Bismillah Erachman Erahim...

We begin in the name of Allah, who is Mercy and Compassion.

I thought it would be appropriate to begin my first post with a Bismillah.

I was raised in the Methodist church, and taken to the Baptist and Episcopal churches when visiting grandparents. In my teens, wondering what other religions were about, I began studying all the Christian religions. Disturbed by the lack of agreement among the various Protestants denominations, I then began a study of the Catholic church, thinking that perhaps they had more of an authentic perspective on the life of Christ, since they had been around the longest. But I found them even more dogmatic and.... well, lets just say, not a good fit for me, although I did love the acknowledgment of Mary, Mother of Jesus, as a very important part of the big picture. I thought the line in the rosary which says, "Holy Mary, Mother of God," was especially wondrous. Imagine the implications of that one.... Even the Vatican admits that GOD could not be present in the world without the cooperation and participation of the Divine Feminine!

After that I moved on to study other religions from around the world and I found that they all say the same thing: GOD IS LIGHT! And about that same time, scientists in the US were first splitting the atom, and reporting that what you get when you split an atom is a burst of LIGHT! And the proverbial light-bulb (aha!) went off in my head, and I realized that if atoms are indeed really just bursts of light, then everything in Creation is GOD!

At that moment I became a Sufi, even thought I did not yet know that word, Sufi. In my religion studies I had somehow missed the mystical Sufi line which originated from within the Muslim religion. It was not until probably sometime in the early 90's that I actually caught up with more information about Sufism, learning that the Sufis recognize and honor that which is the same underlying truth of ALL religions. And at that moment another light-bulb flashed in my head and I realized, AHA, I finally know what religion I am! I am a SUFI!

Then in the mid '90's, while living in the Austin, TX area, that I went to the Summer Solstice gathering of an environmental group, and one of the activities offered that afternoon was ... SUFI dancing! It was love at first Dance. I later learned that there is an international organization dedicated to promoting and preserving this wonderful spiritual moving meditation, and that the "official" name of this activity is Dances of Universal Peace.

When I moved to the Sedona, AZ area in 1998 I was disappointed to find that there were no Dances being held here. But in early 2003 one of my friends participated in a Tara Dance, taught by Prema Dasara. At the end of that lovely performance, one of the other women who danced in the Tara dance offered to lead the Tara dancers and the audience in a couple of Dances of Universal Peace. AH! After the dance I spoke with her and found out that she was a DUP leader in Prescott. I told her I was sorry there were no Dances in Sedona, and she said, "I'll do it!" And I said, "Wonderful! I'll help!" So in March 2003 I began organizing Dances of Universal Peace for the Verde Valley.

Since she and sometimes other Dance leaders were driving over an hour from Prescott to lead our dances, there were times when it was difficult to make sure someone could be here to lead on our Dance nights. So with some reluctance, I began leading dances myself, in order to make sure that the Dance would happen, because this had become the most important and most beloved activity in my life! And now we are dancing twice a month in the Verde Valley. We dance on the 2nd Saturday of the month in Sedona, and on the last Saturday in Cottonwood.

I invite you to visit my DUP webpages:

DUP in Northern Arizona

DUP Special Events in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah

DUP-NAZ yahoogroup for e-mail announcements of Dance events in Sedona, Cottonwood and Prescott, AZ

DancingPeace Blog - a new blog I created recently for sharing information about Dances of Universal Peace in our Southwest region

My PeacePortal Ning page, which also touches on the Dances of Universal Peace

Wishing you all a Love and Light-filled year in 2008!

Shakura Cathryn

May All Beings Be Well, May All Beings Be Happy, Peace, Peace, Peace.