There are two feet of fresh snow outside and it can be hard to remember that it’s April and we really are moving towards spring. The news is full of crises and one could easily lose doubt that there is a larger evolutionary impulse towards more love. How do we remember?
I always have a lot to say about spiritual practice as an essential part of keeping ourselves resilient in the midst of the literal and figurative endless winters.
There’s also my self talk which helps me keep perspective. I’ve fallen in love with the proclamation “Wisdom dances!â€
I originally chose the name Wisdom Dances to describe the transformative qualities of the women’s ritual dances from the Balkans, Greece, and Asia Minor. Laura Shannon’s extensive research and innovative approach to teaching had transmitted these dances to me as a living wisdom tradition.
I intuited that the expression also has another meaning, that Wisdom’s nature is to move and bring us into deeper relationship. She dances. I have discovered over time that inviting Wisdom to guide spiritual transformation is really the core of my work.
What is Wisdom? Who is Wisdom?
Recently I’ve been invigorated by Cynthia Bourgeault’s book The Wisdom Way of Knowing and her description of the Wisdom tradition. Wisdom is more than kitchen table wisdom, or Wisdom Sofia, the feminine aspect of the divine. In her words
Wisdom is a precise and comprehensive science of spiritual transformation that has existed since the headwaters of the great world religions and is in fact their common ground. This science includes both theory and practice. The theory part consists of a unified cosmology – in other words, a comprehensive vision of our human purpose and destiny. The practice involves a systematic training for growing into that purpose. p. xvi-xvii
I love this passage from the Book of Wisdom that further describes Wisdom’s way of moving towards spiritual transformation:
For wisdom is quicker to move than any motion;
She is so pure, she pervades and permeates all things.
She is a breath of the power of God,
Pure emanation of the glory of the almighty
So that nothing impure can find its way into her.
For she is a reflection of the eternal light
Untarnished mirror of God’s active power
And image of God’s goodness
Wisdom is always moving, helping us grow into our greatest human purpose. She persists! Wisdom dances!
She persists! Wisdom dances!
With love,
emily
Practices for Spiritual Transformation
Drop in any week to Healing Waters Qigong, a Spring Forest Qigong practice group, or to the Wisdom Dances dance practice, based in Laura Shannon’s research on traditional dances as tools for healing and transformation.
A Tender Space for Transformation
It can be so frustrating to feel that, despite your best efforts, the healing or creation you want to make happen eludes you. This is why I help people address the root energetic and spiritual nature of their challenges through qigong healing.
