About Me

My name is Carly Lesser (a.k.a. Ketzirah – קצירה), and I am a Kohenet, Celebrant, and Artist.  I work with individuals and groups to explore, discover, and create meaningful rituals and ritual artwork to mark moments in life– from personal moments and holiday celebrations to weddings, baby namings, and life transitions. I also provide guidance and spiritual companionship to those in need on their spiritual journeys.

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Contact Me

Kohenet

In July 2009, I received smicha as a Kohenet through the Hebrew Priestess Training Institute founded by Rabbi Jill Hammer, Holly Taya Shere and Shoshana Jedwab, after three years of training.   As a Kohenet I focus on an embodied, woman-honoring form of Jewish spirituality that respects the earth and G!d/dess in all forms that s/he appears (male, female, both, and neither).   The women trained and ordained as Kohanot are reclaiming this word and a unique role as spiritual leaders.  You can regularly find me leading services at OneShul.org.

Celebrant

I hold dual ordination as a Kohenet and a Celebrant of Becoming.  In February 2009, I was ordained as Celebrant of Becoming, a pantheistic/panentheistic spiritual community in Washington, DC that is dedicated to building connections that transform the world.   In 2011, I was elected Presiding Celebrant of  Becoming.

Artist
I combine writing, fiber art, and spiritual ritual to create physical and experiential art that activates, motivates or memorializes change.

Learn more about my fiber artwork at www.EmbroideredPrayers.com, and see offerings currently for sale at http://peelapom.etsy.com

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Biography

I was raised in the Seventies and early Eighties in a non-religious Reform Jewish home. I did the Hebrew school thing and had a Bat Mitzvah, but had no real interest in spiritual studies — but always an interest in the occult and all things magickal. I spent many years with my career as my religion, and then a spark was lit. After graduating college in 1991, I moved to Washington, DC, and met my first friend who told me she was Wiccan.  She gave me a key to the door between the worlds. I don’t think she ever knew — or to this day knows what a catalyst she was in my life. About a year into my studies of Wicca, which never quite felt right (it’s a very Anglo/Celtic religion, and I’m an Ashkenazic Jew with Russian, Hungarian, and Lithuanian roots), I met a group of people who called themselves “Magick Belly #9.” If the other friend gave me the key — these people blew down the walls! In time they asked me to join the group and helped me realize that a “Jewitch” was a fine thing to be. I wasn’t Wiccan. I was/am a practitioner of Earth-based Magickal Judaism.

In 2002, I helped to found Becoming, a earth-based pantheistic/panentheistic spiritual community in Washington, DC, and was ordained in February 2009.  In addition to my work with Becoming, I also trained with  Kohenet: The Hebrew Priestess Training Institute, directed by R’Jill Hammer and K’Holly Taya Shere. In July 2009, I received smicha as a Kohenet, and  along with my sisters,  became the first dedicated Hebrew Priestesses in the modern era.

I am also apparently, completely obsessed with the number 4.  Everything I do seems to be in 4s, so here is a little bit on the number 4!

• Wikipedia: Number 4
• Inner.org: Dalet (4)
• Telshemesh: 4 Worlds
• Astrology-Numerology: 4

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Interviews and Press
I’ve had the strange joy of being interviewed for several publications, including being featured in Magickal Judaism: Connecting Pagan & Jewish Practice by Jennifer Hunter. You can learn more about me and the world of Earth-based Magickal Judaism and Jewitchery in these interviews. Please note, the information is reasonably accurate as of the time of the interview. I do actually grow and change, so some of my opinions or practices may not currently be as noted in these sources. Also, while all the writers did a great job there were some minor inaccuracies, so if you have a question — please ask me!

• Interview on Bliss Chick February, 2009
• Magickal Judaism: Connecting Pagan & Jewish Practice
• Nice Jewitch Girls Leave Their Brooms in the Closet. by Jill Suzanne Jacobs – Forward (The Jewish Daily) October 31, 2003
• Jewish Pagans Break New Ground, by Miriam Felton-Dansky . New Voices Magazine December 2005(?)