The multi-talented Jezibell is a songwriter, bellydancer, poet, drummer, actress, and Wiccan High Priestess. The insights and imagery of her writing flow out of her spiritual life, her dance, and her studies of ancient history, culture and mythology, especially of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece. Most of her music is percussion-based, using the rhythms of the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Her last major production was a Pagan musical theatre project based upon the legends of ancient Sumer, Inanna, Journey of Darkness and Light.
Her newest CD, Charge of the Dark Goddess, combines song, chant and spoken word with tribal rhythms. Today there is a surge of interest in Goddess spirituality, ranging from Neopagan reconstructions to revisions of traditional religion. Too often the Goddess is depicted as all-loving, gentle, fecund, eternally beneficent and nurturing - an idealized Big Mommy. This vapid, sanitized portrayal denies the power, passion and depth of the shadow side of the Divine Feminine. Historically and mythologically, goddesses also represent sexuality, rage, conflict, madness, decay and death - the processes, which sustain and balance the cycle of life and light.
The Charge of the Dark Goddess honors and celebrates this mystery.
Jezibell and her partner Joseph Zuchowski have founded the tradition of Thelemic Wicca. They have taught the Enchantments Pagan Way Grove for seven years and currently lead the coven Kyklos ton Asterion. Many of her chants and songs were first created for ritual celebration and meditation practice, and then developed into performance pieces. She also sings and drums with Four Winds Earth Chorus, a choral cooperative which performs the music of different spiritual traditions.
Jezibell began her bellydance education at Serena Studios, and she has also studied with Aszmara, Elena and Anahid Sofian. She has also traveled to Egypt, Turkey, Morocco and Greece. She has danced at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, the Knitting Factory, Don Hill's, Wetlands, Downtime, Pyramid Club, Café Figaro, Manhattan Theatre Source and the New York Renaissance Faire, and continues to perform at festivals, nursing homes, parties and special events through the New York metro area. She has also appeared in ensemble dances with the Egyptian/American Folkloric Group and the Serena Dance Theatre, and is currently in Gamila el Masri's Nileside Productions Company. She has taught bellydancing at Serena's, Equinox Fitness Club, and the McBurney YMCA, the Learning Annex and LaGuardia Community College.
Her poetry has appeared in such diverse publications as Nomad's Choir, Perceptions, Xenophilia, The Beltane Papers, and Circle Network News. She has written and performed her one-woman historical drama, Cleopatra's Contention, at Upfront Muse, Centerfold Coffeehouse, and Café Arielle, as well as performing her theatrical monologues Klytemnestra, Circe's Masque, and The Moon Priestess with the Semolina Players.
For more information, please visit www.joeandjezibell.net.
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