First, I went to spend a week with my Dance New England beloveds. We have been in relationship for 16 years, my DNE community and me. It has been an up and down experience.
The highs of this camp were Community Day (which I facilitated-- yay, ME), and The Sacred Temple Dance (which I facilitated-- Yay, me , again!).
The low for me was the Fire Circle. I heard through that wonderfully gossipy grapevine that IS DNE that Mr. Micheal felt that i hijacked the drum circle.
Hijacked? Ouch.
Shades of Mareba, have I become my own worst nightmare!
Enough folks commented afterwards that what I said about Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton moved them that I have no regrets.
AND, I will not go to fire circles in that community, any more.
16 years is enough time to try to stay in dialogue. I consider myself divorced from DNE fire circles, due to an "irretreviable breakdown" and "irreconcilable differences"...
THANK THE GODDESS that I am a polyamorous person! I can still love what I love about DNE and go find what I need that is not attainable at DNE.

So, I left on Friday, and went to Forest Dance, in Petersham, Mass.

I am now 24 hours and counting, back from the land of the Fey. back from the experience of creating a loving community of free spirited Star Children, at Earthlands. Back from an experiment being "off the grid", FOR REAL.
My introduction to the Forest Dance tribe left me inspired, awed, and deeply grateful.
You see, as ALisa Starkweather said towards the end of the gathering, we over fifty year old types have been waiting a long, long time for this to actually happen. We have been faking it until we make it. We have been pushing and pulling and manipulating the energy for years and years and years...dragging ourselves around fire circles so "young" that we had to politely ask folks not to stand in one place in front of the fire, as if they were at a weenie roast. And every now and then, the energy would "gel" for a moment. Maybe 20 minutes. Maybe an hour or two.
I went into the Sunday Forest Dance ritual, and experienced sacred space to trance, dance, sweat, and pray from the moment Whitney blessed me at the gate near midnight, until the drums stopped around 7 a.m.
Wow.
They were mainly in their 20's and 30's. They all make it look so natural. And I was delightfully surprised by how easy it all was.
I continue to ride waves of magical synchronistic adventures. A phone message from my boss, reminding me that my new work schedule has started, and I don't have to go to work until wednesday. A lovely interaction with the morning D.J. of a program I start my day with. "Did you miss me?" I tease. "I was away dancing all night in the woods". He calls me back a half hour later, asks if I am still listening (he knows that I don't have a radio in my car) and plays a special song for me. It is Kim Field's "In a Whisper" and moves me to tears.
I live in beauty. With my day off, I took time to record a 10 minute piece on "passion", for my radio show. To do this, I went out into the woods with a digital recorder and stood by a babbling brook. I read an AMAZING poem that was spoken in the wee hours of the morning at the fire, "We have come to be danced" by Jewel Mathieson Not fifteen minutes later, a friend called in some distress. Although my day was clear to connect, his day was not lear to meet me. So we made a date for Thursday, and I read him that poem. He was in tears by the end and he sobbed, "But I don't know how to DO that..."
"I do". I told him. And it is a teacheable thing. And we are all learning.


Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!
I remain-- in the literal translation of my name-- Eternally Grateful!