A post in two multiple parts.
This is it, the being black and following a Celtic path post. Grab some tea, prop up your feet and comfy, this is going to be long. I talked a bit about this for Patheos but that was the general “Hey there are black pagans too!” opening shot across the bow. This is going to be a bit more in depth. Indulge me while I give some background first.
I grew up surrounded by books. Most kids got excited for trips to Toys R Us, I got excited for trips to the bookstore. As soon as I was old enough I would walk to the library and check out massive amounts of books. I was really lucky in that my folks were just as voracious as I was, they didn’t care what I read as long as I was reading. This lead to me having access to many books that I probably shouldn’t have read but nothing can stop a determined 8 year old with a step ladder. One of these books was the Time-Life Mysteries of the Occult series. I discovered that there were truly people who called themselves Witches and not the Worst Witch kind (if you have never seen The Worst Witch I suggest you open up another tab in your browser, head to Youtube, type in “Anything can happen on Halloween” and be prepared for the awesomeness that is Tim Curry, dressed as a Wizard, singing a song about how awesome Halloween is against a bad blue screen. Can you see why I wanted to be a witch?!). From there I learned briefly about the myths & legends that Witches believed in. I harassed my parents to read me more books on mythology, which lead to my bedtime stories being either from Great Bible Stories For Children (my preferred story was of Joseph and the Coat) and D’Aulaires book of Greek Myths (Persephone!). The older I got the more I eschewed the bible stories for the myths.
My teenage years were more tumultuous then most and my only escape during those awful times were books. I was still into Greek Mythology but then…someone handed me a book on WORLD Myth and my world was blown wide open. There were other mythologies in the world besides my beloved Greeks! I read just about every world myth I could get my hands on but my favorite stories were always the Irish ones. I read over and over stories about Maeve and the Táin Bó Cúailnge the most, something in that resonated with me. As I got older my love of the Greeks slowly dimmed and my Celtic love grew. These Gods were ROWDY and FIERCE and everything my meek teenage self was not. I aspired to be like Them. Through Them I got the strength to live.
“But Vermillion!” you cry, “Where does the WELSH pop in?” Not for a couple of years. I read all of the Witchcraft books I could in college (which is to say all the Wicca 101 books. While I’m not that old I did come of witchy age in the 101 glut of the early 00s), read all the Celtic studies I could find etc etc. I was very general. It wasn’t until I had a conversation with a friend of mine when she said “You know, you should look into Arianhrod. She might have something for you” that I had even imagined that Wales had their own deities. Once I heard Her name though something in me clicked, it was sort of like reverse Jenga; instead of a piece sliding out, it slid back in.
From there it was research research research (which continues to this day), I eventually discovered The Sisterhood of Avalon and lately (lately being the past 3 years or so) I have actively worked in a Welsh system with the eventual hope of entering the Sisterhood. Every year I say “THIS is the year I apply!” and the portals come…and I feel like I’m not ready. It will happen at some point I truly believe.
Up until a couple of years ago the idea of me being black & on this particular path being odd never struck me. I figured that since this is what called specifically to ME that it was no one’s business especially considering that as long as I’ve identified as a Pagan I’ve been solitary. I only had to answer to the Gods and to myself. Turns out I was correct about only answering to the Gods but boy was I wrong thinking me being black wouldn’t matter!
In our next installment: Vermillion breaks out the clue by four.
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