Peelapom.com
Title
Peeling a Pomegranate: Earth-based Magickal Judaism - Jewitchery
Description
Put simply, I am a storyteller. I tell stories to teach. I tell stories to meditate. I tell stories to work magick. I tell stories to celebrate the seasons, ancestors, and events. I tell stories to connect with the Divine and to help others do the same. I tell stories in written and spoken words, through ritual, with pictures, and with a needle and thread. Sometimes it may not seem like I am telling a story — but I am.
I am a practicing Jewitch or Jewish Witch (non-Wiccan), which I define as a practitioner of earth-based magickal Judaism. I live in Washington, DC, and I am a founding member and current Steward for a group called Becoming. I decided to start this site to share my studies and to serve as a guide for any whom this might assist. I lead workshops on a variety of subjects of interest to both Pagans and Jews, as well as write ritual and prayers for use in Jewitch/sh services. For the past three years I have held a Jewitch Rosh Hashanah that is open to all.I was raised in a non-religious Reform Jewish home. I did the Hebrew school thing, and had a Bat Mitzvah, but had no real interest in spiritual studies — but always an interest in the occult and all things magickal. I spent many years with my career as my religion, and then a spark was lit. I had a friend who told me she was Wiccan, and she gave me a key to the door between the worlds. I don’t think she ever knew — or to this day knows what a catalyst she was in my life.About a year into my studies of Wicca, which never quite felt right (it’s a very Anglo/Celtic religion, and I’m an Ashkenazi Jew with Russian, Hungarian, and Lithuanian roots), I met a group of people who called themselves “Magick Belly #9.” If the other friend gave me the key — these people blew down the walls! In time they asked me to join the group, and helped me realize that a Jewitch was a fine thing to be. I wasn’t Wiccan. I was/am a Jewish Witch — and it was up to me to learn what that meant.
A few years later, MB#9 ended. It was sad, but time. Several of us went on to found Becoming, which is three years old (as of 2005), and an incorporated church in the District of Columbia. I’ve continued my work as a Jewitch, both personally and publicly. I serve as the Steward of Becoming, and that brings me great joy. I sponsor a variety of rituals each year through Becoming, both strongly Jewitchy and subtly so. But — I’m a Jewitch, so anything I do is a reflection of that — including Becoming. As part of publicly being a Jewitch, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with the press about my spiritual practice. I share this, not to boast, but to show you that you are not alone! I was interviewed for an article in the Jewish newspaper, The Forward, in 2003 and the student paper New Voices in April 2005 (the date is wrong on the website). I also had the pleasure of being interviewed for the upcoming book “Magickal Judaism” by Jen Hunter, which is due to be released in July 2006.
