A W ITCH LIKE ME The Spiritual Journeys of Today’s Pagan Practitioners By Sirona Knight NEW PAGE BOOKS A division of The Career Press, Inc. Franklin Lakes, NJ Copyright © 2002 by Sirona Knight All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press. A Witch Like Me Edited by Jodi Brandon Typeset by Eileen Dow Munson Cover design by Lu Rossman/Digi Dog Design Printed in the U.S.A. by Book-mart Press To order this title, please call toll-free 1-800-CAREER-1 (NJ and Canada: 201-848-0310) to order using VISA or MasterCard, or for further information on books from Career Press. The Career Press, Inc., 3 Tice Road, PO Box 687, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 www.careerpress.com www.newpagebooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Knight, Sirona, 1955- A witch like me : the spiritual journeys of today’s pagan practitioners / by Sirona Knight. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-56414-539-5 (pbk.) 1. Witches—United States—Bibliography. 2. Witchcraft. I Title. BF1408 .K55 2001 299—dc21 2001044268 To my dear friend and innovative editor, Mike Lewis, who suggested the idea for this book the day we first met. And to President John F. Kennedy, who will always remain an inspiration and guiding light in my life. A Witch Like Me 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS oving thanks to my husband Michael and my son Sky for their love, courage, and optimism. Heartfelt and grate- Lful thanks to my family and friends, especially my father, mother, stepfather, and stepmother for being open-minded, encouraging my writing, and for always loving me, regardless of what I do or say. Many thanks and heartfelt appreciation to Lisa Hagan at Paraview, who is my dear friend and agent. And I would like to especially thank and acknowledge the thirteen prominent practicing witches who made this book possible: Dorothy Morrison, Trish Telesco, A. J. Drew, Phyllis Currot, Raven Grimassi, Silver RavenWolf, Raymond Buckland, Lady Sabrina, Timothy Roderick, Gerina Dunwich, Skye Alexander, Marion Weinstein, and Z. Budapest. May Goddess and God bless you all, now and forevermore! 5 I would also like to gratefully thank and acknowledge everyone at New Page Books, especially my publisher Ron Fry for having the courage and insight to print books such as this one. Continued thanks to my extraordinary editor and friend, Stacey Farkas, for her fine editing work and for being such a compassionate and understanding woman. You shine brightly, Lady! Blessings and thanks to my most excellent publicist, Laurie Kelly, for her friendship, enthusiasm, and kindness. And many thanks to Michael Langevin, editor and publisher of Magical Blend magazine, for his continued sup- port and friendship. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. CONTENTS Introduction: Standing up for What We Believe 11 Chapter 1: My Story 21 Chapter 2: Dorothy Morrison 51 Chapter 3: Patricia “Trish” Telesco 61 Chapter 4: A. J. Drew 69 Chapter 5: Phyllis Currot 79 Chapter 6: Raven Grimassi 97 Chapter 7: Silver RavenWolf 107 Chapter 8: Raymond Buckland 117 Chapter 9: Lady Sabrina 125 Chapter 10: Timothy Roderick 135 Chapter 11: Gerina Dunwich 147 Chapter 12: Skye Alexander 159 Chapter 13: Marion Weinstein 167 Chapter 14: Z. Budapest 177 Afterword 185 Appendix: Internet and Books Listings 191 Index 201 About the Author 207 Introduction STANDING UP FOR WHAT WE BELIEVE n 1987, I traveled to Virginia in order to be closer to my Craft teacher. While we were staying in Virginia, my Ihusband Michael and I wanted to publish a crystal newsletter. After typesetting it, we called a local printer, who said to bring it right by. The next day, I received a solemn call from the printer, who said he could not print the newsletter because of its content. It was only a basic pamphlet with information on crystal healing. There was nothing about Witchcraft or the Goddess in it, but still the printer refused to print it because of its perceived religious content. So much for freedom of speech. This incident made me sit down and rethink my child- hood images of what America, democracy, and freedom were all about. I realized there were vast discrepancies between the ideal and the real. I felt alienated from the masses, and I went searching for a spiritual path that made sense to me, a 11 A Witch Like Me spirituality that explained life and my purpose in it better than the standard Christian concepts of good and evil. I was attracted to the concept of spirituality not being exclu- sively male-oriented, of it being an integration of the female and the male. To think that the Divine was only male, even when I was a young girl, seemed absurd. After all, men don’t give birth; it is in the womb of the mother where all life origi- nates. The combination of the Goddess and God produces Oneness, a concept that includes the infinite whole of every- thing that is, was, and will ever be. From the One comes the Whole, and from the Whole comes Oneness. Where Books Come From The idea for this book arose when I was invited by Ron Fry, the publisher of New Page Books and Career Press, Inc., to attend BEA (Book Expo America) in Spring 2000. During the first day of the trade show, I did tarot readings and pro- moted my books at New Page’s booth, and afterwards, I went with the New Page group to a sumptuous dinner. Over the course of the meal, editor Mike Lewis said he thought it would be interesting to do a book about the personal experiences of some of the more prominent Witches in the United States. He wondered if I would be interested in creating a book about my personal story as a Witch, along with editing the stories of other Witches. I had been kicking around a similar idea for a book and already had the title for him. I immediately replied, “Great idea! We’ll call it A Witch Like Me.” The American Ideal A short time after BEA, my son Skylor and I were at our local library. After browsing around in the kids’ section, he brought over a juvenile version of Profiles in Courage, written 12 Standing up for What We Believe by John F. Kennedy. I picked up the book and started thumb- ing through it. I had read the book many years before, and when I started scanning the pages, I remembered President Kennedy’s ideas—that you had to have the courage to stand up for what you believed, even if that wasn’t the popular thing to do. Suddenly a voice in my head said, “That’s right—just like Wiccans have to stand up for their beliefs today.” I felt an immediate connection that seemed to send me through a por- tal to another dimension, and my hair stood on end. I realized that what Kennedy was writing about in his book is still hap- pening in the modern Wiccan Movement today. In both cases, people are still very much standing up for what they believe in, politically and spiritually. In 1955 (the same year as my birth), John F. Kennedy, recovering from a back injury, wrote Profiles in Courage, which chronicles the lives of United States senators, including Daniel Webster and John Quincy Adams (who later became presi- dent). He wrote about men who stood up for their political and personal beliefs, even when those beliefs could have cost them their livelihoods and social standing. The Basis of Our Freedom A Witch Like Me follows in this same tradition. This book is also about individuals—in this case, Wiccan authors who have had the courage to stand up for their spiritual and per- sonal beliefs by writing their books. These beliefs and practices come under the heading of Wicca and reflect a new religion that is interwoven throughout the roots of humankind. America was founded on the basis of religious freedom. The people who originally migrated from Europe did so for religious and economic reasons. From the Quakers to the 13 A Witch Like Me Puritans, they all came to the “New World” in order to escape religious persecution. This religious freedom is the reason why modern Wiccans thrive in this country. Unfortunately, this freedom sometimes gets trampled on. Witches sometimes experience prejudice towards their Wiccan ways by the mainstream religions. Part of what this book chronicles is this prejudice and how the Wicca Movement of the 21st century is moving, at light speed, beyond these tradi- tional stereotypes and prejudices.