Yarrow Coven’s CEO of sorcery returns to cast a spell on us
By Jeannette Cooperman
Photograph by Frank Di Piazza
In a time when grownups read the Harry Potter books, one might be forgiven for assuming that the second annual Witches Ball and Masque, held October 12 at Andre’s on Telegraph Road, is just another mundane Muggle attempt to seem magical. But the ball’s sponsor, Yarrow Coven, is indeed a coven, founded in St. Louis in 1989 and led by a Wiccan priest and spell-spinner named El Bee who claims to be “older than dirt.”
Isn’t St. Louis a bit too conservative for witchery? Actually, St. Louis is a really progressive, tolerant city for us. Cahokia Mounds is across the river, and who but a pagan could paint that Piasa bird? And downtown, look at the architectural details: the Green Man, Venus, all the gods and goddesses on the courts building. It’s very pervasive in St. Louis. What is the V.P. Ball, after all?
Is October 12 significant in your calendar? No. Last year we had the ball at Samhain, our New Year, which is like Halloween. But we had to turn 100 people away, so we needed to reserve a larger room, and Andre’s lets us bring our own witchy music.
And for dinner, eye of newt? Roast beef and chicken marsala.
What’s your take on Hogwarts? When we see a Harry Potter movie, we think, “Maybe in 1,000 years, if we keep raising the energies and expanding our minds, this is how it will be.” We think of it as fantasy, with an element of magic we wish were real. However, there are a lot of things in Harry Potter that we can do. We can heal things, we can make things die, because we will it so. But we don’t play Quidditch.
You mention doing glamour magic, which sounds like a cheap makeover ... Glamour magic is having someone perceive you the way you want them to, with changed hair color or clothes even.
You founded North American Eclectic Wicca. And you ... er ... are occasionally called Painted Penis. I am a member of the Loyal Order of the Painted Penis. Seriously. It’s a group of men who proudly and without hesitation will display a painted penis publicly.
Where? We did it last year at a festival—that’s usually where we do it.
That’s cheating. You should do it downtown at rush hour. Yeah, right, and put up a glamour spell so nobody could see it, eh?
