"To see the world in a grain of sand

                        and a heaven in a Wildflower,

                        Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

                        and eternity in an hour."

-William Blake

The Wildflower Priestesses are the matriarchal Council of Elders of Come As You Are coven. These women represent training and Ordination in a wide variety of spiritual traditions, including Cabot Tradition of Science, Dianic, Gardnerian, Reclaiming, Fellowship of Isis, Corellian, Feri, Buddhist, and Evensong as well as extensive solitary work. 

Each of the Wildflowers is a teacher, artist, healer, and spiritual practitioner in her own right, and collectively they bring their gifts and wisdom to the development of the CAYA community, the training of new priestesses and priests, and ritual leadership.

Rabbit: Priestess of Alchemy

High Priestess of CAYA Coven

Dedicated to Oshun and Khotun

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 a High Priestess of the Dianic Tradition, ordained 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 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.”

Heaven: Priestess of Divining Change

High Priestess of Grove of Artemis

Ordained: March 2008, dedicated to Artemis, Oshun and Shango

“I am an actor, singer, dancer, radical feminist, social justice activist, teacher, and a healer. I am a lover, a mother, a warrior, an amazon, a priestess, a witch ... a woman. My guiding principle is “Be the Change You Want to See in The World.” As a priestess my work in this lifetime is to use my magickal and intellectual gifts to create positive social change. I have been a witch all my life, and a Wiccan for 10 years. 

I am a Gardnerian Initiate, a Dianic High Priestess, the formation mother for the Wildflower Collective, and the founder of the Grove of Artemis women's full moon circle. I have been a legally ordained priestess in the Corellian Nativist Wiccan tradition for 6 years and have mentored and taught in that tradition. I am also an interfaith minister registered with the Universal Life Church and offer both pagan and multi-faith weddings and rites of passage.”

Iris Red Raven: Priestess of Conscious Joy

High Priestess of Ancestors & Guides New Moon Circles

Ordained: March 2008, dedicated to Yemaya, Ganesh and the Morrighan

Born and raised in the Midwestern United States, 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 has received a huge, glorious community of pagans, hippies, and thinkers as a special bonus. Through this amazing community, she is also a CAYA Priestess and a 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 an intuitive healer, tarot reader, and ritualist. She loves to lead guided meditation. She gives thanks everyday for her supportive family, both of birth and of choice. She loves music and dancing. She is learning to knit.

Molly Blue Dawn: Priestess of Serendipity

High Priestess of Sabbats

Ordained: March 2008, dedicated to Sulis Minerva, Hermes, and Freyr

“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 Lori 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!”

Phoenix Honeybee: Priestess of Illumination

High Priestess-at-large

Ordained: March 2008, dedicated to Aphrodite

Phoenix was always drawn to the occult. She would wander into magical stores and just buy random stuff, not knowing the items’ properties, but she knew there was magic within them. She finally took a chance and put out to the Internet Universe that she wanted to meet a witch who would teach her the craft. The one response she received was an unkind one but that didn't stop her. Instead, it only made her stronger and she put an even more determined search out. A year later her witch appeared: first at a flea market, then again at a San Francisco bar.

Immediately after she met her witch teacher she also stumbled across her first deck of tarot cards in a thrift shop. Since then, Phoenix has been learning the Craft, she has met the Goddess, she has embraced her path and all of its adventures. Life just makes a lot more sense to Phoenix now. She's finding peace and bliss in her spiritual practice. She is now an ordained Dianic High Priestess and Priestess of CAYA Coven who sings up the spirit with her drum. For more information about Phoenix and her adventures, visit her blog at www.cosmicgrasshopper.com.

Szmeralda Shanel: Priestess of Sacred Arts

High Priestess of Ancestors & Guides New Moon Circles

Ordained March 2008, dedicated to Isis

Ordained Priestess of Isis with the Fellowship of Isis and Temple of Isis. High Priestess in the Dianic Goddess Tradition. Black Gypsy. Witch. Dancer. Magick Mistress. Music Maker. Vision Weaver. Daughter of the North Star. Artist. Seer. Seeker. Poet. Teacher. Student. Hoodoo. Healer. Dreamer. Lover. Story Keeper. Sensualist. Priestess of Pleasure and Overindulgence. Wild Woman Warrior. Tarot. Expressive Arts Therapist. Rainbow. Kaleidoscope. Growing. Changing. Feri.