What is dance divination? Dance divination is a way to access the wisdom of your soul through your body. It is something you can do on its own or in addition to seeking deeper insights about a theme that comes up in a Tarot reading. It involves improvised movement to music or in silence.
Sometimes when pick your Tarot card of the day, you get very little useful information. The card may make sense intellectually but you may still be unsure about how to apply or integrate this wisdom in practical ways. Or you look at the image and feel the message acutely but can’t quite put words on it or apply it to what is rising up within you because there has been longstanding emotional repression.
Those are times when you need to dig deeper and access the card through your body. The reason the meaning is not immediately apparent is that there is an energetic block — one that improvised movement can help you unblock.
The Language of the Soul
“Dance is the hidden language of the soul”
― Martha Graham
It has been said that knowledge can be communicated but that wisdom has to be experienced. To dance is to experience deeply…
The beauty of dancing the cards is that you have to be neither an experienced Tarot reader nor a trained dancer. Symbols and movement are gifts to all of humanity. All you need to do is trust, breathe… and begin:
How to Do Dance Divination with the Tarot
1. Choose your card. Look at the image and notice how it makes you feel.
2. Place the card on your body (or over the chakra) where you feel it the most. Sit with it until you get a sense of how the energy is moving within you.
3. Ask yourself, “What music fits the mood of this card?”. You can allow music to arise from within and sing if you don’t have access to music in your space. Or maybe silence is a better fit. The movements themselves can sometimes be the music.
4. Begin moving. Gently at first, especially if you have not limbered up. You can use tiny movements at first and gradually allow them to get bigger and more vigorous. Or they may just remain quite small and slow/gentle, depending on what your soul wishes to communicate.
5. Stop when you are done. Trust that you will know when.
6. Revisit the card and make some notes about your experience.
7. Create a healing affirmation based on the body wisdom that surfaced. Make notes in your Tarot Journal.
“If theater is ritual, then dance is too… It’s as if the threads connecting us to the rest of the world were washed clean of preconceptions and fears. When you dance, you can enjoy the luxury of being you.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch Of Portobello
