last year at artica, i was asked to participate in a public dance ritual with yoga teacher, healer, and dancer Sherry Summers, and spirit initiated shaman and artist, Mary Novak. we took the platform at sunset to do the ritual, doing energy work through dance and prayer for healing of our great RIVER MOTHER.

here's a brief description from Mary and Sherry of what their intention was with last year's ritual:

"From Mary Novak, Shaman Dreamkeeper…
Mary Novak is a Collective Shaman Dreamkeeper of the Black Jaguar Nations and will be in trance on stage drumming a collective Shamanic Ritual to open up the portal of energy below us for the collective shift. "I have been working on the Mounds both in St. Louis and Cahokia, Hawaii, Columbia South America, Guatemala, Vancouver and the Northwest over the past ten years preparing them for the 2012 shifts. I will create within my power an alignment as a vessel for the great spirit or power spirits to move through my Shamanic Drumming Ritual, where my apprentices will be standing at the Water Altar for everyone to say a prayer, leave a prayer or an offering to the water spirits before or after Sherry's performance.

As I am in trance drumming I will be working with the water Spirits, the primordial Grandmothers in Spirit, the Black Jaguars or Panthers, the Primordial Wolves of the old growth Forrest before the Mounds existed and calling in prayer the shifting energy of the Dragons and Phoenix. I ask for your support by chanting quietly the name of a god or goddess or indigenous Water Spirit sometime during our ritual.

From Sherry Summers…
In my body, I am listening to the drum, the sound of the river and the voices of all that calls through me.... “Oh, Mother, let me shake out and break the grip of ego that keeps me beguiled by this Illusion of the bodily existence. Let me dance you Mother Maya, let Maya herself dance through me so I am at once, celebrating her, being her. and transcending her”. “Vibra” (Vee-bra), the Portuguese Capoeira name given to me means, “One who Vibrates with the love of...” This body pulses, a Yogini conduit for Shakti – primal sacred energy. Snake –Woman conjures through me and recreates me in every moving moment. Spider – Woman dances me on her web vibrating, laughingly, through me and all creation.

In the space between the Arch and the great Mother Mississippi is a great portal, an access point of energy... great gusts of coming and going, of borderland places between realms, the chance to shape-shift. The water gives us the knowing of constant change, that which heals. In this dancing, I intend to give my body back to the primal sacred from whence it came. I become a Sensing Organ for the Divine... I never know if it will be slow or fast, elegant or grotesque; my job is not to know, but to let go the grip of the mind and be a conduit for Divine Energy only. Once connected, this is an offering, a burning of myself and a washing away of anything that holds me back from fully embodying the truth of oneness.

I invite you, the audience, to participate by, first, holding sacred space, witnessing, and offering your prayers of healing to the Mother of the Waters while I move in form. Then, Divine Dancers, Greer and Dianna will join me. If your senses can be entranced, then you can “lose your mind,” too, and at the end of my expression, you will be invited to Dance your Shakti, your energy in whatever way that comes about for you: slow and sweet, bubbly and full of joy, or intense and throbbing. This is an invitation to heal the earth by allowing the flow of Mother River to take place within."

here's a video clip from the ritual:
www.youtube.com/watch

this year, we've been invited back for another ritual... it will take place on December 19, 2009 along the riverfront. it will be similar in nature to what we did last year... but we want MORE BODIES up there with us this time, especially MORE WOMEN!!!!! POWERFUL WOMEN!! GODDESSES!!! :D this time, we're going to form a circle... adorned in tribal makeup, and anything we would wear for a sacred ceremony... we'll each have a chance to move in the way we are called to move, to express our love for Mother Earth and our River Mother...

this is a call to all spiritual dancers and musicians, those who would want to dance and create sounds for healing. if you would be interested in participating in this ritual, shoot me a message on here... i'd be happy to talk with you about it. it's a very powerful experience...if you believe.

hope to talk to you soon,

namaste,
greer lange