Horne, Fiona

Fiona Horne. Photo by Karen Djordjevic.

Horne, Fiona

Raised as a strict Roman Catholic, Fiona Horne has become the spokeswoman for Wicca in Australia. Educated by nuns in a girls school, Horne once wanted to be a nun herself. She studied the Bible and other recommended works but quickly came to the conclusion that they included too many inconsistencies and contradictions. The more she questioned, the more she found that answers were not forthcoming. To her, there were many stories and myths borrowed from elsewhere, along with unexplained laws and a great deal of disempowering of female stereotypes. Disenchanted, she started searching for alternatives in religion.

After a brief exploration of Satanism—which she found greatly wanting—she began to explore various aspects of metaphysics, after which she discovered Wicca. Unlike Satanism and other forms of "witchcraft" that she had previously encountered, she found Wicca to be a positive, nature-based religion that held great appeal. She says that she "felt very attracted to the fact that Wicca acknowledges many different Goddesses and Gods, but most importantly, recognizes that they can exist within the individual, not in the sky out of your reach."

By the time she was twenty-one, Horne had accepted the Craft as her true path and had performed a ritual of Self Initiation, becoming a Witch. Over the next few years she practiced as a Solitary.

In her early twenties, Horne started singing with a band that later named itself Def FX, which played a techno-metal fusion style of music. She wrote many of the band's songs, and through them, she expressed her religious feelings. She never spoke openly about her involvement in Witchcraft until the band eventually broke up, at which time she wrote her first book about her personal religious quest. Her recent focus has been on teenagers searching for the Old Religion, which led to new books and a "Witchcraft Kit" aimed at teenagers.

Horne has become a radio, television, and recording personality in Australia, where she hopes to expand her international horizons. She has worked as a journalist for mainstream Australian magazines and continued her music career as a solo artist. She describes herself as an author, journalist, recording artist, and television personality—and above all, a Witch.