Author Archives

Laura Shannon has been researching and teaching traditional women’s ritual dances since 1987. She is considered one of the ‘grandmothers’ of the worldwide Sacred / Circle Dance movement and gives workshops in over twenty countries worldwide. Laura holds an honours degree in Intercultural Studies (1986) and a diploma in Dance Movement Therapy (1990). She has also dedicated much time to primary research in Balkan and Greek villages, learning songs, dances, rituals and textile patterns which have been passed down for many generations, and which embody an age-old worldview of sustainability, community, and reverence for the earth. Laura’s essay ‘Women’s Ritual Dances: An Ancient Source of Healing in Our Times’, was published in Dancing on the Earth. Also a musician, Laura performs throughout Europe and in the USA with her partner Kostantis Kourmadias.

• Trauma Healing through Communal Dance by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on February 1, 2020 • ( 16 )

  

  The last few weeks have been difficult for me. I was already feeling raw from the treatment of refugees in Greece, the upheaval of impending Brexit in the UK, the fires devasting Australia and the Amazon, and so many other… Read More ›

• What I Learn from Women in Southern Morocco by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on November 2, 2019 • ( 20 )

  

  I feel deeply fortunate to be able to travel regularly to southern Morocco. In Taroudant in the Souss Valley, and further south in the Anti-Atlas Mountains, my groups of students have the chance to discover women’s cultural traditions including music… Read More ›

• A Dream of Death and the Light Beyond Light: Remembering Ñacuñán by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on August 3, 2019 • ( 12 )

  

  In my final year of college, my B.A. in Intercultural Studies required me to take a daily accelerated Spanish class. Thus I met Ñacuñán Sáez, the dazzlingly urbane young professor from Argentina who had recently come via Italy and Oxford to our tiny… Read More ›

• Ritual Dances for Greek Easter by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on May 4, 2019 • ( 6 )

  

  In a previous post on FAR I wrote about some of the Easter customs in Greece in which pre-Christian and Christian practices intertwine, and I would like to pick up this thread again here. Today is ‘Bright Saturday’, the Saturday after… Read More ›

• Generosity and Community: the Alternative Worldview of Women’s Ritual Dances, Part 2 by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on February 6, 2019 • ( 8 )

  

  Starhawk describes the work of her Reclaiming collective as the creation of ‘spaces of refuge from a harsh and often hostile world, safe places where people can heal and regenerate, renew our energies and learn new skills.’[i] These words also… Read More ›

• Generosity and Community: the Alternative Worldview of Women’s Ritual Dance, Part 1 by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on February 2, 2019 • ( 13 )

  

  My life’s work with traditional women’s circle dances of Eastern Europe and the Near East has been a natural interweaving of feminism, activism and Goddess spirituality. In more than thirty years of experience, my students and I have gained valuable… Read More ›

• Women’s Ritual Dances and the Nine Touchstones of Goddess Spirituality – Part Four by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on November 16, 2018 • ( 5 )

  

  In Rebirth of the Goddess, Carol P Christ offered Nine Touchstones of Goddess Spirituality as an alternative to the Ten Commandments. The Nine Touchstones are intended to inform all our relationships, whether personal, communal, social, or political.[1] In this four-part… Read More ›

• Women’s Ritual Dances and the Nine Touchstones of Goddess Spirituality-Part Three by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on November 15, 2018 • ( 4 )

  

  In Rebirth of the Goddess, Carol P Christ offered Nine Touchstones of Goddess Spirituality as an alternative to the Ten Commandments. The Nine Touchstones are intended to inform all our relationships, whether personal, communal, social, or political.[1] In this series… Read More ›

• Women’s Ritual Dances and the Nine Touchstones of Goddess Spirituality-Part Two by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on November 7, 2018 • ( 1 )

  

  In the first part of this article, I looked at how Carol P Christ’s Nine Touchstones of Goddess Spirituality from Rebirth of the Goddess are related to traditional women’s ritual dances of the Balkans. After more than thirty years of… Read More ›

• Women’s Ritual Dances and the Nine Touchstones of Goddess Spirituality-Part One by by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on November 3, 2018 • ( 8 )

  

  In Rebirth of the Goddess, feminist theologian Carol P Christ offered a list of ‘Nine Touchstones of Goddess Spirituality’.[1] She revisited the Nine Touchstones in an interview with Karen Tate on Voices of the Sacred Feminine titled ‘Gratitude and Sharing:… Read More ›

• The Cosmic Dance (Part Two) by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on August 4, 2018 • ( 5 )

  

  Part One of this post looked at connections between the cosmic dance and the Goddess Hera. To read it, click here. Pythagoras was the first to call the universe by the Greek term kósmos, referring to the order, beauty and… Read More ›

• The Cosmic Dance and the Goddess Hera (Part One) by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on August 1, 2018 • ( 6 )

  

  Summer is here, and even with the terrible troubles going on in our world, I hope that some of us are managing to take time out and enjoy pleasant evenings outside under the stars. Gazing up at the heavens, we… Read More ›

• My Many Grandmothers by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on May 5, 2018 • ( 10 )

  

  Carol P. Christ has described spending meaningful time with her grandmother as a child and the unconditional love she received from her mother and grandmothers: ‘my relationships with my mother and grandmothers were full of love. This makes it easy for me to imagine the… Read More ›

• With Our Tears, Let Compassion Flow: Remembering the Armenian Genocide by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on April 24, 2018 • ( 8 )

  

  Today, April 24, is the worldwide day of remembrance for the Armenian genocide of 1915. On this day three years ago, marking the centenary of the genocide, I wrote about dance as an expression of solidarity with the Armenians people,… Read More ›

• Opening Our Hearts Through Armenian Dance by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on February 3, 2018 • ( 24 )

  

  In these challenging times, one of the hardest things to do is to keep our hearts open. Grief and despair tend to shut them down. And even among close friends, colleagues, family members, and people with whom we share worship,… Read More ›

• Rest and Renewal: Gifts of Women’s Ritual Dance by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on November 4, 2017 • ( 11 )

  

   Samhain is past, and we in the northern hemisphere are once again entering the final outbreath of the solar year. At the winter solstice, light will be reborn. Until then, it is important to embrace the time of rest and… Read More ›

• Kafemanteia: Women Reading the Coffee Cup by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on August 5, 2017 • ( 13 )

  

  In my lifetime of researching women’s ritual dances in Greece and the Balkans, I have often come across related practices of divination or healing. One of these is the custom of coffee divination, the art of interpreting patterns in the… Read More ›

• Medusa and Athena: Ancient Allies in Healing Women’s Trauma by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on June 24, 2017 • ( 5 )

  

  ‘Rather than being a bleeding image of female disempowerment, Medusa may be read as…one of the most ancient European symbols of women’s spiritual abilities… [and] an empowering image of feminine potential.’ –Patricia Monaghan, O Mother Sun! (1994:244) The name Medusa… Read More ›

• The Tree of Life and the Forest of Friendship: Circle Dance to Restore our Hope by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on May 6, 2017 • ( 15 )

  

  Yes, times are tough. But a better understanding of our interconnectedness can help us move beyond the cynicism, frustration, and despair we may be feeling in the modern world. A closer look at trees, and at women’s traditional circle dances,… Read More ›

• Feminists of Faith, It Is Time to Light Our Lamps by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on February 4, 2017 • ( 17 )

  

  Last Saturday morning I boarded a plane at London’s Heathrow Airport. During the ten-hour flight to Miami, I got up several times to ease my back and stretch my legs, observing my fellow passengers with interest and curiosity. I chatted… Read More ›

• Shared Leadership: The Hidden Treasure of Women’s Ritual Dance by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on November 1, 2016 • ( 14 )

  

  Traditional women’s dances of Greece, the Balkans and the Near East come from cultures which have survived countless periods of upheaval, and teach skills which can help us through difficult times. I see their gifts as a precious inheritance from the ancestors,… Read More ›

• Women’s Ritual Dances: Secret Language of the Goddess by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on August 6, 2016 • ( 27 )

  

  My life’s work with traditional women’s circle dances of Eastern Europe and the Near East has been a natural interweaving of feminism, activism and Goddess spirituality. I would like to share how I came to discover these dances and their… Read More ›

• Dance of Persephone: The Trata of Megara by Laura Shannon 

  By Laura Shannon on May 7, 2016 • ( 19 )

  

  In a previous post on FAR I explored Greek Easter customs which interweave Christian and pre-Christian beliefs.  Today I would like to take a closer look at one of these customs, the women’s ritual dance known as Tráta, ceremonially performed on ‘Bright Tuesday,’… Read More ›

• Easter, West and East by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on April 2, 2016 • ( 18 )

  

  Western Easter has come and gone, and I missed it this year, by design. I went to Athens for the weekend, where Easter this year won’t come until May 1. In the Greek Orthodox Church, Easter is reckoned differently, so that… Read More ›

• The Goddess Mokosh by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on February 6, 2016 • ( 18 )

  

  Candlemas / Imbolc, the midway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox brings with it (in the northern hemisphere) the first signs of awakening spring. Here in Canterbury, southeast England, where I am living this year, the birds are… Read More ›

• Lighting Our Candles, We Dance into the Dark by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on November 7, 2015 • ( 8 )

  

  Here in the northern hemisphere, these weeks between Samhain and the winter solstice bring us into the darkest time of the year.  In my dance circles, this is my favourite time for candle dances, whose gentle light guides us when… Read More ›

• The Unelected and Unaccountable Men Who Decide Our Fate by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on August 1, 2015 • ( 9 )

  

  In Greek myth, the Fates, the Moirai, are three sisters – Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos –  who spin, measure and cut the thread of life for every person born. Their rule is law; even the gods, so the legend has it, have… Read More ›

• The Greek Crisis: Grandparents on the Table? by Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on June 30, 2015 • ( 12 )

  

  In a previous article, I have described the devastating consequences of five years of austerity in Greece: soaring poverty, hunger, unemployment, infant mortality, pensioner deaths, malnourishment, sickness, and suicide. Unemployment has exploded to over 25%, nearly 60% for young people…. Read More ›

• The Dance of Memory, Part 2: The Wishing Tree Laura Shannon

  By Laura Shannon on May 2, 2015 • ( 6 )

  

  Now is the time of Beltane, the great festival celebrating life and fertility. Last week, on April 24th, in my post The Dance of Memory I wrote about the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, and invited everyone to join in this worldwide… Read More ›

• The Dance of Memory: Commemorating the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide

  By Laura Shannon on April 24, 2015 • ( 15 )

  

  Friday, April 24, 2015 marks one hundred years since the start of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. In my dance workshop last Sunday in Somerset, England, we lit candles to the exquisite voice of the great Armenian soprano Lusine Zakarian,… Read More ›