Donna Henes (1945-2024) was an internationally acclaimed urban shaman, ceremonialist, eco-artist, author, popular speaker, and workshop leader whose joyful public and private rituals reached millions of people since 1972. A noted ritual expert, she served as a ritual consultant to the television and film industry. She is the author of The Queen of Myself, Stepping into Sovereignty in Midlife, Celestially Auspicious Occasions, Moon Watcher’s Companion, and Dressing Our Wounds in Warm Clothes, and contributed chapters to more than 20 anthologies. Her writing appears on the Huffington Post, Beliefnet, and UPI’s Religion & Spirituality Forum. Mama Donna, as she was affectionately called, maintained a ritual practice and consultancy in Brooklyn, NY, where she worked with individuals and institutions to create meaningful ceremonies for every imaginable occasion.
She became an integral part of the downtown art scene as a member of the art rock punk band DISBAND (1978-1982) along with MacDowell Fellows Ilona Granet, Diane Torr, and Martha Wilson. In 1984, she received a Mayoral Citation from New York City Mayor Ed Koch for designing the New York City Olympic Ticker Tape Parade and a Mayoral Citation from New York City Mayor David Dinkins in the early 1990s for her work as Shaman in the Streets.
She has been a recipient of four fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as numerous project grants from municipalities, corporations and foundations.
