"Healing" Column as it appeared in The Monadnock Shopper News on March, 26,
2008
SACRED DANCING AT SACRED SITES
by Skye Stephenson I
confess, I'm a terrible dancer! I'm one of those people that literally have two
left feet! Always been like that, most likely always will be. That's why it was
so surprising to me a few years ago when I was attending a conference in
California to hear a small voice inside my heading suggesting I visit one of the
pre-session workshops called "Dance your Dream". As I meandered through the
conference hotel, I tried to ignore that inner voice until it became too
insistent. Reluctantly, I found my way to the room where the session was
scheduled.
I entered to the sound of drumming. It sounded oddly familiar
- almost like the drumming I had encountered in sacred ceremonies in Brazil, or
Cuba perhaps. Yet it was somehow different as well. A few people had already
gathered and were beginning to follow the steps of the woman who appeared to be
the session leader. Dressed in a white garb with a distinctly indigenous
embroidered design, she was moving to the drum beat, vigorously and firmly. I
was to learn that her name was Elizabeth Patricia, and that she was a doctor in
anthropology as well as a psychotherapist by training. The man beating drum,
decidedly younger than she, was Armando, who I later learned was her husband.
That first dance session no words were exchanged. Just forty five
minutes of group dancing, following as best as we could her lead. And when the
session was over, I found myself unable to go on to the next conference event. I
stumbled back to my hotel room, and as I lay down a flood of memories and
emotions and feelings the like I have never felt before washed over me. It took
me some time to recover.
The next morning - same time - same place - was
back again. So too were the other participants from the day before. Elizabeth
spoke briefly before beginning the second dance session. If you happened to
experience memories of your childhood, maybe even your childhood home yesterday,
that is what is to be expected. After all, you were dancing earth, and that is
what earth will connect you to. Today, we will dance fire and you will see how
it is different. And she was right!
For the remainder of the week, every
morning we gathered in what soon became a tight group of friends to dance. As
the week progressed, we came to learn that we were dancing sacred Mexhica dance
steps that were first developed maybe three thousand years ago. We learned that
in indigenous communities in parts of Mexico these dances are done every morning
at sunrise, and at special times throughout their calendar cycle. We learned that
to learn these dance steps we had to simply observe - no verbal explanations, no
rational comments - this was the traditional way of instruction. And mostly
importantly we learned viscerally how powerful and truly healing these dances can
be. Healing for oneself and - at least according to indigenous Mexhica beliefs -
healing for the Earth as well.
Flash forward to 2008. Elizabeth and I
have corresponded since the conference. I have visited her in Guadalajara, where
she lives. And we have together developed a tour through Central Mexico
involving sacred dancing at sacred sites. Thirteen participants have signed up -
thirteen women literally drawn from the four corners of the globe. From
Australia and Chile and the Channel Islands and - yes - from the United States as
well.
It is the third day of the journey. We have already had a few
Mexhica dance lessons as well as a presentation from Elizabeth showing us the
parts of the brain that are activated by these dance steps. She contends that
this dancing influences the neurotransmitters in the brain, as well as hormone
levels throughout the body. It also is reputed to help balance the two
hemispheres of our brains, and is excellent for memory, balance, and stress
relief. The ancients who first developed these dance steps seemed to know this
information that modern day science is just beginning to corroborate. Today we
will be visiting Guachimontones, the site where Mexhica sacred dancing is reputed
to have been born. Guachimontones is a newly excavated ceremonial center located
in Jalisco state, in central western Mexico. Before Guachimontones was "discovered"â
most people thought that this part of Mexico was bereft of the
types of archeological sites found elsewhere in the country. Nowadays, they know
otherwise. In fact, Guachimontones is one of the most ancient archeological
sites in Mexico, more ancient than the famed ruins in Mexico City. It is also
home to one of the oldest and best preserved ball courts in the Americas.
What I like most about Guachimontones however is that it is so unique.
Its pyramid are actually circular in shape, the same shape as Mexhica dances are
always danced in. The shape of the Earth itself!
The best preserved
pyramid is the "moon pyramid". It consists of thirteen steps, a small platform
and then four more steps to reach its apex. We are told that this corresponds to
the thirteen lunar months, plus the four elements. At the top of the pyramid is
where the sacred bird dance was danced long ago.
We arrive in late
afternoon, a bus full of gringa women. As we enter the site grounds, we find
that some of the Mexhica dancers Elizabeth knows have already arrived and are
waiting for us by the moon tower. They are garbed in their dancing attire - the
men with headdresses sporting different animal visages, the women with brightly
embroidered dresses. The drumming begins. We watch mesmerized - observing dancers
who really know how to dance the steps that we are only just beginning to learn
dancing at the site where this dancing began millennia ago. They are dancing to
the elements, and we are invited to join. Hesitantly we enter their circle - dark
hands interlaced with lighter once. We move in synchronized steps around the moon
tower, not once but several times. I can't believe it - me who never has been
able to keep a beat is moving in harmony with the rest of the group. It is as if
we are one, one with each other and one with the earth. We follow the leader as
he takes us to a large grassy knoll fronting the moon tower. Others join us,
until all the visitors at the site that evening - babies and grandparents,
teenagers and adults, white skinned and brown - are holding hands in a giant
circle. There must have been fifty or sixty of us all together.
The view
is magnificent as the sun begins to set behind the Tequila mountain that lies to
the west of Guachimontones. We are each invited to say something as we go around
the circle. Some speak in Spanish, others in English. It is one of those
powerful moments when all feels right with the world, when one can almost believe
that peace can and does exist.
We watch in silence as the sun slips
away for the night. A few members of our group snap photos of this precious
moment - trying to capture it on celluloid. Dusk begins to descend, and
reluctantly we break away from each other.
Yesterday, I received copies
of the photos taken at that spot and time . As I looked at one of the shots, the
rays of the just setting sun had been perfectly captured. So too was what
appeared to be an orb of lavender light that - I guarantee you - I never saw with
my eyes when we were congregated together at that site.
You know, I
can't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, this shimmering light caught on film
by a member of our group is actual visible evidence of the healing power of
Mexhica dancing at sacred sites.
Part Two - "Spring Cleaning"