From the Introduction to The Gorgon’s Guide

In fall of 2018 – just ahead of the US elections, the New Aradia: A Witch’s Handbook to Magical Resistance was released. Created as a collection of ideas to teach, share, inspire, empower, protect, and guide, found within its pages are sigils, spells, recipes, essays, invocations, rituals, and more – all gathered from experienced magical practitioners from around the world. In addition to being a reference guide, a portion of sales from the New Aradia benefited the Southern Poverty Law Center and Emily’s List (over $3500 collectively as of Fall 2022.) 

While change is afoot, we continue to exist in a timeline rife with conflict and crisis. The need for another collection to help address the changing landscape has become clearly evident. And so The Gorgon’s Guide has been called into being. 

The Gorgon’s Guide follows in the footsteps of the first volume of New Aradia, digging deeper into magical work that is relevant to our times. Magical resistance happens both through physical means and metaphysical works – mind, body, and spirit. We seek not only to survive, but to thrive and craft new possibilities for tomorrow – for humanity, for the planet, for all. For this edition, we have worked to center the voices of queer, trans, and BIPOC practitioners and related issues as much as possible. 

And like New Aradia’s proven financial commitment to ushering change, with every purchase of this book, $1 will be sent to a national and a local non-profit organization, rotating on a quarterly basis. Our first two chosen groups are: Indigenous Women Rising (https://www.iwrising.org/) and Holler Health Justice (https://www.hollerhealthjustice.org/)

Why is this volume called Gorgon’s Guide? Emerging from Greek mythology, the Gorgons are beings often described as having snakes in place of hair, large eyes, scaly skin, teeth like boars, claws for hands,
and golden wings. They could petrify anyone who looked directly into their eyes. The number of Gorgons varies, but the most popular mythology describes the Gorgons as three sisters. Some say the Gorgons represent perversion in its three forms: Medusa (intellectual), Euryale (sexual) and Steno (moral). For centuries, witches have been said to be the perverse ones, upsetting the order of society. But what if society needs upsetting?

Right now, we are under attack: the truths of science and logic are being undermined; queer, trans, and reproductive rights are in grave danger; and the powers that be turn a blind eye to climate change, environmental destruction, and basic human rights. If fighting against these violations is perverse, then Gorgons we shall be. 

We may not have snakes in our hair, but we hold the power of the Serpent within us. The primal voice within us, the Serpent speaks of creation and change, power and protection, venom and vision. It reminds us that the path of living is serpentine – in moving forward we must also be prepared to spiral back, as well as knowing when to rest and when to strike. The Serpent says to the Witch, “Kiss the air with your tongue, move your body like water, let your spirit burn like fire, and glide upon the earth with ease.” 

Remember the strength and power that resides within you, for you are a being of change, a child of Gorgons. 

Laura Tempest Zakroff
Providence, RI
October 2022

Alicia “Jynx” Vervain, or “The Writ Witch,” is a passionate writer, poet, storyteller, and ritual dramatist, crafting language as a spiritual offering and as a means of better coming to know Spirit and Self. As a Reclaiming witch and a student of rootwork, Jynx’s omnist and pantheist perspective on spirituality and life itself is grounded in the importance of Story and Myth in understanding not only who we are and who we’ve been, but also who we have the potential to be. As The Writ Witch, she writes custom devotional and narrative poetry and offers in-depth dream interpretations, as well as delving into bibliomancy and rhapsodomancy as personal daily practice. An avid researcher, belly dancer, full-spectrum doula, and activist for comprehensive sex education and reproductive rights, Jynx works primarily with Persephone, Inanna, the Dead, and her Self.

Brian “Chase” Charles is the illustrator of Orphic Hymns Grimoire. In addition to illustrating, he reads tarot, casts spells for hire, and teaches sorcerous illustration in Pittsburgh, and at festivals all over the midAtlantic region.  You can inquire about his services at BrianCharlesArt@gmail.com

Rev. Christian Ortíz: Psychologist and priest of the Goddess. Coordinator of the Fraternity of the Goddess and founder of the Temple of Our Lady of the Night. Host of Saber Sanar Podcast and contributor to Circle Sanctuary Network Podcasts. He has collaborated in national and international events of neo-paganism and spirituality. He is currently director of Arka Books, works in therapeutic intervention and violence prevention, as well as in trauma healing. www.nuestrasenoradelanoche.org

Cory Thomas Hutcheson is the author of the book New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic and the co-host of the podcast New World Witchery. He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Penn State and works primarily in folklore studies, with an emphasis on North American folk magical traditions.

Dodie Graham McKay is a writer, green witch, Gardnerian priestess, and filmmaker. She is inspired to document and share stories that capture the beauty of nature and the visible and invisible realms of magic and witchcraft. She is the author of the book Earth Magic: The Elements of Witchcraft (Llewellyn, 2021) and her documentary films include The WinniPagans and Starry Nights (featuring Kerr Cuhulain). Dodie spends her spare time walking her dogs and facilitating a busy coven. She lives in Treaty One Territory, Homeland of the Métis Nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Visit her at www.dodiegrahammckay.com.

Emiliano Russo has a degree in English language, culture and translation and is a theater director graduated from the National Academy of Dramatic Arts. Since 2020 he has dedicated himself to the activity of blogger and digital creator, founding the project L’Almanacco delle Streghe, a portal that quickly became a reference point for many Italian witches. He is an initiate of the Temple of Ara Tradition. Among his teachers there are Phyllis Curott, the Priestly Group of the Temple of Ara Italy, particularly Valeria Trisoglio with whom he also delves into aspects of Core Shamanism; Sorita d’Este; Emily Carding, Laura Tempest Zakroff and others. He holds different courses of magickal and personal growth. In March 2022 he published his first book, “La Voce di una Stega” and in Fall 2022 “L’Agenda della Mela: la Magia della Luna” a magickal journal with a note by Phyllis Curott. He is one of the columnist of Witches Magazine, a British quarterly written by witches for witches.

Enrique Alberto Gómez was born in Mexico. He is an associate professor of physics and astronomy with a Ph.D. from the University of Alabama. He has been active in the violence against women movement receiving the Fannie Lou Hamer and Grimké Sisters Award from UA. In 2014, Enrique became the first Latino president of a North Carolina branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) supporting a fusion coalition of African American, Latinx and rural White communities. He is an initiate of the Sylvan Hearth Tradition studying to become a priest in it.

Estara Sanatani (she/they) is the founding priestex of Treebridge Witchcraft. Her first public foray into protection work was as editor of the quarterly e-journal The Guardian’s Grimoires in the early 90s. She has since contributed to various magazines and anthologies. Currently she teaches online and writes fiction under her birth name, Julie McCord.

Georgia van Raalte is a scholar, author and occultist. She holds a PhD in literature from the University of Surrey, where her research explored the occult novels of Dion Fortune. She is the co-founder of Temple of Our Lady of the Abyss, a temple dedicated to the Goddess Babalon. She is the author of three books exploring the mysteries of Babalon, the most recent of which being Babalon Hymnal: Poetry from the Abyss.

Mx Gwynevere Kipling, a queer sapphic creature from the edges of the Cotswolds now residing in the Northern wilds. Inspired by that which is half-hidden by dreams and bringing the death-beauty into moments of imagined reality.

Heka deAuset hails from Saginaw, Michigan. She is a BIPOC Priestess of Isis who honors her African and Ramapough Lenape roots. She is co-founder of Mid-Michgan Pagan Alliance and founder of the Mobile BLM Memorial Project. She strives to elevate other BIPOC voices in Pagan spaces. This piece was written after watching the live stream of the first Woman’s March in Washington DC.

Irisanya Moon (she/they) is an author, witch, international teacher, and Reclaiming initiate who has practiced magick for 20+ years. She wrote 7 books (so far), including Pagan Portals (Reclaiming Witchcraft – 2020, Aphrodite – 2020, Iris – 2020, Norns – 2023), Earth Spirit (Honoring the Wild – 2023, Gaia – 2023), and Practically Pagan: An Alternative Guide to Health & Well-being – 2020. Irisanya cultivates spaces of self-care/devotion, divine relationship (whatever that means to you), and community service as part of her heart magick and activism. www.irisanyamoon.com

Ivy Senna, born and raised in Thailand, is an astrolater and a practitioner of the occult. Much of her practice is influenced by the animism of her cultural upbringing. Likewise, her interests in the esoteric are hungry and sweeping: from the Greek Magical Papyri to verbal charms to Vedic religion, Ivy is always eager to learn. She currently runs a blog at uponthealtar.com and can be found active on Instagram at @ivy.crowned

Jessica Della Janare (she / her / hers) is queer fat femme witch, poet, and professional tarot reader settled on the stolen land of the Coast Salish and Duwamish peoples. A longtime organizer and teacher with the now defunct Free Cascadia Witchcamp, you can her find her exploring Southern Italian folk practices on Instagram @ inboccaallupotarot. 

Joey Morris, a Celtic Creatrix and UK based daughter of The Morrigan, works very closely with tree magick and spends a lot of time communing and foraging within the spiritual ecosystem. This connection allows Joey to practise voice witchery and conduit for the Otherworld. Joey runs Starryeyedsupplies, an online Spiritual store, a Witchy Patreon, and is a self-published author as well as a contributing author to many Girl God anthologies, including In Defiance of Oppression: The Legacy of Boudicca (2021).

K.A.H. received her B.A. from Bellarmine University and M.A. from the University of Louisville for English Literature. From the latter she received her Ph.D. in Humanities with a special concentration in interdisciplinary art history; in particular, her focus was postmodern spectacle. She has taught a variety of courses ranging from first year composition to special topics in humanities. Since 2007, K.A.H. has exhibited her work in numerous group and solo shows. Currently she is working with acrylic, colored pencil, watercolor, and graphite. She identifies as Gen X and Ace.

Rev. Laura González offers her intuitive gifts as Spiritual & Community Healer, Priestess, and Minister. She is a practitioner of Traditional Mexican Folk Magic, Native Philosophies, and Paganism in the Goddess tradition. As an extension of her spirituality, she is an advocate for Pagan & LGBTQIA communities, women’s rights, suicide prevention, and diversity inclusion. Laura has presented workshops at numerous events, including Parliament of the World’s Religions, Circle Sanctuary, and PSG. She is a volunteer ESL teacher at Aquinas Literacy Center, a gifted Tarot reader, and a podcaster and producer of Lunatic Mondays and Paganos del Mundo on CSNP.

Laura Tempest Zakroff is a professional artist, author, performer, and Modern Traditional Witch based in New England. She holds a BFA from The Rhode Island School of Design and her artwork has received awards and honors worldwide. Laura is the author of several best-selling books and decks including Anatomy of a Witch, Weave the Liminal, Sigil Witchery, Visual Alchemy, and The Liminal Spirits Oracle.  Laura edited The New Aradia: A Witch’s Handbook to Magical Resistance. She helps facilitate social change at the grassroot level through wearearadia.org, a movement focused on magical resistance and education.  www.LauraTempestZakroff.com

Lex Ritchie (they/them) is a trans, disabled, and neurodivergent mystic. They facilitate liminal experiences and use folk magic, spirit work, and tarot to help spiritual rebels, academic witches, and mystical revolutionaries go beyond the conventional, learn to trust their own intuition, and make their own path through the magical realm. They have a particular interest in ancestor work because they believe it is a necessary part of betraying, attacking, and dismantling whiteness, as well as a tool for learning to imagine and create a world beyond capitalism. Lex can be found online at thelexritchie.com, and on IG & Twitter @thelexritchie.

Lindsey Pszwaro is an astrologer and herbalist, combining astrology with plant medicine and human development.  She is a former Waldorf educator and mother of two.  Lindsey has a background in anthropology, primatology, herbal medicine, women’s health, child development, depth psychology, mythology, poetry, and dream work. Lindsey is currently living primitively in a seasonal cabin in Vermont, gardening, foraging and tapping into ancient wisdom through the land.  She holds client sessions, reading natal charts, forest schools her children, and holds New Moon and Full Moon ceremonies. You can find her on Instagram @lindseypszwaro or through her website: www.lindseypszwaroastrology.com

M. Belanger (he/she/they) is a Pagan author, singer, game designer, and television personality who has worked with HBO, CNN, Nox Arcana, Wizards of the Coast, Marvel AR, and Osbourne Media. A vocal advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, Belanger is one of the few openly intersex people visible in US television. Founder of House Kheperu (1996-present), Belanger continues to write and teach about magick, energy work, and psychic development. More at michellebelanger.com

Nova Pax Thrasher is a queer poet and witch, currently utilizing their bardic skills to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing and Pop Culture at The Ohio State University. A devotee of Persephone long before converting, they have been studying the religious and praxis aspects of witchcraft for 6+ years. They have a loving husband, rambunctious kitty, and elderly doggo, filling their social life with pop-punk concerts, Pokemon, and all things Marvel. When engaging in their passion, their works deal with identity, mental health, spirituality, and grief, some of which have been published by Ink&Nebula and Sonder Midwest.

Rev. Dr. P. Sufenas Virius Lupus (e/em/eir/eirs/emself) is a metagender person who has been a devoted polytheist for 30+ years, and has a 21+ year relationship with Antinous (and one of the founders of modern organized Antinoan devotion), a divine marriage to Thetis, divine fosterage to the Tetrad++, and devotions to many other Deities and Hero/ines using a queer syncretistic reconstructionist methodology.  E is a fili (poet/scholar) in the Irish tradition of Gentlidecht, and has published many books, short fiction pieces, poems, and essays/articles.  http://psufenasviriuslupus.wordpress.com

Philip Kane is a writer, storyteller and artist living in the south-eastern corner of England. As a member of the London Bisexual Group in the mid-1980s, he was co-editor of the first magazine for bisexuals in the UK, The Bi-Monthly; and in 1984 he initiated the “Politics of Bisexuality” conference that subsequently evolved into the annual UK BiCon. Philip is also an “Old Craft” witch, a founding member of the London Surrealist Group, a revolutionary socialist, martial artist and Morris dancer. Some of his work can be found via his blog sites, https://thenl.wordpress.com/ and https://thewayfaringtree.wordpress.com/

River Enodian is trans non-binary and a polytheistic witch. They are a priestex of Apollo and Hekate as well as being a passionate devotee of Dionysos and Hermes. River is a High Priestex in Blue Star Wicca and part of the leadership team of a Boston-based Blue Star coven. Additionally, they are an initiate in Alexandrian/Chthonioi-Alexandrian Wicca. River is published as Kyrene Ariadne in an essay featured in the anthology Wings of Flame, Coils of Light: A Devotional for Apollo by Jonathan Souza. Their blog is at www.patreon.com/TeaAddictedWitch, and you can learn more about them at www.riverenodian.com.

Sara Mastros is the author of The Big Book of Magical Incense and Orphic Hymns Grimoire.  Her newest work, The Planetary Pentacles of Solomon, Magician King, will be available from Weiser Books in spring of 2023.  In addition to writing, she teaches tarot, witchcraft, Greek & Near Eastern mythology, Pan-Levantine folk magic, and practical sorcery in Pittsburgh, online, and at festivals and conventions all over.  Additionally, she’s a co-owner of The Fool’s Dog Tarot, a leading tarot app for Android & Apple iOS devices.  You can download a free sampler app at www.FoolsDog.com, check out courses and lessons at www.WitchLessons.com, sign up for her newsletter at www.MastrosZealot.com, or follow all her witchy shenanigans on Facebook or Twitter.

Fr. Sean Wilde UE is an Indigenous author, occultist, and Witch residing in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Kitchener, Ontario. He is a Cabot Priest and member of the Aurum Solis. His spiritual and magical journey began at the age of four, and his first public speaking engagement was at the age of eleven. He has spoken internationally at conferences, festivals, and universities. Trained at university in Anthropology, Philosophy, and Religion, his post-secondary background introduced Sean to a variety of systems of thought. Sean has been a professional psychic, ghost hunter, teacher, authored Magic Without Tools, co-authored a published training manual for a Western Magical Tradition in Ontario and advised on books about living vampires.

Sidney Eileen (ze/zir/zem) is a trans nonbinary, asexual, animistic, polytheist witch, and an artist, blogger, writer, and teacher. Ze acknowledges divinity and unique natures in not just deities, but in all manner of ephemeral and supernatural beings, spirits, living beings, and the souls that embody the physical objects and spaces around us. Zir practice is lifelong and of an intuitive nature, seeking fulfillment through mutable asymmetrical balance. Zir perspective as a witch and an artist influences everything ze does.

Star Bustamonte is the news editor for The Wild Hunt, the director of Mystic South Conference, and co-host of the monthly BlogTalk radio show, The 4:15 with Raina Starr.

Terrance Gamble is a Mediterranean polytheist who has been studying witchcraft since his adolescence. An initiate in the Ophic Strix Tradition founded by Oracle Hekataios, he devotes much time honoring Hekate and Dionysus, as well as studying divination. He has also studied Black Rose Witchcraft and is a California Freemason and tarot reader. Terrance is also a watercolor artist and oil painter who creates devotional pieces for the many spirits he honors in his spiritual and magical practices. 

The Order of the Gorgon Shield, a group of practitioners of diverse backgrounds and geographical locations, is dedicated to defending democracy and building a healthy society. It formed in 2020 with the intention of collaboratively undertaking research and development of new magickal technologies and doing magick to accomplish our aims. We encourage others to also form small groups, develop and share new techniques and technologies to meet the challenges of our day. The members of the Order of the Gorgon Shield include: Linda Bourdet, Karen Bruhin, Ivo Dominguez Jr., Gawan MacMillan, Claire Read, Gwendolyn Reece, and Peg Wilsbach.

χαίρετε! The Weavers is a Hellenic inspired coven within an Alexandrian Wicca tradition. We circle in the beautiful evergreens of Washington state. We are an inclusive coven and aspire to weave a web where all are welcome as they are. We primarily work with Chthonic energy and view the seasonal wheel as a balance of both life and death. If you would like to get in touch, please shoot us an email at TheWeaversofWashington@gmail.com

Thumper Marjorie Splitfoot Forge is a Gardnerian High Priest, an initiate of the Minoan Brotherhood, a Discordian Episkopos, a manager of a fetishwear shop, a recovering alcoholic, and a notary public from Houston, TX. He is currently working on his first book.

Laura Tempest Zakroff is a professional artist, author, performer, and Modern Traditional Witch based in New England. She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and her artwork has received awards and honors worldwide. Her work embodies myth and the esoteric through her drawings and paintings, jewelry, talismans, and other designs. Laura is the author of the bestselling Llewellyn books Weave the Liminal, Sigil Witchery, and Anatomy of a Witch, as well as the Liminal Spirits Oracle (artist/author), The Witch’s Cauldron, and co-author of The Witch’s Altar with Jason Mankey. Laura edited The New Aradia: A Witch’s Handbook to Magical Resistance (Revelore Press). She is the creative force behind several community events and teaches workshops online and worldwide. Visit her at www.LauraTempestZakroff.com.

Remember:

All orders placed through any venue will get a complimentary eBook in advance of the election. Offer ends at midnight pacific on November 8, 2022.

Simply send proof of purchase to

gorgon [at] revelore [dot] press

Allow a few hours to get the eBook as this service is being provided by live humans and not algorhythms and machines. Thank you!

Print copies will ship on or before November 2, 2022.