Feast of Sekhmet at CounterPulse Gallery
Ascending the Priestess Path
Ali Montgomery
Artist’s Statement -
There are moments when a painting arrives through you rather than from you. Ascending the Priestess Path was one of those moments. I did not set out to paint a concept or a doctrine. I sat before the canvas and let myself fall back into the depths - the primordial waters we all come from, the dark and fertile place where life begins. The blues and greens at the base of the painting are that beginning; they are Nun, the ancient Egyptian waters of origin, the sea floor of the soul where we are unformed, unguarded, and full of possibility.
From that depth, something rose.
A serpent of life‑force, the creative current that has been with each of us since conception, began to move upward. Not in a straight line, because the priestess path is never straight. It coils, it pauses, it tests, it transforms. But it rises. It always rises. That serpent is the part of us that refuses to stay small, the part that insists on becoming.
As the serpent ascends, it meets the fire. The upper half of the painting is the realm of ignition - the solar heat, the divine spark, the place where the Eye opens. The burst of light at the center is not just brightness; it is the living presence of Sekhmet’s solar power. It is the Eye of Ra, the knowing that sees within and without. It begins as a small glow, a quiet awareness, and then expands until it fills the whole field of being. This is the moment when the priestess recognizes herself as both water and fire, both depth and radiance, both becoming and being.
When I painted this, I did not know I would later stand before it and be painted myself, photographed embodying five of Her names: Great One of Magic, The Source, Enlightener, Protectress of the Divine Order, Lady of the Waters of Life. Those images are not costumes or performances. They are devotional alignments, moments where I stepped into Her names, inviting their qualities to move through me. Each one is a facet of the path, a way the priestess learns to hold power, compassion, clarity, protection, and flow. Together, the painting and the five embodiments form a single teaching: the priestess path is an inner ascent. It begins in the depths, moves through the crucible, and rises toward the solar truth of who we are becoming.
When I speak to those who sit before this painting - the ones who have chosen to walk this path with sincerity and courage - I tell them this:
You are not here to become perfect. You are here to become yourself. You are here to feel the warmth of the sun in your chest, the fire in your heart, the serpent of creativity moving through your body. You are here to learn to see and to be seen. You are here to remember that you are made of water and energy, of darkness and light, of ancestors and possibility. You are here to become a living temple.
Ascending the Priestess Path is not a destination. It is a vibration, a devotion, a willingness to keep rising even when the way is not clear. It is the courage to embody the Goddess within: not as an imitation, but as a truth that has always been yours.
This work (the painting, the photographs, the offering) is a map of becoming. A reminder that the path is warm, and bright, and alive. And that you are already on it.
-- Ali Montgomery