guests

Updated: Wednesday, June 23, 2000


Maimu Alber

Ar nDraiocht Fein (ADF)

The Association for Consciousness Exploration

Muruga Booker

Ric Campbell

The Church of All Worlds

Linda Clemmons

Cleveland Aikikai

Ian Corrigan

Rebecca Crystal, M.S.W.

Kenneth Deigh

Djenaba (A.K.A. D.J.Reese)

Halim El-Dabh

Elie

Ron Epstein

Kirk Andrew Everist

Philip H. Farber

Laurence Galian
Jason Gazda

Jack Ingersoll

Catherine Cartwright Jones

Jim Klar

Donald Michael Kraig

Paul Krassner

Stanley Krippner

Lyrus Landholder

Marty Laubach

Liafal

Priestess Miriam

Patricia Monaghan, PhD.

Nema

Babatunde Olatunji

Merl Saunders

Kristopher Setchfield

Chas Smith

Rev. Ivan Stang

Morning Glory Zell-RavenHeart

Oberon Zell-Ravenheart


*********stars********
Maimu Alber
has her roots in Finno-Ugric ancestral paganism and follows the recovery path. She is a Scion in the Church of All Worlds and currently co-coordinates Crooked River Nest in Uhrichsville, Ohio. She has been active in 12-Step recovery for over 16 years and devotes much time to providing recovery resources to the Pagan community via Pagan Paths 12 Step Recovery (http://starweaver.net/pp12sr), an educational and networking support website and e-mail discussion list for Pagans in all 12 Step programs. Combining her M.A. in English and her creative talents with pagan spirituality and recovery, she transforms mainstream recovery tools into magickal workings for healing, sharing these with others who travel the recovery path.

Ar nDraiocht Fein (ADF)
is the nation's largest Pagan Druidic Fellowship, devoted to public worship and in-depth training. It attempts to revive the best aspects of the Paleopagan faiths of our forebears within a modern, scientific, artistic, ecological and holistic context. http://www.adf.org/

The Association for Consciousness Exploration
was conceived and created by members of the Chameleon Club, an eclectic extended-partying group floundered in 1978 in the northeast Ohio area. "Dedicated to the Expansion of the Frontiers of your Consideration", ACE provides programs that celebrate diversity in the fields of consciousness, spirituality, and discovery such as the Starwood Festival and the WinterStar Symposium. To quote their Flounder, C.C. Rosencomet," Their motto is Change!, their spirit in undaunted, their energy is phenomenal, and their number is far from legion." There are many other groups like the Chameleon Club, but they all reside in parallel universes.

Muruga Booker
is a percussionist with an incredible list of credits, from jazz to rock, world beat to techno-rave. He started drumming in Detroit in the mid 50s, playing with such legends as John Lee Hooker and Junior Wells, and with Jim & Jean on their albums Changes and People World in the early 60s. When he played with Tim Harden at Woodstock, he met Swami Satchidananda and began a three-decade quest in Sida/Kundalini Yoga, touring with Swami Muktananda and Ram Das, and eventually attaining the titles of Nada Yogi and Go Swami. He played with Paul Winter Consort on "Something Wild in the Wind" in '68, at Carnegie Hall with the Brubeck Generation in '71, and replaced Airto with Weather Report to record "Sweet Nighter" in '73. In the 80s he recorded several albums with George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars, and produced trance-drumming records with Prem Das. In the 90s, he was part of Merl Saunder's Rainforest Band, recording with Jerry Garcia, did a CD with Babatunde Olatunji and Sikiru called Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations, and played with his own band, The Global Village Ceremonial Band, featuring ex-Big Brother guitarist James Gurley.

Ric Campbell
is a Massage Therapist who draws on his training and 23 years of practice as a shaman healer. He has extensive training in Shiatsu and other bodywork systems. Ric works with many types of physical and emotional issues puling people out of tight, numb, terror-filled, bodies filled with hidden memories of traumas. I work with my energy and by reaching out one person to another and saying, "You are safe here." Ric has also worked in the alternative energy movement since 1974 and holds numerous patents in the field.

The Church of All Worlds
was founded in 1962. Their membership has included many of the movers and shakers in the worldwide Pagan community. Inspired by Robert Heinlein's novel Stranger in a Strange Land, it celebrates diversity, freedom of expression and life-style, and a spiritual unity with the Earth. CAW's publication, Green Egg, has won many awards and has published over 100 issues. Leaders present at Starwood this year include Oberon Zell, Anodea Judith, Ronn Walks with Fire, and Starwhite. (Tapes on CAW's history and other subjects by CAW members available from ACE) http://www.caw.org/

Linda Clemmons
has taught and performed Middle eastern dance since 1985. She is currently a trance dancer, using the dance form to explore western ceremonial and VooDoo spirituality, Choreographing and performing ritual dance and teaching trance through movement.

Cleveland Aikikai
is a school of Aikido affiliated with Shihan Mitsugi Saotome's Aikido Schools of Ueshiba. Founded 18 years ago and currently based in Cleveland Hts., Ohio, its members and students are dedicated to preserving and advancing the art, and they train actively 7 days a week.

We are pleased to welcome Chameleon and ACE organizer Jim Klar as a representative of Cleveland Aikikai. A second degree Black Belt, Jim has studied the Japanese martial art of Aikido for ten years, including two years in Japan, and taught for six. He currently teaches at Cleveland Aikikai and Oberlin College.

Ian Corrigan
is a Chameleon, ACE organizer, and has been a teacher, writer, singer and ritualist in the Pagan movement for 25 years. Ian is a former Archdruid and Director of ADF, and is presently it's national Preceptor. A founding member and Elder of Stone Creed Grove, ADF's oldest congregation, he is author of four books on Celtic Paganism: The Portal Book, The Book of the Dragon, Grammary, and Druidheachd: Rites and Symbols of Druidry. One of the finest bards of the modern Pagan movement, Ian has been writing and performing songs of the British Isles and Neo-Paganism for over 20 years, and his music and poetry have delighted audiences at A.C.E. events and Pagan festivals across the U.S.A. and Canada. (Music tapes, lecture tapes and books by Ian are available from ACE.)

Rebecca Crystal, M.S.W.,
has been working in the New Age, Feminist and Magical movements since 1978. She has been involved in the Bloomington Metaphysical Fellowship, the Elf Lore Family, and the Covenant of the Universalist Pagans. As an ELF Elder, she coordinated the highly successful 1989 Psychic Fairs, and was one of the editors of The Elvin Chronicle. She has led workshops and public rituals for several years, and is a long-time Starwood contributor.

Kenneth Deigh
has over 15 years experience as a practicing Magus. As founder of the Sheya System of Magick, editor of Mezlim Magazine, and a practicing Shamanic healer, Kenneth is in the forefront of the Modern Magickal revival.

Djenaba (A.K.A. D.J.Reese)
has been an advocate of healthy living and spiritual experience for over 19 years, practicing the techniques and skills she promotes. She is a an Advanced Personal Trainer, Sports Nutrition Consultant, Fitness Counselor, Advanced Aerobics Instructor, and Yoga Instructor, certified by the American Aerobic Association International/International Association of Sports Medicine, and the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America.

Halim El-Dabh
is a Professor Emeritus of African Ethno-Musicology from Kent State University. He has travelled the world on projects by such organizations as the Smithsonian Institute, studying and participating in the music of tribal cultures. He is an experienced drummer and performer on a wide variety of authentic African musical instruments and on keyboard. He is the composer of the music for Martha Graham's Clymenestra, Nuriev and Maugo Fontayne's The Fallen Angel Lucifer, Nile Festival Music, Ramses the Great Symphony, Lament of the Pharoh, and the sound-light show for the Pyramid of Egypt. His latest production, Opera Flies, was part of the 25th Anniversary memorial program for the Kent State Shooting. He is a participant in the WinterStar panel discussion The Self in Transformation, available from ACE.

Elie (pronounced Ay-Lee, also known as Eliesheva)
holds a Masters Degree in Counseling and has studied extensively at the Departments of Middle Eastern studies at Tel Aviv University. She is a Kibbutz member from Israel, where strong and active interest in Earth-connected spirituality has long been and still is at the root of Kibbutz land reclamation. She is a member of the Machane Am Ha Aretz (People of the Land) Primitive Hebrew Assembly, a Peaceful Warrior Path in a Hebrew Earth Spirituality tradition that reconnects to the Shekina, the feminine aspect of the Hebrew Divinity. In the past 20 years she has travelled extensively in Mid-Eastern and other countries, where she has experienced pre-technological societies first hand and lectured and written numerous articles.

Ron Epstein
is a solo practitioner licensed to practice Lawin the State of New York and in Federal District Court. He graduated SUNY at Buffalo Law School in 1982 with a Juris Doctor and a certificate in State and Local Government Law. A former administrative law judge, with experience in civil practice, criminal law and civil RICO matters, Ron has lectured in the areas of Workers Compensation law, the use of surveillance in insurance investigations, and insurance fraud.

Kirk Andrew Everist
a radical anarchist Gnostic Lutheran, was raised a pastor's kid but converted to the church of theatre improvisation. An actor, teacher, and published author, he holds a B.A. from Grinell College, an M.A. from Indiana University, and is completing his Ph.D. in Dramatic Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Everist began exploring and practicing esoteric traditions in college, and sharing rituals with Pagan communities in Bloomington, Indiana.

Philip H. Farber
is the author of FUTURE RITUAL: Magick for the 21st Century, a manual of neurological exploration. His articles on magick and popular culture have appeared in Green Egg Magazine, Mondo 2000, High Times, Paradigm Shift, and other unique publications and web sites. Phil is also a hypnotherapist, co-host of America Online's "Ceremonial Magick Chat," and aco-founder of New York's Thelemic Arts Center.

Laurence Galian
is an Initiated Wiccan Priest of the Welsh Tradition and holds the title of Seanachie from the Temple of Danaan. Laurence has traveled the world on mystical pilgrimages to Mexico, Ireland, Bulgaria, Malta, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. He is an initiated dervish of the Halveti-Jerrahi Order from Istanbul, Turkey, and is Senior Dance Accompanist in the Hofstra University Dept. of Drama & Dance. He is the author of Beyond Duality: the Art of Transcendence, and his new book, The Sun at Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries of the Ahle-Bait Sufis. He is also a professional pianist and composer, listed in the 1999 "International Who's Who In Music" (Cambridge, England).

Jason Gazda
first learned to play didgerdioo at The Telluride Mushroom Festival in Colorado. Since then he has made it his life's work to get everyone playing and making didgeridoos, and has taught at medical seminars, collegiate alternative healing classes, pagan and music festivals, and to the inquisitive passerby. His didgeridoo instruction and production company "Rhythm Army" has received widespread acclaim for its unique, quality products and its business philosophies and practices.

Jack Ingersoll
is a Clinical Social Worker with an M.S.S.W. and licensed in the state of Wisconsin. He belongs to the Association of Certified Social Workers, and is certified as a Sex Counselor by the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists. He had three years as Analyst intraining at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. He is a Scion in The Church of All Worlds and a 2nd Degree Gardnerian.

Catherine Cartwright Jones
holds a BFA from UCLA, and has worked 30 years as a teacher, author, artist, craftsperson, and a professional illustrator with a special interest in bodypainting and batik. She is an instructor at Kent State University, and has offered her classes and services to the Starwood community for many years.

Donald Michael Kraig
has taught and practiced the Western Magickal Tradition for over twenty years. He is a Tantric initiate, a Kabalah scholar, and a researcher in the field of Ceremonial Magick. Donald hold a B.A. in Philosophy from UCLA where he also studied Music, and has performed on keyboards with rock bands, even opening for such acts as Elton John and Great White. He is a certified Tarot Master and a Grandmaster with the American Tarot Association, and both teaches and works professionally in multi-media, animation and web design. Widely recognized for his historical perspectives on Occult organizations like the Golden Dawn, Donald is a former editor of the Llewellyn New Times and Fate Magazine, and author of the classic ritual textbook Modern Magick and his latest book, Modern Sex Magick.

Paul Krassner
is a founder of the Yippies and an original Merry Prankster, and is known as a journalist, a Zen satirist, and the man who guided Groucho Marx on his first acid trip. As the publisher of the legendary magazine The Realist, Paul has been called the Father of the Underground Press (though he immediately demanded a blood test), and one of the best minds of his generation to be destroyed by madness! In response to the F.B.I.'s classification of him as a "raving, unconfined nut", George Carlin said, "The F.B.I. was right. This man is dangerous... and funny, and necessary." (Paul's latest book, The Winner of the Slow Bicycle Race and his auto-biography are available from A.C.E.)

Stanley Krippner
has spent the last several decades investigating the field of human consciousness, conducting research in such areas as dreams, hypnosis, shamanism, and disassociation, often from a cross-cultural perspective, with an emphasis on anomalous phenomena that seem to question mainstream paradigms. By "pushing the envelope" of orthodox models of actuality, he believes he and his colleagues have provided room to move for individuals and groups whose experiences, often classified as pathological, actually represent different belief systems, different ways of being, and different mythologies. He is an executive faculty member of The Saybrook Institute, where his personal commitment to teaching has been honored by the establishment of an interdisciplinary chair for the study of consciousness. He is an author and a contributor to several books on altered states of consciousness, dream states, and parapsychology.

Lyrus Landholder
has studied and practiced many paths of Magick for over twenty years, from Wicca to Thelema, Tantra to Kabbalah. He is an Elder and past High Priest of the Circle of the Sacred Grove (Church of Pantheist Wicca), and a founding member of the Chameleon Club. He is a fine cellist, composer and arranger, with a B.A. in Music. Lyrus was trained in Yoga at the Light of Yoga Society in Cleveland, and has been practicing Yoga for 22 years. He has been presenting Morning Attunements at Starwood and WinterStar for over ten years.

Marty Laubach
is one of the founders of the Crystal Serpent (a Bloomington ritual Magick group) and the Bloomington CUUPs chapter. He was an elder of the ELF Lore Family from 1985 to 1992 and editor of the Elven Chronicles newsletter, and has co-organized major rituals at past WinterStar Symposiums and ELF Fests. He has practiced and taught Tai Chi since 1976, using William Chen's adoption of Cheng Man-Ch'ing long and short forms. He currently works with Black Moon Publications, and is working on a Ph.D. in Sociology with a dual focus on the social psychology of religious experiences and the experiences of the working world.

Liafal
is a Chameleon, an ACE organizer, and a founder and Senior Druid of Stone Creed Grove. She is a professional educator and a Priestess of the Traditional Craft, Great Lakes Regional Representative for ADF, a past officer of the Ohio local Covenant of the Goddess, and has been a major motivating force behind the Starwood Festival Kids Programming for many years.

Priestess Miriam
is the Mombo (Mother/Priestess) of the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple. The Temple is located next to Congo Square and the its rituals are directly connected to the rituals performed on Congo Square by Marie Laveau and Doctor John. Mombo Miriam has been in numerous documentaries and articles; her photo was recently in the New York Times as part of an article on Voodoo in New Orleans. Miriam carries on the work of her husband Belizean herbalist and VooDoo Priest Oswan Chamani, touching the souls of all peoples regardless of race or belief.

Patricia Monaghan, PhD
is one of the pioneers of the contemporary women's spirituality movement. She is the author of several books including the classic encyclopedia, The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines, now in print for over 20 years, winner of the Best Visionary Non-Fiction Award at the International New Age Trade Show. She has just completed two new books: The Goddess Path: Myths, Invocations and Rituals, and The Goddess Companion: Daily Meditations to the Goddess, and her encyclopedia of meditation (Meditation: The Complete Basic Guide) will be out this fall. She teaches interdisciplinary studies at DePaul University in Chicago (Many of her books and the tape The Way of the Goddess are available from ACE)

Nema
has been practicing and writing about Magick for twenty-five years, with articles in The Cincinnati Journal of Ceremonial Magick, Aeon Magazine, Starfire, and other publications. From her experiences with Thelemic Magick, she developed Maat Magick and it's aim of transforming the human race. She is an Elder (former HPS) of the Circle of the Sacred Grove, Church of Pantheist Wicca, an initiate of Adi Nath Tantra. She is the author of Maat Magick: a Guide to Self-Initiation, and is currently working on a book about Mysticism entitled Wings of Rapture: the Way of Mystery.

Babatunde Olatunji,
the Master of Drums, has offered the primary introduction of African music to the West. His work with Micky Hart of the Gratful Dead and his own Drums of Passion CD shave been the cornerstone of festival drumming in America. For over forty years, from movie sound-tracks to classes to performances, his rhythms and spirit have brought the joy of authentic African drumming and dancing to all corners of the world.

Merl Saunders
has been composing, directing, producing, recording and touring in the music business for over 30 years. From his band in the 50s which gave Johnny Mathis his big break, to his work with Oscar Brown Jr. as music director on the Broadway hit "Big Time Buck White" with Muhammad Ali in the 60s, to albums like "Fire Up" with Jerry Garcia and his own "Heavy Turbulence" in the 70s, and writing music for network TV in the 80s, he's played the entire range of the American music industry. He leads and plays funky keyboards for The Rainforest Band, which through performance and the CD Blues From the Rainforest raises the public's consciousness of the plight of our precious planet. He also tours as Merl Saunders and His Funky Friends (the toast of the Bay area), has been associate producer for the Grammy awards, and has won BAMMIE Award nominations in '82 for his contribution to the group High Noon, and in '91 and '93 for best keyboard artist.

Kristopher Setchfield
is a spirited didjeridu player, teacher and student with a keen interest in its healing abilities. His primary focus is on the rhythmic and trancing aspects of the instrument, but is well versed in the vocal and almost percussive styles of the Aborigine tradition. He incorporates deep meditation, aura work and chakra cleansing into Didjeridu Vibrational Therapy.

Chas Smith
holds a Master's Degree in Music from Cleveland State University, where his class Roots of Rock and Soul is the largest-attendance class offered (over 200 each quarter). His studies focus on composition, ethnomusic and electroacoustics, and he has also given a lecture series for the Cleveland Clinic advocating alternative ideas in music therapy. He directs and plays keyboards for Einstein's Secret Orchestra, and has programmed ESO Swamp Radio at WCSB 89.3 FM in Cleveland since 1987.

Rev. Ivan Stang
co-sub-founded The SubGenius Foundation in 1980, and has authored 4 books about The Church of the SubGenius and fringe beliefs, including The Book of the SubGenius, Revelation X, and High Weirdness by Mail. Since 1985 he has produced the syndicated "Hour of Slack" radio show, and has preached the word of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs at hundreds of stage shows. Recent projects include a role playing SubGenius game with Steve Jackson Games, and a new documentary video, "X-Day 1998" (a follow-up to the award winning SubGenius video, "ARISE"). The Church of the SubGenius carved out a niche for itself on the Internet, where Stang now resides http://www.subgenius.com

Morning Glory Zell-RavenHeart
did her first vision quest in 1980, and since has studied Wicca, Celtic Shamanism, and Goddess history. Ordained as a Priestess in the Church of All Worlds in 1980, she co-founded the Ecosophical Research Association in 1980, and helped develop a Sacred Wilderness retreat and the Living Unicorn project. She has travelled, lectured and taught college courses with Oberon on Neo-Paganism, the Gaia Thesis and Goddess reemergence. A Goddess Historian, Lore-mistress and Priestess of the Great Goddess in Her many guises, Morning Glory currently travels and lectures with her extensive collection of Goddess figurines, teaching about the Goddess with a focus on loving relationships and the divine in our daily lives. She is also the proprietor of Mythic Images, producing museum quality replicas of ancient Goddesses and Gods sculpted in partnership with Oberon.

Oberon Zell-Ravenheart
founded the Church of All Worlds in 1980, which upon incorporation in 1968 became the first Neo-Pagan church to obtain full Federal recognition in the U.S. First to apply the terms "Pagan" and "Neo-Pagan" to the newly-emerging nature religions of the 1960's, and through his publication of the award-winning Green Egg Magazine, Oberon was instrumental in The coalescence of the Neo-Pagan movement. In 1970 he formulated and published the thealogy of deep ecology known as The Gaia Thesis. With his soulmate Morning Glory, he founded the Ecosophical Research Association whose projects have included raising Unicorns, chasing Mermaids, visiting ancient sacred sites and exploring the Underworld. Now in a five-person marriage, Oberon is currently working on a book to be entitled The Gospel of Gaea.

Link to Musical Guests