The Circle Turns and Returns Again

If you are tuned in to the natural cycle of the year, as I am, and if you pay heed to the stages of the sun’s apparent journey through our skies, as I do; if, additionally, for the sake of family and friends who subscribe to them, you pay respect to the religious traditions that surround us; if you enjoy this period of the year because of the goodwill, the festivities, the parties and the re-connection with distant friends whatever the source or inspiration for these efforts and events; why, then, the period between Thanksgiving at the end of November and Twelfth Night on January 6 is one long round of glorious celebrations, one long feast for body and soul!

And that, in a much less Dickensian sentence, is just what I’m enjoying!

It would be tedious for me to list all the times and places that I’ve been celebrating the sun’s turning and returning; suffice it to say that they’ve included a snowy, sunny stone circle in Quebec; a joyous celebration with children and their families in New Hampshire; delicious family meals cooked by my daughters Jessica and Louise here in Vermont; much visiting hugging, exchanging of news, greetings and presents; walks on the windy blessed shore of Lake Champlain; candle-lit evenings of dance with precious friends; holiday concerts; wreath-making; dance, and more dance!

Today, December 28, I’m still looking forward to celebratory New Year circle dances in Burlington and St. Johnsbury; to Burlington’s fabulous First Night celebration, and to an 11^th-night fire circle to greet the January full moon as it rises, we hope, over my backyard.

The sun’s standstill and slow return has been a special moment in the year since people first noticed it many thousands of years ago. It’s spawned countless myths, beginning perhaps with Gilgamesh or even earlier. It is, indeed, really THE story, the basic and only story, because if it doesn’t happen both daily and annually, we cease to exist.

The story is this:

“The sun returns, the sun disappears, the sun returns.”

It is a circle, it’s the eternal circle, and that’s why we dance in circles.

 

Return to the Miracle

A little while ago, November 18 to be precise, I wrote in this blog about the recent miracles in my life and I failed to mention the one occurrence that really set me thinking about this. It was not a large miracle, but it was a very unlikely happening. I realize that al possible events can happen, however strong the odds against them are,  but it's still remarkable.

My dancing friend Meaghan from Canada has developed a beautiful morning practice of a sequence of meditative dances. At multi-day dance gatherings she dances them early in the morning and those of us who wish to, join in. The music is beautiful and the movements flowing. We dance wordlessly for 45 minutes, blessing the opening of the day with this deep practice. As we stand together around the candle after the final dance, the last track of the sequence plays. It's a blessing written and read by the Irish poet and philosopher John O'Donohue.

I've danced those dances with Meaghan and heard that blessing many times. But in November 2014, after I came home from the gathering at Neskaya, I looked up some information about John O'Donohue and found that his first published book was Anam Cara, A book of Celtic Wisdom.

I made a mental note to find a copy of that book, perhaps at the local library. Then I cleared some junk out of the basement and headed for the town's repurposing center, en route for the library.

I deposited my recycling, dumped some construction debris, and carefully placed my old boom box on a pile of other defunct appliances that an employee assured me tend to breed and multiply overnight.

Mission accomplished, I headed for the "free" shack to see what I could score, and browsed a few broken lawn chairs and some mis-matched cutlery.

A man came in with a heavy box and began to unload books onto the shelves. I watched, and drew closer as the tiles began to pull me in, seeming to be connected as they were with spirituality and natural wisdom.

 "Those look interesting," I remarked. The man smiled and, half turning toward me, said over his shoulder: "Help yourself".  As he emptied the box and moved aside  I reached out for the nearest book,  a small paperback with a golden cover . . .

. . .   and found my hand  closing over a copy of Anam Cara by John O'Donohue.

John O'Donohue and friend

I don't know what the odds of that happening are. Do I have to take into consideration that any book in the world might find its way to a municipal waste processing center in Burlington, Vermont, USA on the precise day that I stopped by?

I don't know, but it seems like a little miracle to me! So I'm reading the book very carefully.

The Blessing for Beauty begins like this:

"May the beauty of your life become more visible to you, that you may glimpse your wild divinity."


http://www.johnodonohue.com/

Beautiful Dancers

Here are several photos of Rita, Barbara, Melly, Deb and Samira dancing "Bells of Norwich", December 1, 2014.

 

 

 

Our circle dance community in Burlington has been growing slowly over the past three years since Melly Bock began convening circles. We've had some beautiful and inspiring events, including this afternoon when we danced in the Ohavi Zedek Synagogue. It's a very welcoming Jewish community that opens its arms to our sacred but totally non-religious dance.

This particular dance is set to a song about the words of the anchorite Julian of Norwich. The lyrics and music are by Sydney Carter and I don't know who choreographed the dance - maybe Colin Harrison -  it's a favorite in the Circle Dance community as the winter begins to draw in.  We added the scarves to enhance our small circle.  In the photos the dancers are dancing the chorus.

The words of the song remind us that spring will return someday, and here in Vermont, with deep winter beginning in November and no daffodils blooming until May, we need reminding!

Bells of Norwich

(Note: "Norwich" rhymes with "Porridge")

Daffodils in the snow, Brighton, England, March 2005.

Loud are the bells of Norwich and the people come and go.
Here by the tower of Julian, I tell them what I know.
CHORUS:  Ring out, bells of Norwich, and let the winter come and go
     All shall be well again, I know.

Love, like the yellow daffodil, is coming through the snow.
Love, like the yellow daffodil, is Lord of all I know.
(sometimes changed to "it touches all I know")

CHORUS

Ring for the yellow daffodil, the flower in the snow.
Ring for the yellow daffodil, and tell them what I know.
CHORUS

     All shall be well, I'm telling you, let the winter come and go
     All shall be well again, I know.

By Sydney Carter
Copyright Stainer & Bell, Ltd.
On "All Shall Be Well Again", FSI-96

According to Carter, Julian lived at about the time of Chaucer,
in a cell (she was a hermit and a mystic) in what is now the
Chapel of Julian in Norwich, England. According to differing
sources, Julian spoke to her God in a vision, asking why evil was
necessary in the world.  The answer she got was that it was
indeed necessary, but that "All will be well; all manner of
things shall be well."   That, then, became
her message, and she apparently brought peace to the troubles of
her area  by repeating that message.

(Adapted from : http://crydee.sai.msu.su/public/lyrics/cs-uwp/folk/j/julian_of_norwich)