Life and Times of a Priestess : Ch.1 : A Priestess In Shanla (Part 1 : Ceremony At The Temple)

CHAPTER 1
A PRIESTESS IN SHANLA
(Part 1 : Ceremony At The Temple)

Danella opened the door to the temple by pushing the door inwards with her body weight. It was dark outside now and she had been alone as she walked around the temple complex. She needed to be on her own sometimes. The only way to achieve complete privacy at the temple complex was to walk in the dark when no one could see her. In the daytime there were always people about. But now it was the time for the regular evening celebration in the Temple. Two hours after sundown was the time. As a priestess of the Goddess of Life she was called to observe and participate on a rotating basis in this rite. She guessed there might be a long evening ahead before she could rest again.

She enjoyed her life as a Priestess normally but there were times as tonight when she would have liked merely to rest. She felt it was perhaps a minor insult to the Goddess for a priestess to enter the ceremony with her mind not entirely at one with the events, but she had chosen her vocation and was thus duty bound to perform it.

There was no purpose in complaining. The priesthood allowed plenty of time for relaxation. She must seek to participate with open and clear mind, and must try not to allow selfish thoughts to enter her mind. To resist the Goddess, even mentally, was a sin against her and was supposed to dilute the effect of this ceremony, which was to celebrate life and encourage the Goddess to continue to give life to all the millions of people.

Danella did not worry unduly about her thoughts remaining constant. Her thoughts had wandered often and she had often held wrong thoughts about the other people engaged in the ceremony and she had never been punished by the High Priests and Priestesses, or by the Goddess herself. It had been as if they could not see what was inside her mind. Few people thought that the Goddess was anything more than an ideal, the personification of a set of beliefs and ideas about how to live and practice your life.

In some ceremonies resistant thoughts were encouraged, even induced in order to create the effect which the ceremony required. However Danella felt that she should make an effort to be at one with the ceremony. It was a powerful ceremony and it was not always easy to achieve oneness. Danella had frequently been enraptured by it and fully taken up in its power and vitality. She had enjoyed those times when she had felt swept up by the celebration, and those times when she was bored and disinterested had been dull for her. So she always attempted to make the most of the event regardless of her mood. It was better for her.

As the door slid open the smell of incense and that other smell of human sweat which could never be entirely hidden in the temple, assailed her. A stately soft music emanated from behind the altar. Other priestesses were arriving in groups through other doors. There would be three hundred of them tonight at this ceremony, their purple gowns tied at the waist, feet barefoot. A low babble of conversation existed as they came down through the aisles and pillars into the semicircular centre of the temple. They stood finally in rows on the steps of the temple in between the leather skinned seats and tables, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Danella took her place among them on the second row at the right hand side. She was close to the circle which increased her chances of being picked. She reprimanded herself for not placing herself further back, but it would not look good to the High Priestesses or the other Priestesses to be seen attempting to determine her own position. They were supposed to follow the flow of Priestesses and end wherever they found themselves, naturally. In any case she was not sure whether she wanted to participate directly or not. If she did not she may find the ceremony boring and even risked falling asleep. If she did participate she sometimes could not enter the mood these days and desired a rest from such activities.

The music became more lively and stirring by degrees. The louder voices subsided as the Priestesses took up their positions. High Priestesses Varna and Renate came to the bare leather altar and stood before it wearing their colourful overgarments, crowned hairpieces and jewellery. Varna was the elder and therefore most senior of the two and she it was who began to speak the Incantations of Life which had been chosen. These instructed the communicants that the benefits of life should be taken up by them and passed on to everyone in the world so that all could reap the great passions of life and fully devote themselves to the enjoyment of life.

The words were familiar. They had been written in the Books many centuries before and passed down for study and reference in the ceremonies of Temples all over Pirion. Danella had heard them before many times even though the High Priestesses often chose different incantations. As far as Danella could remember they all said much the same things. Her periods of study had finished some years before so she was no longer as familiar with them as she used to be. After so many years of ceremonies the excitement and interest of youth waned somewhat and she and other Priestesses she had confided in began to think other thoughts while the words were spoken.

Danella thought about Varna as she spoke. Did the words hold meaning for her? She certainly made them sound as if the words meant much for her but she had been a High Priestess for many years and had repeated these lines many times. How could these lines be of renewed interest to her every time she undertook the ceremony? She wondered how old Varna was. Probably nearing sixty years. Her face was lined although still attractive and her body was fleshy and saggy in places, although again still healthy and fit. Danella had noticed that she participated less in the ceremony these days than she had used to. In the past she remembered Varna had regularly participated with great vigour worthy of a High Priestess of the Goddess.

Renate was much younger High Priestess, only recently promoted from among the ranks of the more privileged priestesses. Danella could not recall seeing her officiate at this particular ceremony before but she probably had at those which Danella had not had to attend. Renate was a slim tall woman with blonde hair and a beautiful face. She certainly had the mark of a great High Priestess on her. Danella admired her and like many other Priestesses she knew wished that she could be more like Renate and could be elevated to the position of High Priestess one day. Danella never expected that she would ever be elevated in that way. Her own recent feelings of reluctance, her need for quiet lonely walks after dark made her realise that she was unsuitable. She was sure that the High Priesthood would surely realise she was not as devoted to the Goddess as she would need to be to be elevated.

Varna had finished the incantations now and Renate stepped forward to announce the entrance of the male worshippers. Loudly she proclaimed that this evening the male worshippers came from the farmlands to the North of the city. They were agricultural workers who ran the machines which harvested the food or kept the animal food stocks. They were dressed in red tunics. Two hundred of them came forward and positioned themselves standing on the circle before the altar below the Priestesses. Many of these were tall men with large muscles, short haired.

It was time for the High Priest to appear. He it was who officiated over the High Priestesses and everyone present. Regis was his name, a powerful driven man, one of the most committed High Priests ever to rule in this Temple at least. Regis appeared in his purple vestments and his High Priest's crown behind the altar on the steps which went upwards. He it was who would choose from among the males which one should be the Giver of the Seed in this ceremony. He came down from above and swiftly strolled around amongst the males in the circle. He walked amongst all of them. Before long he had selected a man, tall, slim, not overly muscular but attractive, from amongst the farmers.

Male Priests came forward from the back to escort the chosen man to the altar. Although privileged he was effectively their prisoner now. He had been chosen and must perform his responsibilities to the Goddess. By tradition the Priests would stand nearby to ensure he did not escape. Danella had often wondered why this was necessary. No man selected had ever wanted to escape from their duty in any ceremony to the Goddess which she had ever seen. Why should they? It was an act of pride, an honour which most men never achieved in their lives, to be chosen in such a large ceremony.

She had been told that in the past, many centuries before, sometimes the chosen had been unwilling and priests as guards had been necessary to perform the act. She had queried her teachers more closely, asking why they had been unwilling, but most teachers did not understand why themselves. "It was a long time ago," they would say, "Nobody knows." One had told her that she believed that in the distant past enemy prisoners from the wars had been used in the ceremony and they had not appreciated what was being done for them. They had believed they were being led to torture or death and therefore tried to resist. "Who knows," said that instructor, "Maybe they were tortured and killed in those days." It had been an incredible thing for a Priestess Instructor to suggest, not a part of the planned training for Priestesses. The Instructor had said, "Of course I don't know that. I'm only guessing. It isn't something you need to worry about." Danella found herself to be curious about the past. These were questions which she would like to answer, but no one ever told her anything and perhaps no one really knew. Those days, if it had been true, had been centuries ago.