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Saturday, November 12, 2016

You're Infernal.

As I've stated before, I got into witchcraft in the 90s when I was a teenager. I had been raised in an entirely secular household - my mom had an interest in ghosts and fortune telling, while my dad was (and remains) more interested in the teachings of Buddhism, but religion was a non issue. I think I'd been to church once in my life with my grandmother.

I had moved twice in the span of a year when I settled in the Bible Belt. I had recently experienced - twice over - the sort of catty adolescent friend breakups that so often go hand in hand with entering high school. So there I was, friendless and culture shocked by Jesus.

I think it was either conform or rebel. We all know which way I went.

Now, when I was just a baby witch, I was a staunch defender of misconceptions about the Craft. Being the Bible Belt, any deviation from popular religion was considered Satanic. "There's no devil in the Craft," I would tell people. "Satan is a Christian construct." "I don't worship the devil."

This much was true - I didn't worship the devil. But let's face it, when you're surrounded on all sides by such a dualistic culture you tend to pick sides. In doing that, I found myself reading everything I could that might give me a better understanding of this whole God VS the Devil thing. And thus grew the roots of my obsession with the Satanic Panic.

The History of the Satanic Panic - and why it's not over yet

The Fight to Save America From Satan's Subliminal Rock Messages


While on the topic of the devil in music... In October I went to see Ghost in concert. It was one of the most religious group experiences of my life, right up there with seeing Magic Mike XXL in the theatre. Standing in a packed crowd, dressed as a skeletal nun, I found myself raising my voice with a throng of people as we threw up the horns for the Nameless Ghouls and Papa Emeritus III.

"Are you ready to swear right here, right now
Before the devil?"

The devil doesn't need backmasking to get us to rally with him. Let's face it, when the 'moral' side is the one hurting people, anybody with a heart isn't going to want to join up with them. Instead we should stand with the people others would tell you are the outsiders. Especially in light of world events, we all have to remember not to get swept up in fear and hate. Rebel in the name of love.

Hail Satan. Rock'n'roll.

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Mad World

Well, would you look at that. It's November. You wouldn't think so much could have changed since the last time I posted, but here we are.

AbraCadaver was a smashing success this year - I count it among one of our best shows. I honestly couldn't be more proud of both all the performers and also of us producers and writers - Melody Mangler and my sister Voodoo Pixie were fucking brilliant. I'm even happy with myself.

Although my wig made me look like my mom.

by FubarFoto


With AbraCadaver over, my sister and I settled into October. "We have a whole month to do Halloween things!" we said. My sister is always booked solid with Halloween shows because she's one of Vancouver's spookiest dancers, but we figured we'd still have loads of time to check out haunted trolleys and ghost trains.

Then we found out that our apartment building had been sold, and consequently the rent was going up.

And so, we found ourselves moving in the middle of the month. My sister and I moved back in together into the main floor of an old heritage house with stained glass windows, just a block from the ocean. We were blessed to have family and friends to help us, and although we moved in the middle of a storm warning it was truly not traumatic. We've acclimated to being in one another's space very quickly - the fact that the house is larger than we're used to no doubt helps. Surprisingly, I was gifted with the bigger bedroom, which clearly used to be a dining room. The size means that not only is it my bedroom, but also a perfect magical workroom. It even fits all of my books,

Speaking of books... You really ought to put your pre-order in for Glamour Magic: The Witchcraft Revolution to Get What You Want. I just did.

So. October went by in a blur. On the interpersonal level, I came to the decision to distance myself from people with the emotional intelligence of potatoes. This was a harder decision to make than perhaps it should have been, simply because one of the people in question was a part of the witch meetups I had been hosting. Consequently, I was trying stubbornly to make it work in spite of feeling disrespected more often than not. But ultimately I realised that I cannot work magic with someone who does not trust me, as it in turn destroys my own trust. It's a rotten cycle that leads solely to doubt and anger. That realisation made me reexamine other aspects of that relationship, and ultimately I found the negative outweighed the positive. So it was time to pull back. Thankfully I don't feel any genuine malice towards this person - mostly I just feel stupid.

More positively, this week I discovered that a lot more of my girlfriends at work are into fortune telling than I had suspected. I fully intend to organise a wine-and-tarot evening sometime this month, and perhaps try another magic night with the ladies who I know are a bit more open and honest.

My sister, as always, reminds me that I should settle for nothing less than love and respect.

Voodoo Pixie (and Sweet Pea McGee) as photographed by Bob Ayers.