Waterfall Ritual in Hawaii

The day Martha captured these images was transformative, powerful, and magical. I was at a private waterfall that was once an ancient Hawaiian birthing pool with a group of women from my GoddessLife Teacher Training retreat. We were all wearing white, as they do on New Year’s Eve in Brazil to honor Yemaya, Goddess of the Ocean thought to be the essence of motherhood and birth. As we entered the lush tropical rainforest surrounding the waterfall, Hawaiian-born Hiwa chanted to her ancestors to ask permission for us to be on the aina(land). Then one by one, each woman released a red hibiscus flower into the waterfall, asking Yemaya help us make our dreams into reality. To honor, celebrate and truly connect with Yemaya, I danced in the waterfall. Dancing in the heart of nature united me with the Goddess and made me feel sacred, feminine, and empowered. With my feet feeling the strength and stability of the rocks, my hands brushing the sky like wings, the water rushing over my body, I truly felt connected with the divine. The message was clear: To dance your dreams, dance where you feel most sacred!

Roman Sea Glass

This necklace is a piece of Roman sea glass that is over 2000 years old! One of my favorite indulgences is imagining the lives of belly dancers in ancient Rome, especially in the time of Cleopatra. Maybe the Egyptian queen herself practiced her hip circles while floating down the Nile on her barge with purple silk sails saturated in rose oil. I imagine villages knew she was passing when they smelled roses. Maybe the rose oil was kept in mint green glass bottles and one made its way to the sea, and ultimately, to me!
Or maybe a woman drank from an green glass in between her undulations during the three-days of belly dance that is still a part of rural middle eastern birth rituals.
More than these fantasies, I love the enduring quality of belly dance. This ancient art form still exists because women need it. The archetypal movements--so deeply embedded in the natural motion of our bodies-- are an integral part of being of a woman. I wear this necklace to connect me to this powerful legacy that unites us all.

We are all Goddesses

As I looked into the water, an image of divine femininity gazed back at me, one that I didn’t even recognize! I was amazed and humbled, as were the women surrounding me.

The image reinforced my belief in the importance of women finding the powerful goddess within themselves.

Bellydance belongs to all women; it is how we express our own inner Goddess.

Look at the other bellydancers around you. They are all Goddesses. We must resist the temptation to think that our interpretation and the way we experience bellydance is the definitive and correct way to dance. This philosophy chips away at our individual self-esteem and deprives us of the chance to make women our allies.

This art has given us all so much. Who better than other bellydancers to delight in sharing in its riches?

When you begin to see and acknowledge the many magnificent qualities in other bellydancers, even if they dance differently than you, you will begin to feel the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood. This is how we will make a difference as women, united.

We are all Goddesses.

HOW TO THROW A BELLYDANCE GODDESS PARTY

You don’t need a big budget or months of preparation to host a Goddess Party that looks luxe, and most importantly: one you and your friends will enjoy. Just follow these few Essential Hostess Tips and this Goddess Party Outline.

Essential Hostess Tips
Setting the mood. They don’t call it “throwing a party” for nothing. Take your sparkling party and throw it in the air. You don’t know where it will land, and that is part of the fun. Just follow the outline, don’t script the entire evening moment to moment. All the accidents, unexpected guests, overlooked things that force you to improvise give your party panache. Let them happen and make the party memorable. Keep it simple. When in doubt, narrow choices like menu and décor. Err on the side of simplicity, too many options just muddle the mix and cost you time and money. Relax and enjoy your party. That means when the festivities kick off, stop working and whatever you do, refrain from asking people if they are having a good time. Allow yourself to have a real conversation and a real laugh without looking around making sure everyone has a drink. Don’t apologize for the unexpected – get creative and let others help.

Goddess Party Outline

Invites – Remember that Goddesses make the Goddess Party. Invite fresh faces, guests of different backgrounds, generations, and persuasions. Have fun with the invites – this sets the mood of the entire party. Let them know the specifics: time, date, place, attire, what to bring with your own personal style. For a switch, include the Party Favor with the invite to be used as the key to admission. Great party favors for your Bellydance Goddess Party are Finger Cymbals (a pair for $7.50 or set of 4 for $15)

Drinks – Set up a self-serve bar and stock it with water (fancify it in a glass pitcher with slices of lemon & orange), exotic fruit juices like guava, mango, or peach, and a bottle of champagne. Allow your guests to serve themselves, and to decide whether or not to mix the champagne with.

Food – Since they will be Bellydancing, no need to stuff your guests. Serve fruit like grapes & berries, and quick energy treats like cookies & biscuits. Make it more sensual with a pot of chocolate fondue for dipping.

Décor – Let your guests feel like they are in another world by engaging all the senses. Place fragrant flowers or candles all over your house (including bathroom). Scatter rose petals on the floor. Load your CD player with a random-play mix of intoxicating, chill-out, and danceable music. Suggestions: Buddha Bar, Goddess Workout, Shakira. Make the room where you are going to Bellydance a Casbah by draping fabric along the walls and placing pillows on the floor along the walls. Move out the furniture creating enough room for each Goddess to shimmy. Cue up the Goddess Workout video and place your TV so that everyone can see.

Activities and Entertainment – Have each of your guests bring a T-shirt or scarf to be decorated with rhinestones. Get a Bedazzler or two with a wide variety color rhinestones (fast-drying glue and glitter will give the same effect). After they’ve finished designing a gift they can take home, it’s time for you and your guests to shimmy to the Casbah wearing their creation. While doing The Goddess Workout Bellydance Fitness Video for the first time with your guests is a blast, you can also prepare a few moves in advance to teach them.

Recipes for a Gourmet Nap

When Coco Chanel declared that she stayed in most nights to avoid bad wine and bad conversation, she had good reason. A Goddess needs to withdraw from the madness of urban living to enjoy an evening or an afternoon of rest. You need time to let thoughts settle, to have strokes of genius and deep quiet reflection. You need this time to get in touch with the real and authentic you, without responsibilities, give yourself freedom to dance, dream and to chill-out to your heart’s content.

Learn To Do Nothing
We are all guilty of biting off more than we can chew, doing too much and subsequently running on empty. When we are under stress, be it stuck in a traffic jam or on a job interview, our bodies undergo physiological changes. Andrenaline races throughout our veins, raising our cortisol levels – one of the main stress hormones. Eventually, our adrenal glands can become fatigued. This causes a depletion of thyroxin (a hormone that controls our metabolism), which leaves us feeling very un-Goddesslike and even ill. Being constantly productive can be extremely unproductive. We must learn to do nothing and value time to rest, lounge and goof-off.

Goof-off, lounging and relaxing ideas:

1) Take your coffee and the newspaper back to bed with you on Sunday
2) Have a cup of tea in your yard late at night, looking at the stars
3) Sit outside and listen to the birds
4) Drive to the closest body of water and put your feet in
5) Go to a nearby playground and play on the swings
6) Go to an observation point or scenic overlook
7) Go shell-hunting on a beach
8) Pick up bubbles and pinwheels at the five-and-dime
9) Sit on your porch or in your open window and breathe in fresh air.
10) Compose a personal ad
11) Set up a hammock and lay in it

Sleeping is Essential
While you sleep, a complex physiological process is taking place. Sophisticated sequences of brain waves rejuvenate your mind and body. Surrendering to slumber does more than just avoid fatigue; sleep is essential to your health and well-being.
Insomnia
If you are a perfectionist, you might work too hard even at getting sleep. You know it’s essential to sleep, but the more you try to control sleep, the more elusive it becomes. If you are suffering from insomnia – and I know it is suffering – here are some ways that have helped me calm my mind and sleep better:
· Put lavender oil or spray on your pillow – lavender has many healing properties, including calming the mind
· Drink a cup of hot milk – contains tryptophane, a natural sleep inducer
· Take a warm bath – It may seem like a lot of work when you’re exhausted, but it sure beats tossing and turning. It truly relaxes the mind.
· Read a fat little book – but not the kind that will keep you turning pages until dawn, perhaps Dostoevsky: brilliant but with Russian character name impossible to pronounce and family trees difficult to follow.
· Avoid: eating 3-4 hours before bedtime, late-nite take-out that may contain MSG, and coffee or tea after 5pm
· Music can take you into dreamland – Try nature sounds like oceans, rainforest, waterfalls.
· Distance yourself from alarm clocks. They can cause you to fret about the lateness of the hour, and how long you have been trying to sleep. Have someone else wake you up, so you can stop worrying about over-sleeping.
· Before going to bed, make a list of everything you need to do, as well as the other things that are bothering and pressuring you. Put it away and reassure yourself that you will take care of it tomorrow; this will enable you to relax and sleep.



Siestas
In America, we are pressured by the need to be productive at all times. If you aren’t checking something off your list, you’re considered lazy. Americans do not have time to rest. In Mediterranean countries, it’s the opposite. People who don’t nap are considered odd. In Italy, Spain, Greece, India and the South of France, the siesta is a sacred, post lunch, digestive ritual observed by all, except tourists.

Naps
The only Americans that are allowed to sleep guilt-free for an hour in the middle of the day are children. The need to nap is so clear. When kids are being crabby, snippy, whiney and spacey we say they need sleep. Newsflash: grown-ups are subject to the same irritability and mood swings if they are not sleeping well. As adults, we deserve the same consideration we give children. As Goddesses, we will nap when we need one and indulge when we simply want one.


Recipe for a Gourmet Nap
· After a big meal
· On the beach, grass, sunny bedroom or in yoga class
· With a perfect companion, like a cat
· Wearing the Satin Goddesswear Sleep Mask (carry it with you at all times)
· Turn the telephone off
· Turn on relaxing music
· Surround yourself with cozy blankets, pillows (just like a baby)

Famous Diamonds

The Hope – More notorious than any other diamond, this 45.52-carat dark blue stone has a history heavily veiled by superstition. The diamond is supposed to have been the “Eye of Shiva” and to have been stolen, which is the reason for bad luck. Several of its owners died tragically, such as Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and Countess Du Barry were all beheaded, Habib Bey drowned along with his whole family and other owners, along with their descendants were beset with tragedy until they sold the diamond. Stolen during the French Revolution, it turned up in London in 1830 and was bought by Henry Philip Hope after whom it is currently named. Harry Winston donated it to the Smithsonian Institution.

The Taylor-Burton – This pear shaped 69.42-carat diamond was sold at auction in 1969 with the understanding that the buyer could name it. Cartier of New York successfully bid for it and immediately christened it Cartier. However, the next day Richard Burton bought the stone for Elizabeth Taylor for an undisclosed sum, renaming it the Taylor-Burton. It made its debut at a charity ball in Monaco hosted by Princess Grace. In 1978, Elizabeth Taylor announced that she was putting it up for sale and planned to use the proceeds to build a hospital in Botswanna. In 1979, it was sold for nearly 3 million and was last reported to be in Saudi Arabia.

The Regent – A truly historic diamond discovered in 1701 by an Indian slave, it weighed 410 carats in the rough. At one time, it was called “The Pitt” after it’s owner, William Pitt, an English Prime Minister, who had the diamond cut into 140.50 carats. It was then sold to France and renamed The Regent and set into the crown Louis XV wore at his coronation. After the French Revolution, it was owned by Napoleon Bonaparte who set it in the hilt of his sword. It is now on the display in the Louvre.

The Great Star of Africa - The Great Star of Africa was the largest diamond ever found, weighing a staggering 3106 carats in the rough! It is now the largest cut diamond at 530.20 carats. This diamond adorns the scepter of King Edward VII and is kept in the tower of London and is among the British Crown Jewels.

The Tiffany – The Tiffany diamond is one of the largest Fancy Yellow diamonds in the world. The rough diamond weighed 287.42 carats before it was cut and shaped into a “brilliant-shaped” diamond with an unprecedented 90 facets. This is 32 more facets than the traditional 58 facets, which serves to make The Tiffany appear to smolder from a flame within. This 128.51-carat diamond briefly graced the neck of Audrey Hepburn for a round of publicity photographs taken for the film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961.

Tips to Build Confidence

Face your fears:

· Tell someone, “I love you”
· Leave the house without make-up
· Enroll in a dance class
· Ask your boss for a raise
· Tell a friend an embarrassing secret about yourself
· Pet a snake
· Introduce yourself at a party
· Find out your Fico
· Try public speaking
· Apologize to someone
· Swim in the ocean
· Study a foreign Language
· Ask someone out on a date
· Become CPR certified
· Change a flat tire
· Cut up your credit cards