Goth Craft:

TWPT Talks to Raven Digitalis©2007TWPT

Raven Digitalis....Well, a friend of mine introduced me to the Craft in my freshman year of high school. And by "The Craft" I am referring *both* to Witchcraft itself, and the movie of the same title! Yeah, I know, it's 60% inaccurate, but it's an entertaining film! Anyway, I had been researching Christianity and some other paths before finding Paganism and Wicca, and realized how much emphasis on self-empowerment and attunement to the natural world that Witchcraft offered, which is why it appealed to me as such a profound spiritual path, and one that I will walk for life. It's just natural.  from the interview with Raven Digitalis

Raven Digitalis (Missoula, MT) is a Neopagan Priest of the "disciplined eclectic" shadow magick tradition Opus Aima Obscuræ, and is a radio and club DJ of Gothic, EBM, and industrial music. With his Priestess Estha, Raven holds community gatherings, Tarot readings, and a variety of ritual services. From their home, the two also operate
the metaphysical business Twigs and Brews, specializing in magickal and medicinal bath salts, herbal blends, essential oils, and incenses.

Raven holds a degree in anthropology from the University of Montana. His other passions include animal rights activism and black and white photography.

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

Goth Craft

Magickal Connections:

TWPT Talks to Lisa Mc Sherry©2007TWPT

Lisa McSherry....Books were my guides for years. I was lucky, I grew up in San Francisco and it was relatively easy to find occult bookstores – even when they were called feminist bookstores. Drawing Down the Moon was another book my mother already owned, but I found Diane Mariechild and Shakti Gawain on my own. Sybil Leek and some crazy male author (I forget who, but he had a very ‘Christian’ take on witchcraft that I found appalling, even though I kept the book for a long time) were others that I read. 

In true solitary fashion, I did a lot of figuring out things for myself. I’d try a ritual the way it was written, and the next time I would alter it to something that was more my style, or where it seemed appropriate. I didn’t do a lot of spell work (mostly because I couldn’t always see the ethics) but I did a lot of magick.    from the interview with Lisa Mc Sherry

Magickal Connections: Creating a Lasting and Healthy Spiritual Group

Ritual Craft:

TWPT Talks to Amber K©2007TWPT

Amber K.....Does it indicate my preference? Well, mostly I like being part of a coven very much, so yes. That doesn’t mean it’s  “The Right Way” as contrasted to solitary practice. There are people who are solitary because they have to be—i.e., can’t find a group that works for them—and there are people who work solitary because that’s what their spiritual growth requires. And there are people who are not part of covens, but are very active in the Pagan community. The important thing is not whether you’re a coven member or a solitary, it’s whether you are accomplishing what you need to spiritually. 

It’s a magickal process. We take experiences and symbolize them with words. That makes the experience more powerful as well as changing it, because of course experiences can’t really be captured or described that way. But by choosing the words, we choose how to understand and integrate the experiences, and we define ourselves through them. It’s transformative and mystical. Naturally enough, people who don’t do this magick will have a different understanding of who they are.  from the interview with Amber K

Ritual Craft:
Creating Rites for
Transformation and Celebration

Wicca 404:

TWPT Talks to Esra Free©2006TWPT

Esra Free....." In all honesty, I have never considered myself a writer.  Even with Wicca 404 published and out there in the world, I still don't.  I am a High Priestess.  A humble explorer along the Path and a weaver of the Craft, and that's enough for me.  Prior to writing Wicca 404, in my role as High Priestess for the Cosmic Goddess Coven, I wrote a great deal as far as our common Book of Shadows, lesson plans for new initiates, our internal newsletter and the like.  It was in these venues that I worked out, in relationship with everybody else and happenings within the coven, the basic thealogy that is expressed in the book.  My husband, Jack Preston King, who actually is a writer, read all that material and at a certain point said, "Esra!  You need to publish this stuff!  The world needs this.  Wiccans everywhere need to read this."   Jack is not an official member of the Cosmic Goddess Coven, but he's very Wicca-friendly, very open to all kinds of spiritual ideas and, in the present political state of our world, he's also very concerned about Humanity's future.  I absolutely agreed with him that bringing our coven's "Cosmic Perspective" to the larger Wiccan community stood to benefit Wicca, and maybe even Humanity, as a whole.  I was less sure that anybody would want to read any book written by me!  But I trust his judgment, so to the word processor I went!  Readers will have to judge the results for themselves!" from the interview with Esra

Wicca 404: Advanced Goddess Thealogy
by Esra Free

Sacred Places of Goddess:

TWPT Talks to Karen Tate©2006TWPT

Karen Tate..... An ordained minister, independent scholar of the Sacred Feminine, and graduate of The Women's Thealogical Institute, specializing in Goddess and Women's Spirituality, Karen's particular emphasis is on the roles of women and the study of comparative religions and ancient cultures in a modern or reconstructed context. It is no surprise then that she is the founder of the educational, art, and cultural organization, The Isis Ancient Cultures Society. An Adepta within the International Fellowship of Isis, Karen was ordained by one of the founders, Lady Olivia Robertson, at Clonegal Castle In Ireland. More than a decade ago, the author began the Iseum of Isis Navigatum, a hearth of the Goddess within the FOI, which continues to fulfill her calling to help mid-wife the rebirth of the Divine Feminine in contemporary society. Tate's insatiable curiosity, scholastic achievements and special interests help define her focus of building bridges between cultural and spiritual communities and promoting ideals of partnership, inclusivity, compassion and continuing education. To accomplish these goals, she is instrumental in sponsoring informative programs, workshops, ritual performances and artistic and cultural events in and around Los Angeles. Karen resides in Venice, CA with her husband, Roy, her life partner for more than twenty years. They are the creators, artists, and caretakers of the Isis Temple.

Sacred Places of Goddess
108 Destinations

Not In Kansas Anymore:

TWPT Talks to Christine Wicker©2006TWPT

Christine Wicker..... Magic has stepped out of the movies, morphed from the pages of fairy tales, and taken root in the modern mind. Soccer moms are getting voodoo head washings in their backyards, young U.S. soldiers send chants toward pagan gods of war, and a seem-ingly normal family has determined that they are in fact elves. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are turning toward the supernatural in new ways, blending the ancient and the modern for a hyper-charged spirituality. They are reaching back in time to powers that have sustained the human imagina-tion for thousands of years.

But others of us are bolder. The community ofWiccans, witches, and pagans is growing faster than any other religious group in America. Voodoo, hoodoo, and Santeria are attracting middle-class believers across the country.

National bestselling author and award-winning religion reporter Christine Wicker leaves no talisman unturned in her hunt to find what's authentic and what's not in America's burgeoning magical reality. Her investigation leads her from the voodoo temples of New Orleans to the witches' covens of Salem to a graveyard in north Florida as she probes the secrets of an underground society and learns lessons she never dreamed could be taught.

Not In Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic
Is Transforming America

Solitary Eclectic Witchcraft:

TWPT Talks to Liz Pilley©2006TWPT

Liz Pilley..... has been a Pagan at heart for as long as she can remember, although she only found the word for it after a huge spiritual crisis in her teens. Since then, she has learnt a lot, practised a lot and devoted a lot of time and energy to finding her own individual path. She has mainly worked alone although she has also worked occasionally with a good friend with spectacular success!

Liz started planning her first book 'Solitary Eclectic Witchcraft' as a response to being unable to find any books describing completely non-Wiccan Witchcraft. She has also written several articles for the magazine 'Witchcraft & Wicca'. Liz is particularly interested in green issues and what might be called 'kitchen Witchcraft': those of us who are important but background figures such as parents, teachers, healers, counsellors. Liz lives on the outskirts of London with her husband, 2 children and cat and she is currently very focused on the spiritual issues surrounding family, friends and fertility

Solitary Eclectic Witchcraft

Solitary Wicca for Life:

TWPT Talks to Arin Murphy-Hiscock©2006TWPT

Arin Murphy-Hiscock    is a third-degree Wiccan High Priestess in the Black Forest Clan, a tradition linked both by lineage and practice to several other branches of Wiccan thought and philosophy, including the Caledonii Tradition, Druidic Wicca, Gardnerian practice, Seax-Wicca, general Celtic Wicca, and German Witchcraft.

Arin works as a freelance author and editor, and has most recently become a contracted consultant for Provenance Press, a New Age imprint published by Adams Media. Her first book, Power Spellcraft for Life: The Art of Crafting and Casting for Positive Change, was released by Provenance Press in May 2005, and her second book, Solitary Wicca for Life: A Complete Guide to Mastering the Craft on Your Own, was published in September 2005. The Way of the Green Witch, her third book, will be released in May 2006.

Solitary Wicca for Life

Witch in the Boardroom:

TWPT Talks to Stacey Demarco©2005TWPT

Stacey Demarco   Stacey Laing-DeMarco is a native of Sydney, Australia, born of Celtic and Native American ancestry. Thirteen years ago during an successful career in the corporate world she began to realize that there was an emptiness and lack of purpose that could not be filled externally. After deciding to fully study Wicca, (the fastest growing spiritual practice on several continents), Ms. Laing-DeMarco was initiated as a ‘solitary’ Witch over 13 years ago.  Known for her very grounded style of practical magic she now
combines a successful career in corporate Australia with her  vocation of teaching Witchcraft in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Her most recent accomplishment is the completion of her first book, “Theres a Witch in the Boardroom - Proven Business Magic”  Ms. Laing-DeMarco lives on Sydney’s Northern beaches by the sea, with her husband and furry animal companions. She has appeared on radio and television and has been interviewed on Pagan issues by Australian newspapers.

Witch in the Boardroom

Faery Healing:

TWPT Talks to Margie McArthur©2005TWPT

Margie McArthur   has been a student of metaphysics, mysteries, and magic for over 40 years, and a priestess of the Old Religion for 28 of those years. She is an ordained minister and an Arch Druidess of the Druid Clan of Dana of the Fellowship of Isis. 

A lifelong student of the healing arts, she comes from a long line of healers of various sorts. She is a Reiki practitioner, is certified in crystal healing, acupressure and herbalism, and has training in energy healing, astrology, shamanism, and music. 

She is the author of WiccaCraft for Families: The Path of the Hearthfire (Phoenix Publishing, 1994), Wisdom of the Elements: The Sacred Wheel of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, (Crossing Press, 1998), and Faery Healing: The Lore and the Legacy (New Brighton Books, 2003). She has contributed to Caer Rhiannon Newsletter, Razing the Stakes, The Crystal Well, and  Dragon's Quest magazines, serving on the staff of The Crystal Well in the 1970's and as assistant editor for Dragon's Quest in the 1990's. 

She is married and the mother of four gorgeous, opinionated, and nearly grown-up children. She lives in California with her family and her aging but still fierce watch-cat.

Faery Healing

Encyclopedia of Witchcraft:

TWPT Talks to Judika Illes©2005TWPT

Judika Illes   Born inNew York City, her metaphysical career began early: Her first encounter with tarot cards at age six was also her first experience of love at first sight! That passion still burns true. Although she does practice other forms of divination, tarot remains the foundation of her practice. 

A lifelong pursuit of metaphysical wisdom followed and continues: astrology, mythology, Kabbalah, the Egyptian mysteries as well as spiritual, magical and healing traditions from all over Earth but particularly Africa andAsia. True love's arrows pierced her heart yet again when she first encountered a vial of essential oil. (Essential oil of frankincense, to be exact, still a favorite.) Following over a decade of independent study, she earned a certificate in therapeutic aromatherapy. She served on the faculty of theAustralasian College of Herbal Studies as an aromatherapy tutor, teaching the certification program. 

Her special passion for almost fifteen years has been magical and traditional approaches to fertility. Originally stimulated by her own reproductive challenges, she was frustrated by the medical options offered to her. She went searching for other avenues, gentle Earth and female-friendly solutions and found them: a vast repository of women's wisdom. Two children and many years later, she still searches and researches, impressed and empowered by thousands of years of women's inventiveness, endurance, defiance and humor.

The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft 

The Witches' Sabbats:

TWPT Talks to Mike Nichols©2005TWPT

Mike Nichols   is the celebrated author of The Witches' Sabbats Web site—the ultimate resource on Pagan holidays and other writings. He does extensive online teaching and writing, occasionally guest lectures at Pagan festivals, and performs in a Pagan band called Spellbound.

A pioneer in the midwestern Pagan community, Nichols taught classes in Witchcraft for twenty years continuously from the 1970s to '80s in Columbia and Kansas City, Missouri, through the Communiversity and at his bookstore, The Magick Lantern. He was also the editor of The Lantern's Light, the store's in-house publication. A founding member of the Coven of New Gwynedd, Nichols was the first Wiccan representative on the Kansas City Interfaith Council.

Nichols is a lifelong student of the Craft and, after years of research, writing, and teaching, he still considers himself a student. He received his BA from the University of Missouri, with a double major in communications and psychology (specializing in parapsychology). He has done graduate work in the field of library and information science.

The Witches' Sabbats 

Love Spell:

TWPT Talks to Phyllis Curott©2005TWPT

Phyllis Curott   Ivy League attorney Phyllis Curott is also author of the internationally best-selling Book of Shadows (Broadway Books 1998), WitchCrafting: A Spiritual Guide to Making Magic (Braodway Books 2001) and the greatly anticipated sequel to her first memoir The Love Spell: An Erotic Memoir of Spiritual Awakening (Gotham Books/Penguin January 1, 2005 ).  A global peace and interfaith activist, Curott is a member of the eminent Assembly of World Religious Leaders, and was one of the finalists for the Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award in 2000. Phyllis Curott was honored by Jane Magazine, along with Hilary Clinton, as one of the Ten Gutsiest Women of the Year when her memoir made her the world’s most visible Wiccan High Priestess.

She continues to practice law and is currently scheduling her next book and lecture tour. And she spends as much time as possible with her Cairn terrier Webster in their home on the east end of Long Island, where she sails, gardens, cooks, reads, rests and enjoys the fulfillment of her love spell.

Love Spell: An Erotic Memoir of Spiritual Awakening 

Confessions of a Teenage Witch:

TWPT Talks to Gwinevere Rain©2005TWPT

Gwinevere Rain   (Florida) is the author of three nonfiction books for teens. Her first, SpellCraft for Teens: A Magickal Guide to Writing & Casting Spells written by Gwinevere when she was only sixteen became the catalyst that sparked her writing career. This start as a young author and Gwinevere's devotion to her spirituality led to a November 2002 feature article in Seventeen Magazine which discussed Wicca and offered three original spells.

Confessions of a
Teenage Witch 

Irish Witchcraft
From An Irish Witch:

TWPT Talks to Lora O'Brien©2005TWPT

Lora O'Brien   Lora has considered herself a Witch from about the age of 15, even before she knew what to call it, after a powerful magical experience led her to this path. She met her future husband at the age of 16, and they have worked together magically since that time, only marrying when Lora was 21, after a time of going their separate ways. She trained for 5 years in a successful Dublin Wiccan group, the "Coven of the Dagda's Cauldron", and had the honour of being their Maiden (the deputy High Priestess for want of a better description!) for 4 of those years. She received her Third and final degree with them before she left, conferring the role of High Priestess upon her. As a High Priestess she is entitled (by Wiccan traditions) and expected to initiate and train new Witches, or run her own group. The High Priestess and High Priest of the coven where she received her training and degrees had themselves 'hived' (branched off) after training, from a coven run by the English Wiccan Stewart Farrar (author of "What Witches Do") and his partner, Janet. Lora is still in regular friendly contact with her former coven members.  

Though first a solitary witch, and then trained as an Alexandrian/Gardnerian Wiccan, she has gone on to discover her own path, Irish Witchcraft in it's essence. Priestess is how she generally describes herself these days, Bean Draoí (pronounced Ban Dree) in her native tongue, or just Witch.The workshops and training sessions she runs have a very natural flow - very easy going, entertaining, and approachable; which is mirrored in both Lora's personality and her style of writing and speaking. Her first book, "Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch", was published by New Page Books in October 2004, receiving many excellent reviews from critics and the general public alike.

Irish Witchcraft
From an Irish Witch

Spirits of Earth & Faerie:

TWPT Talks to Ivo Dominguez, Jr.©2004TWPT

Ivo Dominguez, Jr.  is a writer, an artist, a visionary, and a practitioner of many esoteric disciplines. He has been active in Wicca and the Neo-Pagan community since 1978, and has been teaching a broad range of topics since 1982 including Astrology, Magick, and Qabala. 

He has taught at Sacred Space, Etheracon, the Free Spirit Gathering, Ecumenicon, The Crystal Ball, Stones Rising, and many other events. He was the convener for the two previous Between The Worlds conferences and will do so again in 2004. Ivo was a founding member, and a past High Priest, of Keepers of the Holly Chalice, the first coven of The Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, a Wiccan Tradition. He now serves as an Elder to the covens of the Assembly. 

His techniques are rooted in a synthesis of traditional metaphysical teachings, modern science, and memories from past lives. He has been published in numerous periodicals and is the author of Castings: The Creation of Sacred Space, Of Spirits: The Book Of Rowan, and Beneath The Skins. He is also one of the creative forces behind A Dream Whose Time Is Coming an audio CD of 21 chants for rituals and devotional ceremonies. 

He is one of the owners/stewards ofSeelie Court which is 102 acres of wooded land inSouthern Delaware. The land atSeelie Court is filled with magick and has been consecrated to the purpose of deepening all pagan paths.

Spirits of Earth & Faerie

Pop Goes the Witch:

TWPT Talks to Fiona Horne©2004TWPT

Fiona Horne  is a best selling author, journalist, television/radio personality, musician, actor and Witch. She has been practicing the Craft for seventeen years. Fiona's first book Witch: A Magickal Journey, published by Thorsons/HarperCollins in October 2000 sold out of its first print run in just six weeks and is now in it's third reprint. She is also author of 2001’s Seven Days to A Magickal New You and 2002’s Magickal Sex-A Witches Guide to Bed’s Knobs and Broomsticks. Her new book for Teen Witches, Witchin’ – A Handbook for Teen Witches released in the UK October 2002 and the USA March 2003 is another best seller. In Australia, Fiona is published by Random House and in Germany, Bauer Group.

Fiona moved to Los Angeles in 2002 and is now based there though she travels frequently to the United Kingdom and Australia for work commitments. Recent promotion has seen Fiona enjoying primetime USA coverage including: television - Los Angeles’ KTLA5 Morning News, Good Day New York, Chicago’s WGN Morning News and The Other Half (NBC national). Radio - The Mark and Brian Show (national), L.A.’s Star 89.9 with Ryan Seacrest/Lisa Foxx and The Valentine Show (L.A.’s KIIS FM/ national).

Pop Goes the Witch
edited by Fiona Horne     

Gaia Eros:

TWPT Talks to Jesse Wolf Hardin©2004TWPT

Jesse Wolf Hardin  is a renowned writer, artist, musician, Gaian mystic, green wizard and most of all— teacher.  The author of seven books including The Canyon Testament, Kindred Spirit: Sacred Earth Wisdom (Swan•Raven 2001) and Gaia Eros, he also writes over fifty articles per year for various periodicals including Magical Blend and Circle. Wolf is a contributor to Oberon Zell’s Grimoire For The Apprentice Wizard.   He draws on the unique energies of his wilderness sanctuary and the sacred world-view of our ancient ancestors, in order to retell the story of our joyous interpenetration with/in the rest of the living world.  In his presentations he provokes our engagement with our senses, with the myriad other lifeforms, and thus with the needs of the planet. Wolf presents regularly at festivals and concerts including Starwood, and the remainder of the time writes and teaches on an enchanted riverside sanctuary and ancient place of power inSouthwest New Mexico­ hosting seekers for magickal study, workshops, wilderness retreats and resident apprenticeships. He’s been one of the primary voices of paganism and nature spirituality in the radical environmental movement since 1981, while simultaneously inspiring ecoactivism and land preservation among the alternative and Pagan communities.  His efforts have been praised by the likes of Gary Snyder, Paul Winter, Barbara Mor and Ralph Metzner (see Luminary Quotes).

 Gaia Eros

Priestess of the Goddess:

TWPT Talks to Maxine Sanders©2004TWPT

Maxine Sanders  was initiated into the Circle of Witchcraft in 1964. The High Priest of that Coven was Alex Sanders, known throughout the world as 'King of the Witches'. Maxine and Alex were Handfasted in 1965, and legally married in 1968.

The Sanders became household names during the sixties and seventies, dramatically bringing Witchcraft, its practices and reality into global consciousness. 

It is widely acknowledged that the intense publicity surrounding the Sanders precipitated those with a leaning towards Paganism to break away from the bonds of the then rigid Christian ethic. Despite the extreme interest of the paparazzi, the many sincere Initiations performed in Maxine and Alex's Covensteads during and since that period, saw the inception and fashioned a lineage of Witchcraft that has since spread throughout the world. 

Maxine is a highly respected Priestess of the Sacred Mysteries. She has encouraged, enabled and inspired students of the Priesthood to take on the conscious mantle of their spiritual potential. She believes the catalyst for that inspiration comes from the Cauldron of the Goddess in all its guises. 

Among Maxine's students and Initiates are those who have written authoritative books and informative works on Modern Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Gods and Goddesses, Seasonal rituals, Sabbats, Ceremonial magic, Cabbala and The Sacred Magic of the Angels. 

Several of Maxine's pupils have become accomplished teachers of esoteric knowledge and work internationally. However, most follow the traditional path and pass on the Sacred Mysteries within the hidden Inner realms of theTemples of the Goddess. 

Today, Maxine practices the Art Magical and celebrates the Craft’s rituals either in the mountains or in her stone cottage, Bron Afon. Maxine practices her Magic’s alone; she has retired from the work of teaching. Her vocation as a Priestess includes counselling those who are in need of kindness, truth and hope. She is often approached by those in the Craft who are not too proud to test the strength of the shoulders of those who have gone before.

Book of Shadows and Ritual Regalia

Gay Witchcraft:

TWPT Talks to Christopher Penczak©2004TWPT

Christopher Penczak  is an eclectic witch, writer, and healing practitioner. His practice draws upon the foundation of modern Witchcraft blended with the wisdom of mystical traditions from across the globe. Christopher Penczak is the author of the books City Magick (Samuel Weiser, 2001), Spirit Allies (Samuel Weiser, 2002), The Inner Temple of Witchcraft (Llewellyn 2002) and Gay Witchcraft: Empowering the Tribe (Weiser Books, 2003). He is an eclectic witch, healer and teacher in the New England area.

In 2000, Christopher Penczak was ordained as a minister by the Universal Brotherhood Movement, Inc. He is also a part time faculty member at the North Eastern Institute of Whole Health and a founding member of the Gifts of Grace Foundation, a non-profit organization in New Hampshire made up of individuals from diverse spiritual backgrounds dedicated to joyful service to the local communities.

Continuing with his writing, Christopher has since penned Spirit Allies, The Inner Temple of Witchcraft and Gay Witchcraft. In 2002, City Magick won Best Magick book from the Convention of Visionary Retailers. In 2003, he won the same award for The Inner Temple of Witchcraft.

Currently Christopher continues to write books and articles while holding a teaching and healing practice in New Hampshire, where he lives with his husband, science fiction/fantasy author Stephen Kenson.

 The Outer Temple of Witchcraft

Paganism:

TWPT Talks to Joyce and River Higginbotham©2004TWPT

Joyce and River Higginbotham  They make their home in Missouri, where they are very active in teaching, networking, and promoting Paganism and other earth-centered religions, on both the local and national level.  They are founding members of the Council for Alternative Spiritual Traditions (CAST), a regional organization consisting of members from a variety of alternative spiritualities, which hosts public Pagan and alternative events.  River and Joyce consider themselves Eclectic Pagans and  have been involved in spiritual exploration and earth-centered religions for the past fifteen years.  They have taught beginning and intermediate classes for ten of those years.

River is a mechanical engineer with a dual degree in solar engineering, and his interests include travel, history, aviation, and community building.  Joyce is an attorney who operates her own practice, and her interests include reading, opera, philosophy and gardening.  Joyce and River have been married for twelve years, have two dogs and three cats, and live contentedly in their hundred year old house.

Joyce and River have been published in CIRCLE Magazine, in Llewellyn's NEW WORLD magazine, and in CAST newsletters.  They have written several tracts on Paganism which are circulated in the Midwest, particularly to the press, and have been interviewed numerous times for newspaper, television, and radio.

Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions

The New Encyclopedia
of the Occult:
TWPT Talks to John Michael Greer©2004TWPT

John Michael Greer    (Seattle, WA) has been a student of magic and the unexplained since 1975. The author of several books, including Natural Magic: Potions and Powers from the Magical Garden, Circles of Power: Ritual Magic in the Western Tradition, and Inside a Magical Lodge He has written articles for Renaissance Magazine, the Golden Dawn Journal, the Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Mezlim, New Moon Rising, Gnosis, and Alexandria.

Active in the Druid community, he is currently Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), a Druid Companion of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids (OBOD), and was the recipient of OBOD's Mount Haemus award for Druidic scholarship in 2003.  He is also a TCBA-certified Tarot grandmaster, a practicing geomancer,and a student of sacred geometry. He currently lives in Seattle with his herbalist and musician spouse Sara.

The New Encyclopedia
of the Occult

The Urban Primitive:
TWPT Talks to Tannin Schwartzstein
and Raven Kaldera©2003TWPT

You consider yourself a Pagan, or a Magician, or a Witch, because you know there's more to this world than meets the mundane eye. You believe that magic can influence events in your own life and in the world around you.
But you don't live on some pastoral, isolated farm, living off the land, generating your own electricity and pumping your own water. No, you live in the urban jungle. You learned early on that money really doesn't grow on trees, and you don't have wads of extra cash to spend on elaborate ritual tools, custom spell ingredients, and stylish ritual attire. So what's a modern urban Pagan to do? Learn how to live a magical life in the concrete jungle. 

Raven Kaldera

The Circle Within:
TWPT Talks to Dianne Sylvan©2003TWPT

Dianne Sylvan    has been a Wiccan and practicing Witch for ten years.  

She is a founder of the Blessedways Temple, a cross-traditional Wiccan fellowship in Austin, which provides classes, weekly worship circles, and public Sabbats (and will, starting in 2004, give teaching workshops and intermediate to advanced classes as well).

She is also a member of Circle of the Vine coven, as well as the Tribe of Ancient Ways.  

Sylvan has written for Circle magazine, and her work will appear in the 2005 Llewellyn Witches’ Calendar.  Her first book, The CircleWithin: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition was released in September 2003.  More of her essays, rants, and spiritual ravings can be found on her website, Dancing Down the Moon.  Sylvan lives in Austin, Texas, with her vociferous and perpetually hungry cat, Cosmo.

The Circle Within

Shamanic Healing:
TWPT Talks to Kristin Madden©2003TWPT

Kristin Madden   is an author and mother, as well as an environmental chemist and wildlife rehabilitator. She is the Director of Ardantane's School of Shamanic Studies. A Druid and tutor in the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, Kristin is also a member of the Druid College of Healing and is on the Board of Silver Moon Health Services. She has been a freelance writer and editor since 1995. Her work has appeared in Whole Life Times, PARABOLA, and many other publications. Kristin is the author of five books including Mabon: Celebrating the Autumn Equinox and The Book of Shamanic Healing.

Kristin was raised in a shamanic home and has had ongoing experience with Eastern and Western mystic paths since 1972. Over more than a decade, she has offered a variety of shamanic and general metaphysical workshops across the United States. Kristin is active in both pagan parenting and pagan homeschooling communities locally and globally. She also served on a Master's Degree thesis committee for a program on the use of visual imagery and parapsychology in therapy with ADD/ADHD children.

The Book of
Shamanic Healing  

Garden Witchery:
TWPT Talks to Ellen Dugan©2003TWPT

Ellen Dugan   (Missouri), also known as the "Garden Witch," is a psychic-clairvoyant and has been a practicing Witch for over seventeen years. She received Master Gardener status through the University of Missouri, teaches classes on perennial gardening and flower folklore at a local community college, and has had many years of nursery and landscape design experience.

Ellen's first book, Garden Witchery: Magick from the Ground Up, will be released this March, and her second book, Elements of Witchcraft: Natural Magick for Teens, will be released in May. She has been a regular contributor to Llewellyn's almanacs and calendars. In addition, she has written several spells and charms for the 2004 Witchy Day Planner and she will also contribute to both the new Llewellyn Wicca Almanac and the Witches' Calendar for 2004. 

Though her life is full with writing, gardening, and raising three teens with her husband, Ellen wholeheartedly encourages folks to connect to the spiritual side of nature: to go outside, get their hands dirty, and to discover the natural magick that surrounds them.

Garden Witchery  

When Someone You Love is Wiccan:
TWPT Talks to Carl McColman©2003TWPT

Carl McColman   is a contemporary spiritual writer whose work transcends all labels and classifications. His first two books, Spirituality: Where Body and Soul Encounter the Sacred and The Aspiring Mystic: Practical Steps for Spiritual Seekers explore spirituality from a mainstream/new age/western mystical perspective, while his newest books, The Well-Read Witch: Essential Books for Your Magickal Library and When Someone You Love is Wiccan celebrates helpful books and ideas for those who study or practice the spirituality of Wicca. Probably his most controversial book, Embracing Jesus and the Goddess: A Radical Call for Spiritual Sanity, is also his most personal statement, in which he affirms a spirit of tolerance, goodwill, and unity for all positive wisdom traditions.

When Someone You
Love is Wiccan  

The Real Witches' Coven:
TWPT Talks to Kate West©2003TWPT

Kate West   has been a practising Witch for over thirty years. Kate was born in 1957 and raised in Kent, since then she has travelled a fair proportion of the world, and resided in many different places.  She discovered in her late teens that the path she was seeking was called Witchcraft.  At around the same time her eldest brother was studying for the Priesthood of the Church of England.  Kate has been a Civil Servant, Veterinary Nurse, Employment and Management Consultant before succumbing to the Mother Goddess and raising a child.. She is High Priestess of the Hearth of Hecate and has been Vice-President and Media Co-ordinator of the Pagan Federation..

The Real Witches' Coven

Out of the Shadows:
TWPT Talks to Lilith McLelland©2003TWPT

Lilith McLelland    has been a Wiccan priestess and activist since 1986. As co-founder of the Alliance for Earth Religions, with J'Karrah EbonDragon and Tyrnan StormWolf  of Clan of the Dragon., a Wiccan group dedicated to education and information, she has acted as a television and radio spokesperson on freedom of religious rights. The author of Spellcraft: A Primer for the Young Magician and The Salem Witches' Book of Love Spells, she is also a novelist and scriptwriter. She lives in Salem, Massachusetts.

 
Out of the Shadows: Myths and Truths of Modern Wicca 

Real Wicca:
TWPT Talks to Anna Franklin©2003TWPT

Anna Franklin    was born in Derbyshire and then promptly abandoned in an orphanage, before being adopted and spending an unhappy childhood in a small Leicestershire town in the English Midlands. She was educated at a Roman Catholic convent school, where she spent most of her time reading Greek and Norse myths and appealing to the Old Gods [under threat of mortal damnation from the nuns], wondering if anyone else felt the same way. This was followed by four years at a grammar school and a gap year working on a local newspaper [getting fired for allowing rude words to get past the proof reading stage!]. Soon afterwards Anna did indeed meet other people who felt the same way about the Old Ways- they were called witches.

Initiated into the Craft at the age of eighteen, Anna studied with an Alexandrian/Gardnerian coven, then later Traditional witchcraft with Sara and Phil Robinson of the Coranieid, from whom she received her second degree. Sara herself was initiated by the famous New Forest Coven. In the mid 1980s Anna founded the Hearth of Arianrhod, running teaching circles, outer circles, and working coven and postal courses, along with publishing the Pagan magazine Silver Wheel. Anna's third degree came from Merrymoon, the coven's Gardnerian high priest. At this time, Anna began to concentrate of her Craft activities, and was soon a familiar sight at psychic fairs and magical gatherings with the Silver Wheel stall, and began to supply many of Britain's occult shops with ritually prepared incenses and magical oils, aromatherapy and perfume oils. Having already studied Craft herbalism, Anna now gained qualifications as a reflexologist and aromatherapist and founded the Holistic Healing Centre with Sue Phillips and Amazon Riley [who appears as the priestess in the Sacred Circle Tarot].

Anna still publishes Silver Wheel Magazine, and sits on the editorial committee, though the editor in chief is now Briony Robinson, one of the elders of the Hearth of Arianrhod. The Hearth now has a large postal and web membership, while the core membership operates on a looser basis than before, with members gathering for ritual or working in twos and threes when the occasion or working demands it.

Anna lives in a village in the Midlands with her partner John and eight cats. Between them they grow most of their own fruit, vegetables and herbs and try to live 'The Good Life', while simultaneously conducting a love affair with Egypt and dreaming of owning a winter home in Luxor!

Real Wicca For Teens 

Spellworking for Covens:
TWPT Talks to Edain McCoy©2002TWPT

Edain McCoy    Edain became a self-initiated Witch in 1981 and has been an active part of the Pagan community since her formal initiation into a large San Antonio coven in 1983. Edain has researched alternative spiritualities since her teens, when she was first introduced to Kaballah, or Jewish mysticism. Since that time, she has studied a variety of magickal paths including Celtic, Appalachian folk magick, and Curanderismo, a Mexican-American folk tradition. Today, Edain is part of the Wittan Irish Pagan tradition, where she is a priestess of Brighid and an elder.

An alumnus of the University of Texas with a BA in history, she is affiliated with several professional writer's organizations and occasionally presents workshops on magickal topics or works individually with students who wish to study Witchcraft.

This former woodwind player for the Lynchburg (VA) Symphony claims both the infamous feuding McCoy family of Kentucky and Sir Roger Williams, the seventeeth-century religious dissenter, as branches on her ethnically diverse family tree. In her "real life," Edain works as a licensed stockbroker.

Spellworking for Covens 

Magick Without Peers:
TWPT Talks to David Rankine©2002TWPT

David Rankine    David has been studying and practising a range of Occult subjects for more than 20 years. He has been intiated into a variety of traditions including Alexandrian & Welsh Wicca, Ceremonial Magick, Qabalah, Tantra & Thelema. He is the author of 'Magick without Peers' which he co-wrote with Ariadne Rainbird, and his latest book, 'Crystals - Healing and Folklore' will be available from March 2002. (Capall Bann). David also does regular talks and workshops around Britian on subjects such as Crystal Healing, Egyptian Magick (*Heka), Voice Work and Ritual Magickal Techniques. Sorita (webmistress of Avalonia) and David are currently High Priestess and High Priest of a private Wiccan Coven as well as the London based InterCraft Wiccan teaching circle, VITRIOL Grove. Sorita and David also run bi-annual courses in Practical Wicca, which are open to serious seekers wishing to expand their experience and knowledge of Wiccan work in a group environment.

Magick Without Peers

The Practical Pagan:
TWPT Talks to Dana Eilers©2002TWPT

Dana Eilers   is a practicing Witch and Pagan Civil Rights advocate who has worked in a coven and as a solitary for over 10 years. The Practical Pagan came about because of a seminar that Dana created called Conversations with Pagans. This seminar has been presented in several different states , including her current hearth, in Chatham, Massachusetts. Dana is also a published author with articles appearing in Sagewoman, Circle Network News, The Pathfinder, and Castings, the journal of Cast. Her poetry and fiction has appeared in Goodwitch Stories and in Castings. Dana is both an ordained Wiccan Priestess and ordained minister with the Universal Life Church.Dana is a very public eclectic Witch who teaches, writes, and performs public education on the topics of Witchcraft, Magic, Ritual, and Paganism. She is the creator and Facilitator of Conversations with Pagans, a forum where those curious about Paganism, those who are   Pagan friendly, and those who follow the Pagan way can discuss all topics of interest. Dana has also served as the Legal Consultant to Pagan Leaders list online, to the WADL list on line, to the OurFreedom list online, and to the joint project of WyrdWeavers Collective, the Pagan Educational Network, and the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans in the creation of the online pamphlet: Pagan Leaders Denounce Religious Intolerance and Uphold the Constitution of The United States Of America. Locally, Dana is a founding member of the Omnistic Fellowship, a religious fellowship with a particular focus on alternative spirituality and a founding member of the Council for Alternative Spiritual Traditions (CAST), which is a Pagan leadership council. She is the chairperson of the Steering Committee for WildHaven, a four day Pagan Festival celebrating the Autumnal Equinox and is one of the founders of WildHaven.

The Practical Pagan

Finding New Goddesses:
TWPT Talks to Barbara Ardinger©2002TWPT

Barbara Ardinger   On the home page of her web site, Barbara writes, “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been prolixily in love with the English language. My parents read to me practically from the time I was born, and when I learned to read for myself there was no stopping me.

Although I’m a feminist , I recognize that the famous "dead white men" have given us a lot of good writing. Not only are their works the basis of much of our civilization today (such as it is) and the foundation of what we think we know, but some of them have taught us how words can go together with both sense and beauty. This is one reason why you’ll find literary allusions in my work. I write for smart readers. Like you.

In college and graduate school I also did something pretty smart: in addition to all the liberal arts and literature classes, I took every class in English grammar and composition I could get. I loved diagramming sentences, studying their architecture, their ebb and flow knowing such esoterica—and being able to explain aspects of grammar like the passive voice, transitions, and the more exotic verb tenses—has made me a better writer, teacher, and editor."

Patchwork of Magic:
TWPT Talks to Julia Day©2001TWPT

Julia Day     British author and co owner of Capall Bann publishing, one of the U.K.'s premier Pagan book companies,  is the subject of this month's most delightful Author's Corner. Julia lets her British humor loose during this interview which covers much ground ranging from her beginnings along this path to her feelings about the recent attack on the United States. At times very upbeat and light but always with an undertone of seriousness about her path, her work as an author and mother to her children.  As the interview progressed I could see this down to earth attitude displayed in the answers to my questions and just how beneficial this approach to Paganism could be for many facing similar situations in their own lives. This is another marvelous opportunity for the readers of TWPT to take a look at Paganism not just around the block or the USA but around the world as well. Funny thing is that being an ocean apart does not change how we all look at the world around us. You might even be surprised to see that basically we are all just travellers along the same path but with slightly different perspectives on what lies ahead. However you found your way here to the Author's Corner for this month of Samhain, be welcome and enjoy the wit and wisdom of Julia Day.

Wiccan Roots:
TWPT Talks to Philip Heselton©2001TWPT

Philip Heselton  Born in 1946, Philip has had an affinity with paganism for as long as he can remember, seeking out the wild woods and desolate moors for his spiritual refreshment. The two themes of the landscape and the inner world have dominated his life, and it is in paganism that they have come together. He became interested in UFOs and thereby met Tony Wedd, his first mentor, who introduced him to leys. Jimmy Goddard and Philip started The Ley Hunters Club and founded "The Ley Hunter" magazine in 1965. The subject of Earth Mysteries emerged out of this.

Philip's interest in landscape led to a degree in Geography and a career in Town and Country Planning, eventually becoming a Conservation Officer before his retirement in 1997.

Philip has always been aware of the existence of realms other than the physical and this has led to a continuing interest in psychic phenomena and techniques, including astrology. He first read Gerald Gardner's "Witchcraft Today" in 1960 and discovered strange echoes in my being which have stayed with him for the rest of his life, although it was not until 1990 that he was initiated into a traditional branch of the Craft. For Philip, paganism is about our own experience of the deeper side of the landscape around us, and he expressed this in a series of books published by Capall Bann, "Secret Places of the Goddess"; "Mirrors of Magic" and "Magical Guardians - Exploring the Spirit and Nature of Trees".

Philip has recently gone back to his roots in researching the sources of Gerald Gardner's writings. This has resulted in his latest book - "Wiccan Roots - Gerald Gardner and the Modern Witchcraft Revival", which had many new insights into our history. He is continuing this research, which will result in another book - 'Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration' in 2002.

****Introduction by Jon Day owner-publisher of Capall Bann books UK****

Pagans and Christians:
TWPT Talks to Gus DiZerega©2001TWPT

Gus DiZerega  (Washington) has a Ph.D. in Political Science: Political Theory from the University of California, Berkeley.

Gus DiZerega is a Third-Degree Gardnerian Elder. He spent six years studying with Brazilian shaman Antonio Costa e Silva, and with other teachers in Native American and Afro-Brazilian traditions. With a Ph.D. in Political Science/Theory from the University of California-Berkeley, he has spent the past sixteen years in the academic field, teaching on the faculties of several universities and colleges. He is a frequent conference lecturer, panelist, or speaker and writer on topics such as environmental issues, community and society, contemporary politics, modernity, and religion.

As an author of both scholarly and spiritual material, his articles have appeared in numerous publications, both in the U.S. and abroad. His first book, Persuasion, Power and Polity: A Theory of Democratic Self-Organization, was published in 2000 by Hampton Press.

Daughters of the Goddess:
TWPT Talks to Wendy Griffin©2001TWPT

Wendy Griffin  is a Professor of Women's Studies at CA. State University, Long Beach, where she was presented with the award for Excellence in Teaching from the Friends of Women's Studies in 1988, and from the College of Liberal Arts in 1993.  She teaches a wide range of classes, from large introductory GE/HD courses to senior level seminars.

She is a longtime community activist, having served in leadership positions in California NOW, Orange County ERA, and Long Beach’s WomanShelter, among others, and has been honored with the highest award granted by the Women's Network Alert, a coalition of several thousand Orange County Feminist Activists. As an expert on women's issues, her interviews frequently appear in the broadcast and print media. Her work has been used in testimony before CA. Senate Judiciary Committee on Economic Equity.

Her current research examines the religious construction of gender, particularly as traditional representations are challenged  in contemporary feminist Witchcraft and Goddess Spirituality.  She has publications  in noted academic journals on sociology, religion, and gender, and is the editor of the anthology Daughters of  the Goddess: Healing, Identity and Empowerment, published by AltaMira. 

Professor Griffin’s interest in spirituality and female representations is also evident in her work as a performance artist and drummer, where she is able to integrate her earlier life in the arts with her academic one.

Wicca Covens:
TWPT Talks to Judy Harrow ©2001TWPT

Judy Harrow  began to study Witchcraft in 1976, and was initiated as a Priestess in September of 1977. She founded the Inwood Study Group in June, 1980 and after she received Third Degree (Gardnerian) in November, 1980, this group became Proteus Coven of which she is still High Priestess.

She was the first member of CoG to be legally registered as clergy in New York City in 1985, after a five year effort requiring the assistance of New York Civil Liberties Union.

She is a member of the Association for Humanistic Psychology and of the American Counseling Association. Within ACA, she belongs to three special interest subgroups: the Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC), the Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW), and the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors (IAMFC). She serves on the Executive Board of New Jersey ASERVIC, and on the Book Review Board of the Family Journal, a publication of IAMFC.

She contributed two essays to Modern Rites of Passage (Book 2 in the "Witchcraft Today" anthology series.), and one to the anthology Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft, published in 1996 by SUNY Press. She has also written for AHP Perspective (the Newsletter of the Association for Humanistic Psychology), Counseling and Values (the Journal of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling), Gnosis, and such small Pagan publications as Dayshift, Harvest, and the CoG Newsletter. She is a regular book reviewer for PanGaia. Her first book, Wicca Covens, was published in 1999.

Spiritual Mentoring

Never Burn a Witch:
TWPT Talks to M. R. Sellars©2001TWPT

M.R. Sellars  A self-described “Long-haired hippie activist tree-hugger”, Sellars studied Journalism and Literature as well as Computer Science throughout high school and college, winning many prestigious awards for writing during his academic course. Although his first love was the written word, fate quickly lead him to his vocation of almost twenty years as a Senior Level Electronics Technician and Internet Systems Administrator.

Even with his hectic career, Sellars finds time to indulge in his hobbies of hiking, camping, nature photography, and cooking. A classically trained, accomplished gourmet chef, he can often be found ‘playing’ in his favorite room— the kitchen. 

An avid member of The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund, Sellars resides in St. Louis with Kathy, his wife of thirteen years, and their daughter Willow Ann. Locally, their home is known to be a haven for neglected and abused animals, and the ever changing population stands for the moment at one dog and eight cats.

Currently, Sellars is researching the third novel in the Rowan Gant Investigation Series.

M. R. Sellars is the recipient of the Linda White Literary Excellence and the Shrewsbury Mystery Society Silver Quill awards for the short stories upon which the Rowan Gant Investigations are based.

Origins of Modern Witchcraft:
TWPT Talks to Ann Moura©2000,2001 TWPT

Ann Moura   (Aoumiel) has been a solitary practitioner of Green Witchcraft for over thirty years. She derived her Craft name, Aoumiel, to reflect her personal view of the balance of the male and female aspects of the Divine. Her mother and grandmother were Craftwise Brazilians of Celtic-Iberian descent who, while operating within a general framework of Catholicism, passed along a heritage of folk magic and Craft concepts that involved spiritism, ancient Celtic deities, herbal spells, Green magic, reincarnation belief, and rules for using "the power."

In her practice of the Craft today, Aoumiel has moved away from the Christianized associations used by her mother and grandmother. She is focused on the basic Green level of Witchcraft and is teaching the next generation in her family. She took both her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in history. She is married, has a daughter and a son, and is a certified history teacher at the high school level.

Full Contact Magick:
TWPT Talks to Kerr Cuhulain©2000,2001 TWPT

Kerr Cuhulain      A former Air Force officer, Kerr Cuhulain (Vancouver) has been a police officer for the past twenty years, and a Wiccan for thirty. He's served on the SWAT team, Gang Crime Unit, and hostage negotiation team. He travels throughout North America as a popular speaker at writers' conferences and Pagan festivals, and he has been the subject of many books, articles, and media interviews. He is the author of The Law Enforcement Guide to Wicca.