Spiral dance
The spiral dance, also called the grapevine dance and the weaver’s dance, is a tradition group dance practiced in Neopaganism in the United States, especially in feminist Wicca and the associated "Reclaiming" movement. It is designed to emphasize "community and rebirth", and is also used "to raise power in a ritual".
History
The spiral dance is a central ritual dance to Reclaiming Witches. The first spiral dance was performed in Berkeley, CA, and was performed in a ritual intended to meld art, music, and politics as well as to celebrate the publication of The Spiral Dance by Starhawk. It turned into a yearly ritual, although a large portion of the politics were removed for later versions of the ritual and it currently exists as a Samhain celebration to honor the dead and celebrate rebirth.
Performance
The spiral dance usually involves a drumming group and a chant or song in addition to the dancers. All members present hold hands and follow a leader in a counter-clockwise motion using a grapevine step. As the leader comes near closing the circle, he or she whips around and begins moving clockwise while facing the rest of the dancers. By continuing this formation, every dancer in the line will eventually be face to face with every other dancer.
The Spiral Dance
The Spiral Dance: a Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess is a best-selling book about Neopagan belief and practice written by Starhawk. It was first published in 1979, with a second edition in 1989 and a third edition in 1999. Since its publication, it has become a classic book on Wicca and modern witchcraft, spiritual feminism and the Goddess movement, and ecofeminism. The book has been translated into other languages, including German and Danish.
Background
The Spiral Dance is Starhawk's first and most famous book. After a failed attempt to become a fiction writer in New York City, she returned to California, and became active in the Neopagan community in the San Francisco Bay Area. She decided to try her hand at nonfiction and wrote a book on Goddess religion, which she finished in 1977 but was unable to publish at first. Her luck changed when feminist religious scholar Carol P. Christ included an article on Witchcraft and the Goddess movement in the anthology Womanspirit Rising (1979). Christ put Starhawk in touch with an editor at Harper & Row, who eventually published the book. In 1979, partly to commemorate the publication of the book, Starhawk and her friends staged a public celebration of the Neopagan holiday of Samhain (Halloween) incorporating an actual spiral dance. This group became the Reclaiming Collective; the annual Spiral Dance ritual now draws hundreds of participants.
Spiral Dance (band)
Spiral Dance is an Adelaide-based Pagan folk rock band whose musical focus is on the concepts of magic, myth and legend.
The band was formed in 1992 as a project to explore some of the more mystical elements in life and has drawn its energy from the songwriting and vocal skills of Adrienne Piggott. Adrienne's lyrics are supported by guitar and button accordion, underpinned with bass and percussion, all arranged to blend acoustic folk-rock with Celtic harmony.
To date, the band has released eight albums and toured extensively in Australia, the United States and most recently the United Kingdom, playing concerts with Damh the Bard and a final concert at Witchfest International. Spiral Dance toured the UK August/September 2014 with appearances at Glastonbury Faerie Ball, The Mercian Gathering and shows with Damh the Bard.
Current band line-up
Podcasts:
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by Spiral Dance
Woman of the Earth
by: Spiral DanceI am a woman of the earth and I stand between the sea and the sand
I guide the sun at each days birth, I hold the moon in my right hand
I am the nimbus in your sky, look through the crystal, see me fly
I am the lady of the lake, touch the sword feel the earth shake
And we'll walk the paths that the old ones walk
And we'll dance the dances they taught us
And we'll sing the songs that the old ones sang
For the magick now has caught us.
It's in the forest where the wild wolf hides, she waits for the pull of the
New spring tides
And the call of the young horned man, she'll lie and mate with the rhythm
Of the land
And the spells she'll cast into the night, a spiral dance, a mid-summer
Rite
She'll kindle wood, light the fire, draw the circle, evoke desire
And she'll walk the path that the old ones walk
And she'll dance the dances they taught her
And she'll sing the songs that the old ones sang for the magick now has
Caught her
Throw the stones, read the runes, feel the power, draw down the moon
Rowan, Oak and Hawthorn tree, in the scrying bowl we see
Fire, water, earth and air, this ancient wisdom that we share
Look to the moon, seek the find, here is the power of woman kind
Come walk the paths that the old ones walk, come dance the dances they
Taught us
Come sing the songs that the old ones sang, for the magick now has caught
Us