Gabriela Herstik finds out about the Urban Priestess Mystery School – a new program designed to help you channel YOUR Priestess in every area of life…Additional images: Unnur Andrea shot by Karolina Daria Flora
If there were ever a moment in history where a deep, vibrant connection to the divine feminine was needed it’s NOW, and no-one knows this better than founders of the Urban Priestess Mystery School, Ashley Turner and Sianna Sherman.
By working through the unseen dimensions of this life, Urban Priestess Mystery School is aimed at helping modern women cultivate a connection to the ancient, powerful Priestess energy that resides deep within – the same energy Turner and Sherman have been working with for over two decades,
A collaboration of cosmic proportions, the women crossed paths at a yoga festival a few years back, and have ever since been carefully concocting ways for women to fully dance with their inner Priestess.
Open for registration June 1, The Mystery School is split into 12 key areas (based on the Zodiac) and honors the rhythm of the 13 moons – with 13 modules in the program. Each sector focuses on mastering different aspects of your life, from community to sexuality, but all with a Priestess twist.
We talked to both Ashley and Sianna about what this journey means to them, and where they believe it will take women everywhere.
WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR URBAN PRIESTESS MYSTERY SCHOOL COME FROM?
Ashley: I came upon the word Priestess reading Mists of Avalon in 1999, and something in me stirred to life. Truth lands in your bones like that. Shortly after, I was brought to my Priestess, Ariel Spilsbury, and began a year-long initiation in her tradition. My soul delighted in these radically deep, esoteric practices, which were fused with practical, daily wisdom for the modern world. A parched thirst in me was finally quenched, and I knew I was being called to create such a school of my own when the time was right.
Sianna: The seeds of the vision for me were born after my first year apprenticing in a mystery school in 1994, where I trained in a Celtic Priestess tradition. My whole notion of education was radically altered through this experience and I knew that one day I wanted to bring a mystery school of my own to life.
Ashley came to my class a few years ago, and at the end she asked if I was running the energy as a Priestess. It was a huge moment of recognition between us and our worlds began to converge. Shortly after, we taught our first Urban Priestess weekend together, and it was total magic! Our Urban Priestess Mystery School was born through our sisterhood.
WERE THERE ANY BUMPS IN THE ROAD IN BRINGING THIS PROGRAM TO FRUITION?
Sianna: I answer with a truly grateful YES! On an accelerated learning curve, the bumpy places are our growing edges – and while Ashley and I have a seamless way of generating vision, co-teaching and holding space together, it’s only in the last few years that I’m learning about the steady, organizational power that is necessary for our school to flourish.
Ashley: Haha – I love this question too! As with anything, you teach what you most need to learn. Sianna and I are deeply committed to expanding our consciousness by integrating our weaknesses and growing edges…this is the path of the Priestess.
I am also learning so much about sacred timing, the subtle realms of Spirit, and the power of deep, consistent, abiding sadhana (spiritual practice)…which is truly the taproot of the whole program. We have to live it in order to teach it.
IT SEEMS LIKE WITH EVERYTHING GOING ON IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW, WE NEED TO TAP INTO OUR PRIESTESS POWER MORE THAN EVER. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO INTRODUCE URBAN PRIESTESS MYSTERY SCHOOL RIGHT NOW?
Ashley: I see that we are at a tipping point. Enough people have been practicing yoga, meditation, and self-help that women in particular are ready for a much more nuanced, sophisticated and refined web. Our capacity for inner work has expanded. As the notions of spiritual awakening becomes part of the common vernacular, women are looking for a stronger container to hold them while they go deep into the underworld of their psyche to heal wounds of abandonment, abuse, hateful body image, inequity, financial and personal insecurity, and so much more.
“PRIESTESS” IS A BIG WORD – DO YOU THINK THERE’S A STIGMA ATTACHED TO IT FOR SOME PEOPLE?
A Priestess is simply somebody who’s willing to cultivate herself as a conduit of energies and become a bridge between the worlds, the seen and unseen. She consciously works to clear her own mirror so she can reflect truth and love. She is willing to listen fully and get out of her own way to be of service to the greater whole. A Priestess is in deep communion with nature and works with the elements (Air, Fire, Water, Earth) in practical ways to help people heal and transform. She also learns the magic ways of feminine power and wields the tools that have been passed down through generations of women.
WHICH SOUNDS AMAZING – BUT ALSO LIKE A TOTAL LIFESTYLE SHIFT! WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE TO WOMEN WHO FEEL LIKE THEY DON’T HAVE TIME TO INCORPORATE THESE TEACHINGS INTO THEIR LIFE?
In many ways, the time is ripe for women to hold their power in a feminine way, to integrate the energies of masculine and feminine within, and relate to the outer masculine in a respectful and harmonizing way (versus rejecting it or making it wrong). This is all the training of a Priestess – and only becomes more necessary for women who find themselves challenged by juggling both family and career, for example. This is not easy and women are forging a new path. The Priestess really drops in and gets to know her feminine power and learns to balance it with her masculine energies.
SO IS THERE A FEMINIST MESSAGE TO THE PROGRAM TOO?
There has been a lot of fear-based propaganda regarding women who hold their femininity in a powerful way, and overcoming this is a tough challenge because collective psyche is a tremendous force. But yes, the way to transform this is by doing our inner work and rising up together in sisterhood…carrying femininity, beauty, softness and great power simultaneously.
THE MYSTERY SCHOOL COVERS 12 KEY AREAS, WHICH FLOW BY THE LUNAR CYCLE. WHAT SORT OF EXERCISES WILL YOU BE INTRODUCING WITH THESE?
The 12 areas of study are based on the Zodiac wheel, and at the center/hub of the wheel is the Priestess Archetype. So we begin by teaching the tools, skills and archetypal energies of the Priestess, and go on to apply and overlay this model onto each of the 12 sectors (making 13 modules in all). In other words, it’s a roadmap to how to empower and activate each area of life to your fullest potential.
For example, when we work with finances, we will ask women to become accountable for their money – to sit down and truly evaluate their bank account and expenditures, and really dial in consciously to how their money is being spent, made, invested and saved. Then we will give Priestess tools to create a healthy, empowered relationship with money. Another example: when we come to the Mystic, we will ask women to open up their channels of true prayer, ritual and invocation.
Ashley Turner and Sianna Sherman
Can’t decide if The Urban Priestess Mystery School is right for you? Check out Ashley and Sianna’s Urban Priestess checklist!
– When you hear the word “Priestess,” something quickens in you
– Unexpected circumstances have left you with uncertainty and doubt
– Sexual arousal and creative energy is stirring within you
– You feel an urgency to speak your truth with radical honesty
– You have the desire to fall in love with your whole self
– You are stuck in the “Cinderella Syndrome” and feel ready to get financially empowered
– You’re insulted by the superficial definitions of women’s beauty
– You know you’re here for a reason even if you cannot name it
– You’re no longer content to be an outer façade of your own deep interior
– Deep in your heart, you believe in Magic
– You’re tired of being a victim and wanting empowerment
– You feel a yearning to be in deep communion with Nature
– There is a general agitation at the social injustice of the world
– You have had an escalation of vivid and emotional dreams that feel like they are calling to you
– You want to nourish your inner creativity and be in rhythm with your soul
– You’re boredom with the status quo, both locally and globally
– A life of non-conformity is calling to you
– You are feeling stripped down, vulnerable and bare
– Your inner voice is saying: “Listen and Trust Me!”
– You feel like dancing, singing, painting, or writing
– Something inside you is bursting to be free!
Registration for the Urban Priestess Mystery School is open NOW – to find out more and reserve your place in the program, click here!
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