Amsterdam, New Year’s Eve, 1997. As the clock in the city’s central square struck midnight, a roar of exultation went up through the crowd. Revelers twirled through the snow, embracing and kissing and beating their drums. I stood on the side, tears streaming down my cheeks. Staring into the cathedrals of city light reflecting […]
Witches or Witch-curious folks! Check out my recent piece in CARLA on the power of witchcraft in the Los Angeles art world. “More and more frequently we’re seeing contemporary artists utilize the methodologies of witchcraft in their practice, largely because, by its very nature, witchcraft is a political and creative act commanding power back into […]
Dear Ones! I know this is going out super late, but it’s been a wild month and I’m still breathless, catching up. Magical Praxis is tomorrow night — Monday at 7:30pm. So much is going on. Standing Rock. The election. A rising tide of anxiety and assault on the things that many of us hold […]
So honored and thrilled to be a part of artist Lara Schitnger’s two day program at the Hammer Museum on Sunday. Swing by, everyone! I will be giving a lecture on the practices of contemporary witchcraft. Following that, I will lead a closing ceremony created in collaboration with Lara to activate her Suffragette City sculptures. […]
Join me on Halloween for a guided ceremony to connect with your ancestors, release yourself from karmic bondage and gain clarity about future goals. Throughout the world, rituals are used at this time of year to honor the cycles of life, heal ancestral wounds, and to honor and communicate with departed loved ones. During this […]
Herbal Charm on the Oracle Hour Artist, herbalist, and all around charmer Melanie Griffin recently joined me on the Oracle Hour to discuss: the trials and tribulations of art-making how struggling with illness all her life led her to train as an herbalist techniques of self-care and global healing Click the link below to listen. Once you’re […]
So, if you’re just tuning in, I was describing my time in Amsterdam at 20 years old. Broke, friendless, in the freezing cold, with the school that I’d gone there to attend boarded up and empty. I didn’t know it then, but I was about to begin a crash course in magic. My magical apprenticeship […]
In my last post, we left off in San Francisco. I was a 19-year-old stripper with a passion for dance, a prescription for psych meds, and a desire to see the world. I’d just had a dream where a tarot wielding magician told me to go to Amsterdam. With $2,000 saved up, I bought a one-way […]
Wendy C. Ortiz, therapist, and author of three books, wrote her first chapbook in the 2nd grade. She always considered herself a writer. But when she was 13, just in junior high, she was seduced by her English teacher, drawn into a years long abusive relationship with him that didn’t end until she graduated high […]
When I was 19 I had big dreams, but no idea what to do to accomplish them. My sense was that basically what you had to do was get involved with life. For me that meant: Moving to San Francisco on a whim and living in a big Edwardian house in the Western Addition with […]