Presenters

2026 Festival
Presenter Biographies
(alphabetical order by first name)

Bill Duvendack
Right Reverend Bill Duvendack is an internationally known astrologer, psychic, presenter, teacher, tarot reader, medium, and author. He is the author of over twenty published books on modern spirituality, with more soon to be released. Over five dozen essays of his have been published in various anthologies, and his magical writings have been translated into six languages. He has been interviewed by the NY Times, RTE 1, and has made many TV and radio appearances, including Gaia. For more information about him, please consult his website: www.billduvendack.com. 

Brandy Williams
Brandy Williams is a priestess in the Western Magical Tradition. She is a Georgian Wicca elder, a Golden Dawn initiate, a Thelemite, founder of the Sororal Order of the Sisters of Seshat, and a Tantric practitioner. She has written numerous books including “Ecstatic Ritual, Practical Sex Magic”, and appears in the new anthology “Theurgy, Seven Approaches to Divine Connection”.

Clair Hartshorne
Clair Hartshorne is a sex worker and scarlet woman who has been aiding in running Babalon Rising for the past 3 years. As the organizer for Scarlet Track she oversees classes, presentations, and rituals on sacred sexuality, sex magick, and other topics surrounding intimacy and magick. The past 4 years she has also worked as a scarlet priestess channeling Babalon on Friday nights in the Scarlet Temple at the festival.

David Melton
David Melton began exploring the mysteries in 1987. He has been active in the central Indiana pagan community since 1991 as an educator, clergy, and group leader. He was a founding member of Our Lady of the Hourglass Wiccan Church, believed to be the first legally recognized Wiccan church in Indiana. He co-led a working group in Bloomington in the mid-1990s exploring the use of shamanic techniques for healing and spiritual growth.  David became an initiate of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) in 1996, was ordained a priest of  Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (EGC) in 2000, and was consecrated a bishop in 2019. In 2016 he became an initiate of Gardnerian Wicca, and  he served as magister of Crossroads Coven, American Folkloric Witchcraft tradition in Indianapolis from  2017 to 2020.  David has presented workshops and led rituals at ConVocation and Chrysalis Moon festivals, Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPs), numerous events at Our Haven and Midian festival grounds, and other local pagan and magical groups. His articles have been published online and in several regional newsletters. His essay on the Presocratic origins of the four elements was published in the anthology “Words of Power” in 2014. David’s current areas of study and practice include Thelema, alchemy, sacred geometry, Reiki, ceremonial magic, and traditional witchcraft.

djslavezero
djslavezero is a Chicago-based DJ and radio/stream host known for spinning goth, industrial, deathrock, and darkwave music. He is a frequent presence in the Midwest dark alternative scene, frequently headlining and streaming events online.

Edmund Lingan
Dr. Edmund B. Lingan is an ordained priest of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, a historian of occult performance, and a theatre artist. He is the author of The Theatre of the Occult Revival: Alternative Spiritual Performance from 1875 to the Present (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), as well as several other academic publications. Lingan is a Professor of Theatre and Associate Dean at the University of Toledo. He received his Ph.D. in Theatre History and Criticism from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Erika Moon
Erika Moon is primarily a Thelemite who occasionally leaves her hermitage to practice with others whose spiritual backgrounds are as colorful hers. She then will return to her seat of power to once again contemplate the mysteries and to draw from the great font of knowledge. (ie she reads occult books on the john)

Fynch
Fynch has been tied, tying, and teaching for over a decade. Her style of rope bondage is based on Shibari/Kinbaku with elements of New and Old school influence. With a heavy focus on tying people, not forms, and learning the building blocks of rope, not strictly copying others’ ties, her classes are original and informative. In addition to years of experience in kink, Fynch is engaging with others to explore Sacred Sexuality and how it can be integrated into our lives. Join her in guided meditation, energy exchange practices, and hands on, pleasure forward approaches.

G. Antra
Artist, author, oracle, teacher, spiritual occultist, experimental ceremonial magician, and guide on the path of The Art of Becoming. An initiate of several traditions, and 30+yr student/practitioner of ritual magick, divination, and oracle.
https://linktr.ee/Embalmedapple

Holly Hamel
Holly Hamel is a transformational coach and shadow work practitioner with more than two decades of experience supporting personal growth, emotional healing, and human potential. With a Bachelor's degree in Health Behavior, a background in counseling, postpartum education, and emergency medical services, she brings a rare blend of practical wisdom, psychological insight, and deep compassion to her work. Holly is a certified Existential Kink Coach, a graduate of Sleepover Mystery School, trained in NLP and The Destination Method, and a trained Ritual Breathwork Facilitator. Her approach integrates shadow work, somatic practices, nervous system regulation, archetypal psychology, and spiritual development to help clients move through self-sabotage, reclaim personal power, and create meaningful change. Known for her ability to hold both profound depth and grounded practicality, Holly guides individuals through life's initiations with courage, curiosity, and authenticity. She specializes in helping people transform unconscious patterns, integrate conflicting parts of themselves, and step into greater sovereignty, purpose, and freedom. In addition to her coaching practice, Holly has been an active leader within the Burning Man community since 2003, creating interactive art spaces that foster connection, creativity, and personal evolution. Her work is devoted to helping people uncover the wisdom hidden within their challenges and cultivate lives that feel deeply aligned, embodied, and full of sensation. Please stay in touch with Holly here: https://linktr.ee/HollyHamel

JD
JD Carlston is the founder of Red Thread Labs, a workshop program built on the conviction that pattern-breaking is engineering paired with insight. With twenty-five years of engineering leadership and direct training in the Destination Method under Dr. Robert Dee McDonald — VA clinical researcher and NLP architect, as well as Dr. Carolyn Elliott and others — JD brings unusual precision to the work of human transformation. The Thelemic current runs through everything JD does. JD and co-founder Chick live in Utah and have been honing this methodology blending hard science and even harder magick — including the work being done at Babalon Rising this year.

Jade Coen
Jade Coen has played a part in the Babalon Rising festival since it's inception in 2006. Be it performing with fire, dancing around the bonfire, creating and performing rituals, or just mischief making (impromptu Hymn to Pan anyone?) She has been a Devotee of Babalon since 2003, when she began a 7 year working to HER. She spent 13 years as Priestess and/or Deacon for many Gnostic Masses at BR from 2009-2024. She was also the BR Gnostic Mass Coordinator from 2018-2024, and built the BR Gnostic Mass temple still used today. She has been an Ordained Priestess of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica since 2011. She was a Chartered initiator in the OTO for 9 years, and is also a past High Priestess of Ouarda Chapter OTO. She also considers herself an eclectic Witch and loves celebrating the moon cycles and pagan holidays. Her path has now taken her back to the Eastern mysteries, and she is recently Certified to teach Qigong as well as Kundalini yoga. She also has a passion for sound healing. The one thing that has stayed constant in her life, is her passion and dedication to BABALON! The Goddess and the Festival, and she is now a proud co-owner and co-director of Babalon Rising LLC. You can catch her doing her favorite ritual, The Star Ruby, at the opening and closing of the festival, channeling one of Babalon's many faces at the Scarlet Temple ritual Friday night, performing in Saturday night's Feast of the Beast ritual, or manning your BR HQ booth. She resides in Indianapolis with her partner Jakha and their 5 cats/kids, where she owns her own massage therapy practice. 

Kaa
Kaa has been an avid Kinbaku/shibari practitioner and educator since 2008. He has been given the privilege to present, teach, and perform in the greater Tri-State (In, Oh, Ky) area and beyond. He is passionate about not only practicing Kinbaku/Shibari, but also spreading knowledge to those who wish to learn. With an innate talent for bringing primal Kundalini energy to the surface, Kaa is a natural at engaging with Tantric practices. 

Kaleb
Kaleb Stocker plays drums and percussion for Liquid Elf, and at drum circles.

Katerina Elaine
Katarina Elaine (she/they) is the founder and organizer of the Temple Scarlet Sacred Sexuality Retreat (offered in Kansas and Missouri) a Co-facilitator of Pagan Pride Kansas City and the Administrative Community Coordinator of Kansas City Vikingfest. Katarina studied witchcraft in Galway Ireland and became a dedicated polytheistic eclectic traditional witch/Wiccan. She has over a decade of metaphysical store and energy healing experience.

Katy Love
Katy Love’s magick was born in death at Babalon Rising in 2016. She is a primary narrator in the Order of Emergent Magi. Her presentations over the past decade have emphasized individual, community, and ancestral healing. Katy Love’s spiritual practices are undeniably informed by her training and experience as a trauma therapist (LMFT). She primarily works with LGBTQ+ clients and finds resonance within this community. Katy Love is fulfilled by deep conversation, playful mischief, and frolicking with friends.

Liquid Elf
Liquid Elf consists of Chooba Dee on guitar, vocals and percussion, Mark Stucker on flute and clarinet, Kaitawari Rivas on bass, Bryce Bradford on drum set and Kaleb Stocker on drums and percussion.  They play an eclectic list of original music mixed with a few cover songs.  These guys are an active part of multiple communities and musical projects.

Matt Beste
Matt Beste has spent the last twenty-five years practicing and studying occultism, which sounds much more organized than it actually was. Along the way he became a member of Freemasonry, the A∴A∴, and Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). He currently serves as Master of his local O.T.O. Oasis, where he teaches classes on Thelema, magick, yoga, and spiritual development. Matt first attended Babalon Rising nine years ago and is delighted to return as a presenter. He is particularly interested in finding practical value in esoteric teachings and translating lofty mystical concepts into things real people can actually use. His tendency to follow interesting questions down unexpected rabbit holes has led him to explore an alarming number of magical systems, philosophies, and spiritual practices—fortunately, it has also provided a seemingly endless supply of curiosity, enthusiasm, and stories.

Natalie Long
Natalie Long (she/they) is an ordained Priestess of the Ecclesiastica Gnostica Catholica, and has been a member of Ordo Templi Orientis since 2006. She is a co-founder and co-owner of the Babalon Rising festival. Natalie is a Gardnerian High Priestess, and helped form the American Folkloric Tradition of Witchcraft, one of the first American Traditional Lineages of Witchcraft, in 2011. Natalie served as Magistrix of Crossroads Coven until 2020. She is a Priestess in the Qadishti tradition of sacred sexuality, and lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with her husband, David Melton.

Nia Ain
Nia started practicing chaos and thelemic magick in Chicago's occult scene of the late 90's. They have taught chaos magick for over a decade including classes at The Occult Bookstore in Chicago, workshops at the Babalon Rising festival, as well as mentoring independently and as a member of the Illuminates of Thanateros. Nia's recent work is developing Emanant Void Magick, a narrative onotology and open framework for magical systems building, and contributing to build magical community as an organizer of the Operation Octarine festival and member of the Society of the Headless.

Phainolis
Phainolis is an author, enthusiast of dead languages, and PhD candidate in the history of ancient religions. PracticalTheurgy.com hosts articles, original translations, and reconstructed rituals, with an emphasis on Neoplatonic theurgy (Iamblichus, Proclus, etc.) and related ancient literature (Hermetica, Chaldean Oracles, the Greek magical papyri, etc.). Isopsephy.com is a database and guide to the practice of isopsephy, a proto-kabbalistic technique of cipher mysticism in the ancient world. He is also very close to publishing Interlinear Magic, a much anticipated interlinear translation of the Greek Magical Papyri with extensive annotations and commentary.

Raue Ra Ravus
Frater RRR (Raue Ra Ravus) [He/They] is a decade-long practitioner of mysticism and magick; A seeker of Balance and a Bhaktic Devotee dedicated to Babalon. They are a recent arrival to the path of Thelema, and an explorer of the religious traditions of Hinduism, Sufism, and Yoga. Well read in Anthropology and Occult philosophy, Frater RRR takes a cross-disciplinary approach to ritual and magickal practice, blending modern concepts with ancient traditions to discover experiences that resonate with the spirit of the Aeon of Horus.

Rose Sharon
Rose Gloria Sharon (they/them) is an author, Solomonic magician, and PhD student in the fields of philosophy, theology, and religious studies. Originally hailing from Fall City, Washington (often pronounced the same as ‘falsity’), Rose has spent most of their incarnation in the city of Seattle. They are the author of three novels, a work of philosophy, several volumes of poetry, and numerous essays, many of which can be found at www.CityDis.com

Scott Stenwick
Scott Michael Stenwick is the author of the Mastering Enochian Magick series from Pendraig Publishing and has practiced Enochian and Thelemic magick for more than thirty years. He is a Thelemite and was initiated into Ordo Templi Orientis in 1995. He currently serves as a chartered OTO initiator, an EGC Priest and Deacon, and magick instructor at Leaping Laughter Lodge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is also a longtime magick blogger, updating and maintaining the Augoeides blog since 2006.
Augoeides Blog: https://ananael.blogspot.com/
Author Website: https://scottstenwick.com/

Sir Synister Tokin
Over a decade deep in the Indianapolis kink community and still raising eyebrows. Pansexual, polyamorous, P.O.C. leather service top with a reputation for giving back just as hard as he plays. Volunteer, event builder, educator, and current VP for ILC, plus co-leader of Indy Buzz, the local electric crew. He thrives on edge play, electricity, fire, impact, and keeping you guessing. This daddy somehow still finds time for anime, cult classics, and all things deliciously weird from the 80s and 90s. If it’s strange, intense, or just a little dangerous… Sir Synister Tokin probably knows where to start.

Sonja Daggett
Sonja Daggett is a pagan witch, dedicated crafter, and intuitive reader who acts as a bridge between ancient earth-centered wisdom and modern mystical practice. Her formal awakening began in 2019, sparking a dedicated, multi-year immersion into the metaphysical arts. Through rigorous study, Sonja has mastered a vast tapestry of traditions, including traditional Year-and-a-Day training, herbalism, goddess archetypes, and Book of Shadows creation, alongside practical divination through tarot, runes, bones, and alchemy meditation. As a presenter and reader, Sonja channels this rich reservoir of knowledge to offer audiences profound, multi-dimensional clarity. For Sonja, crafting is a form of tactile alchemy—a sacred act of weaving intention directly into the physical world. Guided by an eternal yearning to learn and expand, she approaches the mysteries of the universe with a beginner's heart and an adept’s skill, inspiring others to awaken the magic dormant within their own lives. When she isn't teaching or consulting the tides of fate, Sonja can be found crafting in her sacred space in Indianapolis, IN. Connect with her journey and book a reading at www.Sonjashappenings.com, or follow her magical updates on Facebook and Instagram @Sonjashappenings 

Soror Khelone

Switchy
Switchy began her role as an educator in the kink world by finding herself taking over hosting duties at the monthly Poly Night educational discussion at subSpace in February 2020, and has filled that role ever since. Along the way, she has also taught at IndyTies, Indy Rope Collective, FEMSForever, Femme Fatale, Libertine, Horns and Honey, Knot-A-Contest, and Top Knot-ch, and many others. She currently is a member of the subSpace's volunteer leadership team, where she has served for 6 years. Now, she is bringing that experience and knowledge to Babalon!

Z.C. "Boogie" Boogfield
Z.C. "Boogie" Boogfield styles himself as a "Reality Engineer". An Initiate of Ordo Templi Orientis, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and the School of Making Stuff Up, he is often found optimizing and tinkering the constraints of this material realm for an ideal flow of divinity through the beautiful instrument that is the human condition. He is often leading vocal improv circle singing, drumming for ritual, and providing sound engineering support to numerous Ecstatic Dances, Drum Circles, and other Places of Human Connection from his base in Denver, as well as throughout the American South and Midwest.