Today, we will be talking with Byron Ballard about community tending, reinvention of the concept of leadership, and of magic and re-enchantment of the world. Byron Ballard, BA, MFA, is a western NC native, teacher, folklorist and writer. She has served as a featured speaker and teacher at Sacred Space Conference, Pagan Spirit Gathering, Southeast Wise Women's Herbal Conference, Glastonbury Goddess Conference, Heartland, Rites of Spring, Starwood, Scottish Pagan Federation Conference, Hexfest, and other festivals and conferences. She serves as senior priestess and co-founder of Mother Grove Goddess Temple and the Coalition of Earth Religions/CERES, both in Asheville, NC. She podcasts about Appalachian folkways on "Wyrd Mountain Gals." Her essays are featured in several anthologies and she writes a regular column for SageWoman Magazine. Her books include "Staubs and Ditchwater" (2012), the companion volume "Asfidity and Mad-Stones" (2015) "Embracing Willendorf" (2017), "Earth Works: Ceremonies in Tower Time" (2018), "Roots, Branches, and Spirits: the Folkways and Witchery of Appalachia" from Llewellyn (Feb. 2021) and "Seasons of a Magical Life: a Pagan Path of Living" (Weiser, August 2021). Upcoming: "Small Magics" from Llewellyn, Sept. 2023, "Feral Church: Finding Goddess in the Wilderness" (Llewellyn, 2024), "The Ragged Wound: Tending the Soul of Appalachia" (Smith Bridge Press), Porch Food: a cookbook from Wyrd Mountain" and a musical adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. If you want to hear more about Byron Ballard and her works/teachings, here are her links! www.myvillagewitch.com