The Priest Soul group is the one most devoted to service to others.  It is typified by a basic outlook of subverting one's desires in order to serve the needs and desires of others.  Priests are some of the most loving beings in existence, and they weild a great power and influence through their inspirational aspects.

The Priest group serves out of three mechanisms:  healing, teaching, and inspiring.  By their very nature, Priests gravitate to positions of leadership by their ability to inspire masses of people at the same time.  Priests are often found at the head of causes, fighting for ideals and principles.  Because of their innate charisma, Priests much guard against abusing power for power's sake, and against extending so much of themselves that they eventually destroy or abase themselves.

In the early cycles of incarnation, Priests are likely to fall prey to the "guru" mentality; either seeking out a ashramic "master" and submitting all their personal power to him or her, or becoming such a "master" with fawning attendants.  Cult mentality and fanaticism may gain the upper hand in such situations.  In later years, Priests began to absolve karma by serving others without thought of recompense or recognition.  They may feel the duty to inspire others, and highly evolved priests command a regality and respect unknown to the other soul groups.

Priests are natural leaders, and may gravitate naturally to leadership positions in organizations and in government.  Their ability to set others at ease, innate charisma, and inspirational qualities make them naturals at leading others.  The magical power they weild is similar to that of the Wizard, and often Priests may be confused with Wizards.  However, while a Wizard's motivation is of creation, a Priest's motivation is of inspiration and devotion to an ideal.  Some priests may shy away from such pinnacles, however, and prefer to work with others on a one-on-one basis.

Many famous Priest leaders have existed throughout time.  These include:  Samuel (Bible), Caiaphas (High Priest of Judea), Akhenaton and Nefertiti, Caesar Augustus, Charlemagne, Richard the Lion-Heart, Phillipe Le Bel, Lady Jane Grey, Napoleon Bonaparte, Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Evita Peron, Charles DeGaulle, Queen Isabella of Spain, Emperor Franz Josef of Austria, Benito Mussolini, Josef Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Emperor Hirohito, Ayatollah Khomeni, Queen Elizabeth II, King George III, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, James Madison, Governer Michael Dukakis, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, George Bush, Robert Dole, and Anwar Sadat.

As spiritual leaders, Priests tend to take a back seat role, especially in their later cycles of incarnation.  In the early cycles, they may tend to draw people around them in a cult-like fashion, such as psychedelic leader Timothy Leary or the infamous Priest cult leader Charles Manson.  More likely, they often seek the walls of the cloister, where they may meditate upon their inner selves and universal wisdom, seeking to ever draw closer to God.  Notable exceptions are:  Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Socrates, Mary Baker Eddy, Florence Scovell Schinn, Cardinal John Newman, and motivational speaker Zig Zigler.

Priests often gravitate to the field of psychology.  It's innate model of human mind/soul behavior intrigues them philosophically and spiritually, and is an excellent vehicle for them to serve others.  Noted psychologists include Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Marie-Louise Von Franz, Carl J. Jung, Jean Piaget, and physician/psychologist Dr. Wayne Dyer.  In education, Priests tend to influence vast educational movements, such as Maria Montessori and John Dewey.

As writers and authors, Priests express stories as a way of inspiring and educating others rather than entertaining.  Their tales usually have a moral or lesson implied; something that one may take away with them after it is all over.  The stories of Priests speak of universal truth and timeless wisdom, stories that last through the ages.  Noted Priest authors are:  William Shakespeare, Rudyard Kipling, Hans Christian Anderson, Beatrix Potter, H.G. Wells, Emily Bronte, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Milton, Euclid, Frank Baum, Cartoonist Charles Shultz, Kahlil Gibran, Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, Dante Aligheri, Omar Khayam, Dostoievsky, Jack London, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, C. S. Lewis, Upton Sinclair, H. L. Mencken, John Steinbeck, and Antoine Ste. Exupery.

Priests naturally gravitate toward the broadcast arts, as this allows them to disseminate the universal information to others very easily.  Any of the broadcast media are useful to them.  Famous broadcast personalities such as Art Linkletter, Barbara Walters, Walter Cronkite, Ted Koppel, Wolfman Jack, Rona Barrett, Dick Clark, Ed Sullivan, and Paul Harvey are Priests.

As actors, Priests seek to inspire others, usually delivering a message or a deeper meaning through the roles they play.  A Priest soul will seek out the limelight to enlighten others or bring an important concept to the masses.  Famous Priest actors include Elizabeth Taylor, Vivien Leigh, Andy Griffith, Rock Hudson, Uma Thurman, Linda Evans, Larry Hagman, Rex Harrison, Abe Vigoda, Carroll O'Connor, Pat Boone, Demi Moore, Cybill Shepherd, Ricky Schroeder, Elsa Lanchester, John Travolta, Eddie Murphy, Shelley Duvall, Gene Wilder, Emma Thompson, Ted Danson, John Belushi, James Doohan, Kenneth Branaugh, Daniel-Day Lewis, Tom Hanks, Jason Priestly, Julia Roberts, Orson Welles, Jason Alexander, Robin Williams, Michelle Pfieffer, Jessica Tandy, Michael Palin (Monty Python), Patrick Stewart, Tom Cruise, Susan Sarandon, Mary Pickford, Veronica Lake, Hedy Lamarr, Ben Vereen, Audrey Hepburn, and Ginger Rogers.

Priests use music much the same way that Wizards do, except that Priests are more concerned with overtly bringing their listening audience to an emotional climax or catharsis than are Wizards (who are more interested in the beauty and majesty of the musical form in and of itself).  Many Priest musicians are singers or extremely talented instrumentalists. Priests have tended recently to dominate the popular music scene because of the current Priest cycle (1992-2001).  The alternative "grunge" movement is a direct function of the Priest group, in that it involves its target generation in an emotional outpouring and astral synthesis of expression.  Famous Priest musicians and bands include: Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Chopin, Tony Bennett, Guy Lombardo, Lawrence Welk, George Harrison, Dan Fogelberg, Cat Stevens, Kansas, Suzanne Vega, Whitney Houston, Carl Wilson (of the Beach Boys), Boy George, David Bowie, Sinead O'Connor, Matt Johnson (The The), REM, Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, Tori Amos, Alanis Morrisette, Loreena McKinnett, Ace of Bass, Collective Soul, Ed Kowalczik (Live), Depeche Mode, Freddy Mercury (Queen), The Andrews Sisters, Ethel Merman, Dolly Parton, Erasure, and, more recently, Garbage and Vertical Horizon.

In Business, Priests will often gravitate to positions of great influence in a company, often taking the role of C.E.O. or president of a company because of their ability to inspire and motivate their employees and customers.  Noted Priest businessmen include Stanley Marcus, Conrad Hilton, Ray Crock, Lee Iacocca, Andrew Carnegie, Nelson Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan.

The two main challenges for priests to overcome is that of martyrdom and self-destruction.   In their early cycles of incarnation, a Priest will work with martyrdom as a means for generating karma through sublimating their will to a cause or other entity.   As time progresses, Priests began working with the challenge of self-destructive behavior patterns such as substance abuse, self-mutilation, co-dependency, and other destructive patterns.

Priests work best with Thieves, in that the Thief actively seeks the Priest to comfort and heal their wounds while Priests relish in the delightful energies generated by the Thief. Priests tend to find Warriors very abrasive during the early cycles, although they respect their self-sacrifice and duty to a cause. This respect increases as the souls progress in evolution. Wizards and Priests tend to get along fairly well, as both wield the power of magic well, but for different purposes.

Mythological archetypes for Priests include: Isis, Bast, Thoth, Osiris, Kwan Yin, Brahma, Vesta, Hecate, Ceriddwen, Eagle (Native American), and Amaterasu Omigami.

Keyword for the Priest: I INSPIRE.

Return to The Four Soul Types.