Photo by John Nimmo

Francesca Ciancimino Howell became involved in both ecology and Earth magic as a child. In 1987, at the age of 30, she joined the Gaia Group in New York, a Wiccan tradition dedicated to Earth healing magic. In 1989 shortly after the Exxon Valdez broke up in Prince William Sound, Francesca decided to move out of her career as an actress and teacher to make her avocation of environmental activism her vocation, and become professionally involved in the ecology movement. A short time later she began working for Greenpeace. Francesca is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, DC and Cambridge University, England. She is a former adjunct faculty and staff member of the Environmental Studies Department at Naropa University.

Francesca has had a glamorous international career combining a number of vocations, from theatre and TV to environmental campaigning and academia. As an actress, her mentors included Helen Hayes and Michael Moriarty, and she has studied with the prestigious Moscow Art Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and other luminaries of the world stage.

Oracle's Grotto at Cuma

Francesca has performed in countries around the world including the US, Chile, Italy and the UK.

Francesca has presented her work on Earth healing magic in the US, UK and Europe, and currently teaches classes on Wicca, meditation and other topics in the US and Europe. She has authored articles for the national Wiccan publication, Circle Network News, and was recently profiled in a Wiccan anthology Wiccan Wisdomkeepers, by Sally Griffyn, where she appears alongside Janet Farrar, Starhawk, Doreen Valiente, and other leaders of Wicca.

Other volunteer and activist roles of Francesca's have included being a volunteer naturalist in Colorado, leading classes, surveys and workshops on the bio-region and local wildlife; counseling for the multi-faith Spiritual Support Team at a local battered women's shelter; and participating in the Religious Education Council of the Unitarian-Universalist Church. She is currently a Ph.D student in Religious Studies at the Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.

Making Magic with Gaia is Francesca's first published book

For review copies of Making Magic with Gaia please contact:
Red Wheel/Weiser: tel-  1-617-542-1324.