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Earth House Project

2022 Guests of Honor

Picture of Keridwyn “Horsewitch”  Hershberger

Keridwyn “Horsewitch” Hershberger

  Keridwyn Hershberger is an animalist, trance worker, world traveler, and ritualist. Her immediate roots are in Welsh Family Tradition and Celtic Wicca on her father’s side and Unitarian Universalism and Lebanese Folk Magic on her mother’s. She is a Wiccan Priestess (Unicorn Tradition), and a practitioner of Traditional Witchcraft, Hoodoo and Rootwork, Medicinal and Magical Herbalism, Welsh Family Tradition, and Lebanese Folk Tradition. Keridwyn has been the artisan and owner of Devonshire Incense and Soap since 2004.
     The eldest daughter of Dail and James “Hersh” Hershberger, Keridwyn grew up in a magical household. As a child, she was encouraged to explore a wide variety of global belief systems, philosophies, and working practices, with emphasis on the underlying cultural roots of each. From a young age, Keridwyn trained in many forms of energy work and divination, daily ritual practice, grounding and centering, and astral travel. For the past 21 years, it has been her immense honor to teach Herbalism, Incense Making, Animalism, Group Energy Work, Trance Channeling, and Foundational Witchcraft to practitioners all over the United States.
     Originally from Austin, Texas, Keridwyn has a small farm in the Driftless area of Wisconsin, where she tends to bees, sheep, horses, and wildlife. Future projects include: Witchcraft Retreats in Europe and the United States, a Horsewitch Blog and Podcast, and a Thirteen Month Class on The Principals of Foundational Witchcraft.If you are looking for a true teacher in Witchcraft, Wicca, or the Spellcraft Arts, no one is more “ the real deal” than Keridwyn. Born into Family Tradition Witchcraft on both sides, her father was taught herbalism and folk magic by his Paternal Grandmother in the 1940s. Her Mother’s Farther (maternal grandfather) was brought into a Lithuanian Magical line and received his initiations in the early 1960’s. Keridwyn’s father was a high priest in four different traditions before she was ever born. He was a respected and sought-after High Priest for many decades. Her parents met for the first time at a Beltane Festival in which he was crowned the May King and she the May Queen. Keridwyn began going to rituals and pagan festivals as an infant. She showed an early aptitude and voracious appetite for Witchcraft at a very early age, and began training at the age of 6 in lucid dreaming, working with thought forms, meditation, divination, astral travel and temple work, trance, conducting group energies, grounding and centering as a way to concentrate personal power, demonic and angelic work, and past life regression. She has had training in astrology, Hebrew numerology, incense and oil making, magical and medicinal herbalism, candle making, Theban Runes, Latin, Hebrew, and Welsh language, alchemy, Hoodoo and Root Work. She has studied comparative religion; including: first nations ceremonies, Hindu, Muslim, Buddist, Jewish, Kung of the Kalahari, and greater African studies, Greek, Celtic, Nordic, Germanic, and Mongolian history and religion.

SOME OF KERIDWYN’S RELEVANT HISTORY:
• She began writing rituals at 10 years old.
• Formally sealed as a Priestess of the Goddess at the age of 11
• Began leading large-scale public group rituals at 16
• Began formally studying Wicca and the principals of formalized ritual at 17
• Studied New Orleans style Voodoo from age 17 to 22 and took initiations including a year “in whites”
• Studied Brazilian trance dance in Brazil for six months at the age of 19
• Received Initiation in her Family’s Welsh Craft Tradition in 1996.
• Received Initiation in her Family’s Lebanese Craft Tradition in 1997.
• Received initiation into the “Grove of the Unicorn” Tradition in 1998
• Began teaching Pagan and Neophyte classes in Texas, Georgia, New York, and Tennessee in 1999
• Became High Priestess in the Unicorn Tradition in 2001
• Continues to lead workshops and rituals all over the world, including: Indonesia, Egypt, England, and of course, many parts of the United States

She is the artisan and owner of Devonshire Incense and Soap since 2004.

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Murphy Pizza, Ph.D

Murphy Pizza, Ph.D lives in the Twin Cities, MN, where she did research on the Pagan community (Paganistan, Ashgate:2014). She is an ethnographer, writer, and oral historian with a doctorate in cultural anthropology/comparative religion and a practicing Pagan folk religionist (read: honest-to-goodness Witch Doctor!). A longtime magical practitioner, shamanic healer, tarot reader, reiki master, ecstatic alchemist, and lover of the occult, she is endlessly fascinated with the religious and magical practices of the world. Her teaching and activist background includes art and art history, religions and the occult, anthropology, feminism, power and social change, cultural competency/humility, and racial justice studies. Her spiritual hunger and thirst for justice eventually led her to Indigenous European and American philosophies, Shambhala Buddhism, African Diaspora religions, and New Religions through the scholarship of her advisors, John Boatman, Dr. Patrick Bellegarde-Smith and Dr. James Lewis; to Lucky Mojo Curio Company and hoodoo study; to Temple of Miriam the Prophetess and Jewish magical study; and membership in the Wiccan Church of Minnesota, Harmony Tribe, and the Sacred Alchemical Fire Circle in Paradise. (Not all who wander are lost.) She has occasionally been a guest-reader, guest co-host, and guest announcer on the LMCC Hoodoo Rootwork Hour. She is now forging ahead with her research to be a professional reader and rootworker, ready to turn her skills and knowledge into a practice that helps guide those in spiritual need and to ensure that the cultural transmission of magic stays vital and alive.

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Peggy McDowell

My name is Peggy McDowell and I live in the small town of Tomahawk in the northwoods of Wisconsin. It's kind of primitive here. Except for electricity and the internet things don't change much. Most of the men hunt. Most of the women do crafts. Our family lives in one of Tomahawk's original buildings - behind the storefront - just like in the good old days.

We call our storefront Jester Studio. Jesters have a deep history of being those special characters that were allowed to tell the truth without being beheaded. I try to tell the truth in my artwork, with just enough humor to get away with it.

As a mother of two, a budget-bolsterer, goulash-maker, and laundry lady, life can get damned humorous sometimes. So I make portraits of domestic divas in their elements. I celebrate donuts and chocolate. I illustrate books and helped design a tarot deck..."Breaking the Rules Tarot." I feel the spirit in plants and dust bunnies. Yes, I did go to art school. I have a BFA from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. But I believe they ought to give degrees for being a wife and mother. It's a lot harder. Oh, and I am a "guest of honor" because I did this year's logo.

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Mariah Dawn Shepherd & the Covert Dragon

     Hailing from Southwestern Indiana, these two eclectic singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, pioneers of their own proclaimed “sparkle folk rock”, bring a colorful moving blend of earth-friendly original music intent on harmonizing consciousness one note, in 432hz, at a time. With a rich background in steady touring throughout the North American continent in the last several years, many have come to enjoy both Mariah’s and the Covert Dragon’s friendly, fun and easy-going presence. As a rainbow of infinitely musical bliss, they playfully work from their five current album releases for the listening enjoyment and enrichment of their audiences. Refreshing as a crisp mountain stream, each performance is entirely novel unto itself and a one of a kind experience.
Mariah Dawn Shepherd & the Covert Dragon debuted this phase of their touring career at Earth House’s 2017 Midsummer Gather. We’re more-than-pleased to welcome them back for this, their third appearance with us.

Mariah’s distinctive voice has been compared to Joni Mitchell, her poetic songwriting similar to Donovan as well as Simon and Garfunkel, and sparkling guitar playing at times to Led Zeppelin topping it off with a charming and energetic stage presence.

Randy Widick’s (the Covert Dragon) dynamic and counterpoint guitar playing styles have been said to rival Jim Croce and John Renbourn, his bonny vocals and harmonies similar to Crosby, Stills, & Nash, and his quirky outgoing persona to joyfully enlighten the dank shadows. Ultimately, Mariah Dawn Shepherd & the Covert Dragon have their own thriving unique musical style and presence unlike any other. They will bring their definitive hits along with newfangled songs to their show at the 2020 Earth House Midsummer Gather!
Explore the awesomeness of their sparkly, folksy presentation on Bandcamp, Facebook, YouTube and their own Website!

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Johnny Dissent

Johnny Dissent wrote one good song six years ago and hasn't shut up about it since.

Dissent [Dih-sent] - to differ in sentiment or opinion, especially from the majority; withhold assent; disagree.

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Morganthe

Eclectic, electric, Celtic Harpist and so much more! Come join me in my journey of stories, music, and magick. It was the role of the Bard to learn lore, inspire the people, and fill their hearts with emotions to remind them of their humanity. They traveled all over, walking proof of connections beyond one's immediate family. This is the path that I've dedicated myself to in this life. Working with others to create music, telling stories both old and new, and inspire the best of all of us to come out and play.

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