Biography - Margo Adler
As a freshman in 1964, Margo Adler became a member of the FSM Executive Committee, and was arrested in the Sproul Hall sit-in. After graduating from U.C. Berkeley in 1968, she worked for Pacifica Radio, starting as a volunteer at KPFA, and then becoming a reporter, a producer, head of Pacifica's Washington Bureau, and finally a talk-show host on WBAI-FM (N.Y.) from 1968 to 1977. Her live, free-form show on WBAI continued until her son's birth in 1990 made late night radio impossible. In 1979, she became a correspondent with National Public Radio, working in the New York Bureau to create radio pieces for "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition", which she still does today.
In another part of her life, in 1971 Margo became involved with Paganism, Wicca and Earth spirituality, and became a priestess of Wicca in 1973. She wrote Drawing Down the Moon, the classic study of Paganism and Wicca, published first in 1979 and revised in 1986, (now published by Penguin.) In 1997, Beacon published Heretic's Heart, her memoir of the 1960s. Currently, she divides her life between closer concerns and the mundane world of journalism -- "which often is a real pain, particularly these days" -- and continues to strive not to do too much harm, but many mornings wakes up totally ashamed of her profession. She continues to educate people about Wicca and Earth-based spirituality, in lectures, workshops, and rituals around the country. She has given sermons at Unitarian Churches and has even performed legal Wiccan weddings. She lives in New York with her husband, John and her son, Alexander.
photo by Howard Harawitz
