Love Deliciously, Baby Carrot
March 15, 2017 5:58 AM Subscribe
The witch now, in its most modern iteration, seems almost to embody the “Pussy Grabs Back” mentality, the act retaliatory self-empowerment. As one of Elaine’s fellow witches in Biller's film states, their kind have long been perceived as dangerously powerful entities; feared by the men who, for centuries, attempted to subdue them by burning them at the stake or shackling them to loveless marriages, reducing them to nothing but “servants, whores, and fantasy dolls”.The Love Witch and witchcraft's appeal in the era of Trump
weird news huffington post feb 23 Witches Plan To Cast Mass Spell Against Donald Trump
extranewseed feb 16 A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him: February 24th Mass Ritual
Components:
Unflattering photo of Trump (small); see below for one you can print
Tower tarot card (from any deck)
Tiny stub of an orange candle (cheap via Amazon)
Pin or small nail (to inscribe candle)
White candle (any size), representing the element of Fire
Small bowl of water, representing elemental Water
Small bowl of salt, representing elemental Earth
Feather (any), representing the element of Air
Matches or lighter
Ashtray or dish of sand
Optional:
Piece of pyrite (fool’s gold)
Sulfur
Black thread (for traditional binding variant)
Baby carrot (as substitute for orange candle stub)
I've been thinking recently about how the spiritualist movement and the Gilded Age happened pretty much around the same time. When nothing feels fair or logical and you don't have much power to change it, and traditional religion seems complicit, what else are you gonna turn to?
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:32 AM on March 15, 2017 [40 favorites]
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:32 AM on March 15, 2017 [40 favorites]
I've been thinking recently about how the spiritualist movement and the Gilded Age happened pretty much around the same time. When nothing feels fair or logical and you don't have much power to change it, and traditional religion seems complicit, what else are you gonna turn to?
The Gilded Age also saw the rise of the Progressive movement and was a time of massive, powerful, and multi-focal labor organizing.
This is a retreat into fantasy in the face of something horrible, and one more bit of evidence of how flatfooted and helpless the contemporary US left is.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:05 AM on March 15, 2017 [8 favorites]
The Gilded Age also saw the rise of the Progressive movement and was a time of massive, powerful, and multi-focal labor organizing.
This is a retreat into fantasy in the face of something horrible, and one more bit of evidence of how flatfooted and helpless the contemporary US left is.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:05 AM on March 15, 2017 [8 favorites]
You got to pick up every stitch...
posted by Bob Regular at 7:08 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Bob Regular at 7:08 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
what else are you gonna turn to?
🎶 GHOULSMASHERS! 🎶
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:19 AM on March 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
🎶 GHOULSMASHERS! 🎶
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:19 AM on March 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
This is a retreat into fantasy in the face of something horrible, and one more bit of evidence of how flatfooted and helpless the contemporary US left is.
False dichotomy? The witchy types I know aren't just retreating, but are also showing up for action in movement spaces... I think the "fantasy" has more to do with self-care in many cases, then just a retreat.
posted by allthinky at 7:41 AM on March 15, 2017 [32 favorites]
False dichotomy? The witchy types I know aren't just retreating, but are also showing up for action in movement spaces... I think the "fantasy" has more to do with self-care in many cases, then just a retreat.
posted by allthinky at 7:41 AM on March 15, 2017 [32 favorites]
The Gilded Age also saw the rise of the Progressive movement and was a time of massive, powerful, and multi-focal labor organizing.
This is a retreat into fantasy in the face of something horrible, and one more bit of evidence of how flatfooted and helpless the contemporary US left is.
Isn't that mythologizing the past a bit? It's not like all that stuff happened overnight and everyone immediately hopped on board with it - otherwise we'd never have had a Gilded Age in the first place. And I feel like I keep seeing this same defeatist attitude from other leftists, which seems a lot like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:41 AM on March 15, 2017 [16 favorites]
This is a retreat into fantasy in the face of something horrible, and one more bit of evidence of how flatfooted and helpless the contemporary US left is.
Isn't that mythologizing the past a bit? It's not like all that stuff happened overnight and everyone immediately hopped on board with it - otherwise we'd never have had a Gilded Age in the first place. And I feel like I keep seeing this same defeatist attitude from other leftists, which seems a lot like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:41 AM on March 15, 2017 [16 favorites]
Well, everybody just recently was hopeful and working their asses off (again) to get Clinton in office and we see how that worked out. A little timeout breather for self reflection after a big loss sometimes helps.
posted by saulgoodman at 7:45 AM on March 15, 2017
posted by saulgoodman at 7:45 AM on March 15, 2017
(You'd have a point if you said there's no time for that now though.)
posted by saulgoodman at 7:46 AM on March 15, 2017
posted by saulgoodman at 7:46 AM on March 15, 2017
I had mixed feelings about the public nature of the spell. I expected it was going to be derided on the right as the kind of Portlandian display that made liberals unfit for public life. But then, to them, what isn't? And it is a sincere expression of religious belief, far less passive-aggressive and malicious than the oblique way that fundamentalists found to publicly pray for Obama's death.
All in all, it is not Trump's opponents who have the biggest problem with retreating into fantasies. It's something we always have to guard for in ourselves, each of us, but ritual, too, is part of what makes us human. Defeatism is easy and satisfying; it makes you look wise, and you're often right. But how right would you always like to be?
posted by Countess Elena at 7:47 AM on March 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
All in all, it is not Trump's opponents who have the biggest problem with retreating into fantasies. It's something we always have to guard for in ourselves, each of us, but ritual, too, is part of what makes us human. Defeatism is easy and satisfying; it makes you look wise, and you're often right. But how right would you always like to be?
posted by Countess Elena at 7:47 AM on March 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
We are the granddaughters of the witches you weren't able to burn.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:54 AM on March 15, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 7:54 AM on March 15, 2017 [12 favorites]
Mass Spell Against Donald Trump
... depriving him of the power of rational thought or expression no wait a minute fuck
posted by Segundus at 8:14 AM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
... depriving him of the power of rational thought or expression no wait a minute fuck
posted by Segundus at 8:14 AM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
In England and Scotland and America, btw, they usually hanged witches.
posted by thelonius at 8:18 AM on March 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 8:18 AM on March 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
A FB friend really went off on this idea, just attacking the mass spell thing as a waste of energy and deriding anyone who would participate in a symbolic action rather than something more direct. Thing is, the women I've encountered who did this were also marching, organizing, calling, writing letters, boycotting and more. I participated. But I've also joined several local progressive groups, volunteered my time as office staff and joined three committees in my local Democratic party, protested, called Congress and Senators (federal & state), so there's no retreating into fantasy. If you study chaos magick you know it's never enough to just want something. You have to pair that with action. Let's not assume an exclusive binary where none exists. And yeah, I pretty much approach political witchcraft as self-care. Some people meditate. I prefer to bind.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 8:22 AM on March 15, 2017 [36 favorites]
posted by Kitty Stardust at 8:22 AM on March 15, 2017 [36 favorites]
This past week I've been reading a biography of Joan of Arc. One of the main things that I'm taking away from it is that a huge part of Joan's success, a huge part of her power was that the English believed she was a witch, were terrified of her, and thus lost morale, made lots of mistakes, and had trouble recruiting and retaining their soldiers. And, on the other side, the French believed she was on a divine mission and started believing they could win the war, got fired up, and had a massive increase in folks willing to fight. So, even from a purely rationalist, materialist perspective, witches--and more generally religious and spiritual matters--have power and real world impact.
Motivation, belief, stories, worldviews--these all have huge emotional and social impact. And ritual, mythology, magic, prayers, and spells--these are tools that humans have developed to tap into, enliven and transform the world of stories. We need stories to live, pretty much--regardless of what we might want, what might seem better to us, humans are not purely creatures of rationality.
Abandoning the field of the irrational, of the magical and the mythic and the spiritual, to the right wing is one of the biggest mistakes the left has made in this country, in my opinion.
You maybe shouldn't trust me though, because I'm a witch. Seriously. I've been practicing in the Reclaiming Tradition (which has been publicly political, intersectionally feminist, and social justice oriented for decades) for years.
And here's the thing, that I think is funny and tragic. I'd say Witchcraft is probably one of the most science-friendly religions. Our Creation Story is pretty much the Big Bang told in a more poetic way. We experience nature as sacred--we're excited to learn more about how the world works, in all sorts of ways.
I think there's a lot of beautiful, unexplored potential for witches and scientists (and of course many more spiritual, religious, philosophical, and irreligious groups within the Rebel Alliance) to work together, to inspire each other, and to learn from each other.
(In writing that I just cast a little spell. Poetry is magic. Words are magic. To spell is to spell.)
To be fully transparent, I am doing a little translating here, a little diplomacy. I'm trying to emphasize the parts of what I believe that I think will be most palatable to Metafilter's culture. I also totally believe that magic is real, in a more than psychological way, alongside of what I'm saying about the morale boosting, psychological impacts. I think that both are vital and true.
But I don't need you to believe what I believe. I don't even necessarily want you to. I want you to figure out what makes sense to you. There's a saying in Reclaiming, "You are your own spiritual authority."
That's a story I needed to hear, as a queer person who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian family. I think it's a story that American culture needs to here right now. We need anti-authoritarian values and visions. We need to make disobedience sexy, feminism visible, the power of ordinary folks and social outcasts felt, our deep embeddedness in nature clear--in short, we need witches.
And, look, witches are showing up.
This is a battle that we need to fight on many fronts. Witches take that fight to the realm of the imagination, which is in sore need of some help right now. Too, witches bring the possibility of a new deep story, one that weaves humans back into a cosmos of meaning, one that touches the mysteries of spirituality that so many people (for all of human history) have hungered for without demanding the sacrifice of one's own authority and rational mind, one that incorporates, celebrates, and promotes scientific understanding.
posted by overglow at 8:25 AM on March 15, 2017 [70 favorites]
Motivation, belief, stories, worldviews--these all have huge emotional and social impact. And ritual, mythology, magic, prayers, and spells--these are tools that humans have developed to tap into, enliven and transform the world of stories. We need stories to live, pretty much--regardless of what we might want, what might seem better to us, humans are not purely creatures of rationality.
Abandoning the field of the irrational, of the magical and the mythic and the spiritual, to the right wing is one of the biggest mistakes the left has made in this country, in my opinion.
You maybe shouldn't trust me though, because I'm a witch. Seriously. I've been practicing in the Reclaiming Tradition (which has been publicly political, intersectionally feminist, and social justice oriented for decades) for years.
And here's the thing, that I think is funny and tragic. I'd say Witchcraft is probably one of the most science-friendly religions. Our Creation Story is pretty much the Big Bang told in a more poetic way. We experience nature as sacred--we're excited to learn more about how the world works, in all sorts of ways.
I think there's a lot of beautiful, unexplored potential for witches and scientists (and of course many more spiritual, religious, philosophical, and irreligious groups within the Rebel Alliance) to work together, to inspire each other, and to learn from each other.
(In writing that I just cast a little spell. Poetry is magic. Words are magic. To spell is to spell.)
To be fully transparent, I am doing a little translating here, a little diplomacy. I'm trying to emphasize the parts of what I believe that I think will be most palatable to Metafilter's culture. I also totally believe that magic is real, in a more than psychological way, alongside of what I'm saying about the morale boosting, psychological impacts. I think that both are vital and true.
But I don't need you to believe what I believe. I don't even necessarily want you to. I want you to figure out what makes sense to you. There's a saying in Reclaiming, "You are your own spiritual authority."
That's a story I needed to hear, as a queer person who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian family. I think it's a story that American culture needs to here right now. We need anti-authoritarian values and visions. We need to make disobedience sexy, feminism visible, the power of ordinary folks and social outcasts felt, our deep embeddedness in nature clear--in short, we need witches.
And, look, witches are showing up.
This is a battle that we need to fight on many fronts. Witches take that fight to the realm of the imagination, which is in sore need of some help right now. Too, witches bring the possibility of a new deep story, one that weaves humans back into a cosmos of meaning, one that touches the mysteries of spirituality that so many people (for all of human history) have hungered for without demanding the sacrifice of one's own authority and rational mind, one that incorporates, celebrates, and promotes scientific understanding.
posted by overglow at 8:25 AM on March 15, 2017 [70 favorites]
This is a retreat into fantasy in the face of something horrible, and one more bit of evidence of how flatfooted and helpless the contemporary US left is.
I really doubt anyone would have said something like this about a male-coded ritual obviously intended for self-care and expression. I mean, it's just ridiculous on its face. On what planet would these people just buy a crystal and say they were done with it? None. No planets. These women are the ones actually showing up.
But sure. Shit on them. We know where that comes from.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:26 AM on March 15, 2017 [45 favorites]
I really doubt anyone would have said something like this about a male-coded ritual obviously intended for self-care and expression. I mean, it's just ridiculous on its face. On what planet would these people just buy a crystal and say they were done with it? None. No planets. These women are the ones actually showing up.
But sure. Shit on them. We know where that comes from.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:26 AM on March 15, 2017 [45 favorites]
Isn't that mythologizing the past a bit? It's not like all that stuff happened overnight and everyone immediately hopped on board with it - otherwise we'd never have had a Gilded Age in the first place. And I feel like I keep seeing this same defeatist attitude from other leftists, which seems a lot like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
SIGNED.
I just saw an article in the Guardian this morning which argued that this era was much like the 1930's, which they then defined as "the worst and bloodiest decade in recent memory". I, however, have a very different perspective of the 1930's - that's when a lot of progressive policies got tested out in the US, as part of the New Deal. Granted, the New Deal was itself a reaction to a major economic disaster, but a lot of the New Deal policies carried on into today (in fact, you could say that that is what has driven a lot of the Republican Right, is a crusade to finally eradicate the last vestiges of the New Deal).
Any period in history rarely all-or-nothing. The Gilded Age was not 100% Gilded, and it's not like the Progressive era was an automatic switch flip from one to the other. There were crusaders already at work during the Gilded Age, trying to stir up stuff, and there were naysayers during the Progressive era trying to turn the clock back.
There are indeed echoes of the Gilded Age going on now, if you look at the economic landscape. But there are also echoes of the 1930s, and of the 1820s, and a lot of other eras.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:27 AM on March 15, 2017 [7 favorites]
SIGNED.
I just saw an article in the Guardian this morning which argued that this era was much like the 1930's, which they then defined as "the worst and bloodiest decade in recent memory". I, however, have a very different perspective of the 1930's - that's when a lot of progressive policies got tested out in the US, as part of the New Deal. Granted, the New Deal was itself a reaction to a major economic disaster, but a lot of the New Deal policies carried on into today (in fact, you could say that that is what has driven a lot of the Republican Right, is a crusade to finally eradicate the last vestiges of the New Deal).
Any period in history rarely all-or-nothing. The Gilded Age was not 100% Gilded, and it's not like the Progressive era was an automatic switch flip from one to the other. There were crusaders already at work during the Gilded Age, trying to stir up stuff, and there were naysayers during the Progressive era trying to turn the clock back.
There are indeed echoes of the Gilded Age going on now, if you look at the economic landscape. But there are also echoes of the 1930s, and of the 1820s, and a lot of other eras.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:27 AM on March 15, 2017 [7 favorites]
In England and Scotland and America, btw, they usually hanged witches.
And that is the point. They would certainly hang us now if they could get away with it.
I am a woman. An atheist. A Jew. A scientist. I am post-menopausal at a very young age. I have no children. I heal. I "talk" to nature. I work with bees. I make things with my hands. I'm a bossy bitch, sometimes. I boil roots and leaves and bee products and water collected from my natural garden and bee colonies to make beautiful and practical and healthful "potions". In other times, all of these things would have branded me as a witch (including the atheist, Jew and scientist parts), so I embrace that designation and use it for my own purposes. I also mail postcards and visit my representatives and sign petitions and protest in the streets and organize meetings and create training curricula. So, people can fuck off if they want to criticize a goddamn binding spell.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:41 AM on March 15, 2017 [45 favorites]
And that is the point. They would certainly hang us now if they could get away with it.
I am a woman. An atheist. A Jew. A scientist. I am post-menopausal at a very young age. I have no children. I heal. I "talk" to nature. I work with bees. I make things with my hands. I'm a bossy bitch, sometimes. I boil roots and leaves and bee products and water collected from my natural garden and bee colonies to make beautiful and practical and healthful "potions". In other times, all of these things would have branded me as a witch (including the atheist, Jew and scientist parts), so I embrace that designation and use it for my own purposes. I also mail postcards and visit my representatives and sign petitions and protest in the streets and organize meetings and create training curricula. So, people can fuck off if they want to criticize a goddamn binding spell.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:41 AM on March 15, 2017 [45 favorites]
Not the exact same kind of witch, but I have fantasies of Granny Weatherwax dragging Trump out of the White House by his ear while turning Bannon into a warthog solely through the power of her stare
posted by destrius at 8:41 AM on March 15, 2017 [20 favorites]
posted by destrius at 8:41 AM on March 15, 2017 [20 favorites]
I think he's a matter for Commander Vimes myself
posted by Countess Elena at 8:44 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 8:44 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
The Love Witch is probably a feminist movie. They say a cynic is a disappointed idealist, and if that's so, maybe The Love Witch is a document expressing the disappointment of a third wave feminist. We sympathize with Elaine but she's also a buffoon, she suffers because she believes in patriarchal bullshit the audience can see through. We laugh because her victims are so familiar, needy and entitled emotionally crippled men who exist to make women miserable.
It's an excellent movie. Connecting all of this to a sincire, hopeful spiritual opposition to Trump feels odd, like a Seinfeld themed dating service, or a Hannibal Lecter cookbook.
posted by idiopath at 8:44 AM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
It's an excellent movie. Connecting all of this to a sincire, hopeful spiritual opposition to Trump feels odd, like a Seinfeld themed dating service, or a Hannibal Lecter cookbook.
posted by idiopath at 8:44 AM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
I really doubt anyone would have said something like this about a male-coded ritual obviously intended for self-care and expression. I mean, it's just ridiculous on its face. On what planet would these people just buy a crystal and say they were done with it? None. No planets. These women are the ones actually showing up.
But sure. Shit on them. We know where that comes from.
+1 and all the favorites. The minute I saw this post, I thought "countdown to some snide, male or Cool Girl comment in 3...2...1!" And lo, it happened. Really, regardless of religious outlook, can we not shit all over some female-coded and therefore "frivolous" ritual? Whether we see it as working magic/energy, self-care, or both, I think Paganism and Wicca deserves more respect.
And since when are religion and direct action incompatible? As has been pointed out earlier - these women are showing up to marches and signing petitions and doing so much of the heavy lifting. I think they deserve better than what some here are offering.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:08 AM on March 15, 2017 [22 favorites]
But sure. Shit on them. We know where that comes from.
+1 and all the favorites. The minute I saw this post, I thought "countdown to some snide, male or Cool Girl comment in 3...2...1!" And lo, it happened. Really, regardless of religious outlook, can we not shit all over some female-coded and therefore "frivolous" ritual? Whether we see it as working magic/energy, self-care, or both, I think Paganism and Wicca deserves more respect.
And since when are religion and direct action incompatible? As has been pointed out earlier - these women are showing up to marches and signing petitions and doing so much of the heavy lifting. I think they deserve better than what some here are offering.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:08 AM on March 15, 2017 [22 favorites]
(In writing that I just cast a little spell. Poetry is magic. Words are magic. To spell is to spell.)
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird-- Wallace Stevens
VII
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?
XI
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 9:16 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird-- Wallace Stevens
VII
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?
XI
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 9:16 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
And since when are religion and direct action incompatible? As has been pointed out earlier - these women are showing up to marches and signing petitions and doing so much of the heavy lifting. I think they deserve better than what some here are offering.
It is indeed rather flagrant when we're dealing with an extremist ideology (note the word "ideology"! see how Greek puts together ideas and logic! Ideology is "the imaginary relation to the real conditions of existence"!) that has become so strong in large part because of mobilized religious groups. In the service of a dude-god.
I mean really, how much more obvious does it need to be. A culture of bros that sprouted up around a god viewed as a total bro. But noooo, women's stuff, now that's silly. Yeah. Just go on ridiculing women's work and ideas. Never mind that our industrialized riches were born of machinery used to automate women's work. Y'know how looms were programmed? Punch cards. 0 and 1. That was how women had long designed their weaving patterns.
I could weave in a rant about programmer bros but I think the thread is clear enough to follow.
posted by fraula at 9:36 AM on March 15, 2017 [10 favorites]
It is indeed rather flagrant when we're dealing with an extremist ideology (note the word "ideology"! see how Greek puts together ideas and logic! Ideology is "the imaginary relation to the real conditions of existence"!) that has become so strong in large part because of mobilized religious groups. In the service of a dude-god.
I mean really, how much more obvious does it need to be. A culture of bros that sprouted up around a god viewed as a total bro. But noooo, women's stuff, now that's silly. Yeah. Just go on ridiculing women's work and ideas. Never mind that our industrialized riches were born of machinery used to automate women's work. Y'know how looms were programmed? Punch cards. 0 and 1. That was how women had long designed their weaving patterns.
I could weave in a rant about programmer bros but I think the thread is clear enough to follow.
posted by fraula at 9:36 AM on March 15, 2017 [10 favorites]
Sure, be cynical about it if you must, but these kinds of rituals require some pretty disciplined meditation as a base, and that is hard work. You can't get the world correct if you yourself are not.
posted by Strange_Robinson at 10:02 AM on March 15, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Strange_Robinson at 10:02 AM on March 15, 2017 [5 favorites]
Vimes can take Trump, but Bannon is reserved for Granny alone.
posted by glasseyes at 10:17 AM on March 15, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by glasseyes at 10:17 AM on March 15, 2017 [10 favorites]
I really doubt anyone would have said something like this about a male-coded ritual obviously intended for self-care and expression.
Honest-to-god-in-good-faith question: is there an analogous ritual like this that is male-coded? Maybe some deeply obscure Catholic ritual, or something out of the Masonic playbook? I've been wracking my brain for a few minutes and coming up with nothing, which actually makes this a doubly-instructive case: when you invoke a totem that is not only coded female, but is so strongly feminine that it has no widely-known male analogue, you get a doubly powerful backlash.
posted by Mayor West at 10:18 AM on March 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
Honest-to-god-in-good-faith question: is there an analogous ritual like this that is male-coded? Maybe some deeply obscure Catholic ritual, or something out of the Masonic playbook? I've been wracking my brain for a few minutes and coming up with nothing, which actually makes this a doubly-instructive case: when you invoke a totem that is not only coded female, but is so strongly feminine that it has no widely-known male analogue, you get a doubly powerful backlash.
posted by Mayor West at 10:18 AM on March 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
I can't cast shade on any effective effort to get people performing organized political actions in public, no matter how silly. If we can train ourselves to reliably show up to work together on anything — postcards, town halls, curses, whatever — we'll keep showing up while our lukewarm civil war threatens to get hotter and the things we have to do get more and more serious. Don't think of cursing Trump as an action that's an end in itself. Think of it as training. Think of it something we're doing here in boot camp.
ugh. I've gotta send a stupid postcard now, don't I? What should I write? I was thinking just apologizing to the person reading it, and commiserating with them about how unpleasant it is to have to work for an erratic narcissist.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 10:21 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
ugh. I've gotta send a stupid postcard now, don't I? What should I write? I was thinking just apologizing to the person reading it, and commiserating with them about how unpleasant it is to have to work for an erratic narcissist.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 10:21 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
As far as I am concerned, there is no difference between saying the blessings over the candles, challah and wine every Shabbat and a binding spell.
posted by Sophie1 at 10:22 AM on March 15, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 10:22 AM on March 15, 2017 [7 favorites]
is there an analogous ritual like this that is male-coded
Most All high status religions for a start.
Otherwise, popular sports.
posted by glasseyes at 10:22 AM on March 15, 2017 [12 favorites]
Otherwise, popular sports.
posted by glasseyes at 10:22 AM on March 15, 2017 [12 favorites]
Me, to my age group: I'm not surprised we're all socialists but I am surprised we're all witches.
posted by The Whelk at 10:25 AM on March 15, 2017 [16 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:25 AM on March 15, 2017 [16 favorites]
Vimes can take Trump, but Bannon is reserved for Granny alone.
Actually that Vimes comment was far edgier than you realize.
posted by heatherlogan at 10:27 AM on March 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
Actually that Vimes comment was far edgier than you realize.
posted by heatherlogan at 10:27 AM on March 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
is there an analogous ritual like this that is male-coded?
Standing outside a polling place holding a great big gun.
Or Trump rallies.
posted by heatherlogan at 10:30 AM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
Standing outside a polling place holding a great big gun.
Or Trump rallies.
posted by heatherlogan at 10:30 AM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
So-- witches of metafilter.... and those who don't use the terminology but might identify with the force and actions behind it
Let's talk. Memail me. Let's harness our energy for direct action.... I agree with those who say do both.
You might have to use the shield with your own hand to protect yourself but that doesn't mean you can't enchant it. And placebo effect is pretty powerful regardless of what you believe about it's origins. Creating spells that harness our already existing powers to achieve inner healing and great deeds is something that can be seen to have a functional mechanism whether you're atheist or more spiritualist in nature.
I'll be open, I agnostically serve the divine forces of compassion behind, beyond, and within and most specifically the divine feminine who I believe is bursting forth right now whether you call that a force within human beings who are birthing it, or something more. Either way-- we've got the power. We can do great things.
And we need to.
"I'm not surprised we're all socialists but I am surprised we're all witches."
Do you think the divine mother would ever leave us? Sky father is called God and the power behind a majority of world religions but earth mother and the manifestations of feminine devine destroyed and her servants relegated to petty spiritual crooks.
Ha. Even if we're just changing the mythology (which I suspect this is more than that) it is still a worthwhile effort.
Let us unbind the chains put forth on our fellow women and all who suffer and are exploited needlessly.
Eiris sazun idisi, sazun hera duoder;
suma hapt heptidun, suma heri lezidun,
suma clubodun umbi cuoniouuidi:
insprinc haptbandun, inuar uigandun.
Once sat women,
They sat here, then there.
Some fastened bonds,
Some impeded an army,
Some unraveled fetters:
Escape the bonds,
flee the enemy!
If our mothers of times past could see us they would be proud, and if there were any way they could help I know they would shine within and beside us in any way they can.
posted by xarnop at 10:36 AM on March 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
Let's talk. Memail me. Let's harness our energy for direct action.... I agree with those who say do both.
You might have to use the shield with your own hand to protect yourself but that doesn't mean you can't enchant it. And placebo effect is pretty powerful regardless of what you believe about it's origins. Creating spells that harness our already existing powers to achieve inner healing and great deeds is something that can be seen to have a functional mechanism whether you're atheist or more spiritualist in nature.
I'll be open, I agnostically serve the divine forces of compassion behind, beyond, and within and most specifically the divine feminine who I believe is bursting forth right now whether you call that a force within human beings who are birthing it, or something more. Either way-- we've got the power. We can do great things.
And we need to.
"I'm not surprised we're all socialists but I am surprised we're all witches."
Do you think the divine mother would ever leave us? Sky father is called God and the power behind a majority of world religions but earth mother and the manifestations of feminine devine destroyed and her servants relegated to petty spiritual crooks.
Ha. Even if we're just changing the mythology (which I suspect this is more than that) it is still a worthwhile effort.
Let us unbind the chains put forth on our fellow women and all who suffer and are exploited needlessly.
Eiris sazun idisi, sazun hera duoder;
suma hapt heptidun, suma heri lezidun,
suma clubodun umbi cuoniouuidi:
insprinc haptbandun, inuar uigandun.
Once sat women,
They sat here, then there.
Some fastened bonds,
Some impeded an army,
Some unraveled fetters:
Escape the bonds,
flee the enemy!
If our mothers of times past could see us they would be proud, and if there were any way they could help I know they would shine within and beside us in any way they can.
posted by xarnop at 10:36 AM on March 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
The Love Witch is a great movie, and everyone in this thread should give it a chance.
posted by vibrotronica at 10:46 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by vibrotronica at 10:46 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
As a skeptic - and, frankly, someone who is angry at gods and spirits for having the gall not to exist and to leave us alone here - it is so hard for me to tell the difference between internalized misogyny and natural skepticism sometimes.
Actually that Vimes comment was far edgier than you realize.
Oh no, I didn't mean to be an edgelord. Vimes arrested Vetinari once, but that was all.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:54 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
Actually that Vimes comment was far edgier than you realize.
Oh no, I didn't mean to be an edgelord. Vimes arrested Vetinari once, but that was all.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:54 AM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
Vimes arrested Vetinari once, but that was all.
Point taken, sorry.
posted by heatherlogan at 11:12 AM on March 15, 2017
Point taken, sorry.
posted by heatherlogan at 11:12 AM on March 15, 2017
is there an analogous ritual like this that is male-coded?
First thing that came to mind is superstitious baseball players. Some have their little at plate rituals. Some wear their lucky underwear or avoid purple on odd numbered days. Or whatever. And it's usually played up as endearing. Or cute. Or even effective when avoiding purple coincides with a hitting streak. If there's laughter, it's usually laughing with not at. Maybe considered a little silly but it's acceptable masculine silliness.
I think of sports instead of church because these are rituals / superstitions at a personal level, similar to how most witches conduct their rituals.
Anyways, I think the current paganism is great. Whatever helps people get strength to fight this darkness, and doesn't hurt themselves or others, is just wonderful. I think the humorless lefties, of which our movements have always had too many, should just relax. The Revolution will be better with people dancing under the pale moonlight, not weakened.
posted by honestcoyote at 11:33 AM on March 15, 2017 [11 favorites]
First thing that came to mind is superstitious baseball players. Some have their little at plate rituals. Some wear their lucky underwear or avoid purple on odd numbered days. Or whatever. And it's usually played up as endearing. Or cute. Or even effective when avoiding purple coincides with a hitting streak. If there's laughter, it's usually laughing with not at. Maybe considered a little silly but it's acceptable masculine silliness.
I think of sports instead of church because these are rituals / superstitions at a personal level, similar to how most witches conduct their rituals.
Anyways, I think the current paganism is great. Whatever helps people get strength to fight this darkness, and doesn't hurt themselves or others, is just wonderful. I think the humorless lefties, of which our movements have always had too many, should just relax. The Revolution will be better with people dancing under the pale moonlight, not weakened.
posted by honestcoyote at 11:33 AM on March 15, 2017 [11 favorites]
Honest-to-god-in-good-faith question: is there an analogous ritual like this that is male-coded? Maybe some deeply obscure Catholic ritual, or something out of the Masonic playbook?
....there are male pagans too. Just sayin'.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:10 PM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
....there are male pagans too. Just sayin'.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:10 PM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]
Just want to add, a thing can be both serious and humorous at the same time. I don't mean "laugh at this stupid thing" I mean, it contains more than mere seriousness.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:14 PM on March 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:14 PM on March 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Honest-to-god-in-good-faith question: is there an analogous ritual like this that is male-coded? Maybe some deeply obscure Catholic ritual
This is Trump we're talking about here, so maybe it will work: first, you need an old priest and a young priest...
posted by Quindar Beep at 12:17 PM on March 15, 2017
This is Trump we're talking about here, so maybe it will work: first, you need an old priest and a young priest...
posted by Quindar Beep at 12:17 PM on March 15, 2017
I am not particularly mystic-minded, but the appeal of claiming to be a witch is almost precisely the same as the amount to which that claim enrages/upsets/frustrates/scares a patriarchal person or group.
Clowning/confounding/mystifying/baffling the oppressor is an old and honorable gambit for the oppressed. I think for me that's what any kind of witch-related activities would be.
posted by emjaybee at 12:38 PM on March 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
Clowning/confounding/mystifying/baffling the oppressor is an old and honorable gambit for the oppressed. I think for me that's what any kind of witch-related activities would be.
posted by emjaybee at 12:38 PM on March 15, 2017 [6 favorites]
I run a Facebook group about witchcraft and paganism that has a social justice bent and there's quite a lot of discussion about how to organise, how to care for the self while organising (because it can be really draining work), how to create community in the face of current times. It's especially prominent with queer and POC witches, many of whom are exploring into ancestral knowledge.
(I'm personally more agnostic about the whole thing out of personal frustration but go witches)
posted by divabat at 5:33 PM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
(I'm personally more agnostic about the whole thing out of personal frustration but go witches)
posted by divabat at 5:33 PM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
For reals, though, witches are great.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:27 PM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:27 PM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
People who haven't managed to see The Love Witch yet-- it's really worth tracking down. My one-sentence summary of it on exit was 'It's a two-hour feminist deconstruction of the strip scene in The Wicker Man', and on later reflection I stand by that.
Because it's not just a fierce satire on, and rebuttal of, Christian patriarchy and the patriarchy as white women in the U.S. encounter it in the so-called mainstream, though it is that, and it's very good at that. It is also an examination of the ways in which paganism can, unintentionally, perpetrate patriarchy, can be just as damaging.
And it's screamingly funny, to boot.
Those of you who have hung out in pagan circles will find it differently hilarious from those who haven't, I believe, though I think it's funny for both. The thing is, the coven leader in the film? He is the best, most narratively self-aware portrayal of That Pagan Guy I've ever seen. You know That Pagan Guy-- the one who sets up the initiation ceremony such that incoming women have to have sex with him. The one who keeps telling you that female sexuality is an empowering gift from the Goddess, and so why are you rejecting and demeaning Her gifts by persistently keeping your shirt on in front of him? The one who thinks the group should take up skyclad dancing because it is so natural, so uninhibited, so childlike, so free, and yet who always suggests a different activity entirely when none of the women he thinks are hot show up that night. You know. That Pagan Guy.
I'd never seen him on screen before, let alone seen him shown to be as simultaneously silly and damaging as he actually is. For that alone, I'd recommend the movie. But there's a great deal more to it than that, and all of it is as intellectually ingenious and pointed.
And visually totally fucking stunning, so there's also that.
posted by Rush-That-Speaks at 6:56 PM on March 15, 2017 [14 favorites]
Because it's not just a fierce satire on, and rebuttal of, Christian patriarchy and the patriarchy as white women in the U.S. encounter it in the so-called mainstream, though it is that, and it's very good at that. It is also an examination of the ways in which paganism can, unintentionally, perpetrate patriarchy, can be just as damaging.
And it's screamingly funny, to boot.
Those of you who have hung out in pagan circles will find it differently hilarious from those who haven't, I believe, though I think it's funny for both. The thing is, the coven leader in the film? He is the best, most narratively self-aware portrayal of That Pagan Guy I've ever seen. You know That Pagan Guy-- the one who sets up the initiation ceremony such that incoming women have to have sex with him. The one who keeps telling you that female sexuality is an empowering gift from the Goddess, and so why are you rejecting and demeaning Her gifts by persistently keeping your shirt on in front of him? The one who thinks the group should take up skyclad dancing because it is so natural, so uninhibited, so childlike, so free, and yet who always suggests a different activity entirely when none of the women he thinks are hot show up that night. You know. That Pagan Guy.
I'd never seen him on screen before, let alone seen him shown to be as simultaneously silly and damaging as he actually is. For that alone, I'd recommend the movie. But there's a great deal more to it than that, and all of it is as intellectually ingenious and pointed.
And visually totally fucking stunning, so there's also that.
posted by Rush-That-Speaks at 6:56 PM on March 15, 2017 [14 favorites]
I've been thinking recently about how the spiritualist movement and the Gilded Age happened pretty much around the same time. When nothing feels fair or logical and you don't have much power to change it, and traditional religion seems complicit, what else are you gonna turn to?
The First World War generated a lot of dead people whom people wanted to talk to, too.
Can we talk more about The Love Witch? I really want to see it but also worry that two hours of deliberately stilted pastiche might be a bit much.
posted by Mocata at 4:14 AM on March 16, 2017
The First World War generated a lot of dead people whom people wanted to talk to, too.
Can we talk more about The Love Witch? I really want to see it but also worry that two hours of deliberately stilted pastiche might be a bit much.
posted by Mocata at 4:14 AM on March 16, 2017
BTW, witches of Eastwick MetaFilter, Blessed Ostara to all!
posted by Sophie1 at 9:18 AM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Sophie1 at 9:18 AM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by GenjiandProust at 6:10 AM on March 15, 2017 [7 favorites]