Elizabeth Barrette has been involved with the Pagan community for more than twenty-six years. She served as managing editor of PanGaia for eight years and Dean of Studies at the Grey School of Wizardry for four years. She has written columns on beginning and intermediate Pagan practice, Pagan culture, and Pagan leadership. Her book Composing Magic: How to Create Magical Spells, Rituals, Blessings, Chants, and Prayers explains how to combine writing and spirituality. She lives in central Illinois where she has done much networking with Pagans in her area, such as coffeehouse meetings and open sabbats. Her other public activities feature Pagan picnics and science fiction conventions. She enjoys magical crafts, historic religions, and gardening for wildlife. Her other writing fields include speculative fiction, gender studies, social and environmental issues. Visit her blog The Wordsmith’s Forge (http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/) or her website PenUltimate Productions (http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com). Her coven site is Greenhaven Tradition (http://greenhaventradition.weebly.com/).
Dallas Jennifer Cobb practices gratitude magic, giving thanks for personal happiness, health, and prosperity; meaningful, flexible, and rewarding work; and a deliciously joyful life. She is accomplishing her deepest desires. She lives in paradise with her daughter in a waterfront village in rural Ontario, where she regularly swims and runs, chanting: “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Contact her at jennifer.cobb@live.com or visit www.magicalliving.ca.
Kerri Connor is the author of The Pocket Spell Creator: Magickal References at Your Fingertips, The Pocket Guide to Rituals: Magickal References at Your Fingertips, The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Potions, Goodbye Grandmother, and Spells for Tough Times: Crafting Hope When Faced With Life’s Thorniest Challenges. High Priestess of the Gathering Grove, she has been published in several magazines and is a frequent contributor to the Llewellyn annuals. A graduate from the University of Wisconsin, Kerri holds a B.A. in communications and lives with her family, cats, and chickens in rural Illinois.
Sybil Fogg has been a practicing witch for over twenty-five years. She’s been writing for even longer. Her real name is Sybil Wilen, but she chose to use her mother’s maiden name in Pagan circles to honor her grandparents. She’s also a wife, mother, writer, teacher, and belly dancer. Her family shares her passion for magic, dance, and writing. She lives in Saco, Maine, with her husband and children. Please visit her website: www.sybilwilen.com.
Michael Furie (Northern California) is the author of Spellcasting for Beginners, Supermarket Magic, and Spellcasting: Beyond the Basics published by Llewellyn Worldwide. Furie has been a practicing Witch for over twenty years. An American Witch, he practices in the Irish tradition and is a priest of the Cailleach. You can find him online at www.michaelfurie.com.
JD Hortwort resides in North Carolina. She is an avid student of herbology and gardening. JD has written a weekly garden column for over twenty years. She is a professional and award-winning writer, journalist, and magazine editor and a frequent contributor to the Llewellyn annuals. JD has been active in the local Pagan community since 2002, and she is a founding member of the House of Akasha in Greensboro, N.C.
Kristoffer Hughes is the founder and Chief of the Anglesey Druid Order in North Wales, UK. He is an award-winning author and a frequent speaker and workshop leader throughout the United Kingdom and the United States. He works professionally for Her Majesty’s Coroner. He has studied with the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, and is its 13th Mount Haemus Scholar. He is a native Welsh speaker, born to a Welsh family in the mountains of Snowdonia. He resides on the Isle of Anglesey.
April Elliott Kent has been a professional astrologer since 1990. She is the author of Astrological Transits (Fair Winds/Quarto, 2015), The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology (Alpha/Penguin, 2011), and Star Guide to Weddings (Llewellyn, 2008). April’s writing has also appeared in The Mountain Astrologer and Dell Horoscope magazines and in Llewellyn’s Moon Sign Book and Sun Sign Book. She lives in San Diego, CA. Her website is BigSkyAstrology.com.
Melanie Marquis is a lifelong practitioner of magick, the founder of United Witches global coven, and a local coordinator for the Pagan Pride Project in Denver, Colorado, where she currently resides. The author of numerous articles and several books, including The Witch’s Bag of Tricks, A Witch’s World of Magick, Beltane, and Lughnasadh, and she’s written for many national and international Pagan publications. She is the co-author of Witchy Mama and the co-creator of the Spellcaster Tarot. An avid crafter, cook, folk artist, and tarot reader, she offers a line of customized magickal housewares as well as private tarot consultations by appointment. Connect with her online at www.melaniemarquis.com or facebook.com/melaniemarquisauthor.
Mickie Mueller is an author, artist, and illustrator who explores the realms of magic with both visual mediums and the written word. Her mixed media artwork is created magically; she combines colored pencil techniques with paint that is infused with magical herbs that correspond to the subject, bringing the power of spirit into her magical artwork. Mickie’s black and white illustrations have been published in various books since 2007, and she has illustrated tarot and oracle decks including Voice of the Trees oracle, which she also wrote, and Mystical Cats Tarot. She has also written for several of the Llewellyn annuals and the book The Witch’s Mirror. She is a Reiki Master/Teacher, ordained Priestess, and loyal minion to two cats and a dog.
Stacy Porter is a Sea Witch. She has survived a Russian winter, studied politics in Africa, sampled the best gelato in Italy, and saved sea turtles in Nicaragua. Stacy holds a degree in International Studies with an emphasis in politics from Juniata College. She is a second-degree Priestess in the Ravenmyst Tradition, studying under Dorothy Morrison, Maggie Shayne, and Gail Wood. She is a certified yoga instructor, meditation guide, writer, and passionate advocate for those who don’t have a voice. Stacy travels the world, as a mermaid and on two legs, teaching yoga, spreading magic, and daring the world to believe in their dreams. She lives by a lake on the east coast with her Jack Russell terrier, Mackenzie. Her writings regularly appear in Elephant Journal and you can follow her adventures on her website www.theavalonapothecary.com
Linda Raedisch is a papercrafter, house cleaner, and professional organizer who has somehow managed to find the time to write two books: Night of the Witches: Folklore, Traditions and Recipes for Celebrating Walpurgis Night (Llewellyn 2011) and The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year (Llewellyn 2015). Since 2011, she has been a regular contributor to the Llewellyn annuals. Linda lives in northern New Jersey, but enjoys the odd vacation on the west Baltic coast. She has eaten Danish hot dogs beside a fjord.
Suzanne Ress has been practicing Wicca for about twelve years as the leader of a small coven, but she has been aware of having a special connection to nature and animal spirits since she was a young child. She has been writing creatively most of her life—short stories, novels, and nonfiction articles for a variety of publications—and finds it to be an important outlet for her considerable creative powers. Other outlets she regularly makes use of are metalsmithing, mosaic works, painting, and all kinds of dance. She is also a professional aromatic herb grower and beekeeper. Although she is an American of Welsh ancestry by birth, she has lived in northern Italy for nearly twenty years. She recently discovered that the small mountain in the pre-alpine hills that she inhabits with her family and animals was once the site of an ancient Insubrian Celtic sacred place. Not surprisingly, the top of the mountain has remained a fulcrum of sacredness throughout the millennia, and this grounding in blessedness makes Suzanne’s everyday life especially magical.