Books By Us

The Goodly Spellbook: Olde Spells for Modern Problems

by Lady Passion and *Diuvei (Dixie Deerman and Steven Rasmussen)

Simply Savory: Magical and Medieval Recipes

by Lady Passion (Dixie Deerman)

Ask-A-Priestess: Magic Answers and Spells From a Real Witch

by Lady Passion (Dixie Deerman)

Pagan Prisoner Advocate's Guide

by Lady Passion (Dixie Deerman)

Rituals & Sabbats: Sacred Rites and Seasonal Celebrations

by Lady Passion and *Diuvei (Dixie Deerman and Steven Rasmussen)

Candle Magic: Working with Wax, Wick, and Flame

by Lady Passion (Dixie Deerman)

About Lady Passion

Queen Lady Passion is a Third-degree Gardnerian Elder in the California Line, and High Priestess of Coven Oldenwilde in Asheville, North Carolina.
She was Initiated by Lady Runach & Morgann of Coven Trismegiston on June 11, 1995, and Elevated to the Sublime & Ultimate Third Degree by *Diuvei on Feb. 25, 1998.

Queen Lady Passion (Dixie Lee Deerman R.N., NLC): Accomplishments

Lady Passion (Dixie Deerman) is Irish and Swiss by ancestry. She has been a public Witch since 1976. Her magical name derives from Lady, a title earned when a female Witch attains Third Degree and becomes a High Priestess, and Passion, which describes her yen for all things magical. Her full title is Queen Lady Passion, "Queen" being a traditional Gardnerian designation for an HPS who has hived off several daughter Covens from her own.

Lady Passion’s magical specialties are all forms of divination, making herbal medicines, and creating elaborate rituals for thousands. She has counseled private clients since 1979. A healer and Registered Nurse since 1988, she won the right for nurses not to be fired for giving loyalty to their patient priority over loyalty to a hospital or doctor, in Deerman v. Beverly California Corporation (see here and here).

Lady Passion has written many books about magic, such as Candle Magic (Sterling Publishing, NY, NY), and the e-books Simply Savory: Magical & Medieval Recipes, Ask-A-Priestess: Wise Answers From a Real Witch, and Pagan Prisoner Advocate's Guide (smashwords.com).

Read her inspirational essay Fighting Words whenever you feel like you can't beat the powers-that-be.

Hear her Hypnotic Trance Induction tutorial in astral travel and working Witchcraft in other realms.

Lady Passion serves as clergy sponsor of hundreds of inmates & institutionalized folk nationwide each year, enabling them to secure their religious rights. See the daily-updated map of whom she's helping in prison.

View a gallery of print-quality photos of Lady Passion. Photo Gallery of Lady Passion

Lady Passion's Favorites:

Books:

Read Lady Passion’s reviews of hundreds of books about magic and magic-related subjects at Coven Oldenwilde’s Recommended Books. Buy from the site if you wish!

Tarot:

Read Lady Passion’s reviews of hundreds of Tarot decks at Coven Oldenwilde’s Recommended Tarot. Buy from the site if you wish!

Movies:

  • The Wickerman
  • Practical Magic
  • Sorceress

Mottos:

  • "Let none stop you, or turn you aside." — Aradia, 1300s
  • “Let ecstasy be mine, and joy on earth, even to me, To Me!” — "Lift Up the Veil"

Color:

Ashes of Roses gray-red color swatch

About *Diuvei

*Diuvei is a Third-degree Gardnerian Elder in the California Line, and High Priest of Coven Oldenwilde. He was Initiated by Lady Bhride & Morgann of Coven Tobar Bhride on June 25, 1988, and Elevated to the Sublime & Ultimate Third Degree by Lady Maeve & Niklas of Coven Triskell on May 27, 1992.

*Diuvei (Steve Rasmussen) is half Danish, half English/Swedish/misc. by ancestry. His ancient Italic magical name is explained here; but don't call him "Lord", a title Gardnerian Priests traditionally disdain. The Northern California native was born with a caul, descended from paternal and maternal grandfathers who were respectively a Lutheran preacher and a Huna spiritualist. As a teenager growing up in 1970s Cupertino, he found refuge from Silicon Valley soullessness in the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Renaissance Faire. He taught himself Latin at 16, attended Princeton University (class of 1980) to find out how music works, got expelled by an associate dean for disobeying his order, and thereafter pursued his own independent study of the Quadrivium — the "crossroads" uniting all higher knowledge in number, music, astrology, & geometry that is the gateway to the Art of Correspondences. Finally, during his first Saturn return at age 28, he found his true home in the Craft.

His magical specialties are astrology, music, and wordcraft, each of which he has also plied in the mundane world as a professional astrologer, a computer musicologist, and a journalist for the Mountain Xpress. He puts his spiritual beliefs into political practice as a locally focused environmental and civic activist. (Browse his articles, commentaries, and résumé.)

*Diuvei's Favorites:

Books:

Movies:

Mottos:

  • "Words are cheap, but deeds are dear."
  • "It's not enough to oppose: You also need to propose."
  • "Dum spiro, spero (While I breathe, I hope)." — Theocritus, Cicero

Color:

Tuscan Red brown-red color swatch
Pic of Lady Passion and *Diuvei, 'Witch Tree' Exhibit

A formidable pair: In our thirties and committed to the Craft, we were both still looking for that strong, Witchy, someone special when we attended the Covenant of the Goddess's MerryMeet '93 gathering at Lake Lure in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Lady Passion had brought her daughter along in an effort to branch out and meet other Witches from all over the country. *Diuvei flew in with fellow Covenmates from California, expressly because he'd heard tales of the prowess of Witches from the Southern mountain area. *Diuvei fell in love with Lady Passion when he saw how compassionately she helped someone's feral child. But it was our shared devotion to the Goddess Hecate that sealed our bond. We began a bi-coastal romance. A year later, after *Diuvei traded Berkeley for Asheville, we were handfasted in a sacred woodhenge in the rainforest of Tennessee.

We founded Coven Oldenwilde, a Traditional English Gardnerian/Italian Strega blend, on Samhain, 1994. We are both legally empowered to "marry and bury", and perform all Wiccan Rites of Passage ceremonies.

We are open, public Witches highly utilized by area folk and in high demand by film crews. We held free, family-friendly, public Samhain rites for 20 years, and now encourage others to rise to this challenge and experience the same joy. We hold RSVP-only Samhains now in our Covenstead in West Asheville, NC.

We write books about Witchcraft (including The Goodly Spellbook: Olde Spells for Modern Problems and Rituals & Sabbats, both published by Sterling Publishing, NY, NY), and lecture at area colleges and for groups such as Mensa.

We advocate for peace and justice, counsel and aid the needy worldwide (including Pagan prisoners throughout the United States), maintain this web site, run our 501(c)(3) religious non-profit, collaborate with the Asheville area's ever-growing Craft community, and support Witchcraft and Paganism around the globe.

Hear and see podcasts and videos of our many radio and TV interviews.

Listen to part of a chant composed and sung by Lady Passion, accompanied on a Hindu recorder by *Diuvei. 196KB, .aiff format

Deep in the darkness of every human mind,
There's a magical child,
a spirit running wild --
Up from the depths
it comes a-bubbling and boiling,
Oldenwilde...
old and wild!

Return to "Meet the Coven Members" page.

Return to Coven Oldenwilde's home page.

Latest update: 03 Jul. 2024