MARGOT ADLER

Margot Adler has been a priestess of Wicca since 1973 (or you can say for more than 30 years). She is the author of "Drawing Down the Moon", the classic study of  contemporary Paganism and Goddess spirituality, as well as "Heretic's Heart, a Journey through Spirit and  Revolution", a memoir.

She is a lecturer and workshop leader, and in her mundane life, she is  the New York Bureau Chief and Correspondent for National Public Radio, where her reports air on All Things Considered and Morning Edition. She is also the host of Justice Talking, a debate show on constitutional issues.  

ANDRAS CORBAN ARTHEN

Andras Corban Arthen is the founder and director of the EarthSpirit Community, was adopted into the traditional practices of a Scottish family of witches in 1969. He is cunningman of the Glenshire witches, as well as an elder in three other branches of contemporary witchcraft, and has served on the board of officers of Covenant of the Goddess, an international council of witches.

Andras was chosen to represent the pagan traditions at the United Nations Interfaith Conference in 1991, and was one of the major presenters at the second centennial Parliament of the World's Religions held in Chicago in 1993. He has been featured in the books Witches and Witchcraft (Time-Life Books), Fire in the Head , Never Again the Burning Times , Being a Pagan , A Community of Witches , and The New Pagans , and in the award-winning television program Smithsonian World .

He teaches and lectures widely at workshops, conferences and academic institutions throughout the country. He is proud to have been singled out as "a bad role-model for the youth of America" by right-wing Christian zealot Pat Robertson on the "700 Club" in 1996.

He is also a folk musician, storyteller and poet. With Deirdre Pulgram Arthen, he has released We Believe , an album of bardic songs, and he is currently working on a recording of magical tales. He also performs with MotherTongue, EarthSpirit's internationally acclaimed ritual performance group.

Andras lives with his extended family in Glenwood, a 135-acre pagan conference center and nature preserve in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts.

DEIRDRE PULGRAM ARTHEN

Deirdre Pulgram Arthen became involved in the Pagan community early in 1980, having grown up Unitarian with a strong background in theater and music. She felt an instant connection with Paganism because of the potency and immediacy that she found in its rituals. Paganism proved to be a path, which combined all the things that were most important to her, including attunement to the sacredness of Nature, artistic expression, and a means of connecting with other people and the world that went beyond anything she had previously experienced.

In June of 1980 Deirdre was initiated as a Witch in the Glainn Sidhr Order. Soon thereafter she created the EarthSpirit Community with her partner Andras Corban Arthen, as a way to provide an outlet for and access to Paganism in the greater Boston area. From its modest beginnings, EarthSpirit now includes several thousand members.

BLACK LOTUS

Len Rosenberg is a Shakta (Hindu Goddess worshipper), and devotee of the South Indian Holy Women, Ammachi of Kerala. His writings were excerpted in Judy Harrow's Wicca Covens, and in Cristina Biaggi's In the Foot Steps of The Goddess. A teacher of Mantra meditation, magical uses of incenses and gemstones, and astrology. He co-leads Mnemosynides Coven in New York City with his partner, Alexei Kondratiev.

TOM COWAN

Tom Cowan has studied and practiced shamanism since 1983.  He is the author of Yearning for the Wind: Celtic Reflections on Nature and the Soul; Fire in the Head: Shamanism and the Celtic Spirit; Shamanism as a Spiritual Practice for Daily Life; and the Pocket Guide to Shamanism.

He teaches and lectures on shamanism, Celtic spirituality, and European mystery traditions in the United States, Canada, Britain and Ireland, and Central Europe.

Tom holds a doctorate in history from St. Louis University and is a minister in the Circle of the Sacred Earth, a church of animism dedicated to shamanic principles and practices.

Tom has studied with and taught for the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, the leading organization preserving and teaching core shamanic practices worldwide. He lives in New York's Hudson River Valley.

REV. LILITH DORSEY

Rev. Lilith Dorsey comes from many different magickal traditions, including Celtic, Voodoo, and Native American spirituality. Her traditional education focused on Plant Science , Anthropology and Fine Art at the University of R.I., New York University and the University of London, and her magickal training includes empirical research and instruction in New Orleans, Brooklyn and other centers of African-American religious culture. Lilith Dorsey has been doing successful magick over the past 12 years for patrons of her business Branwen's Pantry, and is editor/publisher of Oshun-African Magickal Quarterly.

LON MILO DUQUETTE

Since 1975, Lon Milo DuQuette has been a National and International governing officer of Ordo Templi Orientis, one of the most influential magickal societies of the 20th Century. His published writings have been compared to those of Israel Regardie, and he is considered one of the most widely respected members of the magick community.

He is the creator of Tarot of Ceremonial Magick which has been described by Judith Hawkins, of New Leaf Distributing as "...one of the most exciting breakthroughs in the tarot, in its arrangement and presentation of several occult systems relating to that elegant, versatile and indispensable Map of Consciousness, the Qabalah."

His book, My Life with the Spirits (from Samuel Weiser) is an autobiography and provides readers with a rare (often hilarious) peek into the bizarre life of a modern magician.

A native Californian (naturally), DuQuette was born in 1948 and claims to be the reincarnation of only himself. In his 50 years, he has been a radio disk jocky/comedian, a musician, a recording artist, a drama student, a hippie, an advertising executive, an anti-war activist, and an unemployed of all these things.

http://www.lonmilo.com/

PHILIP FARBER

Philip Farber is the author of FUTURERITUAL: Magick for the 21st Century , a manual of neurological exploration. His articles on magick and popular culture have appeared in Green Egg Magazine , The Journal of Hypnotism , Hypnosis Today , Mondo 2000 , High Times , Paradigm Shift , and other unique publications and web sites. Phil is a Certified Hypnotherapist and a Licensed Trainer of Neuro-linguistic Programming, with a private practice in New York 's Mid-Hudson Valley .

http://hawkridgeproductions.com

AMBER K

Amber K was born in Bronxville, New York on July 9, 1947. She was not trained in the Craft at her grandmother's knee, and does not come from a long line of hereditary Witches. In 1978 she joined the Temple of the Pagan Way in Chicago, and received her initiations and ordination there.

She has worked with Circle, New Earth Circle, and The Pool of Bast, and helped found the Coven of Our Lady of the Woods (OLW). She has served as Publications Officer and National First Officer of the Covenant of the Goddess, and taught in the Cella (priestess) training program of RCG, a national Dianic network. She is the author of True Magick, Coven Craft, and other Pagan books.

AZRAEL ARYNN K

Azrael Arynn K was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico on October 9, 1955. She brings to the Craft her experience as a police officer, race car driver, stockbroker, and architectural designer, as well as a doctorate in law. She is a talented costume designer and ritualist, and has also served as an officer of Covenant of the Goddess.

She co-authored The Heart of Tarot and Candlemas: Feast of Flames with Amber.Both Amber and Azrael are third degree priestesses in the Ladywood Tradition of Wicca. They met at a Wicca 101 sponsored by Our Lady of the Woods in 1992 and were handfasted in 1994.They have taught many workshops at Pagan festivals and conferences, including Pantheacon, Heartland, UEA, Dragonfest, Florida Samhain Pagan Gathering, Starwood, and others. They are part of the team launching Ardantane, an inter-traditional Wiccan seminary based in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. Amber is Executive Director and Azrael is Facilities Director.

For information, write to Ardantane, P.O. Box 307, Jemez Springs, NM 87025 (or see www.ardantane.org).Some of Amber and Azrael's interests are hiking and camping, travel, science fiction, collecting antique keys and pink china, art, photography, and all things magickal, including their dogs, Kitsune and Kyoshi.

ALEXEI KONDRATIEV

Alexei Kondratiev teaches Irish language, Celtic mythology and other aspects of Celtic history and culture at the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan. He is the author of The Apple Branch: A Path to Celtic Ritualwhich is now available in an American edition (Citadel Books). Alexei also contributed some written work on Brigit in Judy Harrow's anthology Devoted to You . He is an officer in the Celtic League American Branch and a member of the board of the Celtic Reconstructionist organization IMBAS. He co-leads Mnemosynides/ Children of Memory (a Protean-Gardnerian coven) with his partner Black Lotus (Len Rosenberg).

JACK MAGUIRE

Jack Maguire is an award-winning writer and professional storyteller based in Highland, NY. He regularly performs at festivals, schools, and resorts. He is also a Buddhist, studying at Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, NY. Among his over 20 books are Creative Storytelling (Yellow Moon Press), The Power of Personal Storytelling (Tarcher/Putnam), Essential Buddhism (Simon & Schuster), and Waking Up: A Week Inside a Zen Monastery (SkyLight Paths). His latest CD is Stories True and Fantastic .

JANE SIBLEY, PhD.

Jane has taught at many Pagan gatherings over the years, and is a traditional Norse spakone and rune specialist. Her first book, "Norse Mythology...According to Uncle Einar", is a humorous look at Odin, Thor, & Co., and a second manuscript, "The Hammer of the Smith", set in Dark Ages Norway and Denmark, is currently under consideration for publication. She is at present working on a scholarly book on traditional Norwegian "magic medicine" and another, "The Divine Thunderbolt: Missile of the Gods", which goes into thunder & lightning lore.

MARK SOSNOWSKI

Mark Sosnowski has been on this path most of his life. Life's ways dealt him many twists and turns, and usually says he came into the Craft through the back door. He loves books and reading, and makes his living as a librarian. Numerology is his main form of divination having worked it for over 20 years. His Gemini mind, never at rest, has studied astrology, crystals, runes, I ching and whatever else strikes his fancy.

A member of CWPN (Connecticut Wiccan and Pagan Network) since 1992 (then formerly known as FACOWI (Fairfield County Wiccan Network).Since 2000, serves on this Board, currently as Vice-President, previously as Education Chair, and Stamford Area Representative. He has co-hosted public Sabbats for CWPN , and assisted at numerous others. He is also one of the founding members of the Pagan Interfaith Council, and served as its first Chairman . Mark is a second degree Cabot, trained by Laurie in her method of The Craft. He is a Reiki Master, and has studied many esoteric arts as well.

MARION WEINSTEIN

Marion Weinstein, American Witch, author, entertainer and media spokesperson, is especially known for her teachings on the positive applications and ethics of magic--she is called "the Ethics Witch." As an entertainer, she offers a Wicca-based standup comedy.

Weinstein knew from early childhood that she was a Witch. Born in New York City on a new moon in the sign of Taurus (with Moon in Gemini), she has always felt an affinity with Diana, the aspect of GODDESS that rules the new and waxing moon. As a young child, Weinstein called her dolls "witches." She knew instinctively the basics of magic: that reality can be changed by specific, intense concentration. She felt a profound connection to Halloween.

(Samhain) that went beyond a child's interest in trick-or-treating; to her, this most mysterious of Pagan holidays was filled with magic and beauty.

The oldest of three daughters in a Jewish family, Weinstein became interested in Jewish mysticism, but was disappointed to find the KABBALAH closed to women. At an early age, she realized she had a psychic link with her mother, the experience of which encouraged her to develop her intuition. Weinstein sees Witchcraft not only as a religion but also as a philosophy and a way of life, springing from a personal inspiration that comes from within.

JOHN ANTHONY WEST

John Anthony West is a writer and independent Egyptologist who has been studying and writing about ancient Egypt for nearly three decades. He is the foremost exponent of the 'Symbolist' school of Egyptology--which sees (and demonstrates) an ancient sacred science where modern academics see mainly superstition. West's work redating the Great Sphinx of Giza via geology, (proving that it must be at least 10,000 years old or older) was the subject of a 1993 NBC Special, The Mystery of the Sphinx, hosted by Charlton Heston. Viewed by 30,000,000 people, this was one of the most successful documentaries ever shown, and it has escalated into a heated international scholarly controversy.

West won an Emmy in 1993 for Best Research for his work on the video and the show itself was one of four nominated for Best Documentary Program. The BBC subsequently produced its own version of the show for its prestigious and popular science series, Timewatch. Retitled Age of the Sphinx, the show recorded the second highest ratings of any Timewatch episode and generated still further controversy in the English press. West's non-fiction books include Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt (a detailed examination of the symbolist interpretation of Egypt), The Traveler's Key to Ancient Egypt, and The Case for Astrology .

He has also written a book of short stories, a novel, plays, and film scripts. His essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times, Conde Nast's Traveler , and many other general interest and specialized publications in America and abroad. He is presently at work (in collaboration with Robert M. Schoch, principal scientific investigator) on a book devoted to his work on the Great Sphinx.