Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth

In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.

  • Home
    Home This is where you can find all the blog posts throughout the site.
  • Tags
    Tags Displays a list of tags that have been used in the blog.
  • Bloggers
    Bloggers Search for your favorite blogger from this site.
  • Login
    Login Login form

Left Foot First

 

 

 

OK, today we're going to learn one of the sacred dances of the Witches. It's a Wheel Dance, a wheel of many spokes, as you'll see, and it's called the Carol.

These days, of course, we tend to think of a carol as a song associated with a particular holiday—a Yule carol, a May carol—but in the old days, a carol was a round dance performed to singing rather than to instrumental music.

This is a really useful dance to know, because you can do it to any 4/4 song with a chorus.

So, you start off with the left foot, of course. In dance, you always start off with the left foot. By the way, does anyone know why?

Well, yes, it's the heart side, but does anyone know the story? There's a story to pretty much everything witches do; that's what makes us a people, the stories.

Well, back in the Dawn of Days, when the Horned first came down from heaven, He landed [stomps] whump! left foot first.

That's why, when you're starting something new—like a dance—you always want to start out on the left foot.

So, with the verses now, it's in-out, in-out, four counts each. Let's give it a try.

OK, two circles: men inside, facing out, and women, outside facing in. Everybody else, pick a circle.

Alright: here we go.

In-two-three-and, out-two-three-and...Repeat-two-three-and...good....

 

Last modified on
Poet, scholar and storyteller Steven Posch was raised in the hardwood forests of western Pennsylvania by white-tailed deer. (That's the story, anyway.) He emigrated to Paganistan in 1979 and by sheer dint of personality has become one of Lake Country's foremost men-in-black. He is current keeper of the Minnesota Ooser.

Comments

Additional information