M. Macha NightMare, Priestess & Witch
	Have Broom, Will Travel

 

Résumé

 

RITUALIST:

• Bridget: A Celebration of the Triple Goddess of Forge, Flame, and Healing Springs . Auburn Theological Seminary Center for Multifaith Education, New York, February 2005.

• "Witchual: A Spell" Sacred Harvest Festival, August 2004; PantheaCon, February 2005. A spell to view the dark and light in ourselves and our communities, to recommit to Goddess, and to reclaim and honor stereotypes. Text by William Shakespeare, Victoria Slind-Flor and Macha. Homage to Steven Posch. Approach in solemn silence and follow the dark and twisted path. Dare to meet your inner Witch, incarnate and magnified three times. Dance with hags and partake of the Witches' magic brew -- if you dare! "'Tis time, 'tis time."

• Praise Be Lady Liberty! A collaborative ritual with Sam Webster and Vibra Willow, for Pagan Pride Day in San Francisco, September 2002.

• A Marvelous Place for a Moondance . Summerset 2001, with the folks at Summerset

• Full Moon in Grand Staircase, Escalante National Monument, Utah. A ritual to empower and protect local wilderness preservation activists and to open the Escalante Wilderness Action Gathering. Co-designed with Juniper Brighidsdottir, Valley High and Michael Finnegan Rhys. May 2000

• Goddesses Alive!  A Goddess 2000 Ritual
  A processional and experiential ritual of masked, embodied goddesses to bring re-wareness of the Goddess into current Pagan practices. Created in collaboration with 20 others, presented at PantheaCon 2000, San Francisco, CA. This exquisite ritual, renamed A Rainbow of Goddesses, was expanded and polished, with original music by Amy Luna Manderino, at New College of California, under the sponsorship of the Women's Spirituality Program and The Lilith Institute.

• Dancing the Goddess Home . With Abby Willowroot and many contributors of liturgy and art, an international ritual published online initiating the Goddess 2000 Project, December 21-22, 1999 worldwide.

• Cerridwen's Cauldron: A Ritual Brew . A ritual created for Shadowmas, sponsored by PCCO, October 1999

• Celebrating Diversity. An interfaith worship service sponsored by CUUPS, Salem, MA, September 1999

• The Meeting of Earth and Sky: A Celebration of Thor and Freyr. Co-Priestess for this ritual created by Sparky T. Rabbit, Return to Avalon, August 1999

Steven Posch, Macha & Sparky T. Rabbit Photo by Joy Hartje-Pepin © 1999

• Meeting the Fates
  Co-priestessed with Oz Anderson and Amber K., Magical Mountain Mabon, Jemez Mountains, NM, September 1998

• Kali, the Terrible Mother, and Other Dark Goddesses
  With Sharon Devlin and Bone Blossom, Ancient Ways Festival, Harbin Hot Springs, CA, 1984.
  With Bone Blossom and Sequoia, MerryMeet, Saratoga, CA, 1987.

• The Wheel of the Year
  Coven Holy Terrors, MerryMeet, Rodeo Beach, CA 1981

PANELS (partial list):

• "Visions of the Past and Memories of the Future: NeoPaganism in California" A video presentation followed by a panel discussion, sponsored by The Pagan Alliance and Pacific School of Religion of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
• Sonoma State University, Cotati, CA. Queerness & Spirituality interfaith panel, part of Women's and Gender Studies, Spring 2001 Lecture Series entitled Queer Mirrors: Reflections on Gender and Power
• "Symposium -- Pagani Soteria," sponsored by Academy Arkadia, Richmond, CA
• Covenants of Unitarian Universality Pagans Annual Gathering, Salem, MA, October 1998
• "Pagans Look at Death & Dying, producer/facilitator, PantheaCon 1997
• "Crossing Over: Pagan Look at Death & Dying," producer/facilitator, PantheaCon 1996
• "What Is Pagan Clergy, if Anything?," producer/facilitator, PantheaCon 1994
• "Goddesses & Matriarchies," producer/facilitator, Ancient Ways, 1993
• "Challenges to Paganism in the 21st Century," producer/facilitator, Ancient Ways, 1992
• "California Traditions: 20 Years of Craft in California," films, videos & panel, producer/facilitator, Berkeley, CA 1990

WORKSHOP FACILITATOR:

• California Traditions: 20 Years of Craft and Neo-Paganism
  An overview and panel discussion, with highlights on film, video and slides. Panel moderated by me, panelists were Alison Harlow, Andraste, Pandora Minerva O'Mallory, Prudence Priest, Diana L. Paxson, John P. McClimans, Kalyn "Aunty Gravity" Tranquil'son, Jo Carson, and Greg Harder. November 1990
  
  The film was "A Dance for the Goddess," a tapestry of rituals by Feraferia (founded by Fred Adams), by Jo Carson. The video by Greg Harder, "Between the Worlds", included various Northern Californian Craft and Pagan rituals, events, performances and performers, and excerpts from Goddess Television Productions (Z Budapest's show). "Rituals" was a collection of slides of various Southern Californian Pagan groups in '70s. (avail for purchase.)

• Building Community/Maintaining Magic: A Workshop about Growth
  Workshop series on chanting, death and dying, creating effective large public rituals, community-building, dealing with growth, avoiding burnout, conflict resolution, consensus process, sponsored by Covenant of Gaia, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Moon Goddess Store, Gainesville, FL

• Meeting Death, Grieving Loss
  United Pagan Ministries, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Crestline, CA; Isis2000, Long Beach, CA; Tampa, FL, Kalamazoo, MI

• Chants and Enchantment
  Denver, CO; Magical Mountain Mabon, NM; Seattle, WA; Running Springs, CA; Oakland, CA; Northampton, MA; Crestline, CA; Santa Monica, CA; Gainesville, FL

• Working with the Dying and Their Loved Ones
  Magical Mountain Mabon, NM; Greenfield, MA; Burlington, VT; Salem, MA; Seattle, WA; North Hollywood, CA; Costa Mesa, CA; Atlanta, GA; New York City.

• Death and Dying for Pagans and Pagan Clergy
  Denver, CO; Seattle, WA; North Hollywood, CA; Minneapolis, MN; New York City, NY; Costa Mesa, CA; San Francisco, CA; Burlington, VT; Salem, MA; Greenfield, MA; Ithaca, NY; Columbus, OH.

• Crossing Over: A Workshop on Death and Dying
  Metaphysical Celebrations; Denver Merchandise Mart Expo Hall, CO.

• Doing Magic Where You Are
  Magical Mountain Mabon, NM

• Earth Religion and the City: The Sacred, the Political and the Personal
  Co-presenter with Chas S. Clifton, North Hollywood, CA.

• Earth Religion and the City: The Sacred, the Political and the Personal
  Return to Avalon, WI; Riverside, CA; Burlington, VT; Salem, MA; Tampa, FL

• Through the Darkness: Songs of Magic, Life and Death
  With Beverly Frederick, Milk & Honey, Sebastopol, CA

• The Pentacle of Iron
  Harvest Moon Celebration, Topanga, CA; Return to Avalon, Midwest

• So Many Gods So Little Time - Exploring Pagan Deity Yoga, A series with Sam Webster, M.Div.

• The Morrígan. with Priestess of the Morrígan Barbara Glass

WRITER:

 

BOOKS:

• Pagan Pride: Honoring the Craft and Culture of Earth and Goddess, Citadel Press, New York, 2004

• Foreword to The Veil's Edge: Exploring the Boundaries of Magic, by Willow Polson, Llewellyn, 2003

• Foreword to Coven: Criando e Organizando Seu Próprio Grupo, by Claudiney Prieto. São Paulo, Brazil: Editoro Gaia, 2003

• Foreword to Heart of Tarot: An Intuitive Approach, by Amber K and Azrael Arynn K. Llewellyn, 2002

• Witchcraft and the Web: Weaving Pagan Traditions Online, ECW Press, Toronto. Ont., Canada, 2001

• The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: Practical Rituals, Prayers, Blessings, and Meditations on Crossing Over, with Starhawk et al, HarperSanFrancisco, 1997

ANTHOLOGIES:

• Exploring the Pagan Path: Wisdom from Elders, Kristin Madden, ed. New Page Books, 2006. A benefit for Ardantane Witch School
• Celebrating the Pagan Soul: Our Own Stories of Inspiration and Community, Laura Wildman Hanlon, ed. New York: Citadel Press, 2005
• Irish Spirit: Pagan, Celtic, Christian, Global, Patricia Monaghan, Editor. Wolfhound Press, Dublin.
  2001
• Featured in Women in Leadership in Faith: Voices of Hope and Healing in a Troubled World, Marin County, California, Roberta Swan, project director, 2002-03

TEXTS:

• Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America, Vol. 3: Metaphysical, New Age, and Neopagan Movements, Eugene V. Gallagher and W. Michael Ashcraft, eds., Westport, CT, London: Greenwood Press, 2006 "Ritual and Neopaganism," with Adrian Harris
• World Religions in Dialogue, Dr. Judith Martin, SSF, ed., Winona, MN: St. Mary's Press, Nov. 2008

ARTICLES (partial list):

• The Broomstick Chronicles, informal letters from Macha's travels
• "Law" PagaNet News, forthcoming
• "The Wheel" PagaNet News, Imbolg 2005, Vol. XIII, Issue 3
• "The Divine Feminine: Intersections and Collisions among Judaism, Christianity, and Earth-Based Spiritualities" and
• "The Triple Goddess, Plus One" in Crescent Magazine, Issue 2, Winter 2004
• "Witches Opposing War: Besom Brigades Bring Back the Broom." Reclaiming Quarterly, Winter 2003. Article and photo essay
• "Why I Love Samhain" in Circle Magazine, Autumn 2002
• "Our May Morn" Witchvox 2002
• "Why I Love Samhain" at Witchvox
• "Chants & Enchantment: The Magic of Vocal Spellcasting" PanGaia #26, Winter 2000-01
• "Pagan Seminaries & Ovaria," Accord: Journal of the Council of Magickal Arts, Texas, and PagaNet News, Tidewater, VA, November 2001
• "The Mighty Dead, the Beloved Dead, and Us," Witchvox, 2001
• "Meteor Showers," Witchvox 2001
• "Remembering the Dead in Community" in Hole in the Stone: A Journal of Wiccan Life, November 2000
• "The W Word: Why We Call Ourselves Witches" in Reclaiming Quarterly, Midsummer 1998
• HungryMinds. An online GLE (guided learning experience), expert on Contemporary American Witchcraft, beginning April 3, 2000. December 2000 -- Unfortunately, Hungry Minds seems to have been a victim of the great dot-com crash of 2000 so this valuable learning tool is no longer online. If you know of a site that would like to host it, please contact me.
• "The Spiral of Rebirth: The Growth of Pagan Spirituality in the U.S."
  • A Talk for Pagan Pride Day, September 18, 1999, in Burlington, VT, published in Burlington, VT CUUPS Newsletter, February 2000
  • A Talk for Pagan Pride Day, September 23, 2000, Gainesville Unitarian Universalist Church, Gainesville, FL
  "Masks in Magical Meetings -- II" in Reclaiming Quarterly No. 78, Spring 2000
• "The Role of Elders in the Pagan Community" Green Egg: A Journal of the Awakening Earth, Vol. 29, No. 115, Sept-Oct 1996

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES

• The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism, Shelley Rabinovitch and James Lewis, eds., New York: Citadel Press, 2002

• Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories London: Routledge, April 2000, entry on Witchcraft

• Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, by J. Gordon Melton, NY: The Gale Group, 2000

• Encyclopedia of Wicca, by Raven Grimassi, Minneapolis, MN: Llewellyn Publications 2000, entry on Reclaiming Tradition Witchcraft.

INTERVIEWS (partial list)

• Interview in Copper Moon Ezine: A Witch's Quarterly Publication for Teens and Early Twenties, April 2004
• Featured in Women in Leadership in Faith: Voices of Hope and Healing in a Troubled World, Marin County, California, Roberta Swan, project director, 2002-03
• Interview with Sandy Johnson of Fellowship of the Earth about Witchcraft and the Web on Talking Stick: Programming for the Earth Spiritual Community, recorded October 18, 2001
• Interview in The Wiccan/Pagan Times, 2001
• An extensive list of other examples is in the process of being compiled.

COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY, GRADUATE SCHOOL, & CHURCH GUEST LECTURER:

• Napa Valley Community College, Napa, CA, November 2006
• Santa Rosa UU Fellowship, Santa Rosa, CA, October 2006
• Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA, April 2006
• Stanford University, March 2006
• California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA. 2006, 2006
• Auburn Theological Seminary Center for Multifaith Education, New York, April 2003, February 2005
• Golden Gate Interfaith Institute, CA, lecture on Witchcraft, May 1998
• Graduate Theological Union/Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA, April 2005, January 2006
• New College of California, San Francisco. "Visions of the Past and Memories of the Future," part of a humanities seminar: "Creativity and the Shape of Culture," Sunday, March 5, 2000
• St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY (comparative religion and sociology classes), September 2004
• Sonoma State University, Cotati, CA. Queerness & Spirituality interfaith panel, part of Women's and Gender Studies, Spring 2001 Lecture Series entitled Queer Mirrors: Reflections on Gender and Power
• UC-Berkeley Religious Studies class lecture on Pagan beliefs and practices about death and dying. August 2000
• UC. Berkeley, CA, guest presenter to anthropology class: "The Supernatural in the Modern World," Summer 1997
• UC Berkeley Ethnographic Film Festival, "Changing Consciousness," a video by anthropology students David Boctor, Elisabeth James and Patricia Leslie, May 1997
• College of Notre Dâme/ Notre Dâme de Namur University, Belmont, CA, sociology class
• College of Marin, Kentfield, CA, sociology class, 1991

REPRESENTATIVE TO THE MEDIA (partial list):

• Pacific Sun, October 2006
• San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com, October 31, 2006
• TV interview on Tech TV's "Unscrewed with Margin Sargent", December 2, 2003
• TV interview on Net Cafe, Show #329, PBS, July 1999
• Mystic Journeys online 'zine of Magical Cauldron, featured interview, November/December 1999.
• Forum, Michael Krasny, host, KQED Public Radio, October 1997
• Calgary Herald Religion Page, October 1998
• San Francisco Chronicle; Fox TV News; Pacific Sun, Marin County, CA; Salem News, Salem, MA; Aquarius, Atlanta, GA

• An extensive list of other examples may be found on the interviews page.

PRESENTER (partial list):

• Ancient Ways Festivals
• Between the Worlds: A Grand Magickal Congress, Wilmington, DE, 2007
• Cornell University, Pagan Student Group, Ithaca, NY
• Covenant of Gaia Church of Alberta
• Covenants of Unitarian Universality Pagans (CUUPS)
• Feast of Lights, sponsored by EarthSpirit
• 17th Annual Heartland Pagan Festival, Kansas
• MerryMeet
• Pagan Community Council of Ohio
• PantheaCons
• Starwood Festival, New York, 2006
• Temple of Isis/Los Angeles
• The Lilith Institute, A Center for the Study of Sacred Text, Myth and Ritual, Napa, CA

AFFILIATIONS:

• American Academy of Religion, Fostering Excellence in the Study of Religion. Contemporary Pagan Studies Section
• Cherry Hill Seminary Chair, Public Ministry Department, Faculty, and Pagan Pastoral Counseling Advisory Panel
• Foundation for the Advancement of Women in Religion Board of Directors
• Marin Interfaith Council
• Ord Brighideach , flamekeeper through the Laurel Cell - Cill Labhras,
   Sisters of the Laurel - an Labhras ar an tIdirlion
   The Olive Branch - Cill na Craoibhe Olóige
• Reclaiming Collective, member and teacher from 1980 until dissolution 1997. Reclaiming is now evolved into a more extensive and more inclusive entity rather than being a small collective.
• Covenant of the Goddess, various local and national offices since 1981, including National First Officer, 1997-98; Northern California Local Council Assembly of Solitaries, frequent presenter (presentations sponsored by Chamisa LC, Gotham LC, Weavers LC, Dogwood LC, Orange County LC, Southern California LC)
• Nature Religion Scholars Network (NRSN)
• The Biodiversity Project Spirituality Working Group
• Sacred Dying Foundation Advisory Council
• The Goddess 2000 Project, participant ritualist, co-creator with founder Abby Willowroot of Dancing the Goddess Home ritual; creator of Goddesses Alive! ritual

EDUCATION:

• San Jose State College, San Jose, CA (now University)
• Stockton College, Stockton, CA (now San Joaquin Delta College)
• San Francisco State College, San Francisco, CA (now University)
• Goddard College, Plainfield, VT, B.A. 1979

TRAINING:

• Ongoing collaborations with Witches of many Traditions throughout the U.S.
• Cat Chapin-Bishop, 2000
• Sharon Devlin, 1978-present
• Reclaiming, first coven Holy Terrors, 1980-83
• Bonnie Barnett, vocal and breath work, 1979-83
• Starhawk, 1975-81, also Kevyn Lutton, Lauren Liebling, Diane Baker
• NROOGD (New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn), 1971