Belly Dance Log, 1/1/25
I have a tradition of offering an extended workshop on the first of the year, and this New Year's Day Belly Dance Balm Ritual Class was one for the ages.
The first day of the year carries a special hush of sacred newness. Inspired by the #1 Card in the Major Arcana of Tarot, we began class with the Magician Arm Pathway. Sinuous and circular, it involves the entire body and being. It an enchanting warm up, and we did it on both sides of the body. We considered what thoughts and energies we wanted to seed into the New Year, and created sigils at the end of class. We literally "rang" in the New Year with community finger cymbals using numerology to guide the patterns, and let it all hang out sharing happy dancing together.
In numerology, 2025 is a Universal Year 9, and 9 of us were gathered in a circle to toast the New Year with a beautiful juice blend my daughter and I had prepared. Beets, lemon, ginger, apple, pineapple, oranges - gifts of earth blended with love to promote life force energy - delicious!
I guided the class through 9 movements / steps / pathways that formed a dance story. At the end we did spins! which evokes the wheel of the year as well as a hopeful harbinger of next year - 2026 - a 10 year - and 10 in tarot is the Wheel of Fortune... May we all be fortunate this year and have a fulfilling year, reaching out for help and support when we need it, dancing and moving energy through the body, staying curious and open to new learnings, and challenging ourselves to follow through on our creative ideas and intentions.
We concluded class with relaxation. We lay down on mats, stretching, lounging and drawing our symbol or sigil for the year on blank tarot cards we provided.
Each dancer had a self-validating & encouraging sign to bring home for their personal altar.
Happy New Year everyone!
