A year ago my family pilgrimaged and moved back to the small town that I grew up in. The vision that we had as we prepared for our move was a simplified life that included a lot of family, less work, and lot's of open country side.

 

Before we moved we agreed that we were willing to make less, if need be, in order to have the lifestyle that we were looking for. Our vision was family, togetherness, and a simple quiet life to raise our family in.

 

Our vision is ideal, the life circumstance that we are in so far is pretty close to matching up with what we had envisioned the beginning stages would be, things are on track....and yet, this past year has been wrought with anxiety and frustrations for me as I've struggled to fit myself into the intention that we had set.

 

How does this apply to being a Priestess you may ask, I asked myself the very same thing as I contemplated what it is that I've been walking through. 

 

I felt so 'ordinary' and uninspired being in a small town worrying about scraping two cents together and living quiet day to day lives. The quaint picture I had held in my mind felt small and lacklustre when I began to live it. 

 

In hindsight what I had forgotten during this entire process was a fundamental truth that I had carried with me for years, a truth that is at the foundation of my Priestess path, one that I assumed would stay with me without my needing to do much more work with it, sadly it is a truth that I needed to actively work and forgot to do.

 

That truth is, that nothing can change on the outside of my life without my consciousness first changing. A shift in consciousness had led to my desire to move, however, I hadn't waited for my consciousness to shift into a simplicity consciousness, I acted on my desire and forgot to focus on my internal life shifting with my outer one. I needed to cultivate simplicity consciousness.

 

Simplicity is a term that is fragrant with spiritual richness for me, I envision Priestess' quiet and reverent in their work, Druid's focusing on each letter that they wrote, Monk's savouring each moment of silence. For us a simple family life looked like quiet, rhythm, connection, appreciation and an awareness of Mother Nature's bounty. For me it was space, openness, quiet and a new community thirsty for Goddess spirituality.

 

Instead what I ended up bringing to my family's table was fiery hot anxiety, an obsession with the future and how it would unfold, and an unrelenting focus on numbers, number of dollars, number of accounts, number of hours worked, my brain spun over and over into the late hours of the night and I was not at peace. I wasn't enjoying my marriage and I was stuck in a spiral of fear.

 

As this fire continued to burn brighter and brighter I became restless and envious, I witnessed peers publishing books, hostessing international workshops, seeing clients in their beautiful space all while I sat with a beautiful space empty save for the time my daughter and I spent in it in the mornings, full of workshop knowledge and few people to share it with, a lifelong book trapped inside of me. I became so restless that I began contemplating how I could get my name out there in our new community, I discounted the connections I had made and decided I needed to get out there in a bigger and more fabulous way. That's when the warning pause came up within me.

 

Since the beginning of my practice I have not been a promoter, I have waited for Spirit to bring somebody to me or some group. If I am led to a need, or an opening I flow into it, self promotion just doesn't jive with the Grace path that I practice. 

 

I wondered if I should, just this once promote myself and knew within myself that I couldn't do that and stay on my personal path that's when I contemplated waiting until someone or some group was drawn to me, another aha moment dawned on me then. 

 

Who would be drawn to me in the state I was in? Yes I prayed and meditated in the morning and night, I read my books and listened to my speakers, but I wasn't really doing the deep work that I need to do in order to have anything to offer anyone, and  a big part of that was because I was trivializing the life that I was in as I romanticized how I should be Priestessing in the world. Mothering, loving my Beloved and tending a family wasn't as important as being a sage spiritual teacher, humility was gone and I was living in the realm of the ego.

 

I am grateful for this awareness, it gave me a solution for my unrest, the answer wasn't doing more magical things, it was connecting to more magic within myself and within my days, exactly as they were. Grow where you're planted they say. I began to focus on what simplicity would look like in the four major area's of my life, here's what's come to me so far.

 

Physical Simplicity

 

 

  • Being in my body is plays large role in physical simplicity. Paying attention to whether or not I can feel my feet beneath me, noticing how deeply my breath flows, and paying attention to when my body wants to eat, drink, sleep and play are all indications of how present and aware I am of the exact moment that I am in, which is where I can access and connect to Goddess.
  • Eating whole foods simplifies my internal state as I feel connected to Gaia with each bite I take. I am not perfect with my eating by any means I enjoy some salty chips or sweet chocolate, I am not claiming a need for perfection with eating, that hasn't been the case for me. However, I do find that when the majority of my diet are whole foods my body feels more alert, light and happy and my desires for nourishment are simpler, I don't need a ton of zest and distraction and this translates into the rest of my life. I engage in organic experiences as they come up in the moment and I don't need to go out trying to create excitement or distraction from what is when I have been living this way for a while.
  • Praying over my food is a powerful tool for me. If choosing what I put into my mouth is of any importance, how I connect to and empower the food I eat is one thousand times more important, the Christ once said that it wasn't so much what we put into our body that mattered as what came out of it. When I begin to emit love and intention into the food that I am going to eat I feel connected to my powerful Priestess self, I become an uplifter. From the simple act of consciously blessing my food I tap into my power and my ability to uplift. When the food that I eat has been blessed I am reminded that what has gone into me is blessed and what will come out of me will be blessings for our world.
  • S l o w i n g down. The whole goal and purpose of our change in lifestyles was to have a slower and more connected life with my daughter and husband, yet here I was frantically attempting to finish housework, outdoor time, work, articles, workshop outlines, meetings and downtime.  What that meant for me was that I was never satisfied because I was always burnt out, when I get into self-will the flow stops and all that I accomplish is achieved through my human energy, energy that fizzles out all too easily. This morning I took my daughter to meet up with some friends at a big park, these ladies were ladies from my tribe, it was great to connect. I also made a point not to schedule myself or to ask them what time they were staying until, I brought food and just watched my daughter play freely. When we were done we visited my favourite grocery store, the one that carries the vegan treats we buy for her, made lunch, did yoga and got out to a long and serene walk, I am writing this article now, about to make dinner and there will still be room for a bath and laundry, if it continues to flow. I have achieved most of what I would want to achieve on a day that I wasn't working (I work very part time) with half of the energy and manic energy fuelling me. When I slow down, my outer world seems to slow down and there is a peace that bubbles up from within.
Emotional Simplicity
 
  • This is a big one for me, my emotions loom so large, I feel most things to the umpteenth degree. I've found, that for this deep feeling Scorpio, emotional simplicity begins at simply recognizing, identifying and following my emotions in the moment. Once I begin to identify one or two of them I become somewhat detached from them, this detachment brings me into contact with my Inner Self, my highest Self and I am able to sense my spirit and to know that my emotions are but one part of my experience here, they are not my experience. 
  • Tracing  my emotions back to my body helps those emotions to get into motion, as emotions are meant to (energy in motion). Once my emotions begin to move in and through me, then I get to flow with them rather than stagnate or marinate in them. This allowing and flowing translates to an ability to begin to flow through the circumstances of my life, rather than getting fixated on a particular situation that triggers discomfort of some sort, I can find the resistance, map it and begin to breath and flow with it and through it.
  • Directing my emotions is a fun practice for me. Growing up I was often told to "control my emotions," by a man that had little to no control over his emotions. I had no model for proper emotional directing and grew a huge resentment towards implications  that I should alter my emotions in anyway whatsoever. When I found the Goddess path which embraced the emotional field I spent years revelling in my anger, sorrow, joy, pleasure, every sensation and feeling that arose I fed lovingly and rebelliously. Once that novelty wore off I began to notice that my emotions really did control me and I was tired of being at their whim. Thanks to the uplifting and empowering teachings of Abraham as channeled through Esther Hicks, it finally clicked one day that I can direct the flow of emotions, towards better feeling thoughts and experiences or worse ones, that I can use the power of my emotions to steer closer to joy or further away. When I become overwhelmed with heavy emotions now the simplest and one of the most effective processes that I use is to begin to find something that's a little less heavy to focus on, slowly I feel my emotions shift and I am back in alignment with Source. This practice connects me to the energy working training that I received, I begin to not only shift my inner energies but I can shift the outer influences as well towards lighter and lighter ones.
  • Once I began to identify and to direct my emotions I began to find that I could focus on one emotion at a time. Often I have a myriad of emotions come up, excitement, worry, anger, fear, hope, all at once triggered by one thing or another, when I zero in on one emotion at a time I can fully process and digest what is coming up for me. I also remind myself that I choose what I focus on and that I am not at the mercy of my emotions. This skill translates into an ability to focus in on one thing at a time in my day and to fully feel that moment regardless of an excess of stimuli, to sense energetically and to follow the energies that feel the highest and most fulfilling, in this manner I am better able to find the will of the Creator.
Mental Simplicity
 
  • Here's where the cliche's begin to appear in my life. In the realm of my mind. That saying, one day at a time, that has saved me with mental simplicity. I do break it down to one hour, one minute, whatever the need may be in the moment, at a time some days. As a whole though one day at a time is a lifesaver, if I focus on what needs to be taken care of in the day then my mind is quickly simplified, the blessing here is that I begin to live in the present moment and when I am in the present moment I am open to the influx of Spirit that is ever available to me.
  • The mind and the spirit have been confused a lot in metaphysics, the mind can create and that is such a phenomena that it is often confused with spirit work. However, I have found that there is a close connection to my mind and my Spirit, when my mind is in co-operation with the Spirit I am able to elevate to higher levels of consciousness. When I try to focus on Goddess throughout the day my mind is steadied on an anchor, my thinking becomes clearer and I find the realm of Spirit all around me.
  • Listening is a great simplifier for my mind. When I can stop asking questions and trying to figure the riddles of life out with my mind and begin to listen for guidance from within, from spiritual speakers, uplifting music and spiritual advisors my mind has high vibrational food to digest and I am not doing what Einstein claimed was insane, trying to solve problems with the same mind that created them.
  • Writing, journalling, automatic writing, inventory taking, all forms of writing about what it is that is spinning in my head helps to purge the monkeys and leaves me cleansed and free to program a new message within the mind.
Spiritual Simplicity 
 
  • Praying is such an ancient and sacred way to commune with the Divine, prayer was the first tool that I remember bringing here to Earth. My entire childhood I spent in prayer, right into my adult life I was talking to the Divine constantly. One day prayer stopped making sense to me, all of the deep mystical books that I had studied stole the simplicity of talking and sharing my heart with the Goddess from me. When I am in a state of simplicity I am praying constantly, simply put praying is talking to the Goddess, when I am speaking to Her my spirit is awakened and I am focused on Her and all other area's of my life fall into alignment with Her. This means that all acts that I participate in are consecrated by Her presence.
  • Meditation is my favourite and most beloved tool that was ever presented to me. Meditation is magical for me. I am blessed to have had a teacher that wasn't concerned with the length of time a meditation took, only that I arrived at an inner 'click'. Meditation has transformed my life. When I am willing to wait for that 'click' my consciousness begins to shift and my insides shift, this leads to outer shifts in my life too. If I had only one tool available to me for the rest of my life I would choose meditation. The simplicity that follows when I am focused on my mediation life is that I begin to pause during the day when my life begins to feel hectic and to wait for a 'click' to occur within and when that 'click' comes I know that Goddess is on the field with me.
  • Mantra is a newer form of spiritual simplicity for me. There is on mantra in particular that I have memorized, when I chant mantra it is a sort of meditation in itself. What I love about mantra is that I don't know what the words mean, but I know that they are energetically charged, chanting mantra stills my mind and puts me into a state of receptivity. Receptivity is an important state for a Priestess to be in, it is a state of being open wombed and ready to attract all that is needed for a fulfilled and magical life experience.
  • Surrender is the culmination of spiritual simplicity for me. When my life is simplified, when I have finally slowed down, when my focus is on my inner state I begin to surrender. My path has always been one of surrender. I am not a conscious manifester. I surrender to grace, I give my life over, I allow Goddess to live Her presence through me and my life is more than I ever could have created through my own will. This is the essence of a Priestess, I have spent days in my head, envisioning all of the 'important' things I should be doing as a Priestess, forgetting about my inner state and missing the true message. Priestesses spent years training, did quiet work in humble surroundings, the focus was on their state and their ability to be in devotion to the Goddess, that is the essence of spiritual simplicity to me.
 
In the simplicity that I have been cultivating I have been contacting my authentic self, I have been re-finding my power and my voice and in this finding I am reconnecting to my Priestess self.
 
I am reminded that for years Priestesses were called to Priestess only, they did not marry, they did not raise children. I believe that the world is calling for the Priestesses, the monks, the recluses of the past to walk amongst the masses, to become a part of normal everyday life. Our world is evolving, as unlikely as that may seem some days, it is, and those of us that are called to commit to a path that is dedicated to serving spirit in one way or another are no longer called to do it in solitude.
 
This means that I must Priestess within my family. It has been quoted many times and I agree whole heartedly, that world change begins at home. When I simplify my life, my ego shrinks, and the purpose of raising a family, keeping a sacred home, maintaining a high vibrational field that will emanate when I am out in the world doing my every day living, becomes real, tangible and sacred. I feel blessed for the moments that I spend in ceremony, offering workshops and writing while recognizing that the majority of my life is lived outside of ceremony and that that life must be just as deep and meaningful as those hours spent in ceremony.
 
As the weeks are passing and my consciousness is simplifying my time with my daughter is becoming more sacred to me. I look at her and I sense that this is where the majority of my Priestessing is to be. The time to be out in the world sharing and being recognized may come in years to come, and it may not. What is here right now is a soul that is new to the earth as this being that is my daughter. The ways in which I transmit the sacred teachings that have been passed down to me and my vibrational offerings in the home are the greatest opportunity I have had. She is my student and my teacher and I am hers. Today as I taught her how to pray over a pain that she had in her arm, as I looked into her big, wise, receptive blue eyes, I knew that I almost missed my calling. It is with her, right now, passing on all that I know.
 
Simplicity it seems is equivalent to humility for me. Humility was the first quality that was stressed to me when I embarked on my Prietessing journey. The Priestess that trained me would tell me over and over, "Candise, the most important thing to Priestessing is to remain humble." I didn't know why she kept stressing that to me, today as I hear her words reverberate in my memory I am grateful for her wisdom. To be humble, to seek no praise or recognition, to give fully of myself out of love and devotion, to be teachable, to listen and to give, all of these are at my feet now, realities that I can bring into my life experience. Humility is removing the obstacles to my true life's purpose and revealing the truth to me. 
 
A Priestess is powerful not in what she does but in who she is, and for me, right now, the largest part of who I am in the world as a Priestess is a mother, a wife, and a member of a small community and that is more than enough. It is everything as far as offering the gifts of being a Priestess is concerned. It is everything as far as being fulfilled and blessed in this life is concerned. It is everything.
 
Grace Be With You,
Priestess of Grace,
Candise Soaring Butterfly
 
 
image taken from: http://virgomagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/virgo-priestess.jpg