Richard W. Ely was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1940 of a Quaker mother and a lapsed, Irish Catholic father. This mixed parentage served him well, giving him much broader social and religious perspectives than were typical for that time. Early in life he developed a love of Nature and was drawn to anything that was old. Christianity repelled him, but the ancient religions held a deep fascination, and he read much of Greek mythology while in high school. However, Science was his principal interest, and it shaped his world view during his 20's and 30's. From 1958 to 1962 he attended Cornell University, where he majored in geology and became an anti-war activist. Later, while attending graduate school at the University of Illinois, he became a passionate cave explorer, and fell in love with the Great Below.

Richard moved to the Berkeley in 1968, a political refugee in the culture wars of the 1960's. There he learned magick the hard way, with no personal teacher, while attending several hundred Grateful Dead shows. A series of telepathic experiences in the middle 1970's with animals, trees and people unraveled his scientific world view. The Dark Goddess got his attention in a big way in 1979, and opened him to the realm of spirit and Paganism. In 1986 he met Anodea Judith and joined the Church of All Worlds. They were handfasted in 1988 and married in 1989. He was ordained as the 10th member of the CAW clergy at Yule of 1994. His most significant magickal activity has been to participate in the rebirth of the Eleusinian Mysteries, embodying Hades the first year that the Mysteries were performed by CAW. He now lives in Sonoma County, California where he makes his living as a consulting geologist.

More of Richard's work can be found on Enlightenment.com.