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Phyllis Curott (born in New York) is a Wiccan priestess, attorney, and author .
Biography
Early life
Her parents were agnostic-atheist, socially liberal intellectuals who encouraged her to make her own decisions regarding theology but taught her to adhere to the Golden Rule. Her father, who had gone to work at sea aged twelve, worked as a trade union organizer, whilst her mother, who had come from a wealthy and well-educated background, was a diplomat involved in the civil rights movement for racial equality in the United States.
Curott went on to gain a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Brown University before going on to study for a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law.
Introduction to Wicca
In 1978, Curott was studying for her final year at New York University School of Law when she came to believe that she was experiencing psychic phenomenon, primarily through premonitions, later commenting that "My sixth sense had begun with small things - like knowing that the phone was going to ring before it did. And then knowing who was on the other end of the line." She developed a preoccupation with the Ancient Egyptian goddess Isis, leading her to visit the Egyptian collections in New York museums and to read E.A. Wallis Budge's translation of The Egyptian Book of the Dead, which contained stories of Isis and her consort, the god Osiris. Around the same time, she became interested in quantam physics and the idea that there is an underlying reality of interconnected quantum matter throughout the universe after reading books in the library which dealt with the subject.
Following the completion of her course, she subsequently left New York and moved to Washington D.C., where she was employed in a job that involved legally challenging the corrupt criminal elements within the trade unions. As she would later relate, "I was determined to help make a difference for those who lived in the shadow of the American dream", however within a year the office that she worked for was shut down in a merger of reform organisations, and she was made redundant. Returning to New York City, she took up residence in a small studio apartment, and got another job in a legal firm dealing with unionism. Meanwhile, she had begun to socialize in the city's rock clubs like CBGB's and Max's Kansas City, and eventually agreed to become a manager for a rock band.
It was through this line of work that she met a woman whom she would later refer to as Sophia, who also managed a band and who was a self-professed white witch. She explained to Curott all about her faith, which was Wicca, although noted that she preferred to operate as a solitary practitioner rather than within a coven.
Religious activism
A global interfaith activist, Curott is a Trustee of the Council for the Parliament of the World's Religions and serves on its Executive Committee, has served as a member of the Assembly of World Religious Leaders, was a participant in the Harvard University Pluralism Project's Consultation on Religious Discrimination and Accommodation, and a member of the Clergy Advisory Board of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. She has addressed the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1993 and 2004 as a keynote speaker, along with the Dalai Lama. She is an outspoken advocate for the religious liberties of Wicca and other religious minorities in the media and the courts.
As a member of the United Nations’ NGO Committee on the Status of Women, Curott participated in the planning of the United Nations' Beijing Forum on the Status of Women, addressing the Forum on the topic of religion and the status of women. She is a member of the Interfaith Alliance, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union (she served on the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island Civil Liberties Union while attending Brown University), and the Lady Liberty League. She is one of the organizers of an international interfaith effort to save the life of Fawza Falih, a Saudi woman who was sentenced to beheading for "witchcraft".
Spirituality
Curott is a High Priestess and the founder and President of the Temple of Ara, one of the oldest Wiccan congregations in America, a shamanic tradition dedicated to the experience and ethics of immanent divinity. She is a President Emerita of Covenant of the Goddess. She has also served as a frequent guest minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. She is the author of three books on witchcraft and goddess worship. Curott has lectured and taught at the Learning Annex in New York and at Neo-Pagan and interfaith events.
Tributes
She was honored by Jane magazine as one of the "Ten Gutsiest Women of the Year".
Bibliography
Wrote
- 1998 - Book of Shadows: A Modern Woman's Journey into the Wisdom of Witchcraft and the Magic of the Goddess (Broadway Books) ISBN 0-7679-0054-5
- 2001 - WitchCrafting: A Spiritual Guide to Making Magic (Broadway Books) ISBN 0-7679-0825-2
- 2004 - The Love Spell: An Erotic Memoir of Spiritual Awakening (Gotham Books/Penguin) ISBN 1-59240-097-3
Contributed
- 1995 - Sourcebook of the World's Religions: an Interfaith Guide to Religion and Spirituality edited by Joel Diederik Beversluis (Sourcebook Project) ISBN 0-9637897-1-6, ISBN 978-0-9637897-1-6
- 1995 - People of the Earth: The New Pagans Speak Out (reissued as: Being a Pagan: Druids, Wiccans, and Witches Today) by Ellen Evert Hopman & Lawrence Bond (Inner Traditions) ISBN 0-89281-559-0, ISBN 978-0-89281-559-3
- 2004 - Pop! Goes the Witch: The Disinformation Guide to 21st Century Witchcraft by Fiona Horne (contributor) (The Disinformation Company) ISBN 0-9729529-5-0, ISBN 978-0-9729529-5-8
- 2005 - Cakes and Ale for the Pagan Soul: Spells, Recipes, and Reflections from Neopagan Elders and Techers by Patricia Telesco (Crossing Press) ISBN 1-58091-164-1, ISBN 978-1-58091-164-1
References
- Bond, Lawrence & Ellen Evert Hopman (1996) People of the Earth: The New Pagans Speak Out (reissued as Being a Pagan: Druids, Wiccans & Witches Today in 2002 Destiny Books ISBN 0-89281-904-9) Interview.
- Horne, Fiona (2004) Pop! Goes the Witch: The Disinformation Guide to 21st Century Witchcraft (The Disinformation Company) ISBN 0-9729529-5-0, ISBN 978-0-9729529-5-8
- Krassner, Paul The Blame Game in The Huffington Post, August 26, 2005.
- Krassner, Paul Life Among the Neo-Pagans The Nation Aug 24, 2005
- Lewis, James R. (1999) Witchcraft Today: an Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions (ABC-CLIO) ISBN 1-57607-134-0, ISBN 978-1-57607-134-2
Notes
- New York Magazine May 27, 1985 pg. 14
- New York Magazine Aug 7, 1995
- Making Love in Public: An Interview with Author Phyllis Curott by Allyson E. Peltier - Absolute Write Website
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