This January marked seven years since my initiation as a priestess of Aphrodite. It feels like it’s been so much longer than that. And in many ways, I guess it has. The pre-pandemic world seems like a lifetime away, and each year since then has been full of so much emotional and spiritual work that it has felt like a decade.
In a personal sense, it also feels like I have been serving Aphrodite for so much longer than seven years. Maybe that’s how it works with life callings. While it is true that I was working with Aphrodite before I was initiated as Her priestess, those extra few years still don’t explain the sense of peace, comfort, and familiarity that I feel with the role. In most respects, I’m kind of agnostic as far as past lives go, but there are a few things I have experienced that tilt me towards believing rather than not. My experience in finding Aphrodite and becoming Her priestess is a big one. There’s so much that is just… perfect. Things that just fell into place, as if that is where they always belonged.
Every year when I reaffirm my vow as Her priestess, I feel this deep resonance inside me. It feels so much more than right. I find glorious meaning in this work. It feels like what I was always meant to do. And maybe what I always have done – an echo of previous oaths from a long line of tradition and service. Every fiber of my being, every part of who I am as a person, seems beautifully woven together for this purpose. A lifetime of being too much, of loving too deeply, of romance and heartache, of pleasure and joy. There’s no way that I could serve Aphrodite without being able to feel things so deeply and completely. Traits that were dismissed or even punished when I was growing up are now celebrated by my community and the people in my life. The pain of feeling like I was broken because I felt SO MUCH and loved too easily began to heal when I stepped into this role. What were my weaknesses became my strengths, and ended up being vital to my priestess duties. Aphrodite took me into Her arms and showed me how brightly I could shine.
In reflecting on the past seven years, I wanted to share the different aspects of what I’ve come to view as my spiritual calling or my sacred mission. Each of these aspects came up during my “priestess trial phase” – the year and a day before I took my official priestess vows during my initiation – so I knew that my service to Aphrodite would include them in some shape or form. However, as I have gone deeper into my priestesshood, each of these aspects has also developed and grown. My work as a priestess these last seven years has added both depth and breadth to these broader categories, which I will cover in a series of posts.
Honor and Celebrate Aphrodite
This is probably what first comes to mind when you think of a priestess/priest of a particular deity. Serving a deity necessitates having an intimate, reciprocal relationship with them. This relationship is both personal and public (I’ll talk more about the public aspects in the next post).
There are things that I do with and for Aphrodite that are just between me and Her. These activities have gone through phases throughout my priestesshood, but have always been present to some extent.
Prayer
I pray multiple times a day – sometimes in gratitude for a specific blessing, sometimes in more general thanks, and sometimes with a request for help. Some of my prayers are rote – I have a daily prayer where I affirm my dedication and devotion to Aphrodite and ask Her to help me be of service to Her. Other prayers are more spontaneous. I’ll thank Her for the delicious pleasure in food after a particularly tasty bite of a meal. I’ll reach out to Her if I need help with something. Having an open ongoing conversation with Aphrodite is really important to me personally, to my service as a priestess, and to my spiritual work.
Ritual
I hold both scheduled and spontaneous rituals for Aphrodite. There are rituals I lead publicly (more on that later), but there are many rituals that I do just for me and Her. Scheduled rituals may happen on Sabbats, Full Moons, Aphrodisia, Fridays, or other holy days (see my post Modern Pagan Worship of Aphrodite – Who, What, Why, and When for more details about that). Spontaneous rituals may happen because I feel called to do them for a specific purpose, or they can be more informal celebrations of Her. Aphrodite will sometimes call me to work magick for a specific purpose, dropping the words of a spell into my brain or showing me what I need to do. Other times, the ritual comes more from me personally rather than divine inspiration.
Sometimes, ritual comes in the form of meeting Aphrodite in the in-between space – a place not entirely of this Earth. I have my own sacred inner temple which I tend for Her and use as a place for communion and communication with Her. Here, I can do many of the other actions for Aphrodite that I do on Earth – pray, make offerings, work magick, et cetera – but in this ethereal space, they carry a different energy and weight. Communication here flows more freely, and I frequently visit Aphrodite in this space to ask for guidance or to simply bask in Her joy.
Offerings
I sing a song to Aphrodite every time I put on and take off my jewelry. I will light a candle for Her on sacred days (like Fridays, Full Moons, and holidays like Beltane). I will offer Her a portion of my meal or what I am drinking. I will dress in bright joyful colors or something that makes me feel sexy. I will drink rose petal tea with honey or grill a Cypriot cheese in Her honor. I make my own perfumes, and I will offer the self-care of adorning myself with body oil to Her. I have several other Offerings of Action that I perform as devotions to Her, such as dance, song, conscious eating, writing, and self-love (see my Devotions to Aphrodite series).
There’s so much that goes into a personal Divine relationship – energy and exchanges that defy the human language, as best as we try to capture it. I am immensely thankful to Aphrodite for all that She has done for me and for Her presence in my life, and I do my best to honor Her with my actions and words. She has changed my life in so many ways, and I am eternally grateful for it.
More reflections on my Seven Years of Priestesshood coming soon! To be continued!
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- Love the amazing being that you are
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Priestess of Aphrodite 