Sacred Dance in Pagan Practice

“All she wants to do is dance, dance, dance…”. Yes, that pertains to witches and Pagans, too! Within a Pagan circle or community, sacred dance is often incorporated in ritual and ceremony. Therefore, energy is raised and we connect with Majick and The Goddess in a special way.

Movement is the most valuable and beneficial gift we can give ourselves! Movement is innate, undeniable and powerful! Additionally, dance is a beautiful manifestation of movement, including rhythm, full body involvement, joy and often sharing of energy.

Crowwommen love to dance in Ritual

The Crowommyn are certainly musicians and singers; we also dance, for ourselves, and in the larger Pagan community. As you might expect, many songs we have written and recorded refer to dance, as movement has a role in our spiritual lives. Here are a few of our dance-oriented songs, according to the album where they can be found. We hope you will use any of these songs in your own rituals and ceremonies, as you move to your inner dance magic.

• Crow Goddess: Let’s Go Down, Song of Beltane, We Won’t Sleep Tonight
• Crow Magic: Dance of Dreams, I Am Flame, Sing Ho! For the Mead, Ecomancy, Bless our Mead
• Seasons: We Turn the Wheel, Dance of Spring, Beltane Spirits, Join Together, Celebrate Summer

Of these, one that really celebrates sacred dance is Dance of Dreams which came to Alane in a magical way at Dragonfest‘s Freedom Circle, during an epic dance and drum jam.

Our other song that explores the sacred nature of dance is Laura’s Dance of Spring. “Dance with the Goddess the maiden of spring”!

One venue for dance is within sacred spaces. My background includes facilitating dance/movement for ceremony and ritual, which is a powerful contribution to a sacred occasion. I have worked this way in a various church settings, but more often with Pagan and Wiccan ritual. Sometimes we create the magical Spiral Dance. There are also other dance opportunities for raising energy and offering praise to the Goddess and the God. When we truly forget ourselves and allow the movement and music to rise within us, we are offering the best of our human selves to Deity.

Let’s encourage everyone to dance!

As a dance teacher, choreographer and performer, I have worked with many different populations of people to create dance opportunities. These include college students and community members, elders, therapeutic groups, persons with intellectual challenges and individuals with schizophrenia. As soon as one releases the notion that we have to be “good” dancers to be able to dance, then this wonderful activity is available to all manner of folks.

In fact, I invite you to reject that too-common phrase; “dance as if no one is watching”. What’s the message here? That when you dance, you should be so embarrassed about the way you look that you don’t want to be seen? That our individual movement style is something to be ashamed of? That is a defeatist attitude! Let us replace that phrase with; “dance as if everyone is dancing!” I suggest that we all reject judgement about how we look when we dance. That evaluation may be OK for professional dancers that we pay good money to watch, but not for us normal people, for whom movement is our birthright!

Pagan tradition includes many dancing deities

Notably, we recognize that Dance is a special talent of many deities celebrated by the Pagan community. For instance, Pan, the goat-featured God of revelry is often called “The Lord of the Dance”. Can’t you picture him, playing his pipes and leading a merry dance of festive followers in the springtime madness of love and lust? Another deity, also named Lord of the Dance, is Shiva in his aspect as Nataraja. We see Shiva stomping his feet in a dance of creation and destruction…that’s how powerful his dancing is! Additionally, one of the Muses, Terpsichore, is the Mistress of both song and dance.

Let Spirit move us all

Recently, I have been the originator and facilitator of the Spirit Movers, a group within the congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango in Colorado. As many of you know, the UU church is very Pagan-friendly. I feel that my membership in this organization enhances my spiritual practice. With a group of women and men, we co-create movement that is then offered during some of our worship services, accompanied by hymn or reading. It is in the spirit of sharing our work that the dancers take part in these services. Here’s the link to my video.

I encourage you to include dance and movement in your own rituals, both solitary and communal. Move around the central altar or fire, singing, beating rhythm with your rattles and drums. Snake a line of dancers through a sacred grove or meadow. In these ways, we are all creating a sacred circle, within which our Majick strengthens and infuses our deepest selves. So, dance on! Dance as if everyone is dancing! Dance to the drumbeat of your body, dance your inner joy, your fiercest moods…and the Goddess and the Lord of the Dance will bless you!