because I feel perfect – I’m wounded, struggling and confused. I put myself forward for the role because I feel the need for it to be done. I heard the urgency in that woman’s voice and it echoed back from the deepest point in my gut. I want to do this work because many, many of us need to step forward and do it, for the health of our communities all over the world, and for the health of our Earth.

I want to help people unlearn what’s blocking them from knowing that, and to keep working on the many blocks within me too. I’m not interested in any dynamics where I’m elevated above anybody else, put on a platform or given authority over others – I hope to encourage everyone I meet to reclaim their own inner authority. Of a kind so deep and visceral that when it calls you, you know exactly what you need to do next.