Zsuzsanna Emese Mokcsay (born 1940) is a Hungarian-American writer, activist, playwright and songwriter living in America who writes about

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

and

Dianic Wicca Dianic Wicca, also known as Dianic Witchcraft, and, to some also as "Dianism," "Dianic Feminist Witchcraft," or simply "Feminist Witchcraft"' is a modern pagan goddess tradition focused on female experience and empowerment. Leadership is by wo ...

under the pen name Zsuzsanna Budapest or Z. Budapest. She is the founder of the Susan B. Anthony Coven #1, which was founded in 1971 as the first women-only witches' coven... She founded the female-only style of

.. She is the founder and director of the , a nonprofit organization featuring lectures, retreats and other events, and was the lead of a cable TV show called ''13th Heaven''.. She had an online autobiography entitled ''Fly by Night'', and wrote for the religion section of the

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

on subjects related to Pagan religions. Her play ''The Rise of the Fates'' premiered in Los Angeles in the mid-seventies. She is the composer of several songs including "We All Come From the Goddess".

Early life and education

Z. Budapest was born in

Budapest, Hungary Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. Her mother, Masika Szilagyi, was a medium, a practicing witch, and a professional sculptor whose work reflected themes of

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

and

nature spirituality Spiritual naturalism, or naturalistic spirituality combines a naturalist philosophy with spirituality. Spiritual naturalism may have first been proposed by Joris-Karl Huysmans in 1895 in his book ''En Route''. Coming into prominence as a writer ...

. In 1956, when the Hungarian Revolution began, she fled to Austria as a political refugee. She finished high school in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, graduated from a bilingual gymnasium, and won a scholarship to the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

where she studied languages. Budapest emigrated to the United States in 1959, where she studied at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, with groundbreaking originator of the art of improvisation,

Viola Spolin Viola Spolin (November 7, 1906 — November 22, 1994) was an American theatre academic, educator and acting coach. She is considered an important innovator in 20th century American theater for creating directorial techniques to help actors to be ...

, and the improvisational theater group

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has b ...

. She married and had two sons, Laszlo and Gabor, but later divorced. She realized she was a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

and chose, in her words, to avoid the "duality" between man and woman.

Career

Budapest's first job in television was as a color girl for the CBS Network in New York, and was assigned to ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

''.

Activism

Three-Crescents-Diane-Poitiers-multicolored

Budapest moved to Los Angeles from New York City in 1970, and became an activist in the

women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resulted in g ...

. She was on the staff of the first Women's Center in the U.S. for many years, and became the founder and high priestess of Susan B. Anthony Coven #1, the first women-only witches' coven, which was founded in 1971. She was responsible for the creation of an Anti-Rape Squad and the Take Back the Night Movement in Southern California, and facilitated many of their street marches.

Tarot reading and arrest

In 1975, she was arrested for "fortune telling" at her candle and book store in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...

following a "sting" by an undercover policewoman, Rosalie Kimberlin, who received a tarot reading from her. Subsequently, Budapest was charged with violating a municipal by-law, Code 43.30, which made fortune telling unlawful. Budapest and her defense team described her as "the first witch prosecuted since Salem,". and the ensuing trial became a focus for media and pagan protesters. Budapest was found guilty. Duly, Budapest and her legal counsel set out to establish Wicca, and more specifically

, as a bona fide religion. The state's Supreme Court reversed the guilty verdict as unconstitutional and in violation of the Freedom of Religion Act. Following her conviction, she engaged in nine years of appeals on the grounds that reading the Tarot was an example of women spiritually counselling women within the context of their religion. With

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

legal representation she was acquitted, and the laws against "fortune telling" were struck from California law.

Later career

In the 1980s, she created the TV show ''13th Heaven'', which ran on syndicated cable in the San Francisco Bay area for seven years. She has organized the Goddess Festivals, which take place every other year, since 1991 where women gather for workshops and ritual in the Redwoods of California (see website goddess-fest.com).

Works

Books

* * * * * * * * * * ;With

Diana Paxson Diana Lucile Paxson (born February 20, 1943) is an American writer, primarily in the fields of paganism and heathenism. Her published works include fantasy and historical fiction novels, as well as numerous short stories. More recently she has a ...

Music

Plays

*''The Rise of the Fates: A Woman's Passion Play'', 1976.

Films

* Released on VHS by Sony/Columbia-Tristar on August 5, 1992.

References

Works cited

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Z. Budapest's Personal WebsiteGoddess Festival Website by Zsuzsanna Budapest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Budapest, Zsuzsanna 1940 births Living people 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century American women Activists from Oakland, California American feminist writers American occultists American spiritual writers American Wiccans American women non-fiction writers Dianic Wiccans Feminist spirituality Founders of modern pagan movements Hungarian emigrants to the United States Lesbian feminists American lesbian writers LGBTQ Wiccans Pseudonymous women writers Wiccan feminists Wiccan priestesses American founders American women founders