Desperate House Witches Desperate House Witches

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Diotima Mantineia is a witch and has been a professional astrologer and tarot reader for more than thirty years. She is also the author of Touch the Earth, Kiss the Sky: Allowing the Rational Mind to Welcome Magic and Spirituality (Llewellyn, 2020). She writes for Witches & Pagans and teaches widely. Her passion for science led her to a degree in soil and crop science as well as graduate work in the field. Visit her at www.UraniasWell.com.

A skeptic spends a year trying to find spiritual fulfillment by practicing modern Witchcraft in this fascinating memoir that’s perfect for fans of A.J. Jacobs and Mary Roach.


Diana Helmuth, thirty-three, is skeptical of organized religion. She is also skeptical of disorganized religion. But, more than anything, she is tired of God being dead. So, she decides to try on the fastest-growing, self-directed faith in America: Witchcraft.


The result is 366 days of observation, trial, error, wit, and back spasms. Witches today are often presented as confident and finished, proud and powerful. Diana is eager to join them. She wants to follow all the rules, memorize all the incantations, and read all the liturgy. But there’s one glaring problem: no Witch can agree on what the right rules, liturgy, and incantations are.

The Witching Year is a “compelling memoir” (Frances Denny, author of Major Arcana) that follows in the footsteps of celebrated memoirs by journalists like A.J. Jacobs, Mary Roach, and Caitlin Doughty, who knit humor and reportage together in search of something worth believing.

Diana Helmuth writes about urges: to travel, to be in nature, and to feel understood. Her first book, How to Suffer Outside, was a National Outdoor Book Award winner, and her freelance work can be found in various anthologies, travel guides, and humor magazines. She studied anthropology and Arabic at UC Berkeley, and can often be caught moonlighting in Silicon Valley’s start-up land, or producing the occasional podcast. She was born and raised in Northern California.

Join Star Bustamonte (Senior Vice President of House of Black Cat Magic, Co, News Correspondent at The Wild Hunt, Host at The 4:15) and Raina Starr (Host/Producer - Desperate House Witches and The 4:15) for this month's news of interest!

Please note, the opinions expressed on this show belong to the hosts, and do not represent the opinions of Wicked Witch Studios, The Wild Hunt or any of its subsidiaries.

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Join me and Taliesin Govannon (The Pagan Pundit) as we discuss the latest in politics.

Follow Taliesin at https://www.tiktok.com/@taliesingovannon and https://www.instagram.com/taliesingovannon/?hl=en, https://www.threads.net/@taliesingovannon?hl=en and https://www.taliesing.com/

Laurie Bizzarro (Lady Thalestris) - Lawyer and Wiccan High Priestess, Founder of The Temple of Hecate, Inc. joins Raina for the hour.  We will catch up on what has been happening at the Temple of Hecate.