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Uncoven Issue #24

Welcome to Hex Rated…

where four witches living and practicing deep in the heart of the Lone Star State will take you on a journey through homegrown witchcraft, foul language, hilarious judgement, and – the dirtiest of all- FEMINISM. #hexratedwitches

Click the link below to be instantly transported to our latest podcast Mini-Episode #4: Blackbird’s Santa Muerte Shrine!


Mini-Episode #4 – Blackbird’s Santa Muerte Shrine 

In this mini-episode, Blackbird has some Hex Rated fancy business to discuss up top, but then shares with you her recent need to create and dedicate a shrine to Santa Muerte.  Listen to the mini-episode for a full description ON SPOTIFY NOW as well as Podomatic and Stitcher, and take a look a little further below to see pics etc of how it turned out!

We are ALL OVER the ‘grams, folks.  Check us out.
Follow Hex Rated here (@hexratedwitches)
Follow Blackbird’s poetry (@blackbirdwyrd)
Follow Jaye’s writings and amazing natural photography (@lady_jaye_of_the_wild)
Follow Lily’s gorgeous artwork (@my_blue_veins)

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

Urban Awe

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I know most pagans are nature-loving hippies– I like nature and stuff too!– but the reality is that many of us live in cities and those spaces have magic too.  One of my favorite urban discoveries is something that perhaps can only be constructed and would not occur in nature:  the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial.

Rather than serve as reminder and anchor for Dallas’ most infamous event and national shock and disillusionment of a generation, the structure was design with the intention of quieting and releasing those feeling of mourning and betrayal.  Philip Johnson, the architect, described his stark square of concrete as “A place of quiet refuge, an enclosed place of thought and contemplation separated from the city around, but near the sky and earth.”

Spiritually, the structure feels like a soundproof room sterilizing and vacuuming up emotional residue into the sky.  Unlike some places that are abuzz with power, the Kennedy memorial is the opposite: an energetic Clean Room.  It’s an uncanny kind of experience, one that is uncommon in both urban and wild environments.

The potential for magic in this space is one of which that I’ve only scratched the surface.  Just the meditative act of holding still in that moment of silence is transformative.  I imagine entering in a state of grief or anguish would be arresting, but profound.  Using it as a site for uncrossing, unbinding, or karmic work has possibilities as well.

Most importantly, the site has inspired me to reevaluate and seek out unexpected places of power, particularly ones using modern and industrial materials.

–Scarlet

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Cooking Up a Storm
with Blackbird

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It is officially Spring here in blindingly-sunny-all-the-time SoCal, I MEAN WAS IT EVER EVEN WINTER.  It rained more than this area usually gets, so there is that.  But mostly, the weather here is so great you can’t even tell seasons are changing except OH YEAH there’s a whole bunch of stuff in bloom and holy shit how can it get more beautiful here?  Add native flowers and plants all over every roadway and hillside you see, that’s how!  So I guess weirdly or not, I’ve been craving springtime-y foods like salads, fresh veggies, fruits, and you know, we have a lot of it here.  But then so do you, probably almost wherever you are – I have been extra thankful for the amazing farmer’s markets that are here in San Diego.  Check out your local farmer’s market and you will be bound to connect with awesome people who will sell you amazing produce, meat, eggs, etc!
Speaking of, since it was recently Ostara and the rebirth of everything after the long and cold (or sunny and mild) winter, I’ve been thinking a great deal about the humble but versatile-as-fuck egg.  Sorry vegans, I applaud you, but I don’t think I could live without eating eggs.  I love them pretty much every way they can be served.  I could go on about the history and symbolism of the egg and how, in many rituals of ours, an egg has been a go-to offering for a long time, but I’d like to just remind you that these little fuckers are packed with protein and are delicious as hell.  Lately I’ve been hard-boiling about 6 at a time and either have them as an afternoon snack or in a salad.  Fucking yum.  Useful in everything!  I’m just saying:  Don’t forget about eggs.  They are terrific by themselves, with cheese, with just a little seasoning…it’s a perfect, magical, useful tiny package of greatness.  The fresher and more organic they are, the better – what a difference.  Behold the Wonder of the Fantastic Egg!!EASY HARD BOIL:

Put eggs in saucepan and add water so that the water covers the eggs about 2 inches.
Bring to a boil.
Add a fairly liberal amount of kosher salt to the pan.
Once at a boil, let boil for 1 minute.
Turn off heat, remove pan.  Cover.  Let sit in hot water for 14 minutes.
Remove eggs from hot water, rinse with cold water.
Let eggs sit in a bowl of cool or cold water for 14 minutes.
Peel, enjoy!!!

Ostara Blessings,
–Blackbird

Santa Muerte Shrine 

As I talk about in my mini-episode, I have felt called to work with Santa Muerte, and what better way to start working with a Goddess/Deity/Saint/Other than by building and dedicating some sort of shrine with your own two hands?  This had several stages, and at each stage I just felt more and more connected to her and felt like she was really responding to what I was attempting.  I still have a few things left to do/add, but I wanted to share with everyone my (basically) completed shrine.  I’ve even noticed that the cats can’t help but be drawn to it, they either nap or play directly under the shrine – might be just because it is a new addition to the room, but I prefer to think that they feel the good vibes too!

Trust your intuition and don’t be afraid to create something that is calling to you – you don’t have to be an artist, trust me.  I certainly am not, and I feel so great about this project that I couldn’t wait to share it with you all.

Happy Intuiting!
–Blackbird

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Cut the tongue of the lying bitch
Light a fire, burn the witch
Sew her back with every stitch
And she will rise in a cloak of pitch.

~The Witches

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Open Source Witchcraft: Ostara

Our rituals are Frankensteined and Mad-Libbed together and they are free for you to share!  Keep what you like, ditch what you don’t.  Cut, paste, curse, and cure. Tell us what happens.

A little belated in terms of scheduling, this ritual took place a week after the equinox.  We combined a variety of things we wanted to try: something sense and movement heavy,  a new palette of colors, and spring motif.

Leapfrogging off of the Journey to the Dark Goddess ritual from Panthecon, we decided to try the journey in reverse ala Innana or Persephone emerging from the underworld.  The colors came from the palette of tertiary colors because two art students just aren’t going to pick normal colors!

Google Doc– click for full text

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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. 

– Use the Americans of Conscience worksheets to make and Action Plan and Self Care plan for 2019.

-Friend of the podcast and Scarlet’s middle school-high-school-college classmate Amy Patrick is going viral, laying down engineering facts about the proposed border wall!

– Consumer Technology Association, revoked an innovation award from Lora DiCarlo’s company geared toward women’s sexual health, saying it ” fit into any of our existing product categories.” And yet, they have recognized or hosted exhibitors such as an virtual porn company and a sex robot for men.  What do you suppose the REAL issue is, hmm?

-the National Film Board of Canada launched Indigenous cinema, an extensive online library of over 200 films by Indigenous directors.  Here’s a list of top picks from the archive from the directors and programmers themselves!

-This app makes your phone buzz when you approach places where women made history.

-1,000-Year-Old Illustrated Manuscript of Herbal Remedies Available Online 

-Complete Guide to 2019 Artist Grants & Opportunities

Still useful stuff:

– 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.  Resistbot is now available on Facebook Messenger, with even more features than ever.  If you are not using this, it is simply the fastest, best way to contact your state and federal representatives.

– 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.

– **NEW!!** Indivisible has released a brand new version of the Indivisible Guide.  New congress, new rules of engagement.  Check it out!!

-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.

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Lily Made a Patreon!!!

If you feel so inclined and you dig all the magical things we are trying to put out there in the mundane world, feel free to visit our Patreon page and throw us a bone or two.  We currently bring all of this awesome shit to you with our hard-earned, fucking day job monies and we love doing it, but helping with EVEN MOAR bandwidth, storage, etc would definitely not hurt a sisterwitch.  For those of you who have already signed up, we could not be more grateful.  We thank you from the bottom of our very pointy-toed shoes.  Click below to go directly to our Patreon page!


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 Hocus Pocus, bitches.

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