Someone I hadn’t seen in a long while asked me recently how I was doing, what was new in my world. To which I rambled, “Well …let’s see. In August, I hosted my first live retreat in three years”, slowing down remembering, “It was so beautiful,” and then a gravity washed over me, “I remembered why I’m here.”
She said she got chills when I said the last part. I felt it too.
Like others whose life’s work is centered around gathering, there was a long period there, where things became exceptionally dark. For those called deep in their souls to gather people, whether in sacred space, music, theater, education, etc. – that dynamic relationship with the group of human beings is where we come to spark light. Those shared experiences are where we can viscerally feel beauty, meaning, and connection. Without it, well…we are walking around in the dark without vision, without the spiritual warmth we receive when we come together around the proverbial fire.
Nature teaches us that darkness is part of life. But night can’t last forever. Eventually, the Sun must rise.
One of the OG Wild Woman Project women reflected to me, after
our gathering this Summer:
“In the Opening Ceremony something happened. It was like you were an electric car, doing your best to putter forward, and you were, but your battery had so little charge. In the Opening Ceremony, I saw you get plugged back in.”
I was so touched by that reflection because it mirrored perfectly what I had experienced inside.
That’s what we do for one another. That is a huge part of the power of spiritual sisterhood. We reflect for one another and when we receive that reflection, it affirms what we knew in our hearts. When this happens time after time, we build trust with our own hearts and with the hearts and the vision of our sisters. It is a symbiotic exchange.
Speaking of – recently, I had the great pleasure of checking an item off my bucket-list: Seeing Florence + the Machine live. I have exactly 1000 things to say about it. But I won’t do that to you right now!
I’ll just mention that Florence helped me to process pandemic times through her music and through the small speeches she gave. In one of them she expressed, “There were many times recently when I thought I may have to get a new job,” lamenting with a smile, “but I have no other skills.” She expressed over and over how much it meant to her to be there with us having a “collective experience” and how much it took, how precarious it all was: “There were so many moments planning this tour where it almost didn’t happen.”
I teared up then. Because, well, I related in my bones, and also, I could feel how she needed to be here with us, as much as we needed to be there with her. And that need was/is born out of something very very sacred.
In a crowd that looked and felt so much like a Wild Woman Fest crowd it almost knocked me over several times, I danced, we danced for the years we hadn’t been able to. As we did, the fear, and the grief, and the anger, and the trauma of it all started to shake off. As Florence ran through the crowd, we all flew with her. And when she held a young woman’s face in her hands, eye to eye, and sang right to her, we were all touched.
When I walked out of there, my spirit was renewed. Such is the tremendous value of being together with beautiful strangers in a field of honest, raw expression, and love, and dance.
Because when we come together, we set each other free.
And I want to live in a world where wild women are truly free.
YOUR TURN
Please share in the comments below and/or in the privacy of your own heart:
Can you relate?
What do Wild Feminine Spaces and/or gatherings mean to you?
What do they bring out in you, in the group?
I can’t wait to hear your perspectives!
♥️ & Howl,
Chris
Thank you Chris.
The dog days are over 😉
♥️♥️♥️ Tracey ♥️♥️♥️
I could feel the energy of your words. I too crave the community with other Wild Women. True, honest, open and deep connection in gathering together to feed and nourish our souls on such a primal level. The moment you described of Florence holding a woman’s face and the intensity brought goosebumps and tears. To be seen on such a human level must have been incredible to witness. So happy you were able to attend live, feeding the longing to dance and gather, Wow! so powerful.
It was so beautiful! Hope to gather some way, somehow with you soooon 💕💕💕 Much love, Deborah!
I relate to so many points in your story Chris! I too recently have had a very eye opening experience at a live music event. I find that while I am immersed in live music, my spirit is not only lifted but the very life force in my body climbs up through my feet as I dance, and energizes every part of my body. I so desperately missed this soul-nourishing and uplifting experience during the pandemic that I didn’t know exactly how THIRSTY I was to experience it again until I was standing there, when my favorite local reggae band played their first beats in my favorite restaurant two weeks ago. Right there, the tears welted up in my eyes and I just let it out. The longing and the loss I had experienced being so deprived of the live music that feeds my Being! I danced my heart out for three hours and whew, it was cleansing, renewing and then absolute happiness just spilled out of me!
I am so thrilled for you and crossing Florence off of your bucket list ❤️
I loved reading this♥️ Thank you, Marlie! It’s pretty amazing what the (ancient) ritual of sharing in live music can unfurl in us!