An Interview with
Epona Moondancer

Reverend of the Fellowship of Isis, Arch Priestess of The House of Ouroborus and Dame Commander of the Noble Order of Tara

Q. Would you tell our readers a little about yourself?

Fit, fat and over 50! Married, three children (all married), a grandmother. I have lived and worked most of my life in South Africa and am now living and working in Milton Keynes, England, until we move on to Canada to join my eldest son and his family in British Columbia.

Q. How and why did you choose to become a Pagan?

Let’s say the choice comes with time and realization. There was always something that was ‘not quite right’ with what the establishment calls the norm. Something was missing, something just not quite deep enough. I am sure you have heard the same comments by many people who have converted to Paganism. Only years after walking the Pagan path I realized the influence my father had on my final choice. It never quite dawned on me before that my father could have been Pagan, not until I began putting two and two together. From the age of three, or there about, it’s as far back as I can remember, each year my Dad built me a new Faery Garden, when this was completed I would dance for my father under the stars and moon. He gave me the nickname of Moondancer, I added the Epona much later. It now all makes sense to me why my father never wanted me to attend catechism or confirmation classes. He always said to my Mother and Grandmother that I should be allowed to make the choice for myself when I was older. He never stopped me from going to Church with my friends or from attending youth groups etc. He only insisted that I make my ‘religious preference choice’ when I was older, but taught me about caring for Mother Earth and much about listening to rocks and trees and working with herbs. Our family religion was very diverse, some Catholic, some Methodist and some Dutch Reformed. I attend each and every one of these churches at some stage of my life, and was never at home in any of them. Correction! One could say that I found some sort of ‘home’ in Catholicism as I connected with Mary.

Q. Why have you chosen the title of Reverend?

Firstly, the title of Reverend was bestowed by the Fellowship of Isis, of which I am a member, after studying to the level of Reverend. I have now embarked on the path of the Magi, which consists of 33 Degrees.

Q. What kind of witchcraft do you personally practice?

When noting that I belong to the Fellowship of Isis people assume I follow a Kemetic path - this is not so. I practice eclectic paganism. What feels right at that moment, what I feel would honour the Spirits of the Place. I guess you could say my personal practice is Shamanic, as I connect Earth and Ancestors, I commune with rocks and trees. Apart from many boxes of books, my heaviest load when relocating to the UK was my boxes of stones, 13 in all.

Q. Why did you relocate to the U.K.?

A life long dream of my husband, he always wanted to go to England to find his roots, so here I am, making the best of it. Believe me, its not easy at my age and I have to work very hard at maintaining a good spiritual balance, as I spend most of my waking hours at work. I am also doing some Interfaith work on behalf of Selena Fox as the representative for Circle Sanctuary Ministries.

Q. Would you share some of your experiences with Pagans in the U.K. with us?

I have not really connected spiritually with the majority of Pagans here in Milton Keynes, however, there are a few people we see on a regular basis at the monthly Pub Moot. In my travels, so far, I have come into contact with people deeply connected to the Earth, the true English ‘witch’ and also with the Druids, all wonderful people. Alan and I attended the 2002 Druid Conference and the Pagan Federation Conference in Croydon and Tintagel and have regular contact with Michael York, Bath Spa University College and also with Ronald Hutton, Bristol University. We will be attending a Solstice Ritual at Stonehenge with the Druids - not on the 21st when hundreds of tourists and the general public gather to drink and pollute and turn the event into a total fiasco - but on a morning a few days later. Celebrations begin at 3:30 am and end at 8:30 am, thereafter we move on to Avebury for breakfast and a gathering at the stones and a visit to Silbury Hill. The majority of Pagan people here are very different to SA Pagans and US Pagans, they seem to be very suspicious of Pagans from ‘the outside world’ .

Q. What is, and what is your involvement with, the Pagan Interfaith Embassy?

That’s a long story. I was approached at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Cape Town in 1999 by the founder of the Interfaith Embassy, who is also a Fellowship of Isis member. Alan and I were the only South African Pagans who attended the PWR. I was asked if I would consider being their representative in South Africa. I was a little apprehensive at first but after a few hours of deliberation with Selena Fox in her hotel room she convinced me that it might be a good thing for USA/SA Pagan relations. I accepted and when we visited Chicago in 2000, I was officially appointed. I resigned in December of 2001.

Q. Would you share some of your experiences with Pagans in the U.S.?

I have had some wonderful experiences with Pagans in the US. My first visit was in 1998 when I visited a number of places with Donna Vos, who was at that stage the President of the PFSA. We visited TAWN in Tucson, Arizona, Selena Fox at Circle Sanctuary, Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, COG in Chicago and New York. In 2000, I visited Circle Sanctuary again and Alan and I were hand fasted for the second time by Selena and Dennis. Selena and I had become firm friends during my first visit in 1998 and had been corresponding and working together and as mentioned before, we both attended the PWR in Cape Town. We then went on the Chicago where we met with the Correllian’s and I also reconnected with the COG people I had met in 1998. In 2001 and one I was invited back to the USA and was sponsored by both the Correllian's and Fellowship of Isis to attended the Chicago Fellowship of Isis Convention. I find the Americans very accepting, warm and welcoming, quite unlike the British.

Q. What do you miss about South Africa?

Apart from my friends and Clan - the wildness. Just can’t get used to the idea that the most I can expect to see in the forests are foxes, deer and badgers. In 20 years of hiking and camping most UK people have never seen an adder. The cobalt sky, all you get here even on the best of days, is a wishy washy blue. The glorious SA sunsets, I know that the dust and in some instances pollution has a lot to do with this, but even with the intense pollution here in the UK, I have only experienced 3 slightly pinky/yellowy kind of streaks at sunset. I miss the bush I miss the coast, I miss the mountains, I miss the Karoo - oh well, I guess I just miss the whole damn place and its people. Guess I am still a boertjie and will be for the rest of time.

Q. Do you have any message for South African Pagans?

Be true to yourself. Set aside the bickering and ego trips. So what if you had a bad experience with a certain group, you survived, you learned what not to be and how not to behave. Live and let live, there is room for all. No matter what group, society, or path the other belongs to, accept each and every person in their diversity and simply unite as Pagans. Life is too short. Spend each lifetime in service to Mother Earth and your fellow man, as the Dalai Lama said, "Without love we could not survive. Human beings are social creatures, and a concern for each other is the very basis of our life together." Communicate!

Contact Epona