Priestessing
Priestesses travel between worlds, bringing together heaven and earth in our dance, our speech, and our moving through our lives. We simultaneously live deeply in this place and time—honoring the earth and her cycles and in the mystery of the realm of spirit. We invite the union of body and spirit. –Taya Shere
Stepping into life, arousing wakefulness, weaving body and soul together is so often the goal for all of us, yet it is not always easy. We can stop in our stance, get stuck, stymied, frozen in place. Turning to ceremony, prayer, ritual, and the earth, grounds, opens and expands whom we can and were meant to be. And traveling through worlds, being between words and prayer, ceremony and ritual, heaven and earth, as well as souls, is a great way to define the work of a priestess. The invitation of becoming both body-ful and soulful is seen, felt, and activated in all of the above modalities.
Using prayer as a means of moving forward to the deep unfolding and raising of the heart brings us to stillness and presence. Whether prayer invokes and deepens ceremony or ceremony deepens and invokes prayer; opening to these offerings can bring transformation along with the art and magic of ritual.
Ordained as clergy thru the Kohenet Priestess Institute by Rabbi Jill Hammer and Taya Shere in 2015, I am rooted in an earth-based Judaism, deeply dedicated to the divine feminine and helping to both bring back and create ritual and prayer that is deeply holy and that brings wholeness to the participant.
I stepped into the name, Shomerit Eish Lavana, Keeper of the White Fire, guardian of the places and spaces between, as I and my participants occupy the liminal spaces of potential and possibility. This has opened for me ways to enter ritual, prayer, ceremony in a place of expanse and beauty.
The purpose of ritual is to climb the ladder of transformation. The practices can be used to initiate life change; divorce, career change, marriage, becoming a mother or deciding not to become a mother, preparing for surgery, becoming clean and sober or anything else wanted to evolve from or to. Marking times or events that have already taken place, such as a medical procedure or healing from an illness, are also other ways rituals can perform their magic.
The Hebrew letters, building blocks of creation have a magic all their own. Their shape and form carry vibration, deep meaning, and hold answers to some of our deepest questions. I use them as one would use a Tarot deck, questions are asked, answers are found.
Contact Alumah to schedule and for more information.
Alumah is a real master at pulling together many traditions and allowing participants to jointly celebrate their own lineage and specific life situations.
–Sue Siming-Hoeft, “Honoring the Mother” participant
Transcending and transformational is how I would describe the work and spiritual spaces that Alumah creates. Her celebration of Sukkot was not only dynamic and moving but has become a part of a lasting memory that perpetually transmits and sustains new meaning of the holiday for me. She is a light-bearer to all who seek her guidance!
–Rimona Kataniya, prayer circle participant
Alumah is a special, gentle, and nurturing soul. She is able to help others reach deeper to discover their own spirituality, no matter what path they may follow. When leading groups based around holy days, her ability to use music, nature, and selected readings in both English and Hebrew is inspiring.
–Enid Bootzin, movement workshops participant
