I heard and felt my son wriggle out of his sleeping bag and crawl out of the tent in one fluid, full-sensory instinct of motherhood. As the tent flap was peeled back, I opened my eyes to see the morning sky tinged a brilliant raspberry sherbet. I never was up early enough for break of … Continue reading What it Means For Me to be a Queen Goddess
October is the twilight of the year. We enter the month with bountiful harvests from fruit trees and begin to pull gourds from the ground. We call this the Witches' Thanksgiving - a time to count your blessings. I'm celebrating the Season of the Witch with a slew of good fortune: my first book, The … Continue reading Witchy Manifestations
In early March, mama bear instincts urged me to convince my son to drive 300 miles to my home in the remote foothills of the Eastern Sierra Mountains. The rumble of fear was still quiet, but bears know when to move, even from their winter slumber. It was the same instinct, impulse, and all things … Continue reading The Isolation that Brought Us Together
My first book, The Wicca Cookbook, was released on September 27, 2000. It is the most incredible feeling to hold a book that you grew inside the cauldron of your soul and spirit. I wrote eight books from 1999-2009 and then took a decade off of writing books to raise my beautiful sons. And now, … Continue reading The Book of Spells is on Sale!
Ten years after I awoke to the Divine Feminine within, I came out of the Broom Closet with The Wicca Cookbook: Recipes, Ritual and Lore (2000). Effervescent as my light will always be, I was like a butterfly flitting into the darkness with the belief that my good intentions would keep harm away. That was … Continue reading A Witch Herstory
We should respect the cultures and traditions of the communities we visit, except when those mores and beliefs break down humanity. In 2002, my friend Nila and I lead a group of women to Kadavu, Fiji, for a Goddess retreat. We planned rituals to honor the four faces of the Goddess: Maiden, Enchantress, Mother and … Continue reading Responsible Travel
The ceremony began with a throbbing drumbeat, calling the women to the parade. Women waved flags of vibrant colors; three twenty-foot paper mache puppets followed: Maiden, Mother, then Crone. The musicians shook rattles, banged drums and sang; the crones shook their bells and brandished the brooms they had made in a special circle earlier in … Continue reading A Goddess Come of Age
Saturday morning I crawled out of my sleeping bag, stepped out of the tepee and watched my breath create vapors in the chilly air. I passed the fire pits and other tepees with sleeping women and made my way to the Wellness Tent to stretch. I adore the way women dress at the Northern California … Continue reading Healing My Teen Self Through Teaching
Pigs and dark-skinned children ran beside the plane as it landed on the dirt runway on Kadavu, Fiji. This bizarre scene set the mood for one of my favorite hair-brained acts. I had taken ten women on a retreat to get to know the four faces of the Goddess, but still couldn’t help the wild … Continue reading Mudsliding in Fiji