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TWPT: Looking back over your life was there a turning point
that you can say this is where Witchcraft became a viable option for your
spiritual path? If not a single moment in time perhaps the point at which many
divergent factors all began to add up in your mind to a new approach
to your spirituality.
PC: There were
two epiphanies that showed me I was on the right path. I wasn’t looking for
Wicca, or the Goddess, and twenty five years ago it would have been almost
impossible to find either one. I was led
to the group that would become my coven - but it was the last thing in the world
I was looking for. At least that's what
I thought at the time. But the Goddess
sent me an undeniable sign – a very powerful recurrent dream literally
manifested in front of me. It’s an
amazing story I tell in Book of Shadows, and in The Love Spell and I don’t want
to spoil it for readers, but obviously, when the Goddess called, I
answered. The second epiphany was my
Initiation, which I described at the end of Book of Shadows – an experience
that changed my life. Ultimately I would have to say that it was
the journey of my life, and learning and using the practices in my daily life
that convinced me this spirituality was full of wisdom. It provided wonderful ways to experience the presence of divinity within the world, in others and
in myself. That’s the greatest gift any
spiritual praxis can give you, and
I’m really happy to be able share those
skills with others.
TWPT: I also want to pick up on the thread of when you decided
to pursue a career in law. Was this something that had always been a
goal of yours and what was/is it that you found/find about practicing law that
appeals to you.
PC: It always
appealed to me -- it's a career that allows me to fight for social justice, and
also make a living. I guess you could
say it’s in my blood. (And my
stars) Both of my parents were social
justice activists I've been active with
the ACLU since I was a teenager fighting my school board over a censorship
issue with the school paper I edited. I
was pretty focused on practicing law, although there were times I considered
alternatives, like becoming a union organizer or a journalist.
And I've done other things, like producing independent films
for a few years. I began my legal
career fighting organized crime in trade unions and fighting for the civil
liberties of union members, and social justice really is my passion, using
whatever tools I have. I’ve been a pro bono activist attorney on behalf of
Wiccan religious liberties for a long time - I helped win the right of Pagans
to perform legally binding marriages and perform rituals in public parks, and
I've advised on scores of cases
involving religious discrimination.
TWPT: Was there ever any conflict between your ideas and goals
as a lawyer and the emergence of the Wiccan spirituality in your life? The
mindsets of lawyer and Wiccan HPS would seem to have some inherent
coexistence issues.
PC: For me, both
are about making the world a better place, and human beings better occupants of
that world. Law is logos --rationality,
logic and order, spirituality is eros –
the divine life force, sensuality and the wisdom of the heart . Traditionally, though justice is a woman,
logos has been considered masculine, and eros feminine. Clearly, we all need both aspects to be whole
as individuals, and we need both for our culture to be balanced and
healthy. That’s the subject of my third
book, The Love Spell, which is the sequel to Book of Shadows. In Book of Shadows I described how my
struggles to become an attorney often collided with the values of Wicca. To be a success I had to adapt to and emulate
male modes of thinking and behaving. In
some ways, that was good – it was certainly empowering to cultivate a lot of
those skills. But I also lost touch with
the feminine, with my soul, and it took awhile to realize that it wasn’t about
gaining access to the game, but rather about
changing the rules of that game.
In The Love Spell I
explore that same struggle but in the realm of emotions, relationships and sex.
I, and lots of other women, have lost the fullness of our sexuality. In a real sense we repeated in the bedroom
what we’d been doing in the board room – “acting like men.” We had to be active, in charge, in control.
And we thought of being receptive as being passive. But it’s not even remotely the same
thing. This is one of the most important
themes of TLS that women in particular are really responding to - we've gotten
trapped behind our armor and we've separated sex from the divine, from our
feminine divine. Because of the culture,
both women and men dismiss a lot of powerful and valuable feminine energies as
some how "less than" or servile, untrustworthy or sentimental, when
in fact there's tremendous strength, wisdom and beauty in feminine
sexuality. We've been living in our
heads, instead of our hearts.
We've confused the ability to be receptive with
passivity. Receptivity is not inert;
it's dynamic. It's the power to draw to
yourself what you desire, the ability to pull, which is the counterpart of
pushing. Without the thrust and tug,
there's no attraction, no sexual tension, and no fulfillment. One of the greatest losses I suffered, that
we've all suffered including men, was the ability to be receptive. We're comfortable identifying the feminine
with gender related terms like mothering, nourishing, cooperating,
communicating, being intuitive, sensitive and emotional, but Goddess forbid we
should say receptive. That's because we
don’t trust it, don't trust ourselves.
But how can you experience love unless you have the courage to open
yourself to receive it?
It took a long time to realize Shakti’s power – to be
receptive -- is the power of drawing to
you, the power of magnetism; She arouses Shiva into motion. To initiate with the power of desire is
anything but passive. There’s tremendous
energy, movement, and power in
receptivity – but you’re pulling instead of pushing. It’s incredible to rediscover that lost
capacity, and so liberating and erotic.
Ultimately, both partners need to be able to push and pull, to tug and
thrust – that’s the nature of the erotic dance between partners, of whatever
gender. We all contain qualities that
have been ascribed to one gender or the other, the goal is to find the mix
that’s right for you, that makes you unique and whole and to have a partner
that’s a good fit for you. That's a big
part of the journey I describe in The Love Spell.
TWPT: Does being a well known figure within Wiccan spirituality
have any effect on your career in law and how do you deal with those who
want to make it an issue?
PC: When I’m
interviewed, reporters so often began by commenting on the fact that I’m a
lawyer and a Witch. And I always reply
that the lawyer is the dark side. Which
gets a laugh. The fact is that when Book of Shadows and Witchcrafting came out,
I did a huge amount of national and local publicity. And I lost
all of my older, more conservative
clients. And it was a real
challenge --financially, psychologically, pragmatically. But it was also a lesson I share with people. What I have gained far outweighs what I
lost: freedom, the opportunity,
fulfillment and happiness that comes with doing what I love -- to write and
teach and travel. You can’t put a price on those things. Life is short – you should do what gives you
the greatest joy. You have to “follow
your bliss,” as Joe Campbell said. You can’t, and shouldn’t, just give up your
“day job,” especially if you’ve got responsibilities to children, or a
spouse. And you have responsibilities to
yourself. You have to keep you feet on
the ground, but you also have to keep your eyes on the stars. Use your head and listen to your heart. I still practice pro bono law, but I also
write and teach., logos and eros - balance.
And if I can't continue to be published, somehow I'll meet the challenge
of rebuilding a legal practice as a very public Wiccan priestess.
TWPT: When you first started out on the Wiccan path did you
seek out others who were on the same path or were you satisfied to pursue this
in a solitary fashion?
PC: The first
few years of my journey I traveled alone.
Or rather, I traveled in the company of what I now understand was my
daemon, a male muse. He's a spiritual guide to the mysteries of a woman's soul,
her sexuality and her creativity. He
manifests in dreams, synchronicities, and also in real men. For the Greeks, the daemon was a divine
being, a messenger from God. My daemon
has always been Dionysus, the God of ecstasy, embodied by various actors like
James Dean, and musicians. He actually led me to the Goddess and he's a major figure in The Love
Spell. The Love Spell is utterly unique
as a story about a woman's relationship with her daemon, and it's such an
important and neglected aspect of our spirituality. Caitlin Mathews has a great book about women
and their daemons which I high recommend.
TWPT: Were there any books or reference materials that you
discovered that were particularly helpful in understanding the path on which you
found yourself?
PC: I read a lot
about quantum physics which gave me some framework to understand what was
happening to me when my journey began.
The books that I crossed my path seemed very magical in their arrival
and content. I found the Egyptian Book
of the Dead, a fascinating biography of James Dean by David Dalton, Robert Anton Wilson’s Cosmic Trigger, and to
the poetry and philosophy of the Romantics and Transcendentalists. There were very few books around at the time
–
Farrar’s first book What Witch’s Do, Z. Budapest’s stuff, Esther Harding, The
White Goddess. You really had to search
if you wanted to learn. When I began to work with my coven, I learned the
old-fashioned way – it was an oral tradition.
And it was perfect for me -- I’ve always been such an intellectual,
someone who lived in books. But I
wanted to experience. I found it was
much more powerful to have an encounter, and then discover who I’d had it with
after not before the fact. That made the
experience far more powerful, more objectively real, rather than something I
would suspect I had created out of my imagination and accumulated information.
I don’t encourage people to do a lot of reading at the
beginning of their journeys – I encourage them to do a lot of practicing. It’s not about the head, about information –
it’s about the heart and transformation.
It's so important for people to learn that there are other ways of
discovering truth, especially divine truth.
But my approach has always been very shamanic - very much about personal
encounters with divinity, communing with and being guided by the Sacred.
TWPT: Tell me about your involvement with your coven and how
that began and about your journey towards becoming a HPs of that coven.
PC: The first
coven I studied with was the Mother Grove of the Minoan Sisterhood and it was
an amazing experience of love and conflict, sharing and withdrawing, devotion and drama.
We met every week for over three years and it was completely
extraordinary, utterly magical and some of the most wonderful years of my life. But instead of waxing on about it here, I’ll
just send you to Book of Shadows. I
wrote it to share the very best
experience of working with a coven, to open that world to others, to bring
people in. What continues to amaze me is
how many people tell me the book has changed their lives. That’s one of the most gratifying things I’ve
ever experienced.
TWPT: So what was it that made you decide to add writer to the
mix of lawyer and HPs and what was it that you wanted to communicate to
the readers of your books?
PC: There were a lot
of reasons motivating me to begin writing. I wanted to work creatively, I
wanted to serve my community and my spirituality, I wanted to conquer my demons
of self-doubt; and because I was meant to.
I’m always trying to
write the book that needs to be written – the book that no one else has done,
that stretches the envelope, stimulates our thinking, opens our hearts, deepens
our spirituality. And builds bridges to
the mainstream by helping people understand what we’re really doing, and why
we’re doing it.
One of the reasons I wrote Book of Shadows was because no
one had written a book about what it felt like to experience practicing, or the
effect it has upon your soul and your day to day life. I wanted to write a book that would explain
Wicca to the average person who knows nothing about it, and I wanted to write a
book that would help people who were interested, who were learning from very
mechanical, information oriented books,feel what it’s like to practice. Without a sense of feelings, of emotions, of
consequences, you can’t really know the fullness of this spirituality, and so
many people are learning from books, without feedback or anyone to talk to
about what they’re feeling and experiencing.
I wanted to provide a mirror for people. On occasion there are those
who don’t like what they see. But that’s
good too.
I wrote Witch Crafting because virtually every book was a
“how-to”: stand here, say this, do that, mix this herb with that oil. It was
all “Wicca 101.” And no one had written
a book that discussed the why-to. I was also having a lot of problems with the
mechanistic approach people were taking to magic, with a lot of remnants of
biblical thinking which don’t belong in this cosmology, but which actually
pervade it. I really wanted to tackle
the dogma we ourselves were generating.
I had a real problem with the so-called Threefold Law, which is not at
all an ethical precept, is actually a remnant of the biblical cosmology and
totally inappropriate for our spirituality - but that's a whole, fascinating
discussion. Chapter Seven of WC. I wanted to write a book that would get
people thinking, questioning, not just swallowing and spouting our own
dogma.
And then of course, there’s THE LOVE SPELL. I wrote it for many reasons, which we don't
have time for here. But most pressing
was my sense that the world is in dire need of love. And Pagan readers are
always asking for deeper, more complex books.
So I decided to tackle what I think is the central mystery of this
spirituality - the magic of love. The
Love Spell is a memoir about a love spell that I performed that worked, and the
consequences of that spell on my life, sexuality, spirituality and my
growth. Most importantly it's about our
journey to true love -- as the greatest magic there is, and the reason that
we're here, and the expression of our deepest divinity.
Like divinity, love can't be fully experienced until it's
embodied, so The Love Spell is very erotic;
it's unique, there’s nothing else like it. I explore desire, sex, and the magic of true
love, diving into the mysteries of the Great Rite, sacred sexuality and sex
magic in a very experiential way.
I find it so amazing that it’s coming out precisely as the
fundamentalist right is waging a fanatical campaign of cultural and sexual
repression. Book of Shadows certainly
came in for major attacks from the fundamentalists; The Love Spell is really
pushing their buttons. And it's under
serious attack and stealth censorship.
But we can talk about that more later.
I hope people just enjoy reading it as a great, sexy story, but also
that it will help readers retrieve the fullness and freedom and pleasure of
their sexuality. That it will help them
on their journeys to their souls and their soulmates.
Let me tell you, erotic writing is the most difficult and
challenging, especially in the first person!
That’s why no one does it! From
the reaction so far, apparently I’ve got a knack for it, so it was worth the
struggle. But we can talk more about
that later.
TWPT: Tell me about some of the folks that you met when you
first began exploring the Wiccan/Pagan community and were these
folks what you had expected you would find before you met them? (real
names are not needed, just your impressions of the W/P community compared to
your expectations of what you
might find)
PC: I really had very few expectations. I had judgments and anxieties based upon
cultural indoctrination. Not that
Witches were Satanists, but that they were wacky. Weird.
But also, possibly quite fabulous.
I had a mixture of Margaret Hamilton and Veronica Lake
in my brain, and a sprinkling of Samantha Stevens. But, as I described in Book of Shadows, when
I walked into my first circle – all women at the time – there were no green
faces, no pointy hats, just a lot of truly fascinating, iconoclastic women of
all ages, shapes, sizes and ethinicities. It was a fairly avant-garde, arty sort
of crowd at the time, late seventies early eighties – lots of artists, writers,
dancers. Women who were already dancing
to their own magical drums, as it were.
And of course, there were the three high priestesses – all Italian
American, all salt of the earth. No
intellectual explanations for anything – just doing. The best thing for a head-oriented person
like me.
TWPT: Tell me about your first book, Book of Shadows and
how that came to be. Being a lawyer you were probably familiar with the
legal end of the process of getting published but how did you feel as a first time
author sending your first
book out into the world?
PC: It came about, like most of the other important events in my
life, very magically. I had no
familiarity, as a lawyer with getting published. I definitely needed a literary agent. But being a lawyer helped get my book
deals. Publishers were fascinated by the
story of how an Ivy League lawyer becomes a practicing, and public, Witch. Like a lot of the best things in my life, the
opportunity arrived in very magical ways – synchronicities, etc. I’d handled a number of First Amendment
cases for Witches that had gotten some press in NY, and I was approached by
agents asking if I wanted to write. I
dismissed it, I wasn’t a writer. But every time I asked for guidance, the
answer came back the same: Write. Write
the book no one else has, describe what it feels like to discover this path, to
walk it, to be changed by it. Teach from
your heart, not just your head. Tell a
story. And more agents kept showing
up. After it had hit me on the head a
few more times, I finally woke up and got to work. I was guided, I was given
the greatest gift – the opportunity to do what I love and to help others in the
process. It doesn’t get any better than
that. I poured my soul into Book of Shadows, was as honest and present as I
could be. And then out it went into the world and you don’t know who finds
it, how it affects readers. So when someone tells me that they found this
spiritual path because of one of my books, or that it helped them in some way –
it’s the most wonderful, indescribable feeling, and I’m so grateful.
TWPT: When was it after the book was published that you
knew that the book was going to be
ok and that you could relax about the whole process?
PC: Relax? I was on the
road for two years, first for the hardcover, then the paperback. Doing serious, big time press – the O’Reilly
Show, The View, CNN, NY Times – it’s a long list. It was hard work and a wonderful experience –
it really gave me the opportunity to work on changing negative stereotypes on a
big scale, and that's a job that's never done.
Doing so much press really helped me to think and express myself in a
very clear and simple away. And I got to
travel all over the world meeting Pagans and Witches, which was so
inspiring. I was like a bee,
cross-pollinating. When they told me
we’d sold about 30,000 hardcovers, I was very happy. But I never stopped
working hard. It’s just my nature, and I enjoyed it.
TWPT: What did you learn as an author from the publishing
process of your first book that you
were able to carry over into your subsequent books?
PC: Write what no one else has written. Don’t copy anyone
else. Write from your own truth. Write
from your heart, not just your head. Don’t write for fame, or money, or any
other reason except that you love to write and you have something unique and,
hopefully, valuable to say. I think you
need some experience, some maturity to write.
I waited 20 years before I wrote. Don’t wait for inspiration, work
everyday, have a regular routine, make writing sacrosanct, but also take time
off everyday and every week to relax and be with the people you love – refill
the well of your creativity by doing things you love and that nourish you. And write from your heart. It’s important not to edit yourself while
you’re writing, no judgments, no inhibitions.
Just trust the flow. But then you
have to apply the opposite skills just as diligently – you have to be willing
to step back, except criticism, look at your work critically, and edit edit
edit. Very tough to do both equally
well, but both are essential to the process of writing a good book, and both are equally creative in their
own way.
TWPT: When you set out to write a book do you have a
target audience in mind that you
write to or do you simply put your thoughts and ideas on paper?
PC: I always write for my community. But I also, always, write for the mainstream
– to open the door to this amazing spiritual world to people who might
otherwise never find it. I think that's
one reason The Love Spell was attacked.
Because I've had mainstream publishers and front of store placement in
mainstream bookstores, and because of my visibility, it's drawn fire. You can't find it in many of the big chains
now. Burn that bridge between the
mainstream and the community and we're further marginalized.
TWPT: Were you surprised at the success that Book of
Shadows had in the marketplace and how did that change your thinking about
upcoming books that you were yet
to write?
PC: I was very,
very happy. I was surprised that it was
a best-seller in Italy and Holland. Especially Italy, for obvious reasons.
I’m
particularly happy that it continues to be a strong ongoing seller. Book of Shadows was meant to be the first in
a memoir trilogy, with philosophical/practical “guidebooks” in between. That
was the second book, Witch Crafting.
Their positive reception, especially in the press and the mainstream was
very encouraging to me - personally and as an activist. So I decided to go a little deeper into the
mysteries, writing with the idea that they hide in plain site and cannot be
seen by those not ready to see them. The
Love Spell is next in the memoir trilogy.
BoS deals with discovering the Goddess, The Love Spell is the story of
finding the God. It’s a very magical
love story; it's also a book that deals with the spiritual and personal meaning of the Mystery, the Great
Rite or Sacred Marriage and how modern relationships are actually the new Mystery School.
People are always saying they want more sophisticated books – well, I
hope that’s The Love Spell. It's written
in a very direct and seemingly simple manner, but it's also written with many
layers. It is a mirror - the deeper you
look, the more you'll see.
TWPT: What role do you see authors performing within the
Wiccan/Pagan community? Are authors automatically leaders/elders
within the community or do they have to earn that role just like anyone else
aspiring to take on those roles?
PC: I think they’ve had a very important role in expanding and
educating the community. For many years
it was a community that learned primarily from books because there simply
weren’t enough available teachers and covens.
Books opened the door to the world.
But there are pitfalls as well – the development of our own dogma, of
two dimensional and mechanistic thinking, of preoccupation with spellcasting as
opposed to really thoughtful examination of this as a profound, transformative
spiritual path. That’s why I wrote
WitchCrafting. To explore the why- to,
not just the usual how-to recipes. And
to challenge a lot of our own dogma, like the Three Fold Law.
As far as
being an elder, like I said, I waited 20 years to write. You earn that title, and it’s given to you by
others because you’re fulfilling your responsibilities as a teacher, as a
defender of our community. And that
takes time and maturity, modesty and a sense of humor.
I lost most
of my law practice when I went public with Book of Shadows - so you have to be
prepared for sacrifice as well. But I
wouldn’t change a thing.
TWPT: How difficult is it to bring spiritual ideas into
the realm of words and communicate
them effectively to your readers?
PC: It can be very difficult, spirituality and erotic ecstasy
are the most difficult subjects to write about in a way that evokes feeling in
the reader. That’s why story telling is a wonderful way to do it – true wisdom
resides not in the mind but in the heart and stories evoke emotions, powerful
feelings. It’s my favorite way to write
– the Divine is not apprehended through the intellect, but through the
heart. Approached from that path, the
unconscious rises to consciousness, divinity manifests in the world, and the
heart guides the intellect to true wisdom.
TWPT: What was your reasoning behind writing Witch
Crafting
and what kind of reaction did
that garner from your readers? Reviewers?
PC: I wanted to write a unique, thoughtful, thought-provoking
book. The reaction has been very
enthusiastic – people are happy to have a book that asks questions instead of
just posing the same old answers, that challenges our thinking, that asks us to
look critically at what we do and why we do it. I looked at our practices, our
beliefs, our language, all of these considerations from the perspective of our
central precept and experience – imminent divinity. Of course there are always people who find
new ideas threatening and they react with fear and hostility. And naturally some people disagree with some
points and I would certainly hope they would.
As I said, if everyone agreed with me, I’d have to start re-thinking it
all. If I provoke people to think critically
and creatively, that's success.
TWPT: Was it more or less difficult to write
Witch Crafting after you had already written your first book and learned some things
about the process involved?
PC: Very challenging, because it required a change in my
writing style. I also had a very short time frame in which
to write it. But I love a challenge, and
the measure of being a good writer is that capacity to grow, to explore
different styles of writing, to find what’s appropriate for your subject matter. And of course, The Love Spell is unique in
its writing style.
TWPT: This brings us to your latest title The Love
Spell. You refer to this book as a sequel to your Book of Shadows. Could you
tell me your thinking behind this statement and give us an idea of what we
can expect to find in this latest
book?
PC: A spiritual journey is the work of a lifetime, so my plan
has been to do a series of memoirs about that journey. The Love Spell is a true
story about a love spell that worked and the spiritual journey that spell
provoked. That, I believe, is unique.
It's also more than just another "how-to, recipe" book. It's a personal story written in the first
person that's erotic. As far as I'm
aware, it's the only explicit memoir written by a women that re-weaves the
suppressed connections between sexuality and spirituality. And it's packed with practical information
about relationships, science, psychology, biology, history, mythology, movies,
comparative religion, philosophy, quantum physics, magical techniques,
spiritual struggle and insight, and even some how-to! And sex, did I mention sex? ;-)
I explore
something that was a real epiphany for me: that our modern relationships are
actually the new Mystery
School - they're the way
in which we discover the Divine in ourselves, and in those we love. This memoir - which is also written like a
novel -- is about the deepest spiritual lesson of my life: that the Divine
comes into the world through us when we love.
And just as you can't really know the Divine until it is embodied - in
Nature, in yourself, in life, you can't really know the full power of love
until you experience it physically. Contrary to a long, repressive history
that's separated sex from the Sacred, we are the embodiment of divine energy,
and sex is one of the most powerful and should be one of the most accessible
ways for each of us to experience that radiance, that reality. To experience
full, sacred, partnered eroticism - that can be very difficult in such a
repressive culture, even for Pagans.
But the central mystery of our spirituality is the love story and the
union of Goddess and God. Regardless of your particular cultural approach, we
all tend to work with some form of this central spiritual dynamic.
I wanted to
share the wisdom that transformed my longing into love, the kind of love
everyone years for and that we can all have.
I decided to bare my heart, my soul, my desires and experiences, hoping
that people will recognize themselves in the story, and be inspired to discover
the very best of who we are, and who we might become. Because I believe that nothing is more
expressive or our humanity - and divinity-than making love. Just like BoS, this one has been a journey of
self-discovery and change, for me and I hope for the reader. I also hope that, like BoS, they find it a
great story and a great read. And since
it's about sacred sexuality, I hope they find it sexy. It's a juicy, joyful affirmation of desire,
pleasure and our capacity to love, but it's a very honest book, so it's also
about the pain and struggle so many of us experience in trying to find and
feel and give love, emotionally, physically and spiritually.
TWPT: Do you think that
your readers are going to readily enter into this new book? Is it written in a similar style as your two
previous books or does this break
some new ground for you?
PC: I hope readers will love TLS just as much as they did BoS,
and so far the response has been incredible - we sold 5,000 copies in the first
6 weeks, with virtually no press. Like
BoS, it's a story that teaches - I hope it will help the reader on his or her
journey to true love. The writing style is
somewhat different, a bit more terse in some ways, because it's about
the masculine principle. And the overall style, the language had to be more
restrained to contrast with very erotic, explicit love scenes that needed more
powerful and poetic language and that needed to stand out more. It was a
wonderful challenge to find the style that suits the subject. Whenever an author changes styles there are
going to be some readers who are going to be disappointed. It's a challenge
that every writer, every artist faces, that we all face - do we have the
courage to grow and change? Or do we stick with the tried and true because it's
safe and accepted? For me, as a writer, and as a Priestess, I'm interested in
growing and developing.
Writing
erotic love scenes was certainly breaking new ground - there's a reason people
don't write erotic love scenes in the fist person - whew, talk about
difficult!! Especially at the beginning,
writing felt as if I was making love in public!
I had to really challenge my own inhibitions to confront those of our
culture. But that's one of the points of the book itself. And if I can help one person free themselves,
well, I help free the world. That's so
important, especially right now. All of my books are very honest, this one is
particularly so, breaking a lot of cultural taboos.
When I
share my own journey, I find that it's one shared by so many other people. The things I've struggled with are also
things they've confronted. And very
often, the lessons that I've managed to pull out of those experiences are
insights people find helpful. That's one
of the reasons I write. TLS is a "guide" to the magic of love - not
in mechanical spells and recipes, but in the power of our heart's deepest
longing. It's written a bit like a
modern fairy tale, and deals with some very obstacles to love, like how the
culture colors our notions of romantic love, how our parents influence who we
long for and how we love or fail to love.
And I dealt with a very important issue that's rarely discussed - the
influence of unconscious forces on the outcome of our magic, and our lives. The things we learn in childhood, the wounds
and unfulfilled needs, are like dragons that emerge from a cave when we cast
spells, especially love spells.
The book is
full of symbolism - one of my favorites that started popping up before even I
understood its meaning is the magic mirror.
As I wrote and reflected on the lessons I needed to learn about my
relationships, I recognized how our lover is so often a mirror of what is
missing in ourselves, of what we need to heal or change within, just as we are
a mirror for them. What we like least in
them, what drives us crazy is usually some unrecognized aspect of our shadow
selves. So no matter if there isn't a happy ending to your fairy tale and your
love spell -- each relationship is an opportunity to discover what you need to
know about yourself in order to be more whole, more fulfilled and more capable
of giving and receiving true love, the love that's right for you. You can't love another until you've learned
to love yourself, and you can't find your soulmate until you've found your
soul. That is the gift of our journey to love.
In The Love Spell, my discovery of
the God - embodied for me in a daemon, a kind of male muse -- actually
transformed my relationship with the Goddess.
I discovered aspects of myself that I'd lost, and aspects of Her -
particularly those having to do with love, sensuality, the strength it takes to
be vulnerable, and the importance of being open - to the Divine and to
love. I realized how important polarity
is to magic, to love, to eroticism and I discovered that I had really gotten
stuck at the culturally defined "masculine" end of the gender
spectrum - working hard, controlling my emotions, being strong and
rational. I was my own white knight -
but I'd lost track of my princess. And
my relationship with the Goddess had been all Athena based. For me,
Aphrodite had been a kind of Barbie doll. Working on this book I realized that it was a
problem lots of women have - we'd forgotten how to trust the feminine, and we'd
lost the power to be receptive, which is NOT the same as passive. It's moving energy by pulling, rather than
pushing. Whether it's spirituality or
sexuality, you can't experience love if you can't open yourself to receive it.
>
TWPT: You are currently out on tour promoting this book
to the community. What kinds of responses have you been receiving so far and
has the press been as kind to you
as they were with your previous two books?
PC: The response from the community has been tremendous. So many
people tell me that, just like BoS, The Love Spell arrived at exactly the right
moment. But there's a real crisis going
on with distribution of The Love Spell and I really need the help and support
of the community. It turns out that shortly
after the book's release, despite really strong initial sales, 10,000 copies
were returned to the publisher - that's the balance of the first print run.
People are having a very hard time finding copies in the major chains like
Barnes & Noble. TLS had front of store placement and it's drawn fire from
the fundamentalists who've called it "Satan's Love Spell." There's no smoking gun, but it looks like the
book is taking a major hit from the culture wars.
And in
contrast to the first two books, there's been no press. BoS is still a very strong selling book, so
the sequel should do just as well, if not better. And it was selling great - which meant that
it would continue to sell well. And the
usual practice is that hardcover books are not returned to the publisher until
shortly before the paperback is released, a year later. So something went
seriously wrong. The fundamentalist right has also been putting pressure on
stores to reduce the size of Wiccan sections and increase Christian sections. And people have been reporting from all over
the country that not only have they been unable to find TLS, the Wiccan
sections are indeed shrinking.
Why is it
happening? My books have always been a bridge between the mainstream and our
community, and getting rid of it contributes to the accelerating
marginalization of our community. It's
also a dangerous form of stealth censorship -- our community has always grown
through the availability of books. One
of the things that is most gratifying to me are the tremendous number of people
I meet who tell me that they found the Goddess and this spiritual path through
my books. That was one of the purpose of TLS, and it won't happened if people
can't find it on the shelves of mainstream stores. And it's certainly true for
other authors. And, of course, my publisher is financially unable to publish my
next book if this one doesn't sell. So my future as a Wiccan writer is in
jeopardy.
But
sometimes very good things come out of very bad situations. I'm like the canary in the coal mine, so I've
been staying on the road, giving a very well received talk about the current
political crisis called Sex, Religion and Politics, The Growing Threat of
American Theocracy, trying to rouse people to activism before it is too late. The theocratic agenda is very dangerous, it's
a form of fascism, and they've gained far more power than any of us
expected. And the results are already
coming home - they have for me. And they
have for many Wiccan/Pagan bookstores that have been harassed, for people who
are having their rights infringed. James
Dobson, who founded Focus on the Family which is the most powerful and well
endowed fundamentalist lobbying group, has said that biblical law should be the
basis for American law, specifically that the death penalty should be
instituted for adultery, blasphemy, homosexuality and Witchcraft. Impossible right? Wrong. Remember Bill Frist, head of the Senate.
Standing in front of tv cameras during the Schiavo tragedy and declaring that
American law should conform to biblical law? And did you ever think that 130
members of Congress would say they were born again? That's almost a third of the Congress.
I was in
Dallas a few weeks ago to participate in an amazing Interfaith conference and
there were so many threats that the Dallas police assigned 4 officers to
protect us. Everywhere we went, they
went with us. Fundamentalists see
Interfaith work as the work of the Devil, and that's the way they see
us. I always get threats and nasty mail
when a new book comes out, and am attacked in their media and websites, but
there's a marked increase with the release of TLS. They're feeling their power and their abusing
it. We're in serious trouble and we need
to get active -- the only safe Pagan, or Wiccan, is a politically active citizen.
TWPT: Has the Internet been a significant factor in your
ability to promote your books and your ideas to a much larger audience
than you would have been able to do in the "good old days" before
broadband and easy access to the web? Do you have any kind of contact with those who
read your books via e-mail and is
that something that you like to encourage?
PC: In addition to being on the road, I'm depending on the
Internet and the incredible communications web that this community has woven to save The
Love Spell, and my future as an author.
I need to get the word out to folks that The Love Spell has been
published and that I need their support.
10,000 copies is an overwhelming amount for an author to sell alone - but
it's a tiny number in terms of the size of our community. I've been an activist
for the rights of this community for 25 years -- as a lawyer, as an advocate in
the press, with Interfaith work and community service through various
organizations. I'm a helper, not someone who asks for help, and it's really
hard for me to ask - but as soon as
people find out, they've been great in getting the word out, buying the book,
ordering it from the stores that aren't carrying it, inviting me to speak.
Pagan bookstores have been incredible in setting up book signings and stocking
TLS. And now Amazon.com is selling the
hardcover for only $10 - cheaper than the paperback will be.
I was
scared, but I'm not anymore. I'm pissed
off and fighting back; and so grateful for everyone's love and support. I feel like Paul Revere - only I'm yelling
that they're already here. It's been
incredible to meet and connect with people - this is the most amazing,
generous, courageous, and inspiring community and I love getting emails and
mail from people. I read everything I get and it makes it all worthwhile. I don't always have the time to respond, but
I've got some wonderful members of the Ara community working with me and we try
to respond. I'm reachable at
info@templeofara.org
.
TWPT: Has being an author and promoting your book taken
away from your practice of law due to the time constraints of actually
doing both on a full time basis?
PC: I lost most of my practice with the huge amount of press and
visibility that came with publishing. And yes, because I not only write but
also travel, teach, do advocacy and activism, there isn't much time to maintain
a traditional practice. Of course, I continue
to do pro bono consultation on First Amendment cases. I trimmed my lifestyle and was thrilled to be
able to be a mostly full time writer.
And now, if I can't continue to write, I'll find a way to reestablish a full time practice, which will
be a challenge as such a visible Wiccan priestess.
TWPT: Looking into the future just a little do you see
any trends that Witchcraft and Paganism might be gaining some ground in
being recognized as a legitimate
path among the religions of the world?
PC: I've
devoted most of my adult life to being public and working for acceptance of
Witchcraft and Paganism in mainstream culture. And there are now countless
activists all over the country and
publications, websites, stores, conferences, Pagan Pride Day, and more, all
contributing to the countless ways we in which we are better off now than years
ago. There are millions of us, many of
us are public, we're everywhere - we are far more accepted. I do a lot of interfaith work and we are
increasingly accepted in that community, and therefore more accepted by other
faith traditions. The popularity of
Wiccan books earned us the appreciation and respect of the publishing world -
the dollar speaks louder than anything in this culture. And of course, there's been tons of pop
culture stuff with lots of positive, though often silly, images of
"Witches." But I've also seen
a radical turn to the far right - in the media and the coverage we are no
longer receiving, in publishing, in the courts, in the workplace, and in the
broader political currents that affect all Americans. But this community is in particular jeopardy
from a fascist movement that truly believes that anyone who isn't with them is
working with Satan. We're in danger of
becoming the new Jews in a fascist culture that's hiding behind red, white and
blue bunting and religious platitudes. We need to be vigilant, we need to be
active, we need to speak up, we need to support each other, and we need to
participate in the broader discussion of true moral values. And here's a another reason why that goes far
beyond our petty, and not so petty, human concerns: 50% of all the species of
plants and animals will be gone by 2050 - that's a terrifying prospect and we
can't allow it to happen because we were naïve or in denial or too busy.
TWPT: I always like to close out my interviews by leaving
some room to let the author fill in any gaps that I might have left by not
asking about a certain topic near and dear to their hearts. Is there anything
else you'd like to pass on to the readers of TWPT about your new book or
about the path that we all follow?
PC: Tons, but this has been a very long and thorough
interview. I guess I just want to say
that wars come and go, governments come and go - even fascist ones, philosophies
change, even religions grow and change or are replaced. But one thing remains constant - Love. It's the reason we're here, it's the proof of
our divinity and it's the greatest magic there is.
TWPT: Thanks so much for talking to me about your writing and what's happening in your life and I wish you much success with your new book as well as the books that you have yet to write.
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