Valerie Kim Duckett

Valerie Kim Duckett was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, in a working class family. Kim identifies as a Southerner and an Appalachian woman. In 1974, she was part of a grassroots effort to found the first Woman’s Rape Crisis Center in Asheville, now Our Voice. By 1977, she helped form the Lesbian Caucus at a time when the Women’s Center asked lesbians to keep a low profile.

After being married by age 16 and divorced at 20, she completed degrees at the University of North Carolina, Asheville (undergrad degree in Women’s Studies, 1980), Appalachian State University (graduate degree in Media and Instructional Technology, 1986). She has taught Women’s Studies courses for thirty years at various colleges and universities in the Asheville region.

During the 1980s, she started a nonprofit educational and religious organization called WHISPER (Women’ Holy Inspirational Spiritual Performances, Events, and Rituals) and led its rituals and teaching circles. She received a Ph.D. in Women’s Studies and Transpersonal Psychologies in 1997 from Union Institute and University in Ohio. In addition, she has been an ordained priestess in Dianic goddess and Wiccan traditions since 1999. She teaches a goddess and spirituality curriculum based on the Wheel of the Year. She published “The Wheel of the Year as a Spiritual Psychology for Women,” in the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies (29:2, 2010). Her practice focuses exclusively on women’s healing and empowerment with a special focus on the psychologies of Goddess women.

Jane Kennedy, Kim Duckett, and Pam Amyot during the 1970s

Biography Date: April 2025

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