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My Story
I was born in Sydney, Australia, but have spent nearly all my life in
Melbourne (which is a very cool city!)
I’m a Scorpio musical Witch and mother of Reuben.
Since childhood I have been a singer of songs. Walking in Nature and finding the wild places along train lines and my own rambling back yard, strange melodies have found their way to me like gifts from the realm of fairy. I would spend hours drawing and painting the microcosm of plants and flowers around my home, singing myself into an Otherworldly trance. Not till late high school did this love of singing become public. After a couple of performances in school musicals I felt I had discovered my life passion and purpose. To sing! I then took private lessons in classical singing for about five years, finishing when I was about 20 to explore the world of jazz.
By this time I was at uni, studying literature and drama. A whole world of human thought and philosophy opened up for me. I had always loved to read, but it now became an obsession. I had been writing and reading poetry for many years, and now I was surrounded by people who shared my passion. Of course I was still singing – I’d formed a little jazz trio called “Wendy and the Flyboys”, playing clubs around Melbourne. When I finished my degree I could focus more strongly on my music. I joined a few rock bands and was still doing the jazz thing, but was not exactly fulfilled creatively. I knew there was more to me than just being a singer. I was interested in the occult, studying tarot and learning about astrology. I aimed to achieve that feeling I had in childhood of trancing out with the fairies. I knew that music was more than just entertainment. I was yearning, both spiritually and creatively, for something more.
It wasn’t until I met Bob, who became my husband and is now my friend, that the powers of LOVE ignited the passion that set me on my spiritual path towards Witchcraft. Bob has been a huge support for me, doing all the design and artwork for my first three albums and helping me through the many dark spaces where I have journeyed. When our beautiful son Reuben was born (in 1992) all my disparate paths and interests unified. Maybe it was the physical changes of pregnancy and childbirth that led me to Goddess. The poetry that I had been writing for years evolved into songs. Life was enormous and magnificent. Magic was everywhere, and I simply had to capture it. I began writing the songs for my first album – basing each song on a card from the Major Arcana of the tarot and exploring the world of mythology.
It was around this time that I met my dear friend; Rachel Samuel. She had just arrived from her homeland of England. A classical cellist, she and I soon began working together. We formed a rock group called “The Raven” which soon became “The Howl” It involved lots of boys and guitars and general cathartic expression. We were playing songs from Zero, but certainly not as they appear on the album! When this band broke up in 1995 I began recording Zero. Pianist Craig Patterson joined Rachel and I for the album, and we began playing live together. After lots of gigs (including a year long residency at Melbourne’s Dan O’Connell Hotel) Zero was released in 1996 and was a great success. We went on to record Deity, which was released in 1998.
In 1999 I wrote a play based on one of my favourite characters in mythology – the Sumerian Goddess Inanna. The play was called An Underworld and explored Inanna’s descent into the Underworld and her return to life. It involved music, ritual, and poetry, and was performed over two nights at Melbourne’s Universal Theatre. The ritual element of the work, which was incredibly intense, created huge changes in my life - death and rebirth on many symbolic levels.
With the addition of didgeridoo and djembe player Simon Dickson, we formed a new band, becoming “Wendy Rule and the Parallel Dream”. The four of us performed together for a year before recording World Between Worlds, which was released in September 2000 at Melbourne’s Athenaeum theatre. The band separated in January 2001. I was focusing on my solo shows in preparation for a tour to the USA and Europe in May. Guitar was still a relatively new thing to me. I’d only really begun playing a few years before – so was nervous and excited about the solo shows.
The tour was great fun. I met gorgeous people and played in some wonderful places. The highlight would have to have been the Rites of Spring pagan festival in Massachusetts (falling in love, again!) I returned to the US again in October. A very intense time indeed, given that I was in New York only a month after the tragedy of S11. The whole country was in mourning. Samhain (Halloween) took on a special significance as we remembered so many dead. It was a month of ritual for me as I nursed myself back from a broken heart. A lot of time was spent in the Autumnal forests of Massachusetts and by the sea in Salem, meditating upon life and death and nurtured by beautiful and loving friends. It was here that I wrote the songs for my fourth album, The Lotus Eaters, which was released in May 2003.
I now continue to tour the world each year – meeting new friends and deepening my existing friendships.
Blessings
Wendy
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