Greetings  Mrs. Moura , and thank you for granting us  this interview, it is
indeed an honor.  I would like to start the interview out with you
telling us a little about yourself.

SOTW: Can you give us a small bio?
Here is the bio that usually goes with my attendance at Pagan events:

ANN : BIOGRAPHY of ANN MOURA:
Born in 1947 and raised in a family oral tradition of at least three
generations, Ann Moura began writing about her heritage as a Green Witch in
1993 when her mother passed.  Her maternal heritage is  Brazilian/Celtic-Iberian
through her mother and grandmother.  From them she learned folk magics
and Craft concepts that included Rules of Conduct, spiritism, herbal spells, candle magics, reincarnation belief, calling upon the Elementals, and working with
“The Power.” In her teen years, Ann began writing her Book of Shadows, working
directly with the energies and spirits of Nature, and honoring her family deities: Bendis, Goddess of the Dark Moon and Witches, and Shiva, Cosmic Dancer and Lord of the Animals.  Married, with two grown children raised in the Craft, she enjoys creative writing and poetry, drawing and painting, and puttering in the herb
garden.  Ann holds both Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in
History, has taught at the high school level, and writes from the perspective of her
personal experience and family training.  Her books currently available
through Llewellyn Publications and found in most bookstores are:  Green
Witchcraft: Folk Magic, Fairy Lore, & Herb Craft, Green Witchcraft II: Balancing Light &  Shadow, Green Witchcraft III: The Manual, Green Magic: The Sacred Connection to  Nature, Grimoire for the Green Witch: A Complete Book of Shadows, and Tarot for the Green Witch.  Out of print books that can be found on-line are Witchcraft: An Alternative Path, Origins of Modern Witchcraft: The Evolution of a World Religion, and Dancing Shadows: The Roots of Western Religious Beliefs.

SOTW:  How did you find your spiritual path ?

ANN: I was lucky in the sense that I didn’t have to find my path so much as
claim it. My mother and her mother were both Craftwise, and I learned from them.  Even so, we all walk our own path.  My grandmother was a renown healer and
herbalist, and my mother worked her magic with flowers and mainly Elementals
Earth and Air, and both were spiritists.  Communing with spirits was the norm,
and while I have adopted some aspects of their magical work, I particularly
enjoy divination and herbal magics.

SOTW: Who was the greatest inspiration to you growing  up ?

ANN: My mother was definitely the greatest inspiration to me.  I was convinced she could do anything!  Gardening was a wonderful experience and she did a lot of canning and made a lot of jellies and jams.  Flowers were her specialty for
magic, and working with the birds and the wind showed her association with a
bit of Crone energy.

SOTW:  How do you feel paganism as a whole has evolved  over the years?

ANN: I have been quite delighted by the growth of Paganism, the people who
have come forward to speak up on the behalf of Pagans everywhere—especially
Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary, who is a marvelous spokesperson for Pagans
everywhere.  On the material level, to be able to buy magical tools, and see the quality  and variety that has exploded upon the market is breath-taking.  Used to be a pocket knife and a letter opener were closest you could get to a bolline and athame unless you made your own, but today you can find all the tools and statues a Witch could possibly want.  40 years ago when I was in college, a couple of rocks represented the Divine, and the only Tarot cards you could find were the Rider-Waite deck, and if you were lucky, the Swiss deck.  On the spiritual level, it is wonderful to see Pagans included in world religious conferences, recognized in various denominations in the military as an option for dog-tags, and gaining respect as an alternative spiritual path to the mainstream.  There are numerous books on the subject, so that a Seeker is more likely today  to find information that inspires and provides guidance than in the past.  The
movement is growing and evolving, and that is a good sign of life.

SOTW:  In what areas do you feel improvement is still needed?

ANN: I have found from the courses I sometimes teach that seeing and hands-on are often the best way for people to comprehend Craft practices.  I would like to
see  videos or DVDs on the Craft presenting solid information and techniques
for students.

SOTW:  Would you tell us your views on coven vs. solitaire?
 

ANN: As a Solitary Practitioner myself, my natural inclination is for a
solitary or family practice.  But I also understand that many people are not comfortable with learning alone, and taking information from books then applying the information for a learn-by-doing experience.  Covens at their best offer a
newcomer the company of more experienced Practitioners who can teach their
expertise.  At their worst, covens can be a sort of club with a  dominant leader who may have little or no genuine expertise to offer so the group as whole
flounders with the coven experience becoming boring or simply non-productive.
People have to decide how they want to walk their path, and if a coven works,
then that is wonderful.  But if it doesn’t, don’t be afraid to turn your
training over to the Goddess.

SOTW:  How do you feel your faith has evolved over your lifetime?

ANN: I tend to avoid the word faith as it is so often identified with belief.  I
don’t feel that I have a faith so much as a spiritual path based upon the Old
Religion.  This is the spirituality of our Neolithic ancestors, working with
the Elementals, the spirits and entities of Nature, and with the Goddess and
the God.  Since the Divine is present in everything around us, there is no need for belief, only communication.

SOTW:  Can you tell us what makes your chosen path now the right one for
you at this time?

 

ANN: That is an interesting question.  Over the years since I started writing about my family heritage, I have encountered a number of people who seem intent on sampling and being initiated into numerous spiritual paths.  I have never felt a need to be anything other that what I am, so I can only assume that moving from path to path means a person is still seeking the right one.  Once
you find your spiritual path, you don’t need to keep looking.  You live it.  For
me, the path I am on is the right one because I am comfortable with it and satisfied with my connection to the Divine and Nature.

SOTW:  What deities do you feel closest to and why?

ANN: I feel closest to my family deities, Bendis and Shiva, but I also see them in
various forms, such as Hecate and Cernunnos.  Bendis and Hecate are both
Thracian Goddesses of the Dark Moon, they are both guides to the Underworld,
and they are both called Goddesses of Witches.  Shiva and Cernunnos are both
gods of Nature and the animals.  In the earliest known depiction of Shiva, he
is seated surrounded by animals and horned.  The Gundestrup cauldron is a
Celtic artifact that shows this same scene only with Cernunnos.  Other deities
have come to me, and so I feel an affinity towards them as well.  I have no
problem with “mixing pantheons” because when a deity comes to you, there is a
reason.  The Divine can manifest in any aspect appropriate to fill a
need, even if it is only a one time event to offer guidance so you can find the
answer to a question.

SOTW:  If you could give advice to a seeker, what would  it be ?

ANN: Learn to trust your intuition and know that the Goddess and the God are
delighted to work with you.  All you have to do is open yourself to them.  I
give an Initiation ritual in “Green Witchcraft” and “Grimoire for the Green
Witch” and it is intended to initiate (begin) the learning through
invoking the guidance of the Lady and the Lord.  The Dedication ritual (in the
Grimoire) is a decision that this is your spiritual path and it is intended to
permanently open communication between yourself and the Divine—so don’t do it unless you are certain the Craft is for you.

SOTW:  What is your favorite time of year ?

ANN: I love the changing of the seasons and every day within them.  I am
hard pressed to name a favorite.  I enjoy the crispness and anticipation of Autumn,  the cozy hibernation of Winter, the fresh beginnings of Spring, and the lazy comfort of summer, and all the points in between.  I tend to savor each day, and  even when I am not accomplishing anything at all, I relish the doing nothing, the  comfort of an easy chair, the smells of dinner cooking, the sounds of family chatting and kitties playing.  I once asked a spirit guide why I kept
reincarnating—expecting to learn there was some momentous task I had to
accomplish—and he told me I keep coming back because I enjoy life itself.
Sometimes our motives are really quite simple.

SOTW:  What are some of your favorite hobbies and  past-times?

ANN: I make jewelry (see my website: http://www.annmourasgarden.com ), read (a variety of topics interest me), do other arts and crafts, tend the herb
garden, and write fiction and poetry (none of which has yet been published).  I
love to travel, visit natural wonders and walk along the beach, and I enjoy
cooking and baking.

SOTW:  Can you express your philosophy of life to  us?

ANN: The Lady and the Lord love us, so be at peace and believe in yourself, and all else will fall into place.

SOTW: If you could have a discussion with anyone at all, who would it be with?
What would you like the topic of conversation to  be?

ANN: Hmmm, that’s a hard question.  I suppose it would be fun to talk with Voltaire or Erasmus.  I enjoy their sense of humor and wisdom, so I would ask them to speak their minds on how the world is developing and how they would
best put to work the instant communications now available.

SOTW:  What is the main thing you have learned from being  an author ?

ANN: I am still learning it—focus and keep at the work at hand.  I tend to
jump from one thing to another, and I need to remember to be disciplined and finish what I start.  I do have quite a wry sense of humor that some people cannot grasp through my writing, so I have to be careful to keep it in check lest readers
think I am agitated about something that I merely find amusing.

SOTW:  What do you hope each reader will walk away with  after reading
your books ?

ANN: My purpose in writing is to open my family path to others so they see
that there are some options to choose from in finding their personal spiritual path.  The books are guideposts, with information and techniques that people can adopt,
adapt, or ignore, for the direction a reader takes from these books is their
own.  My hope is that people will feel a deeper sense of kinship with Nature,
recognize that we are all part of Nature, the Universe, and the Divine. 
I hope people see this kinship as a cause for celebration and embracing every
aspect of the life cycle, knowing that there are no endings, only new beginnings.  The inherent presence of the Goddess and the God in all things makes us all
interconnected, so my hope is that people will allow their fears to vanish and
let universal love prevail.

SOTW:  If you could go anywhere here on earth, where would it be?

ANN: I have traveled a lot, but I have not been to Crete, and I would love to visit
Knossos.  The Minoan world seemed like quite a fascinating place, and the art
work is lovely.

SOTW:  What type of music do you like? Who is your  favorite singer, and why ?
As I mention on my website (http://www.annmourasgarden.com) I like a
variety of music from Beethoven to ACDC.  I like Enya and Loreena McKennitt, but I also like “Covenant”.  I enjoy “New Age” music, but I also enjoy heavy metal.  I suppose I am rather eclectic in my tastes.  Sometimes I prefer lively music,
other times soothing music; sometimes drumming, other times Celtic
dance music. I am not keen on Broadway musicals for the most part, but there are exceptions—Phantom of the Opera comes to mind.  I also enjoy Spanish flamenco, Hungarian rhapsodies, and some ballet and opera.

SOTW:  As you look back and see the roads your journey of life has taken
you down, where would like to see it go next?

ANN: I would like to do more traveling to visit Paleolithic and Neolithic sites of
Europe and the British Isles.  I feel a strong connection with the ancient
past, and I would like to spend some time among the stones.

SOTW:  If you have learned one thing in your experience, can you tell us
what this has been?

ANN: We are immortal and united, at one, with the Universe and the Divine. 

We just need to remember that in our dealings with one another.

SOTW:  What advice would you give to someone just starting on their path ?

ANN: My mother taught me the Rules of Conduct as she was taught them by her mother, and I recommend those words to anyone learning the Craft: “Be careful what you do; Be careful who you trust; Never use the Power to harm another, for what is sent comes back; Never use the Power against someone who has the Power,  for you draw from the same well; To use the Power, you must feel it in your heart  and know it in your mind.“  There are many layers, overtones, and undertones to these words.  Discovering them is part of the path.

SOTW:  Is there anything else you would like to add  today?

ANN: Keep your heart at peace and know that the Lady and the Lord are with you
always.

SOTW: What is your favorite quote?

ANN: I don’t really have one, but I do like, “No matter where you go, there
you are.” From the Craft perspective, you can’t escape your responsibilities or the
results of your actions in this life—not even by dying since we are only
passing to a very active spirit life and/or reincarnation.  So do try
to get it right in this life.