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Entering the Dance Ground, our coronas of gardenias and salvia emit ethereal fragrances from the one organism that we are: Mexica Danzantes de la Luna (Mexica Moon Dancers). After circling the dance-ground four times, moving counter-clockwise in the direction of the Moon, we undergo cell-division and differentiate into four filas, the four lines that will determine which direction we are dedicated to for the dance. We are now four lines of thirteen women facing the rising October full moon, engaged in a robust greeting of the East, with yoyotes (ankle rattles) keeping rhythm with the immensity of strength coming from the drum and singers in the center of the circle. Individual expression rules as we continue to circle, greeting each direction with gazelle leaps from those in their twenties, and gentle pelvic waves describing infinity signs from those in their seventies or older. The older ones recognize that the night will be long-the first of four in which we will dance until dawn, with four brief rests to court vision and insight. As we come into our filas, I see that I have fallen into the Water Clan. I feel that water has given me a warm smile and has taken me in her arms. The deep satisfaction of bonding with my Moon Dance sisters-across culture and language barriers-helped seed the Tolantongo Cross-Cultural & Cross-Species Gatherings. Like my work in Central Africa, Asia, and with the Arapaho and Navaho, when that cultural bridge is crossed, there is nothing quite like it. It is very special kind of soul-level nourishment when we experience deep connection beyond our "own kind", and then recognize the potent self-reflection. In the Moon Dance, we are seeking to extend our bonds with the moon, the earth and the elements. These are also mirrors, food for the soul. When my Moon Dance sisters showed me Tolantongo, something stirred in me. I sensed the potential for increasing my capacity to bring that special food to others. The beauty at Tolantongo can bring you to your knees. And here, with reverence and gratitude, we welcome our host, the wonder and mystery of Nature. We will have several astute ambassadors to help cross the bridges, both cultural and to the plants, animals and elements. I want to share a little more about the Moon Dance, and weave in the story of how it has influenced Agua Alma aquatic bodywork, and the Tolantongo Cross-Cultural and Cross-Species Gathering. I'm grateful to this hearty circle of Moon Dance women, who are mostly from Mexico City, for their dedication to their consciousness and reclaiming their indigenous roots. I have seen this circle grow in size and influence over a ten year period. The circle for my first dance-where I was one white face among sixty women-was eked out of a cactus farm, as close to Teotihuacan Pyramids as possible, about 10 miles up the road. Since, this one circle has become nine. The circle I dance with now forms a triangle with the pyramid of the Sun and the Moon at famous Teotihuacan Archeological Park. Some have seen light rising from the pyramids during the Moon Dance. My Mexica sisters have helped me know the Four Directions and the Elements within myself-and to see them as a bridge to intimacy with Nature. They have influenced me to shape Agua Alma Aquatic Bodywork around the Directions and Elements.
The state of consciousness engendered by the Moon Dance is similar to that of the Agua Alma work- both are doorways beyond the usual parameters of our normal waking reality. Both help us shift out of the dominance of the cognitive processes, calling all the parts of us into presence, into a state of interconnection with all things-a "soul" ("alma" in Spanish) place that is at once highly personal, yet universal. In this state, many have experiences receiving a visit from, or feeling as if they merge with other species, and return with the benefit of a different perspective. Such as: "a large rose came and hovered over the pool", "I became a puma, my tail swishing in attentive observation", "I was an African honey-bird-that shows the way to the honey-but this experience was the honey". The soul-level experience of interconnection supports healing on a personal level, and also cultivates the awareness, caring, and inner knowing to help inform priorities and lifestyle choices of sustainability for our Planet. The differences between these works are more than apparent. Agua Alma's silky lusciousness, with the warm water touching you everywhere to call you to your wholeness. It is sensory heaven. The Moon Dance's discipline stretches my physical limits, dancing through the night for four nights,with sweatlodges every dusk and dawn, while fasting. It is good to challenge our limits. It is good to have these contrasts. In the last year, Agua Alma has spawned new offspring, called Agua Alma Solo. This work emerged when a hip injury forced me to spend 6-8 hours per day in the water for about six weeks--which accelerated the opening of my inner seeing. Akin to Emily Conrad's Continuum work, the use of specific sounding techniques, body shapes and breath launched me into an experience of non-volitional, involuntary movement coming through me. In the warm water setting, the movement took me into a swirling 360 degree dance, conveniently and consistently bringing me up for air when I needed to breathe. In a stair-stepped process, as in building any relationship, healing plants that I had known for decades responded to my call and became close allies in my healing process. The obvious benefit of Agua Alma Solo is that it can be done as an individual. However, we have found that the energy field of a group is highly beneficial, with half the group holding space in a geometric form while the other half journeys. Immersion in warm water is a great launch-pad for shamanic journeying. My hip injury was a healing challenge involving bone bruising and micro-ligament tears that might have taken months, or even years. It was resolved 115% in a few weeks. The extra 15% is due to new range of motion which emerged in my right foot that had been paralyzed by polio for over 50 years. Fuerza a todas las mujeres en el mundo! Strength to all the women of the world! Tiowi! Adelante! Forward! With my inner ear, I could hear my Moon Dance sisters celebrating this triumph. The men of the community also…as the Moon Dance couldn't happen without the unflagging support of the men, who fire the rocks for the sweatlodges, help prepare the grounds, and support their sister dancers through the night with their drumming and singing. After greeting each direction, the Moon Sisters return to our one circle, continuing to circle moon-wise, with each dancer making a full turn as she passes each direction. The effect is a serpentine ripple that continues through the night, as we pass through inumerous configurations. We form rays at each direction. The rays then migrate around the circle. Stars, waves, spirals, pulsing contraction and expansion express themselves through us under the night sky. More on the Four Sacred Directions. It is not a mystery why indigenous people from around the world and thoughout time have looked to the Four Directions for guidance. Named the Cardinal Points which translates from Latin as "important" -- people who have lived close to the Earth have naturally sought their bearings in the world by developing personal relationship with the Four Directions. When we face the dawn and dusk with awe and gratitude for their tender magnificence, we touch some of the roots of our ancestors that have built these traditions. Our bodies contain magnetite, within the hypocampus, which is very sensitive to fluctuations in magnetic fields. Is it this magnetic axis within our bodies that calls us to greet the North and the South, echoing the magnetic axis of the Earth? With time, we build personal relationship with each of the Four Directions. Our hearts, equipped with millions of receptor sites for sensing subtle energies as they are, begin to recognize the subtleties of these sources of guidance. The earth rhythms begin to take up residence in our bodies, supported by eons of those who have gone before who have held these cycles as sacred. It is easy to find different interpretations of the meaning of each Direction. It is also easy to find similarities. Of course, depending on where you are located on our precious Planet, the Directions will change. The elements which correspond to the directions will change as well. For example, the air carries more water in Guatemala than in Arizona. On the lower Colorado River, the water has more Earth in it than high on the Continental Divide, where it begins crystal clear and its steep descent mixes it with Air. How to work with these differences is a metaphor for the bigger picture. The challenge is to take up residence in our hearts and build personal relationship with the Directions and the corresponding Elements. As we develop these relationships on a personal level, the differences melt away, and it is possible to catch a ride on the updraft of Interconnection. In our times, so many teachers from wisdom traditions from around the world and throughout the ages are now making their ancient secrets available. In response, we are called to remember, refresh, rebirth our personal relationships with the Four Directions, the Elements, with the plant people, and the animal nations. To do this, we must first establish good relations with our own bodies. It is a source of personal strength to do so. It is an act of service to do so. Bonding with water, as well as earth, fire and air is not only a means to negotiate our own personal health, it is a pathway to communicate with the elders that make homo sapiens look like a blip on the screen in terms of their longevity on this planet. I am talking about our friends, the plant people. They have so much to teach us about how to live here appropriately. And they are so willing to communicate. But we need to reach out to them with ears that are more open than the limitations that spoken language provides. After giving a presentation on Agua Alma at the Mexica Moon Dance last year, several people said--you have to go to Tolantongo. So we did. I have never seen anything like this place. From here, the dream emerged of pulling friends across cultures together for a gathering in ultra-magical Tolantongo, 3 ˝ hours North of Mexico City. At Tolantongo, two streams emerge from the base of a white limestone mountain face. One has a tunnel that runs straight back for about 50 yards, the other emerges from the mountain via a cavernous amphitheater. These male and female earth-forms are both quite accessible for exploration in their body-temperature water that joins into one stream at their mouths. Across the stream, several finger-like cascades play piano-like music through the tropical foliage as they are gathered into small albercas (natural pools) of warm water just right for dipping. Following a short narrow passage back, in the cleavage between two mountains, even greater grandeur offers itself: a large opening with a series of stair-stepped pools weave their way back into a canyon in which Gaia reveals herself as curvaceous limestone reminiscent of human form. At this awesome alcove that has earned the name La Gloria, it is possible to climb, then swim across several successive pools…also of warm water. A limestone cliff several hundred feet high, covered with dripping ferns, rises above the series of pools. The 2008 Tolantongo Cross-Cultural & Cross-Species Gathering, March 4-7, will be a chance to share song, dance, food and friendship with people from the Mexican alternative community. Also, to experience leading-edge explorations into exchanging intelligence with plant and animal guides with the support of immersion in warm water. Presenters from N America and Meso-America will explore: • Building skills for connecting beyond words…with people and our kin-the plants, animals and the elements. Intelligence in nature, plant spirit medicine. • Movement studies to help us melt the barriers to extended communication: Continuum , Agua Alma Aquatic Bodywork. Evening Celebrations of Song and Dance across cultures: North, South, East and West. The evenings will feature exchange of song and dance, including some of Boulder's best world musicians. Americans and Mexicans will have an opportunity to meet each other in an setting that provides for multi-dimensional interaction and experience the melting of borders that shared song/ dance/ and ceremony from many cultures can bring. To include: Cameron Powers and Kristina Sophia's Middle Eastern music extraordinaire, Ellen Klaver's bi-cultural depth and musical finesse, colorful and athletic Mexica Dance and multi-cultural indigenous Meso-American song. Following TheTolantongo Water Festival, the first segment of the Agua Alma certification training-Agua Alma Exploration-- will be offered, on March 9-14. This training is a prerequisite for the Agua Alma certification. The full Agua Alma certification training will be offered in Boulder, CO, May through September, in three segments. Footnotes: 1,2 The Secret Teachings of Plants, Stephen Harod Buhner, Bear & Co., 2004, pg. 64
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