Adler, Margot (1946 )
Margot Adler, author and Wiccan priestess, is the granddaughter
of renowned psychotherapist Alfred Adler. She was
raised in a nonreligious setting and attended the University of
California at Berkeley (B.S., 1968) during its era of political
radicalism. Following her graduation she began a career in
broadcast journalism at radio station WBAI-FM. In 1978 she
accepted her latest position, with National Public Radio.
Living in New York in the early 1970s, she encountered
witchcraft through a study group founded by the New York
Coven of Welsh Traditional Witches. In 1973 she became associated
with Gardnerian witchcraft. In 1976 she became the
priestess of Iargalon, a Gardnerian coven. During her years as
an active priestess, she researched and wrote Drawing Down the
Moon, a sympathetic history and survey of the modern Wiccan
and pagan community. Over the years since, the book, now in
its second edition, has introduced many people to witchcraft.
Since 1982 Adler has practiced as a solitary, but remains one
of the most visible leaders of the pagan community in North
America. In 1988 her handfasting to John Gliedman was the
first pagan marriage covered in the New York Times society
pages.
Sources:
Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon. New York: Viking
Press, 1979. Rev. ed. Boston: Beacon Press, 1986.
. Heretics Heart: A Journey Through Spirit and Revolution.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1997.
