"THE SPIRAL DANCE" (A Chant By Starhawk) Her name cannot be spoken, Her face was not forgotten, Her power is to open, Her promise can never be broken. (Spring) all sleeping seeds She wakens, the rainbow is Her token, Now winter’s power is taken, In love, all chains are broken. (Fall) All seeds She deeply buries, She weaves the thread of seasons. her secret, darkness carries, She loves beyond all reason. She changes everything She touches, and Everything She touches, Changes. [Repeat – Chant] Change is, touch is; Touch is, change is, Change us! Touch us! Touch us! Change Us! Everything lost is found again, In a new form, in a new way. Everything hurt is healed again, In a new life, in a new day. [Repeat any and all verses] [Pg. 160 in "As Above, So Below"]

The Three Core Principles of the Goddess Religion: Immanence calls us to live our spirituality here in the world, to take action, to preserve the life of the earth, to live with simplicity and responsibility. Interconnection is the understanding that all being is interrelated, that we are linked with all of the cosmos as parts of one living organism. What affects one of us affects us all. Interconnection demands from us compassion, the ability to feel with others so strongly that our passion for justice is itself aroused. Community primarily focuses on the growth and transformation that comes through intimate interactions and common struggles, not individual salvation or enlightenment or enrichment. Community is personal -- one's closest friends, relatives, and lovers, those to whom we are accountable. The Goddess religion is a conscious attempt to reshape culture. But we CANNOT reshape consciousness by force or through fear, for to do so would only reinforce what we are trying to change. We will experience more repression as we become more visible. But we should never let fear silence us -- or we do the oppressor's work for them. With courage, vision, humor, and creativity, we can use our magic, our ability to change consciousness, our world view, and our values to reinstate the living web of all interconnected life as the measure by which all choices are judged.                     ~Starhawk~

www.starhawk.org

SuggestedReading:    "The Spiral Dance" "Twelve Wild Swans" "The Pagan Book of Living and Dying" "Circle Round: Raising Children in Goddess Traditions" "The Fifth Sacred Thing" (fiction) "Walking to Mercury" (fiction) "Webs of Power"

"We are all longing to go home to some place we have never been — a place half-remembered and half-envisioned we can only catch glimpses of from time to time. Community. Somewhere, there are people to whom we can speak with passion without having the words catch in our throats. Somewhere a circle of hands will open to receive us, eyes will light up as we enter, voices will celebrate with us whenever we come into our own power. Community means strength that joins our strength to do the work that needs to be done. A circle of healing. A circle of friends. Someplace where we can be free." ~Starhawk~

QUOTES from "Spiral Dance" by Starhawk "On every full moon, rituals ... take place on hilltops, beaches, in open fields and in ordinary houses. Writers, teachers, nurses, computer programmers, artists,lawyers, poets, plumbers, and auto mechanics -- women and men from many backgrounds come together to celebrate the mysteries of the Triple Goddess of the Dance of Life. The religion they practise is called Witchcraft." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Love for life in all its forms is the basic ethic of Witchcraft.' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "In Witchcraft, each of us must reveal our own truth."

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