Starhawk's Biography(Photos)

Starhawk (born Miriam Samos in 1951) is a writer and is one
of the most respected voices in modern earth-based

Starhawk is a veteran of progressive movements, from
anti-war to anti-nukes, and is deeply committed to bringing

spirituality. She also describes herself as a witch, and is
well known as a theorist of paganism, trainer in nonviolence

the techniques and creative power of spirituality to
political activism. Together with Penny Livingston-Stark and

and direct action, and activist within the peace movement,
women's movement, environmental movement, and

Erik Ohlsen, she coteaches EAT, Earth Activist Trainings,
intensive seminars that combine permaculture design,

Anti-globalization movement.

political organizing, and earth-based spirituality
(www.earthactivisttraining.org).

She is the author of The Fifth Sacred Thing, The Spiral
Dance, Dreaming the Dark, and Truth or Dare. A feminist and

Starhawk has also recorded several tapes and CDs; most

peace activist, she is one of the foremost voices of
ecofeminism and travels widely in North America and Europe

recently "Wicca for Beginners" (2002), "Wiccan Rituals and
Blessings" (2003), and a four-CD set "Earth Magic" (2006),

giving lectures and workshops. She lives in San Francisco,
where she works with the Reclaiming collective, which offers

all produced by Sounds True. A songwriter on occasion, quite
a few of her songs and chants turn up in rituals across the

classes, workshops, and public rituals in earth-based
spirituality

globe; they are included in songbooks and hymnals, covered
by other artists, and recorded by the Reclaiming musical

Starhawk is also well-known as a global justice activist and

community.

organizer, whose work and writings have inspired many to
action. She is the author or coauthor of eleven books,

Starhawk travels internationally teaching magic, the tools
of ritual, and the skills of activism. She lives part-time

including The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient
Religion of the Great Goddess, long considered the essential

San Francisco, in a collective house with her partner and
friends, and part-time in a little hut in the woods in

text for the Neo-Pagan movement, and the now-classic
ecotopian novel The Fifth Sacred Thing. Starhawk's newest

western Sonoma County, California, where she practices
permaculture in her extensive gardens, and writes.

book is a picture book for children, The Last Wild Witch.

Starhawk was born on June 17, 1951 and holds a B. A. in Fine

Starhawk's works have been translated into Spanish, French,
German, Danish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Greek,

Arts from UCLA and an M.A. in Psychology from Antioch West
University.

Japanese, and Burmese. Her essays are reprinted across the
world, and have been included in numerous anthologies.

Her web site is www.starhawk.org Her blog, Dirt Worship, is

Starhawk's writing is influential and has been quoted by
hundreds of other authors, turning up in magazines, trade

found at www.starhawksblog.org

and academic press, and even inspirational calendars. Her
books are often found in college curriculums. The Spiral

Dance has been continuously in-print for thirty years and
revised twice; in 1999 HarperSanFrancisco published the

* The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of
the Great Goddess.

Twentieth Anniversary Edition. Truth or Dare: Encounters
with Power, Authority, and Mystery won the Media Alliance

San Francisco, HarperSanFrancisco, 1979, 1989, and
1999 editions.

Meritorious Achievement Award for nonfiction in 1988.
Starhawk's first novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing, won the

German, Danish, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian,
Spanish, and Greek editions.

Lambda award for best Gay and Lesbian Science Fiction in
1994. Many of Starhawk's best political essays--credited

* Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex, and Politics. Boston,

with helping the global justice movement find and define
itself--were collected into her book Webs of Power: Notes

Beacon, 1982, 1988, 1997 editions. French and German
editions.

from the Global Uprising. At the Book Expo America, Webs of
Power won a 2003 Nautilus Award from the trade association

* Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and

Mystery. San Francisco, HarperSanFrancisco.,1988. German
edition.

Starhawk is perhaps best known as an articulate pioneer in
the revival of earth-based spirituality and Goddess

* The Fifth Sacred Thing. New York, Bantam, 1993.

religion. She is a cofounder of Reclaiming, an activist
branch of modern Pagan religion, and continues to work

German, Italian, Polish, and Portuguese editions.

closely with the Reclaiming community (www.reclaiming.org).
Her archives are maintained at the Graduate Theological

* Walking to Mercury. New York, Bantam, 1997.

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"

Francisco, HarperSanFrancisco, 1997.

(www.starhawksblog.org)

* Circle Round: Raising Children in the Goddess
Tradition. Cowritten with Anne Hill and Diane Baker.

She consulted on and contributed to the popular trio of
films known as the Women's Spirituality series, directed by

Illustrated by Sara Ceres Boore. New York, Bantam, 1998.

Donna Read for the National Film Board of Canada: Goddess
Remembered, The Burning Times, and Full Circle. Starhawk and

* The Twelve Wild Swans: A Journey to the Realm of
Magic, Healing, and Action, cowritten with Hilary Valentine.

Donna Read recently formed their own film company, Belili
Productions (www.belili.org). Their first release is Signs

San Francisco, HarperSanFrancisco, 2000. Dutch, Spanish, and
German editions.

Out of Time (2004), a documentary on the life of
archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, the scholar made major

* Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising.

discoveries about the Goddess cultures of Old Europe.
Starhawk and Donna are at work on their next film, an

Victoria, Canada; New Society Publishers, 2002. Essays
translated into Burmese, French, and Italian.

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

of Nature. San Francisco, HarperSanFrancisco, 2004

"Permaculture Principles at Work."

* The Last Wild Witch. Portland, Oregon: Mother Tongue
Ink. 2009.