Fernando

he/she/they

is a fabulous, neurodivergent, queer, eclectic pagan witch in beautiful San Diego. Raised loosely Catholic, Fernando is an only black sheep child amongst a greater extended family of Jehovahs Witnesses. But Catholicism never quite made sense to them. They simply did not vibe to the sounds of that path. Falling asleep in the house of god was, simply put, just not the way. Instead, Fernando vibed to the sound of their own rhythm. A rhythm more closely associated to what they always thought of as “the other.” They just didn’t know how to define it. It would not be until their thirties that they would discover their paganism. Their form of paganism is eclectic, borrowing from all walks of life and adhering to no particular practice. Perhaps, in that way, it is more attuned to chaos magic and an exploration of their meso american roots.

Fernando is a paraeducator and freelance graphic designer. They are also a geek, anime lover, video gamer, book reader, sci fi connoisseur, and deep music listener. Most of the time you will find them lost through the various folds of reality, deep in thought while listening to music, and blocked off from the world by the vibrations of their headphones. They live life day by day, lost in the vibrations, untethered to the drama of the world around them, forgetting that which does not need to be remembered, focusing only on what matters in the moment, continuously moving forward, and never looking back. Simply put, they just exist and vibe.

Issel

she/her/hers & ella 

is a neruospicy, bisexual, chicana/indigena living in San Diego. She has been on a path of self discovery and on that journey she has learned that paganism is a way to live into her values. Within the last 5 years she has been on an exploration of her mesoamerican ancestry that has brought her to an interesting spot of brujeria. She is often lost in messages from her ancestors or in the sky. Very much an eclectic witch, Issel is often channeling her Mexica ancestry, using feathers and water as her tools. 

Issel likes to live intentionally and is very proud of her work as a Paraeducator and Union activist, helping communities that are often overlooked and neglected by others. 

Issel spends her time with her chosen family consisting of her spouse, best friend and cat named Dr. Watson. They enjoy watching anime and laughing together around the dining room table.

Jenner

she/her/hers

is a proudly queer, loudly leftist, sex-positive, neurodivergent witch, artist, mother, and lover of all things wild and free. She found her way to paganism as a pre-teen, guided by a lifelong love of the moon, a library card, and a desire to explore spiritual paths outside of patriarchal repression. She has always been fascinated by liminal spaces - especially those between fantasy and reality, light and dark, life and death, human and non-human, and physical and spiritual realms.

A self-described sea-witch, Jenner is most at home close to water. While she has a deep love for the desert she grew up in, she always felt the most intense connection to forces beyond herself and to all living beings when visiting the ocean, and so was thrilled as an adult to move to San Diego. You can often find her at the beach or in the waves, either singing to Mama Ocean, snorkeling to get a closer look at aquatic life, having a full-moon bonfire on the sand, or weaving spells of salt and sea foam. 

Beyond the seashore, Jenner’s magical practice involves poetry, visual art, dream interpretation, sacred play, justice work, and using witchcraft for self-healing and mental wellness. Her favorite magical tools are a pen and paper, her favorite tarot card is The Empress, and she finds great joy in making food to share at rituals. 

Currently, the majority of Jenner’s time is dedicated to raising her dynamic and endlessly curious toddler and new baby alongside her spouse, Kiona. While parenting gently and with intention is hard work, Jenner loves the opportunity to see the world anew with childlike wonder. If you want someone to appreciate a neat leaf/cool stick/unusual rock/weird cloud/cute squirrel/pretty bubble with you, she’d love to see it! She’s also very happy to talk to you about your favorite dinosaur. 

Kiona

they/them

walks through the world in identities that live in the crossroads. A non-binary, Black biracial, queer, autistic, eclectic-witch, Kiona exists outside of the box at all times. Their path into paganism was initiated by a deep love and connection to all things Fae and a deep reverence for Mother Nature fostered by a childhood spent in the Sonoran Desert. Their life as a creature of borderlands led them to become the sky-focused hedge witch they are today.

Kiona’s current practice includes spiritual connection and collaboration with nature and the elements, a heavy dose of ancestor work, hedge-witchery doing healing and spellwork in spirit realms, and some good old-fashioned folk magic. Their background as a yoga and meditation instructor also informs how they write and facilitate rituals.
Kiona maintains a magical life outside of the cauldron, making sure the mundane is never actually mundane. Professionally they have worked for the last 20 years as a performer, choreographer, and teacher of dance and aerial circus arts. In the summer of 2023 they founded a new aerial dance company, Wingbeat Movement Arts, where they are also the artistic director. Kiona is also an activist for environmental and social justice causes, doing that work both personally and professionally over the years.

Activism and a sense of moral duty to make the world a kinder place for all living things was fostered in Kiona by their very large and loving family, most of whom live in their hometown of Tucson, Arizona. Kiona now lives in San Diego with their amazing sea-witch wife Jenner, their super-charged two year old kiddo, their sweet new baby, a formerly-grouchy old tabby cat named Jones, an off-kilter old tortie cat named Soma, and a  big fat lovebug black cat named Merlin.

Rhiannon

fae/they

is a queer, neurodivergent witch currently living in San Jose. Fae grew up surrounded by fairy and folktales, so were genre-savvy enough to know exactly what they were getting into when, at 14, they found a perfectly formed faery circle and walked into it.  Fae has been practicing hedge witchery since then, for more than twenty years, but only started identifying as pagan about a decade ago.

Faers focus is on mythology and the sacred narrative, balancing reconstructionist research with the living nature of Paganism’s lore. They primarily work within the Celtica-Macedonian religions, but have collected stories from all over the world.  In recent years, fae’s begun developing a deeper relationship with the Keltic traditions of their ancestors. Their personal practice centers around journey work and work with non-corporeal beings, so it makes sense that faers favorite tool is their wards, because boundaries are important.  They have too many altars in their house and too many effigies on their altars and too many books on their shelves.

When fae is not leading rituals or down a research hole, fae splits their time between parenting preteens, writing, making art, choreographing as a member of the International Choreographed Ballroom Dance Association, rewatching Good Omens, playing D&D, and making the neighbors uncomfortable. 

Fae lives with faers spouse, two children, a snake, a pack of spirit hounds, their spirit wife, an unruly muse, a guide called Harvey, a handful of house fae, and occasionally summoned daemons.

The Witchlings

our kiddos (not pictured)

range in age from zero to eleven and have a better grasp on magic than the rest of us put together.  They’ve been using a pagan lens to explore the world since they were very small and between them have a truly absurd collection of pagan children’s books.

They are glad to lend their expert understanding to the Cauldron by helping to build altars, singing loudly, telling us when the meditation is too long, calling in Directions, and reminding us of the importance of play.  They also enjoyed playtesting our Children’s Circle curriculum.

Their favorite tools to make magic with include sticks, leaves, Legos, markers, play-doh, the entire bottle of glue, writing pencils, and laughter.  They are currently following their own magic by investigating rocks of all kinds, the ocean, an entire zoo’s worth of animals, mythology in many forms, and (more recently) the historic context around some of our traditions.

They would like you to know that Santa is not real, but the Yule Cat very much is real and so are the House Fae, including the one that will trade you treasures for your teeth.  They would also appreciate it if people in charge would take better care of the Earth.