The Return of the Goddess (To Me)

This video is called "Clementine Cannibal Talks About Being a Witch." A link to another one of her videos which is about the return of the Goddess is below.

The beginning of the following text is an email I wrote to Clementine about identifying as a witch. I know this post is a lot of Clementine Cannibal, but I'm still working to find my own voice as a witch, to figure out if I even am a witch by the perimeters I outline below, so I'll be using other people's words a lot until I'm better able to articulate this on my own.

I was raised, and to some extent still identify as, Catholic. But I have dabbled in Wicca [a form of witchcraft]. But it’s interesting, because the Catholic Mother Mary, to me, is a big manifestation of the Goddess. It’s no secret that the early Catholic church "recruited" the visage of Mother Mary to get pagan converts. But in my spiritual journey, Goddesses from other belief systems, like the Greek Hekate, the Hindu Kali, and the Buddhist Quan Yin have come to me. While I admit it’s a form of cultural appropriation, these faces of the Goddess have taught me things.

Also:
I believe that the Goddess has returned, because I've been waking up. I quit smoking cigarettes over 3 months ago, I made a firm decision to stop ruminating over the past, and I've stopped shaving my armpits without worrying that it's a contradiction that I still shave my legs and pluck my eyebrows. (My husband loves the pit hair!) For more about the return of the Goddess, please see Clementine's video The Return of the Goddess or Demetra George's book Mysteries of the Dark Moon: The Healing Power of the Dark Goddess.

I think the main reason I haven't been identifying as a witch is that I'm not into ritual magic. The best rituals I've ever done were more like exercises in art therapy, wherein the artistic process transforms psychologically and spiritually, than they were casting spells. Sometimes I think taking a walk on a balmy summer night is magical enough! (Note: partially since I am now identifying as a witch and not Wiccan, I don't think I need to perform formal ritual magic to be a witch.) Some other ways I am a witch are that I really connect with the world and nature on a spiritual level through my art, I feel a really strong connection to the cycles of the moon embodying the cycle of life, death, and rebirth (as we also see in the seasons, and in contradiction to the predominant thinking of time as linear instead of cyclical) and as far as Christianity goes I feel a very strong connection to Mother Mary as a face of the Goddess.

Mom's Sun Mix

The thing my mom and I hate most about winter is how dark it always is. So this year for Christmas, I made her a Sun Mix! Not all the songs are about the sun, "Here Comes The Sun" by the Beatles isn't on here because at the time I made the mix tape (I had to make her a tape because she still has a tape deck in her car) I didn't have that song on CD and my stereo doesn't have two tape players so I can't record from tape to tape. The last three songs are on the tape but wouldn't fit on the CD version of the mix. So, here is my mom's Sun Mix!

Time After Time-- Cyndi Lauper (my mom will be there for me, time after time)
Talk About the Passion-- REM
Little Fluffy Clouds-- The Orb (my brother and I played this song a lot for my mom in the '90's)
Somewhere Over the Rainbow-- Judy Garland (I was obsessed with the Wizard of Oz as a little kid and would go around pretending to be Judy Garland acting out the movie in public places, like my great aunt's apartment lobby, for whoever would watch and I had this song memorized. It was hilarious. I would be Dorothy, and I would make my little brother, who is 2 1/2 years younger than me, play all the other parts, including Toto.)
Possession-- Sarah McLachlan
In God's Country-- U2
Winter-- Tori Amos (both of my parents really like this song, and my mom remembers it from when we were unpacking my first dorm room)
Pink Light-- Laura Veirs ("with the fading of the constellations I am growing strong")
That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)-- Johnny Cash

~~I just realized I really should've put "Ray of Light" by Madonna on this mix! We listened to that album a lot when we were unpacking my first dorm room, too... it had just come out and it was all I ever listened to. Oh, well. Next year.~~

Pink Moon-- Nick Drake (since I was putting all these songs about the sun on the mix, I thought I should throw in a couple about the moon, too)
Who Loves the Sun-- The Velvet Underground
It's Not the Spotlight-- Beth Orton (whenever this song comes on during "Stir of Echoes," I tear up)
Hard Sun-- Eddie Vedder
Sun is King-- Laura Veirs
Man Called Sun-- The Verve
Bette Davis Eyes-- Kim Carnes (I have been known to start the morning chain-smoking and listening to this song on repeat)
Primitive-- Annie Lennox
Map of the World-- Monsters of Folk
I Wish I Was the Moon-- Neko Case
Snow Angel-- Tori Amos (If I make a mix for someone, it's generally gonna have a lot of Tori.)

BONUS TRACKS FOR TAPE VERSION
Good Day Sunshine-- The Beatles
Summertime-- Janis Joplin (because summertime is the bestest time!)
White Rabbit-- Jefferson Airplane (My mom is one of the only babyboomers I know who has never tried drugs. But she still likes this song.)