Sorita d'Este
Sorita d'Este was born in Cape Town, South Africa in the 1970s. She is an author, folklorist, occult researcher and prominent teacher and High Priestess of Wicca being an initiate of the Alexandrian Craft tradition founded by Maxine Sanders and Alex Sanders in the 1960's. She is also a leading authority in the Goddess spirituality and the author of 18 books, many co-authored with the occult writer David Rankine to whom she was handfasted in August 2006 at the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire they have one son who was born while the couple lived in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. Sorita now resides in Glastonbury, England, from where she continues to run an independent publishing company 'Avalonia' named after the town's mythical origins as the isle of Avalon.
She is the founder of the Covenant of Hekate, an international organisation dedicated to the Goddess Hekate as the Cosmic World Soul. She lit a flame on behalf of the Covenant of Hekate at the multifaith Glastonbury 2012 Harmony and Healing event held at the Chalice Well Gardens, Glastonbury on 21 April 2012. The Covenant of Hekate organised the Hekate Triformis Symposium which took place in Glastonbury 2012.
She is described by the journalist and psychic celebrity Inbaal in an article which appeared in Alternative London Magazine (2004), saying that '... you're struck by her dimples and long limbs, her exotic beauty. Feast them again, having heard she's a Wiccan High Priestess, a lecturer on witchcraft and the occult and a full-time writer and researcher, and you're struck by how very normal she is.'
In 2010 she facilitated an international ceremony to the Goddess Hekate, the Rite of Her Sacred Fires, in which several thousand individuals participated. The Rite of Her Sacred Fires is now a yearly celebration which takes place annually in celebration of unity and mysticism between those who honour the liminal torchbearing Goddess available in more than a dozen languages.
Sorita is a regular speaker at Witchfest International, Pagan Federation and other esoteric and religious related events in the UK including the Glastonbury Goddess Conference. She has been featured on the BBC, The Guardian Newspaper, Sunday Times, WitchTalk, Aeon Byte (Gnostic Radio) and the Discovery Channel.
Books
- The Guises of the Morrigan (May 2005) with David Rankine
- Circle of Fire â First Edition (2005) with David Rankine
- Artemis â Virgin Goddess of the Sun and Moon (August 2006)
- Avalonia's Book of Chakras (January 2006) with David Rankine
- The Isles of the Many Gods (2007) with David Rankine
- Practical Planetary Magick (2007) with David Rankine
- Practical Elemental Magick (2008) with David Rankine
- Towards the Wiccan Circle (2008)
- Wicca Magickal Beginnings (2008)
- Circle of Fire (2009)with David Rankine
- Practical Qabalah Magick (2009) with David Rankine
- Hekate Liminal Rites (2009) with David Rankine
- Visions of the Cailleach (2009) with David Rankine
- The Cosmic Shekinah (May 2011) with David Rankine
Edited
- Hekate Keys to the CrossRoads (August 2006)
- Horns of Power: Manifestations of the Horned Gods (2008)
- Priestesses Pythonesses & Sibyls (December 2008)
- Both Sides of Heaven: Angels, Demons, Faeries and other winged spiritual beings (2009)
- Hekate Her Sacred Fires (May 2010)