What good is a bunch of names and a picture or two? Well, kind of a lot BUT this time I really wanted to celebrate the Church of Satan's Witches. Many people see all witches as either nasty hags, unshaven Pagans who worship Jesus with Tits, varying breeds of Wiccans-many of whom have determined that ONLY Wiccans have the right to label themselves Witches, and the real nut bags who see Witches as "Brides of Satan" who do all sorts of evil deeds.
The Satanic Witch by Anton Szandor LaVey defines Satanic Witchery and gives important lessons in both greater and lesser magic. The Church of Satan deems women members who have attained the Second Degree as Witches, and uses the term to describe female members in general. Satanic Witches accept the tenets of The Satanic Bible, and practice witchCRAFT. There are all kinds of "Craft" performed by witches.
As both a Satanic and a Wicked Witch, I want to support the Witches who support the Church of Satan, and even more important, I want young women looking to understand the feelings and beliefs they have, to see the variety, diversity, uniqueness, and power of Satanic Wicked Witches. I define a "Wicked Witch" as a Satanic Witch who embraces her feminine power, shares her magic by way of love, and laughs at those who can't laugh at themselves. A Wicked Witch is unapologetic, passionate, and without shame.
The women nominated for Wicked Witch of the year will be introduced on this site, 3 or 4 at a time. This is the first group. Feel free to make appropriate comments or ask questions. What matters most is showing off the most powerful, most unique, most joyous Witches in the world!
The Nominees for Wicked Witch 2017
Heather Height
Heather Height happens to be married to one of my best friends. That is as close to a disclosure as I intend to make. To be honest, after a series of less than perfect relationships, when David announced he had found someone new I was utterly prepared for having to put a big old fake smile on my face, nod politely, and wait for the inevitable crash and burn. Several years later I can safely say my dear friend has met his match.
Heather is undeniably beautiful. That much is obvious. What might not be obvious is all the talents she has housed in that beautiful face and body.
Heather is curvy, plays with various styles and cosmetics and hair styles, but she doesn't have a prissy bone in her body. This becomes obvious when Heather performs stand up comedy. She was in her late 30's when she decided to follow that dream and was rewarded in 2012 when she won the Comic Strip's "Comedians Who Matter" competition. Since then she has performed repeatedly including at Gotham Comedy Club and on the infamous Opie and Andy. Heather is every inch a woman but she comes off easily as one of the guys. So much so she found it hard to find a female influence until she picked Patti Smith as someone to come to her dream dinner party, but even then "But she would have to come with David Bowie. It's not like either of them would eat anyway."
Heather and David have a passion for the artistic nature of the Carnal. Photography, video, all manner of the digital arts melded with sex are fair game. Heather has also graced the pages of Old Nick Magazine. Yet, none of those explorations are as special, to me anyway, as the gift Heather bestowed upon the membership of The Church of Satan at the 50th Anniversary Conclave:
"...who would think that I would get to do a striptease and pose naked on the altar in front of a banquet hall full of Satanists at the age of 46 and weighing a voluptuous ---lbs!?* I am so proud and honored to have been given that opportunity and had the moxie to take it!"
Heather at Conclave with my husband James Mitchell
Satanists are constantly seen as one dimensional by non-Satanists, but Heather's life has been influenced by a mixture of influences that defies both convention and UNconvention, She admires Warren Buffet ("I dig the way he effortlessly melds this almost metaphysical sense of money with the formula for practicality...",) and cites Gene Wilder, Benjamin Franklin and Salvador Dali.
Heather Height is a Satanic Witch, a Wicked Witch, through an through. I leave you with this:
"If you are loyal, I am loyal...Betray me, you're out, betray one of mine, well, it's gonna get ugly."
That would be the ONLY thing about Heather that is ugly!
*Heather had proudly written her weight but I was unsure whether that was for me or public consumption.
*Heather had proudly written her weight but I was unsure whether that was for me or public consumption.
Josie Gallows
Let me be clear, Josie Gallows is a Witch. A Satanic, wicked, witch. Anyone who wants to dispute that can do so, alone.
That said, Josie has had one Hell of a year, to top several years. Going through transition surgery is brutal physically and no walk in the park emotionally. The only thing harder for those who do it, is to NOT do it. I want to thank Josie for allowing us to get to understand this situation through her experience. I want to introduce everyone to Josie by sharing this quote that shows Satanist above all else:
"...the closer I get to my own personal ideal the brighter my black flame burns and my charisma increases. I find happiness is easier and less unadulterated." Hell, yeah!
But Josie is more than just a walking education of transition. She is a loving family member who wisely notes "family in any positive meaning of the word is relative and ain't much to do with blood....It took me almost two decades to find my little family...They are my rock."
She says her profession is that of "Artist. bohemian, urchin." She neglected to add writer but when I read this "I’ve been honing my novel Gimps of Fifth Avenue for the better part of two and 1/2 years. I carry my babies for a long ass time. Some of you read a shit-draft of the opening about the time I started work on it. I’m really happy with the way the tone and beat have progressed since then from start to finish of the novel. I hope to have it all done and actually soliciting actual agents by early next year instead of suffering the world of self-publishing like I did for A Greasy Wind," I was impressed so much about how she wrote about writing that I feel compelled to read more of her work.
Her influences are equally fascinating. I am pretty well educated and I actually had to look up one of her wanted dinner companions.She mentioned actor Rufus Sewall--well okay, she mentioned getting real chummy with Rufus Sewall, she added the fantastic expressionist artist Egon Schiele, who, in my opinion, paints some lovely ladies that remind me of Josie , herself,:
Then, under the heading of politician, I had to look up Sophie Scholl who was guillotined for going against the Nazis in World War II. Holy Shit! What an amazing person to want to meet, and even more, what a unique perception of politician.
On a more personal note Josie appreciates the artists who, like Bowie, " who showed me The Way, that gender can be beautiful and explosive rather than a prison of arbitrary etiquette." Yeah, what she said.
Picking out pictures of photographer Stephanie Petersen is a bitch. The woman is incredibly photogenic, understands the aesthetics of photography, and plays dress up with the best 8 year old girls. She is a complete chameleon. When I met her in the late 1990's she was doing the blonde JudyHolliday meets Bettie Page thing, before it was cool. I never saw her "undone." Her wonderful Jersey accent mixed with her look, and the last name of "Crabe" seemed almost too much like a charicature, until you spent 5 minutes with her and realized she was brilliant to boot.
I returned to Florida and didn't see Stephanie again for many years. Now if someone had said the next time I would have contact with the artist who did the amazing photo book "Motel Bizarre" she would be a happy wife and mother trick or treating and pissing off the neighbors in Bayonne, I probably would have said they were nuts. She just didn't reek of Mommy. Of all people I should have realized that those are sometimes the best ones. "....my job as Wife and Mother surpasses my role as a Photographer. As a Mother I create the world that my family and I live in according to my own design , sensibilities, and liking. Our house functions independently from outside influences. This is our realm, we make our own rule, and as Mother I am the governing force." Total Environment, anybody?
One of the important elements of being a Satanic and Wicked Witch is to be able to live up to your own preferred standard by doing what you love. According to Stephanie "2016 was a wonderful year for my family and myself.....I made my living in 2016 doing what I love most, as a Photographer. Both my husband and I make our money by means of our own talents, by our own hands, doing what we love." Stephanie also understands that there is more to witchcraft than sex appeal, although she has a mountain of it, "The term "what you got" can apply to anything from a winning smile to the perfume you select before leaving the house."
When I met Stephanie her sense of style made me jealous. I was trapped in what I called my corporate Stevie Nicks phase, and she just looked so damn great . That hasn't changed, "At the moment I've been playing around with a dark 60's "Hammer Horror meets Season of the Witch look" which is much different from the look I was playing with years ago that you may remember." Stephanie's versatility in style and her unique choices of what to photograph are as diverse as her influences: Arbus, Weegee (Arthur Fellig,) and Martin Scorsese. Young women looking for a Satanic role model would do well to look at Stephanie Petersen, living, working, and loving on her own terms.
Stephanie Petersen
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