priestesses
Female religious leaders
Priestesses is the plural of priestess, a woman who performs religious rites or holds sacred office.
The term appears most often in discussions of ancient religions—Greek, Egyptian, Roman—where women served specific deities: The priestesses of Athena tended the eternal flame.
Some modern pagan and Wiccan traditions also use the title for female spiritual leaders.
Sacred worship structure
- ritualCeremonial set of actions
- ceremonyFormal event marking occasions
- oracleAuthoritative wisdom source
- sacredWorthy of reverence
vestal · altar · shrine · devotion · vestments · incense · offerings · invocation
One who restores health
- mediumMiddle size or state
- channelerOne who transmits spirits
- shamanIndigenous spiritual healer
- mysticSeeker of sacred truth
seer · prophetess · visionary · enchantress · wise woman · diviner · intuitive · sacred feminine
Greek prophetic sanctuary
- VestaGoddess of hearth
- EgyptNortheastern African nation
- GreeceBalkan peninsula nation
- RomeItaly's capital city
Mesopotamia · Isis · Athena · Sibyl · antiquity · pagan · polytheism · cult
Clergy's ceremonial assistant
- initiateTo set in motion
- elderSenior figure of authority
- noviceInexperienced newcomer to field
- matriarchFemale family leader
clergy · ordination · lineage · succession · rank · vestals · attendants · order
Modern pagan witchcraft religion
- neopaganModern practitioner of pre-Christian spirituality
- revivalReturn after decline
- contemporaryOf the present age
- practitionerOne who works regularly
eclectic · Santeria · Vodou · mambo · ordination · interfaith · spiritual counselor
temple
Sacred worship structure
- ritualCeremonial set of actions
- ceremonyFormal event marking occasions
- oracleAuthoritative wisdom source
sacred · vestal · altar · shrine · devotion · vestments · incense · offerings · invocation · consecration
healer
One who restores health
mystic · seer · prophetess · visionary · enchantress · wise woman · diviner · intuitive · sacred feminine · goddess worship
Delphi
Greek prophetic sanctuary
Rome · Mesopotamia · Isis · Athena · Sibyl · antiquity · pagan · polytheism · cult · pharaonic
acolyte
Clergy's ceremonial assistant
matriarch · clergy · ordination · lineage · succession · rank · vestals · attendants · order · sisterhood
Wicca
Modern pagan witchcraft religion
- neopaganModern practitioner of pre-Christian spirituality
- revivalReturn after decline
- contemporaryOf the present age
practitioner · eclectic · Santeria · Vodou · mambo · ordination · interfaith · spiritual counselor
- occultistswitches, wizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, warlocks
- paganismWicca, pagan, heathen, polytheist, polytheism
- Roman WomenAntonia, Aurelia, Cornelia, Agrippina, Julia
- traditional religionancestors, ancestral spirits, deities, rituals, sacrifices
- Baltic paganismMara, thunder god, sun goddess, earth goddess, world tree
- Caribbean SpiritualityRastafari, Rastafarianism, vodou, voodoo, Santeria
priestessespriests
Ordained religious leaders
high priests · clergymen · monks · friars · abbots
priestesseslaywomen
Unordained female believers
laypeople · laity · laymen · congregants · parishioners
- high priestessSenior female clergy leader
- high priestessesSenior female religious leaders
- voodoo priestessWoman leading spiritual ceremonies