Our speaker Dr. Serena Roney Dougal presented "Altered States of Time, Faery and the Celtic Lunar Calendar" including a discussion about the odd effects of being at sacred sites, at the Breaking Conventon, in 2013; it was taped and is now on Youtube, a 27 minute video; watch it on the link above. This is a wonderful talk! She is deeply grounded in her experience of Celtic and other sacred sites; she explains them clearly and tells great stories too!
News from Jo
From the Filmmaker - Jo Carson: We have built a library to house the Feraferia Book Collection ("Feraferia" means "celebrate wildness" - with magic, mirth & love), an in-depth resource focused on similar topics to those in "Dancing With Gaia," and much more.
Originally assembled by Fred Adams, these are books on aspects of Goddess, faerie, womanspirit, ancient Egyptian/Minoan/Eleusinian/Greek studies, geomancy, magic, the occult, shamanism, myth, symbolism, nature/eros/ Goddess poetry, Eastern esoteric studies, permaculture and agriculture, pre-Columbian American religion, and Western indigenous traditions. With almost 1500 volumes, cataloguing this has been a huge job! But also rewarding, with a strong temptation to stop and read many of them.
For some time we have been putting together "The Book of Feraferia," a comprehensive book of lore, ritual and art from Feraferia. Feraferia is a visionary mystery religion and faerie faith rooted in the earth and star Goddess. This is an on-going project. You can
Since 2016 Jo has been focused on creating a Feraferia Tarot Deck and book, based on Fred Adams' wonderful art and the teachings and mythos of Feraferia. The basis of meaning of the cards is a little different than other decks; the Major Arcana fit on the Wheel of the Year, so the cards' meanings are influenced by their seasonal position. The Minor Arcana are influenced by the relationships of the Planets with each other, including Earth itself. We are hoping to have it complete this year!
Stories
A real Dancing With Gaia Moment.....an unsolicited note from Ruth, one of the people demonstrating Aikido in the film... (used with permission).
"Found your email from the gaiadancing website. Want to share an aikido story I think you'll appreciate. Three weeks ago I went to San Diego for a three day aikido seminar with Patrick Cassidy. It was an awesome seminar and the whole thing was done to music! I had an experience training there with one man that was in the realm of magic, both of us connecting so harmoniously, in sync with the music, and just glowing. I've never had such an experience training like that. It was like dancing. Dancing with Gaia!
I found this quote from Cassidy Sensei in an online interview,
“When the rhythms of the music are in sync with your movements, you have the experience of something moving through you rather than something coming from you. That is the experience we are looking for that sense of being connected to something larger, coming into touch with a context that contains both uke and nage. The music is a catalyst for that."
So that was what I got, and now I'm a huge Cassidy fan! I also found a video of one of Cassidy's students taking a sandan test, set to music. Thought you might enjoy the video. Cassidy is the blond examiner in the video."
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The best of times and the worst of times on the road, shooting Dancing With Gaia
Production Notes from the filmmaker...
"When I first started looking for funding for Dancing With Gaia, none of the grant agencies would even consider it. It was too religious, too spiritual, too much about sex, too everything! I am thrilled that now when I bring up Gaia or the Goddess, people generally know what that is and often want to see the movie. Times have changed, and Gaia is making herself known.
The worst time of the production was when my taxi driver in the lonely mountains of Crete started saying he wanted a kiss and put his hand on my leg. I grabbed my things, jumped out of the taxi and ran. He didn't follow, so I got to get shots of the dank mouth of Eiletheya cave, reputed birthplace of Zeus. I was glad I wasn't impregnated on my way to see the birthgiving Goddess. Then it was a long and weary trudge all the way back down to town carrying my equipment.
One of the best times was being alone in the Temple of Mnaijdra on Malta. I had rented a moped and slung the camera across my back; it was perfect that when I arrived, no one else was there. I got to lie down on one of the huge carved stones inside the temple, with the warm sun pouring down on me. It was one of the most peaceful times of my life. The temples there are all built in the shape of the full bodied mother Goddess. Lying there really felt like I had gone back to rest inside her body."