Jessica Murray was born in 1951 in DeKalb, Illinois. She became involved with Students for a Democratic Society while an undergraduate at Brown University. Frustrated by the sexism within the anti-Vietnam War movement as well as the need for more female faculty members at Brown, Murray became involved in the emerging Women's Movement. In 1973 she helped found the Rhode Island Feminist Theater, where she acted and wrote plays collaboratively. In 1975 Murray moved to San Francisco. Since then she has practiced and taught astrology.