But why the Sacred Prostitute..?! 🌹
by Lian Brook-Tyler
But why the Sacred Prostitute..?! 🌹
(Instead of say, The Lover, or simply working with sensual reclamation? In short, why relate the sensual gifts of the Feminine to her at all?)
Side note: I will use the term, the ‘Temple Priestess’ (instead of more taboo descriptions) and ‘sensual’ (instead of the other S-word) throughout this post, censoring so you actually get to see this. If you haven’t seen my previous posts and don’t know the other ways I have referred to this archetype which provoked this question, take a look at the title of the podcast in the comments.
This was a question I received this week - actually twice, it’s belatedly dawned on me.
The first time more subtly and tentatively, and so I missed it.
The second time so clearly, from a woman who has journeyed deeply with the Feminine - including her sensual aspects, that even I, as long immersed as I am in the the Temple Priestess’s charms, suddenly saw her anew from the outside and realised there’s some things I haven’t said clearly and now need to say.
(Note: I’m not trying to make her palatable to everyone, just receivable for the women who are here for her.)
So first, let’s take a quick look at how archetypes work… Archetypes, according to Carl Jung, are universal symbols and patterns residing in the collective unconscious, shaping human experiences such as birth, death, and heroism. They manifest in dreams, fantasies, visions, myths, and art, representing fundamental aspects of the psyche, and by consciously working with them through practices like active imagination, dream analysis and shamanic journeying, we can illuminate our deepest selves and our path of wholeness. Jung said, "The way to the self begins with confrontation of the archetypes" (CW 9i, p. 43).
And now, let’s look at The Temple Priestess herself… She is an ancient archetype deeply intertwined with the mysteries of sensuality, healing, transformation, and spiritual union.
In the ancient temples of goddesses such as Inanna, Ishtar, Aphrodite, and Hathor, it is said the priestesses who embodied this archetype were revered as conduits between the earthly and the divine, conducting rituals that honoured the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. As vessels for the Divine Feminine, they used both their spiritual and sensual gifts in sacred service, healing and guiding others towards the union of the masculine and feminine, body and spirit.
(There almost certainly have been and can be distorted, extractive expressions of this which is important to mention but it’s not for this post.)
But today and for most of us called to it, The Temple Priestess Path is not necessarily or only about serving others; it is a path of soul reclamation, maturation and union. Those who resonate with this archetype are called to look at their remaining wounds and even collective shadow, especially around spirituality, sensuality, intimacy, and power, and by doing so, they bring themselves, and perhaps others, towards union.
But, going back to the very good question: why relate the sensual gifts of the Feminine to the Temple Priestess?
It is because she is a rare, possibly the only archetype that brings the *extremes* of the sensual and spiritual together in service of union, the complete receptivity that is needed for that, and in doing so, provides a crystal clear, magnifying mirror of what our souls chose in this lifetime, the ways we will shudder and recoil from it, and what’s needed to alchemise and actualise that.
She guides us to our still unseen, untended wounds - both sensual and spiritual (it was the latter I also saw more clearly yesterday).
She shows us the ways we close to or grasp for money, men, power, security, success, validation, soul, and Spirit - perhaps way more subtly than most, and certainly more subtly than we used to - hence needing a magnifying mirror to reflect them.
She calls us to the collective taboos and shadows - that tell us that the energetic waters she swims in can only be transactional, extractive, objectifying, and manipulative - and that we are here to help bring healing balm to.
She opens us to the utterly unreasonable receptivity that we came here for. I could write pages or even books on this alone but for now I’ll say, it is this complete receptivity that’s the most profoundly transcendent, deeply transformative, and yet, gentle medicine - and that maybe she alone can do this.
She illuminates the ways we can bring her rare and precious medicine, which is our own soul’s expression of her medicine, into our relationships and vocation.
But by no means am I suggesting that you need to serve her medicine in any kind of literal way, you might be lesbian or celibate and still be deeply called embody her, what I am saying is that by looking in her mirror and seeing what she activates within you, you will see:
Where your ego says:
“NO, this seems…
bad
unfair
unreasonable
creepy
scary
repulsive
hard
fantastical
strange
disruptive
selfish
too much
dangerous
impossible.”
Where your soul longs to say “YES, in spite of that, I am here for this.”
And then she shows you the ways to live into your soul’s longing.
She *certainly* isn’t for every woman, for most, The Lover is more than enough.
Again, I’m not trying to make her palatable to everyone.
I only want to make her receivable for the women who are here for her…
The ones who are here for Union, within and without, as above, so below,
The ones who are here for the luminous heights of the spiritual and also the luscious depths of the sensual.
The ones who are here to be a vessel for the Goddess.
The ones who are here to receive the Masculine in his many forms, as the womb of Binah receives the lance of Chokmah, and from which all of creation flows.
The ones whose lives are devoted to sacred service.
The one whose North Star is Spirit.
That is her role.
And so, that is ours.
When and if you are ready, she will anoint you.
🌹🙏♥️
P.S. There is still so much more I could say but I know so much is meant to be left unsaid or only whispered woman to woman in circle or bestowed from Goddess to Priestess in temple, so for now I’ll trust that I’ve said enough for those who are here for her, to feel that.
Art: Leonie Zettl 🙏
Links:
Lian’s podcast episode: The invitation of the Sacred Prostitute: Complete receptivity
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