Our featured Liturgy this week is the Fellowship of Isis booklet "Ordination of Priestesses and Priests" by Olivia Robertson.
From the Preface:
"All beings are children of the Mother Goddess. Hence all are in essence Divine. Priesthood involves a voluntary acceptance of work undertaken for the Divine Plan of the Deities... Human beings attain Priesthood in various ways. Vocation is received from the Deities. Reincarnation brings memories of previous ministry. Initiation is given through Rite or touch. Heredity gives family priesthood. Priestly authority may also be claimed through occupation, such as the Smiths with their God, Weyland Smith, the starry Blacksmith in the sky.
"The Egyptian Priesthood was conveyed through heredity or by rites and appointment. The Priesthood of the Fellowship of Isis is hereditary in source, through the Robertsons of Strathloch. It is passed to Priestesses and Priests through the Rite of Ordination by consecration through oil. The ceremony may also be conducted through attunement at a distance through mutual arrangement. The Priestly line comes to Lawrence and Olivia Robertson from the Egyptian Princess, Scota, the dark one, the daughter of the Pharaoh 'Cincris'. Scota was hereditary Daughter of Isis, through her descent from Isis and Osiris. Scota left Egypt with her Scythian husband Nel and gave her name to Scotland. The Gaelic race was named after her son, Goadhal or Gaelglas.
"Lawrence and Olivia Robertson derive the titles 'Priest and Priestess Hierophant' from Scota in another connection. Those Princesses who did not attain the rank of Queen by marriage, filled the office, of Priestesses of the Goddess Nit or Hathor and bore in their households titles which they transmitted to their children, writes Maspero, in the 'Dawn of Civilization'. Hierophant means a Guide, one who both leads and aids: 'At the gates of the other world... one often sees the dead welcomed by a Goddess who offers bread and water. The Deity who thus welcomes the dead is often Ament, Nut, Hathor, Neith or Mayet: Veronica Ions 'Egyptian Mythology', Genealogical Sources, Manetho 'Labor Gabala Erenn', Mediaeval, 'Irish Pedigrees' O'Hart, 1979.
"The Robertson of Strathloch line is traced through Matriculation, Lyon Office, Edinburgh, 1907, and through Matriculation, Genealogical Office, Dublin Castle, 1979.'"
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You may also hear Olivia speak about the FOI Priesthood here:
(1:35 min./334kb)
(1:35 min./334kb)
Audio transcript: ""We have our Priesthood derived hereditarily from ancient Egypt, which we have described in booklets and therefore. But a Priesthood really means that you have a Vocation from Deity in some form or other, to help the world in some particular way: maybe through scholarship, writing books, doing nature. You're asked to do something. You feel the Vocation, but it is always from the Goddess - but you can add the God if you like - because the person joining the Fellowship wants to emphasize that part of their lives."
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There is also an accompanying CD to the booklet, which includes both the ordination of a Priest and consecration of a Priestess Hierophant during the same rite, recorded at Clonegal Castle:
Both may be ordered from this link: Order FOI Materials
(booklet: $5, CD: $8, plus shipping/handling)
Additional links:
Priesthood of the Fellowship of Isis
Read the Ordination Rite Online
