Hello, my name is Iris Amara.

I take my name from the Greek goddess Iris - goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods.

I was raised as a Catholic, but I never really felt comfortable with that religion. I spent much of my childhood and early teens arguing with my mother about being forced to attend church. At first I think I was just trying to rebel, but as I got older, I really did begin to question many of the teachings of the Catholic Church. I was particularly upset about the role of women in the church. I turned my back on the church when I was about 14. I hadn't been exposed much to other religions, so to my mind it was either Catholicism or nothing. I chose nothing.

At the time, I was also very interested in reading about the Tarot, runes, astrology and other topics found in the small "Occult" section of the bookstore. I felt very daring reading about these mysterious subjects, knowing that many people equated them with devil worship. I had no interest in the devil, but I liked making the people around me nervous. In my readings, I often came across books about Wicca and paganism, but I didn't think of them as "real" religions. To me they were interesting to read about, fun to imagine, but held no place in my day-to-day life.

In college I continued to avoid identifying with any organized religion. My college actually had a fairly active pagan student group on campus, but I had no interest in learning more about them. The entire college had a rather pagan feel to it - we celebrated May Day every spring and left offerings to the statue of Athena, our patron goddess.

In the years after college, I continued to read books on paganism, and I felt more and more drawn to it, but I also felt clueless as to how to start practicing. The books could only tell me so much about gods and goddess and rituals and spells, but I felt like I was still missing something.

One day, pretty much out of the blue, I decided to search online for pagan groups in my area, thinking that perhaps I could talk to a practicing pagan and try to learn more. I found a link to the Sacred Crossroads website and learned that they were offering a Wicca 101 class nearby. Normally I tend to think for a very long time before I take action (as evidenced by the 10 years between the time I first heard the word "Wicca" and the time I finally started looking for actual Wiccans!). However, in an uncharacteristic burst of spontaneity, I immediately sent an email to the high priestess of the coven asking her for more information on the class.

I still think I must be one of the most reluctant students she ever had. I was extremely nervous at my first class, and I barely spoke at all. I had many conflicting emotions about being there - on the one hand, I very much wanted to reach out to these people and learn from them, but on the other hand, I was fighting years of resistance to organized religion. I was fighting to overcome my own suspicions and fears.

The first class I attended was taught by a member of the coven - Morgan le Fay. Today she is my high priestess. With much encouragement from the coven members and my classmates, I began to attend the open Sabbats. I found them to be completely different from anything I had ever experienced. The warmth of the people, the welcoming atmosphere, the joyful celebration - it was completely unlike any religious event I'd attended before. It was wonderful. For the first time, I began to feel that I had found a spiritual group to which I could truly belong.

After attending the opens for several years and repeating the Wicca 101 class (as I said, I tend to be a bit slow about moving forward sometimes!) I learned that Morgan le Fay was hiving off from Sacred Crossroads to form her own coven. I petitioned for membership and was initiated just after Imbolg of 2005. I feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of Stone Circle Coven. Working with them has given me many opportunities to learn and grow spiritually and emotionally.

As you can probably tell from my photo, one of my favorite hobbies is reading. I tend to buy books much faster than I can read them, and my apartment is constantly buried in piles of books - books I've read, books I want to read, books I've read and want to read again... you get the idea. This year I decided to try to share my love of reading with others and I became a literacy tutor with the Literacy Council of Norristown.

Between coven work, tutoring and my full-time job as an administrative assistant, I don't have as much free time as I'd like, but I still find time for a few more hobbies. I enjoy listening to and playing music (I play the flute, the tin whistle and the djembe with varying degrees of success), cooking, baking, obsessing over Lost and Harry Potter, and just hanging out with my friends. I also spend way too much time online, keeping up with my friends and updating my LiveJournal (http://cc-amy.livejournal.com/)

Thanks for taking the time to read my biography - I hope you found it helpful. I'd like to end with a favorite quote of mine from Winnie The Pooh: "Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day." Or, if you prefer to take philosophical advice from someone more reputable than a bear of very little brain, a quote from Lao Tzu: "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." It's OK to take your time before choosing a path - some of us have the grand "a-ha!" moment, some of us take years to understand where we're going. It's OK - you'll find the right path when it's time for you. There's no rush - enjoy the journey!