Gathering, an antidote to heartbreak
Editor:
How do you respond to news that leaves you horrified and speechless? If you’re Sona Vancour, you share your heartbreak with your community and invite them out to the Village Green to drum with you.
Last week, the results of the U.S. election left her deeply impacted, and feeling like the feminine was at risk in the world. The actions she took proved to be an antidote not just for her, but for many others who answered her call, or who just happened to be in Creemore this Saturday afternoon while the drumming filled the space. I showed up with chimes and Love Notes, looking to bring my support, love and light into the darkness that many were experiencing.
Over the next almost two hours, drumming filled the Village Green. I found myself called to people, a short distance from our circle of drummers, looking on, interested. Offering Love Notes, I invited myself into conversation with them. I asked about their interest in the circle of drummers, shared with them Sona’s invitation – a place for women to gather, to dance and laugh, to remember – to find a place to ‘be’ and to lift up our Divine Feminine, to bring Her back to where She rightfully belongs, and to perhaps shift things just a little more into balance. I invited those I met to join us. I was moved by the responses I got.
The first woman I approached very quickly spoke of feeling the feminine energy very strongly, before I’d even shared with her the intention of the gathering. She was deeply moved on hearing it, as was I on hearing her experience. Another couple I approached was also moved. The man, a music therapy teacher, joined the circle to drum as well. Two young women also joined the circle to drum. And not until after they rose to leave did I share with them what had called us together. Drawing tears from one of them, she shared that they were part of a group of six friends who had come up from the city to spend time grieving and processing the election results.
On and on, I was struck by my interactions – three other women were moved to tears and gave us long wordless hugs. An elder woman walking her dog stood and chatted with me for a time, left, then returned with her phone to record us. She told me she would send the video to a friend in U.S. who was in shock and mourning.
Clearly what we were up to was medicine not just for us, but for many others as well.
Sunday evening, at home, I received an order for 500 Love Notes. With it came a note: “Thank you again, so much, for making that drum circle happen and handing out Love Notes to me and my friend. ‘Putting wind in the sails of the divine feminine’ is absolutely what you all did. It was a much needed magical memory. I’ve been sharing that experience with my friends across Canada and the U.S. to remind them that we’re not alone and I can tell you it’s really happening.”
She went on to share that she’s been grappling with what she can do to make whatever small local impact she can. She now has a starting point – 500 of them.
I’ve come away from it all buoyed and hopeful. Everywhere around me I see evidence of the feminine, of the ‘medicine’ that is most needed in these times. If we look closely – and most especially if and when we reach in for a little courage, and reach out to one another to share our burdens, to respond to each other with open, creative hearts – we’re sure to see and to spark more of it in the world around us. Like Sona, we can help one another by helping ourselves. And in that, we can all take part in creating that more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.
For those also hungry for community, drumming, magic and/or serendipity in your life, feel free to reach out to shelleyhannah@proton.me.
To those unfamiliar with what is meant by ‘the feminine’ – most of us can intuit what that is – energy most often associated with women and girls, but, of course, inherent in all of us – softness, receptivity, reflection, acceptance, intuition, listening, creativity, flow, to name but a few. Energies that our culture has often judged as weak, lesser than (masculine qualities), but that many would agree, are essential to a path to a world that works for all – human and all of life.
Shelley Hannah,
Wasaga Beach.
