The Temple of Ara

The Ara Tradition

The Circles of Ara

The Temple of Ara is a spiritual path and a community that is rediscovering the wisdom of our ancestors and creating a new and sacred relationship with our Mother Earth, with ourselves and with one another.

The Temple of Ara is the path of the Witch, the wicce, a wise one, a seer of the sacred. It is a path that welcomes all, whether you are a Witch or not.

Temple of Ara, Mother-Grove—
New York

Founded in 1983 by Phyllis Curott, the Temple of Ara is a religious organization incorporated in the State of New York as a Church (aka Temple). It is the original, founding Temple or Mother-Grove.

Tempio di Ara, Branch—Italy

Founded by Phyllis Curott in 2000. Temple of Ara APS is the official non-profit association of the Temple of Ara in Italy. It is non-partisan and non-denominational and is inspired by the democratic principles of equality and equal opportunities.

Tempio di Ara

From our founder and High Priestess Phyllis Curott

The Temple of Ara is the fulfillment of a vision and a promise. It is a tradition that has developed around the world, an open community that welcomes unique individuals with common practices, principles and spiritual experiences. It is a spiritual home for anyone brave enough to journey into the realm of divinity.

The Temple of Ara is not a structure or a building, but the set of people who are part of it. You are the Temple of Ara.

The name means the "temple of the altar" and refers to the homonymous constellation of Ara, also known as the Altar. Ara was exactly at the cusp at the time of my birth, but its importance was revealed to me only in 1987, during my first trip to southern Italy: a pilgrimage between Paestum and the great temples of Magna Graecia dedicated to the goddess Hera and, subsequently, to the god Poseidon. I was overwhelmed by the beauty and energy I felt in the structures and the land upon which they were built.

I sat on the large lawn behind the main temple to go on a shamanic journey in search of a vision for the future. In my journey there have been several images of fundamental importance, powerful and mysterious. I asked for advice and the Goddess answered me with these words: "build my Temple."

Returning to New York, where I lived and worked, I was troubled for a long time by the assignment: how could I, on my modest income, build a temple in one of the most expensive cities in the world? Several weeks later, while in a circle with the first coven of which I was High Priestess, I received the answer: “building” the temple really meant teaching the practices that allow each of us to experience the divine presence in the world and in ourselves.

The mystery schools of antiquity and the Old Religion celebrated important rites in which the priestess was the altar. The altar is always the center of the temple. All of us, women and men, are an altar—the place where spirit and matter come together—and our lives are temples where we understand our spirituality.

And so from my shamanic experiences, from the practice of Wicca, from my trip to Italy and from the revelations received in New York, the Circle of Ara was born, from which the Temple of Ara then developed. This Temple is a family in which each member is honored as an altar, sacred in its unity of spirit and matter. Ours is a community in which to share our journey, our gifts, desires, and commitment to the creation of this living and dynamic spirituality.

Welcome to the Temple of Ara, I hope it can be an inspiration for all of you. I look forward to your contribution to our journey of discovery and development.

Ours is a community in which to share our journey, our gifts, desires, and commitment to the creation of this living and dynamic spirituality.

In the Media

Board of Trustees and Council of Elders

  • FOUNDER & HIGH PRIESTESS

    Phyllis Curott is a spiritual pioneer. As one of America’s first public Witches, teachers and advocates, she has spent more than 40 years helping Witchcraft become the fastest growing spirituality in America and expanding its reach across the globe. Phyllis is an attorney whose groundbreaking cases secured the legal rights of Witches, including the right to form religious organizations, perform legally binding marriages, perform rituals in public places, have religious holidays off from work, retain custody of children, wear or display symbols of faith, and more.

    Phyllis is also an internationally best-selling author and the most widely published Witch/Wiccan priestess in the world. The creator of the acclaimed Witches’ Wisdom Tarot with artist Danielle Barlow, her YouTube series What is Wicca? has 3 million views, and her online course Awaken the Witch Within has helped countless seekers discover and deepen their practice of Witchcraft as the modern rebirth of Euro-Indigenous wisdom traditions.

    Inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Clergy and Scholars, Phyllis was honored by Jane Magazine as one of the Ten Gutsiest Women of the Year, by One Spirit Seminary and Learning Alliance’s with their 2018 Service to Humanity Award, and by Kindred Spirit’s Person of the Year Award in 2020. TIME published her in its IDEAS column as one of America’s “leading voices,” and New York Magazine described her teaching as the culture’s “next big idea.” Within the Pagan community she is notable for her rejection of the Wiccan Rede and Threefold Law, and her teachings of Nature’s divine magic as the divine organizing principle of Creation and the moral compass for our future.

    Phyllis is the founder of the Temple of Ara, America’s first and oldest shamanic Wiccan tradition with a growing Italian and international community.She continues to teach, to initiate, and to train clergy within the Ara Tradition. Phyllis is a Trustee and the Program Chair of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, served as its Vice Chair and creator of the historic 2015 Inaugural Women’s Assembly and drafted the Declaration for the Dignity and Human Rights of Women adopted by the 2015 Parliament. She was the Wiccan representative to the Harvard University Religious Pluralism Project’s Consultation on Religious Discrimination and Accommodation, at the Religions for the Earth Conference, is First Officer Emerita of the Covenant of the Goddess, serves on the Advisory Board of Cherry Hill Seminary, the first Pagan seminary, and has taught and spoken at numerous universities, churches, organizations, seminaries and conferences.

    After a hiatus from the public limelight and an apprenticeship with Mother Earth, she has published several new books and the Witches Wisdom Tarot, and teaches in person and online. She conducts a monthly circle for her Patreon community and is working on her next book on Nature’s divine magic and developing a new teaching protocol to guide people in experiencing that magic and their own.

    Phyllis received her B.A. in Philosophy from Brown University and her J.D. from New York University Law School.

  • FOUNDING ELDER

    Kirsten Rostedt is a Founding Elder and High Priestess in the Temple of Ara and serves as the Temple’s General Counsel. Kirsten became involved with the Earth-based spiritual community in the late 1980s, having grown up in a Catholic and agnostic home with a strong interest in feminism and social justice. She has studied and received degrees from several Pagan traditions. She has been featured in local and national media including Marie Claire, The View and Good Day New York. In addition to writing a regular column on parenting and spirituality in the Temple’s newsletter and blog, her writings have appeared in Green Egg and Circle. In addition to her work as a priestess, Kirsten is a mom and a practicing attorney with a strong interest in civil rights and liberties. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Iona College and a Juris Doctor from New York Law School.

  • BOARD OF TRUSTEES

    Valeria discovered the Ara tradition more than twenty years ago and has been studying with Phyllis Curott since 2005. She was initiated in 2008 and became a priestess in 2012. She’s been teaching in the tradition since then and leads the thriving Ara community of Rome. She’s been instrumental in establishing the Tempio di Ara, the Italian branch of the Temple fo Ara.

    She is a professional interpreter and translator who focuses on historical, anthropological and spiritual research from a feminist perspective. She has participated in many national and international conferences and events, both as a speaker and as an interpreter.

    A personal connection with the Divine, with the Spirits of the land, and with the Ancestors is at the heart of her spiritual path that weaves together witchcraft and shamanism, according to the teachings of the Ara tradition.

About the Temple & Tradition of Ara

  • The unique shamanic Wiccan wisdom, practices and teachings of the Temple of Ara, founded by H.Ps. Phyllis Curott in 1983, reflect the fusion of Phyllis’s training as a Gardnerian and Minoan High Priestess and her practice of core shamanism with the Brooklyn Group, the first drumming circle based on the work of Dr. Michael Harner.

    Uncomfortable with dogmatic, ceremonial and patriarchal remnants within traditional Wiccan teachings, she deconstructed and distilled a system of core principles and practices. Integrating shamanic techniques with Wiccan practices, she rediscovered and rekindled the wisdom of ancient Euro-Indigenous wisdom traditions, evolving in from the Circle of Ara to the Tradition of Ara and formalized as the Temple of Ara, with clergy and branches in Italy, the Tempio di Ara, and around the globe.

  • The Temple and Tradition of Ara is an innovative tradition of Wiccan spirituality based on the central principle, and experience, of immanent divinity. It reflects years of shamanic Wiccan practice and is designed and shared to help us discover the Divine that dwells within, and all around us, to rejoice in the ecstasy of that communion and to experience its holy magic.

    In the Ara Tradition, Witches, or wicces—the original 5500 year old Proto-Indo-European word, meaning wise one, seer of the Sacred (what is now generically referred to as a shaman)—recognize that the Divine is immanent, or present, in all things. We experience the interconnectedness between all things on this Earth and in realms of Spirit, acknowledging that each is part of a greater whole and that each is inherently sacred. We recognize the Spirit and World are one and this is the source of all real magic.

    We use our practices to enter realms of spirit, for healing, wisdom, guidance and communion, to work with healing allies and spiritual guides and helping spirits. Returning with the gift of sight, we recognize Nature as an embodiment of Spirit, and honor Nature as our greatest spiritual teacher. Much of our work, rituals and magic connect us to the natural world, its wisdom, and ways, transforming our lives with blessings.

    We celebrate the natural cycles of birth, growth, death and rebirth and practice rites to attune ourselves with the great seasonal flows of energy, of the Earth and Sun, as well as the Lunar cycles. The rites bring us into deep harmony with Creation and enable us to experience our lives as part of the greater web of life that is organized to create and sustain all life.

    Ara Witches celebrate the equality of the female and male, which is manifested in all things, including the Divine—known to us as the Goddess and the God. We also recognize and respect the range of gender embodied experiences human beings have between these two great expressions of polarity. Because we celebrate the erotic and ecstatic dance between Goddess and God, between Lover and Beloved, Ara Witches value consensual, adult sex as a source of pleasure and sacred communion, and as the act that brings about all Creation.

    Ara Witches acknowledge the right and responsibility of all individuals to take charge of their own spiritual development. We acknowledge the right of the individual to do what they will with their own bodies as long as it does not infringe upon the rights, freedom, and well-being of others. All members show respect to each other and show tolerance for all beings regardless of race, gender, sexual preference, lifestyle choice, religion or species.

    We acknowledge and experience the existence of realities far greater than apparent to everyday perception. Through ritual, journeying, and other spiritual practices, we can gain wisdom and blessings by experiencing those realities.

    Ara Witches have a strong ethic that is derived from our experiences of the unity of Spirit and Creation as One and seek to live in a sacred way because we live in a sacred world.

    We acknowledge and experience Nature, and Mother Earth, as an embodiment of the Divine, and so the natural world is treated with reverence and respect. For Ara Witches, Nature is our greatest spiritual teacher, and so we seek not only to live in harmony with the Earth, but to actively spend time in wilderness, in gardens, woods, fields, in and on the water, and in natural environments which are sources of wisdom, healing, soul nourishment and spiritual transformation.

    The Ara Tradition does not acknowledge the existence of an absolute evil, but we acknowledge that human beings commit cruel or “evil” acts when they lose connection with the Sacred or Divine.

    The Temple of Ara is an initiatory tradition which views initiation as a cathartic rite of passage, a ritual of death and rebirth. It makes the passage from a life of social constraints and conformity to an authentic life of self-discovery and spiritual fulfillment. Initiations into the Temple of Ara require specific and supervised training.

  • The core ethical precept of the Ara Tradition is: Ara Witches seek to live in a sacred manner because we live in a sacred world.

    The Ara Tradition does not have “rules” for practicing Witchcraft and magic. Ara Witches do not subscribe to the “Threefold Law”—whatever you send out magically will come back to you threefold—because a theory of punishment is not an ethical precept. Witches in the Ara Tradition do not harm, use baneful magic or use magic to manipulate others, not because of any “law” but because we recognize the Divine immanent in all things.

    Because we are aware of and experience immanent divinity in ourselves and the world around us, Ara Witches act in accord with this theological precept and experience.

  • The Temple of Ara focuses upon the spiritual principle and practices of immanent, or embodied, divinity and personal communion with the Divine in Nature and in daily life. Rather than focusing on any single culture or pantheon, the Temple of Ara encourages individuals to cultivate their own relationship with divinity and areas of passion and calling.

  • The Ara Tradition celebrates the traditional eight Sabbats. However, the Tradition does not require its members to ascribe any particular mythological theme to the Sabbats. Instead, Ara Witches are encouraged to attune themselves to their natural surroundings and celebrate in accordance with the natural rhythms of their locale.

    Ara circles also meet on the Full Moon, and other dates as wanted or needed.

  • Priestesses and Priests in the Ara Tradition are not intermediaries between people and the Divine; rather, they are “teachers who lead by example, sharing their experience and wisdom with those who are committed to learning” the techniques to commune with the Sacred.

    Those who complete the Temple of Ara’s rigorous Clergy Training Program may be ordained as clergy and may perform all religious ceremonies and rites of passage of the Ara Tradition, including initiations and legally-binding ceremonies of handfast marriage, and may teach the Ara Tradition.

    Clergy who have proven through deep and continued service to the Temple abiding by the Temple’s ideals and principles and are thus trustworthy and capable of upholding its standards, may be named as Elders by the Temple and may serve on the Council of Elders and are responsible for overseeing the spiritual and secular aspects of the Temple.

    As part of their dedication to community service, interfaith, and media work, Ara clergy frequently conduct classes, training programs, lectures on the Ara Tradition, public rituals; participate in interfaith activities and panels; and are profiled by the international media.

  • The Ara Tradition is traditionally organized into study groups, circles or covens, and branches, each of which can trace their lineage back to the mother-grove of High Priestess Phyllis Curott who continues to teach and to lead the Temple of Ara globally .

    The Temple of Ara also values the spiritual practices of those who practice the Ara Tradition alone by chance or by choice. Because Ara Witches are trained in techniques that allow them to directly experience and commune with the Divine, all Ara Witches, whether solitaries or coven members, are expected to set aside time for personal spiritual work.

    The Temple of Ara is the formal body created to maintain the integrity and consistency of the Ara Tradition and to give it legal recognition. Only the Temple and its designated members and Clergy have the authority to speak for the Tradition, to initiate into the Tradition, to change aspects of the Tradition and to represent the Tradition in the international community.

    Those individuals and covens pre-existing the Temple’s foundation, while cherished as family, are not recognized as members of the Temple, Initiates of the Temple, or Clergy of the Temple unless they join the Temple officially.

    Individuals who do not adhere to their vows of Initiation, who do not practice in a manner consistent with the ethics and standards of the Temple and Tradition, who seek to exploit or appropriate the Temple’s name, reputation and teachings for personal benefit and aggrandizement, will be expelled from the Temple, removed from the Temple registry, barred from identifying themselves as Ara Clergy, Dedicants, or Initiates and from teaching or deriving benefit from identification in any way with the Temple or Tradition of Ara.

    The Temple of Ara also conducts training programs and offers an intensive international training. As part of its dedication to community service, interfaith, and media work to remedy negative stereotypes about Wiccans and Witches, and to bring the wisdom and beauty of our teachings to the world, the Temple of Ara also sponsors public lectures, rituals, and shamanic circles, some of which have been filmed for broadcast on local, national and international television. The Temple is public but members are not required to be.

  • Phyllis Curott, Spells for Living Well, A Witch’s Guide to Manifesting Change, Well-being and Wonder (Hay House UK 2022).

    Phyllis Curott, The Witches’Wisdom Tarot (Hay House UK, 2021).

    Phyllis Curott, Awaken the Witch Within online course (Hay House UK, 2019).

    Phyllis Curott, Wicca Made Easy: Awaken the Divine Magic Within You (Hay House UK, 2017).

    Phyllis Curott, The Love Spell: An Erotic Memoir of Spiritual Awakening (Gotham Books, 2005).

    Phyllis Curott, Witch Crafting: A Spiritual Guide to Making Magic (Broadway Books, 2001).

    Phyllis Curott, Book of Shadows: A Modern Woman’s Journey into the Wisdom of Witchcraft and the Magic of the Goddess (Broadway Books, 1998).