Photo by Lisa Levart for ASWM

Articles curated and written for She is Love

An Excerpt:

WHO IS MARY MAGDALENE?

“A priestess? A prostitute? The wife and beloved of Jesus? A devotional spiritual aspirant? A spiritual teacher and authority? A leader? A mother? A contemplative ascetic? A repentant sinful woman? The first witness to Jesus's resurrection? Or is she something more timeless, more archetypal, more iconic, more mythical, or even, cosmic?

This is a question that has mystified many seekers (and opponents) of the Magdalene for nearly 2,000 years. For me, she embodies all of these roles, and so much more. She is the Everywoman, appearing to each of us in a form that most resonates with our own soul. In that respect, I relate to Mary Magdalene as an individual woman as well as a manifestation of the cosmic feminine, sakti. She is a mirror through which I can understand my own experience as a woman, yet at the same time, she is also the cosmic feminine force, who guides me through the depths of healing my own internalized shame and sexism around female sexuality and embodiment. It is a shaming that I believe many women experience (consciously or unconsciously) as a result of thousands of years of patriarchal conditioning.

As you will see in the following interviews with a panel of incredible women who work with Magdalene and the Sacred Feminine, Mary Magdalene is Mary Magdalene. She is not definable. She is incredibly dynamic and inspiring, offering each of us who engage with her, the opportunity to transform our lives. 

I invite you to dive in, remain "curious and open", and let me—and all of us at She Is Love—know what in this series inspires you!”

An Excerpt:

Sacred Feminine Dance: An Introduction

“In a way, all forms of dance are sacred. The movement of our bodies is an extension of our inner being, which, from my point of view, is always connected to the cosmic matrix. Susan Rueppel reminds us of the profundity of dance and movement: ‘From the creation of the universe, to the first heartbeat of the fetus in the womb, rhythm and dance have always existed.’[1] In this respect, movement is our natural inheritance as human beings. It is only when we are prevented or discouraged from expressing our most authentic movement that we are denied what is most natural to us.

Sacred dance, then, is a heightened form of movement. The movement of the body with a conscious intention to connect with a sacred force or divinity is what we are amplifying as sacred dance. Similarly, the Sacred Dance Guild defines sacred dance as ‘any type of dance that is done with an intention to connect with or communicate something about the sacred, however that may be understood by the dancer or the choreographer.’[2]

Sacred dance delights in the pleasure of movement, sometimes repetitive and rehearsed, yet always fresh, new, and entirely in the moment. Sacred dance utilizes discipline and structure, but to the extent that this discipline supports and reveals the freedom and pure movement of one’s inner spirit toward the divine. 

Sacred Feminine Dance in the Ancient World to the Present

Sacred dance can be found in many communities from across the world from ancient into modern times. Building on Layne Redmond’s assessment that the word “history” in ancient Rome came from the word “dance,” Susan Rueppel explains that ‘dancers were often the keepers of the history of a people, adding dances throughout time to relate the events of their history. Most cultures throughout history have had dances and related costumes that represent their people and region.’[3] Specifically, she explains, throughout history, it seems that dance has primarily been a women’s sacred art form, ‘used to tell a story and enact myths . . . to worship the Goddess and represent the power of women.’[4]

Well before written language as we know it, dance and movement served as a form of language, ranging from simple to complex, and was likely meant to convey meaning amongst the community. (I use community here broadly to refer to people, animal, plant, elemental, and divine worlds alike). Paleolithic cave paintings suggest that earlier human beings moved with a ritual purpose and integrative intent.[5] Whether or not these paintings are representational of the actual practices of early peoples or are merely artistic in nature, it appears that dance and movement have been, on some level, vital to the human experience.

Western theater developed out of choral dance, under the patronage of the ambiguously gendered, God, Dionysus. He and his female dancing entourage, the Maeneds, are said to have practiced what we might now call ecstatic dance. Unfortunately, these ecstatic, “chaotic,” and “wild” dancers were largely viewed as a threat to social order of patriarchal Greece. (See, “The Bacchae” by Euripides). Although the Greeks seemed to acknowledge the innate power of Dionysian chaos, they preferred to keep chaos (and women) contained, while telling stories about the triumph of divine order over divine chaos.*

In India, sacred dance manifests in various forms. Many of these dance-theater forms combine movement, ritual, mudras, and music, every aspect of which are imbued with meaning. Indian dance is a form of storytelling that serves as a communal route to connection with the divine for both audience and performers. The Devadasi of South India, who we feature here, focused their devotion toward the Devi, the Great Goddess. Unfortunately, these important dancer-devotees were sexualized and demonized over time, their traditions and practices banned during British Colonial rule, and nearly lost forever. Today there is a Devadasi revival, aiming to reclaim the culture, traditions, and practices of Devadasi.

In the Americas, Indigenous communities largely experience sacred dance as an inseparable expression of their existence. In this system, humans are integrated participants within the cosmic web; they are in conscious partnership and relationship with the natural world.

For Indigenous communities, as is similar to many other ancient cultures, sacred dance could be described as a form of ritual. Sacred dance as ritual is imbued with symbolism that the dancer(s), as well as the larger community, knows will both celebrate the dancer’s connection with the divine, while also telling the story of the community to the community. Puebloan Sarracina Littlebird explains that for the Pueblo people, ‘Native ceremonies embody and convey important messages to both participants and observers in the community. Dance is the chosen mechanism of religious expression because of its potent expressive capabilities . . . [which makes] dance such a powerful tool for sacred action and communication.’[6]”

An Excerpt:

“FIRE

Fire is regenerative. From ancient Greece to the Indigenous cultures of the Americas, many ancient cultures have stories of how human beings first came to obtain fire. For the history enthusiasts among us, humans first domesticated fire nearly 300,000 years ago, although there is evidence Homo Erectus may have domesticated fire as far back as 1 million years ago!

Fire is regenerative. Fire is an essential part of human daily existence. Fire regenerates us; it keeps us warm and heats our food, making it possible to eat foods not suitable to ingest in raw form. Fire has long been a central component of the house in many ancient societies, and was localized within a central structure called a hearth. A physical structure, the hearth functioned to provide warmth, the processing of materials, and the cooking of food. In some cultures, it also served a symbolic function as site of sacred rituals. In some societies, a goddess was the guardian of the hearth—such as Hestia in ancient Greece—who both embodied and maintained the regular and sacred functions of the hearth. In many ancient and current religious traditions and ceremonies, fire can also be a symbol of ritual purification. It can also symbolize the fire within every individual, or in the case of ancient Rome, the central fire of the city (tended by the Vestal Priestesses) was seen to emulate the life force of the Empire.

Fire is regenerative. Though we have managed to domesticate fire for human purposes, wild and untamed fire remains a challenge for the modern Western way of life. Today, the mainstream approach to wild fires is to fight, fear and suppress them. However, traditional fire knowledge understands that fire burn is necessary and desirable when practiced in reciprocity with the ecosystem. Among the many purposes of controlled fire burn was, and remains, to induce regeneration of the ecosystem. Indigenous peoples of the Americas, for example, have consciously employed the use of “controlled [fire] burns to manage the forests and rangeland.” [16] Indigenous populations would traditionally use “fire as a tool to perpetuate habitats and resources that sustained their cultures, economies, traditions, and livelihoods.” [17] Controlled fires actually help prevent massively destructive fires while tending to the ecosystem as a whole: “With cultural burns, you not only are removing those fuel loads that create those superfires, but you are healing the Earth.” [18] Essentially, traditional fire knowledge is based in mutual respect of all plant life, with the understanding that humans be stewards of the land, rather than impose mastery over the Earth. [19]”

An Excerpt:

PRIESTESS INTRODUCTION

“The priestess is a cross-cultural ancient archetype. A priestess is a woman who either is believed to embody and/or is in life-long devotion to the Goddess (or God) she serves. In some cultures, the priestess is a conduit, an oracle, a prophetess, a shaman, whose primary function is to communicate between the realms of the divine, spirits, and/or ancestors, and the community she serves. While the social function of the priestess varies from culture to culture, the priestess remains a potent archetype for the modern woman. The priestess reminds us of our ability to connect with the sacred and divine. She reminds us of the power of devotion and intention. She reminds us that women’s spiritual leadership is a divine rite available to all women, of any tradition and any culture.

Who is a priestess? A priestess is any woman who lives her life in devotion to the sacred. She performs rituals, seeks to live in harmony and balance with earthy and cosmic rhythms, she is a conduit of information and healing for her community, and she embodies qualities of any given goddess or feminine force that she serves or aligns with.

A priestess may sing sacred songs, chant ancient mantras, dance with abandon, ingest sacred plants, be filled with wild ecstasy, perform abolutions, or she may invite the sacred to inhabit her body.

She may lead her community in spiritual teachings and etiquettes. She inhabits the liminal realms and creates a bridge between the sacred and mundane worlds. She reveals the mysteries of the Sacred Feminine and commits to use the Sacred Feminine as a force for collective healing. She acts with integrity and is life-affirming.”

An Excerpt:

“RITUAL ART is a dynamic medium that involves storytelling, the body, performer, and audience. There are multiple styles of ritual art, with some aligned to sacred performance while others are more aesthetic, secular, and performative. 

The way I see it, there are three forms of Ritual Art: Ritual Art Performance, Ritual Healing Art Performance, and Performance Art. All forms of Ritual Art, I believe, aim to have a transformational effect on the viewer as well as the performer(s). Most significantly, the body plays a key role in the performance. Sacred Ritual Art engages the sacred through the body and looks to change our perception of accepted reality.  

According to the artists of L.Y.R.A., “‘Ritual art’ is a movement in art created in the second decade of the 21st century which is best known for putting the rituals at the base of the artwork . . . The idea for its creation is a result of continuous search for a modern and conceptual vision of art that integrates the principles of rituals and ancient knowledge.”

Ritual Art is aware of itself as a performance. Much like traditional theater, Ritual Art invites you into its world, but at the same time, it does not necessarily invite you to escape yourself or your world. There is, in a sense, a meeting of worlds; the performer’s world, the world of each spectator, and the world of the performance. The result is not escapism or pure entertainment, but an opportunity to “see” the world through new eyes.”

Read my curriculum vitae