About the Publisher
Shira G. Tarantino, Publisher and CEO
As the creator of Handfastings Magazine, Shira G. Tarantino publishes a quarterly periodical, a monthly newsletter and an online magazine (in Beta). She is publisher and chief executive officer, overseeing all management, distribution, editing, sales, marketing and creative direction.
Shira is a wedding officiant and founder of the non-profit Handfastings.org, whose mission is to offer an easily accessible list of legally ordained High Priestesses and Priests, interfaith ministers, and other community leaders experienced in officiating Pagan, Wiccan, and other Earth- and Nature-based religion weddings, handfastings and commitment ceremonies. Founded in 2004, Handfastings.org lists more than 150 wedding officiants in five countries who are schooled in the art of the handfasting ceremony and serves thousands of couples around the world. It is a free service to the community and helps to connect couples and families who are interested in being handfasted (wedded) with Pagan or interfaith clergy.
With a cultural background in Judaism, Shira has been Pagan all her life and has been a practicing Wiccan since the mid-1990’s – having immersed herself in Minoan-Gardnerian studies since 2002. Shira studied under High Priestess Lady Chandara Anath as a member of Circle of the Crescent Moon (Initiation and Dedication), which was one of the original covens affiliated with Temple of the Evening Star [a 501 (c) 3 Wiccan organization] in New York. It is this spirituality that drives her to help others who also view themselves as stewards of the earth and patrons of the Goddess.
Shira is a former instructor at the Woolston-Steen Theological Seminary. She developed core and elective curriculum, having taught a course on natural magic. Sponsored by the established Aquarian Tabernacle Church, the Woolston-Steen Theological Seminary is one of the first accredited seminaries in the U.S. dedicated to Pagan theology and Wiccan studies – and the first of its kind to offer live online classes with audio/visual teacher-student interaction. Shira was thrilled to have been a part of this unique venture.
Shira has written for various publications such as Witchvox.com and The Magical Buffet. An artist and writer, she has worked in fundraising and development since 1994. A former senior executive at a global non-profit, Shira is now a volunteer consultant for charitable organizations. Prior to her extensive non-profit efforts, Shira worked in the fashion industry as a photo and movie stylist in addition to working as a makeup artist for fashion and editorial shoots. She is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology where she studied advertising and communications along with fashion design.
Currently affiliated with the Church of Spiritual Humanism for the purposes of ordination, Shira is legally registered to perform handfasting ceremonies in New York City and can also perform legal weddings in New York State and Connecticut.
As a Priestess of the Goddess, Shira considers herself to be a student of life and will forever welcome new-found knowledge and fresh experiences during her existence on this good Earth as Mother Gaia sees fit. She is in love with Wiccan ritual and helping to better all creatures of the planet through magic, meditation, love, tolerance, and interfaith dialogue. Handfastings Magazine is a product of this vision.
As the creator of Handfastings Magazine, Shira G. Tarantino publishes a quarterly periodical, a monthly newsletter and an online magazine (in Beta). She is publisher and chief executive officer, overseeing all management, distribution, editing, sales, marketing and creative direction.
Shira is a wedding officiant and founder of the non-profit Handfastings.org, whose mission is to offer an easily accessible list of legally ordained High Priestesses and Priests, interfaith ministers, and other community leaders experienced in officiating Pagan, Wiccan, and other Earth- and Nature-based religion weddings, handfastings and commitment ceremonies. Founded in 2004, Handfastings.org lists more than 150 wedding officiants in five countries who are schooled in the art of the handfasting ceremony and serves thousands of couples around the world. It is a free service to the community and helps to connect couples and families who are interested in being handfasted (wedded) with Pagan or interfaith clergy.
With a cultural background in Judaism, Shira has been Pagan all her life and has been a practicing Wiccan since the mid-1990’s – having immersed herself in Minoan-Gardnerian studies since 2002. Shira studied under High Priestess Lady Chandara Anath as a member of Circle of the Crescent Moon (Initiation and Dedication), which was one of the original covens affiliated with Temple of the Evening Star [a 501 (c) 3 Wiccan organization] in New York. It is this spirituality that drives her to help others who also view themselves as stewards of the earth and patrons of the Goddess.
Shira is a former instructor at the Woolston-Steen Theological Seminary. She developed core and elective curriculum, having taught a course on natural magic. Sponsored by the established Aquarian Tabernacle Church, the Woolston-Steen Theological Seminary is one of the first accredited seminaries in the U.S. dedicated to Pagan theology and Wiccan studies – and the first of its kind to offer live online classes with audio/visual teacher-student interaction. Shira was thrilled to have been a part of this unique venture.
Shira has written for various publications such as Witchvox.com and The Magical Buffet. An artist and writer, she has worked in fundraising and development since 1994. A former senior executive at a global non-profit, Shira is now a volunteer consultant for charitable organizations. Prior to her extensive non-profit efforts, Shira worked in the fashion industry as a photo and movie stylist in addition to working as a makeup artist for fashion and editorial shoots. She is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology where she studied advertising and communications along with fashion design.
Currently affiliated with the Church of Spiritual Humanism for the purposes of ordination, Shira is legally registered to perform handfasting ceremonies in New York City and can also perform legal weddings in New York State and Connecticut.
As a Priestess of the Goddess, Shira considers herself to be a student of life and will forever welcome new-found knowledge and fresh experiences during her existence on this good Earth as Mother Gaia sees fit. She is in love with Wiccan ritual and helping to better all creatures of the planet through magic, meditation, love, tolerance, and interfaith dialogue. Handfastings Magazine is a product of this vision.
