Elderflowers
The Elderflowers are the founding body of the Wildflower Tradition and of the Come As You Are Coven. These Priestesses represent Training and Ordination in a variety of established spiritual lineages, and also have extensive experience in solitary work. Each member of the Elderflowers is a teacher, artist, healer, and spiritual practitioner in her own right. Together, they bring their gifts and wisdom to the development of our community, the training of new priestesses and priests in the Wildflower Tradition, and ritual leadership.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour."
-William Blake
Click on above photos to open and close Priestess's bios below
The Lady Yeshe Rabbit: High Priestess of Alchemy
Dedicated to Oshun, Khotun, Baba Yaga, Aphrodite and Ancestress Yeshe Tsogyal
Rabbit was born on the Hare Moon, the Full Moon in May when the horns of the Great Cow Goddess arch against the night sky. As the founding High Priestess of the Wildflower Tradition and the Amazon Priestess Tribe, ordained in the Dianic Tradition by Z Budapest, Rabbit serves the Divine as an Oracle, Ritualist, and Herbalist. She practices and studies tarot, plant medicine and lore, stones and crystals, ritual craft, mythology and storytelling, shamanic practices, singing, drumming, and alchemy. Her store, The Sacred Well, serves the material needs of esoteric practitioners, ecstatic wanderers, and all those drawn to the mystical arts in the sunny San Francisco Bay Area. Above all else, Rabbit is deeply grateful for the Goddess and the many blessings She generously gives.
“Ritual is the art of transformation - a practice of dissolving the individual identity into an emanation of light that transcends the physical self and unites the soul with the cosmos. When we release ego and commune with the Divine during the course of ritual we change our lives irrevocably, and it is important that we pursue this work with reverence and clear, benevolent will. Bringing together the radiant Wildflowers, dazzling Amazons, and the sparkling individuals who make up CAYA Coven was my way of creating the opportunity for many people to experience that shimmering moment of intentional ritual transcendence, for all of us to become golden.”
Lady Kahina: High Priestess of Divining Change
Dedicated to Artemis, Oshun, Shango, Brigantia and Isis/Au Set
“I am an actor, a singer, a dancer, a teacher, a healer, a lover, a mother, a warrior,
a priestess, a witch.....A Woman.”
Lady Kahina is a High Priestess of both the Wildflower and Amazon traditions of Come As You Are Coven, a priestess of the Corellian tradition, and an initiate of the Gardnerian tradition. Lady Kahina is the founder of the Grove of Artemis women's full moon circle, and the leader of the “Sprouts” pagan parenting group. She plans to eventually create a pagan centered earth conscious, children's scouting troop.
Lady Kahina is also a legally ordained interfaith minister who offers professional Tarot Card Readings, Spiritual Counseling, pagan and interfaith wedding ceremonies, and Rites of Passage.
Lady Iris RedRaven: High Priestess of Conscious Joy
Dedicated to Yemaya, Ganesh, the Morrighan, and Iris
Born and raised in the Midwestern US, Iris spent her high school years exploring the ritual act of theatre, which transitioned to the magic of philosophy in college. She became a witch at 13, following her mother’s footsteps. Together, they created the Evensong Tradition, in which Iris holds a Third Degree. She founded the May You See Things In Clarity (MYSTIC) Society at her university and was active in the St Louis Pagan community. She came to the Bay Area to further her formal education and now holds an MA in Women's Spirituality. The easy, open vibe of the Bay and the nearness of the ocean hooked Iris, and she is grateful to be part of the the amazing pagan community here, especially rediscovering theatre as a ritual process. She is a founding CAYA Priestess and an Amazon Dianic High Priestess.
Iris feels that her path is one of skeptical devotion, of thinking faith, and of the constant creation of joy. She is a Wiccan, a Witch, a Pagan and a Dianic Amazon; influenced by Taoism, existential philosophy, Celtic, Hindu, Yoruba and Native American myths, and the feminist movement. She is an intuitive healer, a tarot reader, a ritualist and often a good listener. She loves to lead guided meditation. She loves music and dancing. When she has time, she knits, pretends to be learning the guitar, and laughs as much as possible. She gives thanks everyday for her supportive family, both of birth and of choice.
"It is only when we don't show up for life that death is terrifying." Paul Ferrini, The Ecstatic Moment
Molly Blue Dawn: High Priestess of Serendipity
Ordained: March 2008
Dedicated to Sulis Minerva, Hermes, Freyr and Thyone
“I was born pagan and raised Catholic. When I learned about Greek mythology, I started worshipping Greek Gods. I always wondered what it would be like to be true to my own personal religion and still be able to share with a religious community, as the ancients had. When I read a National Geographic article that said there were still Odin worshippers in Iceland, I thought I might have to move to Iceland! I always knew I wanted to be a Witch, but I didn’t know why, since all the stories I read about Witches were not at all pleasant. My first inkling that I was not alone was seeing Laurie Cabot on Donahue’s Halloween show, saying that Witches are real and do not eat babies! I bought one of her books, but still had to do everything my own way, never by the book.
A series of unforeseen opportunities led me to start performing Ritual Theatre, and through theatre, I met many and diverse wonderful Pagans, and came to realize that I had always been surrounded by the vast Pagan community of the Bay Area without even knowing it. Part of this community turned out to be Rabbit, who invited me to her rituals and encouraged me to become a Priestess, providing a time, place and structure within which I got to create my own Mabon ritual. Rabbit shared with me her dream of creating the Come As You Are Coven, and I knew that CAYA would be the ideal community for me. I am thrilled to see how our community has grown, and delighted to share my Priestesshood with a diverse but close-knit family. I am always learning from my fellow Wildflowers!”
Szmeralda Shanel: High Priestess of Sacred Arts
Ordained March 2008
Dedicated to Isis, Mami Wata, Kapo-Laka and Kali
Ordained Priestess of Isis with the Fellowship of Isis and Temple of Isis. Founder of the Iseum of Black Isis. High Priestess in the Amazon Dianic Goddess Tradition. Mami Wata child. Hoodoo.Witch. Dancer. Magic Mistress. Music Maker. Vision Weaver. Daughter of the North Star. Artist. Seer. Seeker. Poet. Teacher. Student. Trickster. Healer. Fool. Lover. Story keeper. Storyteller. Sensualist. Songstress. Bawdy Wild Woman Warrior. She who casts the Bones. Tarot. Ecstatic Shamanic DreamWalker. Priestess of Pleasure and overindulgence. Black Gypsy. Rainbow. Kaleidoscope. Changing. Feri...
