Books
You have studied and worked with symbols for over thirty years now, resulting in workshops and a book, 'Ritual Body Art'. What first sparked your interest in this fascinating subject? Are you as passionate now as you were in the past about it?
I have always been fascinated with symbols. It was Marija Gimbutas' Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe that finally put it all together for me. Before that I had been working with symbols as magickal tools and exploring personal sigils as storehouses of personal power. But seeing the statuary in her book, covered with some of the exact same symbols I had been working with; and after seeing a photo essay in Playboy Magazine by Verushka dealing with body paint, everything just fell into place.
Do I still work with symbols and art as much as I once did? No, I don't. Right now my focus in on community building but my magick will always include color and symbol as central segments.
Reading 'Ritual Body Art' makes it clear that the symbols aren't simply pretty pictures. Are you able to describe what occurs magically and/or spiritually to a practitioner following some of the exercises in your book?
It depends for what the symbols are used. If it is the alteration of reality (basic magick) the symbol, when applied to the body, is transferred by the nerves to the brain. The based parts of the brain, where things such as racial memories are stored, responds.
If the art is to alter consciousness, something it does far better than any drug, the combination of color (sight), symbol (tough), aroma (scent), and the spoken words (sound) combine to free the ego and open the soul. This works especially well for invocation and evocation.
But if the art is for celebration, it is combined with the energies of all of those involved and just serves as a focus as well as a teaching/learning tool that feeds directly into the spirit.
Your second book was 'Goddessborn'. Could you tell us a little about this and also where it might be purchased?
Actually, Goddessborn was my first book. It was a collection of 26 poems. I was distributed in Canada by Wicca Communities and in the US by The Magickal Childe. If I remember correctly, there were only about 500 copies printed and I don't even have one. I don't know of any available and, in a way, I am happy about that. I must admit that some of that poetry was pretty bad.
You have several other books in the pipeline. What are these, what are they about and when can we expect to see them on a Pagan book shelf near us?
Let's see. The first one that will probably see the light of day it 'A Wiccan Dictionary,' and it is exactly what its title says that it is, a dictionary or traditional Wiccan words and terms. Second would be 'Coven Central.' This really is a coven organizer; a collection of information, forms, sheets and other stuff designed to help a coven record everything that it does.
After those two, there are several projects simmering. There is 'Sacred Vessels' and 'Coupling.' There are pretty similar books, both dealing with the topic of Sacred Sexuality. The major difference is that 'Sacred Vessels' has a far more radical line where 'Coupling' was written with a committed couple, triad or other type of family group in mind.
Perhaps my favorite is 'Nuts, Bolts, Dollars and Sense.' I have been presenting this information on Pagan community creation and nurturing at festivals for several hears but here in one volume it everything I have learned over more than thirty-five years, along with input from groups and individuals from across North America.
'The Book of the White Mare' is am attempt to bring together the beliefs and practices of primitive witchcraft, British Traditional Wicca and the best of the Neo-Pagan movement in a way that is clear and simple while respecting all that has gone before.