Missing Witches - WF Nikki Sanchez - We All Deserve To Be Well And Human And Deeply Interconnected

00:00:00.960 Hi folks, it's Risa and Amy here from Missing Witches, inviting you to get involved in our annual raffle in support of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal and Indigenous-run non-profits wherever you live.

00:00:14.480 We have a ridiculously fun witchy heap of prizes donated by a whole community of folks joining together to make a magical wave of reparations magic.

00:00:24.940 There's a prize pack from Jinx Monsoon.

00:00:27.500 A one-on-one tarot session with Sarah Gottesdiener.

00:00:31.420 Magic classes from Pam Grossman.

00:00:34.700 A full year of writing workshops with Kate Ballou and the Bardo.

00:00:38.980 Art pieces, jewelry pieces, readings, books, and so much more.

00:00:43.440 Make a donation to your local Indigenous support org or the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal.

00:00:50.140 And then just forward the receipt to missingwitches at gmail.com with the subject line reparations before May 31st.

00:00:55.680 For every $10 you donate, you'll get one entry into the draw.

00:00:59.740 Check out all the details at missingwitches.com slash reparations. 0.99

00:01:04.040 And, uh, blessed fucking bee! 1.00

00:01:05.680 Blessed fucking bee! 1.00

00:01:09.600 You aren't being a proper woman, therefore you must be a witch. 1.00

00:01:12.820 Be a witch! 1.00

00:01:14.000 Be a witch! 1.00

00:01:14.440 Be a witch! 1.00

00:01:16.200 You must be a witch. 0.99

00:01:19.860 I'm all staticky. 0.99

00:01:21.300 I'm all windstormy here today.

00:01:25.680 welcome home welcome friends welcome listeners welcome witches welcome windstorms and downed

00:01:34.480 trees along the road crying fits in the car in the morning welcome all our sorrows and all our

00:01:42.580 masks and all our unmaskedness welcome to the missing witches podcast welcome especially

00:01:50.540 to our guest Nikki Sanchez we're so excited to finally be in space and in circle we've quoted

00:01:59.660 you so many times without getting to hang out yet that it got weird we're so happy to finally

00:02:07.240 get to meet you and hear how you're doing and how you're thinking especially in this month that we

00:02:14.420 dedicate to our reparations project and so forth of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal

00:02:19.980 I want to say a lot of brilliant things that you've done and things that I'm in awe of by you

00:02:26.380 but I think it's more interesting if you feel a little up to it tell us who you are today what

00:02:31.940 projects are front of mind for you how are you? I'm so happy to be here I just introduced myself

00:02:49.680 in my language of Nahuatl. On my dad's side, I carry Papil lineage from Cuscatlan, which is

00:02:55.320 commonly known as El Salvador. And on my mom's side, I carry Scottish and Irish heritage. And

00:03:01.240 I am joining you guys today from the incredibly beautiful unceded territories of the Coast Salish

00:03:07.340 people, specifically the Lekwungen-speaking people, where I've been a guest since an early

00:03:13.540 aged because I was born during the war in El Salvador. And so my mom and I had to flee to

00:03:19.580 Canada. And so I've spent the majority of my life as a guest here, but also back home on my own

00:03:25.680 territories, as well as on the territories of the Quiche Maya in Momos Tenango. And I'm, I think,

00:03:31.340 very, very much a product of my circumstances. And because of coming into life in the middle

00:03:37.300 of a revolution and a struggle for the survival of my own people's indigeneity and our language

00:03:43.660 and our ceremonies and our culture, and then being displaced onto unceded lands of other

00:03:49.460 indigenous people. And then just really seeing this, you know, massive phenomenon of colonization

00:03:56.960 that has touched every corner of our earth and has done a really, really good job of making us

00:04:01.980 feel disconnected from one another as indigenous nations when prior to settler colonialism we had

00:04:10.820 thriving governance systems and economies and relationships and sharing and also mixing of

00:04:18.340 nations and those things far predate the past 500 years of colonization here on Turtle Island

00:04:24.080 and so that work has truly just or that that work of my life and the work of my parents who were both

00:04:30.520 revolutionaries during the war has made me really acutely aware of the impacts both like hyper

00:04:37.060 locally here in the lands where I reside as well as globally the impacts of colonization both

00:04:42.800 internally for us as like how we even come to know ourselves and come to constitute our identities

00:04:49.340 our relationship to land and then also externally about how we think about our nationalities our

00:04:56.280 lineages and how we think about other groups of people and the stories that we tell ourselves and

00:05:00.780 each other and how that creates you know either well-being inequity or harm exploitation desecration

00:05:08.820 of especially our mother earth so my work has really just taken whatever form is necessary

00:05:15.620 to talk about these issues and to advocate for the protection of land and for the sovereignty

00:05:21.200 of Indigenous and BIPOC people that have meant that I've gotten to work as a filmmaker and

00:05:28.040 make an eight-part documentary film series about global Indigenous resurgence. I've gotten to

00:05:33.640 author a book about the Coast Salish Orcas, who are my neighbours here on Vancouver Island.

00:05:39.680 I've gotten to do a lot of work in journalism and in the media, telling other people's stories,

00:05:46.000 whether it's related to art or fashion or language revitalization I really the medium

00:05:52.360 is not so important to me as the message and I think definitely growing up in a wartime with

00:05:58.740 parents who were so committed to the overall well-being of our lands and of our nation and

00:06:03.820 of our people that's definitely been a value that has transferred over so that's like whatever tool

00:06:09.640 needs to be utilized is the tool that I pick up. And along the way, I've also had to learn a lot

00:06:16.260 about how to heal, like how to heal when the front lines don't ever end and when the harm

00:06:22.400 has never stopped, but really, really wanting for the history and the lineages that I come from and

00:06:28.540 the sacrifices that have been made on my behalf for me to be here, to be able to celebrate and

00:06:33.860 exist in joy and to be able to model and share that with the people in my space and my community.

00:06:39.640 because I truly do believe that we are in a time where we're all ready for a collective healing

00:06:46.000 and that that's something we all inherently deserve. And especially when we frame it under

00:06:51.120 the lens of colonization, nobody has benefited holistically, whether they've benefited

00:06:59.080 financially or in terms of power and privilege, being part of a lineage of genocide and theft

00:07:06.940 and slavery it harms all of our spirits regardless of what side our ancestors are on and so this is

00:07:14.300 work that I truly believe is for all of us to take up and in my own teachings coming from our

00:07:19.880 prophecies around this time it is very specific that we all come with gifts that only we can bring

00:07:25.200 and that are really needed in these times and certainly I think we all really feel it now that

00:07:31.100 these are powerfully transformative times and that the consciousness that we decide to exist

00:07:38.000 within and the actions we decide to take in this time will determine what the future looks like

00:07:42.660 and I believe that a beautiful future is possible but I believe that we all need to go together

00:07:49.120 and I don't want to leave anyone behind we all deserve to be well and human and deeply interconnected

00:07:56.840 did I'm sure recently I both have about 6 000 follow-up questions but we have to ask them one

00:08:04.660 at a time so I guess I'll start with you alluded to this Mayan prophecy which was sort of like

00:08:10.380 memed in our society as like a doomsday but by by your way of thinking it's quite the opposite

00:08:17.600 of that so can you expand a little bit on that sure so there's many many different groups of

00:08:25.220 Mayan people that span from Southern Mexico into Belize and Honduras, Nicaragua and El

00:08:31.740 Salvador.

00:08:32.540 I named my papil heritage.

00:08:34.780 We are often interrelated.

00:08:38.360 And so I really want to just acknowledge that that prophecy is a Mayan prophecy, but it's

00:08:43.940 also one that I've been raised with.

00:08:46.100 And so the way that I was taught about it and have been taught about it again and again

00:08:51.420 my whole life. 0.72

00:08:52.480 And thank you for acknowledging the memed bullshit that existed in 2012 when nobody bothered to actually talk to any Mayan knowledge keepers or daykeepers or ceremonial practitioners. 0.51

00:09:04.840 And instead, they just decided to say that because one of the long count calendars was ending, the world was going to end, which, of course, wasn't the case at all.

00:09:14.960 But what it marked was the end of the 12th Bakhtun, which was the long count calendar, and the beginning of the 13th Bakhtun, which is a new long count calendar.

00:09:24.460 And so what I've been taught about that is that that beginning of a new era, a new calendar, actually marked an opportunity for a shift in the collective consciousness of humanity on the planet.

00:09:40.860 it and the way that I have been explained it is that for the first time the eyes of the serpent

00:09:48.480 could see through the eyes of the eagle and vice versa and so the serpent for me and the way that

00:09:55.380 I've been taught about it she is the one closest to the earth because her entire body her belly

00:10:00.580 her brain everything is always on the earth is always listening to the ground knows like more

00:10:06.900 than any other creature what the earth is feeling and so is so interconnected to our planet and the

00:10:14.300 eagle of course is like flies the highest of any bird and can see from this great macro perspective

00:10:20.060 but in that prophecy to see those two minds be able to come together and see through each other's

00:10:26.700 eyes I've always interpreted that as a kind of coming together of different worldviews so we can

00:10:32.380 talk about like a Western imperial worldview and an indigenous worldview for the first time,

00:10:37.160 actually being able to meet one another's consciousness and have the capacity to listen

00:10:42.940 and learn from one another and actually like maybe unify the wisdom that each holds versus

00:10:51.100 seeing them as mutually exclusive truths. Another piece of that prophecy, like I mentioned, is that

00:10:57.100 this is a very significant and pivotal time for humanity and that all the people who choose to be

00:11:05.100 here in this time all the spirits who came for this time came with purpose came with gifts that

00:11:10.120 are needed and that has always been something I've really held on to dearly because it really

00:11:14.860 dignifies you know that every one of us holds value every one of us holds a perspective that

00:11:21.320 can offer insight. Every one of us has something to contribute. And as much as these times have

00:11:27.740 felt incredibly daunting, the teachings of that prophecy have always kept me afloat in believing

00:11:34.880 that even, you know, the smallest actions of kindness or care, or even just being committed

00:11:41.760 to the well-being of myself and those around me and both the human and non-human beings around me

00:11:47.380 has significant impact and even though it may feel small in the spirit world things take on a really

00:11:53.280 different kind of level of impact and we never really get to know the full extent of what our

00:11:58.440 actions do create but really having faith that our lives matter and our actions matter and our

00:12:04.360 thoughts matter has been really powerful so that's to the best of my ability the way that I want to

00:12:11.020 share that and just knowing too that it has been a really profoundly tumultuous time since 2012

00:12:18.780 and the way that I've been taught about that is that because we need to rebuild our paradigms

00:12:26.760 because we need to rebuild our power structure because we need to reclaim the balance of feminine

00:12:33.700 and masculine energy, what we've been in the midst of is the like destruction and dismantling

00:12:40.800 of systems that are built out of harm and that are built from inequity. And so that actually

00:12:46.980 these tumultuous times that we've been, you know, surviving through have been part of this great

00:12:53.460 transition, but that in 2025, we'll see the healing begin. I was like, okay, I just got to

00:13:00.360 make it another two years I can get there we can do this and and you know I I know regardless of

00:13:06.780 who you are where you are in the world witnessing you know just year after year kind of feeling

00:13:12.760 like oh my gosh we've hit rock bottom oh my gosh we've hit rock bottom and then like the bottom

00:13:17.000 just continuing to fall and really for me when I was given the teaching about 2025 being the

00:13:24.440 turning point where we can actually shift into healing it allowed me to kind of release some of

00:13:31.160 that sense of dread and and fear because it's been so much you know just kind of disbelief of

00:13:38.040 you know what's happening to our planet on a climate level what's happening in our political

00:13:43.400 systems around fascism racism and polarization what's been happening to the women and non-binary

00:13:50.600 folks around the world and their oppression and how all of those things are interconnected.

00:13:55.760 And so coming to see this great unraveling as a necessary point for us to begin to be

00:14:03.860 able to build something entirely different and something entirely equitable and sustainable

00:14:10.220 has made it a lot easier to get up every morning and keep at it and find solace even in the

00:14:18.320 grief and even in the sorrow.

00:14:20.600 I guess as a parent and thinking about what an education your parents gave you, I mean,

00:14:28.620 they sound so astonishing.

00:14:30.460 How do you think we raise kids for a future like the one you can help us imagine?

00:14:38.080 You've taken up their work in such a wholehearted, and I love the platform agnostic approach 0.98

00:14:44.700 to like, I'm going to use whatever fucking tool. 0.53

00:14:46.860 I'm here to keep moving to keep telling this story to keep building this vision you know 0.98

00:14:51.980 I really really relate to that I thought that was so so powerfully stated I just wonder

00:14:57.560 yeah if you would think out loud about how we build that future especially from the perspective

00:15:03.220 of parenting yeah I want to share a story the last time I was with my dad he was asking me

00:15:12.640 whether or not I was going to have children and I was in my late 20s just finished a degree in

00:15:18.160 environmental studies and women's studies and starting a master's and acutely aware of you

00:15:24.960 know the state of our planet and the state of inequity and all of these things and so he asked

00:15:30.780 me you know like are you going to have children and I and I went into this long while like I don't

00:15:35.600 know because the world and what you know what are they going to inherit and he like my dad is

00:15:40.660 is, well, he's passed, he's in the spirit world now, but he is just a profoundly brilliant and

00:15:47.860 kind and funny, loving man. But he shut me right down. Like he shut me right down just like that.

00:15:55.420 And he was like, like, no, like Calabocca, like shut up. Children are the greatest gift of your

00:16:03.460 life. They are the greatest joy of your life. Enough of this bullshit. You're having kids.

00:16:08.180 and that's really stayed with me and I think like we get really cerebral you know especially

00:16:16.780 that is part of white supremacy is that we live solely in our minds I think therefore I am

00:16:22.480 and we forget about all the wisdom that we embody that lives in ourselves that is gifted to us from

00:16:29.440 you know 5,000 ancestors that had to exist for us to be able to be here and I think you know

00:16:36.460 I want to acknowledge, like, I have a lot of, I have, I have complex trauma. I have,

00:16:43.460 you know, struggled with a lot of different coping mechanisms. I have, you know, I really

00:16:50.200 had to work on hypervigilance and anxiety and all kinds of things, because as much as my parents

00:16:55.620 were incredible people, I was also born in a war zone and exposed to, you know, my mom was a

00:17:01.880 filmmaker. So it was in editing rooms that were, you know, documenting genocide at a really,

00:17:07.640 really young age. And that was profoundly difficult. And I, you know, I'm still like

00:17:14.280 really aware of the trauma that I carry and that some of that is just cellular and intergenerational

00:17:19.400 trauma. And some of it is, you know, the result of having parents who chose to sacrifice everything

00:17:25.380 on behalf of this collective vision and this collective desire for survival and

00:17:32.020 a sovereignty. And so what I really want to say is that like all of our children are profound

00:17:40.640 gifts. They're all going to be distinctly who they are. I really, it hurts me to watch the way

00:17:48.060 that settler colonial society tries to contort all these brilliant unique young people into a

00:17:57.760 docile model a docile body and a docile mind to be controlled by a state that's main you know

00:18:05.260 objectives are financial power and domination and so I think really honoring and this is a teaching 0.54

00:18:14.400 that I've been given both from my own heritage, but also from the heritage of the Nechalmas and

00:18:19.580 Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of the land that I live on, which is just that when we arrive, we arrive

00:18:25.060 like with our spirit and our wisdom and really honoring that in our children, I think is one

00:18:31.720 of the best things that we can do because they are needed and they chose, they chose you to come

00:18:36.820 through. They chose this time to come and in whatever way they choose to express their gift

00:18:42.940 to foster and uphold that rather than projecting.

00:18:46.600 I think there's been really a model

00:18:48.420 and notion in Western society

00:18:50.600 that these are little mini-me's that we're going to mold

00:18:53.520 and they're going to fulfill our,

00:18:55.600 we didn't get to go to the Olympics,

00:18:58.860 so they're going to go to the Olympics

00:18:59.780 or we didn't win the spelling bee,

00:19:01.100 so they're going to win the spelling bee, 0.88

00:19:02.240 but actually recognizing that the beauty

00:19:04.400 and the innovation and creativity

00:19:06.860 that's needed to solve the problems of this time

00:19:09.560 are going to come from the diversity

00:19:11.480 of the people who arrive and their well-being and their compassion and empathy and so I think

00:19:17.780 cultivating young people who feel secure and loved especially in you know the first from

00:19:24.420 gestation to the first five years being like just knowing that they are loved unconditionally and

00:19:29.660 they have everything that they need and when I say everything they need I'm not talking about

00:19:34.360 fancy strollers or the coolest new baby gadget but love food shelter community that's it you know

00:19:43.940 and and from there really just making space for them to bloom as the beings that they are and

00:19:51.980 celebrating that and celebrating the diversity of of every young person who comes through and

00:19:56.920 I think yeah I was even just talking last night with my partner about being young and and I used

00:20:03.820 be able to see spirits and I'd just talk with them and that was when we were still in El Salvador

00:20:08.540 and so it was people who who had been had been lost in the war and that was such a normal thing 0.99

00:20:14.780 that I'd you know walk from one room into the other and say oh is she talking with that bolita

00:20:18.600 Juliana and she said this and did that and all the adults would you know turn pale because they

00:20:24.720 couldn't believe that I just was talking with their you know their late mother and so so many

00:20:30.380 like that's really common for young people is that they can they're still so connected to the

00:20:35.300 spirit world and I like it lifts my heart and like my mind just fires on all cylinders when

00:20:42.320 I think about like what would the world look like if we didn't squash that if we didn't diminish

00:20:48.720 that if we didn't silence that like what would the world and like for both of you too right what

00:20:53.240 would you look like as a human being now if all those pieces of who you were were celebrated and

00:20:59.300 upheld and not suppressed or not chastised you know and I think like I really want to give a big

00:21:05.960 beautiful shout out to this is like generation z and the way in which they've taken gender

00:21:12.140 right the fuck apart and just refused to wear a pronoun or a gender identity that doesn't fit for

00:21:20.560 them that is such an incredible gift that they're showing us we needed that generation to come here 0.72

00:21:26.240 and show us that and I know that with each generation there'll be incredible gifts that

00:21:30.820 that come but we also I think you know I'm not a mother but I'm an auntie and I recognize that

00:21:37.320 there's an immense amount of responsibility as someone now who is making decisions that will

00:21:43.760 have profound impacts on the future of the planet on the future of our society and our technology

00:21:48.540 and really really wanting to think about to quote one of my heroes John Trudell like how do we stay

00:21:55.840 human? You know, how do we, in a time where we've survived so much harm, so much persecution as

00:22:02.700 women, so much persecution and harm as BIPOC people, how do we really, really remember what 1.00

00:22:11.220 it is to be a human being and stay that way, right? And not turn to stone and keep our hearts 0.99

00:22:17.340 gentle and kind. And that's something I really, I really think about a lot because one of the big

00:22:22.420 challenges with our current technological reality is that we're seeing that children aren't

00:22:26.760 cultivating empathy or compassion, because if they're engaging over platforms, they're not

00:22:31.920 having to see the impacts of their action. And so it's creating sociopathic behavior styles

00:22:37.720 in children who aren't being socialized offline. But that's not their fault. It's the fault of,

00:22:45.180 you know, all the developers of this technology and Apple and everyone who's profiting immensely

00:22:50.740 from these tools without ever asking what are the impact and so that's another thing that I really

00:22:56.100 really think a lot about is like how do you show up for your kids in a technological time right

00:23:01.780 like how do you rather than documenting them to put them on social media to share with your friends

00:23:06.680 like are you their director or are you their nurturer are you their parent are you their

00:23:11.820 their lover and their caregiver not just you know their documentarian and I'm really it really

00:23:19.240 concerns me to see a reality where so many children are just used to being filmed through

00:23:24.840 their whole life as though they're living in the Truman Show when it's like, no, that's your life

00:23:28.740 is here now in this moment. And like in the flora and fauna that surrounds you and the ecology

00:23:33.940 around you and your connection with people and non-human beings, that is what life is. That is 0.50

00:23:39.240 what humanity is. And I, I worry, and I, I think that there there's absolutely ways we can interject

00:23:45.620 and utilize technology for glorious things and for a deeper connection and for more justice and

00:23:51.920 for a deeper level of understanding and compassion. But in the way in which it's being utilized now

00:23:58.120 because of the people whose agendas are determining our algorithms, it's really scary. So I really

00:24:04.280 just think, you know, being present with your children and bringing them into non-human built 0.92

00:24:10.900 spaces into wild spaces into peaceful faces and giving them permission to explore and experience 0.73

00:24:16.900 and learn that's all about allowing them to be fully human and celebrating whatever whatever

00:24:24.060 type of human they turn out to be because it's a gift and that's something I like just hold really 0.99

00:24:29.140 really dearly in my heart for my dad being so strict with me and saying get these stupid thoughts 0.98

00:24:34.400 out of your head children are the greatest joy of your life so that's that's the story I want to 0.96

00:24:40.200 share about that and I also just really want to acknowledge too the work of parenting and you know

00:24:46.200 how profoundly difficult the realities of settler colonial society and nuclear family structures and

00:24:52.600 heteronormativity have made it for primary caregivers and how isolating it's you know been

00:24:58.400 made and how little like even when I go back to Central America or when I go you know up island

00:25:04.720 and spend time on like on reservation children are everywhere and everyone is co-parenting and

00:25:11.080 everyone is showing up you know and everyone is watching out whereas in North America and the

00:25:16.320 majority of spaces like children are like isolated to these certain realms where they're allowed to

00:25:21.900 be you know in their stroller in their high chair or at the park but they're not part of the rest

00:25:28.740 of our society. And it makes me really sad for what that means for the parents and how much

00:25:34.900 pressure it is when you're living in this nuclear family structure, instead of having an

00:25:40.100 intergenerational family present and a community present. And so I think a lot about that as well

00:25:46.640 is how we can support parents and caregivers to feel connected and supported and not alone and

00:25:53.920 to share their, you know, share their struggles and share their wisdom and share their joy

00:25:57.380 and celebrate their children and there's I want to just shout Andrea Laundrie who has a beautiful

00:26:03.600 blog as well as a really amazing Instagram called Indigenous Motherhood and she talks about like

00:26:11.420 your children aren't like a drain on you capitalism is your children aren't causing you stress like

00:26:17.200 patriarchy is and just really reframing that because we have really in in settler colonial

00:26:23.600 society lost a lot of our core values around why we have children what those relationships are for

00:26:31.040 what we're meant to be doing as aunties or mothers or caregivers what it's really all about and it's

00:26:39.060 not about like molding the perfect person it's about the experience and the interchange and the

00:26:44.840 reciprocity for what you get to share on that journey and what you get to learn from each other

00:26:49.520 and the love that you get to build and how unique that love is to each to each child and to each

00:26:54.780 caregiver and so I just yeah I really want to really acknowledge all all the parents and

00:27:00.440 caregivers out there for that like incredibly important role and to acknowledge that our

00:27:07.140 society has not been one that's really upheld or supported the well-being of caregivers and

00:27:13.660 I really hope to see that change. I feel like I want to tell you this story really quickly because

00:27:17.740 you know my husband's brother and so you'll have a small idea of this but yesterday we were

00:27:24.360 we were really excited we were going to work outside together me and him and our four-year-old

00:27:29.220 and we were we had the drill and the saw out and we were we were making her like a little

00:27:33.680 zone in a in a fairy circle in the woods and she was really excited about it for a little bit and

00:27:39.380 then she started crying and crying and crying that she felt really left out because she can't

00:27:45.620 use the power tools and you know we're like well work on this while you work on that and

00:27:50.100 turns out what she wanted was for us all to gather up the sawdust and take it over to a pile of snow 0.59

00:27:58.800 where a few days earlier a bird had died and to make like she made a bird out of the snow

00:28:06.280 and it was a memorial to tell the other birds that the bird king had died there and it was so

00:28:12.960 strange and silly and heart-wrenching and and when you said you know they come with everything

00:28:21.800 and it's our job to listen I find those moments with her are such an invitation to like flip

00:28:28.960 all of my expectations for the day to flip everything that I came in weighed down with

00:28:37.280 and carrying and to sit with her in her version of the world and I can't always do it but it's

00:28:43.880 fucking magical when I can't you know um love that story I love that story thank you so much

00:28:51.320 for sharing I got just chills my whole body of just the beauty of that sweet sweet heart and 0.97

00:28:57.360 that awareness and that like deep compassion and love like that's so what a beautiful lesson

00:29:03.340 you know so I'm really grateful that you shared that oh yeah and and you know I I think it it

00:29:09.140 just reminds me of this idea that I come back to from something I heard you say in your TEDx talk

00:29:15.260 that you know colonization isn't your fault but it is your responsibility you know like trying not

00:29:21.220 to be hard on us when we come in hard with what we think is a great idea or we're trying to be

00:29:25.720 good parents and we realize that it's not our fault that we're like this that it is our job

00:29:30.700 to do better yeah can you can you expand on that idea and some of the practices that you teach

00:29:35.860 around that for sure I I want to acknowledge that I have you know undergone like this my kind of

00:29:44.820 primary avenue to understand these systems of power and oppression and inequity through through

00:29:52.200 academia right and so that was like through doing a degree in environmental studies and then women's

00:29:57.640 studies and social justice and then a master's in indigenous governance and now somewhere in the

00:30:02.440 middle of a PhD and so those there is a tendency there because I've like been I've explored these

00:30:10.600 themes through those canons there is a tendency there for me to be hyper intellectual and like

00:30:15.900 even the notion of decolonization for a lot of people is a really like theoretical and kind of 0.93

00:30:22.340 like just ethereal thing that's intangible and so I wanted like when I boil down what the fuck

00:30:30.000 I'm talking about I'm talking about collective healing I am talking about the reality that we 0.70

00:30:37.920 are all the inheritors of this legacy of profound harm and displacement and that regardless of what

00:30:46.940 the particularities of our ancestral stories are in one way or another. And especially when you

00:30:52.540 start to look at the past generations, all of our stories are interconnected. And as much as it's

00:30:59.160 a painful history, it's also an incredibly beautiful one to see our survival, our ability

00:31:07.720 to adapt. And one of the things that I feel really sorrowful about is that because history

00:31:14.680 is written by the victors all of these incredible stories right like here I like I I have a Canadian

00:31:22.620 mother who you know is carries a ton of white privilege and put herself in a war zone for 20

00:31:29.660 years to be an ally and I'm a product of two people you know from entirely different worlds

00:31:36.060 coming together for love and for justice and many of us have lineages that are about that are stories

00:31:44.100 of love and solidarity that are stories of allyship that are stories of people actually

00:31:48.140 standing up not just for themselves but for humanity and for well-being of of the earth

00:31:55.500 and the ecology and for their fellow brothers and sisters and so I really you know I think that the

00:32:03.580 more we can understand our own histories the more we can see how interconnected we are and the more

00:32:09.900 we can like map out specifically what our roles and what our gifts are and I said like I I really

00:32:17.680 you know it's been very interesting for me because 10 years ago if I said white supremacy

00:32:25.980 out loud in a room full of people like some people would walk out and thanks to the work

00:32:32.840 of incredible activists both like indigenous activists and I don't know more and black

00:32:38.300 activists and black lives matter and all kinds of other global movements we're now at a time where

00:32:43.760 we don't have to like justify or argue that white supremacy exists or that patriarchy exists but that

00:32:51.300 in fact these are the systems that have designed our society that we've inherited and been born

00:32:56.080 into but with that understanding with that awareness we then that is like the pivotal

00:33:01.780 moment where we actually can redirect the world that we're going to build together, the future

00:33:08.800 that we're going to construct to leave behind for the ones who come after us. And that for me is,

00:33:16.420 it's a place where we take our power back. That is the instant where we can choose healing,

00:33:22.740 right? Where we no longer have to be blindly complicit within systems of harm. And so it's not

00:33:30.020 easy work there's and like this is why you know it is so important to recognize that we all have

00:33:35.640 really powerful gifts that are necessary because this is like we're at the 24th hour we need all

00:33:41.180 hands on deck to stop these systems like which are essentially systems of death and destruction 1.00

00:33:46.680 right whether it's whether it's patriarchy and harm against the the bodies of women and 0.71

00:33:52.120 two-spirited non-binary people or whether it's the extraction and desecration of the land the 0.92

00:33:57.580 ideology is the same and it's one of death extraction exploitation and like mania and so 1.00

00:34:06.020 when we come to be able and it takes courage to be able to sit in the truth of our history and to

00:34:14.400 hold the magnitude of harm and suffering you know that has been part of the colonization of the

00:34:21.920 Americas, of the transatlantic slave trade, of feudalism and Christian crusades, like just the

00:34:28.980 collective amount of trauma that is embedded in all of our histories. But when we find our courage

00:34:36.280 to sit in the truth of that and tell our stories and listen to each other's stories, that's when

00:34:42.300 we take the power back and we begin the work of healing. And from there, the work of collectively

00:34:48.600 constructing a world and a reality that we actually want to exist within and that we feel

00:34:54.560 proud and excited to bring new lives into. I'm so excited to get to say this face to face to you,

00:35:01.880 Nikki, because I'm an auntie, not a mother, but definitely an auntie. And some of the witches in

00:35:08.440 our coven have come to me with what you talk about as like the paralysis of shame and guilt of that 0.70

00:35:15.500 settler heritage and i'll say something personal and then i'll send them that ted talk that ted

00:35:20.340 talk has been such an incredible resource first for me to like blast past my own you know guilt

00:35:26.260 and shame but also to remind other people like the paralysis of guilt and shame is not helping

00:35:33.180 anyone so thank you again for just putting that out into the world and i do want to come back to

00:35:39.140 a bit of vocabulary a little a little academia can you talk a bit about indigenizing versus

00:35:45.580 decolonizing I think it's a very important distinction and I would love to hear you

00:35:50.440 for sure so I I choose to be a decolonial educator because I am someone who carries

00:35:58.600 mixed heritage I'm and I was not raised on my homelands you know I like since I was four years

00:36:06.000 old, I've been a visitor on unceded lands of Coast Salish people. I wasn't raised with my

00:36:14.480 language. And, you know, so I am, although those are things that I am like, I seek for myself as

00:36:21.160 part of my own reclamation and my own healing. That's also not my work to do. The work that I

00:36:27.320 can do really well, though, because I've been raised in between two worldviews is I can translate

00:36:32.660 and I can build bridges and I can recognize that I have the most beautiful and like kind-hearted

00:36:40.460 very blonde very blue-eyed mother in the world who used to have to have a letter when we'd travel

00:36:46.300 that like legally stated I was her child because we look so different and recognizing though that

00:36:52.260 my proximity to her privilege has meant that I could go to university has meant that I you know

00:36:59.340 as much as I detest it, can navigate bureaucracy. And also, because I like live in this body,

00:37:06.380 I also get to experience that no matter how many credentials I have, or how articulate I can be,

00:37:12.560 when I go to try and access like basic healthcare, I'm still going to be treated a certain way.

00:37:18.480 Right. And so being able, like, it's very bipolar and destabilizing to be kind of like,

00:37:26.280 you know in this world and in this world and in this world and this world not really feeling like

00:37:32.280 there's any stable place to belong but I have to recognize that in that in my unique positionality

00:37:40.820 there is a perspective that I can bring and so that work is the work of decolonization and when

00:37:47.740 I say decolonization is for everyone I fucking mean it and so often and this is really a

00:37:57.060 paternalistic worldview which is part of a white supremacy value set is that the work of like 0.90

00:38:02.400 decolonization would be to go into a community in Africa and build a water system or would be to go

00:38:09.340 into an indigenous community and set up a sports program and like that is if that is not your

00:38:15.160 community that's not your fucking work your work is to look at the ways in which the systems of 0.92

00:38:21.140 power and privilege that you exist within are causing harm in other places and how the wealth 0.98

00:38:28.380 that you get to enjoy the land that you get to occupy the institutions that you get to belong to

00:38:35.340 where the trade-off is in terms of like who's not getting that then who has been displaced from that

00:38:41.300 who is not benefiting from intergenerational wealth when you're, you know, getting handed

00:38:45.480 down property on stolen land. That is the work of decolonization. And so often there's this, like, 0.75

00:38:52.040 it's like a compulsive desire for, for settler people to want to go into other people's

00:38:59.400 communities and be the white savior. You're actually not recognizing that the systems of

00:39:04.780 culture, worldview, economy, extraction, power, and privilege that you come from are the root of

00:39:11.860 the problem. So don't go put a band-aid on the problem, especially not one that you think is

00:39:18.200 needed. Address your own community, address your own legal system, address your own political system,

00:39:25.820 deconstruct the origins of harm. That's what decolonization is. And in that, there is no 0.64

00:39:34.040 safe space in decolonization where we get to like step into like theoretical and then step out to

00:39:39.540 like but my personal life no it's all interconnected there is no like compartmentalization it's just as

00:39:46.840 much how you live your life how you treat the people around you the way in which you show up

00:39:51.320 to give mutual aid and care and you know build communities of equity and resiliency as it is

00:39:58.740 the way in which you decide to run for office or the curriculum that you develop as a teacher or

00:40:03.560 you know the the modalities that you utilize as a caregiver that work is for everyone for the people

00:40:10.820 who are every day living with the weight the oppression and the like absolutely

00:40:20.200 dismal impacts of colonization that is not their heavy lifting to do that's not their 0.99

00:40:28.740 fucking work to do and they shouldn't have to be showing up to educate white people about you know 0.97

00:40:34.760 why they deserve basic equity human rights and dignity what would be beautiful and what i hope 0.99

00:40:42.800 to see in my lifetime is that all of the forms of harm that have been pushing on communities of

00:40:48.640 color indigenous communities black communities that we do our work you know as people who hold

00:40:53.920 privilege that we do enough of our work to prevent those systems from pushing anywhere but on itself

00:41:02.020 to be accountable to redesign to be equitable to uphold the values that actually align with the

00:41:08.640 world that we want to create so that communities of color communities who've been historically

00:41:13.080 oppressed and extracted from can actually do their own work of sovereignty so whether that

00:41:20.020 is language revitalization whether that is land-based practices whether that is ceremony

00:41:24.580 whatever it looks like and determined only by those communities themselves that they have

00:41:32.340 the capacity and the liberty and the time and energy to do that work of being who they are

00:41:38.600 and that is the work of indigenization and sadly like so much of so much of our identities as 0.80

00:41:46.040 racialized people have had to be in response to the oppression that we face. And so we know

00:41:51.940 ourselves only as shaped by responding, resisting, revolutionizing against the ways in which we're

00:41:59.160 being oppressed for our own survival. But the world that I want to bring into being first by

00:42:05.460 bringing it into our consciousness is what would our world look like if we weren't contorted into

00:42:11.880 being reactionary and the way I think about this a lot and I think it's a really good example is

00:42:16.720 around first wave feminism and the failure of first wave feminism because it shaped itself

00:42:23.240 in response to its oppression and so power was equated with what patriarchy looked like

00:42:29.300 and so rather than fighting for liberation they fought for like equitable power and then just

00:42:36.100 recreated the same forms of oppression against other communities and women of color. And so

00:42:42.480 as though if we do not have a transcendent ideology of what liberation and sovereignty

00:42:48.040 looks like, we're only going to be a reflection and an imprint of the harm which we've been

00:42:54.660 shaped by. And so that's when I talk about healing. It's like reclaiming our wholeness,

00:42:59.540 not just being a response and a reaction to our oppression or harm or the systems of inequity that

00:43:05.320 we live in but actually reclaiming our spirits reclaiming your four-year-old daughter's wisdom

00:43:11.340 and compassion and actually allowing that to be what guides our work and what guides our truth

00:43:17.500 and you know when I say this I can feel my body speaks to me and when I say something that is true

00:43:23.260 my body tells me I think you know especially when we look at the way in which patriarchy has

00:43:28.880 impacted our current realities as women especially as life givers as you know non-gender conforming

00:43:35.200 people we have been taught to completely devalidate the wisdom that lives in our bodies 1.00

00:43:42.580 to sanitize and hide and be embarrassed about our moon times to not listen to our intuition

00:43:49.620 to not be emotional to not like do any of those things and those are our superpowers those are

00:43:56.280 gifts that were given to us specifically so that we could bring that wisdom into the world and

00:44:01.440 offer that perspective and so I really think we can learn a lot from our predecessors within

00:44:07.480 feminism of like how dare we recreate what we think of as liberation as a reflection or an

00:44:15.820 imprint of the ways in which we've been oppressed and unfortunately if we don't do our healing first

00:44:21.580 that is in fact what we do do and we see that like I see that in the communities that I exist

00:44:26.840 within whether it's you know around organizing mutual aid or land defense that if we if a lot

00:44:34.040 of us you know who come forward to fight for the land haven't done that work yet to heal ourselves

00:44:39.000 and so we end up actually being the most detrimental things to our own movements

00:44:43.600 because we're recreating those forms of lateral violence 0.98

00:44:46.300 so much fuck yes to everything that you just said amy and i got nauseous from heavy nodding 0.96

00:44:56.680 i'm dizzy i want to ask maybe one last question if that's okay i wonder you know if you could 0.98

00:45:02.640 take up this idea you you have for people who can't see you which is everybody listening except

00:45:07.940 for the three of us you have a map behind you a mind map and and you've mentioned before like

00:45:15.060 mapping our ways to i love the phrase a transcendent ideology you know how do we see

00:45:21.800 our superpowers? How do we do that healing that lets us see beyond this narrow death cult? How

00:45:30.180 do we wayfind to that future such that we can help be a part of it? I know that this is really

00:45:37.940 practical hands-on work that you do. You help people and organizations figure out how to do

00:45:42.380 this. Can you leave us and our listeners with a ritual or a thought process or a way of thinking

00:45:50.300 about mapping that we can we can engage with yeah great I think I so the what's coming to me

00:46:01.080 is find your medicine find your medicine and sometimes some of the medicines that come to us

00:46:08.740 at different times in our life then become poisons because we don't know how to let them go

00:46:13.960 when we no longer need them and medicine is for everyone healing is for everyone the ignorance of

00:46:23.680 me thinking I could heal my family or heal my community and then send them out into a sick

00:46:29.100 world and be well you know is so it's such a false ideology so if I want well-being for myself

00:46:36.240 if I want well-being for the ones I love I have to also be committed to the well-being of all our

00:46:41.360 relations and and our ecology and so a big part of that you know giving yourself permission

00:46:49.080 to be well to heal to to be entitled to medicine like medicine is for everyone and then spending

00:46:58.220 time you know evaluating and for me that's you know it's been a process there's been times in

00:47:03.520 my life where I've you know I've needed something to make me strong and it's shown up and and got

00:47:09.460 me, you know, got me through a really hard time, but when I wasn't able to let go of it, it then

00:47:14.700 became in itself something that was causing its own harm. And so recognizing that like the medicines

00:47:21.280 in your life will come and go. I know in the beginning, you talked about lighting up a joint,

00:47:25.860 right. And recognizing like that maybe at a time in your life, that's a medicine that's really

00:47:31.260 going to help you. And, and actually really being present and conscientious with your body around

00:47:37.600 like what is this doing for me does this medicine work for me right and so for me the last couple

00:47:44.220 years my medicine has been water and I've you know I whether it's like doing dips in the ocean

00:47:50.280 or in the river or just singing to the water when I'm in the shower and and praying to it and

00:47:55.640 thanking it like it's I'm really aware that it's been a medicine for me and for other people it

00:48:01.200 will be you know time in nature or you know just giving love to your pet or you know whatever it

00:48:08.620 is but find your medicine and love yourself enough and love the world enough to believe that you

00:48:16.300 deserve that medicine and so even though you know late stage capitalism is grinding racial oppression

00:48:23.620 is infuriating, patriarchy is like dispiriting, all of these things, like the one radical act

00:48:31.700 you can do for yourself is give yourself permission to access that medicine and really

00:48:36.700 recognize that you're worthy of it. And that's something that really came to me really powerfully.

00:48:42.780 We, right before the pandemic and the first lockdowns, a community in Northern BC where I

00:48:47.820 live with called Wet'suwet'en was under siege basically by industry and by the government and

00:48:53.720 there were tanks brought in and snipers and dogs and it was like this community was literally under

00:48:59.740 military occupation to try to force through a fracked gas pipeline and they called for allies

00:49:06.940 across Canada to shut down the country and so I got to be part of an incredible group of young

00:49:12.880 people who occupied the parliament buildings here in Victoria and we like slept there we did not

00:49:19.720 leave we held a sacred fire for the majority of the month of February ultimately I believe six

00:49:26.980 of the youth were dragged out by police and then shortly after we were all put in lockdown

00:49:31.620 and my role at that time was like doing all of our media and you know making sure we had all of

00:49:37.860 our basic necessities and just keeping everyone's wellness done as well as really doing all of the

00:49:42.860 of the kind of media and messaging and getting everyone really situated so we could align our 0.97

00:49:47.920 messaging and really, really uphold, you know, with the matriarchs and so what we're calling for.

00:49:54.880 But for that entire month, I barely slept. I barely ate. The place I extracted from again

00:50:02.540 and again was my own body. And right after that, we went into lockdown and quite a few of the young

00:50:09.400 people ended up living with me for the first lockdown and I was still in such a state of

00:50:14.520 heightened adrenaline that I'd get to five o'clock in the day and I'd be like oh I'm why do I feel so

00:50:18.600 shaky what's what's wrong with me and I would realize like oh I haven't eaten today I haven't

00:50:23.080 even fed my dog yet today because I've extracted so much from myself and I had this like lightning

00:50:30.880 strike of awareness of the hypocrisy for me to extract for me as a creature of this earth as

00:50:37.660 part of this beautiful web of interconnectedness and a product of this like planet that I love so

00:50:43.240 much for me to be extracting from myself and my well-being in the exact same manner I was fighting

00:50:48.840 against industry extracting from our land and to really see that ultimately if I believe that our

00:50:56.400 land deserves respect and to be tended to and to be listened to and to be honored and to be held

00:51:01.400 sacred that I have to also embody that for my own body because I'm an extension of that land of

00:51:08.320 this beautiful planet and that has been a fundamental shift for me I think a lot of us

00:51:13.620 especially those of us who are sensitive and deeply compassionate and really you know feel

00:51:19.460 deeply we become our own sacrifice zones and that's ultimately we're contributing to the harm

00:51:29.380 when we allow ourselves to be a sacrifice zone.

00:51:31.800 It feels like we're giving up for the greater good,

00:51:34.860 but ultimately what is needed more than anything

00:51:37.280 is your wellbeing for the long haul.

00:51:40.680 You know, and I talk to the people that I love

00:51:43.500 and the people that I do land events with,

00:51:45.160 like, I want to get old with you. 1.00

00:51:47.160 I want to sit back and be grannies telling stories 1.00

00:51:50.800 and laughing about this shit with you. 1.00

00:51:52.680 I want us to get there. 0.99

00:51:54.740 And for our movements and for the values

00:51:57.520 and the issues that we're so committed to, whatever they may be, like we're only going

00:52:03.700 to be able to see them through if we can stay present and our lives are sustainable and

00:52:08.460 we take care of ourselves enough to be able to continue to show up and to be there for

00:52:13.760 the next generations and to recognize that our roles might change, but we are necessary.

00:52:19.880 And that intergenerational piece, when we were occupying the legislature, I looked around

00:52:25.060 And I was like, you know, 30 at the time.

00:52:27.540 And I was like one of the oldest people there.

00:52:29.600 And I just remember looking around and feeling so sad because I needed my aunties.

00:52:34.320 I needed my elders.

00:52:36.060 And I know that there's an incredible history of activism and frontline land defense and

00:52:41.980 everything right here on Vancouver Island.

00:52:44.240 But because it's taken such a big toll on those who put their bodies on the front lines,

00:52:50.100 a lot of them aren't still here with us.

00:52:51.960 And I don't want that.

00:52:53.320 I don't want that for myself and, you know, my compañeras and I don't want that for my little brothers and sisters either.

00:53:00.100 I want us to get old together.

00:53:01.860 I want us to tell these stories together and I want us to recognize that if we're actually really, really committed to these movements, then we have to be committed to our own longevity and our own sustainability because we are necessary to seeing them actualized.

00:53:23.320 we just want to thank you so much we want to thank you for the work that you do

00:53:31.100 and the tools that you've given and for your time today and mostly for the uplifting for this vision

00:53:38.720 this transcendent vision of a future that we can create together by taking care of ourselves

00:53:44.800 and by taking care of each other the one last thing that i'd love to say is just that matter

00:53:51.020 creates consciousness and we can't build a world that we can't yet imagine and so if you can do

00:53:58.520 nothing else start with beginning to like taste touch feel experience the world that you want to

00:54:07.880 exist within because it is it's like it actually is our collective consciousness that will get us

00:54:13.680 there if we're locked in fear and doom and apathy or grief paralysis we cannot be in that place

00:54:22.760 where we are all of us are life givers all of us are creators and we have such incredible power

00:54:28.740 to build worlds and we do that like with our hearts and our minds so that has been

00:54:33.820 for me like one healing practice and also something that allows me to feel like you know

00:54:39.640 if I can do nothing else like I'm gonna start to imagine that world into being and I really believe

00:54:47.100 there's so many people around the world doing such good work on so many different levels

00:54:52.000 but that work of collectively bringing our consciousness towards what does harmony look

00:54:57.640 like what does peace feel like you know what what what does your fullest expression of the blooming

00:55:06.720 of your humanity, what does that look like? And actually allowing yourself to start to construct

00:55:11.560 that is actually one of the most powerful things we can do because if we can't imagine it, if we

00:55:17.060 can't imagine anything other than the history of oppression and pain and harm and conflict, that's

00:55:25.000 all we're going to be able to create forward. We need to start imagining these worlds so that we're

00:55:30.280 able to give birth to them. What's the best way for our listeners who want to support you and

00:55:36.080 support your work and support your vision of the future and what's the best way for them to find

00:55:40.140 you reach you yeah that's a great question because I am taking 2023 off of social media

00:55:45.720 my collective though I work with an incredible group of people and we do decolonial training

00:55:52.560 and a multitude of different things so decolonized together.com is where you can learn more about the

00:55:59.240 work that we do and yeah that that'll be it for now I guess the other thing is I do some public

00:56:05.780 speaking as well so you can just google me and there's there's places to be there but i yeah i'm

00:56:11.100 like just i really you know i'm really grateful to have these conversations and i also really invite

00:56:18.140 all of us to think about how we can do more connecting offline and like you know that

00:56:25.040 reclaiming our humanity in that way and and getting to live in this beautiful world that

00:56:30.120 we're a part of i think you're the first person that we've asked like how can we find you and

00:56:35.040 and throw money at you and you're like yeah you can't don't do that well actually no I can give

00:56:39.100 you a link right now I'm like if you want to okay good good so we we do my my collective is also a

00:56:46.580 non-profit and a charity and essentially what we do is like we do one one arm of the work that we

00:56:53.560 do is preventative and the other arm is reparative so the charitable stuff is like directly supporting

00:57:03.280 land defense, language revitalization, healing justice, even like things like basic housing and

00:57:09.360 things like that for our community members who are not supported. And we also do a lot of education

00:57:15.140 and capacity building. So if you would like to support that, I will give you a link right here.

00:57:21.260 And I would, we're actually, we'll be bringing a group of Indigenous and BIPOC change makers and

00:57:28.120 leaders and women who have given of themselves like extensively for the world on a ton of levels

00:57:33.520 will be bringing them out into the old growth forest this summer to do just deep restorative

00:57:39.260 healing. And that's something that I'd be so grateful for anyone who wants to support that

00:57:43.420 because so often the folks who are really leading us forward are not supported and there's no space

00:57:51.180 for them to do that work of sustainability and giving themselves their medicine and actually

00:57:56.200 refilling and I think that's one of the biggest things that I've learned for myself is that if

00:58:00.740 I'm going to put my body on the line to defend the land then I need to also go back to the land

00:58:07.100 and allow it to refill me so that I'm able to show up again and again in a good way and that

00:58:13.440 that needs to be that that needs to be the kind of reciprocity that I honor and so that's an

00:58:17.880 opportunity that I'm really excited to be able to offer to other women who do work that is just so

00:58:22.240 inspiring and is uplifting so, so many of us. For folks who are listening, we'll have the link

00:58:28.720 in the show notes, but it's a canadahelps.org link for a charity called Awinacola.

00:58:34.880 Awinacola. And Decolonize Together is part of Awinacola.

00:58:40.240 Of course, it's Reparations Month here at the Missing Witches podcast. And so if you do want

00:58:46.220 to make a reparation or a donation to this specific organization, then you can join our

00:58:51.640 fundraiser and maybe win a prize for making a reparation to this incredible organization so

00:58:57.520 win-win win-win awesome i'll just say too just a quick note because they'll be natural

00:59:02.860 decolonized together as a component of it if you do donate in that link you just in the note you

00:59:07.440 need to say for decolonized together thanks for sharing that with us thanks for sharing the

00:59:15.180 transcendent future the idea of an ideology that could go beyond thanks for lending your voice

00:59:24.000 and all your brilliance and research and the feelings from inside your body to the sense

00:59:29.580 that we have too that we can conjure a real living future that we can be part of that we

00:59:37.100 don't have to fucking give up on that we refuse and we appreciate every ounce of energy that keeps

00:59:44.080 us from collapsing under the weight of all of this and believing in 2025 we can get there we 0.76

00:59:51.560 can do it we really can and it's for me it is it's conversations like this right where it's like my

00:59:56.980 my cells are all listening and shimmering like phosphorescence because it's recognizing like

01:00:02.700 all my all my ancestors are right here you know just like holding us holding us up and pushing

01:00:10.140 us forward and like lighting that pathway. And I think to, you know, reclaiming hope and like

01:00:15.940 feeling excited about the future, how different the feeling in your body is when you allow yourself

01:00:22.420 to be excited about what comes next and what we can co-create. I know that I sometimes feel

01:00:30.220 my ancestors or I feel my body reacting. Sometimes these days I also feel our coven

01:00:35.600 because we get to spend so much time talking to these incredible people and I feel them now like

01:00:40.800 doing the full body nod sending you their their energy and their love for your work

01:00:46.400 their appreciation all over the world and supporting you I know this work takes a

01:00:50.920 fucking lot out of you so I hope that you feel that wave of love and support from

01:00:56.220 again a strange community of witches gathered in this space we make between our ears 0.94

01:01:02.020 I gratefully received that so much and just yeah I'm so grateful for the work that you guys do and

01:01:07.820 the community that you create and I'm really really honored to have been part of this conversation

01:01:11.560 today. Bless if I can be I guess. I'm blessed if I can be.

01:01:20.360 You must be a witch. The Missing Witches podcast is created by Risa Dickens and Amy Turok 0.87

01:01:27.780 with insight and support from the coven.

01:01:31.540 Amy and Risa are the co-authors of Missing Witches,

01:01:34.060 Reclaiming True Histories of Feminist Magic,

01:01:36.980 which is available now wherever you get your books or audiobooks.

01:01:41.040 And of New Moon Magic,

01:01:43.040 13 Anti-Capitalist Tools for Resistance and Re-enchantment,

01:01:48.060 coming fall 2023.

Missing Witches - May 25, 2023

WF Nikki Sanchez - We All Deserve To Be Well And Human And Deeply Interconnected

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