The Goddess Danced
The Goddess holds the key to the most ancient forms of sacred dance. She is inextricably linked to dance. Dance was the principle form of worship of the Goddess. In some cases, in addition to her role as creator, giver and protector of all life,
the Goddess was a Dancer
celebrating through dance the cycles of life. It is here then, with the Goddess that we begin our journey into the world of sacred dance.
The Priestess Danced
The image of the Goddess is an important symbol for women as we seek out our sacred dance heritage. Knowing about the priestess and understanding her unique role is essential because the priestess is a real, historical woman -- a woman we can identify with. Through the priestess and her sacred dances, we learn that women were central to religions and spiritual practices. Women had their own rites and symbols.
Tanit the Serpent Goddess
The symbol of Tanit is a truncated pyramid topped with a rectangle bar over which is depicted the sun and the crescent moon. Her Punic symbol was a triangle, representing her robe, surmounted by a circle which is her head and then a horizontal line between them, her shoulders. Often there is a vertical line rising up from each end of the horizontal bar, as her arms are raised skywards in blessing.
A vertical bar with wavy lines coming from it symbolizes Tanit as the Serpent Lady, the Tree of Life with serpents. Ishtar became Astarte to the Semitic Phoenicians and later Tanit, the Serpent Goddess.
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