Coming together at this time of honoring the ancestors and connecting with the spirit world through Dia de Los Muertos, Samhain, All Saints Day and Halloween, we will dance our prayers and connect with the wisdom + resilience of our well ancestors through a guided, blindfolded trance dance ceremony.

This ancestral trance dance ritual is personal, communal and cosmic. It is a powerful way to connect with your lineage in a collective, embodied way. These kind of ancient rituals can be found in cultures all over the world. For the San, an Indigenous clan of South Africa, the activation of energy and contact with the spirit word is achieved through the communal trance dance. The Umbanda in Brazil working with the Yoruba traditions, believe that a person becomes possessed with Spirit during a trance dance and can be endowed with the power to heal others. Dancers are also known to go into trance during Native American dances, Irish river dances, Balinese mask dances, and Indian temple dances.

Through sensory deprivation, the blindfold separates you from the constraints of your objective reality, allowing you to release inhibitions and heighten your subjective reality. This supports the entry into trance states, from which we are able to connect more deeply with our internal space and our ancestors.

We will have a collective ancestral altar and the event will consist of an opening circle, ancestral offering, guided blindfolded trance dance, and then move into medicine song, sound healing and the closing circle.

Please bring:

• a blindfold, bandana or eye mask (we will have a few extras)

• clothing in which you can move freely (invitation to include something from your own ancestral tradition)

• photos of your ancestors for the altar (you will take them back home with you)

• a *small* offering for your ancestors - chocolate, honey, nuts, dried or fresh fruit - something of your own heritage or something you know specific ancestors that you want to honor loved

• water bottle

**Due to the nature of this event, spaces are limited.

Looking forward to weaving this dance ceremony with all of you!