Gerina Dunwich is a priestess of the Old Religion, a professional astrologer, and the author of over two-dozen books on witchcraft and various occult subjects. She was born in Illinois on the 27th of December, 1959. In the summer of 1969 she was formally introduced to witchcraft and spiritualism by an older family member, and has since devoted her personal life and writing career to educating the public about the ways of the Craft. It is her hope to dispel the myths and misconceptions that many people have about Witches and Pagans. She is also involved in paranormal research and possesses a passion for investigating ghosts and hauntings.

As a teenager, Gerina Dunwich (using a different nom de plume at the time) began writing poetry, short stories, magazine articles, and stage plays complete with musical scores. Her first newspaper article was published in October 1976. It was an interview with singer/songwriter Jim Peterik from the local Chicago band, the Ides of March (and later, Survivor). By the spring of 1980 Dunwich was publishing a small press literary journal called Golden Isis, a one-woman operation that specialized in Goddess-inspired poetry and off-beat fiction. Its international circulation grew to nearly 3600 and inspired Dunwich to write poetry on a daily basis. She began putting together a collection of magickal verse that she would self-publish a decade later under the title, Circle of Shadows.

After visiting Salem, Massachusetts, in April of 1984, Gerina relocated to the North Shore of Boston, residing first in Beverly, and then in Ipswich. In the winter of 1986, she purchased the historic Moses Day Homestead - a stately 17th century Colonial house in Haverhill that had been built around the time of the infamous Salem witchcraft trials. The house, which had been featured in a local television documentary about haunted houses in the Boston area, was a hotbed of paranormal activity. Three years later, Gerina succeeded in landing a book contract with a major publishing house. (Appropriately, the contract was dated October 31st.) The following year saw the publication of her first book, Candlelight Spells, and the start of her successful career as a prolific book author.

In December 1993 she moved to Fort Covington, New York, where she opened a small shop on High Street called "The Country Witch" (later renamed "The Calico Cat Whatnot Shop"), which sold antiques, curios and various occult supplies. She officially established Coven Mandragora on Candlemas 1996 and served as its High Priestess. That same year she established the Wheel of Wisdom School (an educational organization offering correspondence courses on the sabbats) and the Pagan Poets Society (a literary circle for writers and publishers of Pagan poetry), along with a local networking organization known as North Country Wicca. In February of 1998 she received a ministerial license from the Universal Life Church. Ironically, the first Pagan handfasting she performed as a legally ordained minister was for the younger brother of the cousin who had introduced her to witchcraft nearly thirty years earlier.

A respected spokesperson for the Wiccan/Pagan community, Gerina has been a guest on numerous radio talk shows throughout the United States and Canada, including Rob McConnell's X-Zone Radio Show. She has lectured and presented workshops at festivals and gatherings across the country, such as the CraftWise Pagan Gathering (Waterbury, Connecticut), the Real Witches' Ball (Columbus, Ohio), and Panpipes' Pagan Day Festival (West Hollywood, California). A member of the Fellowship of Isis, Circle, the Pagan Poets Society, the Authors Guild, and the Authors League of America, Dunwich's biography is listed in a number of reference works, such as Who's Who in the East; Personalities of America; The Wicca Source Book; The Modern Witch's Complete Sourcebook; and Crossroads: Who's Who of the Magickal Community (published by The Witching Well Education and Research Center, 1988). She is also mentioned in Anne Carson's Goddesses and Wise Women (The Crossing Press, 1992) and other works.

In addition to her own book writing, Gerina Dunwich has contributed to:

* Circles, Groves and Sanctuaries by Dan & Pauline Campanelli (Llewellyn, 1992)
* The Cat Book of Lists by Stephen J. Spignesi (New Page Books, 2001)
* A Witch Like Me by Sirona Knight (New Page Books, 2001)
* The Witch Book by Raymond Buckland (Visible Ink Press, 2002)
* Haunted Northern New York by Cheri Revai (North Country Books, 2002)
* The Action Hero's Handbook by Joe and David Borgenicht (Quirk Books, 2002)
* American Witch by Anthony Paige (Citadel Press, 2003)
* Encyclopedia of Haunted Places by Jeff Belanger (New Page Books, 2005)
* Llewellyn's Witches' Datebook (various years)
* Llewellyn's Witches' Calendar (various years)
* Llewellyn's Magical Almanac (various years)
* Llewellyn's Herbal Almanac (2001)
* Llewellyn's Spell-A-Day Calendar (2001)