journal of dances of universal peace australia inc spring...

Journal of

Dances of Universal Peace Australia Inc

Spring 2011

Beloved members of the Oz dance family,

Welcome to this new form of our journal. We now get to have the photos

in colour! A big thank you to our Webmaster, John Shurmer, for the

technical support that made this journal possible.

Love and blessings to you all

Gini Leilani

Contents

President‟s Report

Eat, Dance, Pray and Create Together

Ya Fatah, Ya Fatah

Chilling Out

Awakening The Dreamer – Changing The Dream

Easter Retreat

A Journey with Hildegard of Bingen

Impressions of Dance Camp & Mana Retreat

The January Kiwi Pilgrimage 2011

Remembering Ruth St. Denis

Rekindling the Fires of Devotion in Tassie

Byron Bay Regional Report

Dances of Universal Peace Australia Inc. - Spring 2011

President’s Report This year has been very rich with offerings in the

Dance network and we are seeing Dance Leaders

empowered in so many ways. Last Year‟s spring

retreat at Karuna followed by this year‟s annual

retreat at the same place deepened our practice

of the Dances and their embodiment into our

lives.

Many of us still get to the NZ retreats at Napier

and Mana in January which are a great feast and

way of connecting with our neighbours…the

Kiwis. Shafia, Wendy, Odilia and others have just

been to the Khankah keeping the exchange of

dance leaders flowing.

Various regions are also holding retreats locally.

This has encouraged more travel from east to

west to lend support to what‟s happening and to

reconnect with our dance family. In particular

this year we have had the visit of Tasnim in Perth,

and Mariam Baker in Canberra as well as at the

Khankah held at Inana.

We are also fortunate to have an enthusiastic

treasurer Noel Jordan jump on board the

committee to help us streamline our financial

world. Arjuna continues his great work doing

outreach and holding the fort at the Blue

Mountains as well as the Sydney circle. Sabira, our

meticulous membership secretary supports all

these endeavours as well, often leading and

working behind the scenes. Majida and Elana are a

great support for my work in Byron Bay. I am

happy with our progress and the work of all the

committee members.

I would like to encourage folk to register for next

year‟s retreat with Anahata as soon as you can.

The first 24 registered will have indoor spaces,

the next 16 are in luxurious tents with the same

facilities as the indoor folk. After that there will

be camping available and some accommodation

nearby.

Spaces are filling up fast and we are expecting

Russians, Brazilians and Kiwis amongst our

Australian family. It‟s going to be big!!

On with the Dance…Zebunissa


Eat, Dance, Pray and Create Together By Arjuna Ben-Zion Weiss

22 – 4 – 2011

“I do not know any area of human potential more

important [than Creativity] if we are to be a

sustainable species again.” Matthew Fox

In the pre-Easter homegrown retreat this year I

entered the labyrinth set in a clearing in the bush

around the Karuna Buddhist Retreat Centre in

Katoomba. Cedar created the labyrinth, which

was dotted with sculptures that were created in

Karen‟s clay workshop on the theme „what has

supported your heart?‟ It was Friday, the last day

of the retreat and I had a sense of fullness in my

heart. My sculpture, roughly made as it was,

reminded me that it was the music that emanated

from my guitar that supported my heart. It was

such a pleasure to be able to share the music

with my dancing family in that beautiful dojo filled

with colourful flags hanging from the ceiling, with

its sacred objects and flowers on the altar space

and the sacred fire burning on the hearth-like

stove at the other end to the altar. When I got to

the centre of the labyrinth I meditated for a while

on my question, until an answer magically came. I

then began to dance out of the labyrinth – singing

and dancing my way around the people coming in.

Leaving the labyrinth I got my guitar and began to

sing and play the Shamanic Alhamdulilah, one of

my dances that honours the four directions,

above, below and the centre with the Wazifa

Alhamdulilah, which had been part of our

morning practice each day. People sang and

danced to the music as they came out of the

labyrinth and there was a real sense of

celebration. We had completed a profound

journey of the Creation Centred Spirituality

(CCS) cycle over the 5 days.

In preparing for the retreat I had come to the

realization that the first four lines of the Aramaic

Lord‟s Prayer embodied the four stages of

Creation Centred Spirituality: the Via Positiva;

the Via Negativa; the Via Creativa; and the Via

Transformative (see the piece below for details).

This use of the Lord‟s Prayer in Aramaic, allowed

me to see more deeply into the layers of meaning

that Yeshua had presented some 2000 years ago

and that Sa‟adi had embodied in the music and

dance he created from the prayer. This retreat

was the first time I led the whole prayer. I

presented one line for each of the four stages.

The second four lines, which mirror the first four

lines, and embody the ritual of the sharing of the

bread and the wine, I led on the morning of the

last day.


It‟s taken me a very long time before I felt ready

to lead the whole Lord‟s Prayer cycle. The

reasons for this a complex and I won‟t go into

them here, but suffice it to say that it relates to

my Jewish background, with its combination of

experiences of anti-Semitism and anti-Christian

conditioning. What is evident is that the healing

that I‟ve received from the many years I‟ve been

involved in the dances, has led me to this place of

finally being able to lead the whole prayer.

The inspiration for the Creation Centred

Spirituality Cycle came from a conversation that

began at the Mana Retreat Centre in New

Zealand in January. It was influenced by the

presence of Abraham and Halima Sussman, who

led the retreat as well as Shafia, Wendy, Prem,

Sally and all those wonderful people in the

Aotearoa dance community. Zebunissa expressed

a desire to include some of the videos of the

Pachamama Alliance‟s, Changing the Dream,

Awakening the Dreamer symposium, which I‟d

been leading and which Zebunissa, Andrew and

Elana had also experienced. It seemed like an

ideal way of bringing some teachings into the

retreat as well as to offer a way that people could

actively engage in world work. The intention of

the dances themselves is to create more love,

harmony, beauty and peace in the world. The

intention of the symposia shares so much in

common with the dances.

The symposia are designed to challenge people in

the modern world to consider changing the

dream of the modern world to a more

ecologically sustainable, socially just and spiritually

fulfilled human presence on planet Earth. Coming

from a dream of the Achua, an Ecuadorian

rainforest people, the Pachamama Alliance was

formed. In our conversations we realized that the

dreams of Murshid Sam, in bringing spirituality to

the young people of California through the

Dances of Universal Peace was part of such a new

dream. Also the message of „Love Harmony and

Beauty‟ of Hazrat Inayat Khan, that inspired

Murshid Sam, has strong parallels to that of the

symposia, especially when we consider his third

Sufi saying to read the sacred manuscript of

nature as the only book that would enlighten the

reader. Consequently, we had nightly showings of

short excerpts from the videos for some 15

minutes before the evening dance sessions, with

some discussion after the last session. The

feedback from these sessions was generally very

positive, even from people who were initially

skeptical about including the videos in a dance

retreat.

The morning segments of the retreat were largely

led by Zebunissa and myself, in order to hold the

energy of our vision for the retreat process

through the four stages of the CCS process. The

first morning had two sessions, one for each of

the first two stages of affirmation and negation.

Dances were selected that reflected these stages,

some were from the list I‟d prepared prior to the

retreat (see below) and others from those that

Zebunissa and others had suggested. We began

with Bereshith, led by myself and later led again

several times by other dance leaders. Majida

“woke us up with the sun in our hearts” and

Zebunissa greeted the trees surrounding the dojo

with Tane Mahuta as well as leading Suriat Om Sri

Ram. The morning included Abwoon D‟Bashmaya

as the affirmation of creation with N‟Kaddish

Sh‟mach as the negation, a time to let go into

sacred spaciousness. The chaos of the Tohu wa

Bohu of the Genesis Cycle led by Annie mirrored

this process, as did Om Nama Shivaya led by

myself and Gate Gate, led by Karen. Both these

dances have the expanding circle of releasing as

the circle opens in the out-breath that precedes

the coming together of the circle with the in-

breath. In between the sessions we had some

silent sitting each day in the tradition of the dance

sesshins. This allowed the dances to be integrated

more fully in the silent stillness. I found these

sesshins very profound. After all the singing and

dancing the mind seems to fall into silence so

much more easily.

The afternoon session of this first full day was a

remembrance sessions for Murshida Kamae,

which continued the Via Negativa theme. This


was preceded by a short Soundasations session of

improvised percussion led by myself and followed

by the writing of individual songs and a collective

song on the themes of the negation and then of

affirmation, led by Zebunissa. The evening

sessions were intended to be echoes of the

morning sessions led by other dance leaders in

training. This led to some beautiful evening

sessions that deepened and complemented what

had been set up during the day.

The second day focused on the Via Creativa,

which arises out of the polarity of the positive

and negative energies of the first two sessions.

This was given two sessions that began with

„Come, Come, Whoever You Are‟ and ended

with „Tey Tey Malkutah‟. There was a powerful

sense of the creative process that infused this

morning of singing and dancing. It included Maori

creation dances like Te Kore and dances from the

Genesis cycle like Ya Quanani. Again the silent

sitting in the middle allowed the process to go

deeper for the participants. Indeed the silence

was so deep by the third day that when Gini

Leilani arrived during the silence, she commented

on how deep it felt to her and how it affected her

as she came into the dance space in the dojo.

The second day‟s session involved an exploration

of what supported people‟s heart in a clay

workshop that led to some beautiful little

sculptures that would later be included in the

labyrinth as mentioned above. That was followed

by a session on the Astrological Walks that

Zebunissa led and that Noel enriched with his

deep astrological knowledge. The videos of the

evening session on this the third day presented

some inspiration for the new cosmological story

that we so need at this time, as expressed by

people like the cultural historian and geologian,

Thomas Berry and the mathematical cosmologist,

Brian Swimme. There were several books like The

Universe Story by these authors, The World is as

We Dream It by Paul Hawken, The Hope by

Andrew Harvey and other books relevant by

Hazrat Inayat Khan, Kamae and Sa‟adi available in

the dojo for people to read. As well there were

some video segments on the indigenous

worldview that echoed the indigenous dances of

the morning session.

Once again the evening session echoed the

morning sessions, which also included „I Walk a

Path of Beauty‟ led by Sabira. We had the

Buddhist practice of Namo Amida Butsu, led by

Brigitta, the sacred feminine in Beli Mati led by

Annie and the planting of peace in the 7th

Beatitude, led by Kelly, who really deepened the

process of dancing peace with her peace cards,

which were spread around the beautiful Rainbow

Serpent Centre rug created by Robyn.

The final full day was focused on the theme of

transformation, through social justice and

compassion. This completed the first part of the

Lord‟s Prayer by bringing Heaven to Earth in

Nehwey Zeviyana Aykana, as the first movements

for the dance literally bring heaven down to

earth. The morning session began with the 3

Wazifa practice led by Sabira and included dances

like „God has Given Me the Power‟, the Heart

Kyrie and Me Ain Olam Haba led by Zebunissa.

After the sesshin, Karen told the story of Inana

Ishtar and led this dance of transformation and

shedding of the old skin. It also included the 1000

Armed Chenrezig and the creation of the human

of Na‟ase Adam led by yours truly.

The afternoon of our transformation day included

the market and drawing mandalas on black paper

led by Zebunissa. These mandalas were placed

around our centrepiece and further enriched the

colour and the creativity of our dance space. Our

final evening together was dedicated to Zikr

dances, as these echoed the transformation

theme of the day.

After speaking to a number of retreat

participants, I discovered that there were some

powerful experiences of connection, of

remembrance and of transformation for people.

This was further reinforced by the Sydney dance

evening, which happened to be the next day and

was led by Zebunissa as a guest leader, on what

also was her birthday. Once again it was a rich


evening with a sense of the dance community

coming together from many parts of the state and

other capital cities. The caravan then continued

the following day with many of us going out to

see our dear friend Khannah at Inana. There was

a feeling that we wanted to support Khannah in

her healing process, with some 30 people

gathered there, each bringing food and then we

sang to her and some of us did a dance as well,

but this time Khannah was not well enough to

dance as she had been the month before, when a

number of us visited her. There were many

emotional moments during this gathering.

Overall the retreat and the subsequent days

reinforced for me just how powerful the dances

are. A couple of years ago a man turned up in the

Sydney circle from the Subud group. They are a

group from Indonesia, who seem to be influenced

by Sufi and Buddhist ideas. We used their hall for

a while in Newtown while the Quaker Hall was

being renovated some years previously. What this

man said really impressed me. He said that he‟d

be researching consciousness and he came to the

dances because he found that the Dances of

Universal Peace was the most advanced form of

consciousness practice. This didn‟t surprise me.

Often people who are new to the dances are

amazed at the way we sing the mantric phrases

from so many of the world‟s religions, reinforcing

the cultural diversity of our world. The fact that

we create our own live music and learn to sing

and dance to the diversity of music form so many

cultures, is also a remarkable feature of the

dances as is the 500 or more dances in our

repertoire. The creativity expressed in this dance

retreat, as in the October Spring retreat last year,

also held at the Karuna Centre, adds to the sense

of an integral consciousness. The sense of deep

community that forms around dance circles

further deepens this. Finally, by the way we

generate positive energy through our singing and

dancing, and the way we are nurturing our spirit

by celebrating the divine consciousness, we can

see that we have here a great gem that has grown

at the centre of our lotus – as invoked in the

Tibetan mantra Om Mani Padme Hum.


Ya Fatah, Ya Fatah by Brigitte

I just have returned from our Aussie homegrown

annual retreat at the Karuna retreat center in the

Blue Mountains.

What an rich, fulfilling and amazing retreat. We

were beautifully led by Zebunissa and Arjuna.

The theme of the retreat was”Awakening the

Dreamer, Changing the Dream” In the evening

we included an educational program from the

Pachamama alliance. The program was eye-

opening and very inspirational. In the end I asked

myself the question” what is my dream and how

can I become my dream”. The program was

supported by dance sessions which were led by

different dance leaders.

In the afternoons we had creative time which

included drawing a mandala, clay work, poetry

and market day. We also created a healing

mandala for Khannah, and had healing sessions for

her and everybody needing healing.

The retreat ended with walking a labyrinth, which

was created by Cedar and others. It was a very

rich, harmonious and beautiful retreat. I have the

feeling I'm going with each retreat deeper and

deeper. I'm becoming more confident in leading.

This time I lead a dance in German, and Namo

Amida Bhutzu.

After the retreat Peter and Sabira's invited few of

us to stay at their house. We cooked and had

healing sessions till late. Next day we joined the

Sydney dance circle. We had beautiful dance

session which was led by Zebunissa, supported by

Arjuna and Andrew. Next day we went to Inana,

to visit Khannah, Vajra, Moira and Asher. There

we gathered with 30 people, feasting, singing,

weeping, laughing, praying, working and dancing

together.

I'm grateful for the Dances of Universal Peace,

which for me is the glue which is sticking

everyone together, and am also grateful for the

Fattah Fund, which allowed me to participate in

this retreat, all the beautiful and amazing people

which participated, for Zebunissa and Arjuna for

being the coordinators for the retreat, Andrew

for his beautiful music, Peter for looking after the

fire, Sabira for her endless support, Jusuf with hot

water bottles, decorations, pencils, paper,

blankets, teas, pillows etc., Mu‟mina, the


registrar, for spending time with me and sharing

her home, and all the others not mentioned,

whom I all love dearly.

We are an amazing bunch of different, loving,

caring, supportive and understanding people. I'm

grateful, that I was able to participate and want to

thank everyone for being a part of the dance

family. Please support the Dances of Universal

Peace, come to the retreats and dances,

otherwise you will miss out on something very

special. We can make a difference. We can.

In lak'ech Brigitte


Chilling Out DUPA Annual Retreat. 11-14 April 2011

Majida (Patrisha) Hawkins

Brrr! After a chilly start (about 2 degree C at

night) I rugged up warmly and managed to chill

out myself at the wonderfully stimulating, vibrant

and creatively inspiring annual DUPA retreat at

Karuna Retreat Centre, Katoomba, N.S.W.

I have only had the privilege of attending a handful

of retreats in the last 15 years and was pleasantly

surprised at how very homely, relaxing and

"allowing" the experience was this time around. I

was able to participate, relax and lead dances

without too much pressure to get "it right", yet

still be instructed and be conscious of

endeavouring to be 'ripe' and present (despite the

anxiety). I gained valuable insights into the areas

still needing improvement with plenty of support

from my mentor, Zebunissa and a wonderfully

receptive and heart centred, diverse, spiritual

family.

Zebunissa and Arjuna, both did a lot of

preparation for the theme, assisted by Sabira and

other dance leaders. I was richly nourished

intellectually, musically and in my heart. Also

other dance leaders weaved in a variety of dances

including a German language dance lead by

Brigitte, an African dance lead by Karen and lots

more. A big thank you also to all who

participated in setting up and beautifully

decorating the hall, and esp. to Peter for keeping

a warm fire continuously alight during the dances.

Creative activities were set up most days,

including a group song writing, making clay hearts

and drawing our own mandalas. Art is not my

forte and the mandala was a big challenge for me.

However, I surprised myself and drew a lovely

heart and discovered the many "hearts within the

big heart" as a metaphor and will endeavour to

open my heart more and overcome my barriers

of fear to become more connected in love,

beauty and harmony. A wonderful labyrinth was

set (with helpers) by Cedar and I experienced

surprising results from standing in the centre and

just "letting go and allowing" and receive

inspiration and release.

Also, Arjuna stimulated our visual and

environmental awareness before the evening

dance sessions by screening footage of the

Pachamama Alliance programme. This reminded

me to appreciate the earth as very much alive and

our interconnectedness for better or worse.

Hopefully by becoming more respectful of this

interconnectedness and sharing our

consciousness with others, we can all have a

more positive effect upon nature and with each

other. The indigenous peoples have much to

teach us in this way.

Overall, I experienced a wonderfully inspiring and

enriching 4 days in a beautiful environment with

lots of other beautiful sharing hearts and souls.

Thank you for sharing with me.


Awakening The Dreamer – Changing The Dream Four Pathways To Life

Annie Rayner

This theme of the Easter Retreat was beautiful in

that it worked on so many levels. The four

pathways took us as deep as we wished to go.

Dancing and leading within our company of

friends was really wonderful. I felt nurtured,

supported and held in the heart space and I

looked and found those friendly eyes in the circle.

The dances chosen for each pathway called us in

to walk our own journeys with compassion and

acceptance.

What I also loved about this retreat were the

creative afternoons. The Singing our Song session

was a highlight. With Arjuna playing and each of

us singing ourselves into being, totally heard and

encouraged by the listening ears around us. The

clay workshop making our hollow heart with a

special gift inside was a lovely way to feel that our

lives start with heart centred spirit and supported

by the universe.. Mandalas next, what an

experience, to allow my hands to draw something

when I had no idea what might come. In the end

to find it relevant and truthful and the mandala

circling my story.

Now the Labrynth! This was a journey into our

own hearts, letting go of restrictions, behaviours,

sorrows and being offered a gift from our spirit

Self to take us outward stepping onwards to

continue our life‟s path. My gift was the words

“You are a Lover of Life”! A great feeling.

Pachamama. I loved the evening sessions on

“Changing the Dream”, giving us all plenty to

consider about how we can make a difference.

What an inspiring movement that is expanding

around the world and the idea that we can be a

part of that is leading me to find out more in the

Bellingen area. Khannah was in our hearts every

day with meditations, healing and longing for her

presence. I felt her spirit with us quite strongly at

times.

Thank you to Zebunissa and Arjuna for the

retreat theme and bringing to us the beauty of

the four Pathways of the Creation Spirituality,

which we made truly our own.

When despair for the world grows in me

And I wake in the night with the least sound

In fear of what my life and my children‟s lives will be

I go and lie down where the wood duck rests in her

Beauty on the water and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

Who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief

I come into the Presence of still water

And I feel above me the presence of day blind stars

Waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world and am free.

Wendell Berry


Easter Retreat Kellie

I thoroughly enjoyed my first Annual Dance

Retreat. I enjoyed meeting new people and loved

getting to know people that I have met before on

a deeper level. I felt very welcomed by everyone.

Highlights for me were starting off the day with

morning Yoga, Chi Kung and Breathing practices.

There were many dances shared with great

leading and I paticularly appreciated Brigitta's

German song that she shared with us. Thanks to

Zebunissa and Arjuna for facilitating the Retreat.

I had the opportunity to lead The 7th Beautitude

(Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be

the Children of God). I led the dance similar to

how I lead it in a cirlce with the theme Peace in

Melbourne. Before I led this circle I wanted to

understand what Peace represented and found

myself looking at the meanings of the symbols of

peace i.e the Peace Symbol, The dove and then

looking into the meaning of the word. Seeing as

the organisation is called the Dances of Universal

Peace and one of aims of the founder Samuel

Lewis aim was to create and experience of Peace

through the Arts, I thought this was a good start.

At the retreat I started off explaining the roots of

the word Peace and then everyone chose a card

from the universal peace deck I have created with

a possible definition of Peace. On this retreat I

had a realisation that there can be many possible

meanings of English words if we look deep

enough. I have often said that English is flat

language and very literal but now I question that.

The meaning of words i.e.Peace can be very

situational and subjective.

(The cards were:-Respect, Tolerance, Serene,

Restfulness, Freedom, Acceptance, Fulfillment,

Fairness, Tranquility, Calm, Longevity, Balance,

Understanding, Equilibrium, and Equality). I like to

give people in the cirlce an opportunity to share

some of the translations of Aramaic as they are

rich and there are many and it gives the individual

reading and the cirlce an opportunity to go

deeper into the meaning of the phrase.

I loved the activity facilitated by Zebunissa where

we Sang how we feel when we are not at ease

and then at ease with a partner and then

everyone took it in turns in a circle to make one

group song. I felt that I shared a vulnerable part

of myself and then having to sing it was double

exposure. It was great to have the space to

express in words, feelings that had no voice and

this was quite transformational. The story that

came together was very creative, honest, deep

and at times funny and I felt that it was a great

connecting activity for the group.

I loved Karen's ceramic workshop, a space to be

creative with meaning without needing to get too

technical. I made a flower to place in the heart

and then the heart was supported by a tree and

became part of the tree. We were singing by the

end of the workshop and I think our inner child

was nurtured.

The mandala Workshop was interesting. I drew

symbolism that represented that we all have the

capacity for indigenous wisdom and it does not

matter what our race or skin colour is. And what

we all have in common is that we have rich blood

lines and ancestors. Like the seed that grows into

a tree and is the product of many generations

before. This was a realisation I made after

assuming that most of the retreat were Anglo-


Celtic, not realising that people present came

from different heritages. It would be nice to hear

some stories about people's ancestry in the

future.

I would like to Thank Zebunissa for helping

organise the Fattah Fund to assist me in attending

the retreat and all of the members that help to

contribute to this fund. Thanks to Mu‟mina for

organising transport and administration and

having me to stay on the Sunday night and for

being such a caring host. Thanks to Ros for the

lift from Central to the Retreat and to Kafia for

the lift from the Retreat to Sutherland.

Thankyou to Raimunda for having me to stay on

the Saturday night even though she was not

feeling well and had just come from Inana looking

after our Beloved Khannah. I missed not having

Raimunda and Khannah at the Retreat as they

have been with me all the way on my dance

journey and I am very grateful for the loving and

supportive energy they have unconditionally

shared. I would have loved to have shared this

experience with them.

I had a chance to peruse some literature about

the Language issue over the Retreat and it is good

that this is made transparent. My stance on the

language situation is that I will lead songs in the

way that I am taught from Raimunda and I hope

that people will honour this. I will be a willing

participant in circles for how people choose to

lead these songs. I am in the position where I can

allow two stories to live together (A rich teaching

from Khannah that will stay with me forever).

And we all know how it feels when our own

story cannot be heard. Maybe the absolute truth

will never occur in this matter anyway.

I look forward to dancing with you all sooner

than later.

Love, Blessings and Deep Gratitude

Kellie


A Journey with Hildegard of Bingen Zebunissa

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) who lived in

the Rhineland Valley of Germany was an abbess,

who married science, art and religion, and was

one of the greatest mystics and healers of the

Christian Renaissance.. Even the Popes and royal

heads consulted her for her wisdom and

prophetic insight. At a time when women were

minimised and ridiculed, she struggled deeply but

finally found her voice and her power to fulfill

God‟s will, risking her life in the process.

In my journey of preparing for our annual Dance

retreat which had a focus on Creation Spirituality

and the Awakening the Dreamer material, I was

drawn to the work of Hildegard and it‟s relevance

for today‟s world. My reference was

“Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen” with a

commentary by Matthew Fox

Original Blessing

Hildegard’s awakening came through her

experience of the Light, which revealed to her

the world of the spirit, a world sanctified by the

presence of God where all was interconnected

and interdependent. Hers was a deeply ecological

spirituality.

As an introduction to her spirituality we started

the retreat with “Greening with Life” as part of

our opening dances.

We are greening with life

We bare our fruit for all of creation,

Limitless love, from the depths to the Stars

Flooding all, loving all

It is the royal kiss of peace….ref: Creation

Spirituality booklet.

What is this greening power which Hildegard

called “Viriditas.”?

Hildegard says it is God‟s freshness,

fruitfulness,and moistness. Mary was considered

to be the greenest of branches and as co-creators

we too are the vines and the living branches The

Aramaic dance Inana Gepeta celebrates this

connection we have with the ever-Living Christ

who is the revelation of the compassion of God.

Hildegard says our baptism is into “'moistness”

rather than dry formality and withered

structures.. We are admonished to stay wet and

green like God, our laughter and our tears

evidence of our wetness and the opening of our

heart. For her the soul is in the body and

strengthens it even as the sap is in the tree and

strengthens the tree. Remembering the goodness

of our origins, our original blessing, brings us

strength and the oil of compassion.

Hildegard beckons us to remember that every

creature possesses the qualities of divine royalty,

that we have our home on high and encourages

us to meet every creature in the world with

grace.

Via Positiva

According to Meister Eckhardt a contemporary

of Hildegard, God‟s first impulse is always

compassion. Complacency and comfort cuts us

off from compassion, fostering the mentality “ I

have” vs “I am related to”.. Hildegard invites us to

let the depths of our being shine and to allow the

divine seed that is the Christ self within to grow

in compassion. When Murshid Sam died on 15th

January 1971, all the seeds he planted came up at

once. We bare this fruit as part of his loving

transmission. Sam‟s instruction was also to “go

and shine your light”.

Bismillah ir- rachman ir-rachim.

Everytime we invoke the phrase “Bismillah ir-

rachman, ir-rachim “ we are creating a state of “via

positiva” .a starting point of original blessing

based on the Sacred Unity which births mercy

and compassion.

Both rachman and rachim are derived form the

root rhm which has various meanings of womb,

relationship, loving kindness and nourishing

tenderness. Rachman describes that aspect of


the source of all creation, which is endlessly

radiating, endlessly nourishing, , regardless of who

or what is receiving this endless flow of blessing.

Rachim, on the other hand conveys the idea of

God issuing a response on the basis of the actions

and behaviour of the recipient.. Each of our

efforts in taking one single step toward God is

rewarded by 10 steps towards us.

Symbolism

The cosmic egg, was only one of Hildegard‟s

visions from which she drew her mandalas. The

egg being a deeply feminine symbol, is an organic,

growing living being. No wonder our circles often

end up looking egg-shaped! They are organic. The

egg is a symbol that we are co-creators with God

in everything we do.

In another of her visions, Hildegard sees the

cosmic wheel as representing God‟s love: “from

love to love” that is the human journey encircled

by the arms of God‟s mystery.

Through her visions, drawings, poetry and music

Hildegard enters a symbolic consciousness and

invites us to do likewise.. And so we did. The

focus on creativity at the retreat was the

entrance into our own symbolic worlds, giving us

an opportunity to decipher their relevance for

our lives.

Via Negativa:

Light is honoured by darkness and the darker

part serves the lighter part. Everything has it‟s

place. Via negativa is full emptiness, fecund

nothingness, all things and no things, full

potentiality, the source of all creativity, the centre

where beauty is born, a return to unity and the

beginning of new creation.

Via negativa (emptiness) is essential for via

creativa (birthing).

Emptiness could be said to be the true spirit of

poverty. Sin is an acquiessence to a loss of

balance and to injustice. Tears of repentance are

evidence of the cosmic moisture that brings the

greening life force back to nature and human

relationships. Remembering the times when we

were in rhythm with ourselves and the cosmos

(our good) and the time of unripeness (or evil)

opens the way for us to take responsibility for

our choices.

At the retreat we entered emptiness each day in

the form of a sesshin, where we meditated,

emptying our minds after dancing, allowing

integration and the seeds of new possibility to

arise. The effect of the sesshin was palpable for

those who walked into it. This was a practice of

Presence to the breath and to the heart.

The 2nd beatitude: Tubwayhun lawile d’hinnon

netbayun, allows us to feel our confusion and our

mourning and to be re-united to the Source that

brings all comfort. In our returning we once again

feel the warm embrace of love...

3rd Beatitude: Tubwayhun l’makike d’hinnon

nertun arha. Softening that which is rigid within,

or as Hildegard would say that which has dried

up, leaves us more open to the real source of

power-God acting through all of nature, all

earthiness. It is our invitation to take time from

our busyness and to allow nature to heal our

being, through emptying our minds.

Via Creativa:

One of the ways of the divine feminine which

awakens our being is through creativity. Hildegard

maintains that emptiness (via negativa) and

compassion (via positiva) culminate in human

wisdom (via creativa). Wisdom resides in all

creative works, and it is an intimate encounter

with the Divine,

From the Genesis cycle we did two dances that

represented this path:

Ya Qanani re’shit darko qedem mi’falaw

me’az Prov 8.22 Holy wisdom first is attracted

to and embraced by the ever living life force This

is the dance of attraction that energizes all of life

with it‟s joyful klesmer melody.

Me‟olam nissakhti mer‟osh miqqadamei-aretz


Proverbs 8:23 from this embrace, new

inspiration and a new birth arise. All creativity

starts here like a spring rising deep from the earth

Our creativity is our divinity. It is here that the

Presence of God dwells, the Shekinah. We are to

play an active role in the Cosmic Potter‟s wheel.

Each day of the retreat called upon our creativity,

to trust our intuition, to enter the unchartered

waters of our symbolic world and to find new

meaning in our lives.

Songs came from an exploration of what lay

hidden in our souls, we fashioned our hearts of

clay upon symbolic support systems, and

dialogued with mandalas we had drawn based on

a virtue that was calling us. Hildegard stresses

that it is the powers of virtue that keep humanity

going and working through the cosmos.

All of this was distilled at the end of the retreat

by walking a labyrinth that Cedar had created

.We first spoke about our sculptures and then

placed them around the labyrinth as we walked.

For myself this was the most powerful labyrinth I

had ever walked….my heart was deeply

touched...

The First Beatitude beckons us to find our

home in the breathing “l‟ meskenaee baruch”

This beauitide could be said to link the two paths

of negativa and creativa by virtue of emptying and

finding one‟s home in the breath thus leading us

to our empowerment

The theology of the royal person, the “malkutah

or queenness” of our being, which is also

translated by Saadi as the “I can of the cosmos, is

a celebration of our beauty and a challenge to live

up to it through creativity, leadership and justice-

making.

Via Transformativa:

The thrust of our time is moving from an

egological to an ecological consciousness. The

whole universe is a unique living being, and we

are all interdependent and interconnected. Thich

Nat Han talks about our “inter-being”. Quantum

mechanics states that I exist because of my

relationship to other objects. I have no

independent existence.

Hildegard invites us into a hospitable cosmos that

will befriend humankind and lend us it‟s great

power. We are nature‟s guests and we depend on

her for our survival and blessing. We have a

moral responsibility with that interdependence..

Humanity is warned that indifference and injustice

to nature will cause hardships on humanity itself,

for creation demands justice. We are called to

have a “justice consciousness”

4th Beatitude: Tubwayhun layleyn, d kaphneen

watzheyn l‟khenuta d‟hinnon nisbhun..

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after

righteousness (or justice)

L‟khenuta, vaguely translated as righteousness, in

Aramaic can refer to an inner and outer sense of

justice. This could include a sense of inner

rightness amongst our internal voices and their

reflection in the outer world. The final sound –ta

in khenuta opens the heart and we can feel into

the possibilities that feel most right for us to act

upon.

See “Prayers of the Cosmos” Neil Douglas

Klotz.Justiice.

Hildegard: “We are all royal persons called to

sing justice back into creation.”

Mechtild de Magdeburg, took a similar stance to

Hildegard, and faced opposition from the society

of the day by not fulfilling normal female roles.

Methchild posed a question as to “how should

one live/” and the answer was “live welcoming to

all.”:

The dance we used to conclude our journey has

two of Methchild‟s sayings

1. God has given me the power to change my

ways

Heal the broken, loose the bound,

2. Live welcoming to all.


The dance leads us from a renewed sense of

personal creativity and breakthrough to a

concern for compassion and service in the world

community. It has a joyful ecstatic quality and is a

positive affirming statement as journey out to the

world.One of my favourite dances!

The Aramaic dance Allaha Abaru was used to

remind us that we are all “passers-by” in this

caravan of life. Therefore we take encouragement

to make the most of every opportunity to

develop a loving compassionate presence in the

world.

The Shamanic alhamdullilah, an Arjuna Dance which

we joyfully concluded the labyrinth with re-

affirmed the qualities of praise as part of our

practice.

Various dances had been done around the

practice of the 3 wazifa‟s, known as Fatima;s gift:

Subhanallah, Alhamdullilah and Allaho Akbar….gifts

or empowerments for our daily life…purity,

praise and peace that brings power…

A remembrance and way forward as we re-enter

life transformed.

Searching

walk around

the room ... take hands

in circle

join the dance ...

born and reborn again

wayfarer

searching for home

in the dance

caught up ... cast down

thrown around ... no way

gates open

the circle widens

embracing me –

interlocked hearts

in the cold wet night

how I love

the end of the dance –

vibrations

that die away

silence that lingers

Gerry Jacobson


THE 16TH ANNUAL EAST COAST

Spring Renewal Dance Retreat “Creating New Togetherness”

Karuna Sanctuary Katoomba, NSW (Blue Mountains), October 2010

Arjuna

"Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing,

there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,

the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase 'each other'

doesn't make sense any more."

Rumi

The Way is long – let us go together.

The Way is difficult – let us help each other.

The Way is joyful – let us share it.

The Way is ours alone – let us go in love.

The way grows before us – let us begin

Zen Invocation


The intention of the Wisdom Council, who had

taken on the task to co-ordinate the spring

renewal this year was to make it an open creative

event, where people would feel free to

contribute at whatever level they were ready to.

The weekend would be co-created in a way that

we had been working in the Blue Mountains

dance group, where usually there were several

leaders each evening, leading dances around a

theme. There was a desire to include people in

the process just as there had also been in the

Dance Darshans at Inana, which was another

influence on us as most of the core members of

the council had also attended these events fairly

regularly.

My own feeling was that given the enormous

change to the Sydney dances that had resulted

from Sitara and Jelaludin returning to the US, we

needed to allow the local flavour of the Sydney

dance community to emerge. We may no longer

have the depth of knowledge and experience

available of a senior mentor like Sitara, but we did

have a local energy and flavour that was uniquely

Sydney. This was beginning to come through over

the course of the year and the spring renewal

was an opportunity to manifest this on a larger

scale over a three-day weekend retreat. While

the venue was not entirely new to the dances, we

hadn‟t used the Karuna centre since 1996. This

just happened to be the year I attended my first

weekend dance retreat. It was quite synchronistic

to be returning after 14 years.

The general feedback for the retreat was positive.

We began with the evening dances and a Mihi

style introduction, where people introduced

themselves and their ancestors and their

connection to nature or places like mountains,

rivers, oceans, animals. It was a rich evening, but a

little long for some as people had so much to

share. The following morning we danced all the

five elements and then formed groups according

to the elements. These groups were to work

together to create a presentation on the Sunday

night. And this they did with great energy and

imagination. There were dances, dramas, stories,

songs, games, rituals, humour and serious sacred

ceremony all mingled together – what a rich fare!

This same creativity was evident in activities over

the weekend, which included making clay angels,

improvised percussion, healing and dowsing,

interplay, walking in nature, greeting the sun,

nutritious and delicious food, chanting to the call

of our Ancient Mother, an evening of Zikr dances

and a Universal Worship in dance, that included

the Indigenous and the Goddess traditions. These

were just some of the highlights for me.

As I reflect back on the retreat at the start of

2011, I‟m struck by the creativity and the

enthusiasm that was present at Karuna. People

participated at whatever level they were ready to.

The program was co-created each morning by

whoever had the energy and the desire to be

involved. For me we really did achieve our goal to

„create a new togetherness‟. This was evident in

many of the activities of the weekend like the

Zikr evening or the creative presentations on the

Sunday night, but for me it was particularly

exemplified in the Universal Worship in dance on

the Sunday morning. There were nine dances

presented by seven leaders. For each living

spiritual stream we lit a candle on our beautifully

decorated altar, with colourful cloths, natural and

sacred art objects and a great deal of love. There

was a warm feeling in the dance hall with its Dojo

wooden structure and views to bush-land on one

side and a Zen like courtyard on the other. There

was a sense of journey through sacred time and

space, through diverse cultures and traditions.

And yet at each point there was also a sense of

timelessness and spaciousness invoked by the

voices, the movements, the music and the

invocation of sacred phrases in some eight

languages.

I end with the words of Sabira Jane in her recent

email encouraging people to become members of

the dances: “We are looking forward to an exciting

year of dancing with Joy, Love and Peace throughout

2011…”


Impressions of Dance Camp & Mana Retreat in New Zealand January 2011-

Sabira Jane

How wonderful to reconnect and make new

acquaintances with our Aotearoa friends and

others from all over the world – Germany, the

USA, Czech Republic, and Russia – ah! the

Russians – what an exotic flavour they brought to

the camp – Vasudeva, Marina and their forest

sprite, Alycea, Pasha and Natasha, Arndt and

Rahima, Tara, Anastasia, Nina and other beauties

whose names escape me .. We have been blessed

to meet these people from across our planet.

The Russians on post retreat visit to Australia.

Peter and I have read the Ringing Cedars books

by Vladimir Megre and soon discovered that

Vasudeva and Marina actually live an Ánastasia‟

lifestyle in a small village outside St Petersburg,

where they make herbal teas. They also have a

deep connection with an Ánastasia‟ style school

that their older children attended. We became

firm friends, enjoying Marina‟s soft lilting voice as

she told us a little about their life in Russia –

„simple, simple, not like this, simple, and

mosquitoes! Not just one, big black clouds of

mosquitoes in summer - you are welcome to

come and visit, it will be simple, simple…‟

For us Dance Camp started at Napier airport,

where we‟d been promised someone would pick

us up. We arrived looking expectantly around

for a familiar face and very soon Ray met us with

a big smile, threw our bags into his van and we

were off on the winding road into the hills

towards Rissington. Prem and Sally had looked

after us and allocated us a double room/alcove

right next to the hall, curtained off from the

freezer (which thankfully was silent and kept us

comfortably warm!) The weather was cold and

wet with a few welcome sunny days in between.

We chose vegetable chop for karma yoga,

accompanied each morning after breakfast by

Helen of Joy, her guitar and band of singers and

musicians, and in less than an hour all the veggies

for lunch and dinner were prepared with an

immense amount of love and baraka. Salad

greens were washed and dried using centrifugal

force – swinging them around our heads in

pillowcases.. Funny how things work out – I

thought, No, I‟m not doing that - up to my

elbows in cold water, washing the salad, then

next thing I‟m doing it and find it‟s fun filling the

pillow cases with wet lettuce, then twirling them

in the sun, spraying water all around me!

The hall was most beautifully and creatively

decorated with fabrics interspersed with Wendy‟s

paintings – a visual delight. Morning sessions

started with a children‟s dance, announcements,

then dancing til lunch, and the afternoons were

soon filled with two dance sessions of a mix of

leaders (one of which I co-ordinated) the market,


auction and concert, all interspersed with

workshops. What a kaleidoscope of offerings..

One memorable watery Maori dance Wendy led

started on the grass in soft rain, then we

meandered down into the paddock, ending up

dancing knee deep in the river with the rain

coming down. I couldn‟t help thinking out loud:

I‟m wearing all my warm clothes and they are

getting wet! – and Martin from the Czech Rep

whispers to me - I‟ve got lots of warm things, you

can borrow some of mine! What generosity!

Peter and I offered hand and foot massages in the

auction and I felt privileged when Marama, who

had been cooking for us all week, received mine,

so we sat down in a cosy corner and I treated

her to an hour of pampering.

Sally and Prem were amazing, running the camp

then sorting out everyone‟s transport concerns

as to how to get from Dance Camp to Mana

Retreat on the Coromandel Peninsular and how

to spend the week in between. There were 18

people, including 14 Russians, who needed

transport and accommodation. So two mini

buses were hired and Peter and I drove them to

Lake Taupo (pronounced toe paw) about two

hours over the mountains. We all stayed at the

Tauhara Centre for a few days and did some site

seeing around the lake, taking the Russians to hot

springs in the river and other places of interest.

Most of my time between Dance Camp and Mana

Retreat was spent getting over a virulent

European„flu‟ that went around Dance Camp, so I

rested and sipped copious amounts of herbal

cough mixture and slowly got better. I received

lots of help from unexpected sources – Galit‟s

beautiful essential oils offered and administered

after listening to me coughing all night, then I

discovered more efficacious herbal medicines in a

café in Coromandel. I found some warm dance

bootees knitted by a 90 yr old granny in an op

shop and later at Mana took Natasha‟s advice to

go to bed wrapped in wool after a hot sauna.

Mana retreat, facilitated by Abraham and Halima

Sussman, was a total delight. Their main theme

was to open and soften our hearts, so that our

hearts expand and become like sponges, filling

with gratitude and love for life, making it easier to

take difficulties and disappointments that may

come along. I found this to be a beautiful

process, through dances, walks and practices, that

has made a real difference to my life. We had

several afternoons of going through the

Astrological Walks and each one of us received

our Karma walk and our Darma walk, (worked

out from our personal astrological charts – a

huge job) which again can be used in everyday life

to good effect.

Another pleasure was getting first-hand

transmission/baraka from Abraham and Halima

regarding Samuel Lewis (Murshid SAM) as they

had both been there in the early days with

Murshid SAM. We listened to snippets of SAM

Gems and SAM‟s ideas were often brought into

dances and discussion.

Abraham with his guitar, together with Michael

Ali from Germany, on his didgeridoo and others

playing flutes gave us an impromptu concert in

the Sanctuary one evening before zikr. Zikr night

in the sanctuary is special:- wearing white we

meander up the hill through the forest on the

Goddess Trail, until we come out into the open

and a wonderful view across Coromandel Bay.

Then we walk the labyrinth before moving into

the sanctuary, full of anticipation for a night of

remembering through music, singing and dancing,

as a beautiful sunset spreads over the horizon and

the night darkens. Halima excelled herself leading

us through seemingly simple dances, with

harmonies and dividing us into parts, and assisted

by the acoustics of the sanctuary, we almost lifted

the roof…

After Mana Abraham and Halima had offered an

afternoon at Sharda Centre over the weekend,

however, unfortunately this was not included in

our schedule as we had arranged to meet people

in Auckland before flying home.


The January Kiwi Pilgrimage 2011 Zebunissa

Three weeks of deepening heart sangha voices

merging, hearts deepening, widening, Dancing the

Divine Qualities ; joy, peace, forgiveness, love,

beauty, all overflowing from a boundless vat: a

great harvest of wine poured out Deeper and

deeper into the heart of love

Rissington Camp

What a pure delight and penultimate experience

it has been for us this year in our annual Kiwi

Dance Pilgrimage. Andrew, Brigitte and I from

Byron and a number of other Aussies including

Peter, Sabira and Khannah shared with talented

dance leaders and Beloveds from all over the

world: Russia, Czech Republic, Germany, UK,

Michigan, Seattle and Boston USA, France and

our Kiwi family.: about 120 folk in all! This was

the largest camp ever, with half of those attending

coming from overseas.

Bismillah erachman erachim, Alhamdulillah,Ya Jamil!

…Michael Ali‟s dance from Germany said it all.

We birthed from our hearts: mercy and

compassion, sang in praise and celebrated beauty!

The joy of 120 folk singing the Zimbabwe zikr is

an unparalleled experience!

Jamila, sufi guide from Auckland tuned our hearts

and souls each morning with the practices of

breath, light, love and boundlessness. Our souls

drank deeply as a parched land receives a

replenishing rain, drenching ourselves deeper into

stillness, .until the action began and it was an

action-packed event.

Each day at Camp we celebrated with the

children and became like them …full of play,

opening up to innocence, joy and endless music.

Our divine parents, Sally and Prem, the Camp

organizers, exercised divine patience with “their

children “ and attended to our every need for

comfort and attention .The support team was

amazing and attended to all the small details

which made Camp run smoothly. The food was

superlicious.and some of our dancers like Brigitte

from Oz and Maria from NZ, added to the

flavour by pouring their endless love and service

into their creations. Shakur Allah! Maruma, the

main cook was applauded for her excellent

kitchen and meal orchestration.


The Sangha.

It was such a blessing to hear the invocation

spoken in the different languages. Both events at

the Rissington Camp and at Mana were truly an

international experience that grew in depth as we

journeyed together.. Ours was an unspoken vow

to cherish each other in sickness and in health,

and indeed it felt like a sacred marriage had taken

place in our hearts. Many of us did succumb to a

strange flu like virus, that laid us low and gave an

opportunity to tend to each other. I myself felt

the support and compassion of our sangha.

Beautiful Jessica, a 10 year old angel, hovered

over my bed to see if I was OK... Just her

presence and illuminating smile was healing in

itself. From this came a lovely heart connection. I

also witnessed the loving support of the NZ

Sangha supporting Janine, a dance leader from

Wellington and her husband, as they grieved the

recent loss of their twin children soon after their

birth

The Maori Dances.

One of the highlights at Camp and at Mana were

the Maori dances, created by Shafia and Wendy.

We responded to the Moari welcome call haeri

mai...karuna mai and danced the elements

outdoors. We waded in the river, were blessed

by the rain, felt our footsteps meeting the sacred

earth and finally warmed by the glorious beaming

sun.. All these changes took place in a very

short space of time! The flavour of the land and

the indigenous people diffused through our

breath and mixed with our blood .We met the

ancestors through invocation, song and dance.

I particularly enjoyed the Maori Creation Dances

and zikr: Ko te kore …ko te kore kore…ko te

korenga e …there is nothing but sacred

Onenesss….the Maori interpretation of the zikr

phrase „la illaha illa‟llah‟.. Wow!!…These dances

are something to be experienced!!

Eila, A Maori elder and healer from Auckland

visited and taught us the “woka” a canoe dance,

where we rowed to the rhythm of our heart. We

learnt how to share sacred breath with the Maori

embrace…the “hongi”: our third eye and noses

meeting..

Open heart surgery was taking place. Our heart

capacity widened as we went deeper and deeper

into the heart of love.

The International Leaders and Musicians.

We were graced by Vasudeva and Rachima

leading an afternoon of the beautiful Russian

dances which filled our minds and hearts with the

joy of this culture. I had met them both eleven

years ago in Russia at a Dance Camp in St.

Petersburg. The afternoon and subsequent re-

aquaintance with the Russian Beloveds filled me

with divine nostalgia.

Prem, Abraham, Halima and Sally

There were altogether many amazing musicians

from all over. At least three effulgent rhapsodical

pianists: Michael Ali from Germany, Janosz from

Czech Republic, and Gina from Korea! When

some of us were laid low, the music that flowed

became like a liquid healing balm. Greg from

Seattle, an erudite musician and singer with over

20 years experience supporting the Dances back

home, often accompanied Abraham in the centre

of our circles. Pasha from Russia and Janosz from

the Czech Republic were regularly in the circle

drumming …they are both experts in drumming

and run workshops back home. Occasionally I

went in to the centre and played my flute to add

a particular flavour.


At Mana I met another flautist Diana who joined

me for an improvisation at the Tara Sanctuary,

and we set the scene for an evening of amazing

zikr. Hannah, a youngster when we first met and

now a young woman, is now an accomplished

flautist who accompanied the band of merry

songmakers at Camp. This band of merrymen and

women were led by Helen, Ray and other

accompanying musicians including Andrew from

Byron Bay. They presided over the kitchen chop

each morning. No wonder our food tasted so

good…all those great vibes!

Abraham and Halima, Senior Dance Mentors and

teachers in the Ruhaniyat tradition, from Boston,

were our special guest teachers. They started to

prepare the garden of our hearts at Camp by

introducing folk to the Murshid Sam Gems. These

are found in the Ruhaniyat website.and also at

www.murshidsam.com . It was wonderful to hear

Sam‟s words, and his juice poured out through

then both. These Beloveds have their own retreat

centre in Boston, and were mureeds of Murshid

Sam while he was alive. Their devotion to the

Dance was palpable. We were tuned to a higher

pitch through their Presence and experience. The

prelude Abraham and Halima gave at the

Rissington Camp encouraged other Beloveds to

join the Caravan and experience more of their

work and leadership at Mana. As a result 70

dancers came for the weekend at Mana and 50

stayed on for the deeper aspects of the retreat.

The Journey continues:

Between the retreats a contingency of folk

traveled in convoy to enjoy the delighta of the

Tauhara Centre at lake Taupo and then went on

Te Moata, a Buddhist Centre on the

Coromandel.. We celebrated the URS (the time

of passing) of Murshid Sam at Tauhara with

international leadership! It was a great testimony

to the seeds that Sam had planted that “all come

up at once when he died”. We were the evidence

of that planting and a testimony to the flourishing

of the Dances in the world - the Dances which

bring joy and upliftment to humanity as well as to

ourselves.

The Deepening Journey at Mana

Fourteen Aussies were part of the Mana retreat

and some like Arjuna, Karen, Kafia, Melinda and

Talibah were there for the first time. The heart

energy here was such that I didn‟t want the

caravan to end…There is no end to love when it

is watered and fed continually with Divine

inspiration and music.

Halima and Abraham continued to lead us with

their wisdom and humility taking us further into

the garden of our hearts. We were to get more

acquainted with Murshid Sam as our journey

progressed. The 3 friends ie. the wazifa‟s:

subhanallah, alhamdullilah, allaho akbar, became

the backbone for our Mana retreat and part of

the regular morning practices led by Abraham.

Some of the ways we experienced “the 3 friends”

.that we would make and take back home were:

surrendering to grace and innocence, finding the

“hamd”or praise factor in all things and knowing

that peace is power.

Each day we explored the beautiful names of

Allah. These are sound remedies that awaken and

clear the impressions of the heart. One of the

ways to polish the mirror of our heart was with

the forgiveness practices. The Dances we did

became the embodiment of the Divine Qualities

transforming our minds and hearts to .an

experience that lingers on past the time of

retreat.

Many small audio recordings of Sam brought him

alive and immediately present to us, One of my

favourites was “Love and Peace are the true

power. Everything else is a loan from life‟s bank”

and “when you have the Divine Breath no man

will stand against you”

Tawabba, former secretary to Wali Ali, was

present from the USA and helped our journey

with her insights and life experiences. Recently

Tawabba had tragically lost her daughter in NZ.

One night at Mana Tawabba relayed her heart

story of how her daughter had discovered the

meaning of zikr at one of Wendy‟s dance nights in

Wellington. In a moment her daughter

http://www.murshidsam.com/


understood how all of her life‟s experiences had

been reflections of the One…. there was nothing

separate…She was to die shortly after. . Mariam,

the Divine mother, held us all in her tender

embrace as we sang the Mariam zikr …. a healing

balm, as we ventured to heal our collective grief

and also support Tawaaba in hers...

Karma and Dharma Walks.

A gifted astrologer from the UK, Tara,

collaborated with Halima and Abraham, to

discover our individual and karma and dharma

walks. It was explained that the Karma walk is

what we naturally do as part of our incarnation

and the dharma walk is what we aspire to be as

part of our Sacred purpose on earth. The

following is a quote from Murshid Sam: In the

Garden”:

The walks under karma can be analysed and

learned and mastered, or they can master us. The

walks under salvation (Dharma?) can be learnt

and mastered but not analysed. When you were

in love could you analyse the walk you took to

your beloved?

Many insights were gained as we walked the

different combinations and gained a deeper insight

into ourselves. Most afternoons we submerged

ourselves into the subtleties of the astrological

walks, much to the delight of all who witnessed

them. .

Murshid Sam’s encouragement.

On a practical note we were given teaching

stories, Sufi practices of purification and the

necessary instructions as to how to take these

practices into our everyday life for

transformation.

We were reminded of Sam saying: “we are

cultivating the light and love transmission of our

teachers and were also reminded of his

instruction “to go and shine your light”.

Remembering some of the teachers who have

guided me on my path I heard Sam‟s voice

resound “show me who is not my teacher!”. I am

in deep gratitude for the flowers growing in the

garden of my heart., which have been watered by

the Dances over the years.

One such Dance from the retreat, is an excerpt

from a Hafiz‟poem, which best describes my

feelings after such a rich feast of Dance..

The sun is the wine, the moon is the cup

Pour the sun into the moon,

If you want to be filled

Drinking such wine could be good or bad

Why not drink anyway.

Saadi in his Book of Life says “when the sun is

poured into the moon, deep joy happens. No one

outside ourselves can give us this joy. They can

only remind us that we already are the wine, cup

and ecstasy……

I have been reminded that I am the wine, cup and

ecstasy.

Within me lies the potential for an abiding lasting

peace

Shalama bayta...Peace on your household

“What is grace?” I asked God

And he said: “All that happens”

Then he added when I looked perplexed

“Could not lovers say that every moment

In their Beloved‟s arms was grace?

Existence is my arms, though I will understand

How one can turn away from me

until the heart has wisdom”

St. John of the Cross


Remembering Ruth St. Denis

“The gods have meant that I should dance and by

the gods I will. I shall move to unheard rhythms

of the cosmic orchestra of heaven. That is why I

dance" Ruth St. Denis

Always good to see posts about Miss Ruth.

Especially when they include links to the video I

produced for the 2006 Ruth St. Denis birthday

celebration at the National Museum of Dance in

Saratoga Springs, NY. More info can be found at

www.ruthstdenis.org. I felt moved to add a little

more information to this exchange.

It's clear that Hazrat Inayat Khan accompanied

Ruth St. Denis for the 1911 tour that started in

Chicago in Feb and ended in Chico, CA in May.

Her husband Ted Shawn, in his 1920 book

Pioneer and Prophet, wrote:

"The Cobras, the 3rd dance in the East Indian

Series...The scene is a small bazaar near the

Ganges....Now in the distance is heard the weird,

squealing flute and the tom-tom. Ruth St. Denis,

with two Hindus who are playing these

instruments, appears,... In the bazaar scene

Professor Inayat Khan, one of the leading

musicians of India, sang the Yogi song." (p.37)

"The Nautch, 4th Dance in the East Indian

Series... "Through the production of The Nautch,

also, it was Miss St. Denis's privilege to introduce

in America the first real East Indian music.

Professor Inayat Khan, one of the greatest

musicians of India, and his native orchestra of

seven, playing native music on native instruments,

accompanied her in her nautch for an entire tour

of the United States. In the street scene of The

Cobras, Professor Khan, as a Yogi, sang the old

classic ragas of India. He also lectured during this

tour at many universities and colleges, from

Columbia in New York to the University of

California, and his advent initiated the recent

vogue of East Indian music in New York." (p. 38 &

41)

The complete text of Volume 1 of Pioneer &

Prophet is available online in several different

formats, including this nicely done scanned copy:

http://www.archive.org/stream/ruthstdenis01shaw

rich#page/n11/mode/2up

Volume 2, which lists all of her dances, with

accompanying beautiful photographs, through

1920, is here:

http://www.archive.org/stream/ruthstdenis02shaw

rich#page/n7/mode/2up

http://www.archive.org/stream/ruthstdenis01shawrich





Rekindling the Fires of Devotion in Tassie May 2011 with Sally, Prem and Nicola Amina

Sabira Jane

We arrived in Hobart full of anticipation for an

enchanted weekend - and it was - the weather

was glorious every day, so we danced on the

grass, walked on the beach, watched the sunrise

from a rocky vantage point, and some brave souls

even swam in the icy water. Prem, Sally and

Amina Nicola wove us a program of healing and

magic in loving community, with a focus on

Khannah, and the weaving turned into a beautiful

strong basket, holding us all together in love and

joy. The musicians wove glittery magical threads

through the dances, with their strumming,

drumming and fluting.

Craft and creativity was in abundance with

beautiful patches and love cards made for

Khannah and delightful mobiles of shells, feathers,

seaweeds and driftwood put together with bright

wool by children and adults alike. Again Bunji's

cooking was worth waiting for, and his huge urn

of chai very welcome. Terry's brew of herbs from

her bush garden and fabulous seaweed table

decorations were part of the magic.

The weekend filled my heart to overflowing, with

lots of new connections made and old ones

renewed in the web of love that is our dance

community.

Karuna

Once again the dances wove their magic. On the

first evening we danced to a Rumi poem:

Beyond ideas of good and bad

There is a field (meadow) where we meet

And live the beauty that we seek

The beauty that we dare

As time went by I realised that each of us is

inspired by living ideas, philosophies and

traditions that are often very different from one

another. Yet the genius of the dances enables us

to meet deeply with our hearts, aside from our

philosophies.

And as we dance we draw to us powers and

potencies of the subtle worlds. So that

Radha/Krishna, the angels of Christ, the Hebrew

Shekhina, angels of Islam and indigenous deities of

the Maoris and Aboriginal Australians may all be

drawn to dance together, with us.

I felt great gratitude for the dances and fellow

dancers, but also for the blessing of living in a

culture that has the wisdom to allow these

dances to flourish, and which gives each of us the

freedom to find our own way of exploration into

God.

Wendy Bishop

As strangers we came together to dance and sing.

And so we danced and sang, we ate and we

laughed. We shared stories and sunrises. And by

the end of our glorious retreat we had glimpsed

into the heart and soul of each other. Strangers

no more - we had found friendship and pure,

divine love. We were reminded that LOVE is all

there IS.


Byron Bay Regional Report Zebunissa

Here in Byron Bay the Dances are flourishing and

we are now having monthly dance trainings,

besides our regular dance nights. A monthly Sufi

Study group, is also being held at Majida's

beautiful property overlooking an

amazing tropical landscape. Majida has recently

moved here from Perth where she formerly had

been leading the Dances and was part of a Sufi

study group for many years. We are now

enjoying Majida‟s contribution and experience

here in Byron Bay. Ann Rayner, a flourishing

dance leader from Bellingen also comes up

frequently now and joins our expanding

community.

Elana has just been to the big island in Hawaii,

where she successfully led a yoga and sound

workshop. She was able to join the local dance

group in Hawaii and had support from the local

guitarist to do an evening of dances for her

retreatants. We used Elana‟s peaceful Shambhala

Hall for our dance training while she was away,

and truly had a deepening time together.

Gloria Grace

Congratulations to Gloria Grace, a new dance

leader from Melbourne who came and did a

week's intensive with me, which included the

recent dance training. Gloria successfully achieved

her goal of embodying 12 dances and 4 walks in a

week! Something about staying with your mentor

helps the process, undoubtedly, but also a strong

commitment manifests the goal. Other Dance

leaders: Majida, Brigitte, Ann, Dede and Danielle

assisted with presenting foundation dances. Elana

was in Hawaii as previously mentioned. There

was a focus on the message of Unity and a

journey with the ancestors of the Dances over

the 3 days of training. All this was a great

assistance for Gloria to enable her to experience

the dances and fuel her passion for the Dances.

"Ya Fattah!" to Gloria's work in Melbourne...may

the Dances flourish and truly inspire the hearts of

all those coming in contact with them.

For me our time together is very powerful and I

can see everyone growing in depth and

confidence in their dance leading. I am

encouraging dance leaders to take a phrase of a

dance they like and really walk it as a spiritual

practice. We have been concentrating on what

makes a dance work, remembering that it is a

solid rhythm foundation that is the basis of a well

contained dance without energy leaks. Also a

reminder to read the notes and instructions for

the dance you lead and make sure you have them

in your body before you lead. Of course

sometimes one simply forgets because the neural

pathways aren't firing in the brain ...but the more

you practice the less chance you have of

forgetting,...... that is as long as you don't keep

practicing the incorrect movements!. At the first

instance check the book for a memory jog.

In future trainings we will be focussing on our

attunements to each spiritual tradition: the Light

of Divine Wisdom (Hindu), Divine Compassion

(Buddhist), Divine Light (Zoroastrian), Divine

Love (Divine Feminine), Divine Nature

(indigenous), Divine Law (Jewish), Divine Selfless

Service/Self Sacrifice (Christian), Divine Unity

(Islamic) and Sufi (Divine Truth). We are

generally meeting the fourth weekend of the

month, so if you are travelling and want to come

and join us let me know.


I AM NOT

Rumi

Muslims! What can I do? I have lost my identity!

I am not a Christian, Jew, pagan, or Muslim.

I am neither an Easterner nor a Westerner,

neither a land nor a sea person.

Nature can't fully account for me,nor can the whirling cosmos.

I don't exclusively belong to earth, water, fire, or air.

I am not of the invisible-ineffable, nor of the dust--

I am not a process or a being.

I am not of this world or the next, and deserve

neither eternal reward nor eternal punishment.

I am not of Adam or Eve,

not of the original Garden nor the final one.

My home has no address; my tracks leave no trace.

I am neither body nor soul--What can I say?

I belong to the Self of the Beloved.

I have laid all "twos" aside:

this world and that world are one.

I search for One, I recognize One,

I see One clearly, and I call the name of the One.

That unnameable One, the breath of the breath,

is the first and last, the outside and the inside.

I identify no one except by "O That... O This!"

I am drunk on the cup of Love:

here-now and everywhere-all-time have vanished.

I can't handle any business except celebration.

If I spend an instant without you,

that instant makes my whole life seem worthless.

If I can win one moment with you,

I will crush both worlds under my feet

as I dance in joy forever.

journal of dances of universal peace australia inc spring...

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