Missing Witches - MW Rx. 38 - We Have Sung In Tongues Of Angels And Then Stumbled On The Pavement

00:00:00.000 The spirit is rising, she's rising, she's rising. The spirit is rising, it's rising, it's rising.

00:00:10.320 The spirit is rising, they're rising, they're rising. The spirit is rising, they're rising, they're rising.

00:00:19.840 Oh, hi Amy. Hi John Waters t-shirt.

00:00:23.340 Hi Risa. Yes, this is one of my favorite t-shirts. My Pope of Trash.

00:00:28.240 he's with me always I was feeling good company when that guy's around yeah and you know I just

00:00:36.720 happened to be wearing this t-shirt and I didn't expect you to mention it but I will say like you

00:00:40.640 know how John Waters is like one of the weirdest you know the art that he the films that he made

00:00:46.440 are like so outsider but he got his start because his parents like bought him like a proto movie

00:00:55.140 camera when he was like a young man because he showed interest in it and i really love this like

00:01:02.640 wholesome origin story of like some of the craziest filthiest movies that were ever made

00:01:11.720 like the genesis of that was like a parent who believed in their child so there's so much love

00:01:17.540 in those movies i love that but in all of the the smell-o-vision and the weirdness and stuff 0.93

00:01:24.880 there there's like don't be an asshole take care of each other they are like he has such a deep 0.78

00:01:33.920 deep love for his characters and it definitely comes through 0.99

00:01:38.940 yeah we fell in love with crybaby so hard when we were teenagers

00:01:44.560 oh my god and it wasn't just because of johnny depp okay

00:01:48.940 oh man okay um i'm gonna go into i'm gonna segue because i can i can see a segue even though it's

00:02:01.140 tenuous first i'll say uh welcome to the missing witches prescription this is one of the kinds of

00:02:09.520 podcasts we do here at missing witches um the idea is not to be prescriptive and tell you how 0.64

00:02:16.560 to live your fucking life but more to share how we are surviving uh any given week under 0.98

00:02:24.380 the crushing boobs of late stage capital the crushing weight the choking death grip 1.00

00:02:34.620 the feeling that there is no way to be ethical under capitalism the feeling of having been

00:02:40.420 extracted from and having been accomplice to extraction. How do we survive and keep our

00:02:47.820 chins up? That's the question always on the table. So for me this week, I went to this song

00:02:57.020 that's sort of been a touchstone for me in the last dark weeks. It's called Bright Star by Anais

00:03:05.240 Mitchell it's so lovely um one of the lines in it that breaks my heart is you'll never know the

00:03:15.580 lengths to which I went to be your lover it's sort of a heartbreaker but it is about

00:03:21.340 following that feeling that something is out there something better is out there that that

00:03:29.960 like glimmer at the edge of your eye that like gives you hope and i really believe that you know

00:03:37.320 even though we exist in a culture that is constantly telling us that we have to pay 9.99

00:03:43.640 to find out how to be okay um or you know thinking about how many people and how many different

00:03:54.360 circumstances have looked at the kinds of pleasure they can actually afford and decided that like

00:03:59.480 sugar was affordable and was something that they were going to give themselves. And fuck you for 1.00

00:04:06.040 judging people who are holding on to a bit of pleasure that they can actually put their hands 1.00

00:04:10.480 on. You know what I mean? Anyway, I was thinking about all of that this week, but I was also

00:04:15.620 thinking about how I really believe, and maybe this is like my privilege showing, but I really

00:04:22.760 believe that the way that the magic in the universe works or the way I want to believe it

00:04:29.560 works is that somewhere in the web of what's around you there is something that loves you

00:04:36.780 that can help you even if it's just to take one more step like I was thinking about that

00:04:47.760 conversation we had with mara june her name about chamomile like such a simple plant friend

00:04:59.200 that she was like this friend is here and this friend knows about grief

00:05:03.680 or just thinking you know i was watching this episode of uh you're the worst there's a episode

00:05:12.760 about a veteran who even though marijuana is legal it's not legal for a veteran to have access

00:05:20.340 to medicinal marijuana because it was still a classified drug this has changed but at the time

00:05:27.120 an example of these sort of heartbreaking divisions that exist everywhere that like

00:05:32.400 this guy has gone through so many kinds of help like so many different kinds of medication you

00:05:40.000 You know, stacks and stacks and stacks of drugs that just make him feel not really alive.

00:05:44.900 And then this plant friend made him feel like a human again.

00:05:49.040 And it was there.

00:05:50.440 It was there for him, even though it wasn't legal at the time.

00:05:55.280 And I feel like that in the song Bright Star.

00:05:58.240 And I feel like it sort of is whispering that, like, you could pull on a thread of something that is, like, sparkling at the corner of your eyes and find something so much more.

00:06:09.120 So then I Googled Anaïs Mitchell because I was like, who is this person I'm going to talk about?

00:06:14.080 So it turns out two things. 0.94

00:06:17.160 Anaïs Mitchell and like musical theater nerds are screaming at me right now for not fucking knowing this before.

00:06:24.320 And I apologize. 0.64

00:06:25.860 No one knows everything.

00:06:27.300 Anaïs Mitchell wrote this musical in like, okay, I don't know.

00:06:32.720 I'm going to say the wrong year, like 2009 originally called Hadestown.

00:06:36.760 and the reviews for when it's first performed are great because it's like the songs are amazing

00:06:43.860 and the interstitial dialogue is so cringy which just makes me think about like when I was like a

00:06:52.540 music theater teen and how cringy I was and also like how real my emotional response was to

00:07:01.600 people singing together as a group telling stories but she works on it you know they

00:07:06.860 evolve the script it goes on broadway wins like eight tony awards and it's like a working class

00:07:14.100 retelling of the myth of persephone and hades oh wow i pull on this thread of this one song

00:07:21.580 and i find this whole musical world that i connect with so much both politically and you know as an

00:07:29.200 interest in mythology as an origin for so much of what we think about in terms of magic and craft

00:07:34.720 there's a song on the album called why we build the wall

00:07:39.020 and it's hades and people inside hadestown singing we build the wall to keep poverty out

00:07:48.100 it's poverty that threatens us and we build the wall to keep ourselves safe because we have what

00:07:52.980 they don't have we have work we have the work of building the wall and it's just like a perfectly

00:08:01.300 circular logic encapsulation of what you know we've lived under donald trump in the first

00:08:08.000 presidency screaming build the wall and what people are living now driving to the border realizing

00:08:13.020 they've been manipulated told that there are hordes of immigrants storming like you know and

00:08:19.000 getting there and realize it's all lies it's all fabrication people have the same dreams as you

00:08:24.780 and they're trying to build their lives she wrote the song 10 years before Donald Trump

00:08:29.040 began his bible thumping horror story about building the wall and I just it really made

00:08:37.420 me feel more like when we've talked on the show before we've had people come on who sort of

00:08:44.000 found their way to a premonition somehow, right? I mean, we've had the astrologer Manifa Walker,

00:08:51.360 she's, or they are capable of making premonitions based on understanding complexities in astrology

00:08:58.220 that is not stumbling upon it, I don't think. But then you look at Salima Nawaz, who was on

00:09:03.900 the show talking about the novel she wrote about a coronavirus epidemic that came out

00:09:08.240 months before COVID-19 epidemic or you know Octavia Butler describing a candidate very much

00:09:16.860 like Trump many many many years before even including using you know a campaign slogan

00:09:23.800 make America great again and I just think it ties back into that idea of like noticing what is in

00:09:32.180 the web of the world around you and especially in this time you know when we're thinking about

00:09:38.220 being rooted and we're starting to imagine another season another time just follow those threads

00:09:46.060 just follow those threads and see what you think the world is going to be and and see who's there

00:09:51.520 for you to offer comfort maybe it's bright star the other thing I found and listen the soundtrack

00:09:57.760 for Hadestown is great musical theater nerd or not it's fucking awesome but I also realized as

00:10:03.820 I was Googling her another song that I had thought to bring here 0.93

00:10:06.920 by the band Bunny Light Horseman, Comrade Sweetheart.

00:10:11.260 That's her too.

00:10:13.020 Anais Mitchell is the voice in Bunny Light Horseman.

00:10:16.260 I didn't know.

00:10:17.840 So those are the two I offer you.

00:10:20.500 Bright Star and this loving communist love song, Comrade, Sweetheart, Sweetheart Comrade.

00:10:30.480 I think of you all out there as my comrades, my sweethearts, and I hope that you feel loved and held and that you are working toward brighter possible futures together.

00:10:42.000 There's definitely, I mean, we've spoken about this before, about this notion of like the muses or where ideas come from, especially those ideas that just kind of pop into your head and you're like, maybe I should write a song about this or a book about this.

00:10:56.960 And so there is that possibility that these are the stories that need to be told. And so those downloads are coming from somewhere. But there's also just like the idea of like listening to those thoughts that pop into your head and not ignoring them and really paying attention when you get an idea for a song or a story or a poem or whatever it is that maybe we can like

00:11:26.960 convince ourselves of their importance in a way you know what I mean like we're often so

00:11:33.980 dismissive of our imaginations but there is this possibility this very very witchy possibility that

00:11:41.720 you are being like given this idea for a reason that there's a reason that this idea popped into

00:11:47.300 your head and maybe it's going to you know echo into the universe I do have to ask Risa we've got

00:11:53.560 a kinship season coming up listeners if you're new we sort of write these little essays um

00:12:00.520 about our kinship with the non-human world and I was thinking about writing about chamomile so I

00:12:06.140 should probably we should probably cross-reference and make sure that our lists aren't the same

00:12:12.180 please write about chamomile I can't wait I can't wait to hear what you write about chamomile

00:12:19.900 It really is. You know, like half my family is British and I've written about this before that like step one, something crazy happens, something, whatever happens, step one, stick kettle on.

00:12:30.780 And for me, chamomile has been like a soothing friend. Like, I don't know what to do. I'm panicking, whatever is happening, you know, and I'm like, let's go see our friend chamomile, like legit.

00:12:45.540 let's go you know like chamomile flowers are so beautiful i'm gonna plant some this spring for

00:12:52.260 sure i have to grow my own chamomile i feel like this is like an instruction download from the

00:12:57.800 universe to grow my own chamomile so i'm gonna do that this year but i also just want to like

00:13:05.480 give a shout out to my friend little yellow buds of tea that really is like a calming influence

00:13:13.040 like a very very good friend so that's part of my plan but prescription wise well put on some tea

00:13:24.280 and get into the first stick cat lawn loves stick cat lawn um i had a very like wistful

00:13:34.560 marking the passage of time in a wistful kind of way because for two reasons

00:13:42.720 number one i got an email that charme sautelage is closing rissa i didn't know if you got this

00:13:52.660 email or if you saw this no yeah so um for those of you who don't live in montreal or montreal

00:14:00.240 adjacent um this is like our little witch shop and it actually opened in its original location

00:14:07.080 research you remember it was like down a little side street and it was so magical like the first

00:14:13.200 time you go you're like looking for it again on on this little side street you're like oh

00:14:19.260 where is it and then you see it and it's this little like hogwarts kind of you know like this

00:14:27.380 this adorable little tucked away and they opened the same year that i moved to montreal

00:14:34.380 and it was a few years before i discovered it you know but it just was like this little

00:14:41.380 little home base of just like beautiful magic and i'll tell you my spouse

00:14:48.780 um went into the city and went there to get me a yule present and he ended up getting this

00:14:57.320 like it's like a little kit that comes with like eight white candles and eight herb bundles that

00:15:05.060 are labeled for each of the sabbats and like eight little pieces of paper that have like a little

00:15:11.940 ritual on them and he was like I know you don't need this I know you know more but he's not like

00:15:17.500 a witch but he's very supportive you know he'll do rituals with me anytime he doesn't self-identify

00:15:23.240 as witch but you know and you know he was like we can just these are just things that we can do

00:15:30.520 together in private and it was so beautiful it was so thoughtful it was really one of the best

00:15:35.680 gifts I ever got this idea of like eight things we can do together throughout the course of the

00:15:41.840 year and now they're closing so I'm gonna make a pilgrimage in the next few days and the

00:15:48.320 prescription part of that is like support your local witch shop oh my goodness like what a

00:15:56.260 resource for baby witches uh you know or or whomever just to have this space where you can

00:16:05.880 go and ask questions I mean the first time I went there I was like what's this what's this what's

00:16:11.160 this what's this and they were very sweet about it and very kind I had no idea what I was looking at

00:16:15.920 so again part of my prescription for this week is to go and find a local witch shop and you know

00:16:23.660 even if you can't buy something maybe just like post about it or go and check it out and talk to

00:16:29.500 the people who run it and find out about it also please let us know about your local witch shop I

00:16:37.040 want to see pictures I want to learn about like what little cute holes in the walls you go to get

00:16:44.160 your uh witch supplies you know those that you don't gather from from the woods and from the

00:16:50.220 streets those that you purchase but I have so many I'm like looking at my desk and I you know

00:16:57.540 I have this like it's kind of silver pentagram that I got from Charmé Sortilage and like

00:17:03.040 they're just little bits and bobs so really I'm kind of in mourning about that it really feels

00:17:09.960 like the end of an era and in keeping with that theme also um I don't really watch the Grammys I

00:17:18.960 don't really get into awards shows it's not really my my thing but this year Joni Mitchell

00:17:28.720 performed at the Grammys for the first time she's won like 12 Grammys but she performed at the

00:17:36.220 for the first time this year she sang her song clouds which is already the most wistful

00:17:44.980 passage of time you know existential beautiful sad all of the emotions song but i'll tell you

00:17:53.520 it really hits differently when an 80 year old is singing it versus like a 20 something

00:18:01.040 and I just want to take more time than I should

00:18:05.840 to read all the lyrics from Clouds.

00:18:11.440 So indulge me for a minute and imagine singing this in your 20s

00:18:16.500 and then imagine singing it in your 80s.

00:18:20.740 Rows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air

00:18:25.640 and feather canyons everywhere.

00:18:28.860 I looked at Clouds that way.

00:18:31.040 But now, they only block the sun.

00:18:34.440 They rain and snow on everyone.

00:18:37.880 So many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way.

00:18:42.640 I've looked at clouds from both sides now.

00:18:45.660 From up and down.

00:18:47.240 And still, somehow, it's cloud illusions, I recall.

00:18:52.960 I really don't know clouds at all.

00:18:55.120 moons and junes and ferris wheels the dizzy dancing way you feel as every fairy tale comes

00:19:03.580 real i've looked at love that way but now it's just another show you leave them laughing when

00:19:12.420 you go and if you care don't let them know don't give yourself away i've looked at love from both

00:19:19.860 sides now from give and take and still somehow it's love's illusions, I recall. I really don't

00:19:28.240 know love at all. Tears and fears and feeling proud to say I love you right out loud. Dreams

00:19:38.960 and schemes and circus crowds have looked at life that way. But now old friends, they're acting

00:19:46.780 strange. They shake their heads. They say I've changed. Well, something's lost, but something's

00:19:54.680 gained in living every day. I've looked at life from both sides now, from win and lose, and still

00:20:05.500 somehow it's life's illusions I recall. I really don't know life at all. It's life's illusions

00:20:14.940 that I recall

00:20:16.540 I really don't know life

00:20:19.020 I really don't know life

00:20:21.860 at all

00:20:22.720 and again

00:20:25.880 hearing 80 year old Joni

00:20:27.960 sing this hits a lot differently

00:20:29.920 than hearing 20 something

00:20:31.420 Joni sing this

00:20:33.680 and

00:20:34.360 it's not a happy song but it's certainly

00:20:37.960 not hopeless and

00:20:39.420 Joni's not known

00:20:42.120 for being you know

00:20:43.420 gleeful it's very introspective like when I need a good cry I put on Court and Spark or you know

00:20:50.860 Joni Mitchell and and I may have talked about this on the podcast before but like I will put

00:20:56.340 on some Joni Mitchell and I'm weeping my spouse will come in and be like why are you doing this

00:21:02.140 to yourself like do I need to take your Joni Mitchell records away and I'm like I'm experiencing

00:21:07.480 the whole range of human emotion here let me have my whole range of human emotion you know for me

00:21:13.080 And even it's a Joni Mitchell lyric, you know, laughing and crying, you know, it's the same release. So I guess that speaks to that, Joni.

00:21:21.820 So thank you, Joni. Thank you for being an imperfect human who doesn't read music and yet created these tunings and masterful, masterful compositions that even some of the jazz greats have trouble comprehending.

00:21:42.720 uneducated in that way, I'm using scare quotes, because when you know how to do something,

00:21:50.320 you don't have to experiment, you don't have to figure out anything, you know how to do it,

00:21:56.160 it's one, two, three, it's ABC, but when you don't know what you're doing, that's so magical,

00:22:01.240 because you just get to invent, you can invent your own guitar tunings, and invent your own,

00:22:06.660 your own reality so i'm feeling wistful i'm feeling the passage of time i'm feeling 80 years old

00:22:17.040 so i shall be listening to joni mitchell records and also heading down to my local

00:22:25.700 witch shop to bid them a very very fond merci and farewell

00:22:31.920 oh i feel all the nostalgia of all of that one time i went to charme saltilege

00:22:42.980 and i walked in the door and they said are you here for the astara ritual and i said

00:22:49.960 yes even though i wasn't and i didn't know what it was and um they brought me to the back

00:22:57.500 and they brought me downstairs and there was a basement room that I had never been in before

00:23:02.740 and there were these beautiful women with long gray hair and long cloaks and there was a beautiful

00:23:10.600 altar laid with rabbits and eggs and candles flowers and they were just sort of tending to

00:23:19.520 the altar space and tending to the sort of ritual container of the room and inviting us to be there

00:23:26.880 and they had papers and there was something we were to write and something we were to burn and

00:23:33.060 we just sort of sat and like just to be welcomed into this unexpected way of remembering a very

00:23:39.780 ancient honoring of spring just to have this on a small beautiful side street in Montreal

00:23:47.640 was a real gift I'm really thankful to the people who tended that space and I've also

00:23:54.860 gone into witch shops where the owner was like cackling and mean and i want all those stories

00:24:03.640 too once in new orleans i i i heard uh the owner like sort of berate customers like you don't even 0.95

00:24:12.800 know what that fucking is get out of here that's too much for you you can't handle that get out of 0.97

00:24:18.980 here like not having it i was so scared i brought a book up to the cash and she looked at me like 0.99

00:24:26.360 all right i'll allow it you can have this you just made me think of this like clothing store i was in

00:24:33.020 in brooklyn and like bushwick and i was like oh can i see those overalls and the cashier said mama

00:24:40.900 those ain't gonna fit you and part of me was scandalized yeah but the bigger part of me was

00:24:48.360 like i appreciate your honesty yeah thank you for saving me like an annoying sweaty time in a 0.91

00:24:56.080 fucking change room yeah so we can do that too like you you can't handle that magic let me start 0.95

00:25:02.280 with this chamomile yeah take a candle and come back i don't know i mean tell us about your witch 0.99

00:25:10.860 shop we love those stories and okay if we're doing grammy's love i didn't watch it but tracy

00:25:19.120 chapman changed my life i have loved her since i was like 13 i love her so much and that moment

00:25:30.680 i think was really important to some people you know first black woman topping the country music

00:25:35.380 charts because i don't know his name but he did a cover song and then performed with her

00:25:40.640 and it was this honoring of her and you know she doesn't really perform live anymore she's hard to

00:25:46.220 find so to see her like her lesbian beaming beautiful self with her gray ancestor braids

00:25:55.560 just like just just shining with kindness just i i adore her so much and okay fast car is an

00:26:04.180 important song but I'm adding to the prescription talking about a revolution oh good oh good I was

00:26:13.860 hoping that you would mention that song yeah not her biggest hit but like her her biggest hit for

00:26:18.360 me for sure oh my god the one that hit me the biggest right and speaking of songs I also sob

00:26:23.780 every time I hear clouds and I sob in talking about a revolution I do because I the way she

00:26:31.840 feels for for all people in that song um really has always meant a lot to me so you know my old

00:26:41.220 roommate um like didn't have an easy life you know and she learned to play that song on the

00:26:49.160 guitar and she changed the lyrics to um you'll forgive me folks this is 25 years ago I'm just

00:26:56.420 trying to conjure it in my mind now um don't you know i need an education and it was like so

00:27:06.380 beautiful she was a high school dropout you know for like reasons beyond her control

00:27:10.740 and for her the revolution was like she needed an education i've completely forgotten about that

00:27:20.760 until this moment so now I'm like gonna go and put on some records and weep I guess okay I'm

00:27:27.860 gonna add one thing to the prescription I know this is prescription heavy but maybe that's

00:27:32.440 because we're we're approaching spring but I was maybe gonna say this for next week but it feels

00:27:38.100 like a joyful thing to you know balance some of the sorrow in the songs this week um have you

00:27:45.940 you watched uh the greatest night in pop music the music documentary about um we are the world

00:27:53.840 yeah oh oh i watched it oh i watched it you know i have we are the world earrings do you remember

00:27:59.060 i got them in like a silly shop that was like old new old stock you know when you go into a place

00:28:09.880 and you're like wow this has been in the plastic wrap since 1987 i'm obsessed yes the best part

00:28:17.540 about that i'll i'm i'm gonna let you finish speaking of the grammys you can be taylor and

00:28:21.760 i'll be kanye um i'm gonna let you finish but the the one of the most beautiful parts about that to

00:28:28.480 me was like that each of them was like scared of each other like intimidated i guess is the better

00:28:36.000 word you know like you're in a room with like diana ross and stevie wonder and bruce springsteen

00:28:41.960 and they're all looking around at each other like i can't believe i'm in this room like it

00:28:46.220 was so humanizing to see that absolutely that really got me diana ross in particular like

00:28:53.480 she's the one who starts by asking like hollow notes for their autograph she's like i'm your

00:29:01.280 biggest fan and and she's the last one to leave and she cries she doesn't want it to be over I

00:29:07.380 mean Diana Ross to feel like that in that room but the piece that's prescriptive to me in that

00:29:14.900 you know because as someone who has organized a lot of events and I'm really interested in the way

00:29:22.540 just just how you set things up just the order in which you do things just just the way in which

00:29:30.620 you're honest with people about where your heart at is and what you're trying to achieve can like

00:29:36.020 make a alchemical chemical reaction happen that changes the nature of the room

00:29:42.680 that movie you see quincy jones do it like and you see lionel richie do it like the way that they

00:29:53.800 bring people together and then there's this awkwardness and this tension and then they

00:29:59.740 anchor them in a real remembrance of why they're there and then set them up facing each other so

00:30:07.400 that they have to look each other in the eye while they have their ego moment and they have to support

00:30:12.360 each other and then the way that Stevie Wonder helps Bob Dylan made me sob I don't know what's

00:30:22.980 going on with Bob Dylan in that moment I'm not a big Bob Dylan head so I don't know what was going

00:30:26.680 on with him in the 80s but he looks fucking terrified and it's his moment to sing and he

00:30:32.720 whispers he breaks down he can't do it and then lionel richie comes to him so lovingly and is like 0.61

00:30:39.980 i love your idea there you know it was quiet but i see what you're doing there it's beautiful 0.78

00:30:45.180 and then stevie wonder fucking does like a bob dylan impression like he sings it almost like 0.76

00:30:54.420 a tribute to how Bob Dylan could sing it. And then Bob Dylan hears how he could do it reflected 0.98

00:31:00.660 in this other person's generosity and kindness and appreciation of his work. And it lets him

00:31:05.800 find his own voice in the song. It's so, so uplifting. It's so uplifting. So if you are

00:31:14.040 sobbing after listening to Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell, please go watch this moment in pop music

00:31:21.760 when people came together and made an impact that continues to resound today the royalties from that

00:31:27.160 song continue to earn money and millions and millions of dollars today yeah before we leave

00:31:33.360 I want to say like Quincy Jones put a sign on the door again these are the bit we're talking Michael

00:31:38.580 Jackson like these are the biggest names in the world of music at that time and like dozens of

00:31:45.300 them and quincy jones put a sign on the entryway door leave your ego at the door and

00:31:53.140 that's going to be part of the prescription too leave your ego at the door sob wildly

00:32:00.560 talk about a revolution drink chamomile tea visit your local witch shop

00:32:07.780 listen for the downloads yeah pull on those threads 1.00

00:32:13.800 and hold your sweethearts and your comrades close and bless the fucking bee and bless the fucking 0.99

00:32:21.440 If you want to support the Missing Witches Project, join the coven. 1.00

00:32:49.220 Find out how at MissingWitches.com

Missing Witches - February 12, 2024

MW Rx. 38 - We Have Sung In Tongues Of Angels And Then Stumbled On The Pavement

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