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Uncoven Issue #11

Episode #19 Coming Soon!

Episode 19 will be released at the end of the month, New mama Lily is at home with her beautiful twins, and we are winding down the winter energy here in Texas!  It’s been cold, then warm, then cold again.  Texas weather, you are nothing if not inconsistent.  We just go with the flow!  While you wait for the episode to hit, be sure to check these new Instagram accounts out!

Follow Blackbird’s poetry here (@blackbirdwyrd)
Follow Jaye’s writings and amazing natural photography here (@lady_jaye_of_the_wild)
Follow Lily’s gorgeous artwork here (@my_blue_veins)

Don’t forget to check out our web-o-net pages at Hex Rated Podcast!

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Witchcraft Workshop

2018 kicked off the year with a full moon. It was nice and all, but then January went and knocked it out of the park with a super blue moon eclipse to end the month. Look at you 2018! Got some bad ass moon magic flowing for the year!  And after the roller coaster year that was 2017, I was thanking the goddesses for the chance to channel some of that magic.

Did I do a fancy ritual? Nope. I rolled out of bed without a plan at 4am and guzzled some coffee and threw a camera and a tripod in the jeep. My mother met me at the lake near my house to watch it. She didn’t hesitate when I suggested it.  I didn’t need my crystals or my cards when I had the lady that taught me to dance for the moon. The moon is a special bond for us.

We watched patiently as the shadow slowly sank over the moon.  I took photos through the transition as it began to look like a crescent moon. We both would squeal with excitement every time we caught a shooting star streak past. Towards the end my mom jumped back into the jeep for warmth.

I walked ahead into the field and down the hill and chanted to the moon, “Give me change. Let me grow.” I chanted this over and over as the moon steeped deeper into red and the twilight began to glow behind me. I could feel the warmth flow over my shoulders of my mom smiling at me from atop the hill. Or maybe that was the sunrise. Or both.

Even though the blood-hued moon was still just above the horizon, it faded into the daylight as the sun burst out behind me.  It was perfect. The potential for change. Letting go. Growing. Making this year what we want.

“Give me change. Let me grow.”
These words are totally simple but true. And that was all the moon magic I needed.
Magic doesn’t always have to be extravagant or over-thought out. Don’t miss a moment waiting for a fancy ritual or the perfect words. Just be true to you.

I hope your year ahead is filled with magic. I hope it is filled with truth.

-Jaye

Notes: Get your space witch on!
March–  Blue Moon! March will have two full moons.
July 27: Mars will swing to opposition. It will be the biggest and brightest it has been since 2003.  It won’t get this close again until 2035.
August 12-13: Perseid Meteor Shower

Photos by Jaye

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yd2Call to Brigid  

Brigid
Lady of Flame
Mistress of light
Goddess of artists and healers
Inspire our writing, so that our words
May flow true;
Guide our hands in our craft and vision;
Teach us to mend the wounds of mind and body,
We ask you to protect our witch sister as she brings her daughters to this world
We welcome you to our home, Brigid
Earth awakening at your presence.
We thank you for your comforting warmth.
We offer you
Bread, milk and honey
Thank you
Welcome- Jaye

Sass-trology: Two Sides of Taurus

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The trouble with astrology– or any type of personality type categorization– is that sometimes it’s scarily accurate…. except when it’s totally not.  Taurus guys are seemingly one such example where a chap either is totally a textbook Taurus or something else entirely.

What’s really going on is the drama of toxic masculinity being played out in the stars.

Taurus boasts the most manly of symbols: the big, macho bull.  What’s more masculine than a stubborn hunk of beef, right?  On the flip side, the sign is ruled by the planet Venus, the femme-iest light in the sky.  She’s the patron of girly love and beauty.  Her symbol is literally on ladies’ restrooms.

The element of earth and the sensual love goddess make Bulls epicures.  They are deeply tactile, savoring rich food, plush bedding, luxe fabrics, gourmand fragrances, and slow, decadent touch.  A bull is a domestic god, not a cowboy roughing it on the range.

And here’s where evolution has created a split: some men have no trouble reconciling their man’s man, salt of the earth side with their “feminine” side.  Maybe “””’feminine””” needs extra scare quotes, because, as we and evolved Tauruses know, there’s nothing biological sex or cultural gender have to do with liking things to be yummy or snuggly or sexy.

So, an evolved Taurus dude is as the books decree: patient, mature, loyal, paternal, albeit with a very infrequent but thundering temper.

The other Taurus is pretty much basically a monster. He simply can’t reconcile what he perceives as feminine tastes with his imagined version of ideal manhood.  Doubling down, he performs an elaborate caricature: the Bully.  He is obsessed with being the manly breadwinner and obnoxiously flaunts his material success and berates his employees.  The classic chauvinist, he orders the women in his life to adhere to bizarre standards of femininity outlining who they can be friends with, discouraging them from working, and even what colors are or are not suitable for a “lady” to wear. Any conversation regarding feeling or emotions is off limits, even to professionals.

Hopefully, this type will die out someday due to stress-related organ failure or substance abuse.  In the meantime, avoid at all costs.

Cooking up a Storm – OF ANGER

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Sometimes, what we are cooking up in the Hex Rated witch kitchens are FEELINGS, folks.  If you listen to us, you know that I am not the one who is real, shall we say, comfy with anger times.  I was never allowed as a child to show anger, or to feel like that emotion was ever ok.  So naturally when it came time to be an adult, anger was always kept at bay.  I instead blamed myself, or felt shame – shame at sometimes being angry, if that even makes any sense at all.

In the last few years, however, I have learned that to allow myself to be angry is also permission to allow myself to stand in my power.  It is still a struggle to learn how to let myself express it in a healthy way, and sometimes it doesn’t come out healthily at all.  Sometimes it is messy and incomplete and jangled, but I want to let you know that no one has to give you permission to be angry.  I now know that when my cheeks get hot and my brain feels like it is going to explode out the front of my head, THAT IS ANGER and I need to examine why I am feeling it.  Is someone hurting me?  Is someone trying to deceive me?  Examining might have to be done after the initial onslaught, but either way, I owe it to myself to FEEL IT.

You can draw servitors or sigils to help you bind the person that might be trying to harm you – you may even want to curse those that might be affecting you repeatedly.  I have done both of these things and whether or not they are actually having some power in the physical world is not necessarily relevant.  What taking those actions IS doing is having an affect on me, and letting me know that I am indeed the one who holds the power.  No one can take that away from me.  No one can take it away from you, either.  If you struggle with anger as well, ask a friend who has better access to that emotion and the expression of it – they can help!  Just remember, you do have power and it is yours.

–Blackbird

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Politi-Craft

An on-going list of political and social action items to keep you aware in these rage inducing times. 

-Read these heartbreaking “ Letters from Women Pleading for Abortion, Sent in 1917, Mirror Emails Sent Today.”

– Take care of yourself and loved ones and get tested for STDs for free!

– Handy guide to the pros and cons of 16 forms of birth control. 

-Teen Vogue continues to crush it by answering the question, “What can I do if I don’t want to run for office?” with “be a campaign manager.”

-A Texan’s Political Guide to Resisting Trump.  Not just for Texans!

-These Women Made a Database of Black Women Running for Office in 2018.  Links to the list and info about the rad-ass women behind it.

Below you will find items from previous newsletters that are still relevant:

– Check out Jen Hoffman’s new year activism challenge with her activism plan worksheet and a bonus self care worksheet.    Sign up for her weekly newsletter which is so ridiculous more thorough than ours!

– Join the Handmaid’s Resistance!  Get updates about events, resources, organizing your own event and more.

– fire up that cellular device and oppose the rollback of birth control coveragedefend childhood immigrants and DREAMersdenounce Trump’s ban on transgender troops, tell DeVos to maintain title IX protections for campus assault victims.  Or pick any other five issues from 5 Calls, there are 31 active issues!  Bonus points: follow up with emails and faxes through an app (see below) or good ole snail mail.

– Try the  Stance app. Record a voice message and will send it directly to your representative’s phone.

– Head to the  House of Representatives website to find your rep in congress and contact them! Emails are great, phone calls are better, but do something. Contact them until the poor, unpaid interns who have to answer the phones all day know you by name. Contact them until everyone cries because you will not stop until your rep knows exactly where you stand on all the issues.

– Follow your congress(wo)man on Twitter or periodically check-in (if clouding your social media feed with their trash is too repulsive), representatives will often tweet about upcoming town halls. Attend town halls.

– If you are in a time crunch and want to contact your senators or representatives but can’t get to a town hall, check out this genius texting bot called  Resistbot.  You will have to come up with a short message, but the bot will fax your legislators DAILY if you so desire.

– The  Women’s March is a goldmine of resources and suggested actions to combat the growing voice of racism, bigotry, and sexism. Follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as well!

– Check out  The American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) handy-dandy doc  Know Your Rights for when you’re out there on the street peacefully protesting and expressing your motherfuckin’ right to civil disobedience. In fact, while you’re at it,  donate some cash monies if you can. Here in ‘Merica we vote with our dollars.

– One of the handiest resistance guides out right now is the  Indivisible Guide.  A wealth of information and actions.

-If you are a Texas resident, you can go to the Texas Legislature Online and sign-up for an account, allowing you to view legislative content and add bills to an alert list. Whenever a bill you’ve put on your list is updated, you’ll receive an alert. Also, feel free to check out our list of Texas legislative bills that we are monitoring and updating. Stay woke, witches.

-Check out Planned Parenthood Texas Vote‘s guide on attending legislative committee hearings where the public is given the opportunity to provide input and feedback on proposed laws.

– Don’t over extend yourself! Yes, we’d all like to fix all the problems right the fuck now, but that’s not practical. You will burn yourself out if you try to keep up with everything in this country (and world for that matter) that needs fixing, so we recommend you come up with a short list of the most important social issues to you. This does not mean you don’t care about everything! We know you do! But we can’t all be doing everything all the time.

Full ImageHocus Pocus, bitches.

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