Writing to you from the tortured heart of the Pandoracene, living with what's been unleashed. I feel waves of despair, how can you not, it's everywhere, it's with the smoke and ash on the air. I can't help but feel the rightness of Jesse Welles' refrain in United Health:
there aint no u in united health
there aint no me in the company
there aint no us in the private trust
there’s hardly humans in humanity
there’s hardly humans in humanity
But also and at the same time, those of us who are still here are still here. We have to mourn and rage but we need gratitude also, otherwise we'll lose our minds. As Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote in The Serviceberry (a book I received as a gift from a beloved friend for whom I am beyond grateful.)
Data tell the story that there are "enough" food calories on the planet for all 8 billion of us to be nourished. And yet people are starving. Imagine the outcome if we each took only enough, rather than far more than our share. The wealth and security we seem to crave could be met by sharing what we have. Ecopsychologists have shown that the practice of gratitude puts brakes on hyperconsumption. The relationships nourished by gift thinking diminish our sense of scarcity and want.
So while it's tempting to fall for the Russian bot logic of screaming blame while fires rages, we know the truth of climate disaster is complex, and as usual, the way through is to look for the helpers. Support caregivers. Weave community. And, as Kimmerer shows us, the way back to that place of world-rejeuvenating power is through gratitude. Not toxic positivity gratitude that says "this is fine" while turning our backs on each other, but a gratitude that reaches for Earth's kindness, the berries, the waters, the air, the way Earth treats us with such kindness in spite of all our errors. Earth is telling a story of kindness that is vast and we can tune to it to find our routes forward.
The photo at the top of this post shows the book The Serviceberry, alongwith a card from the Wisdom of Trees deck which I pulled for this year, it's the Sweet Orange card and it's message is about the generosity of fruiting.
The photo also shows a quilt I got for Christmas. My Great Grandmother was a great crocheter but not much of a quilter and this beauty is the only one she made. My Grandmother gave it to her little brother Uncle Ron when their mother died, and this year, after Uncle Ron's passing, Grandma decided to give it to me.
We had a pretty low key Christmas, it turns out cancer doesn't stop for Christmas so chemo doesn't either and I had my weekly treatment on the 27th and celebrated whilst super bald and low energy. Marc has always had panic attacks about the waste and overconsumption of the holidays. He's someone who can feel microplastics in his bones and hear water and trees crying, though I don't think he'd put it that way. My family has been trying hard to shift gears from the intoxicating present piles of early years and this year they managed to give almost entirely thrifted or handmade treasures, which was a gentle relief and helped keep things low key. This quilt was, for me, the heart of the magic (for May it was the stash of handmade Barbie clothes and the thrifted Barbie veterinary van - what can't she do! I feel a weird kinship with Barbie these days knowing she was created by a woman who like me had breast cancer and went on to invent the first breast prosthetics. My relationship with plastics is ambivalent at best.)
I offer you the kindness in this quilt, old hands long gone now but still all around us in this shared Water, Earth, Air.
For the going forward, I offer you the ancestors who expect us not to give up, and who wrap us in their handmade love from across great distances.
Lastly, the picture shows the card I pulled from the Missing Witches Deck of Oracles for this year, Urduja. A card of indigenous knowledge, reminding us to read indigenous writers and centre the marginalized in order to build radically new worlds. This card also "appears to remind you of the warrior in the witch" a double-edged sword of a message that calls forth the warrior in you. while acknowledging the fact that you are, in fact, at war.
But Witches, friends, I refuse to be tricked into being at war with other living beings when the Earth's wild, unbounded generosity as well as their wild unbounded fury shows no preference and takes no sides. We are at war with disinformation, with the egregore of addictive consumption, with the psychopathy of greed. In this war, our spells and the great communal weaving of care matter more than ever.
When the world is on fire and the world breaks your heart you have to sing love songs. Our love for the world and for each other is the only thing that can save us.
So, onwards together.
BFB.
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Invitations
Spotlight Event: Conversation with Jarod K. Anderson AKA The CryptoNaturalist RSVP
Monday, Jan 20, 1:00 PM - 02:30 PM EST
I am SO thrilled to finally reschedule this conversation with the dear and brilliant memoirist and poet, Jarod K. Anderson. We've scheduled extra time for coven conversation this time, so please bring questions or your favourite bits of Jarod's work to help shore up this dear heart during depression season <3. This invite to participate live is exclusive to coven members, and the resulting conversation will be edited and published on the Missing Witches podcast.
Something in the Woods Loves You tells the story of the darkest stretch of a young person’s life, and how deliberate and meditative encounters with plants and animals helped him see the light at every turn.
If you are unfamiliar with Jarod's work, this is a good place to start.
Events in the Coven Circle this week:
Astrology Workshop: Full Moon in Cancer Sunday, 12 Jan, 10:00 – 10:45 AM EST
Weavers Only: Sharing and Witnessing Circle Sunday, 12 Jan, 2:00 – 3:30 PM EST
Every Weekday: 7AM Weekday Body Doubling and Pomodoro Writing Circle
Every Weekday: 10AM Weekday Body Doubling and Pomodoro Writing Circle
Weavers Only: Weavers Co-working Cauldron 12pm EST Monday, 13 Jan, 12:00 – 1:00 PM EST
Weavers Only: Weavers Full Moon Loom - Squad Goals Monday, 13 Jan 8:00 – 9:30 PM EST
Business Mastermind Tuesday, 14 Jan, 6:30 – 8:00 PM EST
Thanks for supporting Missing Witches any way that works for you, we love you in all your mutations.
oxR +A
PS. There are two new sweatshirts in the merch shop!
