Gaia Sacred Circle Dancers Present Inspired Dances for Inspired Living: Dancing the Heroine’s Journey –
3rd Annual Summer Sacred Circle Dance Retreat
August 1 – 4, 2025
The Gaia Sacred Circle Dancers of Central Canada would love for you to join us at our 3rd Annual Retreat! The retreat is a unique blend of Shamanic Journeying and Sacred Circle Dancing. We’ve developed this process over years and have fused the two so that dance can be used as a tool in a Ceremony intended to cause a transformational experience. In this case, we’ll Dance-Journey through the archetypal Heroine’s Journey, based on Maureen Murdoch’s work. She realized that the process to wholeness and Power for women was different than the Hero’s Journey. However, women and men, of 21 years of age or older, are welcome.
No dance experience is necessary and you don’t have to know how to ‘shamanically journey’ – but it’s great if you do! – because we will be using the process of dancing so that you can ‘get out of your own way’, or ‘get out of your head’, so to speak. This traditional approach to dance allows you to engage your Inner Heroine and have the transformational experience that this cycle allows for.
“There is a void felt these days by women and men – who suspect that their feminine nature, like Persephone, has gone to hell. Wherever there is such a void, such a gap or wound agape, healing must be sought in the blood of the wound itself. It is another of the old alchemical truths that ‘no solution should be made except in its own blood’. So, the female void cannot be cured by conjunction with the male, but rather by an internal conjunction, by an integration of its own parts, by remembering or a putting back together of the mother-daughter body.” ~ Nor Hall, The Moon and the Virgin
As for the Dance-Journey, Shamans have always been the main Ceremonialists in their communities and have used ‘dancing in a ceremonial space’ as a way to have people Journey safely together and therefore get the transformational benefit. Journeying is not ‘going into a trance’ and Ceremony always has a specifically designed Intention. As well, by its nature, Sacred Circle Dance is not a performative practice and does not require technical perfection or previous experience. It is a matter of moving with a shared Conscious Intention and doing your best. If you don’t consider yourself a ‘dancer’ but still feel drawn to this work, you’re welcome to Journey via seated meditation to the music.
Click Here to Learn More & Register!
We’re looking forward to another amazing summer retreat dancing ourselves around the wheel of The Heroine’s Journey. We hope you’ll join us!
Warmly,
Carrie, Barbara & Kathleen
Carrie Fawcett, MMus., Ceremonialist & Sacred Circle Dance Leader
Barbara Carter, Inspired Choreographer & Sacred Circle Dance Leader
Kathleen Leeson RH, CCHA Elder, Shamanic Healer & Clinical Herbalist
Questions? Contact Carrie at carrie@carriefawcett.com or 343-571-2979
What one of our regular participants had to say about dancing with us:
“Sacred Circle Dancing gives me a tool to explore the language of my own body. In a world of theoretical learning, dancing with mindfulness is a perfect sacred feminine antidote. For this time, together in group, and with beautiful music, we are fully present to our own physicality and the seemingly endless possibilities for expression. I know myself better because of this kind of dance – so much gratitude to the women who offer such amazing opportunities!” ~ Carrie R
Gaia Sacred Circle Dancers of Central Canada is a collective of practitioners based in the National Capital Region, dedicated to the revitalization of a local Sacred Circle Dance knowledge and practice. Core members are Carrie Fawcett, MMus., Ceremonialist & Sacred Circle Dance Leader; Barbara Carter, Inspired Choreographer & Sacred Circle Dance Leader; Kathleen Leeson RH, Shamanic Healer & Clinical Herbalist.
We are the 2nd and 3rd generations of local Sacred Circle Dancers. We draw from the large catalogue of shared dances from our predecessors, and we have skilled choreographers within our community.
Our public offerings include monthly Circle Dances afternoons or evenings oriented around particular themes, held in and around Ottawa.