Author and priestess Janet Callahan has had articles published in several anthologies and on various websites, as well as on her own blogs. She has had poetry published on the now defunct paganliving.com. She’s also published an eBook on being a Pagan Parent in the NICU, and has written a mini-course on planning for Pagan holidays. Most recently, she published Parenting Pagan Tots, her first “real” book.
Ms. Callahan has been Pagan for more than 15 years, and spent many years as a solitary before finding the right group. She trained under a Dianic coven in the Detroit area and was initiated as a Mother priestess at Imbolc 2007. She is also currently a 2nd degree student with a more traditional Wiccan coven that focuses on family-based practice. She considers herself to be a Modern American Polytheist – a mixture of syncretistic polytheism, techno-Paganism, pop-culture magick, Wicca, and Unverified Personal Gnosis (UPG).
Additionally, Ms. Callahan and her husband own QuickSilver Dragon Inc., which used to be a medium-sized metaphysical goods wholesaler, but is now a much smaller home for a few small projects. She is the former Program Director of SpiralScouts International, an alternative Pagan-based scouting organization for children ages 3-18, and a former board member of several other Detroit area Pagan organizations.
Ms. Callahan grew up in what was then a rural community outside St. Louis, Missouri. As a child, she spent hours upon hours devouring every book in the library, and came upon books on ESP, witches, and ghosts in the adult section of the library by age 8. Her mother encouraged her to read anything that interested her, and related topics remained a part of her regular reading for much of her childhood, much to the chagrin of her conservative German Lutheran family.
Ms. Callahan has been happily married to her husband, Barry, for more than a decade. The Callahans are the parents of one elementary school aged boy, Alexander (aka Acorn), and one newly minted kindergartener girl, Bethany (aka Leaf). Both children were micropreemies. each weighing less than 2 pounds at birth. Alexander spent 291 days in the NICU and had a tracheostomy due to breathing issues, which was removed in the summer pf 2011. Bethany spent 164 days in the NICU, and then went back in the hospital a week later with a respiratory illness that resulted in a further 90 days in the hospital and a tracheostomy. You can read about the family’s unique Pagan parenting journey at http://www.ourlittleacorn.com. While most of the children’s health issues are stable, they’re still complicated, with speech delays, motor skill delays, and more.
Ms. Callahan’s extended family-by-choice, both local and distant, is a large part of her support system no matter what is going on in her life.
