The Unholy Priest is an angelic step, which, as was noted even with the Listener, is reached by the ability to hear the whisper and not break.
His authority is the Unholy Tongue, a manifestation of the power of Degeneration and Filth. The magic of flesh and blood, together with dominion over shadows, rises to a new level, and the mythic form is completed: a black shadow and writhing flesh.
The method of action describes the role the bearer plays for their deity:
he is a prophet and punisher of heretics for the god he serves;
as a development of the Shepherd he leads people with revelations;
and he must be ready to give himself over to corruption in order to punish.
The latter is the essence of the entire branch. The path of the Hanged Man does not promise the bearer purity: it offers to carry corruption consciously and to good effect.
The rite of advancement leads into a separate world:
to separate one's own shadow, defeat it and fully subjugate it;
to enter the Shadow world, face its dangers and establish one's own "domain" there.
The canon clarifies that the Shadow world is a different dimension intersecting with the Mirror world.
