You never know who you might meet at a writers’ conference. Sure, you’re gonna meet some weirdoes … but there’s also the off chance you might meet someone super cool and interesting, like Ashleen O’Gaea. And who better to do an interview in the month of October?
O’Gaea (pronounce oh-jee-uh) is a Wiccan priestess and author of several books about the religion; now she’s breaking into fiction. She is also a wife, a mother, and a camper. O’Gaea lives in Tucson, where there’s a long-established and active Pagan community. She fancies herself sort of artistic, wishes she could actually dance, and takes her single-malt whisky (preferably without an e) neat. Check out her website at http://www.ashleenogaea.com/.
An H and Five Ws with Wiccan Priestess Ashleen O’Gaea
How did you become a Wiccan Priestess?
Can I blame my mom? She was a very active volunteer for the Unitarian Church in Portland, and that rubbed off on me. I was active in the UU Church here for several years, and when we discovered Wicca, it was just natural that I’d start volunteering . . . only there wasn’t a group to volunteer for! I began to read with the zeal of a convert and started writing about Wicca almost immediately, and probably because of articles in several small ‘zines, many of which are gone now, I was recruited by a local priestess, Delia Morgan, to help found the Tucson Area Wiccan-Pagan Network in 1988.
My HHp (Husband and High Priest) Canyondancer and I formed our first group in ’89 after initiating each other to First Degree at Samhain, and that group became Campsight Coven in 1991. I was elevated to Third at Litha of 1991 by two eclectic priestesses in the community here; and in June of 2004 I was ordained by the Aquarian Tabernacle Church. Basically, within a year of finding out that Wicca existed, I felt like I’d always been part of it, and priestessing was never exactly a conscious decision—it was just finding a name for what already felt natural to do. (And by the way, being a Wiccan priest/ess means for Canyondancer and me what it means to ministers of other religions: we “marry ‘em and bury ‘em” and take care of everything else in between—including, of course, observing the holy days on our faith’s liturgical calendar.)
Who first got you interested in Wicca?
Short answer: our good friend Faerie Moon.
Longer answer: When I was in high school and college, “the occult” was a very popular diversion. I read Tarot cards and had psychic dreams and all, but I didn’t have any context for any of that other than B-movie stereotypes, and that wasn’t anything I could take seriously. The TV show “Bewitched” was cute enough, but Samantha still occasionally referred to “the man downstairs,” and that just didn’t light my candles. People always saw something a little fey about me, and one friend meant to ask if I was superstitious and instead asked if I was supernatural, but it was all kind of jokey and being a little bit psychic was just amusingly weird for a long time.
When ‘dancer and I got married, we chose traditional music for the ceremony—the bridal chorus from Lohengrin—and the organist at the UU Church said it was “too Pagan” for his taste! And we were celebrating Solstices and Equinoxes and “Mayday” and “Halloween”—so I guess it was pretty predictable that when Faerie Moon showed me Margot Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon and Starhawk’s Spiral Dance,
Lovely. Thanks for being open and sharing.
I really dig getting a look into other people’s religious beliefs. And what better religion than Wicca at this time of year, right? Thanks for reading!