This week left us feeling so lonely, so confused by the world, dropped to the bottom of the pit of WTF. The prescription starts with Backxwash: Burn Me at the Stake.
Backxwash is a beautiful trans witch rapping so fiercely she's like a guide to help us move through numbness and wrap our hands around the power cord of our rage, and our power.
And in the music she reminds us why: Backxwash samples the 60's gnashing guitars of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Almost Cut My Hair and that's where Amy found the lyrics that broke through to the pit this week:
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
I feel like I owe it to someone
Who do you owe it to to hang on? Who do you owe it to to be yourself?
For Risa, the sound that cut through the terror noise of televised genocides this week was Swamp Dogg, I'm So Lonely. It's a classic hard-done-by song of heartache and cheatin' by R+B legend Jerry Williams Jr.... who is also an outsider artist alter ego invented when Williams just couldn't be himself in the world anymore:
I became Swamp Dogg in 1970 in order to have an alter-ego and someone to occupy the body while the search party was out looking for Jerry Williams, who was mentally missing in action due to certain pressures, mal-treatments and failure to get paid royalties on over fifty single records.
The prescription is to use clothes, costumes, and enchanted made-up names to resurrect a self and occupy the body when you've gone missing. We have guides for calling in new selves to keep on creating new possible worlds.
At 70+ years of age, Swamp Dogg (with a community of collaborators including Bon Iver) played auto-tune as a musical instrument, infiltrating expectations to tell a story about alienation and the roots of loneliness:
Damn, I'm lonely man
I've been working
16, 18 hours a day
And I come home
And just watch television
And feel lonely
I'm so lonely
I get lonely
In the 1970s Swamp Dogg wrote: These are not my people, and hearing him reject cruel, delusional consumerism makes us feel less lonely, somehow.
You find yourself naked in the world with no place to hide
You felt the pulse of your god and he had died
Your rebels that have got no cause
And your tigers that have got no claws
They promised you the world on a string but you know they lied...
Been a gas but I'm gonna have to pass
These are not my people.
The world can feel overrun with bad choice egregores that make no living sense, but out here in the woods and out there in the swamps, we see the lies. And we have to know that the unfolding goes on, and we are not alone.
We quote our coven mate Deb: "The future told me, “We live now in a healing you couldn’t imagine, but one that grew from your seeds.”"
Upcoming Events
Meditation Group (RSVP)
Sunday, Feb 18 – 8:00 PM - 08:45 PM EST
Hosted by Liz: "Join us each Sunday evening to ground and clear your mind for the week ahead. Sessions will be 15-20 minutes with time to chat afterwards. I look forward to sitting with you!
If you are new to meditation, this video from 10 Percent Happier has helpful tips: Learn Meditation in 5 Minutes with Dan Harris (youtube.com)
Sebene Selassie has a beautiful starter meditation to try: Loving Attention to the Breath with Sebene (youtube.com)
For folks with ADD or ADHD, Jeff Warren is a practitioner with ADD and has some guidance: Meditation Strategies for ADD (youtube.com) "
Interview Invite: Anikim Lamoureux (RSVP)
Monday, Feb 19 – 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Hosted by Amy T.: "Anikim, or Annie as we know her, was one of the very first guests on the Missing Witches podcast more than five years ago! We're getting back together to catch up and talk about the role that our bodies and voices can take in our quest for inner peace and sacred knowledge. Annie will be joining us from Peru!!"
Weavers Only| February Full Moon Loom: Getting Fed (RSVP)
Thursday, Feb 22 — 8:00 PM - 09:30 PM EST
Risa + Amy: "As the winter stretches on we want to know: where are you needing nourishment right now? What parts of your project are asking to be fed? Where do you need help accessing resources?
We will actively research, brainstorm, and channel together to see how we can call in resources for each other during this Loom."
(Full Moon) Lunar Protection for Palestine (RSVP)
Friday, Feb 23 — 8:30 PM - 10:00 PM EST
Hosted by Deb: "Materials to bring: paper, pen or pencil, cup or jar for tea, hot water, peppermint, wormwood, st. john’s wort, frankincense oil or rosemary oil, matches, fire-safe dish or incense burner."
Can you think of someone who might like.. all this? (She said, gesticulating wildly.) Forward them this email with all our love!
Blessed Fucking BE!
Risa + Amy
