Dance with the Devas

The Lioness Goddess of Destruction and Healing This Dance of the Devas is devoted to Sekhmet, the ancient Egyptian lioness goddess of war, protection, destruction and healing. Sekhmet holds the full spectrum of existence within her. She’s terrifying and compassionate, destructive and healing, untamed and deeply protective. Sekhmet shines a light on the parts of ourselves we’ve been taught to hide. But through her we’re guided to explore the relationship between rage and love, endings and beginnings, and the parts of ourselves we’ve rejected and the parts waiting to be remembered. She teaches us that true power is about knowing when to protect, when to release, when to destroy and when to heal. She shows us the true power of being a woman of duality. This dance is an invitation to move with Sekhmet’s energy to honour the wildness within us and burn away what no longer aligns. Are you ready to move with the lioness? The Story of Sekhmet One of the most well known stories of Sekhmet begins with a world that has fallen out of balance. Humanity had turned away from divine order, and Ra sent a terrifying force to restore what had been disrupted. That force became Sekhmet, the lioness goddess of war, protection and destruction. She arrived with the full force of her power. She was unstoppable. She moved across the land carrying out the punishment she had been sent to deliver, destroying what threatened the balance of the world. But even a force born from justice can become destructive when it loses connection with harmony. Sekhmet’s rage grew beyond what even the gods intended as she began to kill every human she came across. The first stories of the vampire came from Sekhmet’s bloodbath across the Nile valley. Ra realised that she could not be stopped through more violence. Instead, he flooded the fields with beer dyed red like blood, and Sekhmet drank deeply, believing she was consuming the blood of her enemies. Slowly, her fury softened as she became intoxicated. Sekhmet and Hathor: two faces of the same goddess Many interpretations of this story see Sekhmet and Hathor, the cow goddess, as two manifestations of the same goddess. While they represent different aspects of existence, they’re not separate energies. Hathor represents love, sensuality, beauty, music, fertility, motherhood and pleasure. Sekhmet represents war, protection, destruction, power, healing and medicine. The story of Sekhmet and Hathor keeps us in devotion to the duality of life. A being capable of immense love can also carry immense rage. The same force that protects life may need to destroy what threatens it. The same fire that burns can also purify and make room for new growth. In some retellings of the myth, Hathor transforms into Sekhmet when her protective rage is awakened, and Sekhmet returns to Hathor when balance is restored. Together they represent the wholeness of the divine feminine. Two faces of the same goddess who remind us that power comes from honouring the fullness of who we are, not from choosing one part of ourselves over another. The Evening We’ll begin the night with a guided meditation, connecting with the mythology and energy of Sekhmet before allowing the meditation to naturally move into the body through dance. From there, we’ll enter an hour and a half of embodied dance with no choreography or right or wrong way to move. This is an invitation to let the body speak and to move with the wildness and power that lives within you. After our dance, we will gather together with a beer in hand, honouring the story of Sekhmet and each other. We’ll sit together, chat, laugh, connect and come back to earth after moving through the energy of the lioness. The Details 25th September 6-9.30pm Institute Hall, Crafers What to bring: A drink bottle Layered clothing that channels your inner Sekhmet