Bearing north, a sect dispersed around it (6)
I believe the answer is:
stance
'bearing' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'north a sect dispersed around it' is the wordplay.
'north' becomes 'N' (synonyms).
'dispersed' indicates anagramming the letters.
'around it' indicates putting letters inside.
'a'+'sect'='asect'
'asect' anagrammed gives 'stace'.
'n' inserted inside 'stace' is 'STANCE'.
(Other definitions for stance that I've seen before include "Pose, for a golfer say" , "Posture assumed" , "Batsman's position" , "Player's posture for making, say, golf stroke" , "Posture; point of view" .)