Pam Grier and NIWRC Fundraiser

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As a reminder for my National Indigenous Women Resource Center fundraiser, here’s a New York Times Magazine Pam Grier interview, “Pam Grier on maintaining her independence and identity in showbiz.” Pam Grier is a Black Indigenous actress, and a survivor. I love her answer to the following question about her experience as a survivor and acting in Blacksploitation films.

“Given your personal history, was it hard to act in movies that often featured the threat of sexual violence? It’s in a lot of the blacksploitation films.”

“Sure, but by being nude in those movies I was trying to help men understand. Society created this mystery about the vagina, the breasts. When you create a mystery, people want to see it and attack it if they can’t have it. So I was like, here’s the mystery. I hope I bore you and you’ll never get a hard-on again.”

Check out the full NYT Mag article, and my birthday fundraiser for NIWRC, an Indigenous-run organization benefiting Indigenous survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. If you can’t give, please share!

https://www.facebook.com/donate/3039799119436640

Fundraiser for National Indigenous Women Resource Center

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For my birthday, I ask that you join me in raising $1,000 for National Indigenous Women Resource Center to support Indigenous survivors of rape, domestic violence, human trafficking, and related crimes. Indigenous womxn are targeted, and suffer this type of violence up to 10x more than Caucasian women, depending on the location. Romani womxn in Europe face similar types of targeted violence at similar rates, and since we it’s July, I’ve been thinking about ways to be a better ally to Indigenous communities. As a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence, this is close to my heart. I’ve seen the way this kind of targeted violence has devastated my Romani family. I live on stolen land where the Indigenous communities are still fighting valiantly for basic rights, and that means I have an obligation to support this fight. Indigenous-run organizations are doing important work, and I admire their activism. I invite you to join me in supporting their work, no matter how small the contribution. If you can’t give, please make an effort to share this charity and amplify Indigenous voices this month. Champion Indigenous artists, writers, innovators, humanitarians, and more and share their work with me and others in your circle. Thank you!

You can donate to my fundraiser here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/3039799119436640/?fundraiser_source=external_url

Palmistry Workshop with Seagrape Apothecary 8/2

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I’m teaching a virtual palm reading workshop for Seagrape Apothecary on August 2nd, 1 PM PST on Zoom. I’m going to cover a brief history of palmistry, how persecution and stereotypes have shaped Roma’s relationship to fortune telling, the basic art of how to read a palm, and how to strengthen your interpretations. My grandmother began teaching me how to read palms when I was five, so it’s a practice very dear to my heart. I’m excited to talk about the practical and political side of this branch of fortune telling, as well as the spiritual perspectives that some readers have. You can register here through EventBrite!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/introduction-to-palmistry-how-to-history-tickets-112741761644?fbclid=IwAR3ect4ilwKYjbO-Cat1Iw_bT0HyUJH6iCmXCzk_-DhmcYe-X1z7VS-LN-k

I’m on Best American Poetry’s Holiday Gift Guide!

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You may or may not know that I read tarot, palms, and tea leaves, so I was extra excited to be included in Best American Poetry’s Holiday Gift Guide for 2018. I’m offering phone tarot sessions or in person tarot, tea leaf, and palm reading sessions for the holidays for you or for your friends and loved ones (gift certificates available). You can book through the form through this fortune telling page on my fortune telling witch site. Check out the rest of the list to see how you can support poets and independent businesses with your holiday shopping. Please comment if you’re a creative with an independent business that readers can support over the holidays.

Check out the link here

bestamericanpoetry

And you can always gift a copy of this year’s Best American Poetry

The truth about the word “Gypsy”

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I spoke to Brut media about the harmful use of the racial slur “Gypsy” and “gypped.” I see the word used so often in writing, media, brands, and few people know that it refers to the Romani people, and reinforces negatives stereotypes about us like nomadism, curses, thievery, and promiscuity. Many Americans believe that the word Gypsy actually means thief, nomad, curse-thrower, or ‘slut,’ and this erases Romani identity at a crucial time while we are fighting for our rights, and associates the real Romani people with theses stereotypes. I am proud of my Romani heritage and I want people to understand who we are. I’ve written many articles on other aspects of Romani culture, which you can find on my Writing page. If you know someone who uses this word, even if they think they are using it in a positive way, you might like to gently and lovingly educate them on the power of language and the history of this slur. Thanks for watching!

Watch the video below

Brokelyn Poetry Feature

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I’m so moved that Joanna Valente, a poet who I very much enjoy and the editor of Yes, Poetry, included me in her Brokelyn Poetry round-up this week alongside Joe Pan and Michael J Seidlinger. She selected lines from each poem she chose from us, and provided links to the full poem. For me, she chose my poem “In the Oven,” published by Luna Luna Magazine, which, content warning, is about sexual abuse and survival. It was a complete surprise that, best of all, introduced me to the work of a couple of great Brooklyn poets. I hope you enjoy her post!

 

Featured image by Lauren Mitchell, 2009

Your Guide to a Smart and Not-Appropriative Halloween Costume

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I’m re-sharing my “Halloween Savvy” tips in Quail Bell Magazine for coming up with a smart costume and not appropriating the shit out of marginalized cultures like Natives and Roma (or “Gypsies,” the racial slur we’re more commonly known by). Skip the Pocahottie mini-dress and Sexy Gypsy blouse and skirt, and put together something clever, which really is a much sexier way to play it after all. If you ever wondered why appropriative or exoticizing costumes matter, I also touch on that with some fascinating/upsetting history about the “sexy” stereotypes. Plus, I’ve got some ideas for if you want to dress up like a badass character or real person who isn’t of your race but you’re not sure how to proceed.

In the featured image is is my last costume, Little Red Riding Hood Who Killed the Wolf Herself. Taking an empowering, dark, or funny spin on a beloved folk story is always interesting and innovative, and it doesn’t hurt anyone or reinforce racist stereotypes. It’s just pure fun.

This year, I’m going to be a punk-rock unicorn, which is my take on Audre Lorde’s book, The Black Unicorn. Lorde is one of my favorite poets, and a self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” It should go without saying that it would be crazy offensive and downright weird to try to make my skin darker to become Lorde. It’s much cooler to have my costume embody what I love about her– her writing. My dressed-in-black unicorn will also have a touch of Stormy’s horse Skydancer thrown in from Rainbow Brite because damn I loved her sassy thunder and lightning spitting hooves! I think Audre Lorde would be into that too.

Click here to read my article

Audre Lorde
Stormy and Skydancer

Light Magic for Dark Times review on BUST

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I love Lisa Marie Basile‘s new book, Light Magic for Dark Times. “Basile’s magic feels like a dip into The Artist’s Way for witches,” which is no surprise since you may already know her creative writing, and Luna Luna Magazine, which she runs and founded. The spells she writes benefit from her poetry, and the journaling and other reflective exercises help the reader heal and learn about themselves before they even light a candle.

While the book is geared toward femme spirits, Basile’s language and focus is mindfully intersectional and gender-inclusive, embracing of fluid and non-binary identities, and all bodies and body types. The focus is always on self-love and self-care, particularly for marginalized people who may feel ground-down in the day to day of our, lately dark, times. There are spells for healing burnout after social justice protests, trauma, chronic illness, grief, and discrimination, and as always, the focus is on increasing love and kindness in all of its forms. In short, bringing the light in.

To learn more about what I love about the book, her work in shadow magic, and the ins and outs of ritual, check out my review for BUST.com. I’m looking forward to revisiting this book for years to come, and I hope all you artists, witches, and wonderful sprites answer if it calls to you.

lisa

Illustration of the author in Light Magic for Dark Times

Mystic Lady: An Interview with Katelan Foisy on Wolfwych

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I already loved this Wolfwych interview with Katelan Foisy before I noticed that she very kindly listed this blog as a reference for Romani folklore and culture. Foisy is an artist, witch, writer, model, fortune teller… she does all of it, and lives her life with an admirable sense of purpose and ritual. She’s also of Sinti heritage, like me, and one of the most delightful and generous people I’ve ever met. During the Romani Arts and Letters Conference at NYU, I gave a talk on the importance of her work and the work of Selma Selman in reconfiguring the archetype of the “Gypsy Woman,” and included the PowerPoint here: Portraits and Performativity. If you would like to read a thoughtful and beautifully crafted interview with her about her artwork, life, magical work, fortune telling, and reading list, then here you go, and you’re welcome. Enjoy! https://wolfwych.com/2017/07/20/mystic-lady-an-interview-with-katelan-foisy/

I’ve gotten some of my best divination from cut-ups and some very good practical advice. It rearranges the brain to see what isn’t there. I’m also a fan of working with technology to increase energy. We are creating magical worlds with our internet presences so when I’m doing a working, I will photograph parts of it, edit the image to enhance the feeling of the work and put it up online. I feel that the love and buoyancy that pours in from that helps to boost the energy within the working. It’s one of the reasons I take so much care in the aesthetics of the working. If each working itself is it’s one piece of art, the care put into each work becomes part of the magic in that particular working. This method is what works best for me but each practitioner will have their own method. For instance I work with land magic a lot. If I’m doing a working for immigration I will take that person with me on a journey and the we will walk the path of those that came before us. I believe we need to know the history of the land before we can work our magic there. That may be one thing that I find odd about some modern day practices and with people in general. We tend to forget our history but the real magic lies underneath the pavement and deep within the soil, it lies in land memory. –Excerpt from interview

Image by Katelan Foisy, featured in WolfWych

 

The Harmful History of ‘Gypsy’ in Bitch Magazine

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Seriously, can you imagine any other racial slur titling a TV show in 2017? Luckily, the show, Gypsy, was cancelled the very day that Bitch Media published my essay, “The Harmful History of ‘Gypsy,'” but the casual use of this racial slur continues. So if you ever wondered why it’s not ok for people to say “gypped” to mean “to cheat,” why you can’t make the word “Gypsy” mean whatever you want it to mean, or where the magical, sexy, thieving, wanderlusting “Gypsy” stereotypes come from, then read this.

https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/gypsy

 

GypsyPoster

Image of the Gypsy Netflix posters with anti-racist grafitti from Bitch Media