--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I'm a priest, not a priestess. Priestess…" description: "\"I'm a priest, not a priestess. Priestess implies mumbo jumbo and all sorts of pagan goings-on. Those who oppose us would love to call us priestesses. T..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75e/carter-heyward-26837_invisible_i-m-a-priest-not-a-priestess-priestess-i_571635.png" --- # I'm a priest, not a priestess. Priestess implies mumbo… ![“I'm a priest, not a priestess. Priestess implies mumbo jumbo and all sorts of pagan goings-on. Those who oppose us would love to call us priestesses. They can call us all the names in the world -- it's better than being invisible.” quote by Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75e/carter-heyward-26837_invisible_i-m-a-priest-not-a-priestess-priestess-i_571635.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75e/carter-heyward-26837_invisible_i-m-a-priest-not-a-priestess-priestess-i_571635.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75e/carter-heyward-26837_invisible_i-m-a-priest-not-a-priestess-priestess-i_571635.png) > “I'm a priest, not a priestess. Priestess implies mumbo jumbo and all sorts of pagan goings-on. Those who oppose us would love to call us priestesses. They can call us all the names in the world -- it's better than being invisible.” [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker rejects the term “priestess” as implying superstition, preferring “priest” to avoid marginalization and invisibility. **In simple terms:** Avoid labels that diminish identity. Key Takeaway Choose language that affirms dignity. Themes identity language gender representation Mood defiant assertive Type statement personal When to use this quote - religious community - public speaking - media interviews Key Concepts gendered language stereotypes social perception Questions to Reflect On - How does language shape perceived authority? - What alternatives respect both tradition and inclusivity? A Different Perspective Labels can still reinforce stereotypes despite intent. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Invisible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invisible/) [Names](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/names/) [Pagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pagan/) [Priest Priestess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/priest-priestess-4716817/) [Priestess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/priestess/) [Priestess Implies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/priestess-implies-4716815/) [Priestess Priestess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/priestess-priestess-4716816/) [Priestesses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/priestesses/) [Priests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/priests/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [How will it ever be bearable, Priestess?” His voice was rough. He sounded completely broken. “You’ll see her again. She’s with Nyx now. She’ll…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/how-will-it-ever-be-bearable-priestess-his-voice-was-rough-he-sounded/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Where am I and doing what? You might well ask. Freaky chick, you say? You can't imagine. I am priestess of a sandcastle in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laini-taylor/where-am-i-and-doing-what-you-might-well-ask-freaky-chick-you-say-you/) [Laini Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laini-taylor/) > [Warrior, when you pledge yourself to the service of a High Priestess, the goal is not to frighten her to death but to protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/warrior-when-you-pledge-yourself-to-the-service-of-a-high-priestess/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I should know, for I am Morgaine le Fay, priestess of the Isle of Avalon, where the ancient religion of the Mother Goddess is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marion-zimmer-bradley/i-should-know-for-i-am-morgaine-le-fay-priestess-of-the-isle-of/) [Marion Zimmer Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marion-zimmer-bradley/) > [Memory, the priestess, kills the present and offers its heart to the shrine of the dead past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/memory-the-priestess-kills-the-present-and-offers-its-heart-to-the/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [The light of the sacred prostitute penetrates to the heart of this darkness. . . . she is the consecrated priestess, in the temple,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marion-woodman/the-light-of-the-sacred-prostitute-penetrates-to-the-heart-of-this/) [Marion Woodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marion-woodman/) > [A priestess of Avalon does not lie. But I am cast out of Avalon, and for this, and unless it is all to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marion-zimmer-bradley/a-priestess-of-avalon-does-not-lie-but-i-am-cast-out-of-avalon-and/) [Marion Zimmer Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marion-zimmer-bradley/) > [Honestly, I have had to live like a high priestess in this show. It is a very, very lonely life. When you work the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-miller/honestly-i-have-had-to-live-like-a-high-priestess-in-this-show-it-is/) [Ann Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-miller/) > [The priestess of Artemis took hold of her almost with the violence of a lover, and whisked her away into a languid ecstasy of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleister-crowley/the-priestess-of-artemis-took-hold-of-her-almost-with-the-violence-of/) [Aleister Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleister-crowley/) > [In every loving woman there is a priestess of the past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-frederic-amiel/in-every-loving-woman-there-is-a-priestess-of-the-past/) [Henri Frederic Amiel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-frederic-amiel/) > [Giving birth is priestess work; it requires a woman to pass through a painful and dangerous initiation in which she journeys to the threshold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jalaja-bonheim/giving-birth-is-priestess-work-it-requires-a-woman-to-pass-through-a/) [Jalaja Bonheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jalaja-bonheim/) > [“Every woman is a priestess,” she said abruptly. “Every single one.” She turned to Marianne, her eyes clear as water. “The major religions and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-george/every-woman-is-a-priestess-she-said-abruptly-every-single-one-she/) [Nina George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nina-george/) > [My style for the moment is modern mystic priestess.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elisa-jimenez/my-style-for-the-moment-is-modern-mystic-priestess/) [Elisa Jimenez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elisa-jimenez/) > [Your soul is the priestess of memory, selecting, sifting, and ultimately gathering your vanishing days toward presence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-o-donohue/your-soul-is-the-priestess-of-memory-selecting-sifting-and-ultimately/) [John O'Donohue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-o-donohue/) > [I'm not saying I'm some high priestess. I do things, I'm sure, that are damaging, but it's certainly not on purpose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-bernhard/i-m-not-saying-i-m-some-high-priestess-i-do-things-i-m-sure-that-are/) [Sandra Bernhard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-bernhard/) ## More by Carter Heyward > [Love, like truth and beauty, is concrete. Love is not fundamentally a sweet feeling; not, at heart, a matter of sentiment, attachment, or being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/love-like-truth-and-beauty-is-concrete-love-is-not-fundamentally-a/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [If we are to live with our feet on the ground, in touch with reality, we must help one another accept the fact that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/if-we-are-to-live-with-our-feet-on-the-ground-in-touch-with-reality/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [For god is nothing other than the eternally creative source of our relational power, our common strength, a god whose movement is to empower,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/for-god-is-nothing-other-than-the-eternally-creative-source-of-our/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [But doubt is a crucial to faith as darkness is to light. Without one, the other has no context and is meaningless. Faith is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/but-doubt-is-a-crucial-to-faith-as-darkness-is-to-light-without-one/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [If women were in charge, abortion would be a sacrament, an occasion of deep and serious and sacred meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/if-women-were-in-charge-abortion-would-be-a-sacrament-an-occasion-of/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [God reveals herself through our relationships not only to other people but also to other creatures and nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/god-reveals-herself-through-our-relationships-not-only-to-other/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [Lovers re-create the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/lovers-re-create-the-world/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [“Without critical work, political awareness is likely to remain superficial and rhetorical.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/without-critical-work-political-awareness-is-likely-to-remain/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [Love, like truth and beauty, is concrete. Love is not fundamentally a sweet feeling; not, at heart, a matter of sentiment, attachment, or being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/love-like-truth-and-beauty-is-concrete-love-is-not-fundamentally-a-2/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [It's obvious throughout secular and church history that significant legislation follows only after dramatic action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/it-s-obvious-throughout-secular-and-church-history-that-significant/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [the very minute we think we 'have' God, God will surprise us. As we search in fire and earthquakes, God will be in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/the-very-minute-we-think-we-have-god-god-will-surprise-us-as-we/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [The whole inhabited earth is sacred space in which God lives, breathes, and acts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/the-whole-inhabited-earth-is-sacred-space-in-which-god-lives-breathes/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [The only theology worth doing is that which inspires and transforms lives, that which empowers us to participate in creating, liberating, and blessing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/the-only-theology-worth-doing-is-that-which-inspires-and-transforms/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [We are born in relation, we live in relation, we die in relation. There is, literally, no such human place as simply "inside myself."…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/we-are-born-in-relation-we-live-in-relation-we-die-in-relation-there/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [To say I love you is to say that you are not mine, but rather your own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/to-say-i-love-you-is-to-say-that-you-are-not-mine-but-rather-your-own/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) [Explore all 21 Carter Heyward quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) ## More Invisible quotes > [A real Christian in an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-real-christian-in-an-odd-number-anyway-he-feels-supreme-love-for/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [This brings me back to the image of Kafka standing before a fish in the Berlin aquarium, a fish on which his gaze fell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/this-brings-me-back-to-the-image-of-kafka-standing-before-a-fish-in/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [Inequality is pervasive but invisible. It's hard to see. You need a sort of tool to make it visible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hito-steyerl/inequality-is-pervasive-but-invisible-it-s-hard-to-see-you-need-a/) [Hito Steyerl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hito-steyerl/) > [Jesus' kingdom was not like the popular expectation. He used the phrase 'kingdom of God' with a different meaning. His kingdom was not of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-harpur/jesus-kingdom-was-not-like-the-popular-expectation-he-used-the-phrase/) [Tom Harpur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-harpur/) > [One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/one-of-our-great-allies-at-present-is-the-church-itself-do-not/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [ I really enjoyed it - being involved in watching rushes and playback \[in "The Invisible Woman"\]. Ralph \[Fiennes\] was very open to my input,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felicity-jones/i-really-enjoyed-it-being-involved-in-watching-rushes-and-playback-in/) [Felicity Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felicity-jones/) > [Death left its old tragic heaven and became the lyrical core of man: his invisible truth, his visible secret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/death-left-its-old-tragic-heaven-and-became-the-lyrical-core-of-man/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“If you come anywhere near my daughter, I will see to it that you are taken apart piece by bloody piece. Do I make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-shusterman/if-you-come-anywhere-near-my-daughter-i-will-see-to-it-that-you-are/) [Neal Shusterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-shusterman/) > [The technology involved in making anything invisible is so infinitely complex that nine hundred and ninety-nine billion, nine hundred and ninety-nine million, nine hundred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/the-technology-involved-in-making-anything-invisible-is-so-infinitely/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [Bread is a second cause; the LORD Himself is the first source of our sustenance. He can work without the second cause as well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/bread-is-a-second-cause-the-lord-himself-is-the-first-source-of-our/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Though an atom is invisible, unthinkable, yet in it are the whole power and potency of the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/though-an-atom-is-invisible-unthinkable-yet-in-it-are-the-whole-power/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [How do you turn the invisible into the visible? The first step is to define your dream precisely; the only limit to what you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-robbins/how-do-you-turn-the-invisible-into-the-visible-the-first-step-is-to/) [Tony Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-robbins/) > [Architects mostly work for privileged people, people who have money and power, Power and money are invisible, so people hire us to visualize their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shigeru-ban/architects-mostly-work-for-privileged-people-people-who-have-money/) [Shigeru Ban](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shigeru-ban/) > [With the search for the Higgs, we're involved with 5% of the visual universe, and now we have 95% of the invisible universe that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-miller/with-the-search-for-the-higgs-we-re-involved-with-5-of-the-visual/) [Steve Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-miller/) > [When we pray, we must begin by conceiving God in full and vigorous images, but we must go on to acknowledge the inadequacy of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-farrer/when-we-pray-we-must-begin-by-conceiving-god-in-full-and-vigorous/) [Austin Farrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-farrer/) [Browse all 2,346 Invisible quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invisible/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I'm a priest, not a priestess. 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