Now that we all know how to properly wash our hands, how to social distance, how to rock a mask, can we look at what is most important to take with us beyond 2020? Let’s bring what we learned with us into a post-pandemic world. Let’s continue summoning, healing, revealing, and thriving. We’re on the brink of knowing how to encourage each other, how to handle loss, how to be alone, how to connect authentically, how to feed our creativity, and how to keep on going so we won’t forget where we have been.
Whether you got $1200, $600, or nothing, did you have a moment akin to everyone else where you lost yourself to dance? Was there a time when you lost your mind and turned on the music until it soothed your soul? Did you have daydreams about leaving it all behind? Then what? What visions got you through this crazy year? Everything is gestation and then birth. We need to brandish these weapons of love that we have acquired in 2020 in order to see a whole new society with the need for more love and light than ever before. The white pill lives within us all. Remain untamed!
SheWolf Sacred is an artist community in Chicago that are dancing their way into this new world. They are a collection of Womxn that bind together personally, professionally, and creatively performing dance, music, flow arts, and their unique styles of rhythm in the world. Here are 9 visions for the new post-pandemic world brought to you from SheWolf Sacred:
- Personal responsibility- Money management is more than currency. It is time and energy and when those are in balance and harmony, an abundance of currency will flow along with it. Reflect on what is working – appreciative inquiry. Focus on that, and reflect on what isn’t working. Eliminate that. Keep working towards what is working. Trust is the new social capital. We need to build trust for ourselves and with each other. Trust that the world is working in your favor despite what the media tells you. Don’t worry about the money. The money will come energetically because money is a tool and the tools will show up when you work in alignment with your purpose. Tools show up when your work is in alignment with your purpose. Do the work. The money will come.
“My vision of a balanced world includes everyone caring for each other, people willing to spend time helping one another, and where making money isn’t the only goal seen as worthy. People can see where their purpose is coming from somewhere else rather than just what fills their bank.” – Audrey Herrington, She/Her/Hers
“I do believe that everything comes down to personal responsibility. When it comes to coming together to create greater things, we gotta take personal responsibility for our triggers, for our own actions and behaviors in everything that we do in order for us to be seen clearly as we are in the here and now. We need to be seen for who we are, no judgments, no labels” – Brissa Del Mar, She/Her/Hers
- Adaptation & Flexibility – Move your body, move your mind. Seems like a simple thought from a dance collective but you don’t have to be a performer to dance. Check out Tik Tok. There is a reason is it has become so popular. It was centered on dance. Move your body. Anxiety and fear are natural when we step into this unknown world but shake it off. Get off your seat and move your body.
“In my dreams, I am incredibly powerful and being seen and expressing myself in a very authentic way. I am often performing, solving a mystery, or fighting evil. I grew up doing ballet which is incredibly rigid. Now I am the complete opposite where I really value flexibility and release.” – Julie Brannen, She/Her
- Personal Development – Take these extra moments to learn something, anything! Intelligence is everywhere, inform yourself until it feels right. There are so many resources to learn all about any number of subjects out there. Search out more and inform yourself.
“I’d like to see more genuine curiosity about the variety of life here on this planet. Genuine curiosity is a brilliant way to approach life. The myth of innate talent is a myth. You may have a gift but it is up to you to develop that gift.” – Antonia Callas, She/Her
- Social Interpretation- Insignias, talismans, signifiers, brands, logos, and flavor seem to overwhelm us every day. Show yourself in your groups and respond to those that signal you positively. Notice the way subtle signals trigger you negatively. Speak your truth authentically. Look for souls inside these gangling bodies. Use all your senses when perceiving the person pumping gas across from you – the person that cut you off in traffic, the unmasked grocery store shopper in line ahead of you. It is our job to be informed consumers of these subtle signals. Let’s look beyond and above while enriching the palette of our daily surroundings. “You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” – C.S. Lewis
“My vision, especially with me being autistic, is people would understand better as to what disability is. My vision is for us to understand each other when it comes to disability – like when we drum. People are aware of the cues and signs, stuff like that, of autism.” – Victoria Djembe, She/ He/ His/ Her/ Him
“Everyone is so on edge and triggered by everything that we can’t have a conversation with anyone anymore because they fly off the handle about everything. Can we just maybe meet halfway or find some common ground? I don’t care if you are a Trump supporter or not a Trump supporter. I feel like we all have a place where we can find common ground. Let’s have a conversation and maybe a conversation is where it can begin. Becoming more aware, more respectful of other people. Get the conversation started.” – Teresa Venus, She/ Her/ Hers
- Grounding – Remember the sacred gifts will arm you as tools, weapons if need be but in unlearning what you have been taught to fear, you will renew the new post-pandemic world
A dark night of the soul brings offerings and gratitude. Usher in the new with consent – trusting – acting on what you are feeling at any given moment. When you have nothing left of what “they” give you, you have what Mother Nature abundantly provides.
“We gotta go way back and redo the groundwork. I think we need to rebuild. Knockdown this old model render it obsolete, and rebuild a foundation that actually has a foundation! Something that can hold up the structure because the structure comes after it. Instead what we end up doing is peeling back layers of the outer structure and fixing that but we need to gut the whole building. Start from scratch because the system how it is – doesn’t work. Clearly, we are getting that message loud and clear with all that is going on these days. These are all opportunities for us to grow. Pain pushes, vision pulls. We will keep being pushed until the vision pulls us in a more forward direction.” – Jane Justice, She/Her
- Reciprocity – Let the echoes come back to you and heed the call. Staring into the abyss can get cold and intimidating. Let somebody love you. Co-creation with the divine in this life is not entirely up to you. Animal Shelters are doing quite well adopting out animals lately. Maybe a pet could be something to help you exercise reciprocity. We have been able to go far by standing on the shoulders of giants but lately, it feels like the giants are standing on our shoulders. Let your spirit rise above the sea of negativity and make positive ripples where you are with what you have when you can. Become innocent without deception again. Send that ripple into the world. Pet your cat. It’s all love.
“ I think a balanced world is able to identify or move to a space where we are able to highlight their abilities because we each have them. We all could thrive in that environment. For example, I am not one that works with numbers but in a balanced world, there would be access to those modalities. In a balanced world, individuals would be able to access all the modalities that exist. Reiki would be covered by insurance companies. Have an opportunity to mentor others in the same capacity – based on what the needs and wants are. It’s not just what people need but what do they want for their life.” – Julie Pacheco, She/Her/Ella
- Perseverance – If you crave connection…Your pack is out there. If you’re thirsty don’t drink poison. Persevere and find your pack. They are out there. Spend time with elders. Their perspective is surprisingly fresh. They don’t have to be your elders, just elders wherever you can find them. Entice courage for eternity. The visceral sensation of fear is part of the fun.
Why do we go on rollercoasters if it is not fun? Horror movies? They spark fear and excitement, especially if you choose a particular flavor of horror movies. Choice keeps us safe – without choice, we are suddenly nauseous with too much thrill, too much excitement. Choose it. Even if the choice was made for you, choose this moment as it was your own. Walk with what is yours. You were made for this moment in time. Respond to fear with skill or you will be doomed to fight, flight, or freeze forever.
When I realize that I have no control over the weather, I choose to embrace it. The snow is something I enjoy.” – Brissa Del Mar, She/Her/Ella
- Tending to Your Wolf Den – Bring the outdoors in. Make your home reflect your nature. Spending time in your domicile should be an artistic adventure. Make the seasons an indoor ritual or if you are lucky enough to – have a garden! Enrich your surroundings and enrich your soul. Do ritual. Even Keith Richards has recently taken to gardening. Truly, anyone can do it. Let each embryo of feeling come to completion with humility & patience. Decorate your space and your space will embrace you.
“I am inspired by silence. I am seeing the webs of life in new ways, especially as I articulate it all while collaboratively actualizing my new Oracle Deck. I am in my garden right now! We have a Burlesque Supper Club where my lover plays jazz guitar and we enjoy the fruits of my rooftop garden. I need to be here in my soul’s home, creating.” -Gaea Lady, She/Her
- Holistic Totality – Every day I put things in my compost bin. I feel the holistic totality of the Universe right there from my kitchen to my garden. The food chain is not just a hierarchy. It is a cycle, complete in itself. What can you reduce? What can you increase? Become a part of the whole picture, see the situation in the grander scheme, and play your part. Do not measure with time – what is measured is improved. Time is meant to be enjoyed, not improved. Our primal instinct is longing and bliss. Afraid that the admirable will turn into the unworthy will discredit the beauty of NOW. Ripen like a tree. Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
“You can’t have a lifestyle that promotes overconsumption or things that don’t impact somebody else in this world. The impact that we could cause elsewhere in the world wouldn’t come back to impact us in some way. For me, a balanced world is where we are looking at each one of our actions and parts and how they impact the whole world. I think, once you take action and you use words with that understanding, only then will we have a balanced world.” –Shiwali Tenner, She/Her
Live in the now. Do not fear the future. Do not dwell in the past. Make each moment the best it can be however you can. Be the light. Reflect the light. Approach with curiosity. Do not be intimidated by the chaos because our consciousness, not our circumstances, create our future.
I know how this story is going to end. There is a real lesson in humility that was not told in 2020 but you can. The imperceptible fruit has a heavy fragrance and I think we can all smell the winds of change blowing today. What kind of entertainment has kept you human? Be thankful for the rejection letters of life for at least you have something to show for your efforts. You have to show how much you want it otherwise the walls will only grow longer and taller and deeper and wide. Each effort towards scaling the walls reduces the wall to crumble. There are checks and balances. Every song has an ebb and flow.
Aspire to Inspire. Harness the power of now. There is nothing I can tell you that you don’t already know. I can try to convey what I’ve seen, what we’ve felt, and hope that these words resonate with you. Allow judgment its own silent undisturbed development which must come from deep within, it cannot be forced. These tips and techniques are not guaranteed to save the world but they will help you to have a rapture before the rapture at any rate. Keep on dancing, Auld Lang Syne.
SheWolf Sacred presents a four-part virtual performance series about going through stages of transformation to call in, claim, heal — and how to thrive in 2021.
January 16 ~ Summoning
February 20 ~ Re-Claiming
March 20 ~ Healing
April 17 ~ Thriving
Each month will be focusing on a different theme for the artists to interpret. You are invited to witness, participate, + howl with our community from the comfort of your home.
