Missing Witches - Witches Found： Radical Compassion With Nova

00:00:00.300 Warning. In this discussion of mental health with NOVA, the subject of suicide does come up.

00:00:06.020 If you are struggling, please visit Crisis Service Canada online or call their hotline at 1-833-456-4566.

00:00:16.620 In Quebec, at 1-866-APEL. Cesse 1-866-277-3553.

00:00:24.960 I know a lot of our listeners live in the U.S., so for you, the Lifeline Network is available 24-7 across the U.S. at 1-800-273-8255, or check out their website for options for the hard of hearing, a Spanish-language hotline number, and a Veterans Crisis Line.

00:00:43.080 Or you can check out our Instagram or the show notes for this episode to get more resources.

00:00:48.200 You are loved, and blessed be. 0.95

00:00:52.060 You must be a witch. 0.66

00:00:53.560 So I'm here with Nova, who is a Montreal witch, and we started talking because she posted online that she was reading one of my favorite books, which is Witches, Midwives, and Nurses by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English.

00:01:12.840 There is a PDF version, and so I'm going to put it in the show notes for this because I want everyone to read it, but I also would suggest that you purchase the book.

00:01:20.620 It's short, it's very inexpensive, and then you get all the little pictures and stuff.

00:01:25.820 Anyway, so you probably gathered from the title of the book, which is Midwives and Nurses, what the book is about, and Nova herself is a nursing student.

00:01:36.400 Yeah.

00:01:36.520 So I thought that she would be particularly capable to talk to us about, um, the relationship

00:01:43.120 between being a witch and being a nurse. 0.62

00:01:46.120 So if you want to start by telling us like how, what kind of witch are you at the risk

00:01:51.460 of essentialism?

00:01:52.320 Like, how do you describe your craft or your belief?

00:01:54.760 Uh, pretty eclectic.

00:01:56.400 Um, I'm, I consider myself a baby witch, even though I've been like really into this for

00:02:01.620 like years, you know, it's just a process of like a lot of learning and, uh,

00:02:06.520 figuring out what works for me, what doesn't. I think a lot of things that like, I find really

00:02:11.140 interesting are, you know, things that are related to healing, uh, which I guess kind of makes sense

00:02:16.660 because you know, the whole like nursing assistant thing. Um, yeah, so I, I'm definitely going like

00:02:22.560 in the direction kind of green, which kind of like healer type things. So. And so how does,

00:02:28.960 I mean, you're in, you're in practical nursing school, like a Western, you know, hospitals, 0.72

00:02:34.160 what we think of as like a quote-unquote you know regular nurse um so how does being a witch 0.59

00:02:39.780 impact your day-to-day as a nurse uh well i find that it helps me take a really holistic approach

00:02:47.740 when i'm looking at my patients which like you're supposed to have anyways that's one of the first

00:02:52.420 things they teach us is like you know be respectful of people's cultures be respectful of like their

00:02:56.880 needs um the the model we use in nursing actually is called the virginia henderson 14 needs

00:03:03.660 and basically that was a nurse who came up with um how to approach your patient so i don't remember

00:03:11.600 them all off the top of my head but it's basically like the need to breathe the need to eat the need

00:03:15.920 to sleep the need for play the need for um religion or spirituality whatever that is for you

00:03:24.180 so these needs aren't just the very practical like she starts with the yeah air exactly so you have

00:03:30.400 the the different obviously like a person's need to breathe is their most important need if they're

00:03:36.120 not breathing they're not doing much else right uh but you know the need to feel accomplished is

00:03:42.100 in there as well you know so so all things like that are really important when you're taking care

00:03:48.460 of a patient because uh as it's kind of explained in the book uh nurses and doctors are very

00:03:56.140 different like very different doctors come in they look at you they write a prescription and

00:04:02.360 then they leave like they might do like you know check your lungs a little bit but basically the

00:04:08.180 nurses do everything we are the ones who uh bathe the patients uh now we also have uh orderlies who

00:04:16.780 help with that but still like especially as a nursing assistant and not like an actual well

00:04:21.640 i don't want to say not an actual nurse we're still nurses um we do a lot of that we do a lot

00:04:26.900 of like the basic patient care and you know we're the ones who have to listen to them not have to

00:04:33.380 but want to listen to them who allow them to express themselves and we're you know we kind

00:04:39.400 of have a role of like uh caregiver in general like kind of like in the book it even says uh

00:04:48.440 And nurses at first were kind of looked at as like glorified mothers sort of thing, just with some medical training.

00:04:56.500 And that's kind of what we are because we're there to listen to you.

00:04:59.700 We're there to take care of you.

00:05:00.720 We're there to make sure your needs are being met.

00:05:05.980 And how that kind of ties in with like my practice, I guess, is that for me, I'm all about healing.

00:05:15.900 I'm all about wanting to take care of people and a huge part of my spirituality is, you know, connecting with nature and just using natural tools to help us be our best selves.

00:05:31.220 So if you look at like different medical things that are more recent, we are going back to the basis of using natural things.

00:05:43.320 Like now in wound dressings, we use honey, which is, uh, has healing properties and helps

00:05:49.080 heal it a little bit better.

00:05:50.560 I know personally myself, I'm a vegan and I don't personally use honey, but I mean,

00:05:54.740 I still think it's a really great thing that, you know, we're using natural resources in

00:05:59.040 medicine.

00:05:59.600 We also use silver in dressings because that helps promote wound healing as well.

00:06:04.200 And again, that's something that's very natural, you know, it's not lab made.

00:06:07.880 And I think that's really great.

00:06:10.120 So, um, do you, you see nature itself as being a healer?

00:06:14.400 Yeah, absolutely. Like for myself, especially, cause, uh, I do have mental health issues and

00:06:19.840 that also plays a huge part in my practice. Um, my, the thing that makes my soul feel

00:06:26.640 at home is being in nature. Like at my foster parents' place, they have a little pond in the

00:06:32.540 backyard and there's a rock just big enough for me to sit on in the stream. And it's surrounded by

00:06:38.400 flowers and bushes and it's just so magical that's the only way i can explain explain it and

00:06:46.260 we love that word around here so yeah magical is good and uh yeah it's really just like a rock big

00:06:51.460 enough for me to sit cross-legged on and i mean i'm really tiny so like your average person

00:06:55.280 probably gonna do that but can i say your uh instagram handle yeah uh it's a no tiny mtl is

00:07:02.560 like my personal one and then like my witchy one is nova medusa but yeah tiny mtl actually came from

00:07:09.180 uh one of my friends who used to call me tiny uh and then montreal mtl you know but yeah and so i

00:07:17.220 know you you have a couple of things going on in terms of your um your social media presence yeah

00:07:23.420 you just mentioned your instagrams but you also do a blog you mentioned your mental health yeah

00:07:27.680 Will you do a blog about that?

00:07:28.860 Can you talk about that a bit?

00:07:29.940 Yeah, for sure.

00:07:32.120 I'm really not as active as I should be just because, again, mental health issues, you

00:07:37.780 know, but I started a blog on borderline personality disorder because that's what I have.

00:07:43.540 And I've been working on myself since I was 15.

00:07:46.140 I'm 26.

00:07:46.660 So that's like a lot of time to deal with this stuff and, you know, make progress.

00:07:53.200 So I'm considered what's, um, what psychiatrists consider highly functional or high functioning.

00:08:00.180 So I have a job, I have stable relationships.

00:08:04.880 I'm capable of being a quote unquote functioning member of society.

00:08:09.720 Um, so like everyday people might not see my personality disorder.

00:08:16.360 Like they don't know my struggles and it's really easy to kind of dismiss like, oh no,

00:08:21.060 you're fine.

00:08:21.880 You don't look sick.

00:08:23.200 yeah exactly that's my favorite you don't look sick like you don't look crazy you're beautiful

00:08:29.020 you couldn't possibly be yeah but you're you're so functional and you're so nice and you know

00:08:33.580 like everybody loves you like okay yeah that doesn't change the fact that like I struggle

00:08:37.780 you know and and a lot of us don't complain either exactly like I'm the type of person who

00:08:43.680 up until this year have has always pushed myself like when I was in school I was working full time

00:08:49.740 school full-time and uh at some point i was the primary caregiver for my grandfather who had

00:08:54.660 terminal cancer so i'm the type of person who is always doing something yeah exactly you know so a

00:09:01.460 lot of people see that and they're like oh there's no way you have mental health issues and i'm like

00:09:04.520 you don't know what i go through behind closed doors and it's funny because oftentimes that push

00:09:08.760 comes from those feelings of worthlessness right so it's like you know and it's like

00:09:12.680 Because you're, yeah.

00:09:14.180 That's it.

00:09:14.620 And it's just the type of life I've had is always been chaos.

00:09:19.200 So I thrive in chaos.

00:09:20.700 I know how to handle these situations.

00:09:22.820 Do you put me in a stressful situation?

00:09:24.500 No problem.

00:09:25.360 I got this.

00:09:26.580 You know, you give me like a normal problem.

00:09:28.440 Like, oh, you have to write this essay by this date.

00:09:31.800 I'm like, okay, it's due in two hours.

00:09:33.880 Now I can write it.

00:09:34.800 You know, like stuff like that.

00:09:36.040 Like it's not great. 0.59

00:09:37.800 But, uh, so how has being a witch, um, informed your, your recovery?

00:09:44.520 Recovery is the word. 0.72

00:09:45.820 No, recovery is a good word.

00:09:47.640 I like to, I like to put it as that cause I will always have borderline personality

00:09:51.360 disorder, but you recover from the symptoms, you know?

00:09:54.860 So it's, um, a lot of what it is, is you have to look at yourself, uh, introspectively.

00:10:02.920 You have to remove yourself from the situation a lot.

00:10:06.360 uh so equanimity where you are looking at it from an outside perspective like you kind of imagine

00:10:13.180 yourself looking at a movie but you're the movie and uh so things like meditation great for that

00:10:20.780 things like reading tarot you know it gives you kind of like a perspective that you wouldn't have

00:10:26.580 thought of get into that please uh so i started reading tarot a couple years ago i still refer to

00:10:34.320 resources like one of my favorites is online bitty tarot okay really really enjoy her stuff um

00:10:40.600 and she has like really good uh descriptions i find of things and she really gets into it

00:10:45.520 i also have a couple books on tarot that i still uh reference and when i'm reading i like to look

00:10:52.060 at a bunch of different references to get like a really whole idea of what that card means and

00:10:57.440 then compare it to how i feel about that card so um i practice readings with my friends sometimes

00:11:03.780 Mostly I do it for myself and I do it when I'm feeling like, okay, I, there's something wrong.

00:11:09.220 There's something going on.

00:11:10.000 There's something I'm not seeing.

00:11:12.120 I'm going to consult the tarot.

00:11:13.840 Instead of just ruminating.

00:11:15.700 Yeah, exactly.

00:11:17.200 So I consult my tarot and then a lot of times I'm like, oh, right.

00:11:23.540 Okay.

00:11:24.340 I knew that, you know, like, but it's just kind of like, they're calling you out.

00:11:29.980 That's how I see the tarot.

00:11:31.220 The tarot, they're just there to call you out.

00:11:33.780 you know give you guidance like kind of like be like hey like you're heading in this direction

00:11:38.260 when you should be heading in this direction uh especially when it comes to mental health like

00:11:43.080 um maybe you're being too passive maybe you're being too active you know maybe you need to take

00:11:49.140 a step back and really just like be with yourself you know things like that so uh that comes into

00:11:56.180 play a lot also uh i love working with candle magic candle magic is my favorite because i have

00:12:03.140 always loved candles even like when i was a kid um and i love burning things

00:12:09.200 so you know the idea the idea of let's say when i want to get rid of negative feelings

00:12:17.140 write them on a paper burn them they're gone i mean it's a little more complicated than that

00:12:21.820 but you know just to symbolically it helps exactly in getting back to medicine i mean

00:12:27.740 we know that placebos work exactly medicine doctors don't know why placebos work yeah but

00:12:34.320 they know that they they work pretty well considered nothing exactly not nothing obviously

00:12:39.840 yeah but it's it's the power of the mind right which i think witchcraft really ties into because

00:12:45.640 it's all about your intentions it's all about uh your power within right and uh using the energies

00:12:53.860 that surround you to kind of um how can i say this like uh manifest things right so uh yeah so

00:13:05.420 that's pretty much like how that kind of like ties in for me uh i do a lot of intention setting uh

00:13:12.060 i've started to kind of like meddle with kitchen kitchen witchery so like if i'm making myself a

00:13:19.120 tea when i'm stirring it i'll set an intention like okay this tea is to help clear my mind or

00:13:24.260 i have digestive issues i'll make like a mint tea because that's supposed to help with that

00:13:28.940 and then set the intention of okay this is to help heal my digestive issues or things like that

00:13:34.360 we're finding like it's the combination of these two things we know that mint has properties that

00:13:39.500 will settle a stomach and we know that setting intention so we we combine what's going on in

00:13:45.140 our own heads with what really is practically true in the real world and that's where we find

00:13:50.080 witchcraft off yeah exactly like for me what witchcraft is is the science we haven't necessarily

00:13:56.580 discovered yet and actually there's a quote from which is midwives and nurses i have uh i wrote it

00:14:03.140 down here it says she relied on her senses rather than on faith or doctrine she believed in trial

00:14:09.080 and error cause and effect and that sounds like science exactly so the whole thing is in the book

00:14:15.920 they're talking about how uh at first medicine was a very religious thing like it wasn't there

00:14:22.660 was no scientific base there was no anything and people were often considered witches if they were

00:14:28.160 healers so if they were using natural medicines and things like that because oh well our religious

00:14:32.720 doctors who are men you know they they can't figure it out so obviously what you're doing

00:14:37.660 is witchcraft and then people were hunted for that yeah you know and it's also it was very much a

00:14:43.180 class thing as well so that was a huge theme in the book as well that i really related to

00:14:48.680 because uh it's the upper white middle class men and we have to remember this book was written in

00:14:55.800 the 70s yes so we're talking about witches midwives and nurses again if you're uh yeah so

00:15:01.700 So, like, the fact that this was written in the 70s and there are still themes that are relevant today is kind of mind-boggling.

00:15:10.360 I mean, the themes that they bring up from, like, the Maleficus Malus Maleficarum.

00:15:17.400 I always trip over that.

00:15:18.400 Malus Maleficarum, you know, which was, like, the Witch Hunter's Bible.

00:15:22.440 Yeah, they had it, like...

00:15:23.660 There's still things in there, you know, that we're still contending with today.

00:15:27.800 Yeah, it's absurd.

00:15:29.000 it's just uh you know and like they they mentioned in the book that like midwives and doulas you know

00:15:35.560 they were outlawed at one point because they the reason they give in the book which i find

00:15:41.020 extremely relevant is that uh lay people so to speak as they refer to in the book or people who

00:15:49.200 are of working class they were spending millions of dollars a year on doulas and midwives and so

00:15:57.000 that means the upper middle class or the upper upper class white male dominated medicine because

00:16:04.620 women were not allowed to study in uh or women presenting people were not allowed to study in 0.84

00:16:11.200 universities and things like that they were actually barred completely and then they tried

00:16:17.060 to create laws around that and then when that didn't work they just made it extremely hard to

00:16:23.300 access like if you got your education well you weren't allowed to do an apprenticeship and if

00:16:27.700 you managed to somehow get an apprenticeship well oh the hospitals wouldn't hire you and so on and

00:16:32.040 so forth and this is where we see again super relevant very contemporary that um this hierarchy

00:16:38.100 that is created by religious capitalist patriarchy whatever you you however you feel

00:16:44.220 but where um so women weren't allowed to be doctors because a they weren't allowed to go

00:16:49.180 to school b they weren't you know exactly and so they're nurses and so exactly men are doctors 0.94

00:16:56.800 women are nurses and the way that we pay doctors versus nurses the way that we value doctors versus

00:17:02.680 nurses um again capitalism like if we put a monetary value on something then somehow it has

00:17:08.040 an intrinsic value and creates our society exactly whereas like no offense to doctors

00:17:14.240 because they are important sure and i'll shout out to my doctor i love you you're great you know

00:17:18.240 but like you're nothing without nurses sorry like we are the ones who administer the medication we

00:17:24.240 are the ones who follow up with the patients we are the ones who make suggestions to the doctors

00:17:28.000 if the doctor makes a mistake he's not the one who gets in trouble i risk losing my license because

00:17:32.720 i didn't catch his mistake so like they are literally nothing without us they would and

00:17:38.240 even at a certain point in the book they mentioned that um florence nightingale she is actually 0.95

00:17:44.640 somebody that we are taught about in school uh she kind of created the first official nursing 0.58

00:17:51.160 school and she also created like um the professional aspect of nursing because before 0.96

00:17:57.320 nurses were just kind of like any woman they would hire and like a glorified maid yeah exactly 1.00

00:18:03.340 um and so she kind of really established like okay no we need to be sanitary so you're washing 1.00

00:18:12.420 your hands you know she really introduced the the idea of sanitation and things like that which is

00:18:17.460 like massive massive like in health care that is the most important thing like that's how you stop 1.00

00:18:24.000 the spread of uh diseases among like let's say if you're in a hospital or you're in an old folks home 0.86

00:18:32.580 or anything like that like if somebody has a cold and you go in their room you wash your hands i

00:18:39.760 mean you have to wash your hands anyways but i mean like you know like that's how it gets spread

00:18:44.100 and i love thinking about this in terms of like a an exchange of energy too like we sometimes we

00:18:49.420 need to wash our own hands yes before we spread those germs and i'm being metaphorical here of 0.98

00:18:55.540 course but wash your own damn hands yeah before you start spreading your germs exactly and you 0.97

00:19:02.680 know i am i'm a firm believer of like people's energies can affect each other you know so if i 0.99

00:19:08.300 go into a patient's room who's like particularly negative i have to make sure that i don't carry

00:19:13.400 that with me to the next patient's room you know what i mean like it's not and i imagine what would

00:19:17.780 be more difficult would be to not let that influence the level of care that you exactly

00:19:22.620 how do you contend with that we take an oath when we become nurses and this goes for anything so

00:19:29.240 taking spell casting you know yeah uh so i'm gonna give like a really out there example but

00:19:37.240 let's say somebody comes in and they were abusing their spouse and they got hurt in the process I

00:19:44.920 have to treat them with the same care that I treat their spouse regardless of the fact that

00:19:48.540 I think they're a super crappy human and you know are doing something that I think is absolutely

00:19:53.480 disgusting I have to take all of that away all of that washes away and I just look at this person 0.97

00:19:58.860 as a person and I treat them as that and that's it and so it's the same thing with somebody who

00:20:03.340 has the negative energy or who's rude to me or insulting or you know we have patients who are

00:20:10.980 aggressive like I've had patients try to hit me uh you know it's you just have to kind of

00:20:17.160 understand the position they're in they're in a super vulnerable position and it's my job to take

00:20:22.100 care of them it's my job to make sure that they come out of this safe so it's just it's like

00:20:32.160 nursing is like radical compassion as a, as a profession. Yeah. That must be exhausting.

00:20:39.140 Absolutely. Absolutely. How does your being a witch help you with that? Uh, I definitely have

00:20:44.300 little rituals I do. So, uh, the easiest ones are the basic ones, right? Where like you go in the

00:20:49.320 shower, you sit in the shower and you imagine the water just cleansing you, washing off everything,

00:20:54.980 just kind of like starting over and clean and new and fresh um also swimming during the summer

00:21:04.120 i love swimming um i'm a water sign so water you know iron water but candles yeah swimming yeah

00:21:13.260 yeah um you know just stuff like that or just like if i need to like i'll cleanse my space

00:21:20.940 with like incense or like sometimes i'll put like a bunch of different like um essential oils that i

00:21:28.560 like in a spray bottle and you kind of just spray that around the room you know just little things

00:21:32.900 like that just changing up the energy exactly and which is super important because your energies

00:21:38.520 also linger right so as somebody with depression as somebody with borderline personality disorder

00:21:43.680 as somebody with anxiety that stems from childhood trauma those things linger you know and when you're

00:21:50.400 trying to heal yourself of those things, it's important to cleanse yourself of those things.

00:21:55.380 You know, like obviously cleansing, I'm not going to get rid of it. It's something that's,

00:21:58.900 my brain is literally wired a different way because of the trauma I experienced as a child.

00:22:04.540 So that's, that's never going away, but how you contend with it can change. Exactly. And that's

00:22:11.480 the most important part. That's for me, the most important part of anything in life is it's not the

00:22:17.780 situation. It's how you deal with it. Say it again. It's not the situation. It's how you deal

00:22:22.560 with it. One more time for the people in the back. It's not the situation. It's how you deal with it.

00:22:27.940 And so, um, I know that you, one of your other online projects is the ethical, which is Facebook

00:22:35.780 page. So you, you're really trying to, um, live your life in a very compassionate way. It seems

00:22:43.140 that's your driving force in in everything you do pretty much like it's uh i created this group

00:22:49.060 because a lot of the groups that i was a part of were very uh yeah which groups sorry uh were very

00:22:55.200 culturally appropriative and instead of spending my time learning and sharing which things i was

00:23:00.380 spending all of my time arguing and you know trying to educate people like hey if you're not

00:23:07.260 an indigenous person you should not be smudging if you are not a part of a certain culture you

00:23:14.380 should not be using those cultures tools in a way that's appropriative because you know there is a

00:23:19.740 difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation sure uh let's say um

00:23:25.280 voodoo that's something that's very cultural so if you're gonna do that learn from people who it's

00:23:32.620 their actual culture get the resources from them make sure they are the ones benefiting from this

00:23:38.200 you know things like that so it's just something I found myself arguing and arguing and arguing

00:23:43.220 like also on that aspect get acquainted with your ancestors get acquainted if that's what

00:23:49.720 you know you connect with like I strongly urge you do your research you know and especially like

00:23:56.060 my boyfriend's swedish and so like uh he's really into the whole like nordic kind of

00:24:04.060 vikings and gods and whatever you know exactly like loves that stuff so i've learned all quite

00:24:11.240 a bit through him and it is really interesting so if that's what you identify with like 100

00:24:16.180 learn about it there are so many resources so many you know it's so scary though to see people

00:24:24.080 taking those now taking like you know viking runes and using them as like white supremacy

00:24:29.840 oh my god it's iconography and yeah like the sons of odin y'all missing the point of magic

00:24:37.280 please yeah like it's it's no i completely agree with you like it's just like again like i'm a very

00:24:45.200 healer compassionate type person so for me it just boggles me like my mind is completely

00:24:51.020 just boggled when i see people using it for harm or things like that which is another thing like

00:24:57.620 i've seen in groups where people are like using their period blood to like quote unquote poison

00:25:03.060 or influence their partner like they're they're feeding their period blood unknowingly to their

00:25:09.120 partner and like no guys consent consent number one in everything that you're going to do with

00:25:14.820 another human being you know like especially when it comes to like body matter as a nurse

00:25:20.620 like that's concerning like you need to know what you're doing like please educate yourselves if

00:25:27.980 you're going to be exchanging body fluids or anything like it's super important to educate

00:25:32.080 yourself because there's just so many aspects of that that can go wrong and i know you have a

00:25:38.260 personal perspective on love spells yeah because your concern is that a love spell is like a form

00:25:44.580 of abuse absolutely as somebody yeah as somebody who's in an abusive relationship for many years

00:25:50.160 multiple abusive relationships actually uh my biggest concern again consent so what is different

00:25:58.800 between my ex-boyfriend stalking me and calling me non-stop and you know trying to convince me

00:26:03.680 to get back together with him I don't see a difference with that as like a love spell you

00:26:09.660 know what I mean to me that's the same thing because you're forcing your will you're forcing

00:26:13.860 your want on someone you know what I mean like if they don't want to be with you you gotta respect

00:26:19.660 that and you know i'm sure there's types of love spells where it's you know if if you do it with

00:26:25.360 the intention of if there's love still there bring it forth absolutely that's amazing and i totally

00:26:31.280 support that but to force your will on someone no just that's that's abusive like that's just

00:26:38.140 straight up abuse because if we remove the magical component then there would no no one would

00:26:44.140 question it they'd be like yeah that's kind of messed up like that's abusive you know so

00:26:48.100 we need to understand that just because we're being magic doesn't mean we can't be abusive

00:26:53.700 doesn't mean we can't be wrong doesn't mean that there's not more things to learn and we've seen

00:26:58.680 this too a lot of um people were leading covens and saying well you know free love is part of the

00:27:04.440 idea of this coven and basically using as an excuse to sexually abuse people and uh again

00:27:11.000 just to reference which is midwives and nurses uh one of the reasons that women or women presenting

00:27:17.540 people were considered witches was because they were sexually empowered right so let's let's not

00:27:23.380 confuse sexual empower empowerment with sexual abuse because again consent consent big theme here

00:27:29.680 you know like even as nurses like if a patient's in their right mind and they refuse treatment

00:27:37.620 that's their right 110 that is their right the only time that that does not apply is if someone's

00:27:44.880 on suicide watch and they have cardiac medication that they're refusing to take right because

00:27:49.460 obviously they're feeling suicidal and not taking their cardiac medication would kill them which

00:27:54.700 kind of defeats the whole purpose of being on suicide watch and uh that's actually also another

00:27:59.660 really complex topic that i won't really get into right now but i do want to just mention there are

00:28:04.200 people who feel that if someone wants to commit suicide that's their choice and i think that's

00:28:11.160 something that a lot of people should look into and kind of you know we need to talk more about

00:28:17.180 suicide we need to talk about what people are feeling and what drives them to that and in what

00:28:23.440 situations you know does that arise because like as somebody who's been there like you have to be

00:28:31.180 really really really down and really hopeless to feel like the only situation in which you will get

00:28:39.540 peace is to end your life you know and not to mention schizophrenia where exactly you have to

00:28:44.560 die because the men are after you and they're in the water and i'm so glad that you brought that

00:28:48.720 up because i actually have an uncle who committed suicide when i was young because he was

00:28:53.660 schizophrenic you know and it's really like it's so hard to live with like it's so and i'm not

00:29:03.020 saying that anyone who's schizophrenic should kill themselves absolutely not please don't nobody

00:29:07.260 nobody like you know we love you exactly like please reach out to somebody uh i'm always

00:29:13.100 available if anybody wants to reach out to me for any mental health issues like please

00:29:17.280 i'm my door is always open um but at the same time we have to respect people's choices you know and

00:29:26.500 i think it's really worth researching and speaking to people with mental health issues

00:29:34.200 to understand where they're coming from you know like I personally don't think suicide's the answer

00:29:40.260 I don't I hope that everybody is able to get to a point where they overcome that because I know

00:29:47.220 that even just last summer I was convinced that it was never going to get better I was convinced

00:29:53.300 that this was it I my mental health hasn't gotten better I can't do this you know but then it did

00:30:00.880 get better you know i got the right treatment and mental health care extremely inaccessible here

00:30:07.580 which is a whole other problem but you know this is that's just like a reality and they also have

00:30:13.440 an issue with addiction if you are an addict they will not treat you for mental health issues until

00:30:18.460 you get clean like hello the whole problem for addiction is usually like mental health issues

00:30:24.460 right yeah you know so it's like the health care system is just a mess and but we're so lucky to

00:30:30.740 have one yes absolutely that's the craziest part about it is that ours is amazing and it's still

00:30:36.280 an absolute yeah mess yeah and i think like we look at north american health care and we think

00:30:42.160 like wow this is the greatest health care out there but if you look at other places in europe

00:30:46.500 If you look at other places, like, this is kind of like a weird thing to say, I guess, because of, like, the stuff going on there.

00:30:59.140 But Israel, they have really advanced medicine.

00:31:04.240 Like, I remember at one point, my foster mom's sister had gone to Israel, and she got into a car accident.

00:31:10.060 They had fixed her knee up, and then a couple years later, when she was back here, she had to get it changed.

00:31:14.980 and they asked if they could keep the peace because it was so far advanced compared to what

00:31:20.040 they had you know like this is again years ago but you know like the fact that healing is like

00:31:25.200 a capitalist endeavor yeah that we're not just sharing this information that's it it's just

00:31:30.500 each other it's mind-blowing and like as a healthcare professional i see all of the things

00:31:37.200 that are wrong with it even more so than than people who just have like one or two experiences 1.00

00:31:43.120 you know like you see how you know there's really a race element as well like uh people of color

00:31:50.780 are really treated a lot differently um you know like not not everywhere obviously but it's still

00:31:57.760 you know like i one of the one of my friends that i met in nursing school she has sickle cell anemia

00:32:03.340 and a lot of times she's treated like an addict because she needs pain medicine but sickle cell

00:32:09.040 anemia extremely painful yes so it's normal that you know you would want pain meds for something

00:32:16.560 like that right um but if she goes into a hospital that doesn't know her their automatic assumption

00:32:21.540 is oh she's an addict and that's also a really big issue in health care is brushing off addicts

00:32:27.920 yeah you know what i mean like that you can't do that like i'm just i'm someone who has a lot

00:32:32.400 of experience with addicts it runs in my family uh it's a big reason of why i'm sober but that

00:32:38.060 doesn't mean you can just brush them off and you know it's the hierarchy of problems and these are

00:32:44.200 acceptable and exactly you know and it's just i became like a when i was very young one of my

00:32:51.800 first forays into activism was that i started volunteering with the aids committee when i was

00:32:56.660 very young because it was insane to me that sick people were also being judged yeah and also you

00:33:03.540 know people and the misinformation that was going around at the time so yeah i mean it's one thing

00:33:09.920 to be sick and then to be judged on top of it for what type of sickness exactly you have and whether

00:33:15.240 your sickness is like valid or not exactly and it's just so disgusting quite frankly that's the

00:33:22.700 best word i can think of and you know again going back to like north north american health care

00:33:28.460 it's super problematic like I don't know what the exact statistic is but the amount of people

00:33:36.960 who are pregnant that die from childbirth is disgusting for somewhere that is so medically

00:33:47.040 advanced this is another thing that which is midwives and nurses touches on and that's in

00:33:51.220 the 70s and it's still relevant and you know it's a lot of I was reading an article actually the

00:33:56.900 other day about the trauma associated with childbirth because and like forget the fact

00:34:05.100 that it's naturally traumatic that changes your body goes through things like that but the health

00:34:09.580 care providers they essentially sexually assault people they perform procedures that are

00:34:17.880 uh extremely misogynistic uh we have it's called the i think it's called the husband's ditch or

00:34:26.200 something like that and essentially it's like they if you tear during childbirth they'll stitch it up

00:34:31.880 an additional unnecessary stitch so that you're a little tighter after childbirth like disgusting

00:34:38.420 and you know um they are very they tend to ignore the person who's giving births needs and wants

00:34:48.820 and that's why we have midwives and doulas and things like that and that's why they're so

00:34:53.960 important and they're not really recognized in our culture but they're recognized everywhere

00:34:58.440 you know all over the world like i remember i had um a bunch of classmates that were from

00:35:04.740 other parts of the world like um just like a little bit all over the place and like

00:35:10.380 they were just like what do you mean you don't have midwives what do you mean you don't have

00:35:15.380 doulas like what certainly midwives preceded doctors that's it and by a very very very yeah

00:35:22.580 Because as soon as, as long as people have been giving birth, you know, there has been

00:35:27.080 someone there to support them.

00:35:29.080 And, uh, the language in the book is very, uh, gendered.

00:35:33.400 Sure.

00:35:33.700 So again, it was written in the seventies.

00:35:35.880 That's it.

00:35:36.420 So I'm just, I'm going to be using that language, but I just want everyone to know that I am

00:35:41.380 including women presenting people or trans men and you know, all of that.

00:35:46.660 Absolutely.

00:35:47.020 um they talk about how again the upper middle class regulars is what they refer to as the

00:35:55.360 doctors took over the whole birthing process and kind of shooed away the midwives whereas the

00:36:03.860 midwives were there like hey if anybody knows how to give birth or help someone give birth

00:36:09.680 it's us because we have the parts and we do this like we are like if if anybody knows this it's us

00:36:16.380 you know you need to trust us you need to know trust that what we're doing and and at very least

00:36:21.400 we shouldn't be divorced from the situation exactly and you know like at least take what we

00:36:28.160 know and give it to your doctors whatever like if you're gonna shun us at least take what we know

00:36:33.220 and they didn't do that you know what i mean because it wasn't profitable yeah it's just

00:36:37.880 really discouraging because again this book was written in the 70s and it's still applicable today

00:36:43.100 like it's like and it i guess for me it relates a lot to witchcraft because like

00:36:50.580 what's more magical than creating life right like whether you're creating life in a lab

00:36:55.900 like kind of how it was discussed in your in your episode with the um you live life by a lab

00:37:02.020 you know like they they they mentioned there that like you know that's kind of like their babies

00:37:06.780 that's their creation and they're creating life you know and you know there's some people who

00:37:11.800 decide to give birth to humans which is also creating life and you know no matter how you

00:37:18.100 decide to create life it's all magical you know like what what in the world is more magical than

00:37:23.940 creating you know in general so for me that was something that really resonated because

00:37:30.440 like you have this magical thing that's happening and they're taking it away from us like they've

00:37:38.700 done with so much else you know and we're taking the magic out of it exactly yeah you know or just

00:37:45.680 like yeah just yeah exactly taking a for-profit business that's it which it isn't i'm sorry like 0.99

00:37:52.380 well it is but it yeah but like be yeah get out of my vagina yeah like get out like take your 0.99

00:37:59.260 capitalism out of my uterus yeah thanks all of my body parts that's it just witchcraft and 0.98

00:38:05.300 medicine and health care for me is just like it's one it's all intertwined it's not a separate

00:38:10.800 thing it's like you can't have health care without magic yeah like you just you can't we talked about

00:38:17.060 this before that i think one of the my jobs as a witch is to smash binaries smash hierarchies

00:38:24.400 in particular i think binaries beget hierarchies yes um and so one of my absolute favorite art

00:38:32.680 galleries contemporary art galleries in the world right now is the creative growth art center out

00:38:38.560 of uh oakland california and um i i'm probably using the wrong terminology but um they give

00:38:45.440 lessons and people who are neurologically atypical yeah you want to give a better turn of phrase

00:38:51.560 um produce art and honestly like i love art i'm like a sort of hobbyist art historian i love art

00:38:59.200 galleries I'm you know I consider myself like an appreciator of art and this is the gallery that

00:39:06.140 is putting out the most exciting the most impressive contemporary art as far as I'm

00:39:11.620 concerned in the world right now and I know that your brother has I believe Down syndrome yeah and

00:39:17.120 so I'm wondering like how you can help me to smash that hierarchy of his value and his magic

00:39:24.760 it's honestly something that i don't think about often just because it's so natural for me having

00:39:31.140 grown up with him and like you know like being a part of that community and like seeing all of

00:39:37.880 his friends and stuff and it's just they are so precious you know and it's just a question of 0.98

00:39:43.820 raising awareness of you know different different uh i don't want to say disabilities i don't want

00:39:50.400 to say special needs those aren't the right terms because they're just people you know with different

00:39:56.620 and we we all have uh our abilities and our exactly different abilities you know and it's

00:40:04.200 just they are so pure that is the best way i could describe it my younger brother

00:40:10.260 is just a joy what's his name sorry jeremy jeremy right and he has taught me so much

00:40:20.400 about the world i get a little emotional because like it's just so like intense you know and it's

00:40:27.540 just he's so i wish everybody could see what a wonderful person and human he is you know just

00:40:37.480 look past the disabilities look past what is not quote-unquote normal for you and just see the

00:40:44.520 person for what they are and you know like you mentioned this this uh this gallery gallery uh 0.96

00:40:52.460 and it really makes me think of drag syndrome okay and it's a bunch of people with the down

00:40:58.180 syndrome doing drag okay and it's having heart palpitations now it's amazing yeah because we

00:41:05.700 love drag we here at missing witches let's just across the board we love drag yeah it's magical

00:41:10.480 it's there's no other way to you know exactly and it's such a great way for them to express

00:41:17.160 their creativity and their their true nature you know what i mean because they are uh as like a

00:41:25.380 community very uh i don't want to say performative but they they do like to express themselves

00:41:32.920 creatively expressive yes yes they're very expressive they're very creative and because

00:41:38.000 they don't have inhibitions they don't have the same and and maybe that's what i'm seeing in this

00:41:43.700 absolutely they don't have those things i'm not saying like this is great art for these people

00:41:49.920 this is some of the best art i've ever seen exactly because they don't have those things

00:41:54.140 that hold them back they're just they see life as fun and at least this is my experience i obviously

00:42:00.600 can't speak for everyone not every human is gonna have the same that's it but when they're nurtured

00:42:06.640 properly which like luckily my family was excellent to my brother and really took care of him and

00:42:13.400 sought out resources that were necessary for him and unfortunately it's not like that for everyone

00:42:19.300 in the community uh and you really do see it stifle them and stifle their creativity and

00:42:24.600 you know you just see like you you sit with them and you just when you get to know them they're

00:42:32.140 just they are magical beings because they don't have those societal restrictions so to speak you

00:42:41.300 know like they don't that's not something they identify with it's not something they really

00:42:44.560 like it's yeah exactly um and you know they all bring different things to the table and um

00:42:53.000 yeah it was just really great to be able to work with them and you know kind of see because some

00:42:58.720 of them were my brother's friends because you know it's a very small community on the south shore

00:43:02.840 uh so like i didn't know some of them which obviously gave me a bit of an advantage because

00:43:07.620 like i already have a relationship with them so it's easier to care for and teach you know there's

00:43:12.380 a trusting relationship there um but yeah and it just it kind of like shows you like go into your

00:43:18.360 magic with, with that kind of carefree, like no inhibitions, just, I love doing this. I'm going

00:43:27.900 to do it. And certainly don't be so, um, stupid. I'm saying it. Don't be so stupid as to think that 1.00

00:43:37.840 you can't learn something from every single person and creature on this earth. 1.00

00:43:42.680 I strongly encourage everybody to get to know people in the community of people with autism,

00:43:51.540 Down syndrome.

00:43:53.280 There are a list of names of disorders, I guess they're still called, but let's face

00:44:03.040 it, it's not really a disorder.

00:44:04.620 It's just different.

00:44:06.000 It's a difference.

00:44:07.020 That's it.

00:44:08.080 There's a lot of difference around here.

00:44:09.580 We exalt difference.

00:44:10.960 We're not afraid of difference.

00:44:12.180 We love it.

00:44:12.680 Exactly. So like, there's a list of medical terms I could go through to, you know, describe everybody's different needs. But, you know, just that community as a whole, I strongly encourage everybody to just like, get to know someone in that community and see the different things that they bring, you know, and look past the what society deems as negative.

00:44:37.920 It just gives you a really different perspective on things and helps you understand the world more.

00:44:43.380 Thank you so much, Nova.

00:44:44.760 I hope to carry your spirit of radical compassion with me for the rest of my life.

00:44:50.860 Thank you.

00:44:51.460 It's been such an amazing pleasure talking to you.

00:44:53.960 But before we shut it down, do you have any advice for other baby witches, people who are struggling with mental health or struggling with the concept of radical compassion?

00:45:04.160 Any last words for our listeners?

00:45:05.620 Yeah, just learn as much as you can. That's the best way to go about it. You always, always, always keep learning. I've been dealing with my mental health issues for over a decade. I've been interested in witchcraft for over a decade and only really started coming into it now.

00:45:22.780 and you know even again it relates to health care too just always keep learning always keep trying

00:45:30.940 to better yourself and you know that ties into compassion as well like bettering yourself

00:45:37.580 allows you to be more compassionate towards others so just always keep learning and try to

00:45:44.520 understand as much as you can about different situations and remember to love yourself and

00:45:50.180 be compassionate towards yourself as well and be compassionate toward yourself as well

00:45:56.000 thank you so much nova well thank you for having me

00:45:59.460 you must be a witch thanks for listening to the missing witches podcast be sure to come back

00:46:07.900 sunday where we learn the story of another witch who like nova wants you to love yourself and learn

00:46:14.200 as much as you can. Zora Neale Hurston. In the meantime, hit us up at missingwitches at gmail.com

00:46:20.320 or on social media at missingwitches. Blessed be.

Missing Witches - April 03, 2019

Witches Found： Radical Compassion With Nova

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