The transmission
Starhawk (born Miriam Simos, 1951) is an American writer, activist, and one of the most influential figures in modern Goddess religion and feminist Witchcraft. Trained in the Feri tradition under Victor Anderson, she rose to prominence with The Spiral Dance (1979), a foundational text of the contemporary Pagan revival that blended ritual, psychology, and political consciousness.
Her work consistently defines magic in explicitly mind-power-adjacent terms — famously as “the art of changing consciousness at will.” She co-founded the Reclaiming tradition, linking earth-based spirituality to social and ecological activism.
Across books like Dreaming the Dark and The Earth Path, she frames ritual as a technology for reshaping belief, emotion, and collective will.
What they gave
“Changing consciousness at will”: Her definition of magic centers the deliberate alteration of one’s own mental and emotional state as the core operative act.
- Ritual as psychological technology: Treats ritual, chant, and trance as practical tools for shifting belief and energy.
- Collective/group mind: Emphasizes that shared ritual amplifies intention through group consciousness.
- Empowerment framing: Positions inner work as a route to personal and political agency.
The line they stand in
Influenced by: Wicca and the Feri tradition; Victor Anderson; feminist spirituality and Goddess religion.
- Influenced: the modern Goddess and Pagan movement; earth-activist spirituality; ritual-as-empowerment practitioners.
Revelations they taught
Essential Works
- The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess1979
- Dreaming the Dark1982