CIRCLES SPIRIT DANCE
Second Annual Spirit Dance
Saturday & Sunday on June 30 & July 1st, 2012
A Community gathering for sacred ceremony.
Come one, come all Brothers, Sisters and Children.
We are envisioning this ceremony to honor our connection as community. We will gather to create and birth greater understandings of being in balance with Great Spirit, Earth Mother and our spiritual selves.
What is Spirit Dance?
It is important that we lead the way in showing the next seven generations how to come together in a fun, sacred and meaningful way and so this Spirit Dance is being brought together to set our feet on that future journey of love and harmony and good times together.
Please join us and lend your voice, your drum, your wisdom, your dance and your blessings to those who follow in our footsteps...
This is a celebration of tribal community walking purely within themselves through prayer and unity with each other. It is a sacred Ceremony of healing, allowing one’s self to look inward with honesty to see personal strengths and weaknesses with the support of the Community.
This inward journey is attained through dance, song, and drumming without the use of altering substances. The sacredness of this Ceremony is important in the lives of the attending community. While we recognize this, we remember that we are gathered to enhance our lives as well as the lives of those who come after us.
By attending this ceremony we expect you to walk with integrity. This is an alcohol and drug free event (and that includes marijuana). If you feel that you cannot abide by these guidelines then we urge you not to attend.
Chumash cave near Huasna - photo circa 1975
The following descriptions are based on last year's event. What happens this year is really up to the Spirit Dance Power Circle to figure out (see below). But based on what we've seen so far, we're expecting a relatively small turnout of about 50 or so people. We will all be camped out on Friday night thru Sunday afternoon, and we will all be pitching in to get everything set up for our own comforts. Our number one priority is safety and well being for the children. The keywords for this event are simple & gentle.
New Spirit Dance Power Circle
We are creating a new kind of organizing force within our community so that everyone gets a chance to truly participate in the decisions. We are calling this group decision making process a "Power Circle" and we are making a bunch of them. We are Circles of Empowerment (this is not the same old paradigm way of doing things!) - that means you get a turn in the Power Circle meetings to say what you see and want to make manifest, and what you commit to doing to make it all happen.
The people who have already signed up for the Spirit Dance Power Circle include: Shadow Walker, Hua, White Heart and we're holding space for more of you. Brothers, Grandmothers, children... we need you! We are looking most likely for some folks who would be comfortable as a Kitchen Lead, and as a Wrangler to keep everyone organized. This went quite well last year so we're doing it again!
Below is a brief description of events, based on last year:
Schedule
Friday June 29th:
All day Friday is devoted to setting up and building the site. We will be digging the latrines, setting up a teepee and a dome for the kids and some shade, and setting up the dance circle. We will have one fire pit in the dance circle (no sweat lodge), and we will build simple arbors at the Eastern and Western gates to the dance circle.
We will work on Beauty Way for the Camp and for the Dance Circle - again, keeping it simple but sweet, with the colors of the Directions plus the Arbors.
In the evening we will have a potluck and a Bar B Que in the Santa Maria style BBQ at the base camp kitchen. We will have a social fire pit, with drumming, singing & storytelling. There will be tea, coffee and access to the kitchen.
Saturday June 30th
We will have a short orientation about safety issues, cleaning up and providing guidance for being in ceremony, especially with children for whom this may be a first time.
We will have a Sacred Pipe Ceremony at about 1 pm, a beautiful sacred ceremony handed down to the People by White Buffalo Calf Woman and led by our own Standing Woman Maheewa.
We will have an opportunity to Council with the Circles' Leadership and explore how Circles can best serve the community in the coming years. Please bring us your concerns and needs.
There will be a 3 hour Children's event during this time with Elder Wise Woodswoman Jade Willow Heart, with lots of fun stuff to do and learn. Face painting and more!
By late afternoon/early evening, everyone is encouraged to be festively dressed and ready to begin. Adults will also be invited to the Face painting portion! Good for getting your groove on!
Ceremony at Sunset
Standing Woman Maheewa is co-lead with Hua for the sacred ceremony, which is a long dance lasting from sunset to sunrise.
There will be a formal opening, lighting of the fire, starting of the all night drums - all very beautiful. There will be a potluck table for simple snacks, baked goods, and tea & coffee to keep your energy up.
The children will have a chance to sleep as they need to in the large Resting Lodge, with an adult and parents present.
There will be a Wellness Lodge opportunity for those who wish to give and receive some gentle healings throughout the night.
Sunday July 1st
The ceremony will end at sunrise, followed by a potluck breakfast feast at the Kitchen.
Then we will take down the camp and load up. Finally we will unload at Hua's and get the gear back into storage.
Volunteer Slots
While the Spirit Dance is a gentler, and more easy going event than Long Dance, everyone will need to pitch in on a few tasks to keep things going smoothly and to ensure the safety for the little ones.
Everyone should bring potluck donations, and especially think about a baked good for Saturday night or Sunday morning breakfast. This can be savory/non-sugar, or it can be sweet.
Children Safety
We will have a rotating shift of adults who will sit for a session in the Grandmother Lodge and make sure the children are safe with the heater going. Parents will still need to be present with their own children, but there will always be a safety monitor present. Everyone should take one of these slots.
We can also use some help for parents keeping an eye out in the Children's Activities zones. The children's well being is the number one priority, and while no child care is provided, certainly we will all participate in making sure the little ones are safe and happy.
Everybody
Those who are physically fit enough to dig holes, lift boxes, lay carpeting, help raise the teepee and the dome, and all the other tasks in this vein should do so. Those who are best in the Kitchen area, laying fires, cleaning up in there, making sure food is ready to go and cleaning up after should report to the Kitchen Lead (TBD).
Always look to assist an Elder or someone who is not as strong as yourself, and keep an eye on safety for yourself and others as your first priority. Remember: if it's not fun, something's wrong.
The Spirit Dance Power Circle has to meet and make some decisions before we can get the registration truly up and running, but in the meantime, you can sign up to learn more about the event and registration by filling out this form below. We'll email you jut as soon as we've got the details in order.
Thank you!!