About Me

My name is Ketzirah – קצירה (aka Carly Lesser), and I am a Priestess, M’agelet, Artist, and Guide.  My mission is to help others experience the best life possible by connecting fully with the Divine presence, the resources they consume, personal expression, and communal ritual experience.

Jump to the Bio

Priestess

This is not a title I gave myself.  I said some time ago that I would never use that term until at least five people called me that of their own free will.  Well, five did and then many more. My training as a priestess has been both formal and informal.  I was ordained as Becoming Celebrant in February 2009, after three years of work and service.  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.  I  look at my Celebrant Ordination as my local level ordination by the group I practice with regularly, and the Kohenet ordination as a national-level ordination.  Becoming is an earth-based pantheistic/panentheistic spiritual community in Washington, and Kohenet is a Jewish spiritual leadership training program for women, which honors the Divine Feminine and connections to the earth. I have also had the pleasure of studying with a wide variety of Jewish and Pagan teachers through classes, lectures, and books.

As a priestess, I can work with you to develop your own spiritual practice and mark important moments in your life.

M’agelet

What is a M’agelet?  M’agelet (pronounced with a hard “g” – mah-ghel-et).    The term means “circle maker.”  It is an honored one in Jewish tradition.  A M’agelet, or M’agel for a man, is a practitioner of earth-based Jewish magick.  Most commonly it is heard in the context of Honi haMagel, or Honi the Circlemaker, an ancient Jewish holy man known for drawing a circle and bringing the rains when needed (along with other “miracles”).  Drawing a circle or “casting” a circle is a core aspect of many magickal traditions and indicates a practitioner of “kosher” Jewish magick, which is why I use this term instead of “witch” or “Jewitch.”

Artist

My artwork appears in many forms.  My primary art form is fiber-art, and you can see many examples of this work at http://embroidery.peelapom.com or on Flickr.  I also consider ritual writing to be an form of creative expression, and you can see examples of that work on this site, especially with the seders I write.  The other form of creative expression I regularly practice is storytelling.  Sometimes I even blend storytelling and ritual with something I call “Storyworking.”  Most of that is live storytelling, but from time to time I manage to translate it into written midrash.  Of course, blogging and all the writing that I do for this site is also a form of creative expression, and I truly appreciate having an audience to share it with.

I  sell some pieces of my artwork, both the fiber art and printable versions of seders, through my shop on Etsy.com (http://peelapom.etsy.com).

Guide

A guide is someone who helps you get where YOU want to go. I’m also a teacher, but I generally like to act as guide and focus not on what I want you to know, but on helping you find what you need to know.   Sometimes people ask me to work directly with them.  Sometimes they leave comments on posts that help me know what they would like to know.  Sometimes I just pay attention the search terms that bring people to this site.  For more on this see Priestessing Services.

————-

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

————-
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(?)