RAINBOW DREAM DANCE

Arwyn DreamWalker has been bringing the Rainbow Dream Dance to the UK and Ireland for 20 years. Based on the dreamer’s Sundance of Turtle Island, this ceremony offers a chance to dance in honour of Grandmother Earth. Ri Ferrier speaks to Arwyn about the dance What’s the purpose behind the Rainbow Dream Dance? Its purpose is to dance with Grandmother and Her Worlds - for Her dream and for our own Sacred Dream, sending the dance as an activator of what She carries and how it is embodied within us, and how we can restore Her Web.

Dancing the Rainbow Arwyn DreamWalker has been bringing the Rainbow Dream Dance to the UK and Ireland for 20 years.  Based on the dreamer’s Sundance of Turtle Island, this ceremony offers a chance to dance in honour of Grandmother Earth. Ri Ferrier speaks to Arwyn about the dance What’s the purpose behind the Rainbow Dream Dance? Its purpose is to dance with Grandmother and Her Worlds - for Her dream and for our own Sacred Dream, sending the dance as an activator of what She carries and how it is embodied within us, and how we can restore Her Web. The dance is a time to bring our collective dreaming into an arrow of intent to be of service. Each year has had specific prayers of intent to send out across the Grandmother, each year working with one count of the 20 count of the medicine wheel. Each year builds on the foundation of the year before – with the intent to gather the energy necessary for 2013 and the event horizon. The dance has always been about restoring the Children’s Fire, restoring balance and harmony, dedicated to the Beauty Way, and to the virtues of Grace, Peace, Beauty, Heart Wisdom and Freedom. It is an honouring of the mineral, plant, animal, human and ancestral worlds of the Grandmother. It is a dance of vision, of creation, of setting new pathways, renewing the wisdom of the Ancients with the co-creation of the present. It is a dance of healing of self, of the collective, and of the planetary issues. At times it has been a dance of revealing and calling karma and dancing through that towards transformation and transmutation. It is an opening across the veil to the elder races to be present with us for this time. For each of us the Rainbow Dream Dance is a gathering of all the threads, songs, symbols, memories and gifts of the past year, and of all the Rainbow Dream Dances that have been danced upon this Land.  It is a gathering of our individual lineages, the lineages of our lands, and all that has gone before. We dance for individual and collective healing, to dance through the challenges, shadows, blocks and conflicts, to reclaim ourselves and our strand of the Web. We dance to celebrate our humanity, the gifts that we bring, our sacredness and beauty.  We dance in celebration and honouring of all the Worlds of Grandmother and Grandfather, of the Earth-Sky Alliance. And, as we dance in personal vision quest, so we dance in service of our families, our communities, for all peoples and for all the worlds of Grandmother Earth.  It is a celebration of the Sacred Hoop of life, of standing in circle with the community of people around the world who seek to walk in Beauty with Grandmother Earth and Her Worlds.  The Rainbow Dream Dance is a ceremony of much discipline and joy offering an activation and celebration of each dancer’s gifts and lineages.  The alchemy of the dance sings with the Rainbow Bridge of the sacred teachings of Turtle Island and Keltia, reaching to all lineages around the world who honour the Children’s Fire and who love the Earth. Whether we come as Dancer, Drummer, Chanter, as Dance Guardian or Fire Guardian, we are here to honour all that is SpiderWoman in ourselves, to celebrate our lives by gathering, remembering and renewing ourselves, restoring ourselves to Beauty.  We come to declare our fullest humanity to Great Spirit, to offer ourselves as a strand of SpiderWoman's Web, so that we may truly take our place and stand for all that is Sacred.   What format is the Rainbow Dream Dance?

The Rainbow Dream Dance is a three-day ceremony of healing, transformation and vision quest born from the sacred teachings of the people of Turtle Island.  At the centre of the Rainbow Dream Dance stands the Flowering Tree, the Tree of Life, the Axis Mundi. As the centre pole of the Dance, this living tree is the Great Spirit at the centre of the Universe, connecting us to Source. We come to honour the giftings of this ancient being, this living Tree. It is the centre pole of the Dance Lodge, and it is Great Spirit at the centre of the universe, touching each of us with rays of light.  We dance to the Tree, connecting our hearts to her heart, to remember that we are Children of the Earth, and to find and walk the One-Hearted path of Beauty. As we deepen our own connection to the Tree, as we hold our own individual strand, so the Collective can hold the Rainbow Dream, the honouring of the many, an embodiment of SpiderWoman's Web.  The gateway poles around the outside are in honour of the 12 Star Nations that came to the 13th of the Grandmother. It is a remembrance of where we have come from, who we are as Children of Noble Birth of Star and Earth, a remembrance of our Peoples, the Dream we have come to the Grandmother to manifest, and a map of where we are going from here. It is recognition of all that the Grandmother has offered to us on the journey, the sharing that we are here to do with the other Star Nations and the Grandmother's Peoples. It is recognition of the quest that we have been on with all of its challenges and tests, what we have learned and the jewels that have come from this. It is a dedication to turning the Sacred Hoop so that all can return the Grandmother to Her pristine blue-green jewel, and She can dance to the next level of consciousness with the Sisterhood of Planets. It is an on-going recognition of the journey that the Grandmother is on, and our part with that journey. We dance to the Tree to Awaken, to remember that we are Children of the Earth, and to find and walk the One-Hearted path of Beauty. Throughout the three days the Dance ceremony becomes a deepening vision quest for ourselves and for the collective. We dance in celebration and honouring of all the worlds of Grandmother and Grandfather, of the Earth-Sky Alliance as we travel in the Age of Flowers may we come to enlighten our path from within so that we may step fully into the energy dancer, that we may know Right Action and Right Alignment. The Dance Prayers hold the intent for this year's ceremony. In preparation, we dream with the collective Prayers to bring ourselves into the energy of the Dance, adding our own prayers to deepen and focus the healing and dreaming that are needed.   What are its roots and how easily has it transferred to this land?

The roots of this dance are the Dreamers’ Sundance of Turtle Island. It is a non-piercing Sundance of the Cheyenne and the Crow. This dance has been done on Turtle Island with our ancient people and has been restored in modern times after having been banned by the US government. It was brought to the Blessed Isles [British Isles] in 1989 after a request from some of the elders on the Blessed Isles.  It was not entirely appropriate to bring the regular Sundance – what has been kept is the form of the arbour itself, the structure of dancing three days and three nights with no food or water and the sweats.  Changes were made to bring in the uniqueness of the energy of the Blessed Isles, of the Celtic ways, and of the Elder Races.  Ribbons replaced the tepee poles that connected the Gateway poles to the centre Tree.  We also originally brought together Native American chants as well as the chants of the Blessed Isles.  As the years continued we increased the chants to reflect as many of the different paths around the Grandmother that exist.  We also then started to include some of the dancing of the Blessed Isles, Ireland and of other paths. We went on to include harp, the flute and the bagpipes. As we evolved we made the flags for the Gateway poles to include the richness, colour and the diversity of all the tribes coming together. We started with the Native American traditional Sundance clothes and now also include the kilts and other appropriate clothing from other paths. We also invited a wide diversity of Sacred Items from the Blessed Isles and other paths - not only the Sacred Pipe. In the 20 years we've attempted to make this a rainbow gathering of dreamers coming together for the ceremony. The first dance was so potent that the elders of the land have continued to ask for the dance every year since. What is the importance of this particular Dance this year? This year is the 20th year and is a culmination of 20 years that we have been walking the 20 count and the medicine wheel. This year we now bring it together into the whole completion of the 20 count of the Mayans.  This year is the final intent of healing the sacred hoop and preparing ourselves for 2013. It's a celebration of all that we have done and walked in the 20 years, the journey that we have individually and collectively been on. In this dance we take all the challenges that we have journeyed through and all the gifts that we have received and bring them together as an offering to the Grandmother, and to all the lands that the dancers come from. This year we dance for accountability for all of our actions, we call to have our measure taken so we know where we stand individually and collectively. This is a year of accountability for all institutions as well as individuals. The changes of these times demand that we act in mindfulness, with Sentience, full consciousness, awake with Presence to act within the world. Our Allies are the Wizard's Dome of all Knowledge of all Sentient Beings past, present, and future, if we can expand ourselves to that place. Our Allies are those special Beings of the White Buffalo, the White Jaguar of the 5th Sun, White Raven and Hawk, those of our Animal Brothers and Sisters who walk with no shields and without camouflage, walking in the truth of their Beingness. We are gifted this year with the 20/13 Skulls and all Crystal Skulls around the world.  Who can come? What do you have to do if you feel called? The dance is always open to all, as Grandfather's Hogan was always open to all. In order to participate, the following should happen: you receive a vision of the Dance, or are guided to participate through a sweat, personal ceremony or Dreaming. Since this is an individual commitment of three days to partake of Blessings received and giving to the Grandmother and Her Worlds  one must be committed to come with the intent of changing one's life. One could also be guided by Spirit or a Spiritual Teacher to partake. To partake of a Rainbow Dream Dance is a commitment to walk in a different way, in the Beauty Way of our Elders. To bring all of our life 24/7 into the Sacred, to restore the Harmony of our lives and with all that is around. It is a commitment to walking the One-Hearted Path. As the years have progressed we have also included several children who have spent all year preparing themselves to be part of the ceremony itself. If you feel the call to come then you prepare throughout the year of setting your intent of what you are dancing for. You align yourself also with the collective prayers of this year's dance. You will need to make a shield of your Soul which usually includes your centre animal. You will need to ask for a sponsor who will help you through and see you through the entire ceremony. You'll need to put together your ceremonial clothing which consists of a long skirt or dress with fringe on the bottom, a shirt with ribbons on it for the wind spirits, a sash for holding your centre and a headband to hold your intent. You'll need to get feather plumes for your fingers to dance back and forth to tree of life and an eagle whistle or equivalent to keep you focused. You of course need to prepare for the kind of weather of the Blessed Isles! Many people say that we are in a time of great change. How do you see these changes? As we look around the world we're clearly in a time of changes, economically, structures changing, governments changing, earth changes happening. All around us the elements are out of alignment with the activities that we do. We have been polluting our waters, our lands, our air and things are not in alignment. We have built structures that no longer serve - they are out of control and are collapsing. Native people on Turtle Island have for some time foretold of how we would create this, how this would collapse, and how we would have to purify before the next step is taken. This feels to be the time of purification where we are assessed and our measures taken; accountability is called for and chances given to bring ourselves back into the alignment of soul. At the harmonic convergence in 1987 as we married ourselves to the Grandmother we were told that we would have 20 years to co-create with her to restore the elements and her worlds. We were then told we would have five years where our efforts would be assessed and this is the time that we find ourselves in. Depending upon where this all goes will determine where each of us will find ourselves at the Event Horizon of 2013 and WorldCross. This is the time of the Blue Star purification and quickening. We find ourselves gifted with the new energy of the Indigo Children who bring a new perspective to this time - new ideas and new teachings if we will but listen. As we come to 2013 it is a time of reviewing our lives, reviewing how we walk our talk, whether we have walked as one hearted or two hearted people, as the Hopi prophecies state. We are reviewing where we are on Her path, if we have collected all the things that we need to make our dream happen, or if we are behind and trying to play catch-up. Have we collected all the resources of knowledge, dreams, visions, ideas and have we embodied this or is it still an illusion? In the past 30 years as ancient knowledge has been opened up to all so much has been given by the Elders. The question for each of us is how well have we walked this, have we grown corn from it, have we served it, or is it an illusion?  What can we do to adapt to the changes? The way we adapt to changes is to know what these changes are by listening to the Grandmother and her allies. Every day there are messages from the elements, the other worlds and from the spirit world. We adapt by being fluid and not rigid, we adapt by listening to the Ancients, our Elders, and we adapt by co-creating with these times.

More information The 20th Rainbow Dream Dance is to be held from 24th to 31st July 2010.  For more information email Michael Bonser at michael@ecoretreats.co.uk Arwyn DreamWalker will be holding public ceremonial retreats from 23rd to 26th June in Eire and from 16th to 18th July in England. Visit www.morningstar-lodge.net for more information about retreats and Arwyn’s work and vision.

 About Arwyn DreamWalker Arwyn DreamWalker is a teacher and healer of the Medicine Traditions of Turtle Island (North and South America). She has travelled to Britain and Europe for over 20 years bringing ceremonies and teachings, and a vision of life that holds at its heart a deep devotion to the sacred. DreamWalker is lineage carrier of Navajo Grandfather Tom Wilson, whose Hogan was always open to those who would come to receive teachings, regardless of race, tribe, nation or religion, and whose Dream it was to bequeath a living spiritual tradition to the next seven generations, a Dream of People coming together, of restoring Grandmother Earth and all upon Her to Beauty. DreamWalker embodies such a living tradition, supported by teachings of indigenous Medicine People across Turtle Island, as well as training in the Old Celtic ways, holding a doctorate in psychology and working for over 30 years in practice as a family therapist.

by Arwyn DreamWalker
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