Missing Witches - It's The Missing Witches Yuletide Special 2025!!!

00:00:00.000 We are witches of the night, we are witches, we make our own life.

00:00:21.500 There you are!

00:00:24.940 Happy birthday!

00:00:30.000 We're so glad to be gathered. It's the longest night of the year, to have each other be able to be together in this way. We always start our meetings with the lighting with candle. It's a birthday candle for Heather and for Holly.

00:00:51.120 and in the name of

00:00:53.720 accessibility I'm using

00:00:55.800 an electric candle today

00:00:57.420 some of us can't burn candles

00:00:59.640 for whatever reason

00:01:00.860 and anything that

00:01:03.640 casts off a beautiful glow

00:01:05.500 is going to work for our magic

00:01:07.140 and for our Yule and for our

00:01:09.560 solstice

00:01:10.400 Hi Risa, Merry Yule

00:01:13.380 Bright solstice

00:01:15.680 my dear friend

00:01:16.640 bright solstice happy birthdays we survived we're in the dark together i love this moment

00:01:29.540 together that we take i was assembling our yule specials um and looking back over the past years

00:01:38.020 and looking at how we started our first ever yule special a small circle of people in person

00:01:46.520 singing that carol amy had written telling stories about the calic who i've been thinking about so

00:01:53.780 much the storm hag the storm witch the storm queen we did a series of a pair of two yule specials

00:02:03.180 about chosen family that are so dear to my heart with jinx monsoon and the gods and the god and

00:02:13.520 and then amy and i did a special where we were so tired and it had been so hard and we set each

00:02:22.620 other this gift of a task where we imagined that we were writing like a letter of reference

00:02:31.840 i was writing a letter of reference for amy to my wisest council of beloved elders to tell them

00:02:40.500 about how much I loved my wise and brilliant friend

00:02:43.440 and she wrote one for me

00:02:45.440 and I re-read those today

00:02:46.980 and I was just weepy with how gorgeous they are

00:02:50.780 oh cute

00:02:52.280 I haven't revisited them, I should

00:02:55.200 they're so lovely

00:02:56.680 they're linked in our new post

00:03:00.460 that'll go out in the Rx this week

00:03:02.300 of Yule rituals and solstice practices

00:03:06.380 this is this is a gift you can give yourself or a loved one at any time pretend you are lighting

00:03:13.680 writing a letter of reference to the universe for someone you love and describe how magical they are

00:03:19.160 do it for each other it's fucking awesome remember how important you are and powerful

00:03:25.140 and magical you are help someone else remember especially at like this ultra consumerist time 0.81

00:03:33.600 of year it really is a very special gift that you can give someone that costs nothing but time and

00:03:40.460 love and energy and then after that one we started having these we started having these holiday

00:03:47.920 parties where we invited our coven to bring a story a song a poem like a little um company talent show

00:03:59.720 full of magic

00:04:03.660 and so we invite you

00:04:07.420 to

00:04:09.140 yeah

00:04:11.060 more so than ever

00:04:13.260 drop any

00:04:15.420 fear or shame

00:04:17.560 that you can manage to release

00:04:19.380 feel it slip off your shoulders

00:04:23.960 feel it

00:04:25.720 melt like snow

00:04:29.520 gently off your face feel safe and welcome and held in this little tiny lighted space we'll make

00:04:38.880 together for a couple of hours to be held in magic and in amazing santa hats

00:04:46.500 and if you have brought something a thought a spell a blessing a song a poem a story

00:04:58.020 use the raised hand emoji

00:05:00.420 if you brought something

00:05:03.160 and you do not want it used

00:05:05.860 in the recording

00:05:07.000 that we will share of this holiday special

00:05:09.400 just let us know before you start

00:05:11.100 we'll edit it out

00:05:12.240 so it can be just for us

00:05:14.500 or it can be for the great

00:05:17.260 grand broader us

00:05:19.500 in the cauldron

00:05:21.440 we create in the dark between our ears

00:05:23.740 i'm gonna open the floor with something i have brought to our solstice parties before

00:05:32.960 but i think it bears repeating um this is the woman's spirit magazine from 1977 the year of

00:05:44.160 my birth. And I have another one that's also from the Winter Solstice that Women's Spirit

00:05:54.400 Magazine published quarterly, so on the equinoxes and on the solstices. And I, of course, have read

00:06:02.620 through them, but I have never found an entry in those magazines that resonates so much with

00:06:12.400 how I feel about this coven at this time of year. So, I'm going to read this entry. This was,

00:06:24.880 again, Women's Spirit Magazine was a feminist commune

00:06:31.000 who made a magazine, and so a lot of the stuff that comes up in the magazines is just

00:06:40.440 Stuff that people have sent in, stuff that readers have sent in.

00:06:43.760 So this is a little musing sent in by a reader named Mara Meshach, called Mother Yule.

00:06:54.080 I was thinking of Christmas today.

00:06:57.700 The magical tree of lights, fragile glass birds, chalk lambs, family obligations, tired mothers cooking.

00:07:08.720 All for the birth of a son 1.00

00:07:11.980 An impish granny muddled my mind 1.00

00:07:16.520 And gave me over to delight in Christmas again 1.00

00:07:20.060 I realized that she

00:07:22.440 Was the one who rekindled the sunfire from her hearth fire 1.00

00:07:27.980 Just a little old root woman cooking 1.00

00:07:33.680 Making puckered fruits into honeyed pies 1.00

00:07:38.160 leavening sod and dough. All the magic that women have always done at Christmas. 1.00

00:07:45.920 She has called herself Mother Yule. I've looked up Yule in the dictionary, and not only does it 1.00

00:07:52.700 mean the pagan fire festival of the hearth log, but the word also means happy talking together.

00:08:01.340 father christmas brought rewards for good behavior but mother yule brings friends together 0.98

00:08:09.940 around a magical goddess tree i drew her and she looks like a little badger or mole 0.93

00:08:20.780 an earth-loving creature slightly mischievous among humans and fugitive 0.92

00:08:27.960 I remember the old legend of the Lady of Misrule, when the time of Christmas decreed outrageous body and foolish behavior among women. 0.99

00:08:40.220 A time to caricature serious concerns, not abandoning them, but giving them a full shadow. 0.99

00:08:50.020 I've drawn her onto a lino cut also, and will print her picture again and again.

00:08:57.960 May she uproar before she scurries into the winter-caverned earth again.

00:09:15.840 Happy talking together.

00:09:20.300 Itsy?

00:09:22.260 Hi.

00:09:23.080 Oh, am I still here?

00:09:24.200 You are here!

00:09:25.520 Yay!

00:09:26.160 Right, Solstice!

00:09:27.960 hi i i just wanted to share um something that i thought that i had so this month uh for perhaps

00:09:35.960 almost obvious reasons is the month where i work more with mother mary because she's one of the

00:09:40.980 one of the energies that i work with and um and i got i got curious about mother mary's story in the

00:09:49.060 the quran the quran and i don't do you guys know it it's really beautiful like i really

00:09:54.460 i mean no corn expert of course but i just kind of put like a little audio reading of it and so

00:10:01.700 she has jesus by herself in a secluded place under a palm tree and god provides dates and

00:10:09.240 water for her as she's having birth pain and i thought that was so beautiful and then i wrote

00:10:15.040 this and i just wanted to share it i don't know what it is i don't think i'm not sure if it's a

00:10:19.140 poem it's just maybe it's just a thought uh but it says virgin of virgins as in untouched by

00:10:26.300 expectation virgin of virgins as in guided only by inner conviction fueled by introspection

00:10:34.020 artist of artists as in birthing divinity as her nature that's it i thought it was cute and that's

00:10:43.140 that was beautiful izzy thank you it's always good to um interrogate

00:10:56.000 the stories we've been told and poeticize them in our own ways right

00:11:00.860 hi angie i don't really have anything spectacular or big to share

00:11:10.100 just this time of year heading towards the longest night

00:11:15.660 I always feel really called into my home

00:11:20.320 into myself

00:11:21.920 to get very grounded and centered and clear

00:11:28.320 on everything that I've accomplished throughout the year

00:11:31.700 everything that I didn't accomplish

00:11:34.440 and after the solstice of the light starts to come back

00:11:40.060 I can feel this little heartbeat almost telling me that it's good.

00:11:46.800 It's time to start overcoming my inertia.

00:11:49.380 And I just have to do it a little bit at a time every day.

00:11:53.700 Just like the sun comes back a little bit at a time every day.

00:11:59.020 And I just feel like this is a time to really nurture and grow what you want to become

00:12:07.920 in the next the next time spring is here right and just all of the dreaming that you get to do

00:12:16.780 while it's dark and still cold outside and you can make your plans and feather your nest

00:12:24.700 and engage with people that are really close to you that you love that you want in your tiny

00:12:33.020 little cave with you and that's my that's my I guess tradition this time of year

00:12:42.320 that's so beautiful Angie and so beautifully said thank you so much

00:12:51.800 you reminded me of two things I would love to ask for volunteers for this circle

00:12:59.860 one um to be access which if you're comfortable keep an eye on the chat and then periodically

00:13:12.660 raise your hand and share with us things that have been said in the chat so that folks who can't

00:13:19.660 manage splitting focus between chat and listening can just relax and listen and be held by you and

00:13:26.880 your attentiveness Melissa are you raising your hand to share or to volunteer no there's no wrong

00:13:33.400 answer to share okay okay wait then I'll wait for a volunteer will somebody be access which

00:13:40.420 thank you Melissa I can't wait to hear what you're going to say Angie are you raising your

00:13:43.680 hand to share again or to be access to be okay thank you wonderful thank you so much so yeah

00:13:51.440 just just put your hand back up when I'm you know periodically when there's stuff that feels like

00:13:56.460 it needs to be added and then the second role is oracular witch of the circle your job is to

00:14:07.940 either typing or handwritten although it's probably easier typing to just write down

00:14:14.160 those phrases that chime for you from what we all say you basically make a found poem by listening

00:14:21.860 and noticing there's no pressure for you to edit it in any way

00:14:28.620 um just listen notice the things that recur that jump out those moments where we're all like 0.76

00:14:35.580 oh shit yeah i can do it risa thank you oracle witch read thank you so much

00:14:44.200 okay Melissa I would love to hear what you've patiently been waiting to share 0.96

00:14:51.940 thank you so much um so I love to do this thing this time of year um I've been doing it for about

00:15:02.180 10 years and it's not like um resolutions essentially it's trying to plan out my year

00:15:10.520 head, using how I feel, how I want to feel in the year ahead. So it's this like seed planting

00:15:18.200 exercise that I've been doing for a real long time, kind of not knowing that I was doing spell

00:15:23.240 work before I was doing spell work. And then also I've been spending the year connecting or trying

00:15:30.340 to connect with my ancestors a lot more. And so I wrote a poem like for me, but sort of for

00:15:38.420 you as well um sort of like a collective you um and I'll just share that tonight I think

00:15:46.280 so it's called um sorry we are wild seeds in the winter night may the longest night cradle me

00:15:56.520 kindly may the ancestors gather close to align me may the returning light find my heart wild and

00:16:04.280 awake, and the seeds I shelter in winter stir, dreaming of the year they'll make. May the night

00:16:11.140 of all nights weave its charms round my door, and the first dawn of winter bring light to my core.

00:16:17.580 May the kin of my blood stand beside me unseen, and the seeds sleeping under me rise witch-wise

00:16:24.480 and green. May the darkest night fold you in, quiet and deep. May the turning of the wheel

00:16:31.620 guard the dreams that you keep may the old ones walk with you through veil fire and bone and the

00:16:38.800 seeds that you shelter wake wild of their own may the solstice night fold you in velvet and frost

00:16:45.900 may you release what hinders your power let it be lost may the mothers stand guard as you tend

00:16:53.320 to your heart and the cold dark show you the paths where all journeys start

00:16:58.340 thank you Melissa if you are willing and able can you um send the text of that piece

00:17:11.780 um so that we can share it you can email it or message or post it in the circle

00:17:18.440 cup and space so everyone who couldn't make it tonight can still enjoy it tonight

00:17:22.680 oh my god witch wise and green

00:17:25.760 oh thank you so many

00:17:27.640 beautiful lines

00:17:28.860 thank you so much for that spell

00:17:31.280 I have

00:17:33.600 another poem

00:17:35.100 um our good

00:17:37.500 witch poet friend

00:17:39.320 M. Chaney could not be here tonight

00:17:41.460 but they sent us this poem

00:17:43.440 it's called

00:17:45.440 let me put these bells down

00:17:46.840 ringing in my hand

00:17:48.220 the veil is always thin

00:17:51.760 by M. Cheney

00:17:53.880 The veil is always thin

00:17:57.440 The dark just lets us see

00:18:00.840 Secret realms don't reveal themselves

00:18:04.560 They are always there

00:18:07.460 Waiting

00:18:08.960 Like stars

00:18:11.360 Our eyes simply adjust

00:18:15.400 To the darkness

00:18:16.920 We wait all year for quiet

00:18:20.880 so we may hear spirits. We wait for the dark so we can see the ones we loved again.

00:18:31.760 But my loves, there is no need to wait. They're always around us, always,

00:18:40.160 urging us to take a bite of this life while we can. So for their sake and mine,

00:18:47.280 And while there are teeth in my head

00:18:51.180 I will eat

00:18:53.140 I will eat

00:18:55.860 Thanks, Em

00:18:59.060 For sending in that home

00:19:01.600 Melissa

00:19:03.560 What have you brought for the Yuletide

00:19:07.520 Gathering of the Missing Witches Coven?

00:19:11.180 Hi, everybody

00:19:12.200 Love to see your glowing faces 1.00

00:19:14.040 um this book has been one of my books of the year which is disabled witchcraft 90 rituals

00:19:20.840 for limited food practitioners by candy zeller um what i love about it is a lot of things

00:19:26.780 but i'm just going to share an incantation of theirs and it's the spell of sillies

00:19:33.820 so if you have time you can chew with this a little bit

00:19:40.120 coast. I laugh in the face of attempts to crush me and my community. I laugh not because there's

00:19:49.700 no injustice or because I'm callous, but because laughter says I'm worthy of joy, and that joy is

00:19:56.420 enough on its own. I invoke this power against unjust and ableist systems. This laughter is a

00:20:03.580 spell magic from my very self. Mary, you will. I love you all.

00:20:12.720 Love you so much, Mel. Thank you so much for bringing that. We love that book. Jasmine,

00:20:19.000 are you doing a book club with that book? We got a thumbs up from Jasmine.

00:20:24.060 sometime in the new year

00:20:25.940 just let me

00:20:27.420 survive

00:20:28.840 if we survive

00:20:31.660 we will be doing a book club

00:20:33.680 if I make it

00:20:36.240 I'll do it

00:20:38.460 you're gonna make it babe

00:20:41.020 I bet my Christmas bells on it 1.00

00:20:44.200 we're gonna do that fucking book club 0.99

00:20:46.460 you're gonna be strong and well 0.99

00:20:49.780 and powering through the book club

00:20:52.200 and Elka too

00:20:56.840 Elka looks like you

00:20:58.880 dressed for a fancier 0.97

00:21:01.240 party than this one

00:21:03.000 I did dress

00:21:05.180 I wore my starry dress

00:21:07.160 because when

00:21:08.100 when is a better time to wear a dress

00:21:10.940 with stars on it when

00:21:12.600 we are celebrating Yule together

00:21:14.940 so I brought my star dress

00:21:17.020 and beyond that

00:21:19.900 to our gathering

00:21:21.300 I bring my personal favorite goddess who I work with, Frau Hala and or Frau Perchta,

00:21:30.060 depending on where you are and what you'd like to call her.

00:21:33.800 Frau Hala and Frau Perchta are fierce winter goddesses from Germany.

00:21:38.740 And they are protectors of women, children, the in-between.

00:21:43.560 They've been said to lead the wild hunt.

00:21:46.480 and they're also fierce enforcers of rest during this time um primarily through slitting your

00:21:55.320 belly open and stuffing you with stones and straw if you're not resting serious business

00:22:01.620 serious business so my hope for you all is that frau holla and frau perta

00:22:06.760 give you the space to rest and enjoy this yule and this solstice

00:22:12.420 and if not they'll cut out your gizzard

00:22:16.060 you gotta love that eastern european you know this is where like the the krampus um the krampus

00:22:26.580 as my dad used to say um would come and steal bad children every time i'm like i wonder why i am

00:22:35.460 the way i am i just look at old german fairy tales and i'm like that explains so much to me

00:22:42.260 and i'm delighted yeah yeah the living's hard but you know we get through it together we keep our

00:22:51.040 our cold eastern european wits about us

00:22:56.660 and if you're not resting enough we'll cut out your gizzard and if you're bad

00:23:03.200 a demon will steal you in the night beth what do you think about all this

00:23:08.060 as someone with

00:23:11.160 Weingartner as a last name I think I

00:23:13.200 sympathize a lot with 1.00

00:23:14.400 all the scary German fairy tales

00:23:17.440 I 0.93

00:23:21.160 have

00:23:22.260 sorry I got

00:23:25.160 distracted by a pop up

00:23:26.500 I have a poem that I wrote

00:23:28.520 last winter that I thought

00:23:31.280 I would share because it's about the winter solstice

00:23:33.220 okay and it's called

00:23:37.120 winter solstice. These long nights wrap around me like a hug. The darkness mothers me, tucks me

00:23:46.260 under handmade blankets, softly sings the old songs to me. I press my face into the soft fur

00:23:55.120 of winter, feel its purr against my chest, and know that fangs and claws will keep the clamor

00:24:03.720 of the bright world at bay. Never do I hunger for longer days or more light. The summer sun

00:24:12.580 is a blade that flays me. I find no shelter, no peace under its oppressive glare. I'm at home

00:24:21.680 among the shadows, chill air stroking my cheeks, my breath ghosting into a black sky full of

00:24:28.780 diamonds. Here, I can hear the silence and the melody underneath. Thank you.

00:24:38.760 The silence and the melody underneath. So beautiful. Thank you so much, Beth. Jessica.

00:24:48.940 While you're working that out, Jessica, just so everybody knows, yes, I did get my hair tangled

00:24:54.200 in my jingle bells so that was inevitable i have jingle bells forbidden in this home

00:25:01.700 for reasons you can see

00:25:03.240 okay i think i got my microphone fixed all right okay um and also i'm at work so if i get a customer

00:25:12.840 i'll have to go so this is going to be very quick um first of all very beautiful readings this is

00:25:19.900 my very first party event whatever so bear with me I'm nervous it's whatever but here I am I'm

00:25:25.440 putting myself out there um I did a tarot pull um for the collective um that's been kind of my focus

00:25:33.880 this year um is divination um getting into it um I used my Chris and I used the light seers tarot

00:25:43.320 deck um it's probably been my favorite that i picked up and uh five minutes before the meeting

00:25:50.280 i pulled the ten of pentacles which could not be more perfect and it's so beautiful

00:25:58.180 and it is a uh family value and traditions card and so um and just like a comfort card

00:26:06.980 you know and I know personally for me um this yule season I've gone slow I've taken things

00:26:16.000 very slow you know we had I had a little big tragedy during Thanksgiving the harvest season

00:26:22.300 and so we're all just kind of healing doing some things baking a lot of things spending time

00:26:29.060 together and um I hope that's the same for most of us this season we all just need to slow down

00:26:35.080 and remember our traditions and that's what's beautiful about yule for me is being able to

00:26:39.680 teach um my children and um my fiance you know the traditions that i have been following for a

00:26:47.260 very long time so um that is that is my excerpt for today so thank you you did perfect sweetie

00:26:55.760 great job

00:26:56.900 happy first solstice with us and sorry remind me again what card you pulled

00:27:08.040 the ten of pentacles the ten of pentacles

00:27:12.180 yes if anybody wants to chime in with thoughts about ten of pentacles

00:27:17.820 as it relates to the collective definitely let us know i'm new and that was my very first

00:27:23.140 collective pull i've ever done i've done personal one-on-ones but that was my very first collective

00:27:27.900 so thank you for allowing me to do that and giving me the opportunity so thanks happy talking together

00:27:35.400 oh that's my phone at work perfect timing perfect bye thanks for calling us from the shop yeah

00:27:43.580 those of you who weren't here the first year when amy realized that zoom wouldn't pick up her bells

00:27:55.980 because they hadn't adjusted to doing sound like that and she rage shook them at us in silence over

00:28:02.780 and over again for the entire circle you can go back and listen to it i'm pretty sure she edited

00:28:07.740 them in to every place that I did I did better believe I went back and I recorded my jingle 0.98

00:28:14.220 bells and I put them in that fucking recording because well this is our Yuletide special 0.98

00:28:18.820 but even if y'all couldn't hear the bells I'd still be shaking them I'd still be shaking them 0.99

00:28:28.200 in a way that is to say I'm with you I get it I support you you know sometimes I hold up a candle

00:28:36.340 But this time of year

00:28:37.900 I'm going to ring them bells

00:28:39.380 And I know, Risa, the ringing of the bells

00:28:42.520 Echoes particularly

00:28:44.440 With you this year for sure

00:28:46.460 Jasmine

00:28:49.960 We're going to survive

00:28:53.920 I think so

00:28:56.440 I think so

00:28:58.460 Hi, everybody

00:28:59.960 So

00:29:02.080 Happy New Year, witches

00:29:04.080 It's the new year

00:29:06.200 for us and in some traditions um some of you may be a part of those traditions like me

00:29:13.580 making an unbreakable yule oath is part of the celebration so once this oath is made

00:29:22.280 then the oath maker is bound to fulfill these promises

00:29:26.780 uh for it is attached to our fate and destiny um so i wrote my yule oath for this year and

00:29:38.260 uh i am happy to share it with all of you they're not resolutions it's a yule oath

00:29:46.560 no you're perfect you need no resolution

00:29:50.520 my yule oath i swear to survive for as long as i can to speak with earned confidence

00:30:07.400 and work with practiced humility to set boundaries as acts of care and build community

00:30:18.280 from devotion. To honor the ancestors and listen to what they still teach. To keep

00:30:31.160 my altar alive even in seasons of rest. To know when to lift others up and when

00:30:42.040 to ask to be lifted. To meet violence with unflinching strength and find holy joy in

00:30:52.760 collective rage. To know who I am and cherish the knowing of others. To rest when the body-mind

00:31:05.880 calls for stillness and to work only when I am ready. To live with deliberate purpose

00:31:18.760 and love deeper than fear. To meet my own gaze in the mirror and remain content.

00:31:28.040 to honor the wild world and dance with my woodland kin

00:31:36.320 to keep writing and read the words that have carried others through

00:31:44.960 to make love and make art whenever the fire allows

00:31:53.520 to be the witch that I wish to meet in the world

00:31:57.400 and to love every other witch 0.89

00:32:00.520 living in it. 1.00

00:32:04.500 So here I swear

00:32:05.960 in front of coven,

00:32:08.780 ancestors, altar, and the gods.

00:32:12.340 So it is.

00:32:14.420 So be it.

00:32:16.280 So see to it. 0.99

00:32:18.480 Blessed fucking be. 0.65

00:32:21.380 Thanks, everyone. 0.99

00:32:23.920 Blessed fucking be. 0.64

00:32:25.280 thank you jasmine we cherish you we cherish you we cherish you and i know everything that you 0.97

00:32:34.840 vowed you're already doing and those are the best kind of promises to make right here's how i will

00:32:41.980 continue to live my life in the honor of those that came before and those who will come after

00:32:47.760 thank you jasmine i cherish you i honor you oh and excuse me

00:32:52.800 angie do you have something from the chat for us yeah i just wanted to share there's been so much

00:33:01.680 um so many compliments and so much love for everyone who's who's done their shares

00:33:06.840 love for joy shared a link that's for those that like christmas songs that need a different style

00:33:12.420 than the standards here's a sting concert that's really good and they share a link to that and

00:33:20.000 And also, a good story to listen to BBC's The Dark is Rising,

00:33:25.520 How the Solstice Needs Wrinkle in Time Flavor is another share from Love for Joy with a link.

00:33:31.440 And Amy Miranda shared a link of their favorite Christmas song and holiday wardrobe inspiration on YouTube, it looks like, I think.

00:33:42.960 And so many, Jess said, beautiful Beth, I feel the same about winter.

00:33:52.420 Everyone loves Amy's Jingle Bells.

00:33:58.320 And lots of encouragement for when Jess was nervous.

00:34:05.280 I think that's about it.

00:34:12.960 And so it is. Thanks, Angie. Definitely keep us posted. We appreciate it.

00:34:19.680 Brianne.

00:34:22.180 Hello. Can you hear me?

00:34:24.680 I can hear you. I can see you. I can love you.

00:34:28.260 i just want to say happy yule to everyone in this coven that is the most magical accepting

00:34:38.720 and respectful group of people i have ever met so happy yule to everyone i bring to the coven

00:34:47.500 first my little candle centerpiece it has a star on the moon because we are all a bit cosmic and

00:34:56.240 it's I centered it I went out to my holly I have a huge holly tree in our yard so I brought lots of

00:35:03.240 fresh holly and what I would like to bring is a funny tale slash true almost trivia of

00:35:15.560 the holly plant so we all know that it's protection and all the good magical spiritual

00:35:23.320 things that it goes in to the different seasons but did you guys know that birds when they eat

00:35:31.860 the little red berries they actually get drunk so the the pokey leaves keep them protected while

00:35:40.520 they're sitting in the holly bush like their own little tavern they're just a bunch of little birds

00:35:47.820 getting drunk in a tree. And to me, that is Yule. Happy Yule, everyone. I love you so much.

00:36:00.580 That's what the holidays are all about, for sure. If we can just imagine ourselves as little birds

00:36:08.440 in a tree, getting tipsy on berries, I'm going to keep that. I'm going to keep that as a place

00:36:15.480 that I go to in my imagination

00:36:17.160 with all of you, my little birds.

00:36:19.520 Thank you, Brienne.

00:36:22.820 And I loved your centerpiece.

00:36:25.460 I know you made it, and it's gorgeous.

00:36:27.860 Thank you for sharing it with us.

00:36:30.940 And I see Linda.

00:36:33.380 Mary Ewell, Linda.

00:36:35.400 Hello, how is everybody?

00:36:37.320 We're going to survive.

00:36:39.360 Yes.

00:36:41.300 Can you hear me okay?

00:36:43.840 We hear you just fine, but

00:36:45.360 Okay. I brought a poem. It's not particularly yule-oriented or solstice-oriented, but it's a little dark, so I thought I would just share it. I wrote it a while back. It's called Memory's Daughter.

00:37:04.660 You wrote it.

00:37:06.280 Yes, I wrote it.

00:37:07.320 Wonderful. Can't wait.

00:37:08.480 Okay. Thought bees sting me continually. Not honeybees. These barbs don't stick. They prick and flee, leaving me in confused conundrums of lost dates, mismates, worried waits. What have I forgotten now?

00:37:27.300 too much to remember and worry replaces mnemonic acuity i am the intersection everyone's path

00:37:36.220 crossing mine dropping clutter behind thoughts to divine until in their time i become simply

00:37:42.820 the asterisk footnoting their lives oh i'm there somewhere always lost in the glare of their own

00:37:49.660 self-importance what baleful portents will bring me out of this lethean blankness i want honesty

00:37:56.620 frankness forthright upright out loud and in your face i want my place not erased or forgotten

00:38:03.820 i'm remembering now remembering how i went down to the depths and emerged as myself dripping wet

00:38:11.620 with the shining waters and blood of my own inspiration leaving behind the others who whine

00:38:17.120 who cannot keep up who will not walk by me only wanting to tie me to orders that no longer rule 0.99

00:38:23.680 me i'm remembering now and memory is freedom thank you fuck yes linda 1.00

00:38:32.000 yelling at you thank you thank you so much your poem was so good i'm gonna scream at you 0.99

00:38:45.900 I'm mad at you.

00:38:49.660 I don't know why I'm mad at you.

00:38:52.120 No, it was so good.

00:38:53.620 Thank you so much.

00:38:55.180 And it is somehow Solstice and Yuli, isn't it?

00:38:59.180 I'm going to leave them behind. 0.98

00:39:01.560 If they can't fucking walk with me, I'm going to choose my family. 0.99

00:39:05.960 I'm not going to walk in the cold and the dark with people who don't offer their gifts to me. 0.99

00:39:11.640 And I'm going to remember who I am.

00:39:13.700 it was beautiful Linda you're such a power thank you yeah that poem was straight fire

00:39:20.520 Linda where in the world are you Linda now

00:39:26.620 where am I yeah as my daughter said once when I was when I was taking her home from daycare and we

00:39:36.440 were stopped at a stopped at a stoplight and she said is this Cleveland meaning the street

00:39:41.880 Cleveland Avenue. And I said, yeah, do you know where you are? And she goes, yeah, mommy. And I

00:39:47.660 said, where are you? She goes, I'm right here, mommy. Yeah. So I'm back in Colorado. I've been

00:39:55.360 back since October. Yeah. Dropping fire from Colorado. Yeah. Thank you, Linda. High love for

00:40:04.220 joy hello everyone um what i wanted to share with you all is that even in my life where i've hit

00:40:17.020 these really dark points there's always some kind of message or light that's around if you can pause

00:40:29.860 and settle yourself for just like 30 seconds

00:40:36.240 and look in the periphery of your vision

00:40:39.040 and see what shows up.

00:40:41.680 A lot of visuals come into me that way.

00:40:45.560 So just honoring of our friends and loved ones

00:40:49.340 that have passed on, some becoming our elders,

00:40:52.200 others becoming our kin from beyond.

00:40:54.540 and to know that this coven holds you in your dark times as well so if you reach those stages

00:41:05.800 where it's really dark and scary and you can't see any light know that we're out here holding

00:41:12.160 the light for you and it's it's going to be okay we're all cats and have nine lives and we're 0.98

00:41:19.340 gonna land on our fucking feet because that's just how it's gonna be so blessed fucking be 0.97

00:41:24.780 thank you for letting me share we will survive and we will see the tricky ways that light comes 0.99

00:41:36.080 in through spaces we're witches you know we're gonna notice the tricky ways that light comes

00:41:41.820 in through spaces and it's gonna make us think about all the magic that we're all doing

00:41:46.280 together, separately,

00:41:50.160 descendants,

00:41:51.160 ancestors.

00:41:52.380 Oh!

00:41:54.200 Thank you.

00:41:55.740 Thank you so much.

00:41:57.820 And thank you again for the Freddie Mercury candle.

00:42:01.060 I love him so much.

00:42:02.680 He sits on my shelf, and I look at him

00:42:04.780 often, although I do not

00:42:06.440 like him, except for at our

00:42:08.480 Weaver's meetings. And speaking

00:42:10.520 of Weaver's meetings,

00:42:12.740 we had, um,

00:42:14.800 Risa, can that be your cue?

00:42:16.280 We had invited some very magical people to send us some recordings for our Weaver's full moon.

00:42:28.280 And for those of you who were there, you have heard these before.

00:42:31.680 But for those of you who weren't there, I ask their permission to share them more widely

00:42:38.980 because they resonated with us so much.

00:42:43.960 and so since they were just for the weavers coven meeting on that full moon we thought it

00:42:50.780 would be really special to share them with all of you the missing witches coven at large

00:42:56.900 hello witches and magic makers and continually evolving angels my name is maria menis and i'm

00:43:09.060 author of the anti-racism tarot workbook, Tarot for the Hard Work, and host of the Kinky Tarot

00:43:15.300 podcast. I'm also a ritual facilitator, tarot reader, and sex coach in training. Today I join

00:43:22.900 you in a passionate commitment to healing the world. Part of that work includes our reconnection

00:43:28.040 to the land, the restoration of the land, and the return of land to their native peoples who

00:43:33.980 have been stewards of the land for long before capitalism. There was a time before capitalism

00:43:39.900 and there will be a time after it. I think it, I feel it, I know it. My invitation to you is to do

00:43:47.760 one thing this week that connects you to our beautiful planet. Connection to the land can

00:43:53.100 sound like this distant concept, like it's inaccessibly mystical or something that's solely

00:43:58.620 in the realm of shamans and elder witches who are very deep into their ancestral knowledge.

00:44:04.900 I don't dismiss that kind of connection that's been intentionally cultivated through generations

00:44:10.060 and generations of cultural practices. It's the kind of connection that we can have that links

00:44:17.200 our human consciousness with earth consciousness, however you choose to see or define those terms.

00:44:24.240 Consider how previous generations, even before the written word, had primarily just what was

00:44:30.300 right in front of them as a primary thing to relate to, the topic and concept of place.

00:44:38.900 We can all have this kind of connection if we choose to be aware of it and lean into it.

00:44:43.900 The land lives in our bodies and senses. Unfortunately, we live in a time when so many

00:44:50.600 people find the land to be disposable, a bottomless resource to be exploited and drained.

00:44:56.780 They consider the land to be inferior to humanity, inanimate and unintelligent. But they miss the

00:45:04.060 fact that we wouldn't be here without the land. The land bred and cultivated us as humans. How

00:45:11.260 can we not miss that human rights are infinitely intertwined with the ways of nature? In solidarity,

00:45:19.040 I leave you with that question, as well as this quote from Black Elk.

00:45:25.160 The Holy Land is everywhere.

00:45:34.200 Thank you, Maria Minnis.

00:45:36.340 And then one more from Edgar Fabian Freya.

00:45:42.580 I call the power of mutation into this water.

00:45:49.040 Bringing in the freaks, the weirdos, those that refuse to conform to the rigid, toxic hierarchies of this system.

00:46:02.620 And we invoke your presence here, dear mutant, to help us transform into the sacred, interconnected organism that we are meant to become.

00:46:21.940 We are interdependent. We are interwoven. We are intermediaries. Bless the ancestors, the queer, trans, gender nonconforming, freakish ancestors, those beings that guide us in this moment.

00:46:45.740 We are living ancestors and we are calling upon this power, this magic to support those that come through us. 1.00

00:46:59.780 Those that come after us, asking the waters to use their gifts as a way to permeate everything.

00:47:17.040 Calling in radical hope, change, transformation, healing, invoking, asking for blessings upon our beloved communities.

00:47:40.800 Julie.

00:47:42.720 Julie.

00:47:45.040 Hi, everyone.

00:47:47.040 I don't have something new to share but I thought I would reread the solstice blessing I wrote for

00:47:56.640 the coven two years ago and that I read last year and I think it's still a good blessing

00:48:06.140 for us now in this moment so this is a solstice blessing for our coven

00:48:14.200 may we spend time together in loving ways may we embrace both joy and sadness as we gather

00:48:24.320 throughout the year may we celebrate when we have things to celebrate may we hold each other

00:48:32.540 when we break apart may we encourage each other as we birth new ideas into the world

00:48:40.060 May we learn and grow together

00:48:44.160 May we ask questions and share wisdom

00:48:48.100 May we wonder about the unknown

00:48:51.480 May we sit in the discomfort of being wrong

00:48:56.080 May we tickle each other with glee

00:49:00.600 But only if we first ask for consent

00:49:04.400 May we respect each other's boundaries around tickling

00:49:09.100 and other boundaries.

00:49:13.000 May we acknowledge our privilege

00:49:15.400 in having access to this community

00:49:17.760 and that many cannot access it

00:49:21.240 even though they may be the ones

00:49:23.580 who need it the most.

00:49:26.300 May we do the difficult work

00:49:28.460 of challenging the inaccessibility

00:49:31.000 and ableism that shows up in this space

00:49:33.780 and the white supremacy in this space

00:49:37.100 and the colonialism in this space

00:49:40.820 and all the isms in this space.

00:49:45.340 May we listen to those most impacted by these isms.

00:49:50.620 May we have hard conversations.

00:49:54.240 May we be accountable to each other.

00:49:58.760 May we be activists together

00:50:00.920 as we resist oppression in the world.

00:50:04.080 May we include slowing down in our activism

00:50:07.000 may we soothe and fuel each other so that we are equipped to do social justice work

00:50:14.860 may we offer care to each other in tangible ways may we normalize asking each other what our needs

00:50:24.140 are may we organize to collectively meet our needs may we play together may we cry together

00:50:33.840 may we love each other 0.99

00:50:35.860 blessed fucking be 0.98

00:50:38.040 thank you 0.99

00:50:41.540 and I do remember

00:50:43.100 you reading this before and I hope

00:50:45.860 that you will bring it back every year

00:50:47.860 and read it every year

00:50:49.280 it's such a wonderful piece and I

00:50:51.240 will shout you out personally because

00:50:53.740 you're always the person

00:50:55.980 who listens

00:50:57.400 and listens and listens

00:50:59.600 and then drops

00:51:01.280 the most brilliant

00:51:03.060 like so i just want to like honor and thank you for being that person at so many meetings and i

00:51:12.060 feel like this this blessing this poem is part of that thank you again for your brilliance

00:51:17.860 it gets better every year julia keep bringing it thank you

00:51:24.180 jessica how's it going at the shop it's going great um i've had two customers um okay so um

00:51:32.920 i wanted to share earlier too um so i'm a recovering um catholic school girl and um so i

00:51:40.980 i work with some of the saints and um i found out an interesting fact about saint nicholas today

00:51:47.040 that i don't know if i'm sure somebody hasn't heard this but he is the saint of prostitutes

00:51:53.800 he actually when he was younger or when uh these three little girls their dad was going to sell 0.62

00:52:00.160 them off to be prostitutes and he threw coins in their window at night so he is the patron of

00:52:06.060 prostitutes and human trafficking and i found that out today and i just think that that is

00:52:10.620 very beautiful so i just wanted to share that

00:52:13.140 that's so beautiful that's so beautiful like the most vulnerable people that's who we should

00:52:23.520 be protected, right?

00:52:27.380 The baby who was born in Palestine 0.97

00:52:29.780 in a manger because there was

00:52:31.680 no room at the inn. 1.00

00:52:33.540 Sex workers. 1.00

00:52:34.840 All power to sex workers. 1.00

00:52:37.540 And Palestinian babies. 1.00

00:52:39.500 And Palestinians. 0.89

00:52:41.400 Hi, Itsy.

00:52:45.080 Hi.

00:52:46.660 I refuse to talk

00:52:47.960 until somebody says my name.

00:52:49.980 i've said it okay hi i want to share two things um one of them is a fun fact fun fact is a fact

00:53:01.840 not so fun um but i'm reading this book which you guys have probably heard about and i've also

00:53:08.940 mentioned that before so you've heard me talk about it if you've been if we've been in any

00:53:12.740 meetings this week together um is he's conjured by name um it's called why women have better sex

00:53:22.040 under socialism have you guys heard of it i've just started it but i i'm learning so much they're

00:53:28.360 like i think it's like a collection of essays okay the fun fact i want to i want to share with you

00:53:33.000 guys is so in 19 wait i want to say the year right was it 77 gosh i have it right um whenever sputnik

00:53:43.680 was released um so the u.s was like huh maybe we should start uh letting women 1.00

00:53:53.640 work because the russians did a lot of like things and women were you know were allowed to work you 0.99

00:54:02.280 know it wasn't a problem so after Sputnik they were like huh and they started the international

00:54:08.800 law of education protection I don't know my book is in Spanish so I'm translating from Spanish back

00:54:15.380 to English but some like international law to protect education so it would encourage like

00:54:20.440 women and also like kind of break a little bit of the social stigma that women couldn't enter math

00:54:26.500 and science degrees all because of sputnik which i thought was really cool and then there are other

00:54:32.680 facts that are similar to that one where the u.s was like huh and i thought that was interesting

00:54:38.140 thing to share and the other thing i want to share is i i'm sort of learning to write poetry

00:54:46.320 especially with someone where you don't have any rules free verse so and i shared this poem like

00:54:55.080 in the coven in the missing witches feed but i want to try reading it out loud for you guys now

00:55:02.500 i'm scared i've never done that before i think

00:55:06.560 so i wrote this poem about i think most of you know i'm autistic and this was written thinking

00:55:17.380 about like autistic overwhelm and shutdowns and so here it is oh my gosh i'm nervous okay

00:55:23.820 at times i see it coming clouds fill my body i see it before it shakes every inch of my body 0.84

00:55:32.060 it burns it owns it strikes down the branches that form my synapses it stops not it shows me

00:55:41.820 my body can't contain my bounty it tells me my times they're not coming

00:55:48.180 marry you all um that was that was very easy um hopefully my voice is okay i have covid um

00:56:02.180 so i'm gonna share a short quote masking is mutual aid everybody masking is mutual aid

00:56:10.160 Yes, it's my first time. So I count myself kind of lucky, but

00:56:18.420 I read, I try to set a goal for reading every year. And when the first books of the year I read

00:56:29.640 made me just want to sit with this book for a long time. So it made it hard to get to the next

00:56:35.760 ones. But it's The 10,000 Doors of January by Alex E. Harlow. And I want it, it's about a young

00:56:46.200 woman who discovers magical doors that lead to other worlds. And I wanted to share one quote from

00:56:54.260 that. Because I hope you will find the cracks in the world and wedge them wider. So the light of

00:57:03.120 other suns shine through i hope you will keep the world unruly messy full of strange magics

00:57:10.700 i hope you will run through every open door and tell stories when you return

00:57:16.080 so i i love that quote and it just um makes me feel of this time of year and searching for the sun

00:57:27.120 i will return to it again and again what a beautiful quote can you say the name of the

00:57:35.060 book again it's the 10 000 doors of january by alice b harlow if anybody's looking for a band

00:57:43.960 name 10 000 doors of january i won't forget that thank you so much i'm so glad that we have this

00:57:54.240 place that is accessible for someone who's feeling poorly and still wants to hang out with and be

00:58:01.960 among friends and be together you know many of us have joined from bed before because we just

00:58:09.800 want to be together Reese's putting her hand up oh that's me that's me Amy's talking right on the

00:58:16.200 Oh, I did that for a year.

00:58:21.280 So, again, I'm sorry that you're not feeling well.

00:58:24.740 I'm glad you're resting.

00:58:25.780 And I'm so happy that we can be in this space together.

00:58:28.980 May we run through every open door together, even if they're virtual.

00:58:35.500 All the magical doors opening for you all.

00:58:38.960 All the magical doors.

00:58:40.440 This is Winter Poem by Nikki Giovanni.

00:58:46.200 once a snowflake fell on my brow and i loved it so much and i kissed it and it was happy

00:58:59.700 and called its cousins and brothers and a web of snow engulfed me and i reached

00:59:09.040 to love them all

00:59:11.420 and I squeezed

00:59:13.480 them

00:59:14.040 and they became

00:59:16.620 a spring

00:59:19.300 rain

00:59:20.180 and I stood

00:59:23.100 perfectly still

00:59:24.400 and was a flower

00:59:27.540 R.I.P.

00:59:31.900 Nikki Giovanni

00:59:32.820 it's not been too terribly long

00:59:35.500 since we lost her

00:59:36.740 might have even been the beginning of this year so that was a winter poem for you and by you

00:59:44.380 nikki giovanni ash tell us a story story i have for you um is called amaterasu in the cave

00:59:53.120 it's a retelling of an old myth as the goddess of the sun amaterasu looked over the prosperity

01:00:00.560 of the world. All things bright and good came from her, but the great goddess had long been

01:00:06.580 in conflict with her younger brother Susanna O, the god of storms. He was tumultuous and selfish,

01:00:13.140 caring little for any destruction or chaos left in his wake, and so they fought often.

01:00:18.440 Their conflict escalated when Susanna O destroyed Amaterasu's rice fields, fields she had personally 1.00

01:00:24.520 sown and tended, fields she had intended to feed the humans she cared for as well as the gods. 0.66

01:00:30.560 all decimated in a hail of rain and mud then amaterasu's brother through malice or carelessness

01:00:37.260 killed a sacred beast filled with a rage and grief so large she didn't know how to express it

01:00:44.000 she fled to a cave called ama no iwato forsaking all life and community and that's the thing isn't

01:00:51.780 it some grief is so large it takes the whole of us some rage is bigger than a storm bigger than we

01:00:58.800 can express in polite society so we leave we withdraw and tend to our wounds as best we can

01:01:06.100 we say you do not deserve my light amaterasu left for it was all too much and the world was without

01:01:13.340 sunlight some tellings of this story paint amaterasu as weak or selfish denying the cosmos

01:01:19.740 her light and hiding away on her own but i see her retreat as courageous honoring her pain and

01:01:25.880 her experiences. It is her hermit moment, when she retreats from a too much world to process

01:01:31.860 and gain wisdom from difficulty. Retreats and stops giving, regardless of the consequences.

01:01:38.540 But the world spun on without her, and it did suffer for the lack of her light.

01:01:42.820 That's not her fault, more the fault of the circumstances that drove her to flee in the

01:01:47.120 first place. For being the sun is both a gift and a role, a responsibility the great goddess could,

01:01:52.840 at that moment. Not there. The world missed her. No one knows whose idea it was to gather outside

01:02:00.460 of Amaterasu's cave, but the gathering soon grew into an impromptu festival with food and games

01:02:07.140 and music. Oh, the music. It was raucous and loud, joyous and free. People spun in and out of a dance

01:02:14.840 that had no steps but a thousand different forms. Until the moment one particular dancer stepped

01:02:20.140 into the center of the crowd, bells jingling on her ankle. Ame no Uzume, the goddess of dance and

01:02:26.180 mischief, strode into the clearing the people made for her and began to dance. There were bells on a

01:02:31.820 fan she passed from hand to hand, creating shapes with her body as the music swelled.

01:02:36.640 It was beautiful and sublime, and for a moment the crowd was breathless, but Amaterasu did not emerge.

01:02:43.480 I don't know if Ame no Uzume was disappointed that her gorgeous dance did not summon the great

01:02:47.940 goddess, but I do know what she did next. She stomped into a sumo wrestler's squat, her face 1.00

01:02:53.140 in a contorted mask. A drunken man caught her eye and began to laugh. She continued to whirl and

01:02:58.780 stomp, whooping wildly and tossing her skirts. Her dance became a comedy, poking fun at the very 0.99

01:03:04.060 form she had so perfectly executed. She flirted with the crowd, who cheered. They egged each

01:03:09.520 other on, the goddess spinning and people laughing. At the height of her dance, she lifted her skirts 0.87

01:03:14.560 and exposed herself to the crowd who were falling down with hilarity.

01:03:19.100 Amaterasu could hear the merrymaking from deep within her cave.

01:03:23.220 And with the laughter outside reaching its apex,

01:03:25.820 she could no longer resist her curiosity.

01:03:28.480 She quietly made her way to the mouth of the cave to see what the fuss was about,

01:03:32.440 but she didn't immediately see the festival gathering. 0.98

01:03:35.560 No, some clever kami had hung a large mirror,

01:03:38.080 a sacred one called Yata no Kagami,

01:03:40.700 at the front of the cave so Amaterasu came face to face with herself.

01:03:45.280 Startled by a reflection she had not seen in many months, Amaterasu looked and then stared at her

01:03:50.460 own reflection. She searched the hollows of her face, trying to chart the ways she had changed

01:03:55.560 since coming out to this cave. She had gotten bigger somehow, making room for the rage and

01:04:01.160 grief that had felt so immense they had driven her to solitude. This is where the story diverges,

01:04:06.820 for you see, in the usual telling of it, the gods snatch the time Amaterasu was entranced by her

01:04:12.260 reflection and seal the cave behind her so she has to come back, but I choose to see the story

01:04:17.700 differently. A goddess who fled from the world and herself from a man who would not make amends with

01:04:23.020 her was indeed drawn back outside by the body, laughter, and dancing of another goddess who

01:04:27.800 reminds us that life doesn't always need to be so serious. But once Amaterasu caught sight of

01:04:32.760 herself and took stock of how she had changed, I believe she felt ready to face the world again,

01:04:38.440 bolstered by the laughter outside that reminded her the world could be good.

01:04:42.260 So retreat as you need to.

01:04:44.520 Take the time to hone your rage and feel your grief.

01:04:47.560 But also laugh hard when you can, and don't forget,

01:04:50.660 the world always has room for you.

01:04:55.560 And oh, the music.

01:04:58.800 Oh, the music.

01:05:02.520 Reed, do you remember the music at that party?

01:05:08.360 I do remember the music at that party.

01:05:12.260 Thank you so much, Ash.

01:05:15.860 Do you remember when the light returned because we all danced outside the cave and called it home?

01:05:22.120 With bells on our ankles.

01:05:24.240 With bells on our ankles.

01:05:28.320 Lifting our skirts.

01:05:30.100 Lifting our skirts.

01:05:31.380 I have a last piece

01:05:39.560 which I will offer to you

01:05:42.480 I wrote it as a path working

01:05:45.640 so I invite you

01:05:50.020 to turn it off your camera if you want

01:05:53.560 or just close your eyes or cover your face

01:05:57.380 and this is

01:06:03.920 this is my offering

01:06:06.740 to you all

01:06:07.760 start by noticing the cold

01:06:20.500 out there in the dark

01:06:23.560 whispering under the door

01:06:26.060 the way we draw together, the way we need each other in this season, so much so we ritualize

01:06:35.200 our gifts. In Leanne Betasamosake Simpson's A Theory of Water, she begins with the way snowflakes

01:06:45.220 make snow landscapes. She holds the word centering up to the light. Whisper it into the snowy

01:06:53.500 landscape in your mind, sintering. The process by which individual snow crystals each formed

01:07:01.780 around a single molecule of water fall and slowly bind together. Under pressure, without

01:07:09.800 fully melting, they hold their shape and become snowpack, snowbank, a shared body. In physics

01:07:19.860 and geology, centering describes particles fusing without losing structure. In winter ecologies,

01:07:27.580 it's how many remain distinct while becoming one. Feel the water moving in you. Open your hands.

01:07:37.060 Notice the heat there. Feel it in all of us, all of us listening in the dark between our ears,

01:07:44.340 sintering.

01:07:49.700 Nikola Tesla wrote,

01:07:51.880 Though we may never be able to comprehend human life,

01:07:55.020 we know certainly that it is a movement of whatever nature it be.

01:07:59.420 The existence of movement unavoidably implies a body which is being moved

01:08:03.860 and a force which is moving it.

01:08:06.740 Wherever there is life, there is a mass moved by a force.

01:08:10.460 All mass possesses inertia.

01:08:12.500 All force tends to persist.

01:08:14.340 owing to this universal property and condition a body be it at rest or in motion tends to remain

01:08:20.720 in the same state and a force manifesting itself anywhere and through whatever cause

01:08:26.220 produces an equivalent opposing force and as an absolute necessity of this it follows

01:08:32.200 that every movement in nature must be rhythmical it is born out in everything we perceive

01:08:39.500 in the movement of a planet in the surging and ebbing of the tide in the reverberations of the

01:08:45.980 air the swinging of a pendulum the oscillations of an electric current and in the infinitely

01:08:51.820 varied phenomena of organic life does not the whole of human life attest to it birth growth

01:09:00.980 old age and death of an individual family race or nation what is it all but a rhythm

01:09:07.820 all life manifestation then even in its most intricate form however involved and inscrutable

01:09:15.760 is only a movement to which the same general laws of movement which govern throughout the

01:09:21.580 physical universe must be applicable can anyone doubt today that all the millions of individuals

01:09:28.600 and all the innumerable types and characters constitute an entity a unit though free to think

01:09:35.620 and act we are held together like the stars in the firmament with ties inseparable these ties

01:09:42.380 cannot be seen but we can feel them i cut myself in the finger and it pains me this finger is part

01:09:48.920 of me i see a friend hurt and it hurts me too my friend and i are one and now i see stricken down

01:09:56.120 an enemy a lump of matter which of all the lumps of matter in the universe i care least for and it

01:10:02.300 still grieves me does this not prove that each of us is only part of a whole for ages this idea

01:10:10.080 has been proclaimed and the consummately wise teachings of religion probably not alone as a

01:10:16.140 means of ensuring peace and harmony but as a deeply founded truth the buddhist expresses it

01:10:22.420 in one way the christian in another but both say the same we are all one end quote

01:10:31.600 Tesla's meticulous, obsessive, neurodivergent brilliance made it possible to transmit not just electricity, but also power, over long distances, to warm and light the darkest nights.

01:10:46.340 His experiments shaped radio transmission, remote control, hydroelectrics.

01:10:51.880 He saw the waves moving through air, water, and electromagnetic fields.

01:10:57.060 at the height of his fame tesla imagined a world system that would bind the planet into one resonant

01:11:05.380 whole allowing energy and information to be received anywhere while others assumed wireless

01:11:13.200 signals traveled through the air tesla believed the earth itself was the medium a resonant body

01:11:19.560 that could carry standing waves if struck the right frequency like guitar strings but he couldn't

01:11:26.620 get it to work. Tesla's plans for limitless energy ran out of financial backers as JPMorgan

01:11:33.060 Chase cut funding and science developed in other directions. Later in life, Tesla lived alone in

01:11:39.760 hotel rooms. He wrote about a white pigeon whom he loved. This isn't a metaphor. Before radio,

01:11:49.740 messages moved through living networks. Homing pigeons crossed hundreds of miles, carrying

01:11:55.380 thousands of words on their bodies. When wireless transmission replaced them, fueled by Tesla's

01:12:02.240 innovations, the abandoned birds flocked in city squares. Tesla wrote, sometimes I feel that by not

01:12:11.920 marrying, I made too great a sacrifice to my work. So I have decided to lavish all the affection of

01:12:19.180 a man no longer young, on the feathery tribe. One white pigeon in particular mattered. If she

01:12:29.040 needed me, he wrote, nothing else mattered. As long as I had her, there was purpose in my life.

01:12:36.160 One night when she came to him, he said he understood she was dying, and quote, there came

01:12:42.080 light from her eyes. Powerful beams of light, more intense than I had ever produced by the most

01:12:49.480 powerful lamps in my laboratory. When she died, he said, something went out of my life. I knew my

01:12:57.380 life's work was finished. End quote. Picture the little birds imported by the thousands to make

01:13:05.620 our relays and then abandoned in favor of radio waves hear the feathers in the gentle snow

01:13:13.940 see the light in their eyes all the winged ones hover around the edges of our circles now

01:13:22.000 their history in our webs and inter nests

01:13:26.420 donna harroway writes why tell stories like pigeon tales when there are only more and more

01:13:34.540 openings and no bottom lines, because there are quite definite response abilities that are

01:13:40.920 strengthened in such stories. The details matter. The details link actual beings to actual response

01:13:48.820 abilities. As spies, racers, messengers, urban neighbors, native species, pets, and more around

01:13:56.100 the earth, pigeons and their partners of many kinds, including people, make history. Each time

01:14:03.180 a story helps me remember what I thought I knew or introduces me to new knowledge, a muscle critical

01:14:09.820 for caring about flourishing, gets some aerobic exercise. Such exercise enhances collective

01:14:17.840 thinking and movement and complexity. Each time I trace a tangle and add a few threads that at

01:14:26.000 first seemed whimsical, but turned out to be essential to the fabric. I get a bit straighter

01:14:33.660 that saying, staying with the trouble of complex worlding is the name of the game for living and

01:14:40.120 dying well together on Terra in Terrapolis. We are all responsible to and for shaping conditions

01:14:50.380 for multi-species flourishing end quote we are all responsible to and for tara

01:14:59.800 we hold the story edges we join harroway in making the relay enhancing collective thinking

01:15:09.920 and movement we build the rhythms of life tending to exist tending to each other we fly with the

01:15:18.920 feathery tribe on the crystalline icy wind at solstice edges meeting difference held

01:15:28.320 sintering leanne betta samosaki simpson asks is there a lesson here for our activism

01:15:38.040 is there a lesson here for our magic at solstice the earth reaches the far point of its tilt

01:15:47.780 then begins to return. The planet spins at about 1,670 kilometers per hour at the equator.

01:15:56.300 Its tilt shapes the seasons. The moon and sun pull the oceans into tides that move miles of

01:16:02.480 water at a time. These aren't symbols. They're forces acting on us now. Feel the spin that is

01:16:11.120 a spiral as we whirl through our galaxy's rotation while tipsy on our own axis. Feel the wild

01:16:19.200 precision of it. Imagine how it feels in feathers, in hollow bones. Take a small amount of water into

01:16:28.880 your mouth. Hold it. See its molecules spinning, gathering, swirling through earth time. Think to

01:16:40.000 the water let me remember remember me let me remember remember me our coven mate amy miranda

01:16:50.420 taught me to whisper remember me in the bath to the water running through my fingers

01:16:56.120 in her book what we've forgotten she writes your work your work your practice is having an impact

01:17:05.120 not just in your life but in the web itself we are the seeds we're the new growth we're the

01:17:14.180 miraculous architects of a new age we are the children of the light with the power of nature

01:17:19.380 coursing through our veins we can no longer mistreat ourselves our cohabitants or our planet

01:17:26.580 we've got to stop punching ourselves in the face just because we can't see anything with our

01:17:32.740 physical eyes beyond the dark matter in the night sky doesn't mean that nothing's there.

01:17:38.820 Maybe we humans are actually contained in some kind of focus group. There's enough snacks for it.

01:17:44.800 Maybe we can't see through dark matter because other intelligent life hasn't decided to turn

01:17:49.500 on the light yet to reveal the two-way window. Life in the universe doesn't need to physically

01:17:55.960 enter our reality in order to deliver messages. Why would it need to when we are surrounded with

01:18:02.480 it it is the all it is everything and it is for us to remember we are the ones who slam the door

01:18:11.880 when we open it we are able to make our amends reuniting not just with a force like no other

01:18:18.840 but with each other we are the ones who can make the reparations not just in spirit but in this

01:18:26.460 world. We have a lot of work to do so it's good that there's so many of us and that we have such

01:18:33.740 growing numbers. Some of our work will be done with energy and some of it must be done with

01:18:40.480 physical labor, emotional labor, our bodies, our money, our time. We are the change and we correct

01:18:48.540 the imbalances. We bring the reharmonization. We own the horrors of what has happened on this

01:18:56.400 planet. We must make reparations with wisdom keepers, indigenous people all over the planet,

01:19:02.960 are owed, not just for the violence, but for the injustice of what the uninvited have stolen

01:19:09.120 and to the ideologies that could have saved the world 20 times over by now.

01:19:15.620 We must recognize that the ancient knowledge provided has always been the way forward.

01:19:20.600 we can and will again live in harmony and in communion with the land

01:19:26.360 and the beings who serve it this is remembering end quote

01:19:32.360 hear the drums bring attention to your heart hear its rhythm feel the warmth in your hands

01:19:45.940 feel the space just above your skin

01:19:51.080 notice the field around you

01:19:54.980 movement more than light

01:19:56.920 potential more than flame

01:19:59.960 put it on like a cloak of fire and feathers

01:20:05.360 feel the rhythm of us all

01:20:09.240 breathe with the beat

01:20:12.160 yours

01:20:15.020 hours

01:20:16.660 covens move like

01:20:19.260 centering 0.95

01:20:19.940 we meet

01:20:23.320 in the rhythm of our breath

01:20:25.820 the heartbeat

01:20:27.480 between our ears

01:20:28.680 we dance in dream state

01:20:30.660 we work under notice

01:20:33.020 along hedge lines

01:20:34.560 outside the main road

01:20:36.500 put a hand on your screen

01:20:39.600 on a cable

01:20:41.120 or on something that reaches

01:20:44.980 down to the ground. Energy moves through grids. We still don't know exactly how pigeons find their

01:20:54.360 way, what energies they trace across the face of Terra. Dark matter doesn't shine. Still, it makes

01:21:04.060 up most of the mass of the universe. Without it, galaxies wouldn't hold. Care works the same way.

01:21:12.060 we are a wave of care

01:21:15.020 we are the gentle dark

01:21:18.200 and the light returning

01:21:19.480 we move in spiral

01:21:22.480 let it pass through the coven

01:21:25.480 let it move into the grid

01:21:28.160 let it bind without erasing

01:21:31.220 let us hear the wild chorus

01:21:34.560 let us sing together

01:21:36.680 sound waves centering

01:21:38.760 we call in the great wave of care

01:21:42.040 We're already here

01:21:44.560 Bright solstice

01:21:47.020 And happy new year

01:21:48.860 I love all of you

01:21:51.960 Plan out the year ahead

01:21:56.520 Using how I feel

01:21:57.920 We are wild seeds

01:22:00.900 In the longest night

01:22:02.280 Witch-wise and green

01:22:04.700 Our eyes simply adjust to the darkness

01:22:08.960 While there are teeth in my head

01:22:11.280 I will eat, I will eat, because laughter says I am worthy of joy.

01:22:19.160 This laughter is a spell.

01:22:22.500 I wore my starry dress, fierce, fierce protectors of women, children, and the in-between. 1.00

01:22:33.960 We keep our cold Eastern European guts about us. 0.99

01:22:41.280 The darkness mothers me. 1.00

01:22:44.900 I am at home among the shadows.

01:22:49.100 Ten of pentacles.

01:22:51.020 What card could be more beautiful?

01:22:54.460 She rage shook.

01:22:58.500 Rage shook the silence.

01:23:03.240 I swear to survive as long as I can.

01:23:07.120 To set boundaries as acts of care

01:23:11.540 Find holy joy and collective rage

01:23:16.640 To be the witch I meet in the world

01:23:21.480 Bells, bells, bells

01:23:25.300 Because we are all cosmic

01:23:37.120 We're going to survive.

01:23:40.100 Memory's daughter. 0.50

01:23:43.100 What have I forgotten now?

01:23:47.160 I am the intersection.

01:23:50.020 Everyone's path crosses mine.

01:23:54.900 I remember now, and memory is freedom.

01:24:01.200 Dripping fire from Colorado.

01:24:03.940 I ain't worried about a bucket list no more. 1.00

01:24:06.720 I burned that bitch. 1.00

01:24:11.540 Continually evolving angels. 1.00

01:24:15.380 There was a time before capitalism and there will be a time after.

01:24:23.080 The land lives in our bodies.

01:24:26.560 And the holy land is everywhere. 0.65

01:24:28.320 bring in the freaks 0.58

01:24:35.000 and the weirdos 0.98

01:24:36.300 bless the ancestors 0.98

01:24:40.580 the freakish ancestors 0.77

01:24:42.300 calling in hope, change

01:24:46.900 transformation, healing

01:24:49.200 may we hold each other

01:24:51.580 when we break apart

01:24:53.700 learn, grow

01:24:58.300 ask questions, wonder, tickle, ask consent, acknowledge our privilege in having access

01:25:09.800 to this community, challenge ableism, white supremacy, colonialism, all the isms in this 0.99

01:25:17.900 space as we are accountable to one another care organize play cry love blessed fucking be 1.00

01:25:34.380 all power to sex workers and palestinian babies 1.00

01:25:39.840 why women have better sex 1.00

01:25:44.260 under socialism 0.82

01:25:45.320 1977

01:25:47.780 back to the social

01:25:51.860 norms all because of Sputnik

01:25:54.300 masking is mutual aid 0.90

01:26:00.220 indeed

01:26:01.140 a web of snow engulfed me

01:26:07.600 some rage is bigger than a storm 0.94

01:26:12.060 and the world missed her

01:26:16.080 her dance became a comedy 0.91

01:26:20.540 she flirted with the crowd 0.99

01:26:22.680 she raised her skirts

01:26:24.520 she came face to face with herself

01:26:27.700 making room for the rage and grief

01:26:31.140 I choose to see the story differently

01:26:36.520 centering movement force rhythmical firmament part of a whole neurodivergent brilliance

01:26:51.800 one resonant whole one resonant body feathery tribe hear the feathers see the light in their

01:27:01.020 eyes, definite, definite responsibilities, the details matter, staying with the trouble

01:27:11.520 on Tara, hair away, tending, centering, feel the spin, remember me and the web itself,

01:27:25.860 surrounded it is the all so many of us we correct the imbalances centering centering

01:27:39.580 we meet in the rhythm of our breath we are a wave of care we move in a spiral 0.99

01:27:48.440 blessed fucking be 0.99

01:27:50.500 blessed fucking be 1.00

01:27:52.880 happy duel 1.00

01:27:54.440 happy duel

01:27:56.500 shine bright witches

01:27:58.820 we will survive

01:28:01.080 we will absolutely survive

01:28:03.860 and we love you 1.00

01:28:04.740 I'm gonna get Gloria Gaynor the fuck out of this 1.00

01:28:07.420 I don't need a fucking bugger 1.00

01:28:11.960 O beautiful time, O solstice, O longest night of the year 0.99

01:28:23.800 We gather together to share our hope and our fear

01:28:33.020 Cause we are riches in the night

01:28:41.700 We are wishes we bring our own light to the solstice at Yuletide on the longest night of the year.

01:28:58.720 Please bring us together to share our warmth and our cheer

01:29:07.920 Because we are witches of the night

01:29:16.640 We are witches, we make our own light

01:29:24.960 On the solstice at Yuletide, on the longest side of the year.

01:29:33.600 Please bring us together to share our warmth and our cheer.

01:29:43.400 Because we are witches of the night.

01:29:51.440 We are witches

01:29:55.960 We make our life

01:29:59.960 Peace on earth. Happy solstice.

01:30:01.980 In the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice marks the date at which the sunlit hours are shortest

01:30:07.660 and the darkened hours are longest.

01:30:10.380 This, due to the tilt of the earth's axis, is an astronomical fact.

01:30:16.640 Happy solstice.

01:30:17.740 We are witches

01:30:22.180 We are witches

01:30:26.360 Science is magic

01:30:30.820 Mary Yule

01:30:32.280 That's it, we love you

01:30:33.320 We love you

01:30:34.100 I love you guys

01:30:36.240 Sources and yules

01:30:39.280 I come along this night of the year

01:30:43.460 Make things bring us together to share our warmth and our cheer.

01:30:52.700 Because we are witches of the night.

01:31:02.060 We are witches, we bring our own light.

01:31:13.460 we dance in the darkest dark of the night and we return we call the return of the light 0.99

01:31:22.080 blessed fucking be 0.99

Missing Witches - December 21, 2025

It's The Missing Witches Yuletide Special 2025!!!

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Transcript