Merry we meet.     Merry we meet.     Merry we meet.     Merry we meet.

Controverscial.Com

Welcome

Anodea Judith 

Written and compiled by George Knowles

Anodea Judith is an American author, poet, artist, songwriter and musician, an expert on the Chakra system, mind and body integration, somatic therapy, a yoga therapist and a Reiki master.  She has a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology from Rosebridge Graduate School of Integrative Therapy, a doctorate in Health and Human Services from Columbia Pacific University, and has done additional doctoral work in Systems Theory at Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center.  She is a past president of the Church of All Worlds (CAW), and a founder of Lifeways (a school for the study of healing and magical arts).

Born Judith Ann Mull on the 1^st of December 1952 in Elyria, Ohio.  She was the only daughter of three children, David Mull and Martin Mull the ‘comedian’.  In her youth Judith spent much of her time on her grandmothers farm where she grew to appreciate nature and commune with animals.  In her teens she read about and was particularly interest in the Goddesses of Greek mythology, which caused her to re-think her ideas of deity, and from which developed her interests in Paganism and Witchcraft.

Her interests in healing she gained from her families Christian Science background, which holds to the principle that most illnesses stem from the mind and is an error in thinking.  The use of positive thinking techniques can result in a wholeness of mind, body and spirit effecting cure.  “This taught me how our consciousness can effect our reality, which is one of the foundational principles of magic”, she reportedly said.  In high school she quickly became known as the healer.  Christianity as a religion however, had no appeal for her and she sought another system in which to apply the same principles.

In 1971 Judith enrolled at Clark University studying psychology with the intention of becoming an analyst, but changed her mind in favour of a career in art and moved on to the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.  After finishing college she spent the next few years living and working out of an artists ‘attic studio’ in Berkeley, where she made a name for herself painting “cloudscapes on ceilings” murals.

In 1975 realising that health and consciousness were essential components to the quality of her artistic expression, she determined to transform her spiritual self and started on a serious study of yoga and mediation.  This led her onto a 12 year long study of the chakras, acupressure, bioenergetics, gestalt, radical psychiatry, ritual magic, shamanism, psychic reading and healing.  The results of her studies would later lead to the publication of her first book:  Wheels of Life:  A User's Guide to the Chakra System.

As part of her studies Judith spent two months living alone in a tent atop of a California mountain, where a friend had given her a five-acre plot of land.  She describes him as “A crazy Israeli chemist, who disappeared after bequeathing it to me”.  She spent her time there becoming one with the elements and felt she received direct teaching from the Goddess.  This caused her to re-think her name and change it to Anodea (“one of the Goddess”) Judith.

In 1977 Judith met Oberon Zell-Ravenheart and his wife Morning Glory, founders of the Church of All Worlds (CAW) with whom she formed a long-term friendship.  Through them she met Gwydion Pendderwen, founder of Forever Forests and a co-founder with Alison Harlow of Nemeton.  Judith helped Pendderwen to develop the CAW sanctuary ‘Coeden Brith’ located on a parcel of land in Mendocino County, North California (owned by Alison Harlow), and situated adjacent to his own 55-acre wilderness sanctuary ‘Annwfn’.

Oberon Zell          Morning Glory          Gwydion Pendderwen

In the early 1980’s after becoming intimate, Judith and Pendderwen married and early in 1982 she bore him a son called Alex.  Later that year, Gwydion Pendderwen died in a motor accident and bequeathed his land at Annwfn to CAW, naming Judith as one of five stewards.  Judith remained at Annwfn for a further 18 months, during which time she founded ‘Lifeways’ as a subsidiary and teaching arm of CAW in 1983.  Shortly after Judith returned to Berkeley where she met and formed another lasting friendship with Marion Zimmer Bradley, the fantasy and science fiction author.  Later she joined the Aquarian Order of the Restoration and the Dark Moon Circle, of which Bradley was a founder.

Marion Zimmer Bradley

In 1985 Judith was ordained by CAW and for the following 10 years served them as a High Priestess, she also served them as President of CAW from 1986-1993.  In 1988 Judith married for the second time, to a fellow pagan, witch and High Priest of CAW, Richard Ely.  Ely is a professional geologist and has three children from a previous marriage; they now live together in Sonoma County, California.  A year later in 1889 Judith received a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology from Rosebridge Graduate School of Integrative Therapy.

Richard Ely

After the success of her first book the Wheels of Life:  A User's Guide to the Chakra System in 1987, Judith became a sought after teacher and speaker on chakras and healing.  Since then she has maintained her own private healing practice in California, and travels extensively throughout the United States presenting workshops at New Age and Pagan events, as well as Holistic healing and Spiritual events like the Starwood Festival (see details below) and the WinterStar Symposium (see details below).

Selene Vega

In 1993 together with a long time friend, co-author and fellow teacher Selene Vega, she published her second book:  The Sevenfold Journey: Reclaiming Mind, Body, and Spirit through the Chakras.  Her third book followed in 1997:  Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self.  In 1999 she received Ph.D. in Health and Human Services from Columbia Pacific University.

Into the new millennium, as well writing books, Judith has venture into the Audio market and in March 2000 released a six-tape audio course called:  The Chakra System: A Complete Course in Self-Diagnosis and Healing, followed by a popular boxed kit called:  Chakra Balancing.  Combining her artistic expression with her mystic passion she has also produced an award winning DVD, The Illuminated Chakras, a two-way co-creation with her son, artist and animator Alex Wayne.

Due to the demands of her private practice and her traveling workshops, Judith’s active involvement with CAW has declined over the last decade, although she remains a member of the Church Clergy.  She also maintains a special interest in their annual presentation of the Eleusinian Mysteries initiation rituals that take place in a cave at the Pinnacle National Monument in California's Salinas Valley.

End.

Additional Information:

The Starwood Festival

The Starwood Festival is a six-day Neo-Pagan, New Age and multi-cultural festival presented in mid- to late July.  Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers.  The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops on a variety of subjects.  There are also live musical performances, rituals, bonfires, multimedia presentations and social activities.

The Starwood Festival was founded in 1981 by the Chameleon Club, a recognized student organization at Case Western Reserve University, which later founded the Association for Consciousness Exploration LLC (ACE).  It has been operated by ACE since 1983.  It features entertainment, public ceremonies, and classes on subjects such as sensory deprivation, Kirlian photography, Neo-Paganism, shamanism, Wicca, holistic health, Tarot, Thelema and past life regression.  Among the first guest speakers and entertainers were Jim Alan and Selena Fox (founders of Circle Sanctuary), Raymond Buckland, Lee Bryan Grotte (Foundation for Research in Medical Botany), and music by Chameleon and The Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria.

The first Starwood was held July 24 - 26, 1981 at Cooper's Lake Campground, the same site as the Society for Creative Anachronism's Pennsic War, in Slippery Rock, PA.  From 1982 through 1985 it was held at Devil's Den Park in New Philadelphia, OH, a former state park run by Whispering Winds Nudist Camp.  In 1986 and 1987 it was held at Bear Creek Amphitheatre (part of Bear Creek Resort Ranch KOA) in Canton, OH, and at Echo Hills Ski Resort in Logan, OH (on the Buckeye Trail) in 1988 and 1989.  The event moved to Brushwood Folklore Center, a private campground near Sherman, New York in 1990, where it has remained to this day.

The event began as a weekend festival, and grew over the years to a six-day event.  Attendance has grown from 185 in the first year to peak at around 1800 people in 2002, and has stayed between 1400 and 1600 since then.  Since 1982, Starwood has been a clothing optional event, but skyclad attendance is common.

The WinterStar Symposium

The WinterStar Symposium is a four-day annual event produced by the Association for Consciousness Exploration (A.C.E.).  The subject matter is similar to that of the Starwood Festival but the activities are scaled to an indoor venue.  Classes are held during the day with musical performances, multi-media presentations and ceremonies in the evening.  The speakers often participate in a panel discussion as the last activity on the program.  Unlike Starwood, events are structured and focused around a particular theme each year.

Approximately twenty classes on an eclectic variety of subjects are offered.  Recently, these have included:  trance drumming, Yoga, massage, Reiki, Qi Gong, Celtic trancework, acting as magick, sexuality and astral projection among others.  Subjects that are explored include:  spirituality & culture, Wicca, Neo-Pagan community, holistic health, movement systems, music, fringe science, mind studies and the environment.  This is primarily an adult event with neither day-care nor youth programming provided.

The WinterStar Symposium was first held February 9-12, 1984.  Originally called the WinterStar VisionQuest Symposium, it was held at Burr Oak State Park in Glouster, OH.  It featured Jim Alan and Selena Fox (founders of Circle Sanctuary) and Robert Anton Wilson as headline speakers.  Since then it has been held at Atwood Lake Resort in Dellroy, Ohio. 

Sources Books:

The Encyclopedia of Witches &Witchcraft  - by Rosemary Ellen Guiley.

The Witch Book - By Raymond Buckland

Sources Websites:

http://www.sacredcenters.com/anodea.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodea_Judith

http://www.sacredcenters.com/

First published on the 16th March 2007, 05:45 © George Knowles

Best wishes and Blessed Be