What is a Priest in Neopaganism?

A priest or a priestess is often someone who speaks to the gods. In modern religions such as Christianity, a priest does a lot of the spiritual work for the layperson who then does not need to worry about the spiritual state of their soul so long as they follow their priest’s advice. The role is one of ministry often requiring skills in counselling and giving spiritual advice.

In Wicca, every initiate is immediately considered a priest or priestess because they must do the duty of speaking to the gods themselves and not rely on the ministry of others. There is rarely training in counselling and/or giving spiritual advice because there are no lay people to minister to.

In Neopaganism often organizations such as the Pagan Federation try to ensure that there are persons ready to minister to others, but there is such diversity in beliefs, that spiritual advice is often met with drama or is unchallenging and unhelpful, but counselling is common. Often however due to needs being met on a volunteer basis, many groups have untrained individuals performing in counselling roles.

Similarly, a prophet is someone who believes as a priest, they not only speak to gods, but they hear back from them. In doing so they can often predict things by conveying the will of the gods.

See also other types of Magical Practitioner.