CURRENT MOON

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Thirty Years Of Spiral Dances



Ahhh, Mother. Now, I don't like to think of myself as a weak woman, but the veils, just now, are so, so, so thin, that I feel all raw nerves, all open wounds. My dreams have me ready to tape a sign up on the headboard of my bed: Dear Hecate's Dead Family Members: Give It A Fucking Rest; I'll See You Next Year. Enough is Enough.

I can't watch Starhawk's lovely video w/o breaking into sobs. There were years and years when -- a lonely solitary witch in a conservative, rural community, a solitary who had no real hope of ever meeting another "real" witch -- the simple knowledge that the Goddess was alive and magic was afoot in, at least, San Francisco, seriously helped to keep me going, and, by "going," I mean: continuing to get up out of bed every morning. That's what those of you who dance the Spiral Dance do for the rest of us. Don't ever think that it doesn't matter.

And, reading Starhawk's lovely post about how the crumbling of San Francisco's infrastructure will make it harder for Pagans to continue to grow the Spiral Dance (you saw it, didn't you, Fifth Sacred Thing, you saw it, didn't you?) I can't help but think: this is how it begins. This is how the twilight of an age begins. Devotee of Hecate that I am, I am bound by my blood and my soul to recognize and honor those liminal spaces where we transit from one culture to another. And, wherever we go, there we are. We're here. All our lives we have known that we would walk this way. But, yesterday, we did not know that it would be today. Yet, here it is: Samhein 2009. The year when crumbling infrastructure made it impossible for some to get to the Spiral Dance, while our government had money for war but not to pay craftspeople to fix bridges.

Ritual, as Starhawk says, gives us courage and hope. As we hurtle into the post-industrial era, may it be so for you.

2 comments:

clymela said...

So true dear one.
I am amazed how little of the real news gets around except here on the internet. Wonder when the "big boyz"will try to shut this down as the "big boyz" did in Iran.
I am amazed that no one says publicly that we are always spending much more money to kill strangers than we are to help our own to healthy productive lives.

Ellen Catalina, LCSW said...

OK, miss thing Hecate. I think we are on a convergence path this week. Today I did a blog post using this very same video clip (I sent it to my edit box and then came over here and was like 'no way')!

Also, I am blogging about an endangered butterfly this week. You seem to be focusing on endangered/extinct species so I want to invite you to my blog post about the endangered butterflies of San Bruno Mountain:

http://impotentrage-mamiel.blogspot.com/

Also, anyone unable to cross the bridge for spiral dance should consider coming to SF mission district on Monday night for the amazing, inspiring Day of the Dead procession. It is not to be missed, because as you say "The beloved dead are the reason for the season"

Samhain and Day of the Dead blessings to you all!

Hope the parallel experiences keep on coming!