Figure 1This marble relief depicts the Greek god of medicine, Asclepius, healing the patient Archinos.

“Sacred Mediumistic Movement: Acceptance”
Embodiment, transformation and archetypal development within sacred movement
By Debra Skelton
Teacher, Sacred Movement for the Medium, Inner Quest Centre

The theatre was once a place of transformation, catharsis, and of healing. Ancient Greek theatres were places of ritual, storytelling, and the practice of medicine, and were often components of a single continuous event. Following a cathartic performance at the Theatre at Epidaurus, for instance, participants could visit the close by Sanctuary of Asclepius for healing. The whole experience was an embodied one and transformative in nature. 

Something is sacred when it is a spiritual act; theatre is the sphere in which the sacred is enacted. As it was for the ancients, sacred movement is spiritually driven and transformative in nature, enacted within the theatre of liminality. The receptacle of transformation is the same – the human body which houses the mind, soul, heart and voice of the medium.

In my work with students of mediumship who come to study at the Inner Quest for the first time, it is perhaps daunting for some to accept their bodies as they are. Unfortunately, we are culturally obsessed with outer beauty, performative achievement, physical prowess, and so on. In my previous blog, I suggested that the medium must be fearless. Acceptance of one’s physicality is among the first challenges requiring bravery. Neither shame nor pride are very helpful in somatic development of the intuitive practitioner. The second challenge is to awaken to the body’s intelligence and innate beauty regardless of its outer form. Then we can begin to work – without self-consciousness and, rather, with consciousness of Self.

In the beginning, a student is encouraged to “be in their body” – a simple enough idea but very difficult for many to achieve. Over time and under a watchful eye, they are guided to move from their mental centre to their physical centre by means of alternately playful, technical, and creative exercises. At this stage, the development of the medium’s imagination is especially paramount. It may be sluggish at first simply owing to lack of use in our daily lives. 

Physically and emotionally, we work toward a gentle demasking of the physical and emotional self in order to find a sense of home and ease with the neutral state; this then becomes a springboard for the exploration of archetypal states in their essence which goes on for many years. And so forward.

I hope to help the student, whether beginner or advanced, to discover the body’s superb ability to think and act without inference from the brain; to let the body take the lead and to trust in its intelligence. Allowed to function in its natural way, I believe that the body can be a more immediately responsive medium of reception than the head alone. For the medium, it can potentially become the key to open the gateway to a visceral, sensory, and impactful embodiment of Other. 

It must be repeated that these exercises, simple though they may sound, must always be undertaken only under the guidance of teachers with a depth of experience, not only in movement and mediumship, but with an understanding of the fragile connection in the developing sensitive between the human mind and body, and heart.