Have you seen that wonderful scene from the film “Dances with Wolves”? Well this is the Derby equivalent. We don’t chain ourselves to the tree with bone stuck through our pectoral muscles, but we do take the fire out of the centre of the medicine wheel and replace it with a beautifully decorated tree which symbolises the tree of life.
“Dancing to the tree of life’ is the traditional way of marking the summer solstice in the Earth Wisdom traditions of the indigenous peoples of north and central America. We give thanks for the miracle of life by dancing round and round the wheel and in and out to the tree of life.
You can participate in this to whatever extent you want but, as ever, the more you put in the more you will get out. We begin at 7am and dance until 3pm when we complete with a feast.
No experience is necessary … just an intention to participate in a day of summer solstice celebration on the Land with other lovely people!
The day is divided into periods of simple movement and song accompanied by a team beating the huge pow-wow drum. You can learn the song and learn to play the powwow drum. We dance for 30 minutes and then meditate for 15 minutes and we repeat this cycle throughout the day.
It is a simple but powerful ceremony for anyone to join in … including families!
For people who wish to go much deeper, we are running our annual Earth Wisdom teaching Ceremony from the evening of the Wednesday June 20th until the Saturday 23rd. This deep retreat builds up to the Summer Solstice ceremony. See “Understanding the Medicine Wheel” camp page for more information.