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Locked Horns
The Voice of "Kris Kelley"
Across the airwaves of Michiana each Sunday from 10:00 until 3:00, the youthful voice of Kris Kelley can be heard on WNSN-FM (Sunny 101.5), playing the best of the 70s, 80s and 90s. The really cool thing: "Kris" is the pseudonym for RavenStar, a local witch.
RavenStar has worked for a number of radio stations over the past 25 or so years, including WZZP (where she was Bobby Rivers' "resident witch"), WRBR and Country 102. She obviously enjoys her work and, because her voice sounds so young, she often gets calls asking her for dates. She has been happily married for 21 years and is mother to two children, though, gently discouraging such calls.
She feels free to make Pagan-oriented comments throughout her air
time, and her closing, "Remember, in the circle of life, every ending
is a beginning: Merry meet, merry part, merry meet again." is unique
among radio personalities. During the Pan Pagan debacle in
Marshall County this past summer - where the "good people"
claimed no witches lived in northern Indiana - RavenStar openly
commented she had been "a voice in their community for ten years".
Her employer knows of her faith, and is comfortable with it.
On weekdays, RavenStar works as an administrative assistant for a South Bend marketing firm. "At my desk at work, I have a potpourri basket in the East, a red candle and a Godzilla cup holder in the South, a seashell in the West, and a Teenie Beanie Baby squirrel in the North," she explained. "I just try to have my way of life around me at all times."
While her Welsh background is steeped in Celtic and Faerie Lore, RavenStar is also familiar with Egyptian practices, favored by her husband. Norse traditions figure into the mix of the Craft for the family, as well. Their other activities include attendance at the yearly Pan Pagan Festival. "My two grown children grew up going there," she stated.
For those who might challenge her beliefs, RavenStar has strong words. "Do I look evil and possessed? What can be wrong with a belief that lets you open to every belief? I've traced Paganism back to its earliest roots, and I've found that all the major and most of the recognized religions of the world have Paganism as its roots. What is so wrong with a religion, a way of life that says to love everything; there is divine in everything you see? How can anybody call that wrong, evil, damnation?"
As an openly Pagan, public voice - reaching thousands of listeners each week - RavenStar's words really hit the mark.
- Quill