Dancing Around the Goddess

While researching the Pagan use of dance in religious worship, I came across a number of websites operated by and for practitioners of The Craft (Witches). On one of the sites, I found these words:

Ritual is the movement of a Witch's belief. Chanting, drumming, lighting candles, burning incense, and casting circles are all  rituals. Rituals allow us to pass to another time and follow the movement of Goddess-Blood in us. We hear the music in the background and we fly on the sound waves to another time and another place. We feel what those who-have-gone-before experienced. The physical world around us disappears and we are hurtled through time and space to magical realms - to times when the mysteries were revered as a path of knowledge and wisdom. What steeps within the witch is the very pulse of the Goddess herself. Beneath us and around us is the Great Mother as she was then - alive with growth, clean and powerful. She vibrates with life. The Priestesses and Priests of all the pagan faiths could still the blood of the children of the Goddess with a dancing prayer. They rejoiced in the bond between the Mother and themselves. They saw the changing seasons and celebrated them with ritual. They paid attention to the world around them. The leaf that turned red, the ground that became cold and unyielding - all these signs were observed and honored as a part of life.-- Janet Thompson, Of Witches, quoted at Lunar Cult, © 1999-2004 Sisters of the Craft All rights reserved.

The above provides a synopsis of the Pagan use of ritual. It helps them to go on virtual {?} trips to other places and other times and to experience what those now dead once experienced. Significantly, in pagan rituals, the participants rejoice in their bond with the Mother Goddess.

Law, whose Masses in Boston this year have generally been greeted by protesters unhappy with his past failure to remove abusive priests from ministry, seemed delighted to be among a large group of young people celebrating their shared Catholic faith. He attempted, somewhat awkwardly, to join the youngsters in a rhythmic set of claps and hand gestures to a set of religious rock songs. He then taught them the verses and led them in singing a more traditional Christian praise song, ''Spirit of the Living God.'' After Mass ended, he spontaneously broke into a circle of dancers around a statue of Mary, asking the dancers, members of a global evangelical Catholic movement called the Neocatechumenal Way, to show him their steps.–Michael Paulson, Law affirms church doctrine to youths, The Boston Globe, 7/27/2002. p/ A1 © 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

From the newspaper account, it appears that Boston's archbishop is no better at hand jive or dancing around a statue of Rome's goddess than he is at keeping members of his archdiocese safe from priestly predators.

The Neocatechumenal Way is one of a number of charismatic movements within the monolithic Catholic Church. In the world of non-Catholic believers, Pentecostals, or Charismatics as they also are known, constitute a significant segment of the Christian Church. Though Pentecostal distinctives differ from those of Reformed, Fundamentalist/Evangelical assemblies, the foundational doctrines of mainline Pentecostal churches are fully in agreement with those of the other mainline Christian churches.

As a charismatic movement seems to be gaining ground within the ranks of Catholic priests, religious and laity, we begin to see goings-on during Catholic worship that I doubt were even imagined when I was growing up Catholic. Times are changing and not always for the better. There are congregations within the Protestant community that punctuate their worship with greatly amplified rock and roll "worship" music and exuberant dancing in the aisles. Some Catholic parishes have also opened their doors to rock and roll "religious" music. However, these Catholic parishes add a touch reminiscent of the film images of Vestal Virgins dancing in time to seductive rhythms in honor of their goddess. One such parish is St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church in St. Louis, MO, which "...calls itself a "rock" church. Its liturgies often feature teenagers and girls in extravagent clothing performing rock dance routines during the Mass." In this photo, "---teenagers rock dance at the altar during a highly attended Mass."--Church Revolution in Pictures, Tradition in Action, © 2002-2006 Tradition in Action, Inc

Though there are at least 24 separate rites recognized as Catholic and who knows how many other groups, such as Neocatechumenal Way, Opus Dei, The Sovereign Order of the Knights of Saint John, etc., Catholic apologists claim that there is but one Catholic Church. While there are at least as many, likely more, rites and lay groups under the umbrella of what Catholics like to call Protestantism, those that merit being identified as Christian share common foundational doctrines, yet Catholic apologists seem to enjoy claiming that there are thousands and thousands of Protestant churches. Just one more example of the impossibility of meeting Catholic apologists on a level playing field.

Kinda makes me wonder whether one might rightly list groups that practice The Craft within the global and so-called monolithic body of Catholicism. After all, they do appear to have a number of rituals and foundational doctrines in common.

In closing this piece, all I can think of to add is "Dance, Cardinal, Dance."

Abstain from all appearance of evil.-- 1 Thessalonians 5:22