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<\/a><\/p>\nName<\/strong>:\u00a0 Megan Henry<\/p>\n Location<\/strong>: Philadelphia\/New Jersey<\/p>\n Website<\/strong>: Working on it\u2026<\/p>\n Social Networking Site<\/strong>: Facebook<\/p>\n How long have you been a Wiccan\/Pagan? What drew you to the path?<\/strong><\/p>\n For about four years.\u00a0 I started out going into Wiccan. That was the most available at the time.\u00a0 Although I have grown away from any organized religious practice and now am immersed into more of a shamanistic practice.\u00a0 I found any organized religion a bit too dogmatic and patriarchal for my tastes.<\/p>\n How has the path change you? How much of you stayed the same?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have changed in the oddest of ways.\u00a0 Having been raised Catholic, in a Baptist home\u2026.yea\u2026and some of y\u2019all will understand all of that!\u00a0 LOL. I have to say that ever since I have taken a pagan path, I have become more Christ-like.\u00a0 Strange, but true.\u00a0 I find that, through paganism and being a solitary practitioner, that I am asking the hard questions about myself, my immediate world, and the world around me, as well as my place in it.\u00a0 Not only does paganism challenge you to ask the questions, but what I LOVE about paganism is that it challenges you to experience and live your beliefs\u2026to find out your OWN answers and live by them.\u00a0 You are also allowed to change and thus, change how you live.\u00a0 I learned how to not judge myself and thus, not to judge others.\u00a0 I am still learning that hard lesson.\u00a0 The biggest difference, though, is the living what you believe.\u00a0 Not all pagans do this\u2026they are like anyone else.\u00a0 It is just that paganism puts you to experience your beliefs and as you experience them they cease to be beliefs and become truths.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen bits and pieces of this in organized, mainstream religions, but not to the extent that I have found in Paganism.\u00a0 I just love it.<\/p>\n I am still my \u201cself\u201d.\u00a0 I am more joyous and react to issues that come up in a different way.\u00a0 I have a lot less anger around me and that is a wonderful thing.<\/p>\n Name one misconception of being a black Pagan\/Wiccan that you personally feel should be addressed within the pagan community and within the black community. <\/strong><\/p>\n I have been fortunate to have found a wonderful community of pagans in South Jersey who never made me feel outside their circle because of my race.\u00a0 In fact, they welcomed my difference because they wanted the opportunity to hear my view and share my perspective with them.\u00a0 There are a lot of misperceptions about black people in all white communities.\u00a0 South Jersey is particularly ripe with racism and in very subtle ways.\u00a0 Some of that spills over into the pagan community.\u00a0 It becomes tempered but, on occasion, I do get odd looks from people or they assume that I am associated with an African pagan practice.\u00a0 I had a friend who continually thought I that I should look into the Yoruba practice.\u00a0 I did, as I am generally open and found that I didn\u2019t like it because it was too patriarchal and too formal for my tastes.\u00a0 Too many rituals and rituals where women cannot participate or vice versa.\u00a0 However, do note that I am definitely a devoted solitary.\u00a0 I love being a solitary.\u00a0 So, my mindset, I think, is slightly different than others who prefer something more organized and communal.\u00a0 So, I think I\u2019d ask those who are not of color, that they not assume anything about us, like they would a white person.\u00a0 Just as an Italian may be drawn to a Celtic practice and that is accepted\u2026it should be accepted that a black, Asian, or Latino may also be drawn to practice that is not connected to their heritage in this incarnation.<\/p>\n The black community.\u00a0 Weeellll\u2026I think that there are many who are in the closet about what their true beliefs are.\u00a0 As \u201cout\u201d as I am about my beliefs, I have to say that if I am around folks who are of the mainstream religions, particularly \u201cChristian\u201d that I will keep my thoughts to myself.\u00a0 These days I am just not up for a pointless argument about it.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to think I pick my fights judiciously.\u00a0 So, when I am in the company of the religionists (my term only) I will either say nothing or voice my opinion in a secular way.\u00a0 I think I have a bizarre fear that they may gang up on me and try and lay their hands on me to exorcise Satan out of me or something.\u00a0 Whew\u2026the thought!!!\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in services where they just might do it!!! LOL!!!\u00a0 However, I wish the black community was more open to the idea that we are a VERY diverse people and instead of assuming what a belief system is because of what a book or a minister says, to find out for themselves what it is about.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the purpose of many mainstream religions is about control and ego.<\/p>\n How should the black pagan community combat this? <\/strong><\/p>\n Continue to grow, learn, and experience your belief system\u2026.so it is a truth and less a belief.\u00a0 Doing this alone you will stand out from the rest and people will approach you (as is what happens to me) and begin to ask you questions.\u00a0 Some questions are as simple as \u201chow is it that you look so joyful most of the time?\u201d\u00a0 Other questions may be more in-depth.\u00a0 But become prepared.\u00a0 Also, be open.\u00a0 Some people, even ministers or leaders in the mainstream faiths have something worthwhile to say outside of prepping for the collection plate.\u00a0 So, as we ask them to be open, we also must be open.\u00a0 There are enlightened ones in all faiths\u2026and they NEED to be right in the midst of all confusion happening in the large religions. \u00a0My experience, so far, shows me that most people are not ready to tackle the responsibility that comes with a pagan or indigenous path.\u00a0 I am in awe of what is asked\u2026and I grope forward daily to find my way back to Source every day.<\/p>\n As an individual; what do you inspire to do to combat misconceptions of black pagans?<\/strong><\/p>\n To continue to grow as a soul.\u00a0 To make better choices in all aspects of my life, to not judge and learn what real love is all about.\u00a0 I don\u2019t need to step out and make a spectacle to garner attention to how different I am from the majority.\u00a0 I can just be.\u00a0 That is all that is needed.<\/p>\n Is there a message in your future project of African American Pagan documentary that you want the viewers to grasp? What is the message?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019d like to tell \u201cour\u201d stories and experiences of how we began this path and the journey.\u00a0 In one of my meditation groups I had a woman (Hispanic) listen as about 12 people shared how they started on their path.\u00a0 The stories were amazing and very diverse, most had a catalyst of some sort, usually a death of a loved one (as was my case), to intense psychic awakenings or spiritual activity.\u00a0 This woman, who was last to speak broke down crying because she had begun to hear voices, sought out psychiatric help and they found nothing wrong with her, sought out medical help (auditory issues) and found nothing wrong.\u00a0 Some of the stories she heard were exactly what she was experiencing.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t crazy (I don\u2019t like to say crazy. But, it is quick and to the point) \u2026and it turned out she was experiencing a quick and intense awakening.\u00a0 She found her support there for a few months and then decided to pursue a shamanistic practice.\u00a0 I happened upon her months later and she was so much more at peace. My point is that although our experiences are similar, the difference is in the details\u2026the colorful details of our people.<\/p>\n One other instance for me, was when I first embarked on this path, and at the time I embraced Wicca.\u00a0 I was pretty much out with it, and I work at an office, and my department had hired a temp for a few weeks.\u00a0 She was a black woman, and although I had not spoken about it, this woman perceived that I was of some sort of pagan path.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t wear anything at the time, so I think she picked up on it psychically.\u00a0 I remember she said to you \u201cyou are brave for being out\u201d.\u00a0 I asked her what she meant.\u00a0 She replied\u2026your religious path.\u00a0 I stopped dead in my tracks\u2026I turned around and asked her what she practiced, and she said she was a witch, and practiced Wicca for years.\u00a0 We were the same age so we spoke about it in depth.\u00a0 Her story of living in Harlem with her three children and how she had and continued to hide her practice for fear of reprisals in the community.\u00a0 I believed her, too.\u00a0 Our people live in tremendous fear, planted by the mainstream religions, i.e., Satan, demons, etc.\u00a0 Not to say that those energies do not exist, however, in general it is just the \u201cevil\u201d within that particular soul that is in confusion, not an outside entity. So, our community lives and perpetuates fear, plus the fear from the religious organizations that if people were to actually take responsibility for their own actions, and KNOW the God within\u2026their structures and organizations would most likely be empty, they\u2019d have no money.\u00a0 LOL!<\/p>\n The message I\u2019d like to bring to black pagans is that\u2026they most definitely are not alone, and they can, if they choose, to reach out to other black pagans for support if needed, that we can also write books, make CDs, step into the hyper new age arena with a spiritual message that ALL people could identify with and learn from.\u00a0 When I go to some of the spiritual expos I am so disheartened when I see no representation or maybe one or two black or Latin speakers.\u00a0 Our history here is so amazing\u2026I mean our people survived slavery!\u00a0 Yes\u2026we are still here, and that alone, coming into this incarnation as a black person affords me a genetic make up to withstand all sorts of trials and tribulations.\u00a0 This alone can be shared with those who are not making it, or the struggle is so burdensome to them they are sinking (or perceive themselves to be sinking).\u00a0 I told one fellow who comes to me periodically for advice to \u201cpick your behind up, stop whining, and move your ass!!!\u201d\u00a0 He was shocked as he had never been spoken to in that manner.\u00a0 He later thanked me and laughed very hard and said\u2026\u201dyou know what\u2026that fucking worked!!!!\u201d\u00a0 He still struggles with many issues, but from that he knows he CAN change his own life\u2026sometimes by just moving his ass.\u00a0 \u00a0And who talks like that\u2026except some of our folks!!!!\u00a0 LOL!!!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t grow up in the ghetto, but my cousins did so I picked up a lot of the vernacular, lest I get beat up.\u00a0 LOL.<\/p>\n Our lives are colorful in a way that others may not understand, and as pagans we can share that color and help anyone move forward.\u00a0 I believe that is ultimately the only reason we are here.\u00a0 To help ourselves and others move back to Source.\u00a0 Nothing is as important. Not a career, not money, not a house, a car, fine clothes, sex, a husband or wife\u2026or even children.\u00a0 Our only purpose is to get back home\u2026.our real home.<\/p>\n What type of audience do you feel would benefit from the documentary?<\/strong><\/p>\n I believe anyone who is open to another perspective would benefit.\u00a0 I would like black pagans to be able to use the documentary to connect with each other.\u00a0 New pagans to get some answers as they struggle to find the answers within.\u00a0 And those outside paganism to realize that we are not Satan or demonic and that paganism isn\u2019t what they assume they\u2019ve been told it is.\u00a0 At the least it would be a very enjoyable series of stories\u2026hopefully ending with people asking more questions than when they started.\u00a0 it would also be nice that black folks who see it will be able to contact another black person to discuss or help with whatever issues they are going through.\u00a0 In our culture it is perpetuated that only white people have the answer.\u00a0 Well, they don\u2019t\u2026not even for themselves.\u00a0 Ultimately, we have to find our own answers, but the path to that realization becomes very, very interesting.\u00a0 And then, the magic happens when you see that Source works through EVERYONE!!!!<\/p>\n Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? <\/strong><\/p>\n I am an eclectic, solitary shamanistically bent.\u00a0 Always evolving.\u00a0 I am also a musician (opera singer now a jazz something singer) working on a CD, I have a very tiny, tiny intsy wintsy body work practice (energy work, not massage), I am a life coach (really good at that), and I work 3 days a week at a law firm.\u00a0 What fun!!!!\u00a0 I also started teaching voice at a cultural center.\u00a0 I am good at that\u2026<\/p>\n What was your religious\/spiritual background prior to your current path?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was raised Catholic.\u00a0 But my home life was Christian Baptist.\u00a0 My Catholic experience was just awful.\u00a0 The racism was so thick growing up.\u00a0 We\u2019d go to church and the place would be packed with people, but our pew would be empty!!!\u00a0 No one wanted to sit next to us.\u00a0 But, we went anyway.\u00a0 The strength of black people!!!!\u00a0 When I got out of catholic school, which ended Catholicism for me and my family as well.\u00a0 The story of why I was raised Catholic is that my mother couldn\u2019t get pregnant and an Italian woman offered to do a Novena for a couple of months or so.\u00a0 She asked that if my mom got pregnant that she raise me Catholic.\u00a0 Well, that did the trick.\u00a0 A month after the Novena, my mom was pregnant with me.\u00a0 So she kept the bargain and raised me Catholic.\u00a0 I spent years actually believing much of what the indigenous religions belief.\u00a0 I have no idea where it came from; I think it is past life remembrances.\u00a0 At one point I completely immersed myself in Christianity and even studied 6 years with Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses.\u00a0 That was the last straw I think.\u00a0 That made me physically ill.\u00a0 Then I had a catalyst and my soul would not be denied.\u00a0 I screamed out to God\u2026who are you?\u00a0 And it showed me who it is.\u00a0 It was magnificent.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve been connecting myself to that energy ever since.\u00a0 Questioning, getting answers\u2026experiencing \u2026<\/p>\n How would you \u201clabel\u201d your current path (Ifa, Wiccan, eclectic, Hellenic, etc.)?<\/strong><\/p>\n Eclectic.\u00a0 I have a base in Wicca, I just don\u2019t identify with all the ritual, and what I call party favors (statues and whatnots) etc.\u00a0 For instance my first Wicca ritual everyone took out their knives and things, and I used my finger.\u00a0 LOL\u2026everyone just stared at me.\u00a0 I replied quite naturally that I don\u2019t need to use anything to channel my energy\u2026it is within me and my finger is enough.\u00a0 (Gasp!!!!)\u00a0 I am also very shamanistic I completely connect with the energies of animals, plants, universal energy.\u00a0 But I do love Wicca, there are such great spiritual ideas in Wicca.\u00a0 Love it\u2026.I\u2019ve just morphed.<\/p>\n What deity (deities) and\/or pantheon do you work with ( or the most)? <\/strong><\/p>\n I work with what I call \u201cSource\u201d, the energy what many would call God.\u00a0 It is neither male nor female, although I very much so connect to female energy, and am an avid supporter of women\u2019s liberation from themselves.\u00a0 It is all\u2026is the best way I can describe it.<\/p>\n What are your practices? Solitary? Do you belong to a group\/coven? <\/strong><\/p>\n I am a solitary.\u00a0 I had a bad experience with a so called coven\u2026and that was the end of my Wiccan days.\u00a0 I mean the idea that someone thinks they have power over another, or has more understanding than another because of years of practice\u2026.well that experience showed me the complete opposite.\u00a0 There are those who have been practicing any particular path for years and don\u2019t know more than my puppy!!!!\u00a0 Yikes!!!<\/p>\n Even though I am a solitary, I do belong to a spiritual group.\u00a0 We meet once a week, and it is different in that it focuses on everyone\u2019s sovereignty.\u00a0 We created a safe space to share anything and everything.\u00a0 It is so wonderfully different.\u00a0 So when I feed the need to be in the company of others or have questions\u2026I go there.<\/p>\n Were there a community of black pagans that helped you along your path? In the beginning? Currently?<\/strong><\/p>\n No\u2026it would have been nice.\u00a0 I\u2019ve met black pagans as individuals in my travels, usually in a metaphysical store and had the most AMAZING conversations.\u00a0\u00a0 There is a black pagan community of sorts happening in Brooklyn, NY.\u00a0 I\u2019ve not been able to connect with them.\u00a0 We have so very much to contribute to the pagan community and the global community as well.\u00a0 I meet them here and there.\u00a0 Usually 2 -3 a year.\u00a0 I\u2019ve not been able to engage them, but I am going to put forth a stronger effort.<\/p>\n