The Jeff Farias Show Interviews

We spoke earlier today with Starhawk! 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 eleven 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 a picture book for children, The Last Wild Witch. Her works have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Danish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, 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. Written by Starhawk is another acclaimed pagan reference, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: Practical Rituals, Prayers, Blessings, and Meditations on Crossing Over Her books are often found in college curriculums. 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. Her archives are maintained at the Graduate Theological Union library in Berkeley, California. She is a panelist for the Newsweek/Washington Post website on religion, “On Faith,” and also contributes to Beliefnet and ZNet, as well as maintaining her own blog, “Dirt Worship” She consulted on and contributed to 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.

Starhawk and Donna Read recently formed their own film company, Belili Productions . Their first release is Signs Out of Time (2004), a documentary on the life of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, the scholar made major discoveries about the Goddess cultures of Old Europe. Starhawk and Donna are at work on their next film, an introduction to permaculture. 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. Her web site Her blog, Dirt Worship!

The Last Wild Witch by Starhawk, illustrated by Lindy Kehoe is special, right from the paper up. It is printed on recycled paper using a soy based ink, so it’s an eco-fable that puts it’s money where it’s mouth is. On the inside cover, it even has the information about what resources were saved by using recycled paper (21 full grown trees and 4, 658 gallons of water). It’s published by Mother Tongue Ink, who publishes the We’Moon Datebook. This is their first children’s book. … Besides being so well written, it is also a book of the times; a way of helping kids to realize that yes, adults have tried to suck the natural magic out of this planet, but you can make a difference! You can work to change things, and you can even teach your parents a thing or two. A lot of the wild places might be gone, but we can work to save what is left and try to heal the rest the best we can.

Illustrator Lindy Kehoe creates a rich, lush, swirly world in The Last Wild Witch with simple, yet gorgeous paintings. From the fabulous royal purple endpapers to the to the trees that are bursting with life and the children that are themselves the richest colors of the earth and sea, rarely has a book had such inviting pages. Together, Starhawk and Lindy Kehoe have together created their own wild magic.

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