Birthday of Wiccan author Starhawk (Tomorrow)

Starhawk is one of the most respected voices in modern earth-based spirituality. She is also well-known as a global justice activist and organizer, whose work and writings have inspired many to action. She is the author or coauthor of twelve books, including The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess, long considered the essential text for the Neo-Pagan movement, and the now-classic ecotopian novel The Fifth Sacred Thing. Starhawk's newest book is The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, published November 2011, from New Society Publishers.

Her works have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Danish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Greek, Japanese, and Burmese. Her essays are reprinted across the world, and have been included in numerous anthologies. Starhawk's writing is influential and has been quoted by hundreds of other authors, turning up in magazines, trade and academic press, and even inspirational calendars. Her books are often found in college curriculums. The Spiral Dance has been continuously in-print for thirty years and revised twice; in 1999 HarperSanFrancisco published the Twentieth Anniversary Edition. Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and Mystery won the Media Alliance Meritorious Achievement Award for nonfiction in 1988. Starhawk's first novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing, won the Lambda award for best Gay and Lesbian Science Fiction in 1994.  Many of Starhawk's best political essays—credited with helping the global justice movement find and define itself—were collected into her book Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising. At the Book Expo America, Webs of Power won a 2003 Nautilus Award from the trade association NAPRA. Her first picture book for children, The Last Wild Witch, won a silver Nautilus from NAPRA in 2010.

Starhawk is perhaps best known as an articulate pioneer in the revival of earth-based spirituality and Goddess religion. She is a cofounder of Reclaiming, an activist branch of modern Pagan religion, and continues to work closely with the Reclaiming community (www.reclaiming.org). Her archives are maintained at the Graduate Theological Union library in Berkeley, California. 

        In the late '80s she consulted on and co-wrote the popular trio of films known as the Women's Spirituality series, directed by Donna Read for the National Film Board of Canada: Goddess Remembered, The Burning Times, and Full Circle. The trilogy was in the top ten of sales and rentals for the Film Board for over a decade. Starhawk and Donna Read formed their own film company, Belili Productions (http://belili.org), to make documentaries on women and the earth. Their first release is Signs Out of Time (2004), a documentary on the life of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, the scholar who made major discoveries about the Goddess cultures of Old Europe. Starhawk and Donna’s second documentary, Permaculture: The Growing Edge, came out in 2010. Starhawk has also made several short documentaries which can be found on YouTube: "The Spiral Dance Ritual," "Reclaiming’s Spiral Dance: Three Decades of Magic," "Permaculture in the City," and "Permaculture Principles at Work."

Starhawk is a veteran of progressive movements, from anti-war to anti-nukes, and is deeply committed to bringing the techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism.
She is a founder of Earth Activist Trainings (EAT): intensive seminars that combine permaculture design, political organizing, and earth-based spirituality (www.earthactivisttraining.org). Together with Penny Livingston-Stark, Erik Ohlsen, and others, she co-teaches EAT courses in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. With over ten years of experience in permaculture design and teaching, she has pioneered the application of permaculture principles to social organizations, policy and strategy. Since its first course in May of 2001, Earth Activist Trainings has graduated over 600 students who now shepherd projects that range from community power-down strategies in Iowa City to water catchment programs in Bolivia, from inner city gardens in San Francisco to women’s programs in the West Bank of Palestine. Starhawk’s own expertise is in the communication of ecological systems thinking through images, writing, and innovative teaching techniques.

        Starhawk travels internationally teaching magic, the tools of ritual, and the skills of activism. She lives part-time San Francisco, in a collective house with her partner and friends, and part-time in a little hut in the woods in western Sonoma County, California, where she practices permaculture in her extensive gardens, and writes.
via http://www.starhawk.org/starhawk/bio.html

-The Crafty Witch

Sacrificing

Since I have made a Facebook page to link my web store and blog I was stunned and somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of people that have reached out to me with questions, comments and just overall communication. I’m thrilled you all are so interested in my blog and work, for that I am making March Q&A month, even though I already have posts lined up feel free to keep the questions coming. Some questions may seem a bit silly but I welcome almost all questions, just not any which may be harassment/offensive to some. Keep it clean.


Today’s Q&A
Do you do any sacrifices on animals or anything? –E.B.
Wiccans and Pagans do not sacrifice animals or any of living being, I can not sit here and tell you all people practicing the craft do/don't but I can tell you its not the way of wiccans and pagan "Harm None". Though I do get annoyed when some people say there is no sacrificing within the craft. The only religion I know of that does is Santeria,  but don't get the wrong idea. Where there is a sacrificial ceremony it is not to worship the devil or demons, some religions and cultures believe it is an offering to there gods.

-The Crafty Witch

Within Witchcraft/Wicca Is Any Of It Satanic?

Since I have made a Facebook page to link my web store and blog I was stunned and somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of people that have reached out to me with questions, comments and just overall communication. I’m thrilled you all are so interested in my blog and work, for that I am making March Q&A month, even though I already have posts lined up feel free to keep the questions coming. Some questions may seem a bit silly but I welcome almost all questions, just not any which may be harassment/offensive to some. Keep it clean.

 

Today’s Q&A

Within Witchcraft/Wicca is any of it satanic? –Amanda

Absolutely NOT!  Satan or satanic rituals are not a part of the witchcraft/Wicca religion at all. I common misconception is that we are succubus, practice infanticide or even as wild as consorting with the devil.  We live by “Do what thou will as long as it harms none” and by the threefold law, “whatever you do comes back to you three times three times three” – If you do see or hear about anyone partaking in satanic rituals, they are Satanists not witches. Witches and Wiccans believe in peace and harmony for all.



-The Crafty Witch

Sybil Leek's Six Tenets of Witchcraft (6 of 6)

Knowledge

Finally, there is the tenet of knowledge. Without knowledge, there is no growth, no chance to evolve. While we may read books and take classes, true learning also comes from life experience. To truly advance on a spiritual plane, we must accept the fact that we don't know everything there is to know, and that we must always continue to learn, both in this lifetime and in the next. Once we stop learning, we stagnate as a spiritual being.

A final note: It is important to remember that, much like other guidelines found in modern Pagan religions, this list does not apply to every path. Not all witches adhere to these tenets. If you are an eclectic practitioner, you may want to look at this list and see how it can be applied to your own belief system.

 Reblogged From author *Pattie Willington

- The Crafty Witch

Sybil Leek's Six Tenets of Witchcraft (5 of 6)

Tolerance

Tolerance may be one of the least acted-upon principles of many modern belief systems. While many people espouse the virtue of tolerance, many refuse to be so, making blanket statements about people whose religion doesn’t coincide with our own. To tolerate someone else's belief doesn’t mean to put up with it begrudgingly; instead it means to accept their right to choose differently from us. We are all human beings, and all connected to the Divine; this factor makes us part of the cosmic whole. When in fact we look at the concept of "do no harm" -- and this includes with our words as well as our actions -- we must refrain from doing harm not because a rule tells us so, but because it's the right thing to do. After all, what goes around comes around.

 

 Reblogged From author *Pattie Willington

- The Crafty Witch