Ravenwood Church and Seminary of Wicca

Ravenwood.
(Please note, I also refer to it as "Witch School" or "Wicca U" or a number of other names, and I'm allowed. You're not.)
The very first "public" coven in America, and indeed the first in a number of other areas as well. At the time, located at 522 Moreland Avenue, for a number of years of my life it was the hub of my spiritual quest.
Lady Sintana was the driving force behind Ravenwood - at first, she really didn't know what to do with me - but as time went on, she saw me for the son I was, and the colleague I became.

There have been a lot of things said about Ravenwood over the years, and while I wasn't there when it opened its doors in 1976, I did start there in 1978 and was an active participant and occasional resident until approximately 1983 - so I am Ravenwood history, not to mention privvy to the truth behind some Ravenwood mythology, because I was there.

The house itself was and is a Victorian, currently in private hands. It began its life as Ravenwood in 1975/76, ostensibly as a retreat for Lady Circe, (Sintana's High Priestess) who at the time was living in Ohio and in search of warmer climes in order to "retire" (something that never happened). Sintana, who had been active on the burlesque circuit (this is one of the myths that tends to get glossed over, although anyone with Internet access can verify this) retired from the circuit and came down to Atlanta to open Ravenwood.

The house itself was a wreck when Sintana came down and she was forced to live in a hotel for a few weeks while it underwent an emergency renovation to become habitable. During this time, it was discovered that the house was haunted. Strange sounds and a sense of terror drove off many a volunteer during the early days of renovations, until one day Sintana (in her own words), had enough and drove out to the property to as she put it, "put that spook in its place". She never discussed exactly what she did, but the spook quieted down and enough renovations were done that she was able to move in and begin the process of opening Ravenwood.

Shortly after opening Ravenwood, Lady Circe came down for an extended visit, and the spook, which had been quiet for a while, came back with a roar. One of it's favorite tricks was to literally bounce the chair that Lady Circe was sitting in - more than one student at the time relayed how Circe and the spook would battle for supremacy - the spook banging on the floor directly below Circe and Lady Circe answering back with her cane - BOOM BOOM BOOM - then Lady Circe had an epiphany, that the reason the spook was so active was that it was lonely - and the easiest way to appease it would be to use the toilet in the basement.

Now, when someone says the toilet in the basement, you naturally assume that it's at least a finished half bath - that was not the case here. What we're talking about was quite literally, a toilet in the middle of an unfinished basement. And so, every morning while Lady Circe was in residence, she would go down into the basement for her morning toilet. And the spook quieted down again. Sintana later explained that her thoughts on the matter were that Circe was a very private person, and she couldn't bring herself to share a toilet with the other members of the house; that was why she did her toilet in the basement, as it afforded her some privacy.

I lived for a while at Ravenwood, taking classes and frankly, preparing for a role as a Priest of the religion. During this time, you wouldn't believe the stories I heard and the things I saw. Hence, my calling it "Wicca U." - Yeah, I'll admit that "Wicca", specifically Gardenarian Wicca, is a product of the 1930's rather than a millenia old "Old Religion", however the archetypal concepts themselves are indeed millenia old, and Universally valid. So, that makes me a Witch.

Back to Sintana - she knew how to work publicity, such as the stunts, for example, the time they "blessed" the Braves (who went on to a winning streak) - so Ravenwood became a known presence in the community. This was in the mid to late 70's, right after Ravenwood opened.

Now, she had a purpose, and it was the legal recognition of Wicca as a valid tax free religion, an achievement that was successfully realized in the early 1980's.