The Grey Council

Frederic Lamond (1931-) has worshipped Nature since the age of 12 when he lived in French Switzerland. At 23 he had a mystical experience in the arms of his first fiancée, and in February 1957 he was initiated into Gardnerian Witchcraft in the presence of Gerald Gardner himself. He is probably the longest continuously-practicing Wiccan in the world. He is also a member of the Fellowship of Isis and the Church of All Worlds, is active in Inter-Faith activities and attended the 1993, 19 99, and 2004 Parliaments of World Religions in Chicago, Cape Town (South Africa) and Barcelona (Spain), as well as the first Gathering of the Elders of Ancient Traditions and Cultures in Mumbai (India) in 2003. In addition to numerous articles in Pagan and Wiccan publications on both sides of the Atlantic, Frederic has written three books: The Divine Struggle (1990), Religion without Beliefs (1997), and Fifty Years of Wicca (2004).

Donata Ahern (1932-) is a 3rd° Gardnerian and Alexandrian, and HPS of Silver Mirror Coven since 1990. She is a Druid in OBOD (Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids) and is a Bard and Ovate Tutor. She walks other earth-centered paths. She is a Priestess of the Mayan Temple of the Deer, receiving Initiation in Mexico in 2001. Her shamanic lineage is in the Huichol and Inka traditions. Donata has worked with the Lakota and the Mayan Medicine Wheels for over 20 years, and has developed an original interpretation, which is now a book and Oracle card set. Donata lives in Holland NY, thirty miles from Buffalo, NY. Her home, “Verne Nemeton”, is two acres of magical woods with a waterfall. She’s an Aquarian, Moon in Cancer. She is a counselor, presents workshops in US and Canada, and in 2005, at Druidcon in Scotland. Her German Shepherd companion Tara makes sure she’s not ‘all work and no play’!

Raymond Buckland (1934-) known as “The Father of American Wicca,” was the first to introduce Gardnerian Wicca to the US in the early 1960s. He was born in London of Romany (Gypsy) descent. His spiritual quest led him to the works of Gerald Gardner. Buckland began serving as Gardner’s spokesman in the US and was initiated into the Craft shortly before Gardner’s death in 1964. In the mid-1970s he founded the Saxon tradition, Seax-Wica, now practiced in countries around the world. He was also instrumental in helping spread the solitary practice of PectWita; a form of Scottish Witchcraft. He has had more than 30 titles published, including The Witch Book and Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft. Raymond is the Fæder of Seax-Wica, and a member of the International Guild of Sorcerers, and the International Society of Independent Spiritualists. www.raybuckland.com

Nybor (1936-) A graduate from the Minneapolis School of Art, Nybor has owned and operated art studios in Minneapolis and New York City and is most renowned for his black and white science fiction art, including book and magazine covers and interiors. In 1985, he gave up the tie, tails, and “cocktail crowd” for a humbler, more peaceful life in the West Virginia mountains where he could dedicate himself studying the mysteries and to creating the art he wanted to. At that time he, along with Elspeth began holding circles in science fiction conventions on what Pagandom really is. Shortly after that they founded Haven, best described as a loose, widespread group of solitaries. Besides being an artist, healer, teacher, pastoral counselor, ritual magician, and theorist, Nybor has been made an Elder in several communities as well as for the Guardians. Having finished his tarot deck, his next project is an illustrated book of Goddesses. He is also working on a unified theory of magik. At the change of the millennium he is still hard at work at his art. When you look at the detailed and colorful works of Nybor, you would never know that this artist is colorblind. Nybor lives in wild and wonderful West Virginia with his mate Elspeth, two fur persons, and a small orchard. His email is nybor@mail.wvnet.edu

Lady Amythyst (1936-) the founder of the Amythystian tradition and of the American branch of the Order of the Royal Oak, was raised in a family tradition. One of her ancestors, Sir George Carteret, was a knight of the Order of the Garter and an original member of the Order of the Royal Oak. Her family came to America in 1663 from the Isle of Jersey. She has been a student of the Ancient Wayssince her earliest childhood memories, and she has taught the Craft of the Wise since 1976. Amythyst is a professional speaker, a private pilot, a black belt in both Judo and Karate, the Archpriestess of Avalon Isle and the leader of the Order of the Royal Oak.  Amythyst operated one of the largest Wiccan-owned nonprofit charitable organizations in North America from 1991 until 2000, and due to her charitable work, in July of 1996, she was an Olympic Torchbearer, and carried the flame in honor of Athena and Isis.  Amythyst believes that she has been a member of the Craft longer than anyone alive today, since she was born and raised in the Priesthood and many of her ancestors were for a thousand years.

Nelson White (Frater Zarathustra) (1938-2003) (deceased) was active in the southern California occult scene for over 20 years, and was instrumental in the formation and operation of several esoteric churches and magickal orders. For over 15 years he published The White Light, a quarterly magazine of Ceremonial Magick. He operated a religious supply and bookstore in Pasadena for over 17 years, and wrote over 125 books on Magick and other topics. Dr. White taught in a number of junior and senior high schools, and was knighted by the Alter Souveraner Templer Orden, based in Vienna, Austria. Retired from NASA's Ames Research Center, he was a private pilot and ham radio operator, and sang in the Richmond Choir. Dr. White died of a heart attack on August 23, 2003, just as the Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard was being completed.

Oberon Zell-Ravenheart (1942-) is a modern-day Wizard, and an Elder in the worldwide Magickal Community. In 1962, he co-founded the Church of All Worlds, a Pagan church with a futuristic vision. Through his publication of Green Egg magazine, Oberon was instrumental in the founding of the modern Pagan movement, which he so named. In 1970, he had a profound Vision of the Living Earth which he published as an early version of “The Gaia Thesis.” Oberon is an initiate in several magickal Traditions, and has been involved in many interfaith projects. He is a thealogian and ritualist, creating and conducting rites of passage, seasonal celebrations, Mystery initiations, Earth-healings, and other large rituals. Oberon has traveled throughout the world, celebrated Solar eclipses at ancient stone circles, raised Unicorns, and swum with Mermaids. He sculpts altar statues of gods and goddesses, and his first book is Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard (New Page 2004). Referred to by some as “the real-life Albus Dumbledore,” he is also founder and Headmaster of the online Grey School of Wizardry. www.GreySchool.com

Nicki Scully (1943-) is an author, ceremonialist, and healer who has been teaching metaphysics, healing, shamanism and the Egyptian Mysteries since the early 1980s. She created Alchemical Healing™, combining energetic healing techniques with shamanism and alchemy for powerful and enduring transformation. She currently gives lectures and seminars internationally, and specializes in spiritual tours to Egypt and Peru. Her most recent books are Alchemical Healing, A Comprehensive Guide to Spiritual, Physical, and Transformational Medicine and Power Animal Meditations, Shamanic Journeys with your Spirit Allies. She has also produced a number of audiocassettes and CDs, including…And You Will Fly! , a magical adventure story CD for children. She maintains her home/healing center in Eugene, Oregon. www.ShamanicJourneys.com

Richard Lance Christie (1944-) is a Polymath who co-founded the Church of All Worlds with Oberon Zell-Ravenheart in 1965. During his erratic career he has done psychoacoustical, altered states of consciousness and hallucinogen research, designed and operated management information and computer systems, helped launch several environmental organizations and served on their Boards, designed and built renewable energy systems, and managed behavioral health care systems. He is currently a principal in the “Spine of the Continent” continental-scale environmental restoration initiative, the Relocalization Network initiative to relocalize community economies internationally, is principal author of the “Renewable Deal” which is the core of the Earth Restoration Portal on the Internet, works as an organic crop, livestock, and processing inspector part time, and serves in various appointed and elected local government positions in Southeastern Utah, the “holey land.” He currently has 80 proto-books and articles in process, and may actually finish s omething before he dies.

Abby Willowroot (1945-) is an Archetypist, Metalsmith, Goddess Artist, Writer, Priestess and Mother; and has been a practicing Pagan since the mid-1960s. Founder of the Goddess 2000 Project, Spiral Goddess Grove, and Willowroot Real Magic Wands, she is dedicated to putting Goddess and Magickal imagery and consciousness into contemporary culture. Since 1965 Abby has been a professional Pagan and Goddess folk artist. Self-taught, she learned to follow her own Muse at an early age. Her art and writing have appeared in books, museum shows, WomanSpirit, SageWoman and Llewellyn publications. Nine pieces of Abby’s jewelry are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution. Abby lives and works in Northern California, and is Professor of Wizardry and Magickal Practices at the Grey School of Wizardry. www.realmagicwands.com

Amber K (1947-) is a Wiccan priestess of the Ladywoods Tradition, from the Pagan Way tradition, out of the Gardnerian Tradition. She has served the Goddess and the Horned God for more than 24 years, in various roles: as priestess, as National First Officer of Covenant of the Goddess, as editor of Circle Network News, as a faculty member of RCG’s Cella program, and currently as Executive Director of Ardantane Witch College and Pagan Learning Center in New Mexico. She is the author of True Magick, Covencraft, Moonrise, The Pagan Kids’ Activity Book, Candlemas, and The Heart of Tarot. She lives and works with her partner Azrael Arynn K in among the red mesas and high desert of the Jemez Mountains, the home of Ardantane. www.ardantane.org

Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart (1948-) is a Witch, Priestess, and Goddess historian—famous for her rituals, songs, poetry, and her large collection of Goddess figurines. She met her soulmate, Oberon, at the 1973 Gnostic Aquarian Festival in Minneapolis, and they were married the following Spring. She helped produce Green Egg magazine and the Living Unicorns. She founded Mythic Images, producing museum quality replicas of ancient Goddesses and Gods. Morning Glory has created ceremonies of every kind and scale, from simple rites of passage, to spectacular events such as the 1979 Solar eclipse at the Stonehenge replica in the Oregon Dalles. Her journeys have taken her to the Blue Mountains of Australia, the depths of the Coral Sea, the jungles of New Guinea, the ruins of ancient Greece, the caves of Crete and the Taoist Temples of China. She is co-author of Creating  Circles & Ceremonies (New Page 2006) and Headmistress of the Grey School of Wizardry. www.MythicImages.com

Robert Lee "Skip" Ellison (1948-) Rev. Skip Ellison started in the Neopagan movement when he was initiated into a Celtic Traditional Wiccan coven in 1982. He worked with the coven in several positions and then in the fall of 1990, had the opportunity to attend a workshop presented by Isaac Bonewits on Ár nDraíocht Féin, A Druid Fellowship (ADF). Isaac’s workshop interested him enough about ADF that he joined the organization soon after in 1990. He was mainly impressed by Isaac’s vision of a religion that would be open to everyone, public and that, some day in the future, would have groves and temples in every city. Since then, Skip has served on ADF’s Mother Grove since 1992. He has held several positions and is currently ADF’s Archdruid and is a Past Chief of the Magician’s Guild. He was the Grove Organizer for Muin Mound Grove, ADF in Syracuse, NY and became its second Senior Druid, a position he held until 2001. He has created a magical training system based on the trees of the forest and has authored two books titled: “The Wheel of the Year at Muin Mound Grove, ADF: A Cycle of Druid Rituals” and “The Druids’ Alphabet: What Do We Know About the Oghams?” He has also created a magical training system based on the trees of the forest. As a faculty member of the Grey School of Wizardry, Skip is: Dean, Dept. of Divination; Dean, Dept. of Beast Mastery; Professor of Divination; and Instructor in Magickal Creatures, Druidry, History, Camping & Woodcraft. He is a retired Industrial Electrician and now works at tending his land and gardens, learning more about history and traveling around the US, Canada and Europe visiting ADF Groves and talking about ADF at festivals. He can be reached at: sellison@twcny.rr.com or via his web site at www.dragonskeepfarm.com. Further information about his magical training course, online classes and his books can also be found on the web site.

Andras Corban Arthen (1949-) was adopted into the practices of a traditional witch family from Scotland in 1969. He is cunningman of the Glenshire witches and director of EarthSpirit, a pagan educational organization. Andras teaches at conferences and workshops throughout the U.S. and abroad; he was the pagan representative to the United Nations interfaith conference in 1991, and one of the speakers at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, and has been featured in numerous books and television programs. Andras is a bardic singer, storyteller and poet, and performs with MotherTongue, EarthSpirit’s ritual performance ensemble. He lives with his extended family and a menagerie of animal companions in Glenwood, a Nature preserve and pagan learning center in the Hidden Hills of western Massachusetts, where he works with the magic of the land, of stone, and root and mist, and with the beings that are popularly called the “faerie folk.” http://www.earthspirit.com/andras.html

Luc Sala (1949-) Mage of Amsterdam, holds office in the Kalvertower at his MySTeR temple of kindness. He has been very visible in the ‘mundane world’ with his own television channel and many activities in the computer world, but also roams the ‘other worlds’ under the name of Lucifar. He believes that “a bit is only information if it bytes” and that the science of magick is about investigating what really touches us. Information is beyond mere data, even beyond the concept of transmitting a message, it is when we open ourselves up to that magical realm of connectedness. The world we experience is just superficially governed by the laws of causality and reason; at a deeper level the laws of magick rule. Luc sees the revival of magick and the acceptance of the consciousness dimension(s) as the major work for this century. sala@euronet.nl

John “Apollonius” Opsopaus (1950-) Apollonius has practiced Magick and Divination since the 1960s, and his fiction (hymns, poetry, and prose) and nonfiction (rituals, translations, divination systems, essays) have been published in various Magickal and Neopagan magazines (over 30 publications). Also, based on years of research, he has designed the Pythagorean Tarot and has written the comprehensive Guide to the Pythagorean Tarot (Llewellyn, 2001). He frequently presents workshops on Hellenic Magick and Neopaganism, Pythagoreanism, Theurgy, Divination, etc. In the early 1990s Dr. Opsopaus founded the Omphalos (omphalos.org), a networking organization for Graeco-Roman Neopagans, and his Biblioteca Arcana website (omphalos.org/BA) has won numerous awards and is featured in several Internet guides. Opsopaus is a member of CAW (Coordinator, Scholars Guild), Hellenion, ADF, PEN, etc. He is listed under “Who’s Who in the Wiccan Community” in Gerina Dunwich’s Wicca Source Book (Citadel, 1996). As a faculty member of the Grey School of Wizardry, Apollonius is: Dean, Dept. of Ceremonial Magick; Dean, Dept. of Mathemagicks; and Professor of Ceremonial Magick, Lore, Mathemagicks, Divination, Alchemy, Dark Arts.

Raven Grimassi (1951-) is the author of nine books on Witchcraft and Wicca, including the award-winning titles The Wiccan Mysteries, and The Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft. Raven has been a practitioner and teacher of Witchcraft for over 30 years. He is a popular lecturer and speaker at Pagan conventions and festivals throughout the U.S. Raven is currently the director of the Arician Tradition of Witchcraft and co-director of a Mystery School known as The College of the Crossroads. It is Raven's life work to preserve and teach the pre-Christian European roots of Pagan religion. He lives in southern California on a ranch in the countryside where he maintains a sacred grove to the Goddess and God of the Old Religion, and a shrine to Ceres, the goddess of the Mysteries, on whose festival day he was born. www.stregheria.com

Donald Michael Kraig (1951-) graduated from UCLA with a degree in philosophy. He also studied public speaking and music at other colleges and universities. After a decade of personal study and practice, he taught courses in Southern California on topics including Kabalah, Tarot, Magick, and Tantra before writing his best-known book, Modern Magick, a step-by-step introduction to practical magick. His other books include Modern Sex Magick and Tarot & Magic, and his writing has appeared in numerous magazines, journals, and books. Donald has given lectures and workshops all over the US, has been a member of several spiritual and magical groups, and is an initiated Tantric. He has been a professional musician, taught computer skills at USC, is a member of Hollywood’s Magic Castle, and is currently studying for a doctorate in clinical hypnotherapy.

Ray Barnes (Spirit) (1951-) Artist/Gardener. Cut his teeth in the Anti-war and Environmental movements through the ‘70s-‘80s. Spent some years in Boston working as a professional advertising graphic artist and self-publishing several of his own comics. He says: “At a Rainbow Gathering in North Carolina in ‘85 I had an encounter with Spirit that changed my outlook on every level. I have since settled here in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. The primary project that involves me now is turning a burned out, raped and eroded hillside into a lush magical garden, and a place of power for the region. It is called Cedar Grove. It is also my purpose to chronicle what I have learned in my art and share it with the digital magical community. I am learning food self-sufficiency, frugal living, the uses of herbs, and most of all, sustainable forest gardening. I am currently three years into the project and have gathered a small band of friends around me who share this vision. We live on the land, collect rainwater to drink, sleep outdoors in all seasons, and cook on an open fire in an outdoor kitchen. We also do native style sweats and purifications. It is our purpose to live intimately with Nature, and with humility and quiet listening learn what She has to tell us. We observe the turning of the seasons in the ancient way. My allegiance is to the Great Mother, and my purpose is to act in Her service with humility and thoughtfulness, and courage. There is only one mind.” http://www.smokytopia.com

Marybeth Witt (Lady Pythia) (1952-) is an elder of the Craft and Covenant of the Goddess, having acted as a past national officer. She is a published poet, former university English teacher, singer/songwriter (Earth Magick, Moon Magick). In serving as the High Priestess of the former Coven of the Floating Spiral, she has devoted her life to the pursuit of knowledge, compassion, and wisdom as a Witchmage in service to the Goddess and Gods, and all of the children of Mother Earth. Pythia was co-writer and singer of Oracle, the featured band at both Pagan Spirit Gathering and Starwood in 1988, and was contracted as Llewellyn's most prominent Pagan Musical Group of that year. Throughout the years, as well, Lady Pythia has participated in many political Workings for Mother Earth, including both ecological and anti-war activism throughout the country.

Ellen Eevert Hopman (Willow) (1952-) is a Druid Priestess, Master Herbalist and lay Homeopath who holds an M.Ed. in Mental Health Counseling. She is a former Co-Chief of the Order of the Whiteoak - Ord na Darach Gile www.whiteoakdruids.org and is currently ArchDruidess of Tribe of the Oak http://tribeoftheoak.com/ . She was Vice President of The Henge Of Keltria, an international Druid Fellowship, for nine years. Ellen is a founding member of The Order of the White Oak (Ord Na Darach Gile) and the founder of the Whiteoak mailing list. She is a Bard of the Gorsedd of Caer Abiri, an ArchDruidess of the Druid Clan of Dana and has been a member of The Order Of Bards Ovates and Druids and of ADF. She is the author of the Iron Age Druidic trilogy Priestess of the Forest: A Druid Journey, The Druid Isle and Priestess of the Fire Temple Ð A DruidÕs Tale (Llewellyn), Secret Medicines of your Kitchen (mPowr Publishing), A Druids Herbal of Sacred Tree Medicine (Inner Traditions/Destiny Books), Tree Medicine - Tree Magic (Phoenix publishers, Custer, WA), A Druid's Herbal For the Sacred Earth Year (Inner Traditions/Destiny Books), Being A Pagan (with Lawrence Bond)(Inner Traditions/Destiny Books), Walking The World In Wonder - A Children's Herbal (Inner Traditions/Healing Arts Press ) and of the DVDs Gifts From the Healing Earth Vol. I and II and Pagans - The Wheel of the Year. * New books coming out in 2016 * Ð A Legacy of Druids (Moon Books) and Secret Medicines from Your Garden (Inner Traditions/Healing Arts Press). She teaches Herbal and Druidic workshops across the USA and has taught in Scotland and Ireland. Visit her online at http://www.elleneverthopman.com/

Katlyn Breene (1953-) has been creating sacred art, dance and ritual for over 27 years. Her art is a manifestation of her beliefs and can be seen in places of worship around the world. She is currently the owner and creator of Mermade Magickal Arts which makes fine hand-blended incense and oils, and is the author and illustrator of many books on spiritual arts and Folklore. She is also the Co-founder/creator of the “Road to Eleusis,” an initiatory and transformational retreat based on the Mysteries of Ancient Greece at Eleusis (since 1991). Now in Nevada , Katlyn is the founder and Priestess of Desert Moon Circle—a spiritual community based the Mysteries of the Sacred Wheel. Katlyn serves as an advisor to the Firedance gathering and holds degrees in several different traditions. She and her husband Michael, known as “Zingaia” create techno-tantra-trance music dedicated to sacred lovers and to the Goddess in all Her many aspects. Katlyn is Professor of Conjury and Lore at the Grey School of Wizardry. www.HeartMagic.com

Bob Gratrix (“Gray Tricks”) (1953-) is a Priest of the Desert Moon Circle, which has been active since 1994 in Las Vegas as an Earth-based spiritual organization. Bob is comfortable as being known as a Pagan, as a servant of the Goddess, and as a servant and student of life. He has passionately devoted a great deal of energy into his responsibilities and service to Desert Moon Circle. This group has earned a great reputation for the quality of their ritual work and the personal growth which its members experience over time. Bob believes that his life has been, and continues to be, guided by divine energies, and further believes that this perspective is what makes him the same as everyone else. Bob relocated to Las Vegas in 1995 from upstate New York. He is a husband, a father to two sons, a small business owner, and a friend.

Ronald Hutton (1953-) was born in India, of British and Russian parents, but has lived in England for most of his life. Having taken degrees at Cambridge and then Oxford, and been elected a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, he moved to Bristol University in 1981, where he became its Professor of History. He was brought up as a non-denominational Pagan, and has subsequently formed strong links with Gardnerian and Alexandrian Wicca and with four Druid orders from different traditions. He is the author of eleven books to date, six of which have been on Paganism, Witchcraft, magic or shamanism, including: Charles II: King of England, Scotland and Ireland (1989); The Restoration: A Political and Religious History of England and Wales 1658-1667 (1993); The Rise and Fall of Merry England: The Ritual Year 1400-1700 (1994); Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain (1996); and The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (1999). He is currently working on two more, upon the history of Druidry in Britain.

Jesse Wolf Hardin (1954-) is a Gaian Wizard, contemporary spiritual teacher, artist, musician, and author of numerous books such as Full Circle (Llewellyn, 1991) and Kindred Spirits: Sacred Earth Wisdom (Swan•Raven, 2001). His two decades of public appearances have helped birth both a new Gaian theosophy and ecological ethic, and resulted in recordings of spoken word and music including The Enchantment by GaiaTribe. Wolf’s artwork and articles have united the principles of primal mindfulness, Earthen Spirituality and personal activism like none before. He was a core columnist for Green Egg, and currently appears in Magical Blend, Circle Nature Spirituality Quarterly and Talking Leaves. Most of each year Wolf is home on his enchanted New Mexico wildlife sanctuary, an ancient place of power where he teaches students, resident interns, and apprentices the art of practical magick, wildlands restoration, and Earth-centered spiritual practice. www.concentric.net/~earthway

Debi LeFaye (1957-) says: I am a very blessed woman! My life has been an amazing adventure. I was trained through my childhood by Grandma Chris and learned the traditions passed down from Scotland by the women of our line. Grandma helped me to learn how to work with the gifts that run strongly in our family, what many refer to as the sight. Teaching me ritual and tarot, honoring the old ways. But most of all she loved me and I learned the power in loving myself. I have raised two beautiful and talented children and have the joy of seeing them on their sacred paths. I am married to the man of my dreams, my black knight. A journey that is a large part of who I am. I live on Echo Summit, close to nature. I love and have many animal friends. I am High Priestess of a dynamic circle. Miracles and magic are natural events in our sacred space. We are a mixed group and this is what brings much light. Many blends of tradition all working together for the highest good. I use my musical talents to teach and share. All proceeds from our band “WYRD“ go to help others. Our Earth Temple, THE ACADEMY OF THE ANCIENT ARTS has regular rituals, tarot readings, yoga, drumming circles, wellness consultations, sacred supplies made by inner circle and more. I have written A WORKBOOK OF LIGHT & LUNA to help others understand ritual and the energies around us; simple lessons from grandmother. I have also created a DVD series; LUNA’S CYCLES OF POWER, sharing the power of working with the cycles of the moon. I am so very blessed! debi.lefaye@academyoftheancientarts.org

Herman B. Triplegood (1958-) is a Poet, Hermeticist, and Philosopher who has studied the Book of Nature for 25 years. He has been a member of Katlyn Breene's Desert Moon Circlefor eight years, and is on the Council. He participated in founding Alchemical Ritual Theater, in partnership with Jeff McBride, in 2000. Herman is a 3rd° Initiate of the Ordo Templi Orientis and has written many poetic and ritual works over the years, celebrating Life, and Community in Spirit. Presently, he is developing a thaumaturgickal system, the Way of the Stellar Dragon, for his Kryptic Fire Dragon Ring, a magickal community in dedication to the Dragon. He is also working toward the establishment of a College of Hermetics based in Heliopolis, Nevada, a real imaginary place. Hb3g@cox.net

Jeff “Magnus” McBride (1959-) For the past 30 years Jeff has traveled the world as a performance magician and educator in ritual theater. He is especially known for his extensive magical work with masks. Jeff has been seen on many TV specials, including ABC’s Champions of Magic, NBC’s Worlds Greatest Magic, and PBS’ The Art of Magic, and also on the Discovery Channel’s Mysteries of Magic, where Jeff served as a consultant on shamanism and ritual magic. Jeff has been voted Magician of the Year by Hollywood’s Magic Castle. He is also founder of The Mystery School of Magic, a yearly conference for the advanced study of magical arts. Jeff has been facilitating Ritual theater events at Festivals throughout the world for the past decade. www.McBridemagic.com

Ian “Lurking Bear” Anderson (1959-) says: “It has been a good life so far. I have escaped Muggle reality and I have danced with wild Witches in the moonlit hills. I have played harp in forest glades and wandered the mossy rainforest of Alaska. I have walked among ancient standing stones and climbed mountains. I have marched and taken action for causes I believe in and hitchhiked across vast distances. I am a poet, computer programmer, chaos musician, opportunistic trickster, mountain man, and spiritual explorer. My essays and poetry have appeared in Green Egg, Green Man, Enchante, and Witch Eye. I currently lurk in the mountains of far northern California.”

Patricia “Trish” Telesco (1960-) is a mother of three, wife, chief human to five pets, and a full-time author with numerous books on the market. These include Goddess in my Pocket, How to be a Wicked Witch, Kitchen Witch's Cookbook, Little Book of Love Magic, Your Book of Shadows, Spinning Spells: Weaving Wonders and other diverse titles, each of which represents a different area of spiritual interest. Trish considers herself a down-to-earth Kitchen Witch whose love of folklore and worldwide customs flavor every spell and ritual. While her Wiccan education was originally self-trained and self-initiated, she later received initiation into the Strega tradition of Italy, which gives form and fullness to the folk magic Trish practices. Her strongest beliefs lie in following personal vision, being tolerant of other traditions, making life an act of worship, and being creative so that magic grows with you. www.loresinger.com

Talyn Songdog (1963-) Introduced to the field of Wizardy by a high school science teacher, Talyn refined his philosophies and magickal skills in a variety of working groups, especially including DragonTree Grove, Church of All Worlds, Phoenix Festivals, Clan Ravenmyst, and apprenticeships to Sir Tarl Mapt, Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, and Lady Ravenweed. Moving from a background of Eclectic Celtic Wiccan studies to progressively more shamanic approaches, most of his experience is from doing rather than studying. Also following a Warrior path, Talyn has worked as a Guardian protector of the neo-Pagan community at many festivals across the United States. In keeping with his Trickster path, he is also known for maintaining an aura of mirth, especially when things appear to be most dire.

Todd Karr (1965-) brings a magical sense of design to the lavish books he creates through his company, The Miracle Factory. Collaborating with artist Katlyn Breene, he has published an acclaimed series of elegant books for magicians with sales worldwide. After studies at the Sorbonne and USC, Todd wrote for the Los Angeles Times before moving to Paris as a full-time magician. Todd is also author of Backyard Magic, a unique children’s book of magic with nature. www.miraclefactory.org

Christopher LaFond (1966-) is a Druid from Eastern Massachusetts and is a member and on-line moderator of the Order of the WhiteOak. Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, he spent three years in a Roman Catholic seminary, but was born again as a Pagan while living and teaching music in Ecuador, South America. To this day, he has a special focus on interfaith work among Pagans and Christians, and was a performer and translator at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Barcelona in 2004. He plays the Celtic harp and sings and performs with MotherTongue, EarthSpirit’s ritual performance ensemble. Chris specializes in Classical/Medieval/Renaissance Astrology, and has lectured at local and international astrology conventions. He works full-time as a professor of Spanish at Boston College, and also weekly as a psychic and astrologer on Cape Cod. In addition, Chris is a perpetual student of languages and linguistics, and is a hobbyist beekeeper. http://www.lafond.us