Guest speaking for Lori Slicton’s anthropology classes, Skyline had a very unique visitor on October 15, Starhawk, a modern-day witch.

Starhawk hasn’t always studied the craft. During her lecture she revealed that she and a friend took on a project for an anthropology class while attending UCLA. It was a witchcraft project that led to her meeting a group of people calling themselves witches.

She became very interested in what she was studying and began to delve further into it.

Following an initiation tradition she had to take on a new name. Remembering a dream she had, a hawk stood out to her. She then combined her connection to the Star card in the Tarot deck to complete her new name, Starhawk.

Starhawk also discussed her beliefs a little. In the pagan tradition, nature is sacred and the deity came in the form of a goddess.

“I always felt there was some connection between a spirituality that could see the divine as a female and the empowerment of women,” said Starhawk.

In fact, it was these thoughts that led to the formation of the Women’s/ Feminist Spirituality Movement.

Starhawk has had ten books published and continues to teach around the world. When she started teaching she had a few different courses: reclaiming our goddess, reclaiming our magic, and reclaiming our power. Eventually all the elements were combined and it was narrowed down to the idea of reclaiming.

One of the most interesting things she discussed was the definition of magic.

“Magic is the art of changing consciousness at will,” says Starhawk.

She then went on to talk about some other pagan traditions. Most notably that, to the pagans, endings are always associated with beginnings.

“Death is always associated with rebirth and regeneration,” says Starhawk. “Everything that dies in nature feeds something else.”

In pagan tradition, death is not feared; rather it is accepted as a natural part of life.

If witchcraft is something that interests you or you want to know more about Starhawk’s way of life, you can attend the traditional Spiral Dance taking place on Nov. 1 in San Francisco. Starhawk also has an online blog called On Faith.

“Starhawk is a truly dedicated Priestess of the Goddess who works tirelessly to heal the Earth and reminds us that together we can create the world of our dreams,” says Abel Gomez, the Skyline student who invited Starhawk to speak in the class. “Her work is rooted in a deep reverence for life and the great intricacies of the natural world.”