4TH ANNUAL WICKED WITCH OF THE YEAR NOMINATION TIME

Wicked Witch of the Year/2018

Wherein the Wicked Witch asks female (or close enough for government work) Church of Satan Members if they are the Shit?

...and admits she can never remember that whole Satanic A.S. datey thing

     Last year I began late.

     This year we get this bitch up and running right about now.

     As stated in previous blogs (that I'm sure you all read with immediate and rapt attention,) I am the Wicked Witch, this my contest and any demonstrations of democracy are purely coincidental.

      There are some new rules because, hey, why the fuck not?  I'm going to list them now, probably because I am thinking about them now.

•      Nominations may be sent to Ygraine Osborn Mitchell  PM/Messenger via Facebook or email: MagistraY@gmail.com
•      Nominations may be made between now and January 1, 2018.  The name of those who make nominations will be confidential.
•      Those who nominate and contestants must be members in good standing in the Church of Satan.
•      Nominate no more than 2 witches.
•      Only when a witch is nominated twice will she be put on the roster (considered a nomination and a seconding.)
•      Donations for the winner of the Witch of the Year are welcomed.  Prizes, gifts, services, etc...are to be sent to the winner by the donating member/shop/creator once the winner is announced.
•      The winner will be interviewed on Confessions of a Wicked Witch and the prizes she has received will be promoted at that time.  Additionally those who pledge prizes may provide an ad/graphic to be placed on this blog.
•      Once vetted all contestants will be evaluated by myself and the three previous winners, and we will pick the 13 we feel best represent Wicked Witchery.
•      The 13 finalists will be announced in early January.
•      They will be  expected to fill out a questionnaire, provide 3 pictures, and be open to further contact with the Wicked Witch, as well as agreeing to be written about and be on the podcast.
•      Once the finalists are announced, a brief bio based on the questionnaire responses will be posted here, as well as photos.
•      This year I will welcome letters of support from any CoS member regarding the finalists.  The writer will need to let me know who they are but they can be granted anonymity should any part of their letter be posted. 
•       The winner will be announced before the end of January.

What is a Wicked Witch
and
How to Evaluate if one of them are Worthy of the Title of
Wicked Witch of the Year

     To get the full understanding of what makes a Wicked Witch you'll need to read my book Confessions of a Wicked Witch coming out when I get the fuck around to finishing it.  For our purposes and the purpose of an annual contest a Wicked Witch is a Satanist who uses her abilities, all of them, to create the world she wants.  This is about accomplishing goals within the last year.  The goals are those set by the witch herself.  I'll be much more impressed by the woman who CHOSE to be a garbage collector, and got the job and is doing it well, than I would the woman who married well and now runs her husband's business, hating each day that she sacrificed her dreams for the sake of convention.  Of course if she loves her man's business and improves it by her own work, fuck, yeah!  The question I would ask before nominating would be "What did this witch do, in 2017, to improve her quality of life using the tenets of Satanism?"

     A word about gender issues:  There can be no fewer fucks given than I have for what a person's reproductive junk is.  If a person identifies as a WITCH, is a member in good standing, and gets the requisite two nominations they will be entered.  'nuff said.

     Now, let's have some fun and get to know some seriously cool women.

Hail, Satan!

     

NOT me, too.

NOT me, too!

Wherein the Wicked Witch is determined to be Pro-Rape Culture by the Over-Informed and the Under-Experienced

     Although I survived a brutal sexual assault in my teens, and I'm a third generation feminist, I have been watching the exponential revelations of sexual abuse with both overwhelming sympathy and a need for better solutions than mere outrage can effect.   I am concerned that this mob mentality has ramifications that are in conflict with actually solving the problem of sexual abuse.  Worse, the demand for new language, new stilted behaviors, is an assault on our cherished freedom of expression.  Why we can't just punish the living shit out of those who have committed crimes, and allow each individual respond to speech as they see fit, is beyond me.

      I did not "me, too."  I have nothing but empathy and pride for the women who choose to take power in the act. I hope the trend creates some comfort.   I just found my power a different way.   However,  not following suit is NOT an indication of a lack of support, although in the Social Justice Warrior World, the omission of saying something is the same as saying the reverse of something,  Yet more irony.  The people who want to make a lack of language mean something are the same as those who want to monkey with language in the first place.
      I confess that I am old enough to have determined that every decade brings a new "root of all evil."  I know.  Everyone lays that at money's door.  A stronger case could be made for the lack of it, but I'm talking societal ills.  This is the decade of social media.  We don't need no stinkin' voting booths or Letters to the Editor anymore.  Egalitarianism run amok.  It would be a fun joke if it wasn't so powerful.  As a result I am now privy to the heretofore private thoughts of every-fucking-body.
     I  have always enjoyed Rose McGowan's work.  I have , even more, enjoyed her devotion to Boston Terriers and their rescue.  She has always come across as talented, smart, quirky, and tough in all the right ways.  The fact that this powerful, disgusting, criminal assaulted her is no one's fault but his.  She was the victim and now she is the survivor.  He was, is, and will be unto death a colossal piece of shit who deserves dying.  Clear?  Am I in anyway supporting this foul wretch of a  partial birth abortion?  Obviously not,
But...
     I confess that I, apparently, maintain a very unpopular, um, sub-position.  My position on sexual assault is life in prison or death.  My position on sexual harassment is firing, fining, and shaming.  My sub-position is that it is wrong to take settlements with non-disclosure agreements in lieu of prosecution/reporting.  Yup. Very unpopular.  I am being accused of being  "Pro Rape Culture."  Me.  Holy fuck, what is wrong with you people?
     My belief is  that a person who signs a non-disclosure agreement  has done a disservice to later victims.  This doesn't negate their victimization or support the victimizer.   This is about protecting the next potential victim.
      Now a victim can understandably say, "fuck them.  This is my tragedy and I'll deal with it in my own way."  Completely cool.  The traumatized may need to shut this door fast and effectively.  Yet, having done that, you might want to check your credentials before preaching "sisterhood" and starting a social media army.
     I'm saying all this talk of sisterhood is just so much drivel.  I'm saying that it is a lip-service slogan that means exactly however many words we can tweet.  Sisterhood is becoming an enormous cyber gender-creature that has, it seems, no concept of what sisters do for each other.  Sisters don't let their sisters walk directly into the lion's den without warning.  They especially don't take cash to keep their sisters in the dark and vulnerable.  I have 3 daughters.  I know what lengths sisters will go to  fight for each other.
      If I were to choose the sisters to battle 40,000 years of male sexual domination, particularly what sort of sisters could lead such a movement, I would not choose women who made the personal choice to keep quiet when quiet guaranteed more victims.  I would not choose anyone who has a problem with curiosity.  I would not choose someone who's final goal is to create a social media movement, rather than end sexual abuse.  Outrage is, as my best buddy reminds me, "cheap heat."

        I am being told I am pro-Rape Culture. I can't even comprehend why a criminal behavior is being glamorized into a "culture" by the very people in danger.  This kind of bullshit language is part of the problem.  It is condescending to those who are no such thing, and allows some college kid to feel entitled to tell experienced humans that we are somehow oblivious to our micro-aggression, thus we potentially trigger people   At this point I want to trigger people.  Is it just me or are the people demanding others to take responsibility the same who claim they or others can be triggered? 

     If women are demanding that men should have spoken up/acted, then, in the name of social equality and the notion of responsibility, we must say the same for women.   If women demand that men (not the abusers but the poor fucks being called collaborators) change their behavior to protect women, then are we not already deferring to them?  How can we demand from others what we are unwilling to do for others, ourselves?
      With apologies to Rose and her army, they are asking to be both empowered and protected/sheltered at the same time.  They think tweeting is "fighting"---kind of like King Douchebag.  In this country fighting is done in the courts.  If the courts won't play fair we use our economic strength and power to change the system.  If the system won't change to make women safer we use our experience to share what we know with those we love.  What we cannot do, what we should never do, is  legally bind our mouths shut and spend a few decades knowing that others are being victimized.  Hey....the money isn't even the issue.  These women deserved the cash and more.  It is the Non-Disclosure Agreements.  They might as well be called  the "Rape-the-Next-Chick Agreements."
     Today's rightfully angry young women are WAY over-informed, and when challenged on their "facts" they become defensive to the point of anger.  They take either a confrontational or a dismissive position to anyone who doesn't parrot back the new language of victims.  They have dismissed experience as superfluous, unless it is echoed online by whatever nobody has posted some dubious stats.  They think critical thinking takes place reading posts online.
They think their movement will bring about a Utopian society where no one's feelings are ever hurt.  They shriek against fascism but fail to see that legislating, even figuratively,  what people say, and not what they do, is in direct conflict with freedom..  Worse, it diminishes the first amendment, which evidently needed the addendum "Even language that hurts your feelings is protected, and you'll be glad of it because it will help you identify assholes."
      I confess to not wanting to live in a place where everyone lies and puts on a Stepford mask in order to prevent inexperienced, pseudo-informed, fanatics from losing their shit.  Most of all, none of this ridiculous language does anything to stop sexual abuse!  So if calling me Pro-Rape Culture makes you wet (yup, offensive as fuck, huh?) have at it.  I'm looking for a real revolution for women where we can be led by experience and not vitriol.  I won't join me, too because I believe one should only join things that  one wants as a representation of who they are.*  I refuse to be defined by things done to me.  I will be defined by my own choices and actions.

her, too:

   
       A fifteen year old girl has been sexually abused, physically beaten, and completely terrorized for half her life.  She has been informed that if she ever tells he will kill the entire family.  His previous actions lend huge amounts of credence to that threat.  It takes 2 years after the initial report to bring the case to disposition.  Those years are filled with statements, depositions, embarrassment and shame.  Life stops moving.  The child can't grow until this is concluded.
      In court, to discuss the terms of a plea agreement, that girl--a child, stood in front of a judge, a prosecutor, the family of her attacker, a smarmy defense attorney, as well as her own family, and her attacker.  He was less than 10 feet from her.  She had truths she had to say for legal reasons.  While the  judge was encouraging,  her attacker stood in court, facing years in prison, and laughed at her.  He ridiculed her pain, minimized her terror, and although pleading guilty maintained his innocence, despite taking the same from at least 3 other children.   He was a monster who was sent to prison, unable to hurt anyone for years, thanks to the sheer bravery, the integrity and decency of a 15 year old child.
     Ladies and gentlemen, if that isn't your idea of a hero, you're fucking broken.
    The women who jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire, to demand justice, or at the very least, truth, are the women, the sisters, who should lead.  No victim should ever feel shame about what was done to them.  Yet, we all are responsible for what we do, or don't do, ourselves.
      

 'Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions'

Dag Hammarskjod

    

Awake

AWAKE

This Should Be a Podcast

Wherein the Wicked Witch Confesses to...A Lot of Shit.

For Warlock Robert 

     As a writer/speaker it is  one thing to procrastinate over your work because you have little or nothing to say.  It is rarely that simple, actually.  You'll start writing because something grabs you and then you read back a few paragraphs and the prevailing thought is "well, that is going nowhere fast."  The incomplete work is then resigned to an ever-expanding draft file.  You'll get back to it.  Or not. Or maybe.  Sorta. It is frustrating.

     Yet, as I have recently discovered, it isn't half as frustrating as being unable to accomplish things because your head is so bloody chock full of crap that you are creatively constipated.  I owe apologies as well as marked admiration to my colleagues and friends at Radio Free Satan for allowing me to be me and not give me the well deserved kick in the ass I've been expecting.  Right now, however I am going to type this confession to the bitter end.  This is partially a result of a gung ho publishing bitch who insists that there might be a marketing conflict in a book called "Confessions..." if the only ones written about are the cool ones.  I get it.  It makes me pretty sick, but I get it.

     The world is vomiting out secrets right now.  If this helps us to evolve to a society where our animal instincts can be tempered only by embracing rational thinking, I'm all for it.  I do believe secrets have power only when kept.  I do believe we've accepted a veneer of normal that camouflages the true monsters.  I've encountered monsters.  One might say I attracted them.  I've hidden behind that veneer.  I molded it, and presented it, and pretended it was real.  'fucking spectacular witchcraft!  'fucking real life horror show.

Here goes:

     I was married to the worst human, like, ever.  Technically his sex offender probation prohibits him from being on the internet, but since I know him well enough to know he will have found a way around that, let me take a brief moment to say "I'm not done, motherfucker.  'not even close.  You survived prison, you've destroyed yet another woman, but I am still here.  Three words:  Best Served Cold."
       I cannot state enough, for the record, how absolutely irredeemable he is.  The fact that he still breathes is wrong.  Until he dies, preferably in some gruesome non-accident, I will forever be fucked up. There.  I said it.  He fucked me up in a truly spectacular fashion.  I will not expose his other victims, who, by virtue of my own counter-productive pride and blatant stupidity, suffered far worse than I, but way back, when all Hell broke loose, exposed was exactly how I felt.

     The first years away were filled with detectives, judges, recorded conversations, moving to a new place, new man, etc...They were also filled with every enemy of the Church of Satan using my tragio-calamity to discredit the organization.  That was fun.  I was bringing shame and negative attention to the people who were being incredibly supportive of me.  Little did I know the whirlwind, if you can call four years a whirlwind, had the unique effect of allowing me to ignore the more damaging parts of the ordeal. 

     Obviously there were both mental and physical ramifications of living with a monster for over a decade.  The former manifested in, and still does to a lesser extent, the conviction that everyone I encounter knows I am a fake, and that people were hurt due to me, and that there is a big neon flashing sign over my head, just in case anyone missed the memo, pronouncing me a piece of shit.

      More concerning were results of medical tests.  I was already suffering problems from a youth well spent.  Horses and dance took my knee cartilage, genetics and stress were messing with my kidneys.  One day I discovered that there were no amount pills that could stop the pain in my back.  I could barely walk. This led to more tests.
   

I can safely say that words you don't want to  hear the MRI tech say are "Was this a car accident or a plane crash?"  If the answer is neither, somebody done fucked you up.

       Too late to make this long story short, let me speed up a tad:  Constant pain.  Pills.  Pills bad.  Methadone.  Years.  More years.  More years.

    I mean you have to love the irony, right?  I was pissed at losing a decade with Monster-Dick, and then I spent another one attempting to feel as little as humanly possible.  I lived in the same area for all that time and never made a friend.  I went out as little as possible. I became a completely functional zombie, who sporadically had a few months of re-animation.  Only around members of the Church of Satan did  I feel socially comfortable.  I raised my kids, did my job as minimally as possible for fear of more exposure, and grew old and fat.

     Longing is a peculiar, painful, and motivating thing.  James Mitchell is pretty damn inspirational, too.  The need to return to a me I wasn't ashamed of was chipping away at my armor of numb.  In a fit of pique at the resident douchebag director of my medical facility, I checked into a medical detox.  I stayed a week.  A week, kids.  Ol' Wicked Witch Brain Trust thought that 12 years of steady, large dose, plus 6 or seven prior years of occasional use of major league pain meds could be all better in a week.  Hell paid me a visit.  It was in the mirror and in my nerve endings, and my seizing...and oh, man!  That sucked in ways I can't even express.

      Thanks to Jim, my daughters, and a very beloved CoS member who may have bent a rule or two to prevent me from actually dying, I woke up 3 months later, 45 pounds lighter, and hyper as fuck in every way.  Every bad thing that had happened during the numb years flooded back as if I had never really grieved.  Concurrently my love for Jim, for my kids, my pets, also felt like something new and vibrant.  I have rediscovered courage.  I accept that my fears are irrational and based on things so long past that I hurt only myself by giving in to them.  Along with that realization came anger, a death of apathy, and an inability to suffer fools, bullies, and even random assholes.  What hasn't come, at least until now, is the ability to finish something.  I confess.  I am awake.  'watch the fuck out.

     

      

      

Fuck Democracy

Wherein the Wicked Witch Confesses Volunteering for the Role of Kinda Benevolent Dictator

     This year Adam Campbell, of the wonderful Speak of the Devil podcast, presented us with the first Warlock of the Year Award.  He was kind enough to inquire of me whether this would effect me.  I appreciated his concern.  My Witch of the Year Award is about to celebrate it's fourth year, and he followed not a written protocol, but a civil one.  'gotta love that in a guy!  I voted for my choices.

     Voted.  

     The last time I did that things didn't work so well, for like, everyone.  I am desperately trying to justify my previously epic support of representative democracy.  I always believed that straight democracy, one man one vote shit, was mob rule.  Considering the mob mentality prevailing  on every notch of the political/social spectrum--I'm not seeing much of a distinction.

      This led me to wonder about my Wicked Witch Award.  I request nominations and seconds from the Satanic public.  I demand the nominees respond to an extensive questionnaire and allow me to publish multiple pictures.  I double check their membership status.  Then I narrow the list down with the assistance of the previous winners.  Then, if no obvious candidate leaps miles above the rest, I beg our High Priestess for her input.  She has never steered me wrong.  When I finally make a decision, it is ultimately mine alone.

     I choose the nominee who has demonstrated her Wicked Witch tactics and power to provable ends.  Merit.  The standards are mine.  They are based on 54 years with a vagina and a brain.

     Note the combination.  One without the other appears to be the current rate of exchange.  We have vagina only harpies destroying damaged victims by pooling them into a social bait ball.  We have tremendously tiny dick men forced to feel their intellectual impotence and responding with pitchforks.  The brain people, evidently not utilizing their genitalia in a healthy way, are so busy side-stepping offending anyone that it is like a giant cerebral macarena.   The "mobs" are taking over, unbalanced and extreme, and the solution is beyond the scope of the voting booth.

     So I choose to maintain my little dictatorship.  I am THE WICKED WITCH.  These are the Wicked Witches worthy of my title:

          Intelligent, focused. glamorous, accomplished women who continue to utilize Satanic principles to further their passions and goals.  Can I get a ""Hail, Satan?"

        We live in an age when our total environments can extend well beyond  living spaces.  Our art, our music, or online creations/personas, all these things are our Satanic expressions of individuality.  The mob might call it "branding."  I call it mine.

     This Wicked Witch confesses that in my lair, I choose.  

     Now if I could only get that electoral college control spell right I, too, can rule the world.

Support my "Rubbers for the Stupid" Charity

Conservative /Right of Center Friends:
     Please do not read this.  This is the rant of a really fucking angry libtard American.  I ask my friends of the right political leaning to know that one on one/friends with friends, who gives a shit? A couple of cocktails and a hearty Hail, Satan will remind us of our love.  In the meantime, nothing I can say will convince you of my position and NOTHING you say will alter mine. Actually this rant is really for people who will never read it, not because I asked them not to, but because, evidently, the majority of Americans are positively too stupid to read anything at all.  See?  Something I know we all agree on.  Sadly that is going to end here.  Forewarned and all that.
Y~

     I have lived through a bunch of administrations.  Each time it is led someone I don't approve of I , naturally, think the president is nuts.  I have even thought, a few times, that whomever is in office may be the worst president ever.

     I didn't know nuts, and what I thought was the worst can't hold a candle to what is in office today.

     Part of it is because the laziness of people regarding mid-term and local elections.  By ignoring these campaigns the system of checks and balances is not working.  Ridiculously this allows the press and the administration to call even the most weak win "a mandate."   Another element is the laziness of the voting populace who have all the education and intelligence one would assume for a country that lags behind such academic legends as Poland and Estonia.  For years certain conventions, the Supreme Court, and an established protocol have protected us from our own stupidity.  Evidently we have been so unstrung by a black president, so completely terrified of estrogen running the show that we chose a fucking dangerous, sociopath asshole instead.

    "Why do we always play the cop to the world? "  Well, gee. let me think.  Maybe because that is what makes a super power more than just their arsenal.  To have all our global standing wiped away because of the rhetoric being fed to the masses, a rhetoric the feeder cannot appreciate or comprehend beyond using it to bilk the rubes is pretty fucking disgusting.  "Putting America first " is not  a battle cry to embolden the working folks.  It is a signal to the corporate 1% that they are going to benefit contractually,   Trickle down economics?  Yeah, that works, NOT.  No rich fucker makes a higher profit and then generously increases wages below second tier management.  Moreover, and how the Hell do these people not know this, Trump the mega-dick created his empire by employing the working poor at the lowest wages possible, or, worse, he was busy putting America first by out-sourcing overseas (never mind Daddy's co-signing some 45 million in loans and leaving the rude fuck $70 million.)

     This complete lack of understanding of the most basic human rights is demonstrated repeatedly.  It may even seem like Trump is planning for his exodus by changing policies that protect workers.  As a for instance, why is his budget attempting to gut the Department of Labor's ability to police child labor?  Why is that backed by of all people our education secretary?  Answer?  Well, aside from the obvious fact that he doesn't give a fuck about any children he can't talk about wanting to bang, he isn't going to leave this White House without everything set in stone to continue his incredibly dirty empire.  His education secretary is, just like his EPA appointee, a joke.  If you had told any American with half a brain that in 1/2 a year the people who have the most to lose by regulation would be put in charge of the things they are supposed to regulate, some Pollyanna (well, ok, me) would have said "Have no fear!  Checks and balances!  The system will right itself.."

     No.  They aren't.  The stupid are utterly unaware how their actions will hurt them.  They think words translate to deeds.  They have no comprehension of history or civics.  They vote for who they want to be rather than who has understood their plight.  They believe that despite never giving one goddamn fuck about them before Trump is suddenly their champion, and worse they believe all the smoke and mirrors about "fake news" and "liberal media."  That is not to say bias doesn't exist, but for fucksakes, a thinking person can hear and determine validity regardless.  Want to know my idea of Hell?  Being stuck in the doctor's waiting room while the overhead plasma shrieks the shrill staccato venom from Fox News.  I don't care about them being conservative.  I have a list of conservative politicians that I support based on their voting records.  No, it is Hell because they are stupidly and brazenly lying through their teeth....and their fashion sense negatively affects me.

     As every campaigning politician says "...you are choosing the kind of country you want to live in."  We chose to pick a dangerous man who has offended our allies, wants to regress to the Industrial Revolution replete with black lung disease, child labor, and zero regulation.  So when I ask how this makes America great, how it assists the very people who put Trump in office, the only logical answer is that it doesn't.  Look, as my Dad once said  "it isn't that I feel a responsibility for the homeless, it is just that they are aesthetically displeasing to my world view."  Caring about others is not automatically altruistic, egalitarian, or soft.  Caring about others is, in the bigger picture, caring about yourself and your environs.

     Being a super-power means having super responsibility.  Being a super-power means wanting to be so great that every underprivileged person on the planet sees your country as a beacon of hope.  Remaining one means holding up your leadership role with your allies.  Remaining one means supporting the development of the newest technologies, the best educational opportunities, and a reasonable amount of equitable distribution of the tax based resources.  None of this is happening.  We are becoming increasingly nationalistic at the same time our reasons for pride are flushed down the proverbial toilet.  Bill Maher pointed out during the campaign that America is still great.  This bullshit about high unemployment due to regulation is nonsense.  Even more, if Obama kept crying about making America great again the right would have screamed  him down with accusations of him not loving his country.

     Which leads me to one of my few, um, right of center views.  The dear Doctor is often quoted that stupidity should be painful.  I would add the caveat "excruciatingly."  Since the bulk of these red state fuckers wouldn't know a Monet from a monologue, I will take the elitist liberal stance that they are, in fact. deplorable, along with conservative view that they are not even people, and my own conviction that  in a perfect world they should be Soylent Green candidates.  You see, my caring has stopped now that their shit brains have fucked up my country.  Now, after the Georgia special election, giving Trump the ability to toss around the word "mandate" some more, I want every struggling mess in the USA to reap what they sow.

    Don't want a living minimum wage?  Well, since traditionally corporations are known for their generosity, if  we eradicate or refuse to increase the minimum wage, low skill, high labor workers will be fighting for jobs by low bidding.  Now there's a plan!  That will motivate the wealthy business owners to pay less, maybe hire more at less, and then we can fudge those unemployment numbers so they mean as long as you earn third world coin, you are considered a success for the administration.  It doesn't matter that they can't afford to rent and eat...well ok, it matters because the same folks wanting this also want to eliminate healthy school lunches, food stamps, and cut HUD to the point of potentially ending Section 8 housing.

    During the Reagan 80's, which was one of the last times I thought we had an idiot in office, and I still cringe when driving Florida's renamed turnpike (Ronald Reagan Parkway,) and would move before sending a kid to Ronald Reagan High, I was a drama student/actress/singer in New York.  During the supposed genius of trickle down economics and a hatred of entitlements I watched families of 6 living in tiny, dirty $1500 a month hotel rooms in lieu of giving them much less to do much more.  I watched the debt sign move ever upward.  Junkies were everywhere.  Crime was substantial.  It wasn't a shining moment in New York history.  So excuse me if I have a seriously bad taste in my mouth for the lie that is trickle down.

      In the real world there are all kinds of adages about getting what you pay for.  Those who have bought this administration's bullshit for a nifty bumper sticker and the belief that a wealthy, entitled piece of shit actually has their best interests at heart, deserve the socio-economic raping they are going to get.  The rest of us, sadly, either are far too rare or lazy to fix it.  These mid-term 2018 elections are the only hope of minimizing the damage.  Yet the last 6 months have been so completely odious that by the time we re-establish checks and balances there is no telling how pervasive the Trump damage will be.

     Is there anything we can do that isn't a felony?  Not much, I admit.  All I can say is that if you have a hardcore Trump lackey in your congressional district or the Senate make that person know that if they support Trump's ridiculous agenda they are on their last term.  Make it impossible for your representatives to vote for Trump's "mandate" if they like their jobs.  Support businesses that support your political stances and shun those that don't--money ALWAYS talks. And, not the least, call out stupidity when you see it interfering with your life.  I don't care if it is the cashier at the grocery store, the teacher at your kid's school, or the drunk down the street who's Trump bumper stickers are matched in number only by his arrests for domestic abuse.  My suggestion?  Carry a bag of condoms and magnanimously hand them out to stupid folk with the (obviously inflammatory) statement "It is time to remove yourself from the gene pool.  You are just too stupid to breed.  Let me help."  Then praise the Second Amendment and make sure you aren't followed.

Just Because...(Blues sung from the middle of the road)

Recently a post has been making the rounds that reminds me of the old Egyptian negative confession, but is about what the person agreeing with it (myself included)states they  "will not work together" about.  You can find this all over, but I have a link to where I signed it under my mundane name https://www.facebook.com/shelley.imhoff/posts/10209004222602849

For me this isn't enough.  It states plainly what makes me angry and why I am upset, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

Lately whenever a liberal non-Trumpian makes a point against a Trump executive order there is a philosophical leap made that makes no fucking sense but somehow manages to justify the continued hatred of liberals.  I don't appreciate my well thought out positions being used to imply things I neither feel nor say.  So here is my contribution:

Just because.............

Just because I am against the executive order banning certain Muslim states from entering our country doesn't mean that I am somehow supportive of extreme Islamic terrorism.

Just because I believe that terrorism is caused by Extreme Islam (and ALL religious extremists of every sort, equally dangerous) doesn't mean I support or will allow Islamophobia to become part of the American landscape.

Just because I support Syrian refugees doesn't mean I want open borders.

Just because I want strong borders doesn't mean I am anti legal-immigration or against America continuing its proud tradition of providing sanctuary for those in the cross hairs of war through no fault of their own.

Just because I am against a border wall from Mexico doesn't mean I want open borders or open immigration.

Just because I support immigration from Mexico doesn't mean I want an open door policy that extends to social services.

Just because I do not support social services for illegal immigrant adults doesn't mean that I think illegal children should be denied basic healthcare.

Just because I believe that certain police have committed acts influenced by racism doesn't mean I believe all white men are racist.

Just because I don't believe all white men are racists doesn't mean I don't think racism exists.

Just because I want to be sure felons and the mentally ill have to wait 5 minutes before obtaining firearms doesn't mean I want to damage or eradicate the 2nd amendment.

Just because I support the 2nd Amendment doesn't mean I support no restrictions on who can carry firearms.

Just because I pay strict attention to the sources of the news presented to me doesn't mean I believe most outlets are promoting fake news.

Just because I believe that "fake news" is a propaganda method utilized to make Americans not trust their free press doesn't mean I don't know that every reporter/network/paper has a bias to consider.

Just because Nazis used the word "Socialist" in their name doesn't mean I think all socialism is evil.

Just because I support Universal Healthcare and access to education doesn't mean I want to live in an exclusively socialist state.

Just because I care about the environment doesn't mean I hate employment.

Just because it makes no sense to destroy the earth, air, and water in the name of jobs doesn't mean I don't believe in new education and technologies to re-integrate workers who's jobs are obsolete.

Just because I am addicted to cosmetics and handbags doesn't mean I am not a feminist.

Just because I am a feminist doesn't mean I have any ill will towards men.

Just because I am against poaching, hunting endangered species, puppy mills and treating animals badly in any way doesn't mean that I don't support those who hunt for their food (unless endangered or primate,)  eat responsibly farmed meat, purchase purebred dogs from responsible home breeders, or visit AZA accredited zoos.

Just because I support the eating of responsibly farmed meat doesn't mean I don't want to end cruel practices against animals used for our food.

Just because a few women have faked sexual assaults doesn't mean I automatically disregard a woman's claim of being sexually assaulted.

Just because a woman has been sexually assaulted doesn't mean men are inherently rapists.

Just because a microscopic amount of women have needed to have late term abortions doesn't mean that I support late term abortion on the whole.

Just because I don't support late term abortion for anything other than a woman's health doesn't mean I don't 100% support a woman's right to choose in the first trimester.

Just because I don't know/use all the new pronouns for LGBT community doesn't mean I don't support their rights.

Just because I support LGBT rights doesn't mean I support hatred against those who are having trouble understanding a new vernacular and it being used as an accusation of bigotry.

Just because I despise traditional religion doesn't mean I despise individual members of said religions.

Just because I support an individuals freedom of religion doesn't mean I support the religion itself.

Just because Extreme Islam is currently a focus doesn't mean I have forgotten Jim Jones & the People's Temple, Aum Shinriyko, the Inquisition or every other extreme religion's contribution to destruction, both outward and self.

Just because I support the Death Penalty in the worst cases doesn't mean I don't believe every conceivable avenue should be explored to make sure only the guilty meet this fate.

Just because I support treating people, even criminals, fairly, doesn't mean I don't think monsters who violate the social contract shouldn't be dispatched with as little care for their comfort as the demonstrated to their victims.

Just because I believe adults should be free to do whatever they want sexually with other consenting adults doesn't mean that I don't think child rapists/molesters shouldn't face the death penalty.

Just because a seemingly successful business man tells you that only they can make America great again doesn't mean that AMERICA WASN'T  ALREADY GREAT!

Just because I know there are a hundred more issues that I am probably forgetting doesn't mean I don't invite others to add theirs on the comments and if I can agree I will add them to this piece.

And the winner is.........................

Hail Magistra Ruth Waytz

Radio Free Satan's

Confessions of a Wicked Witch

Wicked Witch of the Year, 2016-2017

Last but Never Least

Those who know me know I have a special relartionship with guilt. I need to state that this year, this project, has pretty well left me overflowing with guilt.

• Did I miss any nominee?
• Can I do them justice?
• Will they hate me for writing this/not writing that?
• Will so and so be upset that hers is longer/shorter/funnier/dryer than other so and so?
• Is there anyway to do this so no feelings get hurt?

     I'm about at the end of my rope.  These women are the saving grace.  These witches deserve a prize for just being 30,000 times more interesting than any other women alive.  I love them.  You will too.

Sara Josephine

I’m in tears right now.  It isn’t because I’m babysitting and my granddaughter is sick so I’m tired beyond measure, or because the arthritis in my ankle/foot is so bad that I can’t walk.  It isn’t because I am having a meltdown due to my political beliefs.  It isn’t even because my eldest daughter and her family have been devastated by a house fire that has destroyed almost all they own.  All of those things may have worn away at my composure and made me vulnerable, but they didn’t actually knock down the wall.

This did:

“I had cats for all of my adult life. They were 19 and 16 when they died within two weeks of one another last September. I am still having a hard time dealing with the immeasurable loss.

Kali went first. She was 16. She was very much my Familiar. Me in cat form, I her in people form. She let out a very uncharacteristic for her loud meow. That was my only warning...we looked into one another's eyes... I saw the lights go out in her eyes as her grip relaxed. I knew what had happened, but was so stunned. I continued to hold her and brush her while I cried for quite some time.

For the next two weeks, I was so concerned about Beast - my 19 year old - that I could not process my grief. He was very much my Demonic. He and Kali had been together all but her first four weeks of life and he just gave up without her. ...The night before he died, I had this terrible feeling while at work that this was the night. ...He did stir happily when he saw me and we curled up to sleep. I woke up, he did not.

As painful as it still is, I take great comfort in having been with each of them until the very end.”

I feel guilty editing that but I want to share with you more than that about Sara Josephine.  It is just that made me cry.  It isn’t that it is so unique or special, it is because the love she shares in that story is so universal. And being able to touch another person in a deep and meaningful way is not always easy.  Sara Josephine, by the way, may be able to share a story in a universal manner, but she herself is not simple.

She works in the Mental Health field, but it is obvious that she has many passion beyond that.  I recently paid a visit to her website www.thestillshow.com  from which Sara Josephine sells her wares.  The site and the products are equally unique.  She has also found writing and using her voice in a project called “Murnau” to be equally gratifying :

”Our first album was completed a bit before the end of 2016. I've always wanted to do something with sound. The people I collaborate with are so knowledgable. The entire process is so organic and enjoyable. It's also great to want to write again, as I've been focused on other methods of expression for so long that it was neglected."

This woman is so cool, it defies description.  I was forced to go back into my film memory to call up Boccacio 70, a trinity of Italian comedies in one movie.  One of them stars Sofia Loren.  Another is led by Romy Schneider, but Sara Josephine had mentioned, along with the amazing Hedy Lamar, Anita Eckberg and her character in this film (directed by none other than Fellini) as an idol and inspiration of hers,

“ Anita Ekberg's character in BOCCACCIO '7O - mischevious, fierce, glamourous, larger than life and absolutely the best representation of a Satanic woman in all of her glimmering facets I've personally ever seen.”

Ever?  Really?  Look in the mirror much?

Jessica Darling

     If there is anyone I am really jealous of this year, at least in terms of things they have spent time doing, it would be Ms. Jessica Darling.  This woman has travelled all over the place in 2016. I don’t know if this is her norm, but damn!  

• in April I enjoyed my first of three trips to Europe in 2016: first, to Italy/Croatia/Slovenia -
• In July, my 20th high school reunion took place in upstate New York. I was the person who traveled the farthest to attend, from Portland, Oregon.
• In September I made my annual trip to Germany, and met my new "god"-daughter who had been born a month before.
• In November I made my last trip to Europe for the year, spending my birthday in Belgrade, Serbia.
• In December, after only being home for less than two weeks, I traveled to New Orleans

Me? I went to Walmart.  Stand back!

    Okay, it isn’t quite as bleak as all that, but who wouldn’t be happy to do half of that in double the time?

What is especially cool about this is having started to get to know Jessica I have developed a bit of an understanding.  Like many of us, she did not seem to have the easiest time in her younger days, but it seems that by becoming comfortable with herself and finding her true home, Portland, she became comfortable with (some) others:

“I was always a misfit, a "loner," an "introvert." I often used sex appeal to get what I thought I needed, and therefore have had lots of male friends, and issues with other women. This year not only have I built deep, lasting friendships with other women, but I have also realized the joy of having real friends, who are your family, who continue to love and support you despite any minor disagreements, who are not just friends of convenience or proximity, but will make an effort and travel long distances at their own expense just for your sake, who want you to be happy simply because they love you, and I also genuinely enjoyed doing the same for them.”

This is not to say Jessica is all light and joy.  Heaven forbid!  She knows what she has to do to keep her world as she wants it:

“me vanquishing my (professional) enemy in my first bloodless coup -- can't say much about it publicly, but let's just say, I'd been confounded and retaliated against for a certain amount of time, and so I replaced the person(s) with myself.”

When a Witch, or ANY woman can say the following, there really isn’t much else needed to be said:

“I realized, I have the absolute BEST LIFE of my entire graduating class, which I built myself, without a man to help or finance me. In fact, this year I bought myself all the things (designer handbags, etc) that I usually receive as gifts …”

Renee Anderson

                                                                                                  

    Renee Anderson is a force of nature.  There is nothing this woman can’t do.  As I am typing this on a Sunday morning looking roughly like I escaped from the hospital’s geriatric ward, my husband--who’s most recent claim to a mid-life crisis involves wearing age inappropriate blue jeans--is looking dapper as Hell in a Renee Anderson original shirt.  When, in all that is unholy, did this woman find time to sew, when, evidently, she is running a substantial portion of the world, I don’t know.

    Renee is a dedicated pet owner.

    Renee is a devoted mother.

    Renee is a loving wife.

    Renee is a successful business woman.

    Renee cares for a special needs kitty.

    Renee is amazingly crafty and sells her wares.

    Renee is so involved in local politics that after 2 years as a member she has been elected President of the Magna Town Council.    Now being a public Satanist as a business owner is pretty ballsy.  Being a public Satanic Witch who is a member of the town council is downright heroic.  Being a Satanic Witch who runs for and wins the Presidency of the Town Council in a town that is in Salt Lake County (I fucking looked this shit up, I couldn’t believe it!!!) is like winning some sort of bullet-proof-guts-Lotto.

  

   Icing on the cake?  This Satanic Witch doesn’t do this stuff one at a time, oh no, like some sort of Cosmo article on steroids, she ‘has it all’ at the same time!  The woman is a walking example of Stratification.

    This is impressive stuff.  At Conclave when she and her husband demonstrated how they had made a festival grow I watched an audience of young Satanists being inspired to believing that they CAN do those kinds of things, without giving up their ideals.  I likewise watched nearly every woman at the banquet ask another “Have you seen Renee Anderson’s dress?  She MADE it!”  “No way??!”  “Really!  She did!”  “Holy Shit!”

   And with all this going for her, I was most touched by her answer to who her idol/inspiration is:

“My personal idol is my Husband. He is the hardest working person I've ever known. He always has a positive attitude while never taking any kind of grief from anyone. He's been my biggest supporter in everything that I've wanted to do and has always encouraged growth and change when needed. He's also an incredible Father and Husband. He took on 3 daughters and gave them his last name when it became necessary. He's not a quitter and I find that to be the most attractive quality in him. “

‘Takes one to know one, Renee.

Jessie Twain

  I am not alone when I say that I want Jessie Twains hair.  Her eyes are pretty nice, too.  Yeah, Hair and eyes.  Wait,  she has got some seriously beautiful skin, it borders on porcelain, only dewy.  Yup.  I will take her hair, eyes, and skin.  Then there is her itty bitty waistline.  Damn!  Does the woman eat?  I think she wears roughly the same waist size as my 5 year old granddaughter--but why skimp?  The bitch has a pretty rockin’ bod all the way around.  Now, if the stereotypes are correct, with all that going for her, Jessie Twain should be a real bitch.  ‘not even close.

   First of all she gave one of my all time favorite answers to a question posed to her under the heading of additional insight required.  I asked her to plan a dinner party and invite an actor, an artist, a politician and a musician.  In order she wrote “Robin Williams, Teller, Marcus Aurelius, Chico Marx.”  Now I don;’t give a flying rat’s ass who is supposed to represent what in that little quartet, but I do know I want a seat at that table.

    I also like the way this woman thinks.  While most of the nominees stated one or two EVENTS in 2016 that made their year, I found Jessie’s accomplishment to be ever so reasonable in preparing for her future

“To pick one accomplishment I'll say putting the effort in at a new job to make as many people as possible comfortable around me so that I'm never the one to be thrown under the bus.”

 That is Satanic Witchery at its finest!  Candles are nice, fostered relationships are nicer when it comes to winning and losing in the workplace.

    Speaking of the workplace, the younger (and prettier) than me Jessie (who in no way makes me feel inadequate)has her her lovely voice in Satanic podcasts and video and is one of the most popular guests on online Satanic media.  I am particularly hoping (because I like it) and dreading (because, damn!  The bitch is good!) the return of Satanic Story Time.

Jessie also seems to be turning up at many CoS events and I truly believe she is an up and comer who has so much to offer all the citizens of the Infernal Empire!

Witch Troj

pol·y·math

ˈpälēˌmaTH/

noun

1. a person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning.

    I suppose that when I've have watched someone grow up from a distance, but with great interest, there should be little in the way of surprises.  Especially, you see, when I realized Witch Troj at around 15 or 16, was about the numeric weight of a 5 year old in IQ points over me.  Still, I admit, there aren’t a lot of people who can trot out vocabulary that has me scratching my head (yes, Bill, you are one of the few, proud and brave)and looking shit up.  Witch Troj does this with alarming regularity.

   It is rather unfair, really.  I know what poly means.  I know what math means, or at least I thought I did (Math: noun 1.  Toxic college subject destined to prevent otherwise intelligent people from gaining rightfully earned degrees.  See: Bullshit,) Therefore I was confused when Troj said she usually admires people who had multiple calculation skills.  I was completely unaware that Mae West and Robin Williams , Jane Goodall and Ray Bradberry shared a predilection for Algebra.  Silly me.  I looked it up.  Troj opened my eyes again.

   When I see this charming and sparkly young lady at CoS events she still, in my eyes, looks to be the too young girl who asked the smartest questions, kept up with the brainiest banterers, and made me jealous of her parents.  The Internet allowed me to “meet” her even before or right around the time she formally joined.  I thought then as I do now, her joining the ranks is a coup for us.  Having someone this intelligent, beautiful and charming become a member of the Church of Satan says nothing but great things about us.

    This year Troj has made huge headway in her chosen profession:

“I successfully completed my internship, have well over 2,000 hours of work under my belt in my field, have resumed work on my fiction writing, and plan to complete my degree by Spring 2017.”

Her field, by the way, isn’t exactly piece of cake material, either!  Troj is a therapist specializing in Clinical Psychology.

    I don’t think I’m spilling the beans when I mention that Troj has a physical disability.  For those who haven’t had the honor of meeting her let me be plain:  In 3 minutes of chatting with her you’ll forget it exists.  But that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t effected her.  I am quite sure that she has had to be tougher, thicker skinned, and more focused and driven than those in her peer groups.  It has provided some interesting insights and opportunities though:

“My first job was at a doggie daycare and hotel. That first gig in particular taught me a lot about mammalian psychology, in that I saw just how much people and dogs share in common, and how some of the same training/motivation techniques and social rules-of-thumb work with or apply equally to both. Because my boss only hired people with mental illnesses, physical disabilities, and cognitive impairments, I learned a fair amount about those illnesses and disabilities and how they affect people's lives, and their served to further pique my interest in Psychology.”

     And, of course, anyone with an interest in psychology and Satanism knows the secret to Wicked Witchery:

“I don't see how a Satanist can be a Satanist and not see the inherent power and value in Lesser Magic and various elements and principles of seduction. Even if you don't necessarily use seductive techniques to net mates and dates, the same strategies and principles can be still applied with various people in other kinds of interactions and situations.”

    Neither do I, Witch Troj--and I can even understand that without a dictionary!