I continue to grapple with the idea of being called to be a priestess. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, “Being a priestess is bringing the work of my Soul to fruition.” But what does it mean to bring the work of my Soul to fruition?

I have had a daily spiritual practice of walking, meditation and journaling for many years, but it has become very consistent in the past three years. I usually listen to meditation music through my headphones while I get still and quiet. I sometimes draw an oracle card and meditate on what topic it brings up for me. Sometimes I ask a question such as, “What does my Soul want me to know today.” I journal what comes to me in the meditation. I ponder and I ask for guidance. I believe that this practice has helped me greatly on my spiritual journey. Sometimes I hear precise instructions, such as “I should write a blog.” Sometimes I receive vague impressions that get clearer over time.

On a walk this week, as I pondered the question of bringing my soul work to fruition, I realized that my true Soul Work is not about being a priestess; it is about accepting myself as enough. I keep thinking I must be more, do more – hence become something more, in this case a priestess – in order to be on the “right”  spiritual path. I realized that I was falling into the old Patriarchal paradigm of earning my way into heaven.

I don’t have to become something more in order to be at one with the Divine. I am already completely loved and held in the all-encompassing love of the Divine. It doesn’t matter what I do, what I write, what titles I might have – I am loved, and I will never lose that love. My lesson is to accept that love without having to feel that I must keep doing more to earn it.

As I think about the implications, I realize that many of us have been conditioned to believe that we will never be good enough. According to my understanding of Biblical scriptures, we were conceived in sin, and we are all sinners. Therefore we must always strive to be better and better in order to earn the love of the creator. This outdated paradigm keeps us all in bondage to running on the gerbil wheel of never enough.

Our culture teaches us that we must always do more, be more, earn more. In my working life, it didn’t matter if I achieved this year’s goals, next year’s goals were always higher. It didn’t matter what I did today, the question was how I was going to top my highest achievements. Again, the message is that whatever I do is never enough.

But I am enough. I am loved just as I am. In that realization lies tremendous freedom. I don’t have to do. I am loved because I exist, because I am a child of the Divine Mother/Father who created me. Now I am free to detach from the shoulds of life and become truly myself. I write this blog, not to earn points with the Divine, but because it brings me joy. If I quit writing tomorrow, I am still loved. I don’t have to become a priestess of any specific practice in order to live a life based in love and inclusion. Even if all I do is exist, I am still loved. All the things that I have felt called to do have been but steppingstones to my true Soul work – the realization that I am enough just as I am.

As you walk your own soul’s path, I invite you to consider that part of the work is to truly accept that you are enough, just as you are.

Barbara Garland
March, 2023