Phyllis Curott

Phyllis Curott is a theologian and attorney, filmmaker and public speaker. She is also a best-selling author with her works published in thirteen countries.

She received her B.A. in philosophy from Brown University and her Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law, and continues to practice law. Curott is an outspoken advocate for the religious liberties of Wicca and other religious minorities in the media and the courts. She notably won the right of Wiccan clergy to perform legally binding marriages and rituals in public parks. She was honored by "Jane" magazine, along with Hillary Clinton, as one of the "Ten Gutsiest Women of the Year".

Phyllis Curott lectures and teaches internationally and was described by "New York" magazine as one of contemporary culture's hippest and most cutting-edge intellectuals. Her work has been featured in the documentary "Many Paths, One Source", and the Beliefnet video feature "Preachers & Teachers". Curott has been widely profiled in national and international media including "Harper’s Bazaar", "Marie Claire", "Cosmopolitan", "Self", "Good Day America", "The View", "The O’Reilly Factor", "Anderson Cooper 360°", CNN & Company, Lifetime, The Roseanne Show, Oxygen, "Court TV", NPR’s "Talk of the Nation", "The New York Times", "The Los Angeles Times", "The Washington Post", "Chicago Sun-Times"," USA Today", "The Times", "Oggi" (Rome), "The Toronto Sun", "The Sunday Telegraph" (Sydney), and many others.

A global interfaith activist, Curott is a member of the Assembly of World Religious Leaders, a participant in the Harvard University Religious Pluralism Project’s Consultation on Religious Discrimination and Accommodation. and a member of the Clergy Advisory Board of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. She has addressed the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1993 and 2004 as a keynote speaker, along with the Dalai Lama.

As a member of the United Nations’ NGO Committee on the Status of Women, Curott participated in the planning of the UN’s Beijing Forum on the Status of Women, addressing the Forum on the topic of religion and the status of women. She is a member of the Interfaith Alliance, Americans United for the Separation of church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union (she served on the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island Civil Liberties Union while attending Brown University), and the Lady Liberty League. She is one of the organizers of an international interfaith effort to save the life of Fawza Falih, a Saudi woman who was sentenced to beheading for "witchcraft."

Phyllis Curott is founder and President of the Temple of Ara, one of the oldest Wiccan congregations in America [http://www.templeofara.org/phyllis.htm] , a shamanic tradition dedicated to the experience and ethics of immanent divinity. Curott has also served as a frequent guest minister at the Unitarian-Universalist Church and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

She began her career as the Legal Director of PROD/Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a rank-and file organization fighting racketeering within the Teamsters Union. She also served as the organization’s Health and Safety Director. Curott was later the Legal Director for the Association for Union Democracy and an associate with the well known entertainment law firm of Weiss, Meibach and Bomser.

Phyllis Curott studied filmmaking at NYU, and produced several independent films with noted director Henry Jaglom. One of these, "New Year’s Day," was the only American film selected for the Venice Film Festival in 1989. She has written and directed several short films that have been screened at the Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals.

Curott's first memoir, "Book of Shadows" was in international best-seller and was described by Deepak Chopra as "A modern-day Persephone myth full of magic and mystery. [It] transcends the bounds of its genre."

Books

* 1998 - "" (Broadway Books) ISBN 0-7679-0054-5
* 2001 - "WitchCrafting: A Spiritual Guide to Making Magic" (Broadway Books) ISBN 0-7679-0825-2
* 2004 - "The Love Spell: An Erotic Memoir of Spiritual Awakening" (Gotham Books/Penguin) ISBN 1-59240-097-3

References

* Bond, Lawrence & Ellen Evert Hopman (1996) "People of the Earth: The New Pagans Speak Out" (reissued as "Being a Pagan: Druids, Wiccans & Witches Today" in 2002 Destiny Books ISBN 0-89281-904-9) Interview.
* Krassner, Paul (2005). " [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-krassner/the-blame-game_b_6266.html The Blame Game] " in "The Huffington Post", August 26, 2005.

External links

* http://www.phylliscurott.com/
* http://www.templeofara.org/