Do You Ever Feel Like You're Trapped in A Wes Craven Flick..... 

And then suddenly you get to the part where the final girl realizes she's the final fucking girl, puts on her big girl pants and kicks the blindsided little monster's ass....Well I think I'm rounding that corner. I was gonna post a really sweet Faith Lehane quote here but dammit that I haven't memorized it verbatim and I'm not fucking that up. Anyways, we gather here today to remind each other that we're that bitch, or witch or well, I was gonna say sitch but that's not a person. Somebody said something to me (or maybe it was a meme) but it stuck "Don't go chasing waterfalls, please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to..." Just kidding, I love TLC but that's a finely fermented crock of shit. 

If you stick to the rivers and lakes that you're used to you'll probably drown, maybe not in the lake but you'll certainly drown in your self-pity that's for damn sure, and that is the WORST thing to drown in. I know we're in semi-quarantine and a lot of things are closed or un-operational right now but I'm making a bucket list because fuck-it if this isn't an apocalypse and I've got stuff to do. To be honest I've already sort of started my bucket list after I was hit by the car, it really shook my entire life up, I mean hell I look like an entirely different person now. I bumped into a friend in the subway and it took him a a minute or two to even figure out who I was. 

Life comes at you pretty fast (thanks Ferris) or ridiculously slow (thanks life) so you may as well feed it the same energy. I have quite a few things that pique my interest and quite a few of those things can be done in winter so list'o'buckets here I come, it's not morbid in an apocalypse y'all, just do as the Romans do, (okay don't do that they slaughtered everyone) but do SOMETHING. Life is entirely too long or entirely too short to waste it being miserable and that is an unequivocal fact. Do your best to be happy, life is way too long or short to not be happy y'all and I know that may be a tad irritating coming from someone named Joy, but I have way more expectations on me to be joyful than you so you must take me at my word. Be happy, for a minute, for an hour, for a day whatever you can spare. Be happy until it's a personal choice.

With Blooming Mirth,

Joy

 

The Wine Has No Taste, The Food Sickens You.... 

And there seems no reason for it all, but, what if I could give it all back to you? Pluck out the pain and give you a whole new life, one you could never imagine and it would be for all time, and sickness and death would never touch you again....Okay I can't do all that but Lestat is a helluva salesman hey? I just wanted to type it out to exploit that one time Neil Jordan congratulated me on my septum ring. It's not everyday an Oscar winning genius compliments your fashion sense so it's worth exploiting and flaunting EVERY DAMN DAY OF MY LIFE! Anyway you should have known I never said that since I would never go on with life if the wine had no taste. I mean c'mon what are we here for then? Anyway I hope everyone is having a reasonable time, I seriously doubt it because it's 2020 and if you are having a full-on time, well that's just a little insensitive to be honest and you could stand to tone it down, thank you so much. Also don't forget today is National Comic Book Day or something like that so go read Injustice: Gods Among Us (yes the same one as the video game), any Birds of Prey series by Gail Simone or my personal fave any Miles Morales: Spiderman comics. That should get you through 2020 for a couple of hours. I can't account for the rest of the year, I'm sorry but I will leave you with this. I won't fix this year but it's prescient tones may calm your frazzled mind for approximately 24mins.

 

Ciao,

Joy

I Love Things....  

Shocking right? It's the truest truth about me.I really love things. I love music, the act of making music, I love art, the act of making art. I love wine, I love the sound red wine makes when it pours from the bottle, the glug glug sound as if it's choking on its own excitement. I love words, I love when someone says just the right thing to you to fit so perfectly into the corner of a vacant space in your heart. I love dancing to music, and learning a new dance whether it's learning the dance steps or just learning it exists at all. I love passion, really feeling passion for something or someone and watching and listening to passionate people feel and exhibit passion for things and places and experiences. I love listening to someone ramble about something they truly love or are excited about. I just love excitement even for the little things, like a good takeout meal or a new episode of a tv show. I absolutely love excitement and I love to see people excited. I know there's not a whole lot to be excited about these days but if you can find it anywhere please don't mask it or stifle it. Love and excitement are two of life's true miracles a mon avis. They are worth preserving and savouring and worth their weight in gold, no matter what, no matter when, and no matter why.

With love, 

Joy

Feeling Pretty Average? 

Strange thing is you're far from it, you are literally the only you on this planet, in this galaxy, in this universe, in this time, space, moment and through to eternity. There's nothing average about that. So when I ask you to cleanse your space I am saying to protect that sacred space which is only yours, the very seat of your soul. The place you go to unwind or think or dream or relax, that untouchable place that makes you you. Your emotional seat, your moment in time, your dream in your mind and in your heart. Protect the things that you desperately want but hide from others, protect the dreams that you'd reach for if you felt you had a chance at them. Protect the moments you'd chase if you felt for a moment you could catch them, that is you. The wants, dreams, desires were all planted there for a reason, they are sacred, they are possible and they are as worthy as you are. So when I say protect your space, I mean protect YOU. You're worth that, and then some.

Truly,

Joy

Once Upon A Midnight Dreary... 

I know, I know, life sucks. Have a little Faith....

.

 

Love,

Joy

Just Call Me Pyro Patty.... 

Please don't call me that, I hate that name, however I am burning a lot of things lately, don't worry it's not the smell of bridges burning that's gently wafting in the breeze. No, the scent that permeates your senses is the smell of emancipation and you can try it at home for just $10 or less....okay sometimes more, I'm talking about cleansing your space people! Look here, There is a caveat to this, which is when purchasing sage to avoid purchasing white sage unless buying from Indigenous Communities and be cognizant of the fact that "smudging" is a phrase and practice specific to Indigenous communities, otherwise you are helping to appropriate and profit off their culture, more on this here. 

Now onto the importance of cleansing Maya Angelou says "words are things" and that words have so much power that whomever you invite into your home and whatever they say can create its own life and if you've invited them into your home they are creating this life in your house. You can feel this when you walk into a room and feel the negative or positive energy there, energy is powerful, it can shift your day either negatively or positively, so if you invite people into your home that don't have your or their own best interests at heart it can and will affect you, this is why you must always cleanse your space.

Now there are number of fun ways you can do this (god bless options) which I am all too giddy to share with you. You can use incense, resins, a singing bowl or listening to sounds at  certain frequencies can heal your mind and body as well.  The particular frequency I've linked is also linked to the Schumann resonance which is said to have super healing properties when listened to. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the positive impact bringing new plants into your space can have on your overall mental health, wellbeing and attitude and not every plant needs excessive light here are some that can blissfully survive and thrive without all that sunlight stuff... And finally of course we have meditation, it's no good to cleanse your space if your mind is all a-clutter (okay it's still good just a little futile). If you're new to meditation try a free app like Insight Timer that will lead you in guided meditations with the sound accompaniment of your choice, you can even set the timer to as low as a minute or meditate with others if you so choose. Hopefully all these lil' tips and tricks will help you get some ideas on how to protect yourself and your sacred space. I mean your home is your castle after all, it may be a tiny little castle but it's only as magical and beautiful as you make it, so get to it loves!

 

Peace, Prosperity and Some Other Cool Alliteration

Joy

 

Tear My Heart From My Chest and Feed it To My Enemies.... 

Was that too much? Hahaha joke's on you, I'm a Taurus, I don't care. Let's talk about love baby, or like or your crushes because they cruuuuuuuush you. I mean honestly I've gotten some really good material out of this so I'm not sure why I'm kvetching. Hahaha it's an apocalypse, I don't care. I know, I know some of y'all were silly enough to think that because my name is Joy I would be perpetually happy. I need you to know that I'm a person and not an exclusive emotion thank you, stop weaponizing my name against me!!!!!! Hahaha was that too much? I'm drinking wine, I don't care. Anyway let's talk about heartbreak because if you have one (and it works properly) it's gonna break eventually. What do you do? No, seriously did you think that was rhetorical? Do I seem like the type to court rhetoric? Ouch, okay touché. But I really do want to know...what love is and I want YOU to show me. It's not that difficult guys, don't be selfish! Anyway, I'm sure there's an impending "you fool, you dumbass" song (but artistically of course) floating in the ether waiting to be claimed but until then I reckon I'll keep painting, tarot reading and making my little lip balms in a tear and wine infused haze (join me on tiktok) and if y'all have any tips or tricks for this agony you go ahead and let me know in the comments below. I bid you adieu and good day I know you won't have a good day anyway because it's 2020 but I shan't be rude to my guests.

Misery and Darkness,

Joy (the name, not the emotion)

Y'all Feel That? Ooof! That's The Sound of Nihilism,My Friends... 

Alright y'all, I don't want to be an alarmist or anything but this energy is whack (I know, I know it's spelled "wack" but I can't accept that I'm sorry)  As you can see I'm a little witchy-woo, okay I mean witchy-woo is a little rude but I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm an intuitive, empath witch. It's not that odd to be honest, I'm a Black, Canadian -Jamaican my people were enslaved, stolen from somewhere in West Africa (presumably) the way I figure it (and actually factually (heh rhyming)) Christianity would never have darkened our doorways nor planted its putrid seed in the beautiful garden of our minds had the Europeans not stomped over and beat and whipped everyone into submission with Christianity's tainted taint (see what I did there?) Therefore thy kinsman are no let to me! I'm trying to say in too many words "Fuck Christianity, we were colonized by wankers". Hence my witchy-woo. Wooooooow a long and sordid story hey? And we haven't even got to the point of all this yet (and yes I know I'm not meant to start a sentence with and, I attended 3rd grade English thank you). Okay so here's the point.....

It's Just Me and Rey and Finn and Poe.... 

Anytime I feel down I always look to movies, television and books and comic books. I didn't really have an empathetic adult to aspire to growing up so I turned to media. Everyone from Buffy Summers, Ororo Monroe, Faith Lehane, Letty Ortiz and any character by Michelle Yeoh not to mention my friend, aerial artist Jade Morin, have been my heroes and inspirations. When times get tough and miserable it may be a trope but I do often find myself asking what they would do and then I emulate it as best I can, it helps. There are so many incredible women out there, from Ella Fitzgerald to Angela Davis, Jane Fonda to Dolly Parton, there are so many women that have made their mark subverting the status quo and it is so beyond inspiring that I am gobsmacked to walk among them; If you're a little dazed and confused (as many of us are at this point) I recommend hitting up some biographies and autobiographies, I'm fairly certain I've read all the Spice Girls bios and I'm halfway through Grace Jones, Mindy Kaling's "Is Everyone Hanging Out WIthout Me" is a lot of fun as is Shonda Rimes "Year of Yes". I'm still miserable and I'm still horrified mind you, (I wouldn't be human if I wasn't in these uncertain times) but life has got to be about doing the best you can with what you've got around you, and this baby, this is what we've got around us so there is some hope after all.

Love, Light, and Let's Be Honest... Wine

Joy

Here We Are in the Apocalypse.... 

It's a little odd that I spent so much of my time watching Angel The Series and Supernatural (up to season 5), Dark Angel and various other post-apocalyptic media, (including, beloved Luke Perry's Jeremiah,) only to wake-up in a world just like this only seemingly devoid of the champions we need to take us to that next Joss Whedon-esque (in concept not in reality) level. Those of us who enjoy post-apocalyptic fare and even enjoy a healthy lust for the supernatural, sci-fi and comic book world have rather prepared mentally for this for quite some time now without realizing. Ironically even my music was made in an almost prescient preparation for I've come from the school of "News be sad yet tell it merrily" after indulging in as much Oasis as I could in my formative years.

I like to make music that uplifts people, there's a certain irony in that statement because just about any kind of music can be uplifting, there's a catharsis to music that, at times, can bring therapy to even the most jaded of hearts. Even still I tend to lean more to the pep-in-your-step type melodies when songwriting, it's not purposeful by any means, but I just tend to lean more into hope, sometimes even when I don't want to. I guess that's a good place to be in this growing apocalyptic climate, when everything seems entirely out of control and it looks to be getting worse by the day. I've been finding strength and comfort in spirituality via tarot, witchcraft and astrology, enjoying books about ghosts, spirits and mediums and just trying to find my purpose on this very screwed up little planet.

I'm revamping my brand a little bit to include tarot, astrology and the kitchenwitch aspect that seems to have slowly taken over me like Agent Smith invading an avatar in The Matrix. I hope you will take some time to listen to things that make you happy (like my album which you can stream on Tidal, Spotify, Deezer, Youtube etc etc) and take some time to do a thing or two that will bring you closer to where you feel at home and safe. 

Love and Light and All That Jazz,

Joy