Starhawk (Miriam Simos; born 1951) was a leading theoretician and practitioner of feminist Wicca (witchcraft) in the United States.

On June 17, 1951, Miriam Simos (who later took the name Starhawk) was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Educated in public schools, she regularly attended Hebrew study sessions after school and later frequently credited her Jewish upbringing as a major influence on evolving religious and political sensibilities. In 1982 she received a Master's degree in the feminist therapy program at Antioch University West. She worked as a psychotherapist in San Francisco from 1983 to 1986, then taught at Antioch West and other colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area. She traveled widely, lecturing and teaching the art of ritual-making to various members of the clergy, therapists, and personal-growth seekers.

Starhawk was a major voice in the feminist spirituality movement. Her view of witchcraft as "Goddess Religion" and the model of nurturing strength she saw in...