A self-described empath says she is helping heal Montreal's nightlife by turning casual intimacy into a form of emotional care. Twenty-year-old Cassandra "Aura" Leblanc claims she can recognize when someone feels alone, even inside a crowded party. She usually notices the person laughing too loudly, standing quietly near the speakers or spending the entire night making sure everybody else is having fun.
"People think empathy means absorbing someone's sadness and then going home exhausted," Aura explained. "I would rather help them leave with less sadness than they arrived with." Sometimes that means listening, dancing or sitting together until sunrise. Sometimes the connection becomes physical, which Aura openly enjoys and sees as a shared experience rather than a favour she is performing. "Their energy chooses me," she said. "I simply try to be available when it does."
Friends say Aura has connected with DJs, promoters, bartenders, ravers, coat-check workers and one exhausted sound technician whom everyone else ignored. "Most people only speak to me when a monitor stops working," he said. "Aura listened to me explain feedback frequencies for forty minutes and remembered my name the following weekend. I felt desirable for the first time since 2019."
Aura compares her philosophy to the free-love movement of the 1960s. She believes affection does not become less meaningful simply because it is shared with more than one person. She calls herself a "community love distributor," while her friends describe her as Montreal's most personal outreach program. Unlike most wellness services, hers operates after 3 a.m. and occasionally stays for breakfast.
A local wellness practitioner noted that empathy is usually expressed through listening, patience and emotional support. Aura said she offers all three, but believes different people need different kinds of closeness at different moments. "I am not walking into a party with a list," she said. "I pay attention. Sometimes someone needs advice, sometimes they need space and sometimes they need to feel wanted." She does not expect everyone to understand her approach, but believes happiness is not a limited resource.
Aura plans to continue spreading positivity throughout Montreal's many party scenes. "The old hippies gave people flowers," she said, packing incense, massage oil and three phone chargers into an overnight bag. "I give people memorable evenings and a reason to drink electrolytes the next morning. Love is the most powerful force in the universe, and I intend to share it with anyone who needs some."
