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Home > Roles Index > The Priest Role The Priest Role
Many Priests literally fulfill the name of their Role type, of course. They pursue a career in the area of religion. It might be as a pastor of a flock, a rabbi in a synagogue, a priest in a church, or a minister of a congregation. In this occupation a Priest can most clearly fulfill his inherent urge to inspire others. A Priest feels impelled to exhort others to "lift of your eyes unto the heavens and behold the glory of God". Priests are very big on spiritual health — "How is your relationship with God?", "Do you know the Lord, brother?" The issues of cosmic significance and importance are what interests Priests. Whatever is holy and sacred is their domain. Not Always Pious Or Religious But priests are not always blatantly pious or religious by any means. If not in the actual ministry or priesthood, then another favorite life role that occupies many Priests is psychology, such as in counseling or psychiatry. Here they can apply their natural desire to heal to the task of healing the minds and spirits of their clients. Priests are very big on mental health — happiness, fulfillment, and positive attitude. Many Priests also find their calling in the medical profession, healing bodies rather than minds, although this is more the province of Servers. However, a Priest will usually be more aware than the Server of the psychological components of healing. Normally the Priest/Server Complementary Pair make an all-around healing team, intent on improving the quality of life. The Priest wants to heal the spirit of his patients, and the Server wants to heal the body. Still, physical healing is very much a natural function of the Priest. One instance known to me personally is a Priest who was a Baptist minister, who also worked as an employment counselor on the side. In this capacity he was able to help the right person find the best job, and the right job find the best person. Priests often also choose careers as teachers. Here they can encourage young minds and hearts to grow, and inspire them to learn. In whatever occupation Priests find themselves, they will apply a measure of good psychology to it, because of their inherent sensitivity to spiritual issues. Historically, Priests have served in the capacity of tribal shaman or holy man, temple priests or priestesses in various nations such as Egypt and Babylon, and as Monks in monasteries. Their role was to initiate people into the mysteries, to reveal higher truths, to lead in the worship of God or gods, and to speak for the deity. Wherever and whenever there has been pious activity, there has been a Priest.
One of the good things about Priests, even though they may tend to be moralistic and self-righteous, is that they also tend to forgive easily. What they really want is for others to see the error of their ways, to "repent of their sins" — and when they do, a Priest quickly extends his absolution and remission. One of the functions of a Priest is to relieve guilt wherever he finds it. Guilt is that feeling that one has done wrong, and is in debt to God for not living up to His exalted standards of goodness. But God (and his representative on earth, the Priest) is also merciful and compassionate. He understands our human limitations, and offers us grace, the forgiveness of sins. This grace is given freely, unearned, and with no strings attached. Priests believe in the ultimate goodness of people, even though this be hidden for a time. The Priest seeks to reveal these transcendent qualities and unfold these noble virtues. On a Mission All Priests have a feeling that they have a Mission in life — a cosmic or divine Destiny. They sense that they are guided by the hand of God (whether they call It this or not) to show others the way to Truth. (I capitalize these words because this is the way a Priest thinks.) The more downtrodden, messed up, and wretched the person is, or the more destitute of hope the situation is, the more fulfillment the Priest feels in tackling the problem. Often times Priests, especially in the Negative Pole of Zeal, will take upon themselves impossible tasks. They might become missionaries and go to the tribes in the dense jungles or deep rain forests, with the intention of converting everyone to God, Christ, Buddha, or Whatever. It is not uncommon to see a Priest, especially a female Priest, marry some down-and-out ne'er-do-well with the hope of changing him. It might be an alcoholic or a drug-addict, for instance, that she intends to save. It fulfills her Priest nature to try to rescue him from himself with her encouragement and inspiration. "What does she see in him?!?" people might ask. She sees an opportunity to exercise her Priest essence and to save a soul. Whenever I see such an unequal relationship existing between two people, where one is obviously far below the other in status, I suspect a Priest attempting to salvage a sinner. But no matter what kind of relationship a Priest is in, he will always desire to heal the mind and spirit of his partner. In this connection, like Servers, Priests often give sex as a healing service. We all probably at one time or another act as a priest when we feel high or good, or need a priest when we feel low or bad. We reach down and take the hand of those who are a step or so behind us in order to pull them up with us as we seek to transcend our human limitations. We also reach up to those who are a little beyond us, to be pulled up with them as they strive to excel. True Priests do this all the time. They view the whole world as their congregation. They reach down toward others and offer them illumination. They look up to God for their illumination. Priests are the shepherds of mankind, caring for their flocks, watching over them, helping them to grow to maturity. Their purpose in life is to break bonds and restraints which hold people back from fulfilling their potential. One of their favorite sayings might be, "You can do better than that." Priests point out the path to righteousness, and illumine it with supreme truth. If he is not behind the pulpit, then he is up on his soap box — preaching, exhorting, campaigning, crusading, proselytizing, provoking, and evangelizing. Another significant factor in the consciousness of Priests is their emphasis on prosperity consciousness. They regard the universe as full to overflowing with the abundance of God. They proclaim that this richness is our natural inheritance — we should claim this plentifulness as our own. There is ample for all, and more, they say. The Priest's Natural Overleaves Like a person with the Goal of Growth, a Priest takes advantage of opportunities for greater experience. He promotes his development, or that of others beyond their natural limits. He aspires to higher potentials and ever-increasing progress. Almost as if he was in the Passion Mode, a Priest behaves with freedom of expression and intensity of experience. His life is an open book, and he has a buoyant enthusiasm for life. Not unlike a person with the Feature of Arrogance, the Priest sees himself as a good person, a representative of the Most High, a cut above the rest of humanity, sent to show them the way to better themselves. Like a Spiritualist, the Priest sees the whole universe as a manifestation of the glory of God, working out a Divine plan, ever evolving to a finer and higher state. He always looks on the bright side, and sees the world as miraculous. He regards every event as a propitious sign from Providence, Which is ever looking down on him. With sensitivity and reverence the Priest is heartened and cheered up by events in the world. He is fascinated and awestruck at the wonders he beholds. Everything is an uplifting experience. A number of famous individuals have been or are Priests, and obviously so. Among them are: John Calvin (Protestant Reformation), Saint Dominic (founder of Dominican monks), St. Francis of Assisi (Catholic theologian), Joan of Arc, Jesse Jackson (Reverend), Carl Jung (psychologist and mystic), Abraham Maslow (psychologist), Oral Roberts (evangelist), Carl Rogers (psychologist), Martin Luther King. -- Phillip Wittmeyer
More About The Priest The caring and enthusiastic inspiration of the Priest lovingly challenges us to seek fulfillment and evolution in our lives. Priests have an uncanny way of making us unafraid of the things that scare us, and they help us face our fears with optimism and a greater resolve. Priests instinctively feel compassion for others, and this compassion can sometimes be seen as a loving light that seems to radiate from their faces. When a Priest gazes into your space, it's almost as if they can see into the deepest reaches of your soul; effortlessly reaching inside of you if they wanted, and healing wounds you didn't even realize existed. Priests seemingly have this natural ability to make connections with people that no other role can emulate. Natural healers, Priests have a special gift for channeling huge amounts of healing energy. In this regard, the mere act of being in the presence of a Priest can sometimes be highly therapeutic. Genuinely warm and nurturing, Priests are passionately interested in the spiritual growth of their subjects, and can therefore be masterful in inspiring people to step beyond their own self-imposed limitations to embrace life more fully. When operating from an enlightened position, Priests are indeed beautiful people, inside and out. With their characteristically energetic sense of mission in life, they can inspire us to reach for ever greater aspirations and potentials. In the Cardinal position of the Inspiration Axis, Priests are naturally at home in front of large groups of people, and can single handedly draw a spellbound crowd into profound levels of emotional awakening, whether it be for spiritual enlightenment or to invade a foreign country during the Crusades. Consequently, the Priest can also become so blinded by their talents that they grow arrogant due to the frequent attention they receive. This can result in the Priest irresponsibly believing their choices and beliefs are the only right ones. Indeed, in their darker polarities, Priests can evangelize inappropriately and without solicitation, view disbelievers as heretics, and in worst case scenarios, distort accepted versions of reality until they enter psychologically disturbing regions of insanity. A high frequency role, Priests may experience difficulty grounding. This can sometimes lead to obsessive patterns of sexual behavior in a subconscious effort to be more in the body. Such sexual outlets do not normally come from a place of shared intimacy, and the other partner might soon feel frustrated. Priests can also cause annoyance due to the high level of moral conduct they expect from others. Righteous indignation can certainly be a by-product of this kind of behavior, and the Priest will suffer the condemnation of their peers until they learn that these displays of superiority are not conducive towards raising the consciousness of their subjects. Overall, Priests are emotional, high spirited, and brimming with energy, and they approach life with determination and purpose. Priests are truly on a mission. They are usually late to bed and early to rise, and rarely does a day go by when they don't find a way to either improve themselves or the people around them. This can lead some Priests to become run down from the unwavering intensity of their zeal. Although they may grow impatient with those who seem hopelessly stuck in the self-inflicted sands of inertia, the hallmark of the Priest is still compassion, and if we only learn to listen to their healing words and utopian visions, that shining star that has seemed so impossible for us to reach might one day become attainable. -- David Gregg
Compatibility With Other Roles Priest-Server:
Servers and priests are a very good combination, because servers, like scholars,
can absorb some of priests’ higher intensity. They also share a quality of
thriving on inspiration, so they can keep each other inspired, something that
priests and scholars cannot—priests can inspire scholars, but scholars usually
do not inspire priests very much, except perhaps if some symbolic information is
given that reminds priests of a higher principle. Servers can inspire priests by
their positive pole selflessness, goodness, and open heart. Romantically, this
combination works especially well if priests are male and servers are female. If
servers are male and they adhere to cultural sex "sexual stereotypes" -role
imprinting, they may feel threatened by powerful female priests. Priests and
servers think along similar lines, but sometimes priests, being so preoccupied
with higher concerns, are negligent of the mundane in ways that kings, for
example, rarely would be. (Kings notice if the mundane is not done, although
they may not do it themselves.) So in those pairings the servers, usually
comfortably, handle the mundane, often to the relief of the priests. Priest-Scholar: Scholars and priests work quite well together, because priests carry a great deal of concentrated higher energies, and scholars, being one of the three solid roles, and being neutral, are able to absorb a lot of that higher energy. So scholars feel grounding and also somewhat malleable to priests. Priests have the need to feel that others are receiving their inspiration, that they are acting on it. Sages have no such need; they just need to be heard, so they don’t have to see the results, but priests do. Also, scholars, perhaps more than the other roles, enjoy priests’ inspiration and do not put up a lot of resistance to it, unless it has gotten them into deep trouble on a number of occasions. It would take quite a lot of negative experience with priests to make scholars wary. Warriors are much more prone to be wary of priests and resistant to them than scholars are. Priests also appreciate knowledge, although when scholars and priests are together, the type of knowledge they share is usually higher knowledge, which to scholars is just one more category of interesting topics. Scholars, being neutral, are just as happy to discuss that as to discuss anything else, so it is not a problem. Priests would not be that interested in discussing a number of things of interest to scholars, but scholars can be perfectly happy with all areas of interest to priests. Also, scholars can suffer from a dryness, a lack of emotion, and priests, being generally the deepest feeling of roles, can provide an antidote to this. So it can be quite warming for scholars to be around priests, unless scholars are, for example, trapped in the intellectual part of the intellectual center and do not want to be emotional or inspired, in which case they might have a wall to priests. Priest-Sage: This combination can be problematic, or it can be quite good. The problem would be competition, trying to get the attention of the same congregation/audience. Since both are exalted (cardinal), and both often like to talk a great deal, it can be difficult for either role to feel that they are fully being received. And, in some ways, they tend to not understand each other very well. On the other hand, they can get along quite well for a similar reason to the reason two scholars may get along—they may feel like colleagues; they may complement each other. Sages are an expression role, but may feel a secondary impulse to inspire as well. So, for example, sage actors might want their performance not only to be technically good and to communicate what the author intended, but also to be inspiring, uplifting, and enlightening. Sages may see that as leaving the audience with more insight or understanding. Priests may see inspiration as more purely an emotional feeling of upliftment and dedication. However, these two approaches are not at cross purposes, and sages and priests can work together as a team. So if they are mature enough to give each other an opportunity to be fully received, the relationship can work quite well, but this combination can take more work than many of the others. Priest-Priest:
In general, members of the same role get along, but there can be some particular
problems when two priests come together, depending on the soul age. Two young
priests can be competitive. Two mature priests can overload one another, since
there is so much of a particular kind of power here. However, a young and mature
priest may do very well together, and old priests tend to get along fine with
each other. Marriages between two priests are rare, because both would tend to
look for those who need their inspiration. Unless one of the priests is having a
hard enough time that he needs to forgo seeking a “congregation” and is willing
to sit still long enough to receive inspiration from the other priest, the two
would not find enough of a place in each other to put their intense energies. -- Shepherd Hoodwin
More Priest Photos
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The Priest role is also one of Inspiration, like the
Priests have high expectations of moral conduct for themselves
and for others. Consequently, one trait that often besets Priests is that they
have an inherent sense that they are enlightened, whether or not they actually
are. This often translates into a feeling of superiority. It is in fact this
very feeling which causes them to presume that they know what to do to help
other people out of their problems. Thus they are often guilty of offering
unsolicited advice at every opportunity. They may see themselves as the local
Johnny-on-the-spot Ann Landers. They believe it is their sanctified job to be a
blessing to others. The action here is to metaphorically reach down from their
exalted plane above, and take hold of the lowly wretched ones, and lift them up
and out of their misery. In their less-polished expressions, Priests can be very
moralistic and self-righteous in their attempts to show people a better way of
life. An arrogant Priest might be guilty of "helping" people who
didn't ask and don't want that help. He might say within himself, "They
don't know any better, but I know what's good for them." They can be
preachy, evangelistic, and fanatical about their righteous cause in the name of
God. They can crusade zealously for reforms. They can be so overly optimistic
about their own ability to transcend limitations, and so hopeful for others,
that they tend to overestimate the amount of progress they can effect. They have
a difficult time with the concept of leaving well enough alone, since they are
always trying to improve and optimize things. In their highest expression,
Priests do give advice tactfully, and only at the request of those needing
assistance or advice. Matured Priests have learned that they do have
limitations, and that other people do also. They learn that it is best not to
try for too much too quickly. The path to God is taken one small step at a time.
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