“The long term discoveries i have made by doing this WErk are that, almost out of the blue, archetypal keys show up to unlock the many layers of reality that are available to us. Once we commit to show up for this experience, we begin to realize that there are signs to read, and when we pay attention like this, we support what naturally wants to arise. When we enact harmony, self care and willingness to listen and respond, we tend to this Garden of the Groove as sacred and as an offering that the heART of Humanity might heal. knowing that we we come into alignment with the musical entrainment of the night, we opens portals of possibilities and pathways of conscious evolution.
before you know it, you become your highest visions, and are glimpsing the union of our humanity and our divinity. This is a re-creatable experience.~ Mzi.
Collaborative in Nature:
SoulFire Circles are a unique style of drum and dance circle. The core philosophy comes from many years of circumambulating a sacred fire from midnight to dawn. We come together and celebrate life with ceremony, drumming, music, art and dance. We are earth people, of many nations, many of us raised in cultures of privilege. Many of us have always known spirit in some way with no teachers or elders to look to, we opened to our intuitions. we are non-traditional, and openly share this.
We recognize that we have been given a gift with the sacred all night fire circle, and it is our hope that all people, everywhere, can tap into it, or something meaningful for the beauty and blesSING of the eARTh. Our gatherings provide experiences to actively play for the heART of Humanity and to help nurture the spirit of harmony wake up and stay connected in our heART’s and our collaborations.
We live in a potent time, a time when many of the prophecies of indigenous people speak. Each in its own way, these prophecies remind us that this is a time to look around and see who we are, and who we are with, in this river of life. Encouragement is offered to push off from the shore and trust the flow of life, to follow your heART and to be one heARTed. Many say that this is the time for the Divine Feminine to lead, and that the Divine Feminine lives within women and the men. we need each other as we each play a role in bringing forward a new way. Some remind us to define who we are and to know our purpose, to listen to the call of the Creator/Creatress that speaks in our dreams. Many of us are looking for a way to help, to become a part of a Living Prophecy of renewal. What happens if we consciously gather to tend our own heARTs, and then offer this beauty to the light body of the planet?
SoulFire Circles is an experiment and an invitation for miracles to occur. it is a prayer for the planet, and all living beings. imagine being in a ceremonial fire circle, making celebratory music, with other PLU’s (PeopleLikeUs) who are dedicated to Helping the HeART of Humanity Heal, One Fire at a Time.
yup…
The legacy of love:
The original seeds of change that SoulFire Circles spring from were planted in 1986, by Babatunde Olatunji, at Mz. imani’s first fire circle ceremony. Cultivated, culled and nurtured with continued study in drumming and shamanism, and with the care and collaborations with Earth Drum Council and the New England Pagan and Drum and Dance Community. There are many flavors of fire circle and the branches of our WErk extends all around the WErld. SoulFire Circles traces it’s lineage through the deep roots of Rites of Spring/EarthSpirit Community.
Elemental Alchemy:
While drumming and dancing is a big part of what we do in SoulFire Circles, it is only a tiny part of how we play, work and pray together. Within the embrace of a consecrated circle, the inspiration and support of comm(on)unity, holds the fire circle as a sacred container to explore the magic of collaboration and Elemental Alchemy. Tools of discovery are music, beauty of the night fire, the altars, collaborative art, following your heART and allowing the kinestethic to inform the experience of gathering with others sharing our intentions, our attention, our expressions of poetic presence.
we become guardians for the circle ~ we become guardians of the eARTh ~ we become guardians of the sacred collective.
“thank you for providing the opportunity for me to touch the source.”
5/7/11, on SoulFire Inside
We openly acknowledge that for the most part, what we do is improvisational, collaborative and “new world” ceremonial music. We actively encourage women (and men) to return to the drum and the ceremonial roles that our society often forgets about. We welcome children, and elders.
The sacred all night fire circle culture has a body of music, that many have contributed to. We welcome you to bring your self fully to the fire, as we share our gifts and pay attention to the flow, and the field, the pulse and the purpose of supporting each person present to more easily access the primary mystical experience, available to our collective, as we weave a sonic blend of rhythm, song, eclectic melodic instruments, singing bowls, gongs, poetry and silence. The care of the rhythm and dance is found most directly by listening and following our heARTs.
Each and every Fire Circle is a unique experience.
We enter the circle with willingness to follow the light that calls from within & around us. We listen to the voices of the people and the voices of the spirit. We support these offerings with our own voice. Whether that be the song of our heART or a song of the drum, we consciously collaborate and add our attention to support the song, rhythm, prayer or intentions that are brought forward to the circle.
The wild and the wise meet each other across the fire, magically weaving sonic webs of wholeness, compassion, play and trust, which in turn empowers us to embody peace, prayer, rhythm, play and guardianship.
“Bottom Line:
WE can and do influence reality.
When we connect and collaborate, we contribute wellness in our energetic and planetary systems, or the Bio-Spheric Web.
When we are dismissive and separate, angry or afraid, disrespectful or mean, we contribute to the tearing, imploding and destruction of the Bio-Spheric Web.”
message from the universe~
We Build Harmony
Because each circle is unique and never the same, the opportunity to build harmony is always changing, always new. SoulFire Circles encourage us to push past limitations by embodying the highest visions of self expression. What seems to happen is that these expressions open in us, and provide us with a deeper sense (and experience) of being peace. We speak and act kindly, we stand as individuals who are in service to the collective. We build on roads and off ramps to ecstatic states of being, are open to the gifts of the collective. We have found that by being supportive of the individuals to bring their offerings forward, we become the weavers and the web, and we are all lifted up by the music of the community who has gathered.
It is our experience, that within the sphere of sonic saturation, spirit can be found. Taking the time to actually BE in sonic and rhythmic harmony, teaches us how to BE peace in our lives. Sometimes we simply must choose to “Change The Channel” and learn how to tend to our own soulfire in a subtle way. Our purpose is to raise a joyful noise for the planet…..and you Can’t Plan It. We seek to unify and celebrate life and this is a part of our spiritual practice.
Whether you are in the dance, or singing or drumming, or in silence, we aim maintain an environment that inspires us to harmonize with the universal intelligence, and be present with our ability to witness and respond.
We trust the process of Art in Action.
Our form is found thru drumming, music, art, spoken word, dance, collective ritual and listening. When we show up for this kind of sacred play and work, one of the many happy consequences is that we can easily and gratefully see what a single voice or drum can grow into. Quite simply it is a way we can experience (in real time) what it means to grow into our full potential.
We welcome all spiritual paths, who welcome all spiritual paths.
We honor that as humans, we have more in common than not. SoulFire Circles are inclusive drum and dance circles where a tight rhythmic experience interlaces smoothly with chanting, poetry, silence, and the moment. We seek excellence and collaboration, or what our friend Billy Woods calls “enlightened anarchy”.
SoulFire supports us to listen to and talk with the universal intelligence.
Whatever you call this, god, the goddess, allah, shiva, sekhmet, mother eARTh, the ancestors, our selves, the source of all that is; here we speak with the language of the heART. The Fire Circle is a place where alchemy happens, a sacred place where the union of divinity and humanity can be explored and expressed.. It is a place of inspiration, art, healing, community and play. In our circles we open and close with gratitude, meaning in our all night circles, we greet the dawn, and offer our blesSINGs to The Highest Good of All.
We tend to the ebb flow of our musical dialogue.
The dynamic nature of our circle longs for the music we make to be like the lungs of our bodies expanding and contracting. Whether you speak with Djembe, darbuka, dounoun, didgeridoo, silence, vocal improvisations, poetry or with temple bells, our individual and collective dialogue with the divine will range from soft whispers to thunderous poly-rhythmic rides.
We make room for personal transmutation & divine intervention.
Each time we gather at Soul Fire Inside, alchemy happens, the musical and artistic dialogue is different, as it is held and built by the comm(on)unity that is gathering. When you commit to a sacred fire, and stay present with the fire, whether that be dancing, singing or drumming, you are actively engaged in a transformational or transmutational experience. As we listen to each other and the artistic expressions that want to come through us, we become like a hollow bone, open to the beginners mind, so that we can engage with these opportunities as a way to be in relationship with the divine.
Diversity and Listening Matters.
When we listen to each other, we allow space for diversity, unity and we realize we all are stronger, when we remember to share the space and share the notes. If you are new to this look and listen, then jump in and entrain with the rhythm around you, over time you will feel strong in your self and express your own rhythm (solo) that is in relationship to the pulse. As you circle the fire, tend the altars, witness your experience and the people around you, be open to the multitude of expressions of co-creation. Stay present in this sacred space, share and co-create.