A life amongst books, Gods and Sacred Places…
Sorita d’Este is an internationally known author, publisher and magical practitioner whose work has helped shape contemporary understanding of Hekate, witchcraft and ancient Pagan religion. Best known for Circle for Hekate and Hekate: Liminal Rites, she brings together decades of historical research, ritual practice and devotional experience, creating work that is intellectually grounded while remaining firmly connected to living magic.
Her wider bibliography includes Wicca: Magickal Beginnings, The Isles of the Many Gods, Visions of the Cailleach, The Guises of the Morrigan and The Cosmic Shekinah. Across her books, essays and teaching, Sorita explores the places where mythology, ancient religion, Western esotericism and contemporary spiritual practice meet, challenging unsupported claims while recognising the importance of personal experience, creativity and devotion. She is a polytheist, with strong leanings towards Orphism.
She is the founder of Avalonia, an independent publishing house specialising in mythology, magic, Paganism and the occult, through which she has supported the work of authors and researchers from around the world. She also co-founded the Covenant of Hekate, an international devotional community dedicated to Hekate, and created Meeting in the Circle, her Patreon space for teaching, discussion and the shared exploration of magic, myth and spiritual practice.
Born in Cape Town, Sorita has lived in London, Wales and Somerset. She has travelled through more than thirty countries, visiting archaeological sites, temples, shrines, sacred landscapes and living centres of devotion. These journeys have strengthened her interest in the ways religious memory survives, changes and acquires new meaning across cultures and through time.
Sorita has spoken at conferences, symposia and public events in the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and many other countries. She has also appeared in podcasts, interviews, documentaries and public discussions as a subject expert on Hekate, Paganism, witchcraft, mythology, ancient religion and contemporary magical practice.
Away from her books and public work, Sorita is the mother of a profoundly non-verbal autistic son and the devoted attendant of Khonsu, a fluffy white Egyptian rescue cat who appears entirely convinced of his own perfect divinity – but that is another story.
