Risa and I keep lists and lists of Witchcrafters we want to do episodes about, and then we kind of wait to see who calls to us to share their stories NOW. And sometimes it’s not the Witches calling, but the TIMES that cry out for reminders of what we’ve forgotten and what we need to know, or be reminded of. Now.
SEVERAL of the people I know are dreaming of intentional communities, hippie communes with a feminist twist. So if that’s your dream, I hope you’re listening. Now.
Because in 1970, Ruth met Jean at a quaker gathering for single parents. Together they would found WomanSpirit Magazine, and a commune they called Rootworks.
In issue number 3 they wrote:
OUR VISION OF WOMANSPIRIT
Our vision of WomanSpirit is of an experiment in
using a magazine to share experiences of individual women in ways that are similar to a conscious-ness-raising group.
Consciousness-raising is the feminist way of sharing problem-solving on personal and political levels at the same time. Inclusive, intimate, rational and emotional: the culture-making tool of transforming through acceptance, support and understanding--an experience of equals.
[...THIS] may help us glimpse our part in the herstorical times we are a part of. They may show us what directions we can choose to move.
To "raise" our "consciousness" here means to illumine our former confusion, to heal our wounds, to end our isolation - to bring acceptance and insight into all of our experiences: the crazy, wild, terror ones, the weird places and the hopeless ones, as well as the ecstatic and serene ones.
[...]
We feel this is a time for searching and sharing, for something is stirring the inner space of women.
We do not know, cannot guess, what direction it will take.
And one of the most beautiful things about their periodical is the number of voices that join together to weave this resource. Carol Gage wrote: “One of the things that struck me as most radical about WomanSpirit was how class-homogenous it was in terms of the contributors. Working-class and academic authors were published side-by-side, voices unedited, because the magazine had a commitment to egalitarianism.”
So I decided to make this episode in the image of WomanSpirit Magazine. You’ll hear my voice, and voices from the coven reading from and talking about WSM, plus an interview with Daphna Romanoff, the creator of the Witchcraft and Pagan Periodicals Archive Project.
If you want to skip ahead to my interview with Daphna, jump to timestamp 50:00.
Listen now
Find paper and digital copies of WomenSpirit Magazine!
Register: Making Music to Make Music: Crafting Community through the Folk Songs of Ruth Mountaingrove
Amy Torok
Meet Daphna, the founder of the Witchcraft and Pagan Periodicals Zine Archive!!
Daphna Romanoff is the founder of WAPPA and holds a BA in Communications from New York University and an MLIS from Queens College. Her interests include countercultures, particularly the music, film, punk and underground culture of 1970s and ’80s New York City; zines and independent publishing; and the history and representation of witchcraft, Paganism, and the occult in popular culture and children’s literature. She is co-host of WAPPA's podcast and is based in Sedona, Arizona...
And she's a delight of a person. If you want to volunteer to help Daphna with the WAPPA, email her at:
merrymeet@witchcraftandpaganarchive.org
Follow her on IG at daphnaofthestars
