I am the fire
I dance within its flames
Flickering within me
Purple fire, heat of desire.

I am the music
I dance within its rhythm
My feet dance the pattern,
Hips heat, heart beats.

I am the circle
I dance within your love
Pulsing through me
Our motion, the passion.

I am the ecstasy
I dance within the power
Shaping the universe
All knowing, joy flowing.

Firedancer (aka Dawn Atkins, Aug. 2000)

Spiritual connection, wholeness, power and joy are the key elements of what ecstatic religion has meant to me. Part if my coven name is Firedancer, for my trance dancing in ritual. Long before I became involved in what is called Neo-Paganism, ecstatic trance was an important part of who I was. Trance states came to me while dancing, sex, eating, camping and other experiences of mind/heart/body connection.

I remember being considered weird in the Girl Scouts partially because I would stare into the campfire and be "somewhere else." I would now understand the things are saw in the flames as scrying through fire induced trance. I would disappear for hours at church camp to go wandering in the woods. I almost fainted with joy during my first slow dance with a boy I had a crush on -- the heat of his body, the pull of the music, the smell of him -- I was dizzy. In the 70s and early 80s I went to bars to dance and find sexual release. I looked in a lot of strange places for ecstasy. I did not always find it, but I did find it enough to keep me looking.

I became involved in Neo-Paganism ten years ago. I have enjoyed the different traditions I have studied and am looking to expand. I have realized that I want to spend more of my time exploring the ecstatic aspects. I am hoping to start finding and/or organizing more spaces to share this...

For more information on ecstatic dance see: http://www.ecstaticspirit.com/Bistro/dancefaq.html

This page last updated 8/25/00.