I would like to make one thing clear from the outset: I am not a priest.

This does not mean that I do not have a relationship with the divine and with my gods, that I am out of contact with Them, that I do not know Their presence, or any of the other popular pagan lies about what priesthood means. It doesn't mean that I am a passive participant in my religion, brainwashed by the people who claim superior awareness of the divine, or any of that other feel-bad pap that some folks like to push around.

It just means that I am not a priest.

Priest is a job. It's not an automatic trait of religious devotion or contact with the divine. It has responsibilities. It has obligations. Those obligations are both to the gods and to other people. Not everyone is suited to doing this job.

That's okay. I don't have to be a priest.

If everyone were doing the job of priest, none of the other work would get done. There would be no food for the people or the offerings, no linen for the people or to clothe the gods, no dishes made, no children taught to read, no composers of music, no nothing. Everyone would be a butler in the house of God.

Functional communities need more than just butlers.

And in functional communities, it is possible to recognise contact with the gods in more ways than taking up the duties of service. To recognise the hands of Ptah in the hands of the craftsman; to recognise the beauty of Het-Heru in the faces of Her children; to hear Ihy's voice in the music; to recognise the will of Sekhmet in the surgeon or the wisdom of Nefertem in the herbalist. To see Wepwawet by every possibility; to stand under the sheltering wings of Heru when gathered in community; to recognise Set in trials and gain strength thereby.

Recognising and greeting the gods as They manifest in the subtleties of the world is not priesthood; it is just a part of living within a religion. Knowing how to speak to Their presence and celebrate it is not priesthood; it is wisdom within a religion.

There is no need to be a priest to know the gods. One can know the gods in one's own job, whatever that may be, or one's own life, whatever that may be. To be called to service of a god is a big deal -- not only to take up the responsibilities of care for the god, but to be sure that the god is cared for for the entire community. But it is also a big deal to be called to farm -- to take up the responsibility of feeding the community. It is a big deal to be called to write -- whether to record for the community, to create the stories that shape the community. All callings may be cast to contain the spark of the divine, not merely the calling of priesthood.

Do not tell me that I need to become a priest to hear the voices of my gods. Do not tell me that hearing my gods is the same as an obligation to do the job of service. There are other jobs, and some of those are the ones that I must do.

I am not a priest. I am a potter (and honor Khnum), I am a writer (and honor Khnum and Djehwty), I am a brewer (and honor Hetharu-Sekhmet), I am a musician (and honor Ihy), I am many other things and honor many other gods thereby. I need no interventions to perform the rituals of my religion, for I am entirely capable of doing so myself in my own home. I am not responsible for the care of the gods in anyone's name; I only have my own relationships with Them to nurture.

Nor am I a member of a monastic community devoted to divine service, one where the entire place is full of priests and those seeking to become priests, who care and support each other in their service to the divine. That is not my calling; that is the calling of other people.

I expect my calling to be respected even though it does not bear a particular title.