00:00:40.320So we just launched the fundraiser about an hour ago.
00:00:42.960And our inbox is filling up with reparations receipts being sent in already.
00:00:49.780And we're both very emotional and very excited.
00:00:52.620I'm just very much in love with you all.
00:00:54.820I'm just feeling like buoyed by hope, which we really need.
00:00:57.860if we sound extra caffeinated today it's not caffeine it's the love of our coven
00:01:04.760the excitement about you know making magic together yeah yeah for those of you who maybe
00:01:11.780don't know um about this reparations thing we're talking about this is really core it's become
00:01:17.320really core to our project and it's pretty core to how we think about what we do um we
00:01:24.200You know, this work of making magic, of investigating practices, of being in connection with nature, of understanding relationships with ancestors, of rooting and grounding ourselves and drawing in a sense of power when things feel powerless.0.99
00:01:41.740Like so much of these ideas were built on a base of extraction from Indigenous communities.1.00
00:01:48.340And that's just, it's okay to say it.0.97
00:01:51.060It's okay to tell the truth about it, you know.
00:01:54.200And we just want to build our work in a way that like learns from and honors and builds those relations with all our relations.
00:02:01.540And also that just allows us as a community to return some of the profits, some of the like bounty back into those communities as a way of making these cycles of love and support and magic stronger.
00:02:19.100That's the like philosophy of what we do.
00:02:22.020That's not the practice of how it works.
00:02:24.200Yeah. And I mean, we're witches, right? We're magicians. And so I personally believe in the power of ritual and specifically in this situation, ritual sacrifice, you know, I have borne witness to a Santeria ritual where like a goat was beheaded right in front of me.
00:02:46.240And I'm not going to do that myself. But financially, we can't do that. So every time we run this fundraiser or when I make a donation wherever to whomever throughout the year, I think of it as a magical practice.
00:03:06.080I think of it as a ritual sacrifice, and I have found that that energy does come back to me in the very magical, cyclical way that you're talking about, Risa.
00:03:17.760Like, that energy has always come back to me, and so, yeah, we hope you'll join us.
00:03:24.820Like, I guess very quickly, in case you haven't heard our Beltane special, I'll just do the real, real, real, real, real quick version.
00:03:38.640Make a donation of $10 or more to your local Native Women's Shelter or Indigenous Support Org or donate to the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal.
00:03:46.660all take a screenshot of your receipt and email it to missingwitches at gmail.com with the subject
00:03:53.020line reparation and the amount of your donation and that's important because for every ten dollars
00:03:58.140you'll get one entry into our raffle to win fabulous prizes again like we have amazing
00:04:06.400donors like jinx monsoon and uh renee from embodied astrology and amanda yates garcia
00:04:15.500like this this is an opportunity for you to connect with some of these real luminaries of
00:04:22.820the witch community and everyone who makes a donation of ten dollars or more will automatically
00:04:28.740get an email with a discount code from housewitch in salem housewitch has a dope online store by
00:04:34.580the way you don't have to be in salem you can buy our book from the house
00:04:38.400all kinds of gorgeous gorgeous witch stuff yeah their online store is lit so um you'll get a
00:04:47.840discount code so everyone's a winner and again like if you just want to feel good about yourself
00:04:55.340and that's the only reason you're doing it great we want you to feel good about yourself too we had
00:04:59.340one yes we had one donor already who was like today's my birthday and so i reached out to my
00:05:06.260friends and i asked them like in lieu of gifts if they could make a donation to the native women's
00:05:11.900shelter of montreal and she's really hoping that you know that that gets some traction
00:05:16.820also we get it like times are fucking tough if you don't have 10 bucks to spare this month like
00:05:26.000we've been there oh yeah please don't stress yeah don't stress but you can help us out by0.52
00:05:31.760uh sharing sharing the link to the fundraiser telling people about it like that that is super
00:05:38.880useful if you can get somebody else to donate 10 bucks then that's like you know that's your
00:05:43.940contribution yeah it's a way of inviting people into the circle too right like that this is like
00:05:50.040a way of sharing that this community this coven that you're a part of is doing this collectively
00:05:57.220and your friends and family are welcome
00:06:01.700and they might get a reading and they might love it.
00:06:04.340They might win a prize that might change their lives.0.98
00:06:07.440Also, flip side, do it to piss off your racist uncle.0.99
00:06:13.300Make a donation in your racist uncle's name.0.98
00:06:16.180I do want to say too that we had a couple of last minute prize additions.
00:06:23.160So if you heard the list on our Beltane special,
00:06:25.900do go to the website and check out the updated list um a hundred dollar gift card for jewelry
00:06:34.640from michelle and also our publishing house um north atlantic books i'm kind of really excited
00:06:42.760about this prize because i think three winners get a box of five books and according to bevan
00:06:51.860from nab um the winners are going to get to choose which books they want from nab and so you could
00:06:59.480like get your summer library set and three people are going to win that prize guys go look at the
00:07:06.800books published by north atlantic books like every time i see that list i feel really cool
00:07:12.520that we're in that company because they publish incredible work yeah not the least of whom being
00:07:18.280vandana shiva i uh i did an episode about her was it last year the year before i can't remember but
00:07:23.860time i have no idea she again is just like a luminary and uh i didn't even know that she
00:07:32.560was published through nab and i looked at their website and i was about to buy a bunch of her
00:07:37.200books and then nab was like oh which ones do you want we'll send them to you and i was like i'm in
00:07:43.320the same house as vendana shiva like i can't believe it i've read tarot incredible incredible
00:07:50.140book of decolonial prophecy and divination that's been on the podcast recently i just i'm in love
00:07:56.380with this book um post-colonial astrology i'll sparkly cats incredible incredible research
00:08:02.140incredible work so i mean i mean there's like hundreds there's so many good rob brezney like
00:08:06.120the greatest astrologer and writer just love the way that he thinks anyway blah blah blah
00:08:11.760that's cool that's a sweet prize three people are gonna get that prize so you know I think
00:08:18.640we have 16 prize donors and some of our donors have donated multiple prizes so there's like
00:08:25.360over 20 prizes thousands of dollars worth of prizes um if that's the only reason that you're
00:08:31.700making a donation is so you might win a prize like great all hands on deck yeah angels in our
00:08:38.060coven who've offered to like hand quilt and altar cloth i mean just so many beautiful humans
00:08:44.200participating in this it just feels amazing and so y'all know that during this month of may since
00:08:51.220we've been doing the rx um i like to devote my musical choices um to indigenous musicians
00:08:58.640throughout the month of may and sort of spotlight them and i brought the cutest most beautiful
00:09:07.280little song um John Trudell was a Santee Dakota activist performance artist actor poet mainly a
00:09:17.740poet but he also made lots of music um he died about 10 years ago and some of his poetry is0.50
00:09:27.280incendiary like we don't want your fucking tears you know that kind of thing but this one I want0.96
00:09:36.600a soft launch. So this is a song called Children of the Earth. And it's actually kind of like0.99
00:09:43.980a spoken word song, but it's delivered by a child. So it's the voice of a child. And I'm just going
00:09:53.040to read all the lyrics because, yeah, Risa is holding her heart and maybe you will too.
00:09:58.760So this is Children of the Earth by John Trudell.
00:10:01.960the human beings have responsibilities to take care of the living natural world
00:10:11.080the mother takes care of us provides all we have if we do not care for her she cannot care for us
00:10:19.060we are all children of the earth kids moms dads aunts uncles grandmothers grandfathers
00:10:29.840We are all children of the earth. The earth is our mother. Mother earth is for all of us.
00:10:40.460We must all be kind to our mother, take care of her, and love her. Mother earth has many children.
00:10:48.820All living things are her children. The plants, animals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles, and
00:10:57.860the people. The human beings have responsibilities to take care of the living
00:11:07.100natural world. The mother takes care of us, provides all we have. If we do not care for her,
00:11:16.240she cannot care for us. The human beings have thoughts and can act on these thoughts.
00:11:23.260how the human beings think affects all living things. Human beings are caretakers to take
00:11:31.700care of Mother Earth, protect her with good thought. We are all children of the Earth.
00:11:38.440We are all children of the Earth. Kids, moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandmothers,
00:11:45.260grandfathers, we are all children of earth. The earth is our mother. Mother earth is for
00:11:53.460all of us. So again, listeners, I would really encourage you to check out John Trudell's music,
00:12:01.540but also his poetry. He was so prolific and an incredible activist. And I think like Bob Dylan
00:12:09.700said that you know one of the records that he put out in 86 I think was the best record of the year
00:12:16.580um there are so many people that you know were on the John Trudell train and so yeah check out his
00:12:23.900music check out his poetry that and of course and this is going to be my prescription for the next
00:12:30.580four weeks make a donation of ten dollars or more to your local native women's shelter send us a
00:12:36.540screenshot of the receipt again the reason that we do screenshots is because we don't touch the
00:12:41.020money and you get to keep your tax receipt so if you want to be generous like be generous you get
00:12:49.120to keep that tax receipt Risa and I aren't you know taking an administrative fee from anything
00:12:57.040that comes in we never never touch the money so that's why we do it the screenshot way and then
00:13:01.400you will get your house witch discount code you'll be entered to win one of the amazing prizes you
00:13:07.360can go to our website for the link and it's an opportunity to do something together you know
00:13:17.340like a lot of us are solo practitioners in our magic in our witchcraft and this is like a
00:13:23.700collective spell of protection that we can put over the women and children of the earth who are
00:13:33.080frankly the real victims of violence i don't want to say that let me let me backtrack a little bit
00:13:44.460who are most often the ones without agency in making the decisions that bring about this
00:13:53.400violence. So let's like weave a blanket of protection over the whole earth, you know,
00:13:59.240like John Trudell says, like human beings have thoughts and can act on these thoughts and how
00:14:05.480we think affects how we behave. You know, like granddaughter Crow said, what we believe
00:14:10.700determines our behavior and so what do you believe and how is that gonna determine your
00:14:16.440behavior going forward my prescription goes in a very different direction i'm just gonna do it
00:14:23.660yes please do it it's related though it's related and i don't i don't want people to be like i'm not
00:14:30.720listening to the prescription for the next four weeks because it's just going to be amy going on
00:14:34.080about this fundraiser so please like let's change directions thank you risa okay i mean mostly
00:14:40.500because I don't know about you guys um I think you know this about me though if you've listened
00:14:45.900to this before like when there is a large scale social movement for liberation happening through
00:14:53.300that I can like witness through social media it pulls my energy and my eyeballs through the skin
00:15:02.140of my forehead and sucks me in in and my whole nervous system gets bound to those people and I
00:15:11.240spend days just sort of weepy and sending money and writing letters and just watching and trying
00:15:17.220to witness and I don't know it's just like as soon as there's people singing together I'm crying so
00:15:23.020of course when there's people like protesting together I'm just I just am bound up in it in a
00:15:28.520way all of my nervous system is bound up in it in a way it's hard to explain but anyway um so I
00:15:35.240spent like hours last night watching live footage and reels and lives and whatever from the different
00:15:41.360encampments student encampments in support of Gaza all over the world um watching teachers
00:15:48.500surround their students to protect them watching communities arrive when the call came in to
00:15:53.020support the kids, watching when things got violent. I mean, just, I just feel so much that
00:16:00.700that youthful energy of like seeing what is right and wrong. And like, it's complicated. There's a
00:16:06.980lot to piece out. This isn't going to be a simple situation to resolve. But for kids to say, you
00:16:11.720can't use my tuition money to invest in arms manufacturing. Like what is school for? What is
00:16:20.520a university for why am i here what is a what is a value to this i you know like they they come with
00:16:27.820so much so much true energy hope optimism for their lives and for the world and so for them to
00:16:36.980see they they really are this barometer i think a lot of the time of ethics to say this isn't right
00:16:42.440you can't use the money i spent here to learn about poetry or mathematics or or the universe0.95
00:16:48.760or marketing or whatever the fuck you want to learn about to kill kids yeah that just those0.98
00:16:55.120things just shouldn't be connected um so anyway i i my prescription this week is the gossip0.99
00:17:02.200standing in the way of control it's beth ditto i just need beth ditto today maybe you do too
00:17:08.960just like jump and scream and just the lyrics are just so so accurate you know you just have
00:17:34.140to live your life and sometimes just being who you are puts you in the face of the forces of
00:17:40.820control just just knowing what you know about what's right or knowing what you know about your
00:17:46.560identity about who you are in your body as a queer person as a trans person sometimes just
00:17:51.660being who you are puts you at that place in the barricades it puts your body on the line and
00:17:58.740that's kind of terrifying and this this song knows that you know that there's those moments where
00:18:04.460you almost can forget who you are and it's so heartbreaking um but they say you know it's part
00:18:12.460not giving in and part trusting your friends and you do it all again survive the only way you know
00:18:19.360standing in the way of control and I just that is the spell I want I also see an act of reparations
00:18:26.860as a way of standing in the way of control right that when we feel those moments of being told that
00:18:32.800we can't be who we are that we can't we can't hope for liberation we can't be in community with each
00:18:40.960other we can't live from a place of our deepest empathy that that puts us in the way of control
00:18:45.900and we stand in defiance to that together yeah because like individualism is a product of
00:18:54.540capitalism because you know the more that we aren't helping our communities and relying on
00:19:02.100the help of our communities and doing things for each other the more money we need to live
00:19:08.180so it's in capitalism's best interest for us to not work together so again we can stand in the
00:19:16.860way of that control by by joining forces in in whatever way that that that manifests yeah and
00:19:23.340it's such an interesting balance i mean this is why universities exist right to think about that
00:19:27.780balance between what the community and the social fabric needs and what the individual needs and i
00:19:35.780i think that you know there's as a witch i insist upon my right to be an individual as well right
00:19:42.600of course like i i insist upon my right to think differently and to behave differently than the
00:19:48.060ways of a dominant culture, and that needs to be protected. But coming together to say that we
00:19:56.240have a right to say no to war is kind of baseline. It's kind of just like, I don't see why we have
00:20:04.300to argue so much about it not being okay to torture and kill children or to find health
00:20:10.760workers with their arms zip tied and masquerades. That shit's not okay in any country, in any world,1.00
00:20:16.100and god bless the kids god has blessed the kids god etc bless the kids for saying fuck no not in1.00
00:20:22.540my name so yeah listen to some beth ditto make a donation read some poetry by john trudel or0.99
00:20:30.580otherwise um reading poetry is also an act of witchy defiance hell yeah take care of your brains0.54
00:20:39.220if you're like me and you pour yourself into these things it can be really damaging to our
00:20:44.680physical health and our mental health too so know that that's i don't wish that upon you i don't
00:20:50.380wish it upon myself it's just a balance that i have to work on i'm gonna go outside today i hope
00:20:54.780you do too i'm gonna dance around to some gossip and i'm gonna make a donation today and i think
00:21:02.940just do what you can do your best no we love you we love you we love you so much happy may0.99