DANCING WITH DEATH

Join us on this auspicious evening when Kali Puja, Halloween, Samhein, Dia de Los Muertos, and All Soul’s Day converge to honor the passing of time, the beginning of darkness, and death itself. With the intention of invoking Kali Maa on this evening, we will set our space, altar, and our body temple as an offering to her and to the highest good. We will build an intimate community practice that weaves the magic of devotion, somatics, embodiment, alchemy, breath, shamanic journeying, visualizations, vocalizations, movement, sound, and dance into a nightlong journey into the soul. We will work with contact dance practices of trust, resistance, acceptance, and surrender and then end in a community contact beyond contact dance to bring it all together. We will finish the evening with a space for sharing about our relationship with death and about the impact of the evening. By learning how to surrender to the mystery of life and death, we can then discover timelessness, connection, creation, rebirth, freedom, and so much more. When we come to terms with our death, literal and egoic, we truly start to live.

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In a culture obsessed with staying young and never coming to grips with death, it is incredibly important for us to face time and death and instead work with this powerful energy. We avoid death at all costs yet death is always by our side. We feel it, we sense it, we know it. Many of us have experienced death in its many forms already. Physical death of family and friends, ego death, dark nights of the soul, destruction, chaos, death of relationships, death of our old selves, etc. Instead of avoiding death, what if we befriend it and learn from it? What if we learn to embody it? Feel it? Dance with it? Accept it? What does death really want to teach us? Death is as important as birth and we can learn to work with this energy to manifest the life we want to live with the days that we have left. With the help and wisdom from Kali Maa, let us learn to embrace death and live our lives to the fullest.

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Kali Maa:

Goddess Kali is a benevolent mother and a fierce protector of her devotees. But one must tread carefully when invoking Kali because she is also prone to destroying that which does not serve. She was invoked by other gods when they failed to defeat a demon whose blood spawned clones of himself. Kali defeated the demon by drinking his blood and devouring the clones. But with a taste for blood, she began devouring and destroying everything in sight, and only stopped when Lord Shiva, her partner, threw himself in front of her as an act of self sacrifice and complete surrender. So when seeking the blessings of Kali, we can learn a trick from Lord Shiva himself, and offer ourselves and our egos as sacrifice to the supreme mother. The blessings of Kali are worth this act of self sacrifice because even death is scared of the mother and runs away at the very mention of her name. As the goddess of time, Kali births and devours time itself. Lying completely outside time, her form is incomprehensible and impossible for us to conceive. Therefore, while invoking her, we must also let go of our desire to know and understand, and learn to surrender to the ultimate mystery.

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You can find Kali in a cemetery or crematorium at midnight on any day. But on the auspicious night of the autumnal new moon, she will happily come to you herself. So be prepared to behold the mother and receive powerful blessings that will eviscerate all your fears.

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This event will help you understand and work with:

*Devotion

*Working with Kali Maa, death, and time

*Underworld journeying

*Shapeshifting

*Somatic practices

*Invocation, intention, and prayer

*Dance as an act of prayer, worship, and healing

*How dancing with others amplifies intention, connection, and community

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What to bring:

*Water bottles

*Eye mask or blindfold

*An item for the altar just for the evening, preferably something representing time and/or death

*Loose fitting clothes, athletic wear, or costume that reflects the theme of the evening

*Suggested exchange $49-$99

*Feel free to come with face paint and/or other adornments that represent your relationship with time/death

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Guidelines:

No alcohol or substances

No photos or videos

No talking on or off the dance floor

Consent required when dancing with others

Try to stay fully in the practices and dance set for the entirety of the evening

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This is a very intimate and heart opening practice. It will reveal some of our deepest fears and wounds and open us to expressions of grief, pain, heartache, acceptance, and ultimately unconditional love. In order for it to be as safe as possible for our full expression, it is important to come on time and stay for the entire event. It is important to come with the purest of intentions. And it is important to be ready to go to the dark spaces of your souls. There will be two grief therapists holding space for those who need additional support.

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Limited to 50 participants

Location may change depending upon interest and numbers

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Wildlight Yoga, 4041 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, United States