Sorita d'Este

Sorita d'Este
Sorita d'Este performing The Rite of Her Sacred Fires in May 2010
Born	(1974-11-26)26 November 1974 Cape Town, South Africa
Occupation	Priestess and author

Sorita d'Este is an author, folklorist, occult researcher and prominent teacher. She was initiated into Alexandrian Wicca in the early 1990s, but renounced her involvement with the tradition in 2016.^[1] She is also a leading authority in the Goddess spirituality^[2] and the author of 18 books.^[3] She was born in Cape Town, South Africa in the 1970s.

Sorita currently resides in Glastonbury, England, from where she continues to run her independent publishing company Avalonia, named after the town's mythical origins as the isle of Avalon. In an interview with Pagan Dawn Magazine (Issue 195, May 2015) celebrating 10 years of Avalonia Sorita writes "My primary goal has never been commercial. I am far more occupied in learning and expanding on my knowledge of the esoteric world. It is an incredible bonus that I am able to earn a living from it and spend my time working with some of the most fabulous researchers, artists and esoteric teachers!"^[4]

She is the founder of The Covenant of Hekate,^[5] an international organisation dedicated to The Goddess Hekate as The Cosmic World Soul.^[6] 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.^[7] The Covenant of Hekate organised The Hekate Triformis Symposium^[8] which took place in Glastonbury 2012 and again in June 2013 and September 2014.^[9]

In an interview with the Spanish magazine Ser Pagano in 2014^[10] Sorita speaks out about her work saying "My work encompasses my own passions, which includes a wide range of traditions, practices and history pertaining to the Western Mystery Tradition and I am always happy to hear that others find the work I have done useful for reference and indeed practice. I first encountered Hekate as a child,through classical literature and poetry, but it was not until 2000 that I first encountered Hekate in a meaningful and magical way."

She was a keynote speaker at CWED (10ª Conferência de Wicca & Espiritualidade da Deusa) in São Paulo, Brazil in August 2014 alongside Claudiney Prieto, Deborah Lipp and Zsuzsanna Budapest.^[11] She led the World Goddess Day celebrations in Glastonbury in September 2014.^[12]

In Urthona, a journal of Buddhism and the Arts she describes Magic as "In Western magic ‘magical powers’ – whatever they might be – can be both worldly (as in the case of witchcraft or sorcery), or transcendental (as in theurgy) and for me they simply are. In this respect I would say that magic is a harbinger of change, and the proof of it is in the effects it enacts on the practitioner and through that on the world around the practitioner. The techniques through which magic is practiced could also be considered in the same way as technology: it works, and if necessary it can be easily adapted by an experienced practitioner, with the relevant knowledge, to fit different spiritual paradigms."^[13]

In September 2013, she was named as one of The Wisdom Keepers of The Goddess Spirituality Movement by SageWoman Magazine, recognising her work as an author, but also as a folklorist and priestess.^[14]

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".^[15]

In 2010, she facilitated an international ceremony to The Goddess Hekate, The Rite of Her Sacred Fires,^[16] in which several thousand individuals participated.^[17] 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,^[18] and is available in more than twenty languages.^[19][20]

The Reverend Mark Townsend, in his book Jesus Through Pagan Eyes, includes an interview with Sorita.^[21] In it, she describes Jesus as “...a man who reached a state of enlightenment and then sought to share the vision of perfection He had experienced...”.^[22] Her work often crosses the boundaries of tradition, Pagan and Christian, Buddhist and Gnostic. In March 2013., The Somerset Gazette reported that Sorita was to lecture at the Abbey House retreat centre in Glastonbury, giving the first of a series of talks on spirituality in Glastonbury organised by the Friends of the Abbey House on her experiences as a Wiccan High Priestess and the founder of the Covenant of Hekate.^[23] In an interview with the TWPT (The Wiccan and Pagan Times), in 2012., Sorita stated that “God doesn’t belong to a religion. I have a very strong adherence to this simple truth, no church or synagogue or coven or temple can ‘own’ God! Rather, I believe that all good religious traditions are united in their search for an understanding and experience of God, or ‘The Divine’”.^[24]

Sorita is a regular speaker at Witchfest International,^[25] Pagan Federation and other esoteric and religious related events in the United Kingdom, including The Glastonbury Goddess Conference.^[26] She has been featured on the BBC, The Guardian Newspaper, Sunday Times, WitchTalk.^[27] Aeon Byte (Gnostic Radio) and The Discovery Channel.

Books

• The Guises of the Morrigan (May 2005) with David Rankine
• Circle of Fire – First Edition (2005) with David Rankine
• Artemis – 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)
• The Faerie Queens(October 2013)

References

External links

• Official website
• The Covenant of Hekate web site