Dancing with the Jinn

Trance Dancing with the Jinn: The Ancient Art of Contacting Spirits Through Ecstatic Dance by Yasmin Henkesh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Beyond the vale lies the unseen realm of the spirit world, according to Orion Foxwood, and that spirit world wants to work with humanity to repair the world. Now more than ever we need to communicate with them. Orion Fixwood is a faery seer and if he wrote the forward then you know the book has got to be good.

Good it is. Author Yasmin Henkesh is a belly dancer and has travelled the Middle East extensively. She has also done a ton of research which makes for a very informative read.

Starting off she gives us a history of trance dancing from the early ages in the Middle East and Mediterranean. Moving right along she discusses the scientific aspect of trance. This can get a bit hard to read but if your going to do this then you should be well informed of any pitfalls which she aptly identified.

The next section of her book talks about the Zara spirits of Egypt and the Sudan. The Zar or fire spirits are known to posses people. To drive the jinn away the sheikhas and their women hold ceremonial prayers to drive them away and figure out what they want. Yasmin gives great over views of the different spirits and the development of the movement,

The Jinn have been immortalized in the Koran and have been know as genies here in the west. Yasmin discusses their involvement in the Koran and how they interact with humans.

The last part of the book talks about Sufi Islam and their technique to reach a trance state. Once again Yasmin does a bang em up job of describing Sufi Islam
And it's development.

What follows was a broad review of an excellent book. I left out specific details cause I want you to read the book.

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