So, it seems another bright-eyed young woman has decided she’s “going to join the Sisterhood of Karnassus.” How charming. The confidence! The naivety! Let me clarify something, loudly and for the record: you don’t simply decide to join the Sisterhood. This isn’t some local club where you pay your dues, show up on Thursdays, and get a shiny membership card.
No.
To even think about the Sisterhood is to misunderstand it. The Sisterhood doesn’t send out invitations like a book club. You must be asked to join—only after proving yourself. And by proving yourself, I don’t mean memorizing a few proverbs or flaunting your sudden interest in self-denial on social media. I mean you must first erase your ego—completely.
Let me spell it out for anyone else considering this “career change.” Before the Sisterhood even looks in your direction, you must make your way to the city of Karnassus. Not with luggage. Not with backup plans. Certainly not with a little “self-care fund” stashed away. You arrive with nothing. Then you live in the shadows of the monastery—on the streets, among the dust and filth. You beg for a year.
Let me repeat that: a year.
You will sleep on cold stone and eat whatever scraps the kind-hearted or careless toss your way. You will learn humility, dependence, and survival in the rawest sense. Only after you have endured this stripping-away of every material comfort and every shred of self-importance will the Sisterhood even glance in your direction.
And if—if—you survive, you will then be granted the smallest of privileges: the right to move the brown rag. What is the brown rag, you ask? The one tied above the entrance to the nunnery gates, the one that must be moved aside for a true novice to enter. It’s not ceremonial; it’s a test. Only the worthy can lift it, and only then will you take your first steps toward the Sisterhood.
Obviously as we start the sisterhood on earth, we won’t be able to follow that exact system, and I will be honest with you that we are still conferring on the matter and thinking about it. But one thing I can tell you for certain, Cindy, is it it definitely won’t be something you can just… join.
Sincerely,
Novice Mistress Naz
