Missing Witches - MISSING WITCHES YULETIDE SPECIAL 2018!!!

00:00:00.000 you aren't being a proper woman therefore you must be a witch 1.00

00:00:07.580 you must be a witch 1.00

00:00:12.500 it's the missing witches yuletide special

00:00:18.000 merry yule hi witches welcome to our yuletide special that's amy and i'm risa

00:00:27.780 um we're super excited the emails we've gotten from you guys are the sweetest and um yeah we're

00:00:36.380 we thank you for nominating us whoever did that all right who was that let us know are you

00:00:41.040 that was unexpected we also didn't expect anyone who really listens so welcome thank you

00:00:47.860 new best friends we love you we definitely couldn't let the holidays pass without

00:00:54.240 talking to you guys one more time before the end of the year we wish we could have done a winter

00:00:59.040 season to the people who are writing us that we abandoned them in the winter we feel you we are

00:01:04.620 also lying in the dark listening to podcasts taking our vitamin d when we can maybe next year

00:01:10.940 we'll do a winter one but we did want to give you guys um a little hello and some love now and then 0.94

00:01:16.060 we're working on one that we're so excited about for in bulk we met some fucking crazy badass which

00:01:21.100 so you're gonna love yeah so you don't have to wait too terribly long for that and bulk is the

00:01:25.840 beginning of February so yeah and then we've been mapping um a second season for for weeks and weeks

00:01:32.260 so we are we are officially doing a second season if we didn't tell you that we are yeah and that's

00:01:37.900 all about that yeah so um one of the things that I really wanted to talk about during this special

00:01:44.320 before we get to all the fun stuff and the history stuff and the astrology stuff um is how is

00:01:50.520 stressful this time of year can be and the kind of unnecessary shame i mean i'll get into it

00:01:57.040 but i really wanted to ask you guys how you're combating these like consumerist capitalist

00:02:04.300 messages that the media pumps and pumps and pumps at us this time of year so um risa do you want to

00:02:11.240 like choose one of your favorite responses and maybe shout it out um sure i i mean i let people

00:02:18.660 are knitting gifts with stash yarn or baking cookies for everyone on their list i also just

00:02:23.540 loves it some people were like i just don't do it yes deal with it i'm not playing that 0.92

00:02:28.980 fucking game anymore um i'm not sure if i'm pronouncing this right but booty jedi 0.97

00:02:33.640 b-u-t-i underscore jedi she was straight up like my family doesn't have a choice in the matter 0.98

00:02:40.380 because some of us are like how could you be so bold you know like the idea of disappointing

00:02:44.820 someone it's like it'll drive us batty like it put us into debt like make us stress when we

00:02:53.000 should be just like holding each other that's it so thank you all like we got a lot of responses

00:03:00.380 that were like um making things buying things from artisans obviously these are all great ideas but

00:03:07.020 the birch trail in particular said that she makes it more about um the the traditions about spending

00:03:14.100 time with each other and acknowledging what's happening in nature so here's here's something

00:03:19.000 that i wrote um about all of that it's the holiday season and i don't want to bum you out so i won't

00:03:28.280 get into the terrifying debt and suicide statistics or the heartbreaking stories of

00:03:33.320 grannies being caught shoplifting toys for their families or the pleas of un or underemployed 0.97

00:03:38.680 parents struggling to feed their children asking how they can afford the gifts the media has trained

00:03:44.000 their kids to want. The pressure that we put on ourselves and each other breaks us, both emotionally

00:03:50.400 and financially. It is toxic. And this toxic pressure starts to boil up long before the

00:03:56.800 partridge lands in the pear tree. I mean, if you think about it, even if you strip away the

00:04:01.800 underlying narrative of horrific colonial violence, Thanksgiving was the one holiday that

00:04:07.440 was strictly about eating food with your chosen family. And it's almost as if the heads of

00:04:12.180 capitalist culture, whoever and wherever they may be, had a meeting one day and said, this cannot

00:04:18.020 stand. And so they came up with Black Friday, took the one holiday that wasn't about buying

00:04:23.960 things to show your love and turned it into a Caligulan orgy of like aggressive, even violent 0.97

00:04:30.160 consumerism. Deep breath, Amy. But again, my children, it's the holiday season and I want to 0.98

00:04:41.300 make you feel better, not worse. So let's talk about how we can resist the commodification of

00:04:47.540 our time and ourselves and of our love for each other. This Yuletide season, please know that the

00:04:55.760 people who love you don't want things. They want to know that you care, that you're thinking of

00:05:01.480 them. They want your time. An ideal gift for a friend might be to buy him a coffee and just let

00:05:08.140 him talk about himself for an hour, or help writing an email she's been putting off, or that mountain

00:05:13.620 of laundry they can't seem to conquer. You see these things when you interact on the daily with

00:05:18.780 your loved ones. You see the gaps. Notice them. Most people need help more than they need things.

00:05:26.360 I've bought, literally, into the hype in the past. There is a thrill that comes from the aesthetic of

00:05:32.400 a big pile of brightly colored boxes and ribbons spilling out from under a glowing tree.

00:05:38.620 It's hard to resist wanting to make everything perfect for your family or your chosen family.

00:05:43.800 But let me tell you, I have only one early childhood Christmas memory that's as clear in my head as it was when I was six.

00:05:50.420 We couldn't get the tree to stand up and it kept falling over until finally we resorted to hammering a nail into the wall and lassoing the tree in place with binder twine.

00:05:59.580 It was pure slapstick comedy and we all belly laugh about it to this day.

00:06:05.700 So witches, listen, you don't have to be perfect. 0.86

00:06:09.740 You don't even have to try to be perfect.

00:06:12.460 The memories will mostly come from the things that went wrong anyway.

00:06:16.560 I mean, don't get me wrong.

00:06:18.040 I still love giving presents and getting them isn't bad either.

00:06:23.060 But the most successful gifts I've given and received have never been the ones I spent the most money on.

00:06:28.200 They've been gifts triggered by off-handed comments of needs or wants that have been stored away in the memory until the time was right.

00:06:36.600 For my mother, for example, it was a few thrift store photo albums for the box of old pictures she'd been meaning to organize.

00:06:42.960 And we spent Christmas Day putting photos into albums and telling stories and reminiscing.

00:06:49.000 We treasure that memory.

00:06:51.000 It cost me five bucks.

00:06:52.180 Those times when I did go off, maniacally stacking and re-stacking an ever-expanding monolith of presents, I found myself, later, standing in a heap of crumpled paper, wondering why I bothered

00:07:06.060 If you can't think of something your friend needs, start by thinking about what you already have to offer

00:07:12.240 A card with a voucher for an hour of help, valid for any task

00:07:15.620 If you have a car, one free, no-questions-asked ride

00:07:18.940 If you're strong, yard work

00:07:21.040 Are you a neat freak? Organize a closet. Scrub their floor. That little leg up you give someone

00:07:28.440 will never end up in a landfill. And honestly, a lot of people are just waiting for a safe space

00:07:35.260 to be vulnerable and to be asked, how can I help? Let me help you. Like Phoenix said in one of our

00:07:42.580 Witches Found episodes, we need to think more about what we can give and less about what we

00:07:49.460 can take. For sure, the goddess would rather you stare up at the moon and whisper thank you and 0.95

00:07:55.100 mean it than spend money on a triple moon pendant. And I'd be willing to bet that most of your loved

00:08:01.120 ones would prefer a genuine, well-thought-out thank you to most things that come from a store.

00:08:06.860 Offerings are symbols of love, but they are not love itself. Let me say that one more time.

00:08:12.600 offerings are symbols of love but they are not love itself but a lot of us are contending with

00:08:21.780 heavy expectations from others that make it just seem easier to bend than to try to break the

00:08:27.120 habit or tradition we feel that too and if you follow us on facebook you know our motto is if

00:08:33.280 you must shop try to shop with a conscience try to purchase gifts from ethical sources and ethical

00:08:39.260 artisans. If you can't afford that, and let's face it, artisanal and inexpensive don't often

00:08:45.320 come in one place, then just do what you can. It's swell for me to sit here and tell you how

00:08:49.700 to spend your money, but what if you don't have any money? There is a profound and trust profoundly

00:08:56.460 unnecessary shame that can come from not being able to buy things. A secret shame. A shame you

00:09:04.140 don't want to admit. A shame that a mother feels when she tells her kid that maybe Santa isn't

00:09:11.340 coming this year. The shame that same kid feels when he wonders if it's because he wasn't good

00:09:17.100 or good enough. A shame that will turn your cheeks red when you hand someone that homemade

00:09:23.400 voucher. You'll say, sorry, it's not much, and smile weakly. Listen, I feel you. I got you.

00:09:34.140 Missing witches have your back. Just tell everyone you're doing this for environmental

00:09:38.860 or philosophical reasons. Say missing witches told you to. Blame us. We can take the heat.

00:09:45.280 And if that is all still too heavy of a burden, just think of one small shift you can make.

00:09:52.340 One new tradition that doesn't cost any money or wreck any land. Baby steps. Draw holly on

00:09:58.560 newspaper instead of buying wrapping paper. Find a baby step you can take and take it.

00:10:04.140 I like celebrating solstice because it is 100% non-denominational. 0.98

00:10:09.020 Whether you are pagan or Christian or Jewish or Muslim or atheist or Hindu or Buddhist or satanic 0.71

00:10:14.960 or you make up your own belief system as you go along,

00:10:17.460 if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, this will be the longest night of your year.

00:10:22.840 We are truly all in this together.

00:10:27.520 And we gather at this darkest time of the year because we need each other.

00:10:31.000 Maybe no longer for daily survival, but to be reminded on that longest night that we are connected, that we are one, that we are safe, that we have each other's backs, providing warmth, physically, emotionally, spiritually.

00:10:49.640 And this cannot be bought.

00:10:52.180 If you are alone, we are with you.

00:10:55.340 All this talk about gift-giving doesn't mean that much to you, and maybe you're a solitary witch who normally likes the hermit life, but this time of year it kind of gets to you.

00:11:04.360 Maybe you are lonely.

00:11:06.180 If this is the case, please consider finding a place to be of service.

00:11:09.680 A soup kitchen will cure your loneliness, and you can be guaranteed that your efforts will be appreciated.

00:11:15.020 Not always the case with friends and family, right?

00:11:17.920 But listen, if you can't conjure the energy for that, but you can hear my voice now, listen closely.

00:11:25.340 You are loved and worthy and worthy of love.

00:11:31.760 If you don't believe me, email me at missingwitches at gmail.com

00:11:35.720 or DM me on Instagram, and I will be happy to remind you that it's true.

00:11:40.140 You are part of this great universe for a reason, and we need you.

00:11:46.040 Just existing is all the resistance work you need to do.

00:11:51.500 So in the spirit of Christmas, Yuletide, Eid, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice, or just another long dark night of the soul, think first of what you can share, then of what you can give.

00:12:03.860 And think very, very, very last of what you can take. Not just off of store shelves, but from other cultures, other people, energy, the community, this earth.

00:12:16.980 Demonstrate your holiday spirit and loving devotion with your actions and your words,

00:12:21.600 not your credit card.

00:12:23.500 Be free in every sense of the word.

00:12:27.080 Be free.

00:12:29.640 I've thought of myself as a witch for my whole life,

00:12:32.440 and that witchiness has manifested itself in more ways than I could have imagined.

00:12:36.520 And now with Missing Witches, I get to see the countless other ways that you all are making your magic.

00:12:41.320 It is your Yuletide and year-round gift to me.

00:12:45.780 may you all unleash your magic whatever kind at full volume on the earth in this coming year

00:12:52.260 goddess rest you merry witches let nothing you dismay blessed be

00:12:57.820 at its root um yuletide is solstice based which makes it a celestial event

00:13:06.320 um risa and i of course have never claimed to be extrovert astrologers or astronomers

00:13:12.700 I don't think we really claim to be anything.

00:13:14.200 We don't claim to be anything.

00:13:15.460 I just don't know anything.

00:13:17.800 We claim to be students, and that's the only line that will...

00:13:22.240 Tired.

00:13:22.600 I claim to be tired.

00:13:23.840 Tired.

00:13:24.420 Tired.

00:13:26.060 You know, witches, I guess we're claiming that.

00:13:28.900 But beyond that, you know, there are, we say this all the time, there are so many ways to be a witch.

00:13:35.660 So many different ways to be a witch.

00:13:37.360 For some people, it's a political act, and for some people, it's a spiritual act.

00:13:40.800 and for others it's a very scientific act and um but as we said at its heart it's a celestial event

00:13:48.660 it's the winter solstice so we thought it would be cool to bring a couple people who know a lot

00:13:53.680 more about this than we do to sort of go over the and these are more friend witches of ours i think

00:14:00.260 they would also insist on being introduced as students yes not experts just people who love

00:14:06.960 and are curious and you know we also we're proud of y'all for just just loving things and being

00:14:12.980 curious yes just be respectful and full of love and curiosity and let's figure out where that goes

00:14:19.700 but we're all trying to navigate this world together so let's throw to

00:14:23.440 basha whom you've met before in our first season and a new coven member old friend but new coven

00:14:30.140 member, Sue. So let's throw it over to Sue and Baisha. Okay. Hey there, I'm Sue. And this is

00:14:37.340 Baisha. And we're just going to talk a little bit about the astrology happening around Yule

00:14:41.800 and what we can expect from the sky. So I think first things first that we should talk about is

00:14:48.580 the solstice, which is happening on the 21st of December at 5.23 PM exactly here in Montreal. So

00:14:56.940 that's anyone who's around this area it'll be around that time but that'll vary of course

00:15:02.220 depending on how north or south you are the solstice is of course the shortest day of the

00:15:07.120 year and the longest night here in the northern hemisphere and our friends to the south are going

00:15:10.900 to be having the opposite they're going to be having their longest day which is a totally

00:15:13.680 different vibe and super interesting when you think about it but sometimes i can't think about

00:15:18.380 it too much because it just it's just too many things to think about right so it's the shortest

00:15:23.620 day it's the longest night uh generally this is i mean it's officially the first day of winter

00:15:29.920 although if you're around here it's been winter for freaking months already i don't know how long

00:15:36.280 has it been 10 years so far i think it's been at least like three or four weeks where it's felt

00:15:41.480 like proper winter up around here but this is the first official day of the winter and uh the um

00:15:49.260 The solstice is actually when the sun makes its first ingress into Capricorn.

00:15:55.000 So at 523 here, we're going to be seeing that move into zero degrees of Capricorn.

00:16:02.280 So we're making this big transition right now between Sagittarius energy and Capricorn energy.

00:16:07.220 So Sagittarius, if you don't know a ton about it, is this really expansive sign.

00:16:11.960 And it's ruled by Jupiter.

00:16:13.040 And it's very outward moving.

00:16:14.760 And it's big.

00:16:16.080 And it's jolly.

00:16:17.400 Like, it's actually jolly, right?

00:16:19.260 And it wants everyone to feel included.

00:16:21.740 And so we see this a lot in December where folks are going to be having holiday parties.

00:16:25.920 And I'm not talking about like the, you know, sit down dinner kind of thing with your family.

00:16:29.200 No, no, no.

00:16:29.480 I'm talking about like, let's invite all of our friends and have a freaking party and sing songs and, you know, drink weird milky concoctions.

00:16:37.880 Like, why do we drink that stuff?

00:16:40.420 Anyway, so that's when you kind of get that party energy.

00:16:44.980 Whereas Capricorn, when we move into that, it's a much more sober energy, right?

00:16:49.260 And where Sagittarius wants to have a party, Capricorn wants to make a tradition, right?

00:16:56.440 It really rules this idea of traditions.

00:16:59.020 And you'll see that a lot in folks who are celebrating various holidays around here.

00:17:04.020 You see it a lot with people who celebrate Christmas.

00:17:06.080 They get really hung up on these traditions, right?

00:17:09.240 Like, oh, well, we always did that when I was a kid.

00:17:11.660 And so it's really important to me that we do it now.

00:17:14.600 And I think that's awesome.

00:17:16.380 I really love the way that we connect to our lineage and connect to our ancestors in some of those ways.

00:17:22.460 And that's super, super cool.

00:17:24.180 I just want to have one little shout out to traditions that are not serving you anymore.

00:17:30.940 So when you feel that compulsion to like, well, we've always done it this way, so we should do it that way.

00:17:36.640 Maybe ask yourself, but do I want to?

00:17:39.500 Is this fun for me?

00:17:40.860 Is this nourishing?

00:17:42.460 Or does this feel like a bummer, right?

00:17:44.320 because at the end of the day, we, we can kind of get stuck in like what feels like an obligation

00:17:49.080 or what feels like a duty. So I would just say like, yeah, tradition, cool, awesome, beautiful

00:17:54.640 stuff. And, um, wonderful. But like, if it's something that you still feel really connected

00:17:59.820 to and really nourished by, um, so that's like a really big shift in energy that we're going to see

00:18:05.140 there right there on the 21st, the, the, the darkest night, the longest night we'll be moving

00:18:12.300 from that ebullient kind of party vibe into a darker quieter a little bit more like hunkered

00:18:18.400 down that's how i see capricorn capricorn is like it has things to do like capricorn like wants to

00:18:24.900 build an empire and a legacy and like you got to kind of sit and be quiet and hunker down and make

00:18:31.260 your plans right so that's kind of that switch into there yeah i'm a capricorn i hear you yeah

00:18:36.480 i'm looking forward to it and i really want to think about next year what i want to do

00:18:41.660 and i want to reflect totally totally yeah no capricorn like they want to plan you want to

00:18:47.360 plan everything you're like yeah yeah i got i can do all the things i just gotta like plan it

00:18:52.300 properly um it's it's like a it's like a war room in your head you know it's like you're just like

00:18:57.820 okay let's get serious let's do this yeah i i have a few dear friends who are capricorns and

00:19:04.700 and i'm just like you guys do not stop do you i i love them we need them they they make they make

00:19:11.280 things happen um so that's yeah that's that long night that we're gonna have and then the very next

00:19:17.840 day we have this super beautiful full moon happening in cancer so of course the full moon

00:19:23.900 happens when the moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the zodiac and they're looking at each

00:19:28.480 other from across the way um so they they're in opposite signs so capricorn and cancer are

00:19:36.020 opposite of each other in a lot of ways they're completely the opposite capricorn is traditionally

00:19:40.220 the sign of the father whereas cancer is the sign of the great mother so it's this kind of

00:19:44.840 oppositional thing but it's going to be this big bright full moon on this super long night and I

00:19:50.060 really really love that the full moon is actually exact in Montreal at around noon on Friday so

00:19:58.400 technically that's when the full moon is happening but we probably won't see it so

00:20:02.240 you'll be able to see like a very nearly full moon in the very last degrees of Gemini

00:20:09.840 the night before and you'll see a almost full moon, but kind of starting to wane just the

00:20:15.340 tiniest bit, uh, on the night of the 22nd and that will be in cancer. So, um, that, uh,

00:20:23.760 cut around that. I think that, uh, yeah, yeah, great. Um, so, uh, I gotta find my spot.

00:20:35.480 so because the full moon is going to be happening midday you can pick either of those nights if you

00:20:42.240 wanted to do a ritual or if you wanted to do something uh surrounding that cancer full moon

00:20:46.660 that can be a really juicy and beautiful moon to work with and a full moon is often like it's

00:20:52.360 super high energy so it's like when the people when people in the world will most feel the moon

00:20:56.560 you know people are like oh it must be a full moon like you know people know when it's a full

00:21:00.200 moon you can feel it and this time because the moon is in cancer that's her home sign so this

00:21:05.060 is kind of where the moon tends to be the mooniest right it's she is most herself because this is

00:21:09.960 where she lives so this is like a big watery juicy lovely moon um cancer is the sign of the

00:21:18.260 mother like i said so it speaks a lot to the ideas of nurturance connection and bonding and what i

00:21:25.080 think is interesting is in the body cancer uh rules the the breasts as well as breast milk

00:21:31.140 And there's an astrologer who I admire very much.

00:21:33.480 Her name is Renee Sills.

00:21:34.320 She often talks about how cancer actually rules oxytocin.

00:21:38.580 So that's that neurotransmitter that helps us bond with each other, right?

00:21:43.380 So this is a hormone that's released during childbirth.

00:21:46.340 It's released during breastfeeding.

00:21:48.180 And it helps to forge that bond between parent and child.

00:21:51.820 But it's also something that is released even when people are hugging.

00:21:55.800 Can I interrupt you one second?

00:21:57.480 Yes, totally.

00:21:57.760 Did you say Renee Sills?

00:21:59.080 Yeah.

00:21:59.240 Yeah. So she used to live in Montreal. So some of our listeners who live in Montreal might know

00:22:04.240 Renee, definitely Google her and we'll put her. She is seriously an amazing astrologer and she's

00:22:08.420 wicked smart and a great person. So we'll put her name and her everything in the notes. Please

00:22:13.000 carry on. Okay. Um, so yeah, it's, it's also a hormone that is secreted when we're hugging our

00:22:19.520 friends and, uh, definitely during orgasm, right? So these are all things that ask us to just connect

00:22:26.480 with each other and it what it does is it reminds us that we actually do need each other to survive

00:22:32.140 and to thrive so the cancer moon is going to be shining a big bright light on all of these

00:22:38.220 relationships that we have in our lives and and it's going to urge you to connect and make those

00:22:42.700 bonds and really support each other and find each other and build these networks so i really like

00:22:48.620 that as the moon happening right around this time where we traditionally spend a lot of time with

00:22:53.460 loved ones um so any holiday parties that are happening around this weekend those are going to

00:22:58.320 be a really nice time to connect deeply with the folks that we care about so you know we talked a

00:23:03.220 little bit about Sagittarius and these big parties like everybody's invited and we're gonna have a

00:23:06.380 really good time this is more the like let's get together with like our super inner circle and like

00:23:11.560 let's just get deep about things and let's really like love the hell out of each other i have to say

00:23:16.280 it's just so fitting and perfect it's my birthday on the 23rd and my sister is planning a girls get

00:23:22.420 together and we're going to have a group session from this healer come into town just my mom and

00:23:27.440 sisters and i and i'm like oh my gosh this is going exactly with everything you're saying and

00:23:32.720 that's perfect i'm so looking forward to it especially more now i think that sounds like

00:23:37.860 the actual perfect thing to do um yeah so i mean this is like i said this is urging us to connect

00:23:43.600 and i know that uh a lot of times the holidays can be super fraught for people um relations might

00:23:49.160 be strained or non-existent with families of origin. So, you know, sometimes that can feel

00:23:54.240 super draining and triggering, and sometimes it's downright impossible to spend time with these

00:23:59.480 people. So I'm certainly not suggesting that you should spend time with these people if the

00:24:04.520 emotional cost is really high for you. It's imperative that you protect yourself, protect

00:24:09.020 your energy, protect your magic. Seriously, like don't let anybody else drag you down. If that is

00:24:15.740 not a safe place for you to be with your family of origin don't do it spend time with your chosen

00:24:20.060 family like find your people you know these are the people who love you and see you for exactly

00:24:24.720 who you are and i think i think the same thing can go for um folks who live far away from their

00:24:30.860 families and you know travel at this time of year can be super stressful it's prohibitively expensive

00:24:35.720 so you know don't be sad about it just find your people like i i promise that your people are

00:24:42.080 around like this is a really important weekend for just you know being with your people um and

00:24:49.420 you know if you if you don't have a place to be for the holidays like ask some friends i'm sure

00:24:53.720 they would totally open up their home to you and and you know if you are a person who's hosting a

00:24:59.280 gathering you might think to like extend an invite to somebody who might be at a loose end for plans

00:25:03.480 um you know not everybody is celebrating christmas not everybody is celebrating at all but like it's

00:25:09.260 nice to be invited, you know, even if you think they might turn you down. Um, and I think, you

00:25:14.980 know, another thing to talk about is like, if none of those things sound good or if none of those

00:25:19.800 options are open to you, then I think it's a really great idea to see about just spending that

00:25:25.280 time in service to other people. This is like another way how we can like, you know, bond with

00:25:30.100 our community and like make everyone stronger. So, you know, if there's a community organization

00:25:34.880 where you can help make meals or deliver meals.

00:25:38.560 Or if you have a driver's permit, you could see about volunteering

00:25:41.640 to make sure that folks get home from parties safe

00:25:44.120 because, you know, these are important things.

00:25:47.240 So, you know, if you're feeling super lonely or you're feeling really down,

00:25:51.080 I think that trying to be of service is probably the most beneficial.

00:25:54.980 So, yeah, I mean, we talked about, like, the full moon and the ingress into CAP.

00:26:01.160 And there's a solar eclipse in January?

00:26:03.260 Yeah.

00:26:03.800 Right off?

00:26:04.340 Yeah, because I was going to talk about the nodes moving.

00:26:06.720 And so that can lead into an eclipse.

00:26:08.500 Exactly right.

00:26:09.440 And Mars is changing signs and yeah.

00:26:14.500 So what does that mean to those of us who don't know what that means?

00:26:17.940 So Mars is kind of like the fire under your back.

00:26:22.480 Oh, are you already?

00:26:23.580 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:26:24.260 Okay, okay.

00:26:25.160 Into the back.

00:26:26.480 All right.

00:26:27.660 So something that is going to be happening on New Year's Eve, actually,

00:26:33.400 is that Mars is finally going to be moving into Aries.

00:26:37.320 Now, Mars has had a bit of a time this year.

00:26:42.780 Like, he's had a bit of a time.

00:26:44.380 So Mars is often like your motivation, right? 0.99

00:26:48.200 This is kind of the fire under your butt. 0.91

00:26:49.840 It's like, you're, okay, let's get things done. 0.98

00:26:52.600 Serious dude.

00:26:53.200 Yeah, it's like, it's the go button in a lot of ways, right?

00:26:56.680 And so Mars spent about four or five months now in Aquarius this year,

00:27:01.700 doing a whole retrograde cycle.

00:27:03.400 And, uh, for people who have like a lot of Aquarius placements, that might've felt like

00:27:07.280 a hell of a slog.

00:27:09.100 Um, and then right now it's just kind of finishing its way through Pisces.

00:27:14.020 Mars doesn't do super well in Pisces.

00:27:15.580 Pisces really wants to like, like, yeah, like it wants everybody to like, just love each

00:27:20.960 other and like, we're all one and you know, and all that stuff.

00:27:23.740 But Mars is like, I have things to do.

00:27:26.200 Like I don't have time to sit and chant with you.

00:27:30.040 Like I got things to do.

00:27:31.140 So, Mars can get, like, a little confused in Pisces.

00:27:34.080 So, New Year's Eve, it's going to move into Aries.

00:27:36.340 That's his home sign. 0.77

00:27:37.560 It's his home turf.

00:27:38.500 He does super well in Aries.

00:27:41.200 And so, if you're, like, a person who likes to make New Year's resolutions, this is going

00:27:46.260 to be the...

00:27:46.900 Let's do this.

00:27:47.240 Let's do this.

00:27:47.640 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:27:48.440 You're going to have all of the motivation.

00:27:50.580 So, harness it.

00:27:51.720 Use it.

00:27:52.660 Don't let it run away on you.

00:27:54.420 Like, this is going to be your get stuff done finally.

00:27:57.500 Like, if you felt like you've been spinning your wheels, this is going to be your...

00:28:00.260 You got traction.

00:28:01.140 like let's go so that's that's going to be pretty cool and um the nodes of the moon actually moved

00:28:08.400 in november out of leo and aquarius and they're moving into cancer and capricorn so the nodes if

00:28:15.600 you don't know they're not actually stars or planets they're just these points in the sky

00:28:19.880 and that's where eclipses will happen and these are special in that they move backwards through

00:28:24.980 through the zodiac um so they just spent like about uh two years in uh leo and aquarius and

00:28:32.220 that was the time and uh they'll be moving into aquarius into cancer and capricorn uh or they

00:28:39.460 have already done in november uh so we're actually going to have a an eclipse in early january uh

00:28:47.740 new moon in capricorn and that's going to be an eclipse so that's going to be interesting that's

00:28:53.120 going to be like a good jumpstart to this whole new kind of cancer capricorn um era and that's

00:28:59.860 going to be going until 2020 so that's going to give you a little bit of a taste of sort of maybe

00:29:04.940 what's to come and how that is operating in your own chart so pay attention around that new moon

00:29:09.320 in january and and see what comes through and maybe even take a note of it and you can like

00:29:15.160 circle back and revisit and be like am i you know am i seeing these themes pop up again that's right

00:29:19.560 i made that plan this long-term plan back then and totally yeah so yeah check check back in with

00:29:24.960 that i think it's going to be interesting and how do we feel about those plans with cancer

00:29:30.100 and not just that through with that but no check in with your feelings about those plans

00:29:35.120 absolutely yeah you have you definitely have to do a check-in and see you know if it's still

00:29:40.000 serving you exactly yeah um so those are kind of the the nice things that have been happening oh 0.99

00:29:45.960 When Venus is finally free of her long ass, God, chill me now, retrograde. 0.97

00:29:53.980 I don't know if anybody else has been just absolutely butt kicked by this, but it started 0.99

00:30:00.400 in September.

00:30:01.880 She moved into her shadow, and then she did the whole retrograde back through Scorpio 1.00

00:30:06.980 and back into Libra and then back through Scorpio.

00:30:10.420 She will finally be leaving her shadow on the 17th of December.

00:30:13.860 so by the time you're hearing this she will be out of her shadow so you can maybe think of um

00:30:20.460 seeing like hey what's wrapped up for you what was there something that was going down in like

00:30:25.080 the venusy themes in your life so that's like relationships and self-esteem and it can be

00:30:30.900 related to some money things so like check in hey what did i learn from september until now like

00:30:36.240 and you might feel like something just kind of got closed up or like sewn up finished

00:30:40.880 so that's going to be oh it's it's it's going to be nice it's going to be so nice relief yeah yeah

00:30:47.940 okay so we talked about that uh cavercorn like let's hunker down let's make plans that you're

00:30:52.600 super stoked about uh and and i am too oh my god i'm so stoked about this uh you know during the

00:30:59.000 holidays people sometimes just go go go and there's so many distractions and there's you know

00:31:02.920 there's lights and there's parties and and and i just don't want to do any of that this year i just

00:31:07.400 want to like hunker down i want to like have a book this is like a really great time to do some

00:31:12.660 journaling and you know kind of reflect on the year that's passed and what's you know maybe what

00:31:17.420 do you want to do in the next one because i think it's really important to say like okay

00:31:20.140 what have what's this year been about for me before you start making your plans for next year

00:31:24.840 right and that's the thing with capricorn it's so it's like linked to the the oldest tree in the

00:31:28.460 forest like wisdom so like going into the capricorn it's like let's already even think about

00:31:34.000 the wisest self what did exactly what did we learn this year with you know thinking from that

00:31:38.960 perspective with of wisdom you know what was the soul deep wrenching like lessons that that you're

00:31:45.900 you know you can really reflect on before going forward totally before making that next plan

00:31:50.740 so there's going to be a moon in virgo uh starting on boxing day so the 26th and that's

00:31:58.840 moon spends about two and a half days in every sign so that's gonna be like peak peak plan

00:32:05.720 making you know and i do this thing during the holidays where like i want to i'll just get an

00:32:09.800 urge to like reorganize a thing like i'm gonna reorganize my whole bookshelf you know and it's

00:32:14.500 gonna take me two days and it's gonna be great alphabetical order no by author no by color

00:32:19.100 by height whatever you know virgo loves the system virgo wants to make things tidy virgo

00:32:25.940 wants to like just manage all of perfect let's make it just perfect so if you're a person who

00:32:30.860 likes to do that like this is your moon and it's my moon isn't for oh well then you're just gonna

00:32:37.260 be you're gonna be i'm gonna like and my emotions are gonna be organized oh yeah no and you know

00:32:43.200 what that is this is the time to organize your feelings i'm not even joking you know we so often

00:32:51.040 just like you know okay that was the feeling whatever no organize your feelings organize

00:32:58.040 them like journal about them like hey what was i feeling what was going on because until you

00:33:02.700 start actually like and and this is going to sound so freaking type a of me but like until

00:33:07.940 you organize your feelings what do you want to do with them you have to feelings are things too

00:33:14.700 like a lamp like a word like a name like quantum physics it is a thing you can organize them don't

00:33:19.840 be afraid yeah i think it's really important so yeah please visit in this time like resist the

00:33:27.620 urge to just you know party all the time party a bit if that's the thing you like doing but like

00:33:32.140 take some time to really reflect and journal and you know recharge your batteries man like that's

00:33:39.640 what this time is for this is that's what these long nights are for get some sleep just go for a

00:33:45.160 lock do something nice for yourself like you you have to recharge your batteries if you are going

00:33:49.980 to be epic the rest of the year yeah like take moments for yourself during the christmas break

00:33:54.460 instead of being with everybody all the time take moments at night to go and stand alone and look at

00:34:00.580 the moon and see that beauty just just you totally that's what the long night supports for going out

00:34:06.740 and like connecting with that mystery right it's there like this is the time you have some time

00:34:12.480 make that time for yourself yeah beautiful it's gonna be nice this is gonna be a beautiful holiday

00:34:18.180 so be well enjoy it be with people who care about you and who you care about yeah and be good to

00:34:25.560 yourself totally we wish you a very merry yule happy holidays and we'll see you in the new year

00:34:33.300 I'm so happy to have Sue here and Amy and Basha

00:34:43.900 and to fill the sort of the rooms filling up with witches around us

00:34:47.720 and sort of to be awkwardly claiming that title.

00:34:50.760 Mostly I wanted to research, you know, women and magic

00:34:54.620 and wanted to understand more about this movement of magic

00:34:57.600 and started finding more and more history paths to go down.

00:35:00.520 I think one, you know, I want to come back to this person who said we left them alone in the dark when they wanted to listen to podcasts and send a shout out to one podcast that I think is weirdly related to the ways I've been thinking about consumerism.

00:35:14.360 I want to recommend you guys to listen to The Dream.

00:35:18.440 It's not witchy, but you may recognize some people who are in your sphere around this and some of the problems and the questions.

00:35:27.320 It's about direct marketing and multilevel marketing and the ways that that's preyed, especially on vulnerable people and often on women.

00:35:36.720 And as marketed to us as a way of building community and is marketed to us as a way of building independence and freedom and self-worth.

00:35:46.680 Just listen to episode two.

00:35:48.660 It's so touching as someone whose family members have gotten tangled up in the ship before and to heartbreaking ends.

00:35:55.300 I just want to reassert Amy's message of anti-consumerism

00:35:59.300 to reach out to each other in the time to support and share meals 0.99

00:36:03.600 and don't fucking sell each other bullshit pyramid schemes. 0.98

00:36:08.480 Let's try to be there for each other for more than this, you know. 0.98

00:36:11.540 Ideally, we can build community not just through an exchange of goods,

00:36:15.100 but through an exchange of ideas.

00:36:18.000 And I mean, support each other in goods,

00:36:19.920 but just try to notice when the oils or the candles you're being sold

00:36:23.940 are actually bad for you and are just sending money up a pipe to that top 1%.

00:36:28.840 Let's try to resist that stuff.

00:36:31.920 The piece that I wrote for you guys today is a little bit of nerdy history

00:36:35.960 and a bit of an incantation about winter gods and goddesses.

00:36:41.660 That's all.

00:36:42.500 Love you guys.

00:36:43.160 Play safe.

00:36:43.900 Yes.

00:36:44.840 by all her names she is an ancient slavic pagan winter goddess who embodies winter's death and

00:37:03.000 rebirth and dreams in some traditions the women and girls of a village would craft a life-size

00:37:09.060 doll out of wheat and reeds and flowers and hold hands with this figure of the snow queen

00:37:14.780 walking her through town,

00:37:16.440 singing songs at the doorways where girls lived

00:37:18.960 until they walked her to the river and drowned her. 0.90

00:37:23.180 In other traditions, they burned her

00:37:25.160 and warmed their hands by her fire

00:37:27.020 to call forth the end of winter with her death

00:37:29.500 and to celebrate her rebirth as the goddess of spring.

00:37:33.560 Because the winter goddess of quiet and death and storms

00:37:37.140 and raging is also the spring queen,

00:37:39.800 bursting through the other side adorned with flowers

00:37:42.140 and steeled by the souls she brings with her from the dark.

00:37:46.060 She is the macrocosm,

00:37:47.820 all of consciousness of the natural world's becoming.

00:37:51.700 This is part of what I like about winter.

00:37:54.480 It is the death and holds secrets to new life.

00:37:58.760 On the longest night of the year,

00:38:00.540 we sit at the crux with the crone.

00:38:03.580 We are with her in the underworld

00:38:05.320 and we burn the yule log and bake up the last of our stores

00:38:08.760 and huddle together singing,

00:38:10.700 hoping to make it through to the other side

00:38:13.200 knowing that rebirth is inevitable

00:38:16.280 if you live in a place where you see racism and fascism around you

00:38:21.240 we want to whisper to you 1.00

00:38:22.720 witches and other bad bitches are with you 1.00

00:38:25.560 working alongside you in the fertile dark 1.00

00:38:28.320 even on the coldest nights

00:38:30.060 if you live somewhere that is not covered in snow

00:38:32.860 I want to send you some of the magic from this place that is

00:38:36.160 where I live we've been under a coat of thick white snow

00:38:39.880 since the dawn of the new moon at the beginning of November.

00:38:43.980 The lake first froze November 10th when my daughter was one month old.

00:38:48.680 Since then, the trees hang heavy, and our road in and usual paths

00:38:53.340 are cluttered daily with downed branches.

00:38:57.300 Some ravaged trees hang caught in the forest's arms,

00:39:01.220 breathing danger over our heads in the seemingly peaceful quiet.

00:39:06.360 On our walks, I keep seeing spiders in the snow.

00:39:10.260 They're still there, though all is frozen,

00:39:12.700 stitching webs across the paths, walking slow.

00:39:16.860 Spiders up here make a kind of antifreeze in their bodies

00:39:19.960 and go weaving their way through the trees and deep down,

00:39:23.800 within the snow, in the subnivian zone.

00:39:28.000 Because the coat of silent death is an illusion,

00:39:31.520 there is an underworld right here,

00:39:34.260 below a foot of hard ice cupped against the warm black earth

00:39:38.000 where small animals tunnel hiding out from hungry foxes and birds of prey.

00:39:44.060 They remind me of Anansi and of Pixie Coleman Smith

00:39:47.160 bringing the African spider goddess into the drawing rooms of Bohemian London 0.84

00:39:51.620 and with her a thread of African power, queer power, resistance and independence, stitching. 0.93

00:40:01.280 The Calic is the personification of winter in Gaelic mythology. 0.85

00:40:04.920 She herds deer, she fights spring, and her staff freezes the ground.

00:40:11.980 She rules this time we're in now, the winter months between Samhain and Beltane, 0.93

00:40:17.000 while Brigid rules the summer months between Beltane and Samhain.

00:40:21.700 Calick and Brigid are two faces of the same power, the same goddess, the same queen of earth and weather.

00:40:28.820 Sometimes she is a great bird.

00:40:30.820 Sometimes she is multiple and known as the storm hags

00:40:35.980 And that's a free band name for those who want one

00:40:39.040 The voice of windstorms and the righteous fury behind great waves

00:40:44.060 Sometimes she is the stone the storm beats herself against

00:40:48.740 We have stories of the goddess because people saved them

00:40:53.320 As Dine and European author and activist Lila June wrote

00:40:58.120 in a piece called Reclaiming Our Indigenous European Roots,

00:41:01.560 which you can find along with every other reference in our show notes and on our website.

00:41:07.540 I have been called a half-breed.

00:41:09.960 I have been called a mutt, impure. 0.58

00:41:12.680 I have been told my mixed blood is my bane, 0.97

00:41:15.380 that I'm cursed to have an Indian for a mother and a cowboy for a father.

00:41:20.260 But one day, as I sat in the ceremonial house of my mother's people,

00:41:24.320 A wondrous revelation landed delicately inside of my soul

00:41:28.740 It sang within me a song I can still hear today

00:41:32.380 This song was woven from the voices of my European grandmothers and grandfathers

00:41:37.880 Their songs were made of love

00:41:40.880 They sang to me of their life before witch trials and before crusades

00:41:46.400 They spoke to me of a time before serfdoms and before Roman tithes

00:41:50.940 They spoke to me of a time before the plague, before the Medici, before the guillotine,

00:41:56.060 a time before their people were extinguished or enslaved by dark forces.

00:42:00.200 They spoke to me of a time before the English language existed, a time most of us have forgotten.

00:42:06.380 These grandmothers and grandfathers set the ancient medicine of Welsh blue stone upon my aching heart.

00:42:12.500 Their chants danced like the flickering light of Tuscan cave fires.

00:42:15.940 Their joyous laughter echoed on and on like Baltic waves against Scandinavian shores

00:42:21.480 They blew worlds through my mind like windswept snow over alpine mountain crests

00:42:28.400 They showed to me the vast and beautiful world of indigenous Europe

00:42:32.500 This precious world can scarcely be found in any literature

00:42:36.220 But lives quietly within us like a dream we can't quite remember

00:42:40.740 one of the great saviors oracles historians transmitters of irish magic stories religion

00:42:49.640 and wisdom which became an important influence on the modern wiccan movement was a woman named

00:42:54.780 lady augusta gregory who among many other things wrote visions and beliefs in the west of ireland

00:43:00.440 with william butler yates yates came up in our podcast before as a friend and magical collaborator

00:43:06.820 to Pixie Coleman Smith, and in teasing out the webs around them, I started to see more important

00:43:11.760 witches in his lovers and close friends, people I'd never heard of when studying him in lit

00:43:16.820 courses. So, as a gift to my mother and Amy's mother, both lovers of Yeats and poetry and a

00:43:23.440 good mystery. In this episode, I want to go under the snow and offer up a few quick tributes to

00:43:29.000 crone historians, haunted muses and muse mothers, and trickster oracles.

00:43:35.540 The preface to Visions and Beliefs goes,

00:43:38.440 there's no doubt at all but that there's the same sort of things in other countries,

00:43:42.900 but you hear more about them in these parts

00:43:44.920 because the Irish do be more familiar in talking of them.

00:43:49.320 And it begins with this. 1.00

00:43:52.260 The Siddhi cannot make themselves visible at all. 1.00

00:43:56.320 They are shape-changers. 1.00

00:43:57.720 They can grow small or grow large

00:44:00.780 They can take what shape they choose

00:44:03.240 They appear as men or women

00:44:06.200 Wearing clothes of many colors

00:44:08.320 Of today or of some old forgotten fashion

00:44:10.940 They are seen as bird or beast

00:44:13.540 Or as a barrel or a flock of wool

00:44:15.600 They go by us in a cloud of dust

00:44:17.940 They are as many as the blades of grass

00:44:20.640 They are everywhere 0.98

00:44:21.940 Their home is in the fourths, the lisses

00:44:24.700 The ancient round grass-grown mounds

00:44:27.500 There are thorn bushes they gather near and protect

00:44:31.260 If they have a mind for a house like our own

00:44:34.060 They will build it up in a moment

00:44:35.420 They will remake a stone castle battered by Cromwell's men

00:44:39.120 If it takes their fancy

00:44:40.320 Filling it with noise and lights 0.96

00:44:42.780 Their own country is Tir Nan Og 1.00

00:44:46.060 The country of the young 1.00

00:44:47.400 It is under the ground or under the sea

00:44:50.340 Or it may not be far from any of us

00:44:53.340 Michelle McDonough for The Independent writes

00:44:57.220 that Yates' great friendship with Lady Augusta Gregory

00:45:00.280 sustained him through years of turmoil.

00:45:03.240 And with her, he embarked upon the great enterprise of a national theatre,

00:45:06.920 an emblem of Irish culture, a forum where a mob would become a people.

00:45:12.500 Together, they made that specific kind of magic that is theatre,

00:45:16.180 words enacted and reenacted to form ritual,

00:45:19.660 powerful enough to call forth the Siddhi to help birth or rebirth

00:45:24.160 a nation and awaken a people.

00:45:27.220 Yeats described Lady Augusta in the letter as the only person I could tell every thought

00:45:33.880 and said she was more than a mother, friend, sister, or brother to him.

00:45:39.440 She gathered folk tales and she gathered modern Irish writers, explicitly making a safe space

00:45:45.340 for queer writers, and gathered about her the waves and winds of the mounting Gaelic

00:45:50.040 revival and of Irish independence.

00:45:51.880 Maude Gunn was another heroine of the Irish independence and is often called the great love

00:45:58.520 or great muse of Yeats' life. Maude was a fierce activist and also a tortured witch.

00:46:05.120 Her first experience of craft was traumatic. She found a book of occult knowledge in her father's

00:46:09.780 papers and she used it to make a pact with the devil, offering her own soul in exchange for her

00:46:15.540 financial independence. Not the first or last time this deal has made sense to a girl imprisoned by

00:46:22.440 the realities of systemic patriarchy, obviously. Weeks later, her father died, leaving her an

00:46:31.220 inheritance that granted her wish and scared the shit out of her, but she got over it.

00:46:37.420 She became an activist for Irish independence, in part galvanized by her relationship with French 0.79

00:46:42.920 fascist and right-wing anti-British activist Lucien Milvoy. Let's stop and note here how easily

00:46:49.720 a passion for independence and the work of valuing a national history and culture can become racist 0.99

00:46:55.340 as fuck. And let's celebrate our cultures and embrace our ancestors without all this shit, okay? 1.00

00:47:03.480 Maud and Lucien had a child together who died at just one year old. The fact that the childhood 0.98

00:47:08.320 mortality was 100 times more common than it is now, didn't reduce the psychological devastation 0.98

00:47:14.880 it wrought on Maude. According to a BBC article, over the next two years in Dublin, London, and

00:47:22.280 Paris, a grief-stricken Gunn was drawn into the occultist and spiritual worlds that were already

00:47:27.980 of deep importance to Yeats. In his memoirs, Yeats recalled that Gunn repeatedly asked his

00:47:33.480 circle of friends about the reality of reincarnation. One friend, writer and mystic George

00:47:39.400 Russell, assured her it was possible to recreate a dead child's soul if the parents went about it

00:47:46.260 in the right way. And so, in late 1893, Gunn recontacted Lucien Milvoy. They had separated

00:47:54.200 after the baby's death. She asked him to meet in Saint-Moi-sur-Seine, where, at night in a crypt

00:48:00.960 beneath a large memorial chapel where the child's coffin lay.

00:48:06.120 The couple entered the small chapel, opened the metal doors,

00:48:09.420 leading down to the crypt, descended a small metal ladder,

00:48:12.520 and then, next to the dead baby's coffin, had sex. 0.93

00:48:19.140 Hoping that the process of metempsychosis, 0.91

00:48:23.320 the transmigration of the soul, would be made easier.

00:48:26.680 In August 1894, Maude Gunn had another baby

00:48:31.860 This was her daughter, Isolde

00:48:34.660 Maude Gunn brought up the child without Milvoi

00:48:37.920 and their relationship was odd

00:48:39.460 She refused to call her daughter

00:48:40.920 instead describing her as kinswoman or cousin

00:48:43.980 The article from the BBC continues that

00:48:48.780 as an adult, Isolde had an affair with Ezra Pound

00:48:51.560 and married controversial Irish-Australian novelist

00:48:54.460 and Nazi sympathizer, Frances Stewart

00:48:57.460 Maud converted to Catholicism, much to Yates' dismay,

00:49:01.900 and in 1903 married the Irish soldier and Republican, John McBride.

00:49:08.720 Yates spent a lot of time obsessing over Maud and Ysolt,

00:49:12.000 and academics have written a great deal about their role as muse

00:49:14.920 and spiritual partners in the creation of great poetry

00:49:18.160 from the fact of unrequited longing.

00:49:22.660 Let's pause for a minute and send a spell or prayer or memory 0.64

00:49:26.580 for women too often remembered as a side note for their beauty, 0.91

00:49:30.640 for who proposed to them, for who they gave birth to,

00:49:33.620 who they slept with, and the works they inspired.

00:49:37.520 Ysolt studied Bengali after meeting the nation-shaping poet and novelist

00:49:41.780 and the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature,

00:49:45.160 Rabindranath Tagore, and she worked to translate his poems to French.

00:49:49.380 Tagore left it up to Yeats to decide if Ysolt's translations were worthy,

00:49:53.260 but Yeats claimed he didn't have strong enough French to decide

00:49:56.280 and Isolt's translations were never published.

00:50:00.340 Isolt rejected Yeats as well.

00:50:03.080 He was apparently relieved when the wild gusts of feeling

00:50:05.980 provoked by the gun subsided in favor of a new life of work

00:50:09.620 and common interest with his wife-to-be, George Hyde Lees,

00:50:13.120 who reminded him of Lady Augusta Gregory. 0.90

00:50:17.900 George was a witch as well. 0.65

00:50:21.320 She was a fellow student of the occult,

00:50:23.180 and Yeats sponsored her membership in the Golden Dawn in 1915,

00:50:27.180 and they married in 1917 after her 25th birthday, when Yeats was 52.

00:50:33.140 When it became obvious on their honeymoon that Yeats was unhappy,

00:50:36.700 George shocked her husband by taking up automatic writing,

00:50:40.020 which coincidentally involved an unknown spirit telling Yeats

00:50:43.240 he had made great choices in marriage and in leaving the guns alone.

00:50:48.280 Yeats won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923,

00:50:50.900 but the two collections of poetry that are generally considered to be his best

00:50:54.600 and most impactful came after.

00:50:57.280 Yeats said,

00:50:58.040 My poetry has gained in self-possession and power.

00:51:00.660 I owe this change to an incredible experience,

00:51:03.540 referring to his communication and communion with the unknown via George.

00:51:08.860 The project of automatic writing consumed them for five years

00:51:12.180 and resulted in the prose book A Vision,

00:51:14.780 which hasn't been very popular with Yeats scholars,

00:51:17.640 but the poems and plays that resulted from this project

00:51:20.280 include some of my favorite poems and pieces that are considered masterpieces of literary

00:51:25.340 modernism, like Michael Robarts and the Dancer, Easter 1916, The Second Coming, Sailing to

00:51:34.600 Byzantium, Meditations in a Time of Civil War, Leda and the Swan, and Among School Children.

00:51:42.000 George admitted later that when she began the automatic writing that forms the original

00:51:45.860 material of a vision, she was totally faking it. It was a trick to keep her husband's attention.

00:51:53.100 She didn't want him to regret their marriage, so she pulled down inspiration with the age-old 0.93

00:51:58.100 witchcraft of a cunning bride staining the sheets. But then she says something happened. 0.80

00:52:04.880 An unknown interlocutor, either a spirit of the earth or of her own unconscious shadow mind,

00:52:11.080 took over. Together, Yates and George and the unknown would craft a work that haunted and

00:52:17.300 irritated biographers of the poet for decades. Only in recent years is the work getting some

00:52:23.140 more open-minded attention. You can find an incredible mapping of this work at yatesvision.com.

00:52:30.280 At its core, a vision is a song of interconnection, a song of the earth, and of death and rebirth,

00:52:36.500 and maybe a step along the road to the kinds of knowledge

00:52:40.280 that can emerge from collaboration between women, men,

00:52:43.400 and an openness to all that is unknown.

00:52:46.700 Together they wrote,

00:52:48.120 Yesterday when I saw the dry and leafless vineyards

00:52:51.480 at the very edge of the motionless sea,

00:52:54.740 or lifting their brown stems from almost inaccessible patches of earth

00:52:58.880 high up on the cliffside,

00:53:00.940 or met at the turn of the path the orange and lemon trees in full fruit,

00:53:05.220 or the crimson cactus flower

00:53:07.580 or felt the warm sunlight falling between blue and blue,

00:53:12.320 I murmured, as I have countless times,

00:53:15.060 I have been a part of it always,

00:53:18.080 and there is maybe no escape,

00:53:20.640 forgetting and returning life after life

00:53:23.160 like an insect in the roots of the grass,

00:53:25.980 but murmured it without terror,

00:53:28.700 in exaltation almost.

00:53:32.080 All this to say,

00:53:33.360 on this Mother's Night, first night of Yule, longest night of the year.

00:53:38.900 I want to send a shout out and hallelujah to the goddesses of winter,

00:53:43.360 of death, and of the distant coming spring,

00:53:47.200 and to trickster wives and to their daughters,

00:53:51.400 to the oracles and the mediums and the muses who have been part of it always,

00:53:57.240 part of us always,

00:53:59.480 to all of you out there singing along the webs,

00:54:01.980 holding in your hearts the great power of the longest nights

00:54:05.300 and the coming morning.

00:54:07.260 To all of you gathering your stories, gathering your people,

00:54:11.500 gathering the wind about you, gathering your strength,

00:54:15.460 and to the dark, thank you.

00:54:19.340 We love you.

00:54:21.180 We are with you.

00:54:23.060 We'll see you on the other side.

00:54:26.820 We're going to leave you with a song that we recorded that I wrote

00:54:31.240 that is a new holiday anthem for witches everywhere.

00:54:34.820 We put the lyrics and the chords.

00:54:38.580 Yeah, the lyrics and the chords that Amy wrote

00:54:40.340 and made into a Christmas tree image for you.

00:54:44.860 She got full on.

00:54:46.880 They'll be up on our website along with the recording of this podcast

00:54:50.740 and maybe some other pictures and fun stuff we can find for you

00:54:53.900 and all the references.

00:54:55.180 And we also left one verse blank.

00:54:57.820 We would love for you to write your own words

00:54:59.780 and sing them in there

00:55:00.880 and send them to us

00:55:02.260 and

00:55:02.780 Merry Yule

00:55:04.040 that's it

00:55:04.600 we love you

00:55:05.200 we love you

00:55:29.780 our fear

00:55:31.460 cause we

00:55:33.600 are wishes

00:55:35.820 in

00:55:37.860 the night

00:55:40.240 we

00:55:41.540 are wishes

00:55:44.600 we bring

00:55:46.080 our own light

00:55:48.360 to the solstice

00:55:51.280 and you 0.99

00:55:52.460 will die on the 0.99

00:55:54.300 longest night of the

00:55:56.340 year

00:55:57.120 Please bring us together to share our warmth and our cheer

00:56:06.340 Cause we are witches of the night

00:56:15.120 We are witches, we make our own light

00:56:23.340 The solstice and yuletide

00:56:28.400 On the longest night of the year

00:56:31.980 Please bring us together

00:56:36.720 To share our warmth and our cheer

00:56:41.280 As we are witches of the night

00:56:50.100 We are witches, we make our own light

00:56:58.540 We are witches

00:57:20.680 We are witches

00:57:29.380 Mary Yule

00:57:30.680 That's it, we love you

00:57:31.720 We love you

00:57:32.660 Solstice and Yuletide

00:57:38.320 On the longest night of the year

00:57:41.840 Please bring us together

00:57:46.560 To share our world in our cheer

00:57:51.060 Cause we are witches of the night

00:57:59.580 We are witches

00:58:04.300 We break our own life

00:58:08.320 To be so still

00:58:11.140 Woo! Thank you!

00:58:16.560 Thank you.

Missing Witches - December 20, 2018

MISSING WITCHES YULETIDE SPECIAL 2018!!!

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