High Priestess: Monica Stanton
Monica Stanton (she/her), a third degree initiate of the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel (ASW), is one of the founding members of the Fellowship of the Ancient White Stag (FAWS). In 2011 she became the Acting High Priestess of the coven, and in 2017 she received her third degree and became High Priestess. She is a Priestess of Sekhmet, but works with and enjoys learning about many different pantheons.
Monica studied history and Biblical archaeology at Brigham Young University, and lived briefly in Israel and Egypt during that time. She has her Bachelors of Science degree from BYU and her Masters of Science degree from the University of Manchester. She loves to travel, and regularly creates itineraries for others to experience different cultures and places.
Monica enjoys the study of magical paths and practices, firmly believing that we should never stop learning. Teaching classes over the years on a variety of topics, she particularly enjoys sharing her knowledge on black mirrors and their construction; gryphons, their myths and how they traveled from Africa and into the entire world; elements and elementals; and the Celtic pantheon.
Monica loves teaching people new to the path, guiding them toward future leadership. She wants her students to have as much knowledge and as many magical skills as possible, and will make time for those who want to learn.
She is currently working on a daily prayer book to Sekhmet and collecting stories, myths, experiences, prayers, and poems to the Goddess that show Her many facets.
High Priest: Enfys Book
Enfys Book (they/them), a third degree initiate of the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel (ASW), joined FAWS in 2013. In 2019, they became Acting High Priest of the coven, and in 2021 they received their third degree and became High Priest.
Enfys’s passions are Hermetic Qabala, Tarot, and the intersections between queer identities and magical practice. They presented a workshop on The Genderqueer Tree of Life at the 2019 Sacred Space Conference, at the Assembly’s “Climbing the Tree” Qabala Weekend, and at the virtual Spring Magick conference in 2021; and a workshop on “Queering Your Magical Practice” at Frederick Pagan Pride Day in 2019. In addition, Enfys has presented introductory Tarot workshops for various groups, and created and presented a year-long Qabala and Tarot study course and ritual series for FAWS in 2017. Their blog, Major Arqueerna, covers topics about queerness and magick, with a focus on Qabala. They are the author of the forthcoming book Queer Qabala: Nonbinary, Genderfluid, Omnisexual Mysticism & Magick (Llewellyn, summer 2022).
Enfys loves to travel, is a voracious reader, and enjoys indoor rock climbing, yoga, and performing with the Misbehavin’ Maidens: a musical group focused on sex positivity, feminism, lifting up the experiences of people in the queer community, as well as nerdy, comedic fandom references.