Posted 12/05/2019 13:06:39
Category: Think Pieces

Over the years, I've heard a few brief and eloquent definitions of Woo. I wish I’d written them down because now they’ve all escaped my memory. To me, Woo is the acknowledgement, celebration, and language of the Divine Feminine (which exists in both women and men). It involves witnessing and experiencing that which seems more than coincidental.

About 20 years ago, I and some other women I knew began exploring what, to us, were new ways of thinking, feeling, and being. We became students of body work and energy work. We learned how to feel, and some even to see, the human energy field. We began witnessing what might be described as miracles. Like the time in Alaska when one Woo Sister called in whispers to whales hundreds of yards off from our boat, and one of the whales somehow heard and came to her, swam right to the stern where we stood, lifted its massive head out of the water, and regarded us with a deeply intelligent eye.  

Some of our menfolk got jittery. They weren't sure they wanted their fields felt. They didn't believe in miracles. As a defense mechanism, perhaps, they made jest of our practices, calling it that “woo-woo stuff." Ignoring the insult, we transformed what at best was a patronizing term into a badge of honor; into a positive. Yes, we said. Yes, indeed, it’s Woo – serious Woo, we said. So you better watch out! But then we laughed and told them we were only teasing and to relax, they were going to like it. 

To initiate ourselves and others into Woo, we used to conduct ceremonies involving sacraments and anointment (think tequila and glitter). We preferred holding these events under a full moon so that we could howl (in case you don't know, howling at the moon is beneficial to the chakras and a very important aspect of a Woo ceremony). One of the earliest ceremonies occurred in the back of an SUV on the way home from an evening spent at twin dance halls in North Carolina. The dance halls were connected by a black-light tunnel. All night long we crawled back and forth between a Motown/rock 'n roll environment to one decidedly country; from bumping and grinding to line dancing. Offerings and “sacrifices” were always made at Woo ceremonies. They ranged from the unoriginal (a bra) to the creative (green tomatoes pilfered from an industrial farm and offered to the Chesapeake Bay).

It’s been many years since we had a Woo ceremony. But the Woo is still with us. May the Woo be with YOU. 

~~~

I got to see the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin twice this year. Twice I visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, where I read, and reread, every quote on the Inscription Wall. I found Dr. King's words timeless and prescient in that, in some ways, they seem to have as much, if not even more pertinence today than when they were uttered. Among my favorites: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." 

Until May, I'll be praying for April showers. We need them.

--DAC

04/2012 (edited 12/2019)

 

 

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