Seven Portals
into Sacred Circle Dance
The Story
The Seven Portals came to me one day as a gift while I was walking through the woods. One by one, each concept entered my consciousness as I followed the rocky, narrow winding paths up and down, through and around the moraine.
​
It started with simple thoughts about how I’m drawn to Sacred Circle Dance — a simple musing. By the end of my walk, I realized that I had received a body of information that covered seven distinct aspects of my circle dance experience. It didn't feel quite complete, so I walked the trail again, and the same aspects came through as before, in the same order, but with deeper meaning. Three being a magic number, I decided to walk the trails one more time, and then came the third, deeper level, leading to sensations of transcendence.
​
As I walked home, I realized that something unique had happened. and perhaps I should pay it some attention. So I jotted down what I could remember and went on with my day. Once I got around to studying my scribblings, the form emerged and became clear. Each category was a separate doorway into the experience of Sacred Circle Dance.
​
The information wasn't very earth-shattering or special, but it continues to call for more attention. I feel I have to honor that this information came to me unbidden, as one complete body of thought, in a wild area of Nature that beckoned me one odd day.
I feel I have some responsibility to it— an obligation to listen, to give it life and offer it to others. With the ongoing query of how I would use this information, the story became the program of 7 Portals into Sacred Circle Dance.
The Seven Portals
1. The Call
​
2. Visual Perception
3. Physical Connection
​
4. Aural/Hearing
​
5. Energetic Body
​
6. Emotional/Heart
​
7. Spiritual Connection
​
Each portal has 3 levels: ~ Entry Level; Engaged Level; Transcending Level Each moves us to a depth of connection with Self,
the community of the circle, and more profound elements of the dance. We are part of the Whole that invites us to enter the dance as a spiritual path leading to Transformation, Oneness, Wholeness and Transcendence.
What is special about the portals, in addition to how they came to me, is that they are an everyday part of our Being. They are directly accessible without any special knowledge, study or ability. just as we honor the everyday sacred with our dance, so we have everyday, ordinary tools for going deeper and enhancing our experiences.
All that is needed is our attention.
The Workshop
This workshop is for anyone interested in exploring deeper experiences of Sacred Circle Dance as a path for transformation and is applicable to many areas of our lives.
This is essentially a program of dance which invites us to journey into the dance through defined portals with presence and intention. The process offers profound connection with the Dance, with Self in the dance, with the whole of the circle and beyond.
The portals are presented, one at a time, with their corresponding 3 levels in the context of traditional and choreographed dances. We use movement awareness, practical suggestions, attention and guidance to create visceral pathways into greater spiritual alignment and meaning.
Most of the time will be spent dancing to give optimal opportunities to enter the dance with new awareness and focus. We dance to explore individually and collectively how each portal can enhance our presence and lead us into transcendence. Each step and gesture becomes a more sacred, intentional act of love, presence, and alignment.
These are doorways that everyone can enter; they are a natural part of our Being, immediately accessible. There are no special requirements or skills or spiritual practices to do – just a desire to experience more conscious movement, a more enlivened energy body and greater communal and spiritual connection that carries through into our daily life. Time in Nature is strongly encouraged.
MY GOAL is to use the 7 portals as open pathways to deepen our experience so that the very act of entering the dance becomes more sacred, intentional and transcendent. By being more conscious in movement and more present, we create deeper and fuller connections and become more easily aligned with each gesture, each step, each dance, each other and with Spirit. And we love the dances even more!
​