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Amber K
Written and compiled by George Knowles
Amber K is a prominent Wiccan High Priestess, teacher and best
selling author of a number of books about Witchcraft and Magick.
She is the Executive Director of Ardantane, a Pagan learning centre and
seminary founded in 1996, and a Grey Council member of the online Grey
School of Wizardry founded by Oberon Zell Ravenheart in 2004. Born in Bronxville, New York, on the 09th July
1947, Amber spent most her childhood growing up in Chicago, Illinois.
Her father was a Roman Catholic and her mother Episcopalian, and so from
an early age she attended each on alternate Sundays.
After completing her formal education, Amber attended Colorado State
University in Fort Collins and graduated in 1970 with a BSc. degree in Social
Sciences. By this time Amber had joined a local chapter of the Unitarian
Church and rose to become their Director of Religious education.
Part her job was to research religious curricula, which led her into a
study of ancient religions. As a
result, she became attracted to Goddess-centred religions and after more
research found contemporary Wicca. However,
making contact and finding teachers in those early days wasn’t easy,
and the only commonly available books for study were those by Gerald Gardner,
Sybil Leek and Leo Martello. It was not until 1978 during a visit to a Pagan festival in
Chicago that Amber finally made contact with a teaching coven based on the
Gardnerian Tradition called “The Temple of the Pagan Way."
The Pagan Way was formed in the early 1970’s in response to the high
demand of people wishing to join established covens, and in this they provided
an alternative to the intensive screening programs and year-and-a-day
probationary periods required by traditional covens.
After joining and advancing through four of their five degrees, in 1980
Amber moved to Wisconsin with her then partner Catelaine and was later ordained
a Wiccan High Priestess in a separate ritual. After moving to Wisconsin, Amber worked first with the Pool
of Bast and then with New Earth Circle before co-founding with Catelaine the
‘Coven of Our Lady of the Woods’ in 1982.
The coven thrived for a while in Wisconsin but is now located in
Los Alamos and incorporated as a Church in the State of New Mexico.
Since then a number of covens have hived off and evolved into the
Ladywood Tradition of Wicca. Ladywood
covens are mainly initiatory teaching covens and provide an eclectic mix of
training drawn from various Pagan traditions, including the
provision of Wicca 101 courses. Covens
celebrate the Esbats (Full Moon celebrations) and Sabbats (Seasonal
celebrations), which are generally open in their efforts to educate the general
public about the Craft. While in Wisconsin, Amber also joined Circle Sanctuary as an editor for their Circle Network News and later the Covenant of the Goddess (COG) for which she served as Publications Officer and National First Officer for three terms. She then became a member of the Re-Formed Congregation of the Goddess (RCG) and taught classes in their Priestess training program. RCG was founded in 1983 as part of the Dianic Wicca network formed by Zsuzsanna Budapest in the early 1970s. Today the RCG is an international women’s organisation in its own right and was incorporated in Wisconsin as a non-profit, tax-exempt religion. The main aims of the RCG are to provide the same benefits and recognition for its women members, as do all other legally recognised religions. In 1991 Amber’s
first book True Magick: A
Beginner’s Guide was published by
Llewellyn Publications and immediately hit the Best-sellers list with sales of
over 200.000. Initially written after she first entered the Craft
and self-published as a 32-page booklet called Beginning
True Magick, it was her attempt to explain how “magick works” when few
other books on the subject were available.
Later when Llewellyn publishers picked up a copy, they invited her to
write an expanded version. Since
then it has become a standard textbook used by many teachers of the Craft. She later followed it with another best-selling book Covencraft:
Witchcraft for Three or More
(1998). In 1992 while teaching a Wicca 101 course through her Coven
of Our Lady of the Woods, Amber met her life mate Azrael Arynn.
Azrael at the time was an experienced police officer with a law degree,
and had also worked as a stockbroker, architectural designer and racing car
driver. After studying Wicca with
Amber, Azrael later became a third degree Priestess in the Ladywood Tradition.
They were handfasted in 1994 and have a son called Starfire.
As well as writing books
together, Amber and Azrael travel frequently to teach and present workshops at festivals,
events and conferences all across the USA.
Amber and Azrael
Arynn K
In the mid 1990s Amber and Azrael bought 25 acres of land
in the Jemez Mountains of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and there founded a Pagan
learning centre and seminary called ‘Ardantane’ (a Celtic term meaning
“Light of the Fire” or “Sacred Fire”).
Registered in 1996 as a non-profit corporation in the State of New
Mexico, Ardantane now provides a unique educational venue for anyone interested
in Pagan studies.
Ardantane located in the Jemez Mountains
northwest of Albuquerque
The Centre is governed by a Board of Directors selected from prominent
members of the Pagan community, and operates with Amber as the Executive and Dean of the School of Pagan Leadership.
She also coordinates the work of the ‘Blessed Beavers’, their weekend
volunteers who help in building and improving the campus facilities.
Her partner Azrael is the Facilities Director (and the primary designer
of the campus); she also serves on the teaching faculty as Dean of the School of
Sacred Living. Approved and appointed by the Board of Directors, study
courses designed and directed by faculty 'Deans'
include among other subjects: the
Healing Arts, Magic and Witchcraft, Pagan Leadership, Pagan Spirituality, Sacred
Living and Shamanic Studies.
Teachers and guest speakers at Ardantane are all experts in their own
fields and among the more notable is the best selling author Kristin Madden. When not working or writing Amber enjoys walking in the mountains and forests, dolphins, travel, science fiction, collecting large antique keys, art, reading, and all things magickal. Her role models include Doreen Valiente, Lao Tse, Xena the Warrior Princess and the cartoon character Snoopy, about which she claims, "He is definitely my spiritual mentor and life coach".
Bibliography:
True
Magick: A Beginner's Guide
(1991) Llewellyn Publications Covencraft:
Witchcraft for Three or More (1998) Llewellyn Publications Pagan Kids'
Activity Book (1998)
Horned Owl Publishing Preámbulo
a la Magia (1999)
Llewellyn Espanol Candlemas:
Feast of Flames (with
Azrael Arynn K) (2001) Llewellyn Publications Heart of
Tarot: An Intuitive Approach (with Azrael Arynn K) (2002) Llewellyn Publications RitualCraft:
Creating Rites for Transformation and Celebration
(with Azrael Arynn K) (2006) Llewellyn Publications How to Become a Witch: The Path of Nature, Spirit & Magick (with Azrael Arynn K) (2010) Llewellyn Publications
Sources:
My grateful thanks to Amber K for reviewing and correcting this bio. http://www.twpt.com/amberk.htm http://www.ardantane.org/index.html http://www.ladywoods.org/index.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_K http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-4066-sfr-talk-magick-maker.html
Written and compiled on the 22nd April 2011 © George Knowles
Best wishes and Blessed Be
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