Oral History
Falcon River
Listen to the interview.
Read a transcript of the interview.
Read Falcon River's profile.
Biographical Notes
Falcon RiverFalcon River was born in 1952, and lived in Columbus, Ohio, until the
early 1960s, when her family moved back to the rural mountain country of
West Virginia. During this interview, she described her family as a
"proud line of moonshiners and thieves." From these relatives,
she learned woodcraft and folk magic. Being "wild," herself, she
left home in 1968, and came out as a butch woman soon after leaving. She
lived in California and Virginia, winning the title of "Mr.
Roanoke" in 1973 and 1974. The following year, she went to Louisville
to look up Samantha Jade River, an old flame from Girl Scout camp. They
partnered and parented Jade's child. Together, they helped found the
Lesbian Feminist Union in Louisville, and operated the lesbian bar,
Mother's Brew.
Falcon attended the Michigan Women's Music Festival in 1975 and was
introduced to Goddess religion there. Living in Louisville, she and Jade
attended a circle in the Cincinnati area. In 1983, they moved to Madison,
Wisconsin to protect Jade's parental rights. In Madison, they founded the
Reformed Congregation of the Goddess (RCG). Within a year of relocating,
Falcon and Jade dissolved their partnership and Falcon engaged only
peripherally with Goddess rituals. She became a healer, massage therapist,
and woodworker for the next decade and a half.
In the mid-1990s, she began teaching a tree-lore workshop at RCG and
attended some of the RCG conferences. At a 1999 conference, she met Ruth
Barrett, and they became partners. Ruth moved to Wisconsin and they found
the Temple of Diana. Falcon has studied and apprenticed intensively with
Dr. Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind. Falcon is among the
core faculty of The Temple of Diana's Spiral Door Women's Mystery School
of Magick and Ritual Arts.
In the late 1990s, Falcon began talking with other butch identified
lesbians about how they felt drawn to serve the goddess during rituals.
They evolved the guardian role in Dianic priestess practice. Guardian
priestesses offer their service as supporting cast, often from the
perimeter of the circle. Although a guardian role is grounded in Dianic
tradition, Falcon has been a central figure in its articulation. She
continues to teach, do healing work, and woodworking from their home in
Wisconsin.
Additional Resources