Missing Witches - Yuletide 2022： Happy Talking Together (aka Santa Is A Mushroom)

00:00:00.000 O Yuletide, O Solstice, O Longest Night of the Year

00:00:16.940 We gather together to share our hope and our fear

00:00:26.200 Cause we are witches in the night

00:00:34.980 We are witches, we bring our own light

00:00:43.100 To the solstice at Yuletide

00:00:48.200 On the longest night of the year

00:00:51.860 Please bring us together

00:00:56.540 To share our warmth and our cheer

00:01:01.080 Cause we are witches of the night

00:01:09.840 So while Risa grabs her ukulele, lets all those of us who brought them light our candles together.

00:01:31.600 And as long as these candles are lit, we remember that in this space we can release our shame.

00:01:38.460 but that means we also have to release our judgment

00:01:44.140 let's sing and tell stories and have a blessed yule

00:01:56.780 it's coming on christmas they're cutting down trees they're putting up reindeer

00:02:06.140 singing songs of joy and peace oh i wish i had a river i could skate away

00:02:20.700 it don't snow here it stays pretty green i'm gonna make a lot of money i'm gonna quit this

00:02:29.420 crazy scene. I wish I had a river I could skate away on. I wish I had a river so long. I would

00:02:47.580 Teach my feet to fly

00:02:53.580 Oh, I wish I had a river

00:03:00.580 I couldn't skate away

00:03:06.580 I made my baby cry

00:03:27.300 He tried hard to help me, you know, he put me at ease

00:03:32.660 He loved me so not, he made me wake in the knees

00:03:38.360 I wish I had a river

00:03:40.960 I couldn't skate away

00:03:46.440 I'm so hard to handle, I'm selfish and I'm sad

00:03:54.780 I gone and lost the best baby that I ever had

00:04:00.680 I wish I had a river I could skate away, oh, I wish I had a river so long I would teach my feet to fly, oh.

00:04:26.680 I wish I had a river I could skate away on

00:04:36.040 I made my baby say goodbye

00:04:43.480 Well, it's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees, they're putting up rain

00:05:04.380 you're singing songs of joy and peace oh i wish i had a river i could skate away

00:05:18.380 Thanks loves. That's where I'm at emotionally. I feel better actually from singing. It's

00:05:39.860 It's nice to imagine skating away.

00:05:51.860 I'm going to open this door.

00:05:54.860 I brought a reading.

00:05:57.860 I brought a reading from the 1977 winter issue of Women's Spirit magazine.

00:06:08.860 And this is a magazine doesn't really cover it.

00:06:16.120 It's a wonderful publication that came out of a feminist commune in Wolf Creek, Oregon.

00:06:25.760 And just like we're doing right now, they also invited people to send in their stories and send in their poems and send in their songs.

00:06:34.160 So, in 1977 in Wolf Creek, Oregon, Mara Meshack from Boulder, Colorado, sent in this little

00:06:44.640 bit of writing.

00:06:45.640 I did some fact checking and I couldn't back up anything that she said, and it doesn't

00:06:50.640 bother me a bit.

00:06:51.640 I hope we can keep our imaginations in the conversation at all times.

00:06:56.720 So this is a piece from Mara Meshach called Mother Yule.

00:07:04.560 I was thinking of Christmas today.

00:07:07.600 The magical tree of lights, fragile glass birds, chalk lambs, family obligations, tired

00:07:17.680 mothers cooking. 0.93

00:07:20.080 All for the birth of a son? 1.00

00:07:23.360 An impish granny muddled my mind and gave me over to delight in Christmas again. 1.00

00:07:29.720 I realized that she was the one who rekindled the sunfire from her hearth fire. 1.00

00:07:37.640 Just a little old root woman, cooking, making puckered fruits into honeyed pies, leavening 0.99

00:07:46.160 sodden dough, all the magic that women have always done at Christmas. 0.95

00:07:52.500 has called herself mother yule i've looked up yule in the dictionary and not only does it mean the

00:07:59.460 pagan fire festival of the hearth log but the word also means happy talking together

00:08:08.500 father christmas brought rewards for good behavior but mother yule brings friends together 0.69

00:08:15.300 around the magical goddess tree i drew her and she looks a little like a badger or mole

00:08:23.860 an earth-loving creature slightly mischievous among humans and fugitive

00:08:31.140 i remembered the old legend of the lady of misrule when the time of christmas decreed outrageous 0.87

00:08:38.780 body and foolish behavior among women a time to caricature serious concerns not abandoning them

00:08:46.860 but giving them a full shadow i've drawn her on to a lino cut also and will print her picture 1.00

00:08:54.460 again and again may she uproar before she scurries into the winter caverned earth again

00:09:04.300 so i wanted to really bring this happy talking together spirit of you all whether or not i could

00:09:13.640 confirm that in any way which i could not um but this is what it means to me now this is what it

00:09:21.240 means to me now happy talking together and we're so grateful for all of you who are here with us

00:09:27.480 sitting with us in this moment and also all of those of you who are listening to the recorded

00:09:33.080 version of this and have chosen your to spend your dark times with us in your ears we love you

00:09:40.760 and happy talking together this year we invited the missing witches coven to be a part of this

00:09:48.140 happy talking together to bring their songs and their poems and their stories and some of you

00:09:54.180 have already told us that you have something in mind and i would love to pass the microphone

00:10:00.700 to one of you.

00:10:09.660 Hi, Jasper Joy here, 1.00

00:10:12.980 and I'm bringing you a queer retelling 0.99

00:10:15.840 of The Oak King and The Holly King. 0.99

00:10:18.800 The Oak King and The Holly King

00:10:21.020 was introduced to me through an annual

00:10:23.420 midwinter playtelling where we would watch

00:10:27.140 the battle of The Oak King and The Holly King

00:10:30.020 played out by these young cis men in our coven and they duke it out for the crown 0.54

00:10:37.400 so I've been retelling the story in the queerest sweetest way I can in the form of a poem here it

00:10:47.780 goes. Within a sacred grove, within a sacred realm, two tree folk meet, laden with baskets

00:11:02.520 of food and wine, placed at each other's feet. Laughing, they always stumble into one another's

00:11:12.340 arms, kissing softly and exchanging the songs and secret charms. Feasting and dancing as the

00:11:23.900 old sun does slowly wane, the oak friend and the holly friend in the darkness do remain.

00:11:32.680 The night that covers their bodies as they frolic on the earth. Their friendship is a portal for

00:11:41.200 the summer sun's rebirth. Red berry and the acorn celebrate the renewal of light. Together

00:11:51.360 they are the horned one amidst the sacred rite. There's no supremacy here. No need to

00:11:59.120 deal in blows. Just lovers dancing ecstatic till they're sweating in the snow. This is

00:12:08.040 solstice in the queer realm, the wheel turning spell. Blessed be your chosen family. Hail and

00:12:17.720 farewell.

00:12:26.540 Hi there, my dear coven. It is Angela, heartwise woman, coming to you from the West Coast. And

00:12:36.160 And I just want to extend my love and gratitude for Missing Witches.

00:12:42.280 And I thought, I don't have much to share at all, but I thought that maybe we could sit here and listen to my cat purr.

00:12:49.220 He is seated on my chest.

00:12:51.720 Here we go. Let's see if we can hear Baby Kitty.

00:13:06.160 that is my offering to our coven

00:13:10.400 is my sweet cat

00:13:12.240 may you all take the time to slow down

00:13:15.540 and be in presence with yourselves

00:13:19.400 and your loved ones and your animals

00:13:21.580 and your books

00:13:23.500 may you do things that fill your bodies with pleasure

00:13:27.660 may you keep going through the thresholds

00:13:34.400 that you need to go through

00:13:35.460 to thrive

00:13:37.780 you're never alone

00:13:41.060 and we're always together in this

00:13:43.300 I love you

00:13:45.480 happy yule

00:13:48.600 once there lived

00:13:51.340 an old man and an old woman

00:13:53.420 and they had a little girl 0.99

00:13:55.500 Nyerinka

00:13:56.680 the girl went into the forest 1.00

00:13:59.580 with the other children

00:14:00.640 got lost and ended up at Baba Yaga's place

00:14:04.100 she walked up to the hut hut hut turn your front to me stand with your back to the forest

00:14:11.220 she walked in and there was Baba Yaga oh what a pretty girl has come Baba Yaga gave her something

00:14:20.140 to drink to eat and lay down in her mortar next to her pestle rock me the girl rocked her Baba

00:14:29.180 Yaga fell asleep. The girl went outside and cried because Baba Yaga would not let her go home.

00:14:36.700 A wolf came by. Nirenka, why are you crying? Well, this is what happened. I lived with my

00:14:45.820 grandparents. I went to the forest. I got lost and now Baba Yaga won't let me go home.

00:14:52.200 sit on my back I will carry you away from here she sat down and they took off but Baba Yaga woke

00:15:02.460 up and said mother mortar go farther than four versts she caught up with them she took the girl

00:15:10.300 she wouldn't let her go a bear came by Nierundka why are you crying well this is what happened

00:15:21.540 let me take you away from here the girl said no it won't work well you know what we'll do

00:15:30.880 we'll bake some pies i'll take them to your grandparents and tell them where you are

00:15:35.480 all right so she baked the pies she fed and rocked baba yaga to sleep

00:15:42.100 and then when the bear was not looking she climbed into the basket and covered herself with the pies

00:15:49.800 The bear carried them, and he said,

00:15:52.820 This basket is heavy. I'll sit on a tree stump and eat a pie.

00:15:59.940 A voice came from far away.

00:16:04.200 Don't sit on the stump. Don't eat the pie.

00:16:07.860 I sit high and see far.

00:16:11.520 So small, said the bear, yet she sees so far.

00:16:15.080 I have to keep carrying it.

00:16:17.200 So he walked and walked and walked.

00:16:21.180 No, I'm going to sit on a tree stump and eat a pie.

00:16:25.820 Again the voice, don't sit on the stump, don't eat the pie.

00:16:30.940 I sit high and see far.

00:16:34.240 The bear came to the grandparents and said,

00:16:37.420 here are the gifts your granddaughter sent you.

00:16:40.240 She baked you pies.

00:16:41.480 their dogs came out ran after the bear chased it away he ran into the forest

00:16:49.460 the grandmother looked into the pies and there was the little girl in the basket

00:16:56.200 the bear had bought her home for you a pot of porridge and for me a sack of money

00:17:04.480 for you a hoof and for me a trough of money

00:17:09.540 hey it's melissa from sweden wishing everybody a glad you

00:17:17.600 once upon a time there were two sisters idama and levana who had different talents 0.94

00:17:26.700 both were born from the moon each from a droplet of the other when the moon was in its darkest

00:17:34.040 powers of chaos and creation, Idama was born, and when the moon was in its brightest, light powers

00:17:41.940 of expansion and separation, Levana was born. The two sisters were generally inseparable, although

00:17:49.620 they sometimes liked to play at different times in different realms, they couldn't stay away from

00:17:55.440 each other for long. They were born in a land that was so old, nobody knew where it was anymore.

00:18:01.820 they had walked away from that land so long ago that nobody knew how to walk back there

00:18:07.760 the only thing they knew about that land was that it had the richest black soil on earth

00:18:14.580 a black that teemed with life and smelled like wind in the trees

00:18:18.360 Itama was able to run with the wolf when the moon was full

00:18:24.440 and Levana was able to run with the deer when the moon was dark

00:18:28.680 they each taught the humans different skills idama taught the humans how to harvest plants

00:18:35.740 cook with fire and levana taught the humans how to collect seeds from plants and replant them in

00:18:43.260 the earth idama was a seer and levana was an herbalist levana's magic created plant medicines

00:18:52.420 that expand consciousness and direct the migration and cultural evolution of humans.

00:18:59.160 Idama's magic created the ability to travel to the other realms where the future is woven

00:19:05.180 from the past and to make blood bonds through sacrifice. When Idama and Lavanah put their

00:19:12.780 magics together, they made two daughters, Leia and Rachel. Leia was known for her ability to 1.00

00:19:20.160 to do magic on the dark moon, and Rachel was known for her ability to do magic on the full moon.

00:19:28.140 Wherever Leah went, she was followed by herds of cattle, whereas Rachel was always followed by

00:19:34.560 herds of sheep. Both animals gave of their bodies to help the humans. They gave milk for their

00:19:41.680 babies and meat for the others. They taught the people how to make clothes from their skin,

00:19:47.200 and when Leah and Rachel put those magics together,

00:19:51.240 they created the red string and the white eye

00:19:55.080 and gave them to the people for protective amulets.

00:20:00.840 Wherever Leah and Rachel put their magics together, 0.99

00:20:04.420 they placed Asherot and Terafim into the black earth 1.00

00:20:08.860 as a reminder that when they worked together,

00:20:11.780 all gifts of life and death were given to them from the great mother.

00:20:17.200 If you find a place that has rich black ground

00:20:20.760 and you build a red tent

00:20:22.900 with an opening where you can see the white moon,

00:20:28.200 Leah and Rachel will bless you

00:20:31.180 with the blessings of Idama, the red,

00:20:33.780 and Levana, the white, like this.

00:20:47.200 The gods give you the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth and plenty of grain and new

00:20:55.900 wine.

00:21:03.360 Hi, everyone.

00:21:06.480 I'm Julie.

00:21:07.900 I use she, her, or they, them pronouns.

00:21:11.240 I'm a white person with short brown hair.

00:21:14.560 I'm in front of a blue wall.

00:21:16.380 that looks green because of the yellow light um i wanted to share an interesting thing i've been

00:21:25.060 learning about related to yule which is the controversy surrounding where it's from why

00:21:33.080 we use this term who uses this term and should we um so i'm in this facebook group called

00:21:41.480 Irish witchcraft and it's a space that is kind of critical of kind of how the different terms

00:21:50.120 in the wheel of the year have been all applied together and so there was this interesting post

00:21:56.700 from someone in the group about what does this mean for the the term Yule in relation to

00:22:03.960 more Celtic paganism so this is a post I got permission to read it from the person who wrote

00:22:09.760 it someone who helps run the group called Skywalker and so this is what they said

00:22:16.320 I keep seeing discourse about whether Yule is or is not Irish paganism and I can fully

00:22:24.540 understand that due to the bastardization of the wheel of the year in the 1970s

00:22:29.700 it's incredibly important to realize what was happening when that particular wheel was crafted

00:22:37.960 Aidan Kelly decided that there needed to be one unified calendar to simplify pagan folk

00:22:43.120 traditions, and so he took sacred names and symbolism from many different cultures, threw

00:22:48.940 them together, and voila! There is the wheel of the year as we unfortunately know it. It's an

00:22:55.780 oversimplification of people's cultural practices, or in some cases it's entirely made up based on

00:23:02.700 very loose associations aiding Kelly thought were similar without doing his due diligence in the

00:23:08.360 form of research. So, is Yule Irish? It is my understanding that no, it is not. From what I

00:23:16.560 know, Yule has its roots in Norse paganism, but this is where my knowledge ends. If you want to

00:23:23.860 know about Norse paganism, then that is your prerogative. You will need to seek out an ethical 0.98

00:23:28.720 source. I cannot point you to a good direction here because it is not a path I journey down.

00:23:35.720 I think what is happening when we want to cling to Yule as a title but practice Irish paganism

00:23:41.060 is actually rooted in our love for tradition, in holiday celebrations, perhaps a childhood

00:23:48.160 celebrating Christmas but they feel ick to us now, and a desire to celebrate the magic that is the

00:23:54.720 winter solstice season. I get that completely. What I can do is steer you in directions to find

00:24:01.560 sources and options for celebrating the holidays that are rooted in Irish practices. Let's not 1.00

00:24:08.060 forget that Irish are predominantly Catholic and have celebrated Christmas for centuries.

00:24:13.320 It is my belief that you can marry the traditions you were raised in and that have been practiced 0.59

00:24:18.640 by your ancestors for centuries with your own personal pagan practices. I know this can be seen

00:24:25.260 as controversial so make those decisions for yourself as you see fit. For me and mine there

00:24:31.120 is magic buried in Catholic practices. As far as Irish pagan resources for the winter solstice

00:24:37.560 we do know that these days were incredibly important to our ancestors. I would like to steer

00:24:43.920 in the direction of Laura O'Brien's article on the Wheel of the Year as Seen from an Irish Pagan

00:24:49.740 Perspective. I am also including a link to their article and how they celebrate the winter solstice.

00:24:55.660 These are intended for you to read and find your own journey. Part of the fun of being pagan lies

00:25:01.860 within your ability to be creative and draw upon your knowledge of history and your traditions

00:25:07.300 to form your own practices. I do hope this helps you on your journey to do so. And that's the end

00:25:13.620 of the post so thanks to sky and i'm reading this not to say that we shouldn't say yule um but that

00:25:20.260 if we are gonna say it like let's learn where it's from and not say it's cultic um and you know

00:25:27.680 i think there's space to critique terms and like use them respectfully and honorably um

00:25:37.500 and i think that's possible with the term yule it seems the criticisms are even more with some

00:25:42.420 of the other terms like Mabon is like a really touchy subject um that particular term um and so

00:25:49.540 if if any of us myself included because I have both Celtic and Germanic roots um if any of us

00:25:55.480 would like to learn about the term Yule from a um Norse perspective someone shared a couple

00:26:02.960 resources and I'll put these in the chat so one of them is Dr. Rune Hinjarno Rasumin I don't know

00:26:10.460 if i'm pronouncing their name correctly um their website is nordic nordic animism.com and they

00:26:18.140 also recommended heathen woman united they have a facebook group and their website is heathen

00:26:23.340 woman united.org for like a true norse perspective on yule um and i will also share the link to the

00:26:30.620 article which is a resource about irish pagan holidays um and like what names they're using

00:26:35.860 for some for these holidays um which is on lauraobrian.ie l-o-r-a-o-b-r-i-e-n.ie

00:26:45.840 and if you search that and irish pagan holidays um the article will come up and i'll put these in

00:26:51.620 the chat too uh so thanks for listening to this controversial take i feel like that hot take was

00:26:59.880 like so sweet and thoughtful I felt like that was like one of the the like least uh

00:27:06.540 inflamed versions of this conversation that I've heard so I appreciate the work I know you must

00:27:12.800 have done to find that one yeah and these are these are exactly the kinds of conversations that

00:27:18.400 that we want to have that are like hot takes and controversial and asking questions about the

00:27:24.600 vocabulary that we use but coming from this place of compassion and respect and self-education and

00:27:31.640 mutual education and i'm so excited and grateful julie that you brought that to our to our solstice

00:27:39.320 table i definitely use a lot of terms for this time of year i did find a company that makes

00:27:46.480 solstice greeting cards so my family is getting happy solstice cards this year and yeah i think

00:27:57.380 it's so nice too to acknowledge and as you did and i was thinking when i was listening to that piece

00:28:04.220 like i'm both norse celtic british you know iroquois like i'm i'm just a mixed bag so i think

00:28:15.240 like so many of us when we're seeking our spirituality through our witch practices we

00:28:21.620 find our way in the beginning through these folks in the 70s that pushed it into visibility and so

00:28:30.120 we sort of have to navigate them like we have to navigate their like shittiness as much as their

00:28:35.600 like their real bravery too you know i think that those stories are like as much as it's so many 0.99

00:28:42.800 annoying white men just stealing things and making religious ceremonies where they got to have sex 0.97

00:28:49.120 with virgins or whatever there was a really profound thing happening at the same time too 0.99

00:28:54.960 and the women's spirit is such a testimony to that too that women's spirit magazine those people

00:29:01.280 anyway if anyone else wants to respond to that or tell a story or say so

00:29:06.560 does everybody already know about the reindeer okay so um my name is deborah um i'm right now

00:29:19.920 on occupied yalamu land in california also called san francisco um i am of norse and 0.64

00:29:29.100 jewish heritages so talk about navigating some crazy shit

00:29:34.760 um and uh i just want to share one of my favorite things about this this time of year holiday which 0.97

00:29:48.640 is the the whole santa claus in the red and white coat driving the flying reindeer story and like

00:29:56.960 what that where that really comes from um which is it's uh it was a practice and maybe still is a

00:30:05.640 practice of the indigenous peoples of Finland who raised reindeer and were very much honoring of

00:30:15.760 the reindeer mother goddess to feed the red and white almanita mushroom to their reindeer

00:30:27.320 and the almanita mushroom is poisonous to humans when if we ingest it but if we give it to the

00:30:36.480 reindeer and let them eat it their liver will filter out all the toxins and when the reindeers

00:30:44.660 piss it still holds the hallucinogenic properties of the amanita but it doesn't have the toxic

00:30:51.500 properties of the amanita so then you can drink the reindeer pee and you can have your hallucinogenic

00:31:00.480 solstice experience but at the same time the reindeers are definitely high and flying so

00:31:09.180 you can see all the imagery in this story as red and white mushroom person riding on the flying

00:31:20.060 reindeers and um us enjoying and learning um really esoteric and cool stuff from this experience

00:31:31.540 that's my new favorite holiday story

00:31:37.720 and it's my favorite ever

00:31:49.020 yeah this is where we get flying reindeer right this is where we get flying reindeer

00:31:59.060 this is why santa wears red and white because santa's a mushroom

00:32:03.160 yeah it looks just we have those mushrooms all through the woods near us and i will never not

00:32:12.100 see santa now yes i've i've heard some of these before but i've never heard the sentence

00:32:18.200 santa is a mushroom and that i want on a christmas sweater at some point i'm gonna have to like

00:32:25.200 embroider a mushroom themed christmas sweater santa is a mushroom

00:32:31.900 can i get some dangle bells on that don are you ready to give us a song

00:32:38.740 um i am but the song i had planned was um not feeling right now so i'm gonna change it up is

00:32:46.860 that okay of course i love that this the muses spirit muses we love that energy so um when she

00:32:55.880 was talking about heritage um i am my dad's side of the family is german methodist and my mother's

00:33:01.920 side of the family is jewish and um so this is a song that's always resonated with me

00:33:08.300 especially this time of year um so it's silent night in german

00:33:13.920 Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, all im Schlaf dein Zahnfahrt,

00:33:29.920 Nö das traut hollige Pfarr

00:33:37.760 Oren ab in e-login' e-har

00:33:45.460 Schlacht im Himmelschel

00:33:50.680 Lacht im Himmelschel

00:33:59.920 Still and not, I'm in the night.

00:34:08.740 And

00:34:27.340 Thank you.

00:34:57.340 God bless you. 0.98

00:35:27.340 I don't know if in anybody else's families you like caroled like did you go and walk the streets

00:35:47.220 caroling yeah Holly you did I I felt like that was so like key to my childhood and then I was

00:35:54.820 talking with people recently who were like oh you can just go caroling like you don't have to be a

00:35:59.600 choir or something like no you just go we used to do it um i didn't i'm sorry go ahead go ahead

00:36:07.360 um i was just gonna say we didn't do it so much as a kid but when my kids were little and they're

00:36:12.220 all you know in their 20s now but when they were little we'd go with my neighbors and we'd you know

00:36:17.660 of course bring our wine and somebody always have a guitar and we'd just go around the neighborhood

00:36:22.160 and then they one of the people in the group they worked also at a like a senior assisted

00:36:28.660 living place so we'd go and be in like the Alzheimer's kind of wing of the place and go

00:36:33.620 and sing and you know kids are all like three years old and doing their little you know stuff

00:36:38.760 it was adorable that's the best I have those memories too and I'm so thankful I'm so thankful

00:36:46.440 that you were that mom that's so great that you had that moment for your kids where you're like

00:36:51.720 yeah no now we just go sing in public i don't know if they'd agree that that was such a great

00:36:57.620 idea now looking back but uh we had fun oh i loved hearing night a silent night thank you so much for

00:37:06.340 that i loved hearing it in german it was so beautiful i also loved watching the auto

00:37:10.780 transcription because it was talking a lot about a dog i kept saying hi karen i tried really hard

00:37:17.600 and it was really great before we let you go though holly um is this uh holly and the ivy

00:37:24.800 are you named after this time of year i am my my parents were quite original so my birthday's on

00:37:31.840 the 16th and i'm holly christine holly christine here we are yep holly do you want to do a story

00:37:40.880 or song or poem or reading or share some of your beautiful shiny vibe um i i just kind of came here

00:37:49.480 to soak it all in tonight i wasn't sure if i was going to be able to join but um something something

00:37:55.400 to share that's kind of off topic but kind of kind of off topic um but i was behind oh here we

00:38:04.300 are but so I have been creating thank you Don for that um I've been creating a an online course

00:38:14.920 and like working my ass off on it and yesterday I was like okay I'm committing to my launch date

00:38:22.540 and it's going to kick my ass to finish it I'm doing it early January so like hi let's do this 0.61

00:38:27.580 all through the holidays of birthday time to like just you know work my ass off but um 0.85

00:38:32.660 so i committed and i have all the dates and workshops set up and everything for next year

00:38:38.100 and then today i got in the mail a check unexpectedly for 700 and hold on 704 and 38

00:38:44.760 yeah i know it was pretty you know like happy birthday thank you state farm insurance overage

00:38:55.940 state farm was there i know um i'm so excited can you will you share the link when you're ready

00:39:04.120 will you share the yeah sure it'll it'll be a bit because i'm still you know working on all the

00:39:09.060 workings and the background and stuff like that but um i'm pretty excited about it and it's

00:39:14.860 it's going to be like nine nine and a half months of birthing this baby and it scares the crap out

00:39:20.520 of me to put it out there because it's making me very visible it's all videos which i would never

00:39:24.760 have thought I would have done and you know that kind of thing so it's it's taken me out of my

00:39:28.920 comfort zone but anyways I just was so excited about that check I'm like yay okay let's do this

00:39:35.240 all signs point to yes exactly yeah oh that's so exciting well we can't wait

00:39:41.020 to share that with everybody when you're ready thank you yeah let's go from Holly to the Holly

00:39:49.140 and the Ivy shall we Adrienne I know you saw that segue coming a mile away you're like oh

00:39:54.540 I'm going to be next. I'm going to be next. Well, hi everybody. I'm Adrienne Blanks. I use she,

00:40:01.180 her pronouns. Um, I love the way somebody else ID themselves before. So I'll do that too. Uh,

00:40:07.400 I'm a white person with brown hair, have blue eyes. I'm wearing a white sweater. It has little

00:40:13.040 blue snowflakes on it. And I'm in front of what I like to call my witch wall because it has, uh,

00:40:18.880 suns and moons and eyes and palms on it and I live in Asheville, North Carolina, which is Cherokee

00:40:25.920 land. I am a singer-songwriter and I am a witch and I decided this year to record, well actually

00:40:34.580 it was 2020, 2021, wow, is that a real number? I recorded this song last year, it's come out this

00:40:43.820 year. So I have found the original pagan lyrics to the Holly and the Ivy. I've known for a while

00:40:50.740 that the song was first pagan before it got appropriated by the Christians. And I'm a

00:40:58.160 professional singer. I was in the opera world for a long time. I worked for churches. I did

00:41:05.140 professional caroling. I have lots of caroling stories, by the way. And, you know, around 2017,

00:41:13.600 I was starting to realize that I'm a witch and all the signs were there but this was like when

00:41:18.820 I was finally starting to step into it and I was going to you know church service after church

00:41:23.880 service just realizing like this wasn't aligning with me anymore and so something that I found a

00:41:29.080 lot of comfort in at this time of the year was investigating the songs that had been pagan or

00:41:35.880 some pagan songs that I could listen to for yule and I started building a playlist and it would

00:41:42.180 make me really happy happy when I would be caroling you know at the steakhouse and somebody

00:41:47.280 would be like oh can we have the holly and the ivy and I'd be like teehee this song's actually

00:41:52.780 pagan um and I would carry my little Llewellyn sabbat essentials with me and I would read it

00:41:59.780 you know on my breaks and it just helped me really to ground in so I know for a long time that I

00:42:05.780 wanted to record this song but it's interesting it it just keeps like getting bigger and bigger

00:42:11.460 on itself so I went down to Charlotte last year and recorded this song um and I just am so happy

00:42:19.100 with the team of people that played on this but I think Amy was asking me about the guitarist

00:42:24.220 in particular because I feel like the hook the melodic hook that he came up with just like really

00:42:29.780 makes the song but also the percussionist came in and was like he had so many ideas he was like

00:42:35.940 this song has to be Celtic and this is the drum feel and everything just kind of like

00:42:40.740 honestly it started there like things built on each other then and then fast forward a year you

00:42:47.760 know I've got the song mixed and mastered I know I want to release it for holidays 2022 I decided

00:42:52.760 to record a music video to go with it I invited a few of my friends from Chicago because it's where

00:42:59.040 I lived before Asheville and a few of my friends that are here to be in this concept that I came

00:43:04.880 up with was that these witches are having a dinner party for Yule in the woods and that

00:43:12.280 I fall asleep and get invited to this party they you know wake me up and I turn into glamour witch

00:43:20.400 like the rest of them and then we do a ritual for Yule and the music video is actually coming out

00:43:26.980 on Saturday I'm so lucky there's an amazing witchcraft store here called Raven and Crone

00:43:32.660 and they're going to be hosting the premiere party on Friday night. And yeah, it's just been

00:43:39.400 like really, really exciting. One of the coolest things about the music video is that so many

00:43:44.700 femmes have come together to make this music video just keep up leveling. And so we had some folks 1.00

00:43:53.200 called Picnic Pop-Up Asheville design like the tablescape of your dreams. I really wish I could

00:43:58.660 drop photos in the chat right now but it's just so gorgeous I'll leave my Instagram handle so you 0.98

00:44:05.240 can like take a little peep and there's a there's a gal in town her name is Amanda Tweed but her

00:44:12.560 company is called Mountain Flower Fantasies and she makes fantasy gowns like think lord of the

00:44:17.520 rings and she let us wear some of her dresses in the music video and there's so many collaborators

00:44:24.440 that came together to make this happen and you know the song like really gave me a lot of comfort

00:44:30.240 at one time and I hope that it's able to do that for other people who are looking to celebrate

00:44:36.000 in their own way at this time of year so I did make a lyric video today because I hear

00:44:42.040 kids are really into lyric videos so I'm gonna drop that in the chat and

00:44:47.820 it's on YouTube and it actually has like all the links to all my stuff

00:44:54.440 The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown

00:45:09.680 Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown

00:45:15.600 The rising of the sun and the running of the deer

00:45:21.560 The rounding of the shining moon, the weary worn on her

00:45:27.700 The holly bears a blossom, white as lily flower

00:45:45.580 And Ivy bears the blackest buds to pull him to her power

00:45:51.620 The holly bears a berry red as any blood

00:45:57.640 And Ivy bears the greenest leaves to wrap him in her hood

00:46:15.580 The holly bear's a prickle, sharp as any thorn.

00:46:22.080 And ivy bear's a clinging vine to smother him right down.

00:46:27.580 The holly bear's a bark, bitter as any gall.

00:46:34.080 And ivy bear's small nectar flowers to sweeten all his fall.

00:46:45.580 The harley and the ivy, when they are both full-grown,

00:46:57.740 of all the trees that are in the wood, these two shall wreathe as one.

00:47:15.580 oh so dreamy thank you so much for sharing that and joining us

00:47:26.920 thank you for having me my favorite caroling story is probably um one time we've been like

00:47:35.680 on a long gig it was one of those we probably had like three gigs in one day

00:47:39.460 we were at this christmas in some like upper crust suburbs and we were basically like musical

00:47:48.600 furniture and these folks they all had like christmas suits on made out of like you know

00:47:56.940 like the big cheeky like necklace of light bulbs you wear that was the pattern for the fabric that

00:48:04.060 they were all wearing there were like nine of them all wearing like matching suits and dresses of

00:48:08.560 this and they said you know what you've had a long day why don't you sit down and we'll sing

00:48:14.940 you a song and they sang the most enthusiastic rudolph the red-nosed reindeer i've ever heard

00:48:22.000 in my life that's awesome and so strange it was like why are they all dressed the same

00:48:30.120 i like how you described yourselves as singing furniture

00:48:37.520 I feel like yeah we know that we know that vibe

00:48:41.000 ah thank you guys thanks for the love in the chat I appreciate it

00:48:48.740 yeah truly so beautiful um Carly okay hi hi like five times I've been like should I go should I

00:49:03.760 now should i get that it's like hey i was waiting to be interrupted or something um so um i'm carly

00:49:12.340 um so i didn't like i have a song but it's not a christmas song it's more just witchy

00:49:18.660 um i hope that's okay and i was so i i don't have any music accompaniment either i'm just

00:49:25.520 i'm just gonna sing it acapella um yeah so um i don't know if you guys know the song

00:49:33.660 but it's called savage daughter by sarah hester ross and it's like one of my go-to witchy power

00:49:41.820 so i guess i will just start let me just drink water first okay drink water and then imagine

00:49:50.760 amy just ringing bells just ringing okay i am my mother's savage daughter the one who runs barefoot

00:50:05.560 cursing sharp stones i am my mother's savage daughter i will not cut my hair i will not lower 0.88

00:50:15.480 my voice my mother's child is a savage she looks for omens in the colors of stones in the faces of

00:50:27.240 cats in the falling of feathers in the dancing of fire and the curve of all bones i am my mother's 0.57

00:50:36.040 savage daughter the one who runs barefoot cursing sharp stones i am my mother's savage daughter i

00:50:45.960 will not cut my hair i will not lower my voice my mother's child dances in darkness she sings 0.74

00:50:56.440 heathen songs by the light of the moon and watches the stars and renames the planets

00:51:03.480 and dreams she can reach them with a song and a broom i am my mother's savage daughter the one

00:51:11.800 who runs barefoot cursing shark stones i am my mother's savage daughter i will not cut my hair

00:51:21.720 i will not lower my voice we are all brought forth out of darkness into this world through

00:51:32.040 blood and through pain and deep in our bones the old songs are waking so sing them with voices of

00:51:39.640 thunder and rain we are our mother's savage daughters the ones who run barefoot cursing sharp

00:51:48.760 stones we are our mother's savage daughters we will not cut our hair we will not lower our voice 1.00

00:52:02.040 fuck yeah bless it fucking me thank you um so i'm corby um i go by i love you dawn 1.00

00:52:14.360 i go by uh she her hers most of the time unless psycho bitch is online then i'm a they um 0.99

00:52:24.360 so but she only comes online when I have to protect so but anyway um so my um you guys had 0.93

00:52:34.700 talked about the caroling when I was in high school every year I would have a caroling party

00:52:40.720 and all of my like people that didn't usually hang out would come to our house and hang out and we

00:52:46.620 would go all over the little town that I was raised in and it was really great they loved it

00:52:52.620 because the teenagers were singing and they weren't doing bad things with toilet paper and

00:52:57.100 apples and other things poop bags of poop and they liked us for that so um I guess um well what I was

00:53:05.840 going to share I was going to try to play guitar but I just did not have any time at all um I wasn't

00:53:12.000 even sure if I was going to be able to be on tonight um so I don't have my guitar ready but

00:53:17.900 one of my very favorite things to grow up with at Christmas is the Muppets Christmas you know

00:53:27.120 the Muppets anything Muppets I'm all about and so the John Denver and the Muppets I was raised on

00:53:33.400 I was almost named Sunshine after the John Denver song Sunshine on My Shoulders so I was kind of

00:53:38.780 raised on him and John Denver was my first exposure to what a naturalist was I had no idea

00:53:46.940 about that until i was like maybe six or seven and that was when i and i was my mother's wild

00:53:55.920 daughter never combing her hair always in the in the muck and playing um scooping up crayfish and

00:54:03.460 salamanders and bringing them home and watching them grow and then letting them go back um so i

00:54:09.260 the song that i chose um was it's in every one of us which is my very favorite um

00:54:16.480 um Muppets John Denver song next to the peace carol so but I've kind of changed the versions

00:54:23.960 a little bit to kind of reflect where I'm at right now because this is um an awkward time

00:54:29.840 for me right now I'm in spirituality stages so to speak um so I have a lot of it's hard to let

00:54:41.120 go of the things that I don't want to let go of and I don't want to let go of some of those things

00:54:45.080 so I'm just not gonna but at the same time I'm trying to create I'm trying to embrace

00:54:52.840 my Catholic roots but to be able to also you know because for me I grew up I was not hurt

00:55:03.540 in the church I was loved and precious I had a really good experiences in the church

00:55:08.500 but I can't stand the I now my now I see I'm not the little girl that's like pretty and listens

00:55:15.840 to them now I see and they don't want to hear what I have to say so I can't be a part of that

00:55:20.000 anymore so this is kind of like a weird stage for me so just kind of sharing this is so thank you

00:55:25.900 for letting me share this with you but anyways my point is is I kind of changed some of the words

00:55:30.720 um because i can it's my song so i'm gonna try um it's in every one of us to be kind

00:55:52.260 find your heart open up both your eyes we can all know everything

00:56:14.040 without ever knowing why it's in every one of us by and by

00:56:35.160 It's in every one of us to be wise

00:56:50.600 Find your voice

00:56:56.700 Open up both your eyes

00:57:04.340 We can all know everything without ever knowing why.

00:57:18.300 It's in every one of us by and by.

00:57:34.340 It's in every one of us, by and by.

00:57:54.340 So I'm Hope. I'm a baby witch that's 50 years old, so I'm going to add that.

00:58:02.000 um i am a white woman um i am not good with this pronoun thing i'm i feel really old sometimes i'm

00:58:11.500 just a she her or whatever you want to call me um i'm the type of person that will let a professor

00:58:17.120 call her a totally different name entire semester because i don't want to upset her so whatever you

00:58:23.500 want to call me bring it on I'm fine um I found this this little reading so poem little story um

00:58:34.560 and I went oh my god this is so cute um it's twas the night before yuletide um it it it's pretty old

00:58:43.600 um there is it was originally written actually so it was updated by cc um i think it's called

00:58:54.040 a whittiford um or williford and there's no i can't find who originally wrote it um but

00:59:02.640 here we go i'm gonna do my best i after everybody's beautiful voices i feel like so small

00:59:11.400 um i just want you to pause and hear in your head amy's bells jingling loudly for you

00:59:19.880 just feel the wave of the loud really aggressively loud jingles just washing over you with all our

00:59:27.020 love i love the jingle bells you can do it anytime i might actually cover my voice and

00:59:37.980 That would be great because I'm going to probably flub a lot.

00:59:40.320 So here we go.

00:59:44.120 Twas the night before yuletide and all through the glen, not a creature was stirring, not

00:59:49.580 a fox, not a hen.

00:59:50.900 A mantle of snow and show brightly that night as it lay on the ground reflecting moonlight.

00:59:56.700 The fairies were nestled all snug in their trees, unmindful of flurries and chilly north

01:00:02.700 breeze.

01:00:03.260 The elves and the gnomes were down in their burrows, sleeping like babies in their soft earthen furrows.

01:00:12.220 When low, the earth moved with a thunderous quake, causing chairs to fall over and dishes to break.

01:00:19.780 The little fox scrambled to get on their feet. They raced to the river where they usually meet.

01:00:25.820 What happened, they wondered, they questioned, they probed.

01:00:28.900 as they shivered in night clothes some bare armed some robed what caused then the earth to shudder

01:00:36.440 what caused her to shiver they all spoke at once as they stood by that river

01:00:42.160 then what to their wondrous eyes should appear but a shiny gold light in the shape of a sphere

01:00:50.800 it blinked and it twinkled it winked like an eye then it flew straight up and was lost in the sky

01:00:58.080 before they could murmur before they could bustle there emerged from the crowd with a swish and a 1.00

01:01:05.220 rustle a stately old crone with her hand on a cane resplendent and green in with a flowing white mane 1.00

01:01:13.600 as she passed by them the crone's perfume smelling of meadows and flowers of bloom

01:01:20.160 may each of the fey folk think of the spring when the earth wakes from the slumber and the birds 0.58

01:01:27.020 start to sing. My name is Gaia, the old crone proclaimed in a voice that was at once both

01:01:37.280 wild and tamed. I've come to remind you, for you seem to have forgot, that Yule is a time of

01:01:44.580 rebirth and yet I see no earth fires no I hear no music no bells

01:01:51.640 the air isn't filled with rich fragrant smells the baking and roasting and simmering stews of

01:02:03.640 cider in mold that's mold or other hot brews there aren't any children at play in the snow

01:02:10.500 or houses lit up by candles glow have you forgotten my children the fun of celebrating 0.98

01:02:18.460 the rebirth of the sun she looked at the fay folk her eyes going round as they shuffled their feet 0.97

01:02:25.900 and stared at the ground then she smiled the smile that brings light to the day come my children 0.99

01:02:32.360 let's play they gathered the mistletoe gathered the holly threw off the drab and drew on the

01:02:40.240 jolly they lit the bonfire and they danced and they sang they brought out the bells and clapped

01:02:47.400 when they rang then strung the lights on the tree in boughs oh so merry in colors of cranberry

01:02:56.460 bayberry cherry they built giant snowmen adorned them with hats then surrounded them with snowbirds

01:03:03.660 snow cats and bats then just before dawn at the end of their fest before they went homeward home

01:03:13.200 ward to seek out their rest the fay folk they gathered around their favorite oak tree 0.86

01:03:20.720 and welcomed the sun neath the tree's finery they were just reaching home when it when suddenly came 0.99

01:03:29.000 a gold light returned like a arrow shot flame it lit on the treetop where they

01:03:35.960 could see from afar the golden like sphere turned into a star the old crone smiled at the beautiful

01:03:44.040 sight happy yuletide my children as she said good night that's it

01:03:53.180 yay i love that oh my god i love that story i have not done a lot of reading in so long

01:04:03.720 this was like really hard i used to do that i went to school and i mean i went to college and

01:04:09.280 uh so thank you all for being my you know my uh my audience i appreciate that this was good

01:04:20.740 and I love that story it's just I can kind of see this crone inner pain and

01:04:25.160 you know like why have you forgotten what is your problem and have I taught you nothing

01:04:30.100 you know and let's play yeah come on let's play I love that one it was beautifully read

01:04:40.440 and we're honored honored to be your audience thank you

01:04:44.860 something that i think about a lot at um halloween and easter and christmas time these holidays that

01:04:58.220 on one hand we can look at and think about what we've lost at the other hand i look at them

01:05:03.940 and i see the echoes of our ancestors reaching out to us through the eon you know um and when

01:05:13.520 people wish each other merry christmas i remember that they're not just it's it's it's not christianity

01:05:20.640 they're talking about because if it was that the you know the birth of christ was in september and

01:05:25.040 those kind of things um the reason they're wishing each other merry christmas right now

01:05:30.960 is because of the significance of this time of year and the christmas tree and the lights and

01:05:36.560 the festival of lights all around the world and all those things bring us together as a humanity

01:05:43.520 And, you know, trying to just see all those little echoes reaching out at us every day as you walk through and people are decorating and people have all kind of tchotchke on their yards and those are those echoes speaking to us every day.

01:06:00.800 um I don't necessarily have like a blessing more of kind of like a spell that I was uh

01:06:16.700 well I don't know I don't know you decide what it is um but basically um on the night of Yule

01:06:25.000 um one of my witchy friends she told me to take a candle set it not like on the christmas tree

01:06:34.800 or you know not even not even if you don't have a christmas tree just set it anywhere but like for

01:06:38.500 me it was like set it on the christmas tree um and she was like close your eyes meditate with

01:06:44.200 the candle and just imagine the light getting brighter and brighter as we welcome the oak king

01:06:50.380 back because that's when the oak king comes back into power so that so yeah just like the

01:06:57.260 light getting brighter and brighter and just kind of filling the world type thing

01:07:01.340 i hate to be that the the amy toric of the group but i feel like putting a lit candle on a christmas

01:07:11.240 tree you wouldn't have to imagine the light getting bigger and bigger and filling the room

01:07:16.760 because you've set your house on fire so listeners yeah that's what i mean like don't

01:07:20.840 put it on your christmas put it like near your christmas cheers thank you

01:07:27.560 safety first people safety first magic second yes yeah everything else was perfect safety

01:07:35.800 first magic second but yes let's let's imagine the light growing and filling the room rather than

01:07:41.960 rather than manifesting that yeah but thank you so much for that carly i love this notionally of

01:07:53.440 bringing we talk about all the time of bringing our own light to the solstice

01:07:57.820 bringing that light that lives within us out at this time of year you know who needs the sun right

01:08:07.520 sat lean i know you wanted to share something please

01:08:12.820 um so for those of you who don't know me um my spiritual name is sat lean and i'm in minnesota

01:08:22.280 and it was negative nine or negative 11 fahrenheit this morning so it was quite cold not a good day

01:08:31.320 to go to the dentist um and what i wanted to share is about i don't know who knows about bayberry

01:08:39.740 candles and about um about the history and and um the lore and magic behind them any shaking of

01:08:51.100 hands or heads or anything no okay i see one one head uh bobbing up so is bayberry candles for

01:09:02.420 those of you who um may not be familiar with are not made from traditional wax but are made from

01:09:09.600 bayberry berries and the wax on that um and in new england but that's where i'm from

01:09:17.380 um being in the u.s connecticut new york massachusetts area and it took 15 pounds

01:09:26.440 of bayberries to make um trying to think what the number was but to make like two dozen candles

01:09:34.780 um if that so but they burned bright they burned clean they were very expensive and

01:09:43.220 often you know it was people who had more more money or and then so if you had bayberry candle

01:09:52.540 it was very precious and often it would be shared with a friend and this is what I know

01:10:01.180 from growing up is that we would have you know bayberry candle with you know connected with

01:10:07.520 the two wick, the wick there, hanging from the rifle over the mantle, and is, so one, and you

01:10:17.420 cut the wick, and each one would bring home that candle, and it was said that you're supposed to

01:10:24.100 light it with the, when you see the first star, and that the candle can burn all the way, all the

01:10:31.640 way down and that it will bring you good luck or something here I did find it says the legend of

01:10:40.180 the bayberry candle says that a bayberry candle burnt the socket brings food to the larder and

01:10:47.280 gold to the pocket so I am sharing a bayberry candle with each of you and yes practice candle

01:10:58.200 safety and put it in i put it in the sink let it burn all the way out practice safety

01:11:04.500 so thank you and i'm so thankful for all of you here and also i'll just mention as i did bring

01:11:11.460 um my dear spiritual sister jess with me who's who's over there with some wings over her head

01:11:19.660 but yes so thank you for having her and thank you for having me

01:11:26.200 go for it Michelle love it's so nice to see your face hey everybody um you know when you guys were

01:11:36.340 talking about the tree and putting candles on a tree and letting things grow brighter and warmer

01:11:43.520 it made me think of one of my neighbors who with their holiday decorations and

01:11:51.080 um they put out a a tree a small christmas tree there's no lights on it um but it's a

01:12:05.060 warmth tree they put a sign next to it and um it has in little ziploc baggies

01:12:14.420 um hand crocheted or knitted hats gloves scarves and the sign says this is a warmth tree if you

01:12:24.620 need warmth please help yourself or if you know someone that needs warmth please take this to

01:12:31.260 them and every time I drive past it and I don't know these neighbors um but my daughter and I

01:12:41.160 when we go to the gym after school we drive their houses on the route to to where we go to the gym

01:12:48.540 so and Carly as you're working on your lovely craft I would say um for anybody who's a crocheter

01:12:57.820 or a knitter um and you have you know maybe just enough yarn for some hats or you know some little

01:13:06.220 mittens um and all of that and you're like what what do i do with this um put it outside with

01:13:14.160 your holiday decorations with a sign so that if somebody's walking by and needs something to help

01:13:20.240 keep them warm um they would have that and maybe that would also be you know a little bit of a of

01:13:27.780 a spell and i i love the language that your neighbor used michelle that you know warmth

01:13:35.220 like not necessarily someone who needs mitts or if you need know someone who needs a hat

01:13:42.140 but this notion of warmth like i imagine like having a depressive episode and taking a pair

01:13:47.880 of hand crocheted you know mittens off of a tree and the this emotional sense of warmth

01:13:55.260 you know that's not just physical this idea of warmth that that comes up so much around this

01:14:01.760 time of year because because we are cold but also we're happy talking together right um so I'm so

01:14:09.220 yeah I love that I love that they use that vocabulary of warmth not just mitts or hats but

01:14:14.760 warmth yeah yeah and it reminds me too I don't remember if it was you or Risa who was talking

01:14:20.280 about like the church ladies the church bazaar like heavy yarn like slipper socks you know

01:14:29.520 that you find every church lady making but you know there's there's some of those on there too

01:14:36.160 and they're like they do different sizes so you see there's ones for children and some for adults

01:14:43.360 so you know it's it's something where if if you have supplies that you're like what am I going

01:14:53.320 to do with these little bits and pieces of things um you can certainly you know if you don't live on

01:15:00.540 a street that gets a lot of foot traffic you know donate them to you know an animal shelter for

01:15:06.920 their auction or a fundraiser or you know something something like that um or you know

01:15:14.380 your local shelter um for people who may be unhoused um and if if you know doing something

01:15:24.900 on a tree in your yard isn't appropriate i just want to say quickly the minute you said uh she

01:15:37.080 has like a warm tree outside and puts like the little knitting stuff on i was like oh my god

01:15:42.440 that's such a good idea I think I want to do that so I mean I have to get through these hats because

01:15:48.940 these are for people that I'm gifting for Christmas oh Christmas is always a busy time

01:15:53.220 for hats for me but I definitely want to do that that's such a good idea well and it's not like

01:15:59.800 you have to get the warming tree done for Christmas because the warming will need to

01:16:04.620 happen in January and February too so that's very true yeah you can just have like a winter tree

01:16:11.460 yeah the tree i i notice like throughout the season usually the tree is up um and i'm in

01:16:18.620 northeast ohio so we um of course it was different when i was a kid uh but now we usually don't get

01:16:27.500 big snow storms till january february and sometimes you know we'll get them in march

01:16:32.320 maybe april because it's got a snow on the daffodils you know um but the tree is definitely

01:16:39.740 me out there with stuff on it and it gets restocked um you know till till usually the last snow

01:16:51.640 so you know you don't have to hustle to get it out in time for you know conventional holiday time

01:17:00.380 yeah I'll just take my time because I find when I push things then I don't want to do them anymore

01:17:07.900 but I'm definitely gonna like just start doing whatever anyway I'll stop talking you guys go

01:17:15.540 ahead Sally oh I was just gonna say thank you Michelle the thought of a warming tree when you

01:17:21.320 said that I thought of like just radiating you know warmth and at our at our public library

01:17:29.940 it's like what is that and it was like a mitten or it didn't say you know a tree I think it said

01:17:36.880 something like um please leave or take as you as you need something like that they had a structured

01:17:45.400 you know wooden type kind of mod looking thing and um i i did take up knitting loom knitting

01:17:54.640 um over over COVID and I am definitely going to use those weird random ends of of of yarn

01:18:06.880 or other and make some some nice warm scarves to to put there or hats like Carly there

01:18:13.560 I think you're making a hat so thank you

01:18:17.960 i'll read sarah's blessing that she dropped in the chat feels appropriate next to the warming tree

01:18:30.520 fire fire burning bright keep me warm all through the night

01:18:36.920 how many of you just curious have access to fire in a fireplace

01:18:42.520 how many of you burn candles how significant is fire to your yuletide celebration all the hands

01:18:53.860 are up anyone anyone want to dive in with some uh some words with their hands

01:18:59.340 interesting for me like I as a kid I was petrified of fire like petrified of fire I wouldn't strike

01:19:14.320 a match one year for Christmas I really you know so I'm gonna be 53 next week so like I'm going

01:19:20.520 old school and had like one year for Christmas I wanted to plug in alarm clock when I was like

01:19:25.180 nine because I was going to be able to wake myself up for school you know on my own and I got this

01:19:30.200 alarm clock and I was so stoked on it and the first night I plugged it in I woke up saying the

01:19:36.380 alarm clock is going to catch the house on fire and I freaked out and I was heartbroken because

01:19:41.460 I like what had this alarm clock so bad and I went to my mom and she's like like yes but it's

01:19:47.400 probably okay and fortunately my mom didn't shame me on any of that so we tried it again the second

01:19:51.380 night same thing so we end up throwing the thing out um but and one of my first books that I checked

01:19:59.640 out from the library was on witchcraft with candle magic but I was all like oh that's too scary

01:20:05.700 because candles and I you know I don't feel like I can safely do this thing so I'm gonna kind of

01:20:11.340 put this away and then now it's really it's changed my whole practice and and that's the

01:20:18.700 part that i'm loving even most now about my my witchcraft practice is candle magic and but i'm

01:20:25.920 all like safe about this i don't have a fire extinguisher next to me or anything like that

01:20:29.360 but like i'm like really like let's make sure that you know safe and sane

01:20:34.540 i'm so happy with our wonderful practical coven whose yuletide special has turned into a candle

01:20:45.360 safety

01:20:46.080 it's like an infomercial for candle

01:20:53.440 safety and I'm here for it

01:20:55.220 I'm with it

01:20:56.100 does anybody else have any thoughts about

01:20:58.960 practicing witchcraft safely with candles

01:21:01.620 Sarah 0.74

01:21:02.780 we see your face

01:21:04.080 sorry I'm like moming

01:21:07.000 it over here really

01:21:08.460 big time so that's why my

01:21:10.720 screen's off but I'm here

01:21:12.840 I'm Sarah

01:21:14.560 i'm so happy to see you all i love you guys all so much so much um so i my house is heated

01:21:23.360 by a wood stove which i've named the beast and she's right here if i can show it to you

01:21:31.860 and um i'm like sweating so bad she's so hot right now and um and it's so funny because i feel like

01:21:41.460 with fire it's so needed and warming and powerful but you do not like we're so wise to like be

01:21:52.580 smart with it it because or as the hindi word agni right you know the fire god um you mess up

01:22:02.180 one time you're gonna get burned hard right i have inside my stove and you open up a sigil for

01:22:09.020 protection and i pray every night because i want it to burn to warm my house but not burn my house

01:22:17.340 down and every time i leave because here in western maine you know it goes year round i say a

01:22:24.260 prayer and i'm also jewish so i like touch you know like i i say a couple prayers every time i

01:22:30.720 leave and as i'm driving down like oh gosh did i say my like spell did i like make sure my house

01:22:37.220 is going to be safe and everything so every night like that's been a ritual as like the wintering

01:22:44.000 months the cold months come and then go and everything and also I have to just say I love

01:22:50.080 this time because it doesn't matter like what background you have as a witch whether it be

01:22:56.800 Jewish or Christian or whatever burning light and warmth from the fire in the dark months and

01:23:05.020 that is universal and it's so beautiful it's magical and you know so i just like

01:23:12.260 yeah anyways that's my little piece oh my gosh you remind me um we have to keep the fire going

01:23:22.640 it's downstairs for us we keep it going all winter but when we first may was first born

01:23:28.480 mark was keeping the fire going and uh he went downstairs and downstairs was filling with smoke

01:23:36.080 and you could see red between the seams of the chimney and he was like everybody gotta get the

01:23:43.120 fuck out like so ran i ran across the street with may and called 911 we keep a ladder next uh leaned

01:23:51.120 up against our roof for shoveling ice off the roof so we don't get massive ice dams because you know 0.99

01:23:55.420 we get like six feet of snow on the roof i'm looking at sarah i'm like sarah and amy know

01:23:58.960 this weather you so you're up all winter shoveling the snow off your roof so your house doesn't

01:24:04.180 collapse so that he runs up the ladder and i can see him from my neighbor's house while i'm on the

01:24:09.180 phone with 911 shoveling snow down the top of the chimney to put out the fire that's coming up the

01:24:16.600 center of our house and then you know fire trucks arrive and they go up and basically to mark which

01:24:23.520 makes sense if you know him they were like so do you do volunteer at the fire do you want to is

01:24:30.180 that something that you we could side you up for because I guess his instinct was right and he had

01:24:34.680 put out the fire we had to replace the chimney replace the fireplace but the house was unscathed

01:24:40.880 and I was thinking about this week like I drove I've been driving my daughter to school in the

01:24:45.820 rain ice rain I only got my license this year I'm trying to be very brave and also really pay

01:24:50.840 attention to my intuition to my feeling and I drove by a spot and was like oh that's funny I

01:24:58.280 I've been neglecting to look that way when I turn this way and I should make sure I do that like

01:25:04.020 that's that's like something I haven't been noticed I thought they had a stop sign there

01:25:08.400 but they don't and the very next time I pulled up to it a car went flying by with a girl texting

01:25:15.520 and I didn't have a stop sign it was just my job to not fly through like you know I and I was

01:25:22.080 thinking about how sometimes magic is just that it's just like noticing that smallest moment of

01:25:29.420 warning or intuition that comes the day before the thing happens or the moment before the thing

01:25:37.380 happens anyway they remind me of that as witches we like listen to our instinct and listen to our

01:25:46.780 ancestors or whatever the wind whispering in our ears and we benefit from that thank the goddess

01:25:54.700 god x

01:25:56.180 yeah i and i love i love fire for for this this exact reason is that at my house it's like sarah's

01:26:09.400 house um it's like keep us alive and also don't kill us we pray to the fire through this winter

01:26:18.200 to find that sweet spot where you're keeping us alive and it's so contrary it's so contrary just

01:26:26.460 like this this this space between binaries and between atoms that we live in as witches

01:26:33.640 so um can i add in here in in russian uh tradition uh uh there are these things called

01:26:45.320 the domorova and they're the spirits of your fireplace and if you feed them during the winter

01:26:53.180 they will keep your house safe and it's so it's a tradition that you always leave a little bit of

01:26:59.740 food in your hearth or your fire place every evening a little bit of your food to to feed

01:27:07.840 the domorova and and they'll guard your entire house not just the fire area

01:27:13.280 they're bringing that in for for you all winter people

01:27:18.400 i'm gonna start doing that we've been like taking bits of bread and putting it outside and

01:27:26.020 nuts and seeds around the house kind of circling the house and some bounty but i'm gonna start

01:27:31.800 saving some some goes on the altar i'm gonna start feeding some to the fire

01:27:36.080 and sarah you know in in in our tradition in judaism we burn a piece a little bit of the

01:27:42.940 kala every week when we make it in the oven that actually comes from that russian tradition of

01:27:48.060 feeding the domorovai um so yeah i was gonna say there's so many cultures that do a little bit of

01:27:55.860 that you know i'm also a little bit irish and like the goddess bridget is you're supposed to

01:28:02.860 keep her near the fire to like watch over it for like similar reasons you know it's like it's so

01:28:08.960 fantastic how this all it all just is like layers of similarity it's all connected you know we're

01:28:16.160 all so more similar than we are dissimilar i love that you just said that sarah because

01:28:22.880 i i i feel that like in christianity it's it's the one god right the one jesus it's the one the only

01:28:33.380 but i really do believe that and i always have even though i was told not to that there are so

01:28:41.220 many more gods and goddesses there's so many more entities that are so much greater than us that are

01:28:48.240 kind of dabbling and pulling and you know driving uh mixing us around whatever um it's not just one

01:28:58.080 So I love that, you know, there is no one, one and only religion.

01:29:04.940 You have to kind of give a little bit of honor and respect to all of them and to all of those

01:29:10.800 that practice all of them, because that's what grounds them. I can't tell you that you're wrong

01:29:17.480 and you sure as hell better not tell me that I am. Although I'm still not at a point where I can tell

01:29:22.960 my father, that I have walked away from his beloved God. But anyway, that was just a really

01:29:31.520 good comment. I just want to say also, I'm sorry. Well, I just want to say like, in the Christian

01:29:43.820 tradition, isn't the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, there's a triptych in there as well.

01:29:48.960 so that like goes you know and that's another like similarity it's not just I don't know I mean

01:29:56.880 I'm not Christian so I can't really like speak for you guys but you know like that there's

01:30:01.540 similarities even there so it's not really like one god I mean you know but like they all I don't

01:30:08.920 like like Hinduism really is a religion of a thousand you know gods but really it's like 0.84

01:30:16.460 underneath the brahma is that the right way there's like the head of it all that like

01:30:22.940 encompass it's inside their body right you know but it's still like all that anyways i i'm sorry

01:30:30.440 i that's what i did it wasn't gonna comment i'm like i don't have a fully formed thought there

01:30:34.440 but like i've been filling the whole uh triptych you know maiden mother crone past present future

01:30:43.300 I don't know if it's just this time of year as we're like cycling to the end and we're

01:30:47.980 going to start over again I don't know it's just like there so yeah I feel like at this

01:30:56.140 time of year my creative or planning or like productive brain goes into overdrive like I

01:31:03.500 want to just start to like dig and make and create and plan but my body is exhausted just

01:31:10.460 demolished so I have to keep being like no those are seeds like put that in a google doc Risa

01:31:17.120 that's not a project for today um and I yeah go ahead sorry I'm really bad at figuring out when

01:31:27.780 to come into conversation it's impossible to know it's impossible to know I just want to say um to

01:31:34.580 that I kind of feel like what I'm talking to people and like read some stuff but like this is

01:31:41.420 you know all nature hibernates this time of year except for us and like so that's why I feel a lot

01:31:50.120 of people get bogged down they feel sad and they you know I mean the sun is not there too so there's

01:31:55.140 that but I feel like everyone pushes their self and it's like this is actually your body is like

01:32:00.680 confused because you're supposed to be resting right now and you're still going full throttle

01:32:04.560 so I just feel I don't know I just felt that I don't know that I should say that yeah

01:32:10.340 um I have something to say or share I guess if that's okay of course welcome and I'm not um

01:32:22.320 Yeah, a regular to your group, or even really this whole other facet, and this whole other,

01:32:34.740 you know, I have three sisters, and my eldest absolutely is a witch, to her very core,

01:32:42.020 and I have so much respect for all the knowledge that she carries.

01:32:46.720 in so many different areas it's always very intriguing to me that what the different moons

01:32:53.360 mean and when I look into it or learn about it I mean gosh there's so many things that can be

01:32:59.560 explained by learning just more about even just that but just listening to everything that

01:33:07.360 everyone spoke about saying about talked about shared and when it came to you know talking about

01:33:15.700 different like with fire with candles with lights which I thought of because I think that in some

01:33:23.940 ways as some cultures kept on you know being progressive whereas some witches stay more towards

01:33:30.740 the wood you know fireplace or the candles there are those of us who have like me I have different

01:33:38.020 lights of different colors all all around my apartment inside outside I get compliments on

01:33:46.000 them and comments on them a lot but that's just what I need to feel whole and to feel

01:33:52.600 at home and I know that represents something what that is I haven't learned yet um

01:34:01.160 but what I was kind of getting at was that as everyone shared and and I can't remember

01:34:07.060 I think it might have been Sarah Webster I don't know there's another Sarah I only see her

01:34:13.540 who maybe had said that you know something about the different backgrounds whether it be

01:34:18.640 you know Christianity or whether it be pagan etc well then we brought you know Hinduism and

01:34:25.600 and I guess my thought was you know no matter what it is that we're a part of or what we believe or

01:34:33.020 practice, I think we'd all be hard pressed to find any denomination where it's not about being

01:34:42.820 together, about being with other people to celebrate and to share in the joy to, if you

01:34:52.880 want to call it praying or praising, giving, you know, thanks for, um, and it's just kind of an

01:35:02.020 example this group i came into it having no idea what to expect or even really what it was about

01:35:08.860 i got a little bit of information out of my um my good friend but she keeps things in who by the way

01:35:16.700 i will mention also has an amazing singing voice um sat lean but i yeah so i know her as someone

01:35:25.120 else but but if you're gonna be yes yes I see the yes exactly if you're gonna be recruiting people

01:35:32.840 to sing yeah um I sing too I play guitar I write songs and all of that as well I love music but

01:35:40.520 that's just furthers my point that the one thing that binds everyone is that that spirit that human

01:35:50.820 thing we have that binds us together that we want to be around others and usually we want to

01:35:57.900 be around others like us but for me a lot I like to learn new things and see new faces and be

01:36:05.040 exposed to new ideas and you guys have definitely given me some of that and I just want to express

01:36:12.080 my gratitude for letting me come into your circle and and and visit and learn and just hear about

01:36:21.340 all your wonderful ways and listen to beautiful voices and it's just amazing you know and I think

01:36:27.480 that again this time of year the one thing we really all can be thankful for is each other

01:36:31.600 and that's gonna like I say just span across across what you believe no matter what um

01:36:39.880 so i guess that's what i wanted to say really was just i i'll hold you all close to my heart

01:36:45.760 how well i know you are not um because it's just who i am and i have so much gratitude for you

01:36:52.880 all of you thank you yes the spirit of gratitude for each other definitely rings and echoes

01:37:00.820 throughout this coven we weave together in loops carly made a hat while we were sitting here

01:37:08.320 and as we know when you are crocheting or when you're knitting it's it's one long string

01:37:14.080 it's just one long piece of string that you loop and loop and loop and loop until you've created

01:37:20.160 what you imagined of it what you wanted it to be so we can bring that spirit of knitting and

01:37:27.440 crocheting and looping together and especially i want to return to happy talking together

01:37:33.840 when i opened up this women's spirit magazine and saw these words of mary me shack of boulder

01:37:41.980 colorado submitted in 1977 and she defined you all as happy talking together i knew that this

01:37:52.240 was something that we had to share with our beloved coven and that we hope all of you will

01:37:58.820 we'll share and ripple out throughout this time that can be the most beautiful

01:38:04.020 or the most difficult happy talking together happy talking together happy talking together 0.95

01:38:13.660 we love you so much merry solstice happy yule and blessed fucking be and happy talking 0.99

01:38:23.460 I said fucking B 1.00

01:38:25.640 I said fucking B 1.00

01:38:29.300 Love you soon guys 0.99

01:38:33.620 Oh Yule Tide

01:38:37.660 Oh Solstice

01:38:39.720 Oh Longest

01:38:41.620 Night of the Year

01:38:43.380 We gather

01:38:45.940 Together

01:38:48.060 To share

01:38:49.760 Our hope and our

01:38:51.700 Fear

01:38:52.640 Cause we are witches in the night

01:39:01.440 We are witches, we bring our own light

01:39:09.560 To the solstice and yuletide

01:39:14.660 On the longest night of the year

01:39:18.320 Please bring us together to share our warmth and our cheer

01:39:27.540 Cause we are witches of the night

01:39:36.320 We are witches, we make our own light

01:39:44.540 The solstice at Yuletide on the longest night of the year.

01:39:53.180 Please bring us together to share our warmth and our cheer.

01:40:02.500 Because we are witches of the night

01:40:11.280 We are witches, we make our own light

01:40:19.760 Happy solstice, blessed guiltide

01:40:26.620 I love you

01:40:32.500 We are witches

01:40:41.840 We are witches

01:40:45.920 We are witches

01:40:50.520 Merry Yule

01:40:51.860 That's it, we love you

01:40:52.920 We love you

01:40:53.860 I love you guys

01:40:55.820 Solstice and Yuletide on the longest night of the year.

01:41:03.020 Please bring us together to share our worth and our cheer.

01:41:12.760 Because we are witches of the night.

01:41:20.780 We are witches, we bring our own life to the substance.

01:41:50.780 You

Missing Witches - December 21, 2022

Yuletide 2022： Happy Talking Together (aka Santa Is A Mushroom)

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