When Witches Dance, the World Changes

One of many things I love about Hecate is that for the past year, we get together with our friend R. on Wednesday night, and do an ecstatic dance DVD from Gabrielle Roth. No worries about looking bad or doing it wrong. You just close yours eyes and do what you can, shaking what you can.

Sometimes the energy is high and we collapse on the floor out of breath. Sometimes the energy is low and we sway gently as we talk in the spirit of something is better than nothing. Sometimes Miss Thing braves the scary basement to see what her crazy mom and friends are doing. We laugh and give her cat treats as part of the dance. We use the energy we raise to heal our bodies and minds and send the excess to the ground to add to the pool of energy and protection to Hecate's home.

After we finish the DVD, we go upstairs to do another type of dance in her kitchen, chatting and moving around each other as we put the finishing touches on our healthy potluck dinner, opening a bottle of wine, setting the table, firing up the blender to make smoothies. Once everything is ready, we sit, preferably on Hecate’s back porch when the weather is nice and look out on her backyard which is almost as beloved by R and I as it is to Hecate and watch as it changes through the year.

When we remember it, we start by reading the daily reading from Meal by Meal: 365 Daily Meditations for Finding Balance Through Mindful Eating
And we talk about among other thing our lives, politics, our circles and practices, gardening, growing up, healing, magic, cooking, nutrition, sometimes serious, sometimes with laughter. We are mindful of work we need to do next day so try to leave at a reasonable hour but sometimes the conversation gets so intense we lose track and wind up our dragging our asses the next day.

As with the larger of women we belong to, when our little group gets together, I am honored and humbled to be part of this group. All the chick movies, and “Sex and City” knock offs are pale imitations of this sisterhood and I am grateful for my good fortune in finding these women.