This week the prescription is to follow bright stars, trace threads of hope to see where they lead, leave our egos at the door, and bring flowers to the feet of our crone singers, our comrades, sweethearts. Let's look at life from both sides, from win and lose, turn the tables and whisper our revolutions into the bright stars. https://www.missingwitches.com/rx-we-have-sung-in-tongues-of-angels-and-then-stumbled-on-the-pavement/
Risa: Aww, hi Amy! Hi John Waters t shirt!
Amy: Hi, Risa. Yes, this is one of my favourite t shirts. My Pope of Trash. He's with me always.
Risa: I always feel in good company when that guy's around.
Amy: Yeah, and you know, I just happened to be wearing this t shirt, and I didn't expect you to mention it, but I will say, like, you know how John Waters is, like, one of the weirdest, you know, the art that he, the films that he made are, like, so outsider, but he got his start because his parents, like, bought him, uh, like, a proto movie camera when he was, like, a young man because he showed interest in it, and I really love this like wholesome origin story of like some of the craziest filthiest movies that were ever made.
Like the genesis of that was like a parent who believed in their child, so.
Risa: There's so much love in those movies. I love that. In all of the smell o vision and the weirdness and stuff, there's like, don't be an asshole. Take care of each other.
Amy: They are, like, he has such a deep, deep love for his characters, and it definitely comes through.
Risa: Yeah, we fell in love with Crybaby so hard when we were teenagers. Oh my god. And it wasn't just because of Johnny Depp, okay?
Amy: I'm not saying nothing.
Risa: Oh man. Okay, um, I'm gonna go into, I'm gonna segue because I can, I can see a segue even though it's tenuous. First I'll say, uh, welcome to the Missing Witches Prescription.
This is one of the kinds of podcasts we do here at Missing Witches. Um, the idea is not to be prescriptive and tell you how to live your fucking life, but more to share how we are surviving, uh, any given week under the crushing boobs of late stage capital. The crushing weight. the choking death grip, the feeling that there is no way to be ethical under capitalism, the feeling of having been extracted from and having been accomplished to extraction.
How do we survive and keep our chins up? That's the question always on the table. Um, so for me this week, I went to this song that's sort of been, um, a touchstone for me in the last dark weeks. It's called Bright Star by Annaïs Mitchell. It's so lovely. Um, one of the lines in it that breaks my heart is you'll never know the lengths to which I went to be your lover.
It's sort of a heartbreaker, but it is about following that feeling that something Is out there something better is out there that that like glimmer at the edge of your eye that like gives you hope and I really believe that, you know, even though we exist in a culture that is constantly telling us that we have to pay 9.
99 to find out how to be okay. Um, or you know, thinking about how many people and how many different circumstances have looked at the kinds of pleasure they can actually afford and decided that like, sugar was affordable and was something that they were going to give themselves and fuck you for judging people who are holding on to a bit of pleasure that they can actually put their hands on.
You know what I mean? Anyway, I was thinking about all of that this week, but I was also thinking about how I really believe. And maybe this is, like, my privilege showing, but I really believe that the way that the magic in the universe works, or the way I want to believe it works, is that somewhere in the web of what's around you, there is something that loves you,
can help you, even if it's just to take one more step. Like, I was thinking about that conversation we had with Mara June, her name, about chamomile. Like such a simple plant friend that she was like, this friend is here and this friend knows about grief or just thinking, you know, I was watching this episode of, uh, you're the worst.
There's a episode, uh, about a veteran who, even though marijuana is legal, it's not legal for a veteran to have access. To medicinal marijuana because it was still a classified drug. This has changed, but at the time, an example of these sort of heartbreaking divisions that exist everywhere that like this guy has gone through so many kinds of help, like so many different kinds of medication, you know, stacks and stacks and stacks of drugs that just make him feel not really alive.
And then this plant friend made him feel like a human again. Um, and it was there, it was there for him, even though it wasn't legal at the time. And I, I, I feel like that in the song Bright Star, and I, I feel like it sort of is whispering that like, you could pull on a thread of something that is like, sparkling at the corner of your eyes and find something so much more.
So then I googled Alice Mitchell, because I was like, who is this person I'm going to talk about? So it turns out, two things, Alice Mitchell, um. And like, musical theater nerds are screaming at me right now for not fucking knowing this before. And I apologize. No one knows everything. And I guess Mitchell wrote this musical in like, okay, I don't know, I'm gonna say the wrong year, like 2009 originally, called Hadestown.
And the reviews for when it's first performed are great because it's like the songs are amazing and the interstitial, um, dialogue is so cringey, which just makes me think about like when I was like a music theater teen. And how cringey I was. And also like how real my emotional response was to people singing together as a group telling stories.
But she works on it, you know, they evolve the script, it goes on Broadway, it wins like eight Tony Awards. And it's like a working class retelling of the myth of Persephone in Hades. Oh, wow. So I pull on this thread of this one song, and I find this whole musical world that I connect with so much, both politically and, you know, as an interest in mythology, as an origin for so much of what we think about in terms of magic and craft.
There's a song on the album called Why We Build the Wall. And it's Hades and people inside Hadestown singing. We build the wall to keep poverty out. It's poverty that threatens us and we build the wall to keep ourselves safe because we have what they don't have. We have work. We have the work of building the wall and it's just like a perfectly circular logic encapsulation of what it is.
You know, we've lived under Donald Trump in the first presidency, screaming, build the wall and what people are living now driving to the border, realizing they've been manipulated, told that there are hordes of immigrants storming, you know, and getting there and realize it's all lies. It's all fabrication.
People have the same dreams as you and they're trying to build their lives. She wrote the song 10 years before Donald Trump began his Bible thumping horror story about building the wall. And I just, it really made me feel more like We've talked on the show before, we've had people come on who sort of found their way to a premonition somehow, right?
I mean, we've had the astrologer Manifa Walker, she's, uh, capable or they are capable of making premonitions based on understanding complexities in astrology that is not stumbling upon it, I don't think. But then you Nawaz, who was on the show talking about the novel she wrote about a coronavirus epidemic that came out.
Months before COVID 19 epidemic, or, you know, Octavia Butler describing a candidate very much like Trump many, many, many years before even including using, you know, a campaign slogan, make America great again. And I just think it ties back into that idea of like, you Noticing what is in the web of the world around you, and especially in this time, you know, when we're thinking about being rooted, and we're starting to imagine another season, another time, just follow those threads.
Just follow those threads and see what you think the world is going to be and, and see who's there for you to offer comfort. Maybe it's Bright Star. The other thing I found, and listen, the soundtrack for Hadestown is great, musical theater nerd or not, it's fucking awesome. But I also realized as I was Googling her, another song that I had thought to bring here by the band Bunny Light Horseman, Comrade Sweetheart.
That's her, too, and I use Mitchell as the voice in Bonnie Light Horseman. I didn't know. So those are the two I offer you. Bright Star and this loving, communist love song. Comrade, sweetheart, sweetheart, comrade. I think of you all out there as my comrades, my sweethearts, and I hope that you feel loved and held, and that you are working toward brighter possible futures together.
Amy: There's definitely, I mean, we've, we've spoken about this before, but this notion of like the muses or where ideas come from, especially those ideas that just kind of pop into your head and you're like, maybe I should write a song about this or a book about this. And so there is that possibility. These are the stories that need to be told, and so those downloads are coming from somewhere, but there's also just like the idea of like listening to those thoughts that pop into your head and not ignoring them and really paying attention when you get an idea for a song or a story or a poem or whatever it is that you're working on.
Maybe we can, like, convince ourselves of their importance in a way, you know what I mean? Like, we're often so dismissive of our imaginations, but there is this possibility, this very, very witchy possibility that you're being, like, given this idea for a reason. That there's a reason that this idea popped into your head, and maybe it's going to, you know, echo into the universe.
I do have to ask, Risa, We've got a kinship season coming up. Listeners, if you're new, we sort of write these little essays, um, about our kinship with the non human world, and I was thinking about writing about chamomile, so I should probably, we should probably cross reference and make sure that our lists aren't the same.
Risa: Please write about Chamomile. I can't wait, I can't wait to hear what you write about
Amy: Chamomile. It really is, you know, like, half my family is British, and I've written about this before, that like, step one, something crazy happens, something whatever happens, step one, stick Catalon. And for me, Chamomile has been like, a soothing friend, like, I don't know what to do, I'm panicking, whatever is happening, you know, and I'm like, Let's go see our friend Chamomile.
Like, legit, let's go. You know, like, Chamomile flowers are so beautiful. I'm gonna plant some this spring, for sure. I have to grow my own Chamomile, I feel like. This is like an instruction download from the universe to grow my own camouflage, so I'm going to do that this year, but I also just want to like, give a shout out to my friend, Little Yellow Buds of Tea, that really is like a calming influence, like a very, very good friend.
So, that's part of my plan. But prescription wise.
Risa: Well, put on some tea and get into the first group.
Amy: Stick Catalon loves Stick Catalon. Um, I had a very, like, wistful marking the passage of time in a wistful kind of way because, for two reasons. Number one, I got an email that Charmé Sautelage is closing.
Risa, I didn't know if you got this email or if you saw this. No. Yeah. So, um, for those of you who don't live in Montreal or Montreal adjacent, um, this is like our little witch shop and it actually opened in its original location. Risa, do you remember? It was like down a little side street. And it was so magical, like the first time you go, you're like looking for it again on, you know, on this little side street, and you're like, oh, where is it?
And then you see it, and it's this little, like, Hogwarts, you know, like, this is adorable little tucked away. And they opened the same year that I moved to Montreal. And it was a few years before I discovered it, you know, but it just was like this little, little home base of just, like, beautiful magic, and I'll tell you, my spouse, um, went into the city and went there to get me a Yule present, and he ended up getting this, like, it's, like, a little kit that comes with, like, eight white candles and eight herb bundles that are labeled for each of the Sabbats, and, like, eight little, pieces of paper that have like a little ritual on them and he was like, I know you don't need this, I know you know more about this.
He's not like a witch but he's very supportive, you know, he'll do rituals with me anytime. He doesn't self identify as witch but, you know. And, you know, he was like, we can just, these are just things that we can do together in private, and it was so beautiful, it was so thoughtful, it was really one of the best gifts I ever got, this idea of like, eight things we can do together throughout the course of the year.
And now they're closing, so I'm going to make a pilgrimage in the next few days. And the prescription part of that is like, support your local witch shop. Oh my goodness, like, what a resource for baby witches, uh, you know, or whomever. just to have this space where you can go and ask questions. I mean, the first time I went there, I was like, what's this?
What's this? What's this? What's this? And they were very sweet about it and very kind. I had no idea what I was looking at. So again, part of my prescription for this week is to go and find a local witch shop. And, you know, even if you can't buy something, maybe just like post about it or go and check it out and talk to the people who run it and find out about it.
Also, please let us know about your local witch shop. I want to see pictures. I want to learn about, like, what little cute holes in the walls you go to get your, uh, witch supplies. You know, those that you don't gather from, from the woods and from the streets. Those that you purchase, but I have so many. I'm like looking at my desk, and I, you know, I have this like, it's kind of silver pentagram that I got from Charmé Sautillage, and like, they're just little bits and bobs.
So really, I'm kind of in mourning about that. It really feels like the end of an era. And in keeping with that theme, also, um, I don't really watch the Grammys, I don't really get into awards shows, it's not really my thing. But this year, Joni Mitchell performed at the Grammys. For the first time, she's won like 12 Grammys, but she performed at the Grammys for the first time this year.
She sang her song Clouds, which is already the most wistful passage of time, you know, existential, beautiful, sad, all of the emotions. Song, but I'll tell you it really hits differently when an 80 year old is singing it versus like a 20 something And I just want to take more time than I should to read all the lyrics from Clouds So indulge me for a minute and imagine Singing this in your 20s and then imagine singing it in your 80s Rose and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air and feather canyons everywhere.
I looked at clouds that way, but now they only block the sun. They rain and snow on everyone. So many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way. I've looked at clouds from both sides now, from up and down, and still, somehow, it's cloud illusions, I recall. I really don't know clouds at all. Moons and dunes and ferris wheels, the dizzy dancing way you feel as every fairy tale comes real.
I've looked at love that way, but now it's just another show. You leave them laughing when you go, and if you care, don't let them know. Don't give yourself away. I've looked at love from both sides now, from give and take, and still somehow it's love's illusions, I recall. I really don't know love at all.
Tears, and fears, and feeling proud to say I love you right out loud. Dreams, and schemes, and circus crowds. I've looked at life that way. But now, old friends, they're acting strange. They shake their heads. They say I've changed. Well, something's lost. But something's gained in living every day. I've looked at life from both sides now.
From win and lose. And still, somehow, it's life's illusions, I recall. I really don't know life at all. It's life's illusions. that I recall. I really don't know life. I really don't know life at all. And again, hearing 80 year old Joanie sing this hits a lot differently than hearing 20 something Joanie sing this, and it's not a happy song, but it's certainly not hopeless, and And Joni's not known for being, you know, uh, gleeful.
It's very introspective. Like when I need a good cry, I put on Court and Spark or, you know, Joni Mitchell and, and I may have talked about this on the podcast before, but like, I will put on some Joni Mitchell and I'm weeping. My spouse will come in and be like, why are you doing this to yourself? Like, do I need to take your Joni Mitchell records away?
And I'm like, I'm experiencing the whole range of human emotion here. Let me have my whole range of human emotion, you know, for me. And even it's a Joni Mitchell lyric, you know, laughing and crying, you know, it's the same release. So I guess that speaks to that, Joni. So thank you, Joni. Thank you for being an imperfect human who doesn't read music.
And yet created these tunings and masterful, masterful compositions that even some of the jazz greats have trouble comprehending. Uneducated in that way, I'm using scare quotes, because when you know how to do something, you don't have to experiment, you don't have to figure out. Anything. You know how to do it.
It's 1, 2, 3. It's A, B, C. But when you don't know what you're doing, that's so magical because you just get to invent. You can invent your own guitar tunings and invent your own, your own reality. So, I'm feeling wistful. I'm feeling the passage of time. I'm feeling 80 years old. So, I shall be listening to Joni Mitchell Records and also heading down to my local witch shop to bid them a very, very fond merci and farewell.
Risa: Oh, I feel all the nostalgia of all of that. One time I went to Charmé Saltudège and I walked in the door and they said, are you here for the Astara ritual? And I said, yes, even though I wasn't, and I didn't know what it was. And um, they brought me to the back, and they brought me downstairs, and there was a basement room that I had never been in before, and there were these beautiful women with long gray hair and long cloaks, and there was a beautiful altar laid.
With rabbits and eggs and candles, flowers, and they were just sort of tending to the altar space and tending to the sort of ritual container of the room and inviting us to be there and they had papers and there was something we were to write and something we were to burn and we just sort of sat and like just to be welcomed into this unexpected way of remembering a very ancient Honoring of spring, just to have this on a small, beautiful side street in Montreal was a real gift.
I'm really thankful to the people who tended that space. And I've also got into witch shops where the owner was like. Cackling and mean, and I want all those stories do once in New Orleans. I, I, I heard, uh, the owner of like sort of be rate customers. Like you don't even know what that fucking is. Get out of here.
That's too much for you. You can't handle that. Get out of here. Like not having it. I was so scared. I brought a book up to the cash and she looked at me like, Alright, I'll allow it. , you can
Amy: have this. You just made me think of this like clothing store I was in in Brooklyn and like Bushwick. And I was like, oh, can I see those overalls?
And the cashier said, mama, those ain't gonna fit you . And part of me was scandalized. Yeah. But the bigger part of me was like, I appreciate your honesty, . Yeah.
Risa: Discount clothing, cash for saving me like an annoying. Sweaty time in a fucking change room. Yeah, so we can do that
Amy: too. Like you, you can't handle that magic.
Maybe start with this chamomile.
Risa: Take a candle and come back. I don't know. I mean, tell us about your witch shop. We love those stories. And okay, if we're doing Grammy's Love, I didn't watch it. But Tracy Chapman changed my life. I have loved her since I was like 13. I love her so much. And that moment I think was really important to some people, you know, the first Black woman topping the country music charts, because I don't know his name, but he did a cover song and then performed with her and it was this honoring of her and you know, she doesn't really perform live anymore.
She's hard to find. So to see her like, Her lesbian, beaming, beautiful self with her grey ancestor braids, just like, just shining with kindness, just, I, I adore her so much. And, okay, Fast Car is an important song, but. I'm adding to the prescription, talking about a revolution. Cause it sounds like a whisper.
Oh
Amy: good. Oh good. I was hoping that you would mention that song. Yeah, not her biggest hit, but like her, her biggest hit for me, for sure. Oh my God. The one that hit
Risa: me the biggest. Right? And speaking of songs, I also sob every time I hear clouds and I sob in talking about a revolution. I do, because I, the way she feels for, for all people in that song, um, really has always meant a lot to me.
Amy: You know, my old roommate, um, like didn't have an easy life, you know, and she learned to play that song on the guitar and she changed the lyrics to, um, you'll forgive me folks, this is 25 years ago, I'm just trying to conjure it in my mind now. Don't you know, I need an education. And it was like so beautiful.
She was a high school dropout, you know, for like reasons beyond her control. And for her the revolution was like. She needed an education. I've completely forgotten about that until this moment, so now I'm like, gonna go and put on some records and weep, I guess.
Risa: Okay, I'm gonna add one thing to the prescription.
I know this is prescription heavy, but maybe that's because we're approaching spring. I was maybe going to save this for next week, but it feels like a joyful thing to, you know, balance some of the sorrow in the songs this week. Um, have you watched, uh, The Greatest Night in Pop Music, the music documentary about, um,
Amy: We Are the World?
Yeah. Oh, oh, I watched it. Oh, I watched it. You know, I have We Are the World earrings. Do you remember those?
I got them in like a silly shop that was like old, new, old stock, you know, when you go into a place and you're like, wow, this has been in the plastic wrap since 1987. I'm obsessed. Yes. The best part about that, I'll, I'm, I'm gonna let you finish speaking of the Grammys, you can be Taylor and I'll be Kanye, um, I'm gonna let you finish, but the, one of the most beautiful parts of it, that to me was like.
That each of them was, like, scared of each other, like intimidated, I guess is the better word, you know, like you're in a room with, like, Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen, and they're all looking around at each other, like, I can't believe I'm in this room, like, it was so humanizing to see that.
Yeah,
Risa: absolutely. That really got me, Diana Ross in particular, like, she's the one who starts by asking, Like hollow notes for their autograph. She's like, I'm your biggest fan and and she's the last one to leave and she cries. She doesn't want it to be over. I mean, Diana Ross to feel like that in that room.
The piece that's prescriptive to me in that. You know, because as someone who has organized a lot of events and I'm really interested in the way just, just how you set things up, just the order in which you do things, just, just the way in which you're honest with people about where your heart at is and what you're trying to achieve can like make a alchemical chemical reaction happen that changes the nature of the room.
That movie, you see Quincy Jones do it, like. And you see Lionel Richie do it like the way that they bring people together and then there's this awkwardness and this tension and then they anchor them in a real remembrance of why they're there and then set them up facing each other so that they have to look each other in the eye while they have their ego moment and they have to support each other and then the way That Stevie Wonder helps Bob Dylan made me sob.
I don't know what's going on with Bob Dylan in that moment. I'm not a big Bob Dylan head, so I don't know what was going on with him in the 80s, but he looks Fucking terrified, and it's his moment to sing, and he whispers, he breaks down, he can't do it. And then Lionel Richie comes to him so lovingly and is like, I love your idea there, you know, it was quiet, but I see what you're doing there, it's beautiful.
And then Stevie Wonder fucking does like a Bob Dylan impression. Like he sings it almost like a tribute to how Bob Dylan could sing it and then Bob Dylan hears how he could do it reflected in this other person's generosity and kindness and appreciation of his work, and it lets him find his own voice in the song.
It's so, so uplifting. It's so uplifting. So if you are sobbing after listening to Tracy Chapman. And Joni Mitchell, please go watch this moment in pop music when people came together and made an impact that continues to resound today. The royalties from that song continue to earn money. Millions
Amy: and millions of dollars today.
Yeah, before we leave, I want to say, like, Quincy Jones put a sign on the door. Again, these are the, we're talking Michael Jackson, like, these are the biggest names in the world of music at that time. And like dozens of them. And Quincy Jones put a sign on the entryway door, leave your ego at the door. And that's going to be part of the prescription too.
Leave your ego at the door. Sob wildly. Talk about a revolution. Drink chamomile tea. Visit your local witch shop. Listen to the downloads.
Risa: Yes. Pull on those threads. And hold your sweethearts and your comrades close. And bless a fucking bee. And bless a fucking bee. Except it's for me! And my life's all to me!
Love myself all, all me, all, all me! Love myself me! Me! If you want
Amy: to support the Missing Witches project, join the coven! Find out how at missingwitches. com