Magic 401: One Price of Many

Everything has a price. The things which are valuable tend to have a heavy price. Part of being a priest is paying a variety of prices for your own learning, for the people you serve who cannot pay for themselves, and on occasion for your own imbalances—the consequences of your actions.

Everything about a priest can be a tool. Our bodies are used to provide a place for the lwa to manifest. Our consciousness and its ability to inhabit our bodies is a part of the price we pay. Every possible kind of sickness, discomfort, even pain is a part of that process. Every kind of psychological distress. We will hurt. We will be hungry. We will be exhausted, sick, and in every kind of emotional distress as necessary to learn a lesson, for the sake of our children, and/or because we have earned a consequence.

Pain is a tool, one of many. Some lwa prefer it as a tool—lwa who were tortured when they were alive, for instance, may be more likely to use it than others. Some are reluctant to use it, but if they feel it necessary, will be much more harsh than others. All lwa can use pain as a tool, and many of them went through the kind of physical duress and agony that most of us hope to never encounter.

One of the reasons priests have more life energy than average is because at least part of the time, they will be suffering some sort of discomfort or pain for the purpose of getting something done. If you are not as easily tired as the next person, you are less likely to be incapacitated by whatever is happening to you.

One of the reasons that priests are respected by the people they serve is that it’s not uncommon for your priest to be at the least in discomfort, and potentially blinding agony, but still doing the various things they are responsible for. Tired, even exhausted, in pain and emotional or mental distress, and still doing the necessary work. Throwing up in the bushes during a ceremony, but still doing the necessary work.

Respect and honor.

Pain and discomfort are a part of what priests are responsible for bearing. Bearing them well is something that the lwa can view as worth respecting. Bearing them poorly is something no lwa will respect.

No one respects a whiner.