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Anodea Judith 

Written and compiled by George Knowles 

Anodea Judith is an American author, spiritual teacher, poet, artist, songwriter and musician, an expert on the Chakra system, mind and body integration and 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 Sacred Centers, a school for the study of sacred principles and transformative arts. 

Born Judith Anne Mull on the 1^st of December 1952 in Elyria, Ohio, Judith was the youngest and only daughter of three children, her middle brother is called David Mull while her eldest brother is the comedian Martin Mull.  Judith spent most of her formulative years on her grandmothers farm in Northern Ohio, and there gained an early appreciation for nature and animals.  In the late 1950’s her family relocated to Connecticut and Judith was enrolled at New Canaan High School to begin her formal education.  During her teens while studying mythology at school, Judith began to identify with various aspects of the Greek Goddesses, and this caused her to re-evaluate Christian deities and research more into alternative religions. 

Judith was aided in this quest when her mother married for a second time to a devout Christian Scientist, who kindled her interests in healing.  Their belief is that all illness stems from the mind, and that the use of positive thinking techniques can perfect mind, body and spirit to effect cure.  “This taught me how our consciousness can effect our reality, which is one of the foundational principles of magic”, she said.  Applying such techniques in high school, she quickly became known as the healer.  Christian Science as a religion however, had no appeal for Judith and she sought other systems in which to apply the same principles. 

In 1971 after completing high school, Judith enrolled at Clark University studying psychology.  She had intended a career as an analyst/therapist, but then changed her mind in favour of Art.  She moved to California and took up studies at the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, with additional courses at John F. Kennedy University.  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 murals and “cloudscapes on ceilings”. 

In 1975 realising that health and consciousness were essential components to the quality of her artistic expression, she determined to transform her spiritual self.  She gave up smoking, turned vegetarian, became bisexual and started a on a serious study of yoga and mediation.  This led her onto a life long study of the Charka system, as well as Acupressure, Bioenergetics, Yoga, Gestalt therapy, Radical psychiatry, Ritual magic, Shamanism, Psychic readings and Alternative healing.  The results of her cumulative studies later lead to the publication of her first book:  Wheels of Life:  A User's Guide to the Chakra System (Llewellyn - 1987, revised 1999). 

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, during which she felt and received direct teaching from the Goddess.  This caused her to re-think her name and change it to Anodea Judith (Anodea is an anagram of:  Ano - meaning year of or one of, and Dea – meaning the Goddess).  To Judith the meaning is clear - “One who serves the Goddess”). 

In 1977 Anodea 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.  Anodea and Pendderwen soon became lovers as she helped him develop the CAW sanctuary ‘Coeden Brith’, which was situated adjacent to his own 55-acre wilderness sanctuary ‘Annwfn’, located in Mendocino County, North California.

Oberon Zell  -  Morning Glory  -  Gwydion Pendderwen 

In the early 1980’s Anodea married Phil Wayne, and in January 1982 bore him a son called Alex Wayne.  Later that same year, Gwydion Pendderwen died in a motor accident and bequeathed his land at Annwfn to CAW, naming Anodea as one of its five land stewards.  Anodea remained at Annwfn for a further 18 months, during which time she founded ‘Lifeways’ as a subsidiary and teaching arm of CAW in 1983.  After returning to Berkeley, Anodea met and formed another lasting friendship, this one with Marion Zimmer Bradley, the fantasy and science fiction author.  Later she joined the Aquarian Order of the Restoration and the Dark Moon Circle, both of which Bradley was a founder.  In 1984 her marriage to Phil Wayne came to an end and they divorced. 

Marion Zimmer Bradley 

In 1985 Anodea was ordained by CAW and for the following 10 years served them as a High Preistess, she also served them as President of CAW from 1986-1993.  In 1988 Anodea remarried, this time to a fellow pagan and High Priest of CAW, Richard Ely.  Ely is a professional geologist and had three children from a previous marriage; they now live together in Sonoma County, California.  A year later in 1989 Anodea received a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Rosebridge Graduate School of Integrative Therapy. 

Richard Ely 

In 1993 together with a long time friend, co-author and fellow teacher Selene Vega, Anodea 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 a Ph.D. in Health and Human Services from Columbia Pacific University. 

Selene Vega 

After the initial success of her first book the:  Wheels of Life in 1987, Anodea became a sought after teacher and speaker on the workshop circuit, presenting and lecturing at such well known events as the Starwood Festival and the WinterStar Symposium (*see additional information below).  However, due to the demands of her travelling workshops and other commitments, her active involvement with CAW gradually declined, although she still remains a member of the Church Clergy.  

Since then Anodea has spent the last 20 years working as a somatic psychotherapist, and now travels the world teaching through her own organization called “Sacred Centers”.  Through Sacred Centers, she also runs an intensive Certification Program training other teachers and therapists in the use of her work. 

Into the new millennium, as well writing books, she has ventured into the Audio/Video market and in March 2000 released a six-tape audio course called The Chakra System:  A Complete Course in Self-Diagnosis and Healing.  She followed this in 2004 with an award winning DVD, The Illuminated Chakras, co-created with her son, artist and animator Alex Wayne, and in 2006 produced a popular spiral-bound box set called Chakra Balancing. 

Also in 2006 she wrote a double award winning book called Waking the Global Heart:  Humanity’s Rite of Passage from the Love of Power to the Power of Love.  This is a book that charts human history as a developmental process, and argues that we are now undergoing our global initiation from cultural adolescence to adulthood, moving from the third Chakra of power to the fourth Chakra of love as a social organizing principle.  More books are planned for the future, she say’s. 

Bibliography: 

Wheels of Life : a User's Guide to the Chakra System (Llewellyn Worldwide - 1987)

The Sevenfold Journey : Reclaiming Mind, Body & Spirit Through the Chakras (with Selene Vega, Crossing Press - 1993)

Eastern Body, Western Mind : Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self (Celestial Arts - 1996)

Chakra Balancing Kit: A Guide to Healing and Awakening Your Energy Body - Workbook and cards (Sounds True - 2004)

Contact: The Yoga of Relationship (with Tara Lynda Guber, Insight Editions - 2006)

Waking the Global Heart: Humanity's Rite of Passage from the Love of Power to the Power of Love (Elite Books - 2006) 

Audio/Vidio: 

Wheels of Life: A Journey Through the Chakras  -  With Rick Hamouris (initially as a cassette - ACE/Llewellyn Collection, 1987.  Later released by same publisher on CD in 1992)

The Chakra System: A Complete Course in Self-Diagnosis and Healing (a six-CD series from Sounds True Audio Literature, Inc. 2000)

The Illuminated Chakras - A Visionary Voyage Into Your Inner Worlds (DVD - Sacred Centers 2004)

Chakra Balancing (a spiral-bound box set from Sounds True Inc. 2006) 

*Additional Information: 

The Starwood Festival 

The Starwood Festival was 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 was 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.

 End.

Sources

 My grateful thanks to Anodea Judith for her added information. 

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

The Witch Book - By Raymond Buckland

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

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

http://www.sacredcenters.com/

First published on the 16th March 2007, updated 26^th December 2009 © George Knowles

Best wishes and Blessed Be