I just received a notice that Jane Rickenbaugh is leading a dance class at Trinity this Fall and Spring on “Dancing the Many Faces of Hidden and Unexpected Wisdom”. While it is set within a christian context, there is something universal about the language of dance that seems to call people of various spiritual paths together.

I love to dance! My good friends Jack and Lena Thompson lead The Dances of Universal Peace on Tuesday nights at 7:30pm at Grace Memorial here in Portland. Check out their web site at http://www.pdxdances.org/. Depending on the time of year and the movement of spirit, the dances sometimes focus on a particular theme.

My all-time favorite is the dance in praise of Tara, Mother of all Buddhas and Goddess of Compassionate Wisdom. We dance while chanting Tara’s mantra: “Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha”.  Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains what this mantra means.

I love the hand motions which accompany this mantra. We lift our hands into the air on “Om Tare Tuttare”, acknowledging that the Mother of Wisdom liberates us from samsara, suffering, and from the eight fears, the ever-rising river of disturbing thoughts and anxieties. On “Ture” (prounounced too-ray), we bring out hands together. Next, hands clasped, we push our hands outward in a downward motion on “Soha”. “Soha” (with a nice shout on the ‘ha’) is taking the teaching in, “establishing the root of the path within your heart. In other words, by taking refuge in Tara and doing Tara practice, you receive the blessings of Tara in your own heart.”

Each time I have danced the Tara dance I have been filled with a brimming happiness that I can’t explain. I smile, my body seems to lighten, and with each “ha” I feel love pouring from me out into the world. I have often been uncomfortable in my body because of my size, so it is an enormous blessing to feel joy in and through my body. As I lift and lower my hands, I celebrate liberation and feel immense gratitude. I am grateful for the strength of my feet and legs to move me around the circle, for my neck as it tilts my head to the sky, and for my voice as it rings out, louder, softer, louder, softer, with the dancers around me.

Dancing is a powerful way to recognize and celebrate Divine Wisdom. For me, it also grounds me in the wisdom within my body. Like walking the labyrinth, I find that as I embrace my body within my spiritual practice I become humbled, more open, and more aware of how deeply I am accepted and loved by the Divine, the One-Who-Made-Me. Dancing is wise…and makes me radiant.

You know how once you buy a car, you start seeing that same kind of car everywhere? Its like your radar has been tuned to a different frequency. You swear that you never knew how many zippy sport-shift Scions were on the road until you had one.

Lately I’ve been studying Sophia, and she is everywhere! I picked up a book on creativity & spirituality by Matthew Fox — she was on the page I just happened to open. I’ve been interested in Buddhism lately, so I started reading a nice thick tome on Goddesses of India — and discovered Prajnaparamita & Tara….so parallel to Sophia & Mary. Sadie and I put up the gorgeous tapestries from Turkey she got on her trip…and she remembered Hagia Sophia, the incredible cathedral-mosque-museum dedicated to Holy Wisdom in Istanbul. On my way to Marylhurst to return library books I called my sister. She’s reading the controversial bestseller The Shack, in whose pages, guess who? Sophia appears!

It seems comforting, a little odd, but full of intention — the Universe’s intention, not my own. There’s that denial again. After all, I DID buy the Scion. She’s so much fun to drive.  I like to think of her less as aristocracy, and more as a tree graft. A tree? Yes. Me and trees. The love affair continues.

Here’s Merriam-Webster on scion: “a detached living portion of a plant (as a bud or shoot) joined to a stock in grafting and usually supplying solely aerial parts to a graft”. There’s some creepy parallel here if a carbon-consuming car is my jugular, so let’s skip ahead to how the definition is such a great metaphor…for Sophia.

When I was a kid in Baptist sunday school, we chanted “He is the vine / We are the branches” (complete with hand motions). Not being a 2nd century vineyard owner, I can’t explain exactly how the vine and branches work. But I get the general idea. If Lady Sophia is the Tree of Life, then her roots tap into The Source of Luminous Perfect Wisdom. When I put my palm against her branches, rest under her shade, sing her praises, I’m embraced by that wisdom. Some days I feel her flow in my veins. Sweet Sophia! (I mean that in a nice way). I don’t mind being grafted on.

So I just gave the offering invitation at Bridgeport this morning. I was pretty nervous, because even though I’d thought about what I’d say, I wasn’t completely prepared. Also, I felt more than a little inadequate.

But I got up and talked a bit about how Sarah and I had come to attend Bridgeport and what being there had meant for my life. I mentioned how when I walked in the door the first time, I knew I was in trouble because I really felt God there. I shared about my experience talking to God while walking through Wildwood and hearing God say “just come over here and let me love you.”

People really responded — they laughed when I talked about my reluctance and sighed when I talked about Wildwood. They frowned when I mentioned my current career and cheered when I told them about my plans for the fall. Sarah was sniffly and they loved all over her, too. It felt really, really, really good. And now, I’m terrified. But, one step at a time. Here I go!!