ABOUT MORTELLUS
Mortellus is a Gardnerian Wiccan Priestex, necromancer, author, and public speaker whose work centers on death, ritual, and community care. As clergy devoted to the dead, they serve families through pastoral deathwork, funeral celebrancy, grief support, and spiritual guidance—offering the kind of compassionate presence that bridges both the practical and the sacred.
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Their work in the broader community includes teaching, writing, and speaking on topics such as deathwork, grief, ritual practice, cultural competency, minority faith practices, and Appalachian folklore. Whether presenting at conferences, lecturing in academic and professional settings, guiding families through home funerals, or writing from their corner of Western North Carolina, Mortellus approaches every facet of their work with clarity, humor, and a deep commitment to service.
Beyond the page and the podium, they are engaged in interfaith collaboration, mutual aid, and civic resilience—especially in moments of collective need. Mortellus’s approach is grounded in the belief that deathwork is community work, and that both the living and the dead deserve care, dignity, and witness.
At heart, Mortellus is a storyteller and servant—someone who tends liminal spaces, builds compassionate frameworks, and shows up where they’re needed most, presenting in local, national and international venues.
Training and Education:
Mortellus’s expertise is rooted in a multidisciplinary foundation of academic study, formal mortuary training, and rigorous religious education. They hold degrees in Education, multiple degrees in Graphics and Advertising, including a B.F.A. from the esteemed Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), where they developed strong skills in communication, pedagogy, and visual storytelling.
Complementing their academic background, Mortellus also holds a degree in Funeral Services, which includes comprehensive training in mortuary science, restorative arts, funeral law, embalming theory, and practical deathcare. Although not currently licensed as a funeral director or embalmer due to systemic barriers within the licensure process that disproportionately impact marginalized individuals, they remain an active and respected contributor to the field teaching continuing education for the North Carolina Board of Funeral Service, lecturing nationally on deathwork, grief, ritual, and cultural competency, and serving as a clergy-based deathworker and family advocate.
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Equally essential to their qualifications is their initiatory clergy training within the Gardnerian Wiccan tradition. As a High Priestex, Mortellus completed years of religious education in ritual practice, lineage, pastoral care, ethics, and community leadership. Their devotion to the dead and their role as clergy inform their approach to spiritual grief support, funeral, wedding, and right-of-passage celebrancy, ancestor veneration, and rituals of transition.
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Together these academic and spiritual paths allow Mortellus to bring a rare and deeply informed combination of professional knowledge, pastoral compassion, and accessible teaching to their writing, public speaking, and community work.
Awards & Recognitions:
Mortellus’s work has earned international recognition across literary, spiritual, and academic circles, including multiple wins of The Witchies Awards, and the esteemed COVR Awards for excellence in metaphysical publishing. Their expertise has been featured in several news publications, cited in graduate and Ivy League research, and sought out by college programs throughout the United States. Respected for their contributions to deathcare, interfaith collaboration, and community advocacy, Mortellus is a highly sought-after speaker whose work resonates across religious, scholarly, and civic spaces. And, in what may be their proudest if most off-brand accomplishment of all—they once took home a “Best in Show” ribbon at the Cleveland County Fair, for cookies.