First things first: Where is ‘here’, anyway? And what can you expect from this little corner of the internet?
Let me paint you a picture: As I’m writing this, I’m sitting at my writing desk which is looking out onto the Australian bushland. A kangaroo is feeding on the ferns in my garden (it really is – look)
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ is blaring from the Bluetooth speaker, probably scaring off the fairy wrens – which is atypical music for me. I’m much more of a Florence + The Machine / Angus-and-Julia-Stone-kinda-girl.
But it’s also highly typical for my demographic the week after the super-bowl:
- Generation: Millennial
- Age box: 35-40
- First social: Myspace
- First mobile: Razor flip phone
- Housing: Still renting
- Spending: Experience over possessions
- Parenting: Delayed/Alternative plans
- Career: Multiple job changes
- Grew up with Harry Potter and has mixed feelings about how *that* whole cultural phenomenon evolved…
- Knows enough about NFTs and crypto to be sceptical but has at least one friend who won’t stop talking about their blockchain investments.
(And listen: We don’t have the first idea why we’re suddenly into rap-music, okay? Maybe it was those size 29 Celine women’s jeans. Maybe it was deeper than that. But that’s a question for another time.)
I started this blog article series because I need you to hold me accountable:
I’m a fantasy author who writes ‘magical women’s fiction’ with places that feel like characters and a heavy dose of witchy lore. My stories require a ton of research. And that’s where you come in: ‘Here’ exists as a place to share my research findings with you – which is basically a sneaky way for me to do the research in the first place instead of doom-scrolling.
My research includes the following topics:
- The Witch Archetype
- The Wild Woman Archetype
- Rewilding for women
- Nature Connection
- Indigenous wisdom from around the world
- The divine feminine
I have a mountain of books, podcasts and internet sources to comb through, so by following this series of articles, you get to learn what I’m learning – and what, I hope, will eventually feed into my novels.
An important disclaimer: I’m not a pagan. I’m not a druid. I don’t belong to an indigenous people. I don’t identify as a witch in the sense that I practice spells.
I am an author who is fascinated by all of the above.
I’m not claiming to be an expert. Instead, I come from a place of curiosity. I want to understand, I want to learn, and I’m sharing my findings with you. I will also try, as best I can, to share my sources with you, to inspire you to do your own research and further reading.
If you are like me – a woman on a mission to rewild herself, yearning to reconnect with the knowledge we have lost – then this is the perfect place for you, and you are very welcome here.
And in case you are further along on this path: you are just as welcome. We are all here to learn. Let’s make this a conversation!
Well, now that you are here – how did I get here?
If you have a minute, I’d love to tell you.
Born in Germany, I spent my twenties searching for something I couldn’t quite name. I backpacked through the UK, Europe, and Asia, but it was the Scottish Highlands that captured my heart in a way I still can’t fully explain. There’s something ancient there, something wild that calls to people like me.
For years, I tried to quiet that calling by building a “proper” career as a TV producer in Berlin. But between endless meetings and fluorescent-lit offices, I kept dreaming of wide open spaces. I’d catch myself staring out of windows, planning my next escape during my lunch breaks. Every backpacking trip felt like coming up for air, but returning to the city became harder each time.
Then one day, I stopped fighting it. I made what seemed like an insane decision to everyone around me: I quit my job to train as a safari guide in South Africa. I needed to reconnect with nature in the most visceral way I could think of. I needed to get far, far out of my comfort zone.
What I found there changed everything. Encountering elephants, lions, and giraffes in their natural habitat, learning from my instructors and fellow students was so much more than just ‘ticking off bucket list items’ – it turned my life around, opened my eyes to the world and changed me in ways I could never have anticipated.
Those wild encounters became the heartbeat of my stories, the foundation of everything I write today.
I worked in the safari industry for a few years and it was during my time in Southern Africa that I met Frank – my now-husband, a South-African- born Aussie who whisked me away to the Australian Southwest during Covid – a charming pocket of the world I’m lucky to call home today.
These days, you’ll find me by the ocean whenever possible (I’m holding onto the dream of befriending an octopus someday). I serve as an ambassador for the International Fund for Animal Welfare and make frequent trips back to the African continent, to learn and educate myself about human-wildlife conflict, raise awareness, and to visit the elephants. It’s my way of giving back to the continent that helped me find myself.
Behind my name: I write my fiction as ‘Gisele Stein,’ but Germans might know me under my maiden name Gesa Neitzel. I’m an author of several non-fiction travel and children’s books about African wildlife.
But Frank just calls me ‘G’ – and so can you.
In my novels, I mostly focus on Europe and the UK, drawing from my background and the folklore I grew up with. But my time as a safari guide also opened my eyes to different traditions and beliefs. This has deeply influenced my research into the Wild Woman and Witch archetypes, and I’m currently exploring these themes for my upcoming witchy trilogy, which will be partly set in East Africa. As with all my research, I try to approach different cultural traditions from a place of curiosity and respect, always reminding myself that I’m learning rather than claiming expertise.
So here I am now, still at my desk, watching that same kangaroo (seriously, she comes by every afternoon). Kendrick has been replaced by Nina Simone – I told you that rap phase was temporary – and I’m about to dive into ‘The Enchanted Life’ by Sharon Blackie. There’s a cup of tea getting cold next to me, and my Google history is a wild mix of ‘medieval herbal remedies’ and ‘water pump repairs South West.’ But that’s exactly where I want to be: somewhere between the ancient and the modern, the mystical and the mundane, figuring out what it means to be wild in a world that keeps trying to tame us.
…Care to join me?
Upcoming articles for this series I’m currently working on:
Category: Rewilding & Nature Connection
- If you feel like something’s missing from your life – it might very well be Nature!
- The Connection between the suppressed feminine and the destruction of nature
- Nature lovers in a capitalistic society: How to come to terms with the fact that I’m part of the problem.
- Your innate natural knowing
- How to become a better student of the land
- How to trust your intuition
- How to be an ally to indigenous peoples and avoid cultural appropriation
- The Role of Humans: Could we be caretakers of the land?
Category: The Witch Archetype
- The Witch Wound: What it is and how we can heal it
- Reclaiming the word ‘Witch’
- Sometimes it takes a villain to create a heroine
- How to write female rage
- Let’s reframe ‘The Dark Forest’
- The Witch In Autumn (Why she should be on our minds all year round)
Hi ♥️, I’m Gisele Stein, author of feel-good novels with a little magic and places like characters, which i craft from my cosy cabin on Wadandi Boodja in Western Australia. Have a look at my books here. I’m also podcasting as The Earthy Writer, to document my rewilding year: Every new moon, I set a new rewilding intention for the month, and every full moon I share my learnings with you…