Starhawk was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her father, Jack Simos, died when she was 5. Her mother, Bertha Claire Goldfarb Simos, was a professor of social work at UCLA. Both her parents were the children of Jewish immigrants from Russia. In 1973, while she was a film student at UCLA, Starhawk won the Samuel Goldwyn Award for her novel, A Weight of Gold, a story about Venice, California, where she then lived. Starhawk married Edwin Rahsman in 1977. She is currently married to David Miller.

Starhawk lives in San Francisco, where she works with Reclaiming, a tradition of Witchcraft that she co-founded in the late 1970s.She is internationally known as a trainer in nonviolence and direct action, and as an activist within the peace movement, women's movement, environmental movement, and anti-globalization movement. She travels and teaches widely in North America, Europe and the Middle East, giving lectures and workshops.

She was influential in the decision by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations to include earth-centered traditions in the UUA sources of faith. She led numerous workshops for, and was an active member of CUUPS; The Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, Inc. (CUUPS) is an Interest Group of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) honoring goddess-based, earth-centered, tribal and pagan spiritual paths.

She is currently working with United for Peace and Justice, the RANT trainers' collective, Earth Activist Training, and other groups.

Starhawk is the author of several non-fiction best-selling works:

• The Earth Path (2004),
• Magic, Sex, and Politics (1982, 1988, 1997),
• Truth or Dare (1988), and
• Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising (2003).
• A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess (1979, 1989, 1999),

She also coauthored:

• With M. Macha NightMare [1] and Reclaiming Collective, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying (1997).
• With Anne Hill and Diane Baker, Circle Round: Raising Children in the Goddess Tradition (1998).
• With Hilary Valentine, The Twelve Wild Swans: A Journey Into Magic, Healing and Action (2000) a resource book for Pagans.

She is the author of a widely read essay, “How We Shut Down the WTO" as well as her web writings.

Starhawk's fiction includes:

• The Fifth Sacred Thing (1993), and
• Walking to Mercury (1997).

Starhawk has contributed to the films Signs Out of Time: The Story of Archaeologist Marija Gimbutas[2], Goddess Remembered, The Burning Times, and Full Circle. She participated in the Reclaiming CDs Chants: Ritual Music, and recorded the guided meditation Way to the Well.On Youtube: Starhawk speaks on spirituality and activism at UUA. She also wrote the call to action for the women's peace organization Code Pink[3].