A love affair may or may not be taking place. A subplot involving prostitutes may or may not be crossing through sepia-tinted 1930s Poland to materialize on a harsh Hollywood street in the 21st century.
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Photo credit: The Reykjavik Grapevine
Listen to Iceland's Sensual Mystery Band, Gangly
One Icelandic band, however, has been haunting me for months. I cannot get them out of my head. I listen to them while I write, cook, take a bath, apply lipstick, daydream. I listen to them while I burn candles and lie in bed staring at the ceiling.
They make me feel sexy and sad. Adventurous. Alive with possibilities.
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Trash Glamour: A Manifesto
I’ve always had an affinity for the glam. When I was a little girl in the early ‘90s, my mother would rent me old VHS movies like A Place in the Sun. The image of Elizabeth Taylor leaning over the pool table in her white strapless dress is seared into my skull. When she makes her way over to Montgomery Cliff, the soft rustle of her tulle really gets to me. As a brown girl, I definitely didn’t grow up with skin privilege, but I did have other privileges. My family did just fine when it came to money. My mother bought me clothes at department stores and boutiques, yet she scrutinized sales tags and even haggled the salespeople the way you’re allowed to in Europe.
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What Does a Fictional Witch Look Like in 2016?
When it comes to fiction about witchcraft, the canon is limited. That much is obvious.
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Watch Marilyn Manson Read William Blake
BY LISA MARIE BASILE
WELP, here's Marilyn Manson reading William Blake's Proverbs of Hell. (You can read along below). Happy Halloween.
Read along:
The Proverbs of Hell, from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead. The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. Prudence is a rich ugly old maid courted by Incapacity. He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence. The cut worm forgives the plow. Dip him in the river who loves water. A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star. Eternity is in love with the productions of time. The busy bee has no time for sorrow. The hours of folly are measur’d by the clock, but of wisdom: no clock can measure. All wholsom food is caught without a net or a trap. Bring out number weight & measure in a year of dearth. No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings. A dead body, revenges not injuries. The most sublime act is to set another before you. If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise. Folly is the cloke of knavery. Shame is Prides cloke. ~ Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion. The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. The lust of the goat is the bounty of God. The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God. The nakedness of woman is the work of God. Excess of sorrow laughs. Excess of joy weeps. The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity too great for the eye of man. The fox condemns the trap, not himself. Joys impregnate. Sorrows bring forth. Let man wear the fell of the lion, woman the fleece of the sheep. The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship. The selfish smiling fool, & the sullen frowning fool, shall be both thought wise, that they may be a rod. What is now proved was once, only imagin’d. The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbit: watch the roots; the lion, the tyger, the horse, the elephant, watch the fruits. The cistern contains; the fountain overflows. One thought, fills immensity. Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you. Every thing possible to be believ’d is an image of truth. The eagle never lost so much time, as when he submitted to learn of the crow. ~ The fox provides for himself, but God provides for the lion. Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night. He who has suffer’d you to impose on him knows you. As the plow follows words, so God rewards prayers. The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction. Expect poison from the standing water. You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. Listen to the fools reproach! it is a kingly title! The eyes of fire, the nostrils of air, the mouth of water, the beard of earth. The weak in courage is strong in cunning. The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion, the horse, how he shall take his prey. The thankful reciever bears a plentiful harvest. If others had not been foolish, we should be so. The soul of sweet delight, can never be defil’d. When thou seest an Eagle, thou seest a portion of Genius, lift up thy head! As the catterpiller chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys. To create a little flower is the labour of ages. Damn, braces: Bless relaxes. The best wine is the oldest, the best water the newest. Prayers plow not! Praises reap not! Joys laugh not! Sorrows weep not! ~ The head Sublime, the heart Pathos, the genitals Beauty, the hands & feet Proportion. As the air to a bird of the sea to a fish, so is contempt to the contemptible. The crow wish’d every thing was black, the owl, that every thing was white. Exuberance is Beauty. If the lion was advised by the fox, he would be cunning. Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius. Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires. Where man is not nature is barren. Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believ’d. Enough! or Too much!
Via Poets.org.
Halloween Wishes — From Luna Luna
BY LISA MARIE BASILE
Happy Halloween, dear readers! Our little digital coven hopes you have a magical evening.
Halloween completely embodies Luna Luna's vision — we love when the dark mixes with the light, when the veils come undone. On this day, we're vulnerable and curious and empowered by the night. And on this day, we are free to practice magic without a second glance. But really, we're making magic all year — witchcraft isn't always lavender and candles and alters. Sometimes it's being a strong woman without apologies. Sometimes it's manifesting so hard that reality changes.
The witch has always been such powerful symbol for me. Right now, she's a popular figure...and that's great. But she's eternal, regardless of trend or clever PR. For me — and probably for a lot of us — she's a symbol of strength, resilience and autonomy. Being a witch means honoring the women (either witches or just everyday women) who had no choice but to admit their "sins" or die refusing to lie. This is powerful and haunting. We should never forget that women throughout the world have been prosecuted for what essentially boils down to men/society's fears of what is different or strange or powerful. I embrace the label because I *do* live in world where I have a choice and because I live by the teachings of powerful, magical women who manifest their dreams.
And I am consistently inspired by the amazing people who write and edit for Luna Luna. It's magical, and we invite you into our coven....
We hope you have a safe and spectacularly spooky Halloween night. We love you!
The Scary Connection Between Donald Trump & Macbeth
As the Trump campaign’s self-implosion continues, and the candidate increasingly lashes out, many have pointed to historical parallels: Hitler in the bunker, Nixon at the height of Watergate. But for me, the figure who comes to mind is not a politician but a literary character: Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Macbeth, whose “vaulting ambition” led to murder, civil war, and his own eventual destruction. Now I’m not saying that Trump has murdered anyone (Don’t sue me, Donald!), but the parallels are there.
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All photos by LEAH BANK
Femmequerade: The Witch Ball Recap
BY LIZ VON KLEMPERER with PHOTOS BY LEAH BANK
On October 25, Greenpoint’s Good Room was transformed into a femme haven for the second Femmequerade Ball. The mission of the gathering was to both rally against toxic masculinity and honor the divine feminine through music, dance and revelry. In keeping with this philosophy, admission fee was $18 for cis straight white men, and $15 for everyone else.
By 8 p.m. a smog machine puffed ample smoke onto the dance floor, which was illuminated by a glittering disco ball. Pointed witch hats bobbed in the throng as femmes swayed together. Organizers Raechel Rosen and Coral Foxworth flitted around the room, setting the tone by lighting incense and candles.
“Everything came together around the full moon,” Foxworth, also known as FXWRK, says of the planning process. The success of first Femmequerade Ball, which was held on August 18, attracted artists such as Anna Wise, Latasha Alcindor, and more to join forces for the second installment.
Raechel Rosen, who doubles as the lead singer and keytarist of her band Mima Good, got on stage after Yatta Zoker. Raechel beckoned for the crowd to come closer, and began to sing her witchy brand of rock and roll. Her final song, American Finger Trap, featured her signature onstage move: slowly peeling a banana and circumcising it with a pair of scissors. Much of Rosen’s artistic practice is dedicated to combatting rape culture and empowering survivors by through voicing trauma.
“Politically I think it’s fucked up the way that we’re taught to deal with sexual assault in our culture,” Rosen explains. “The victim has this secret to bear. She has to go be in support groups, get therapy and deal with PTSD. People treat it like you’ve caught this sickness and you can’t say who gave it to you. It’s as though it’s your personal secret, where in reality it’s the secret of the assaulter.”
Attendees seeking a brief respite from the high-energy dance floor could dip into Greenroom’s second smaller room. The space was occupied by Catland, a Brooklyn bookstore which supplies spiritual goods such as candles and crystals. Books about the occult were for sale, along with other memorabilia. Catland practitioners were also available to give tarot readings.
Next Latasha Alcindor, also known as L.A., took the stage. She began with a ritual in which she splashed water around the stage and then launched into a spoken word piece about the power of witchcraft and her Caribbean heritage. L.A.’s last song was about her neighborhood, and the all too prevalent phenomenon of gentrification.
“I’ve never played this in front of anyone before,” she confessed to the audience.
“To be honest, it feels odd to sing this song in front of a group of white people. But it’s important, so I’m going to do it.”
The rap was raw and authentic. L.A.’s face knit with a palpable anguish as she sang about the displacement her hometown has had to face. The crowd erupted in applause.
Headliner Anna Wise prefaced her performance by affirming the intention of the event.
“I’m all about this cause,” she said, addressing the crowd.
“This period of time is marked by the uprising of the oppressed,” she continued. “That includes femmes, and it also includes racial minorities.”
Wise’s awareness is in part influenced by her experience working with Kendrick Lamar on his latest album, To Pimp a Butterfly, which she described as one of the most pro black albums of 2015. Wise then launched into her hit songs BitchSlut and Precious Posession. During her last song she hopped off the stage and danced amongst the crowd.
The DJs that spun after the live music portion of the event included FXWRK, DJ Dylan Sparkle, Abyss X and WWIII.
What can we expect of the next Femmequerade? The goal for the series, Foxworth says, is to, “create a space to imagine interaction outside of previous oppressive contexts. It’s also a place to play, because play is a really important and underutilized aspect of social change and activism. That’s why we dressed up. It’s a ball, it’s a spectacle, it’s tapping into an almost childlike energy in all of us, and I think that’s the kind of energy we need to heal.”
Liz Von Klemperer is the author of the unpublished novel Human Eclipse. Liz is a staff writer for Art Report, and has work featured in Autostraddle, Bust, Electric Literature, Luna Luna Mag, Hooligan Mag, and Breadcrumbs Mag. Visit her at lizvk.com.
Leah Bank is a Brooklyn based photographer, possibly from Mars, who enjoys late night cupcake baking and climbing rocks. She has work featured in BUST Magazine, F-Stop Magazine, and American Photography. Find her at www.leahbank.com.
All The People Who Like Luna Luna, #1
Thanks Teen Vogue! Thanks MSN! Thanks Huffington Post! Thanks Autostraddle!
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Dave Heath
Get Out & Vote — How Many Have Died For This Right?
It was several years later I learnt black South Africans didn’t get their right to vote till 1994. I remember seeing photos on TV, photos of people lining for up to twelve hours at times to cast their ballots, a first for many, an experience Joyce’s parents never got to have. Imagine, that in 1994, the rest of us were watching Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction. This was not that long ago.
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Jordan Whitt
The Bruja Handbook, Fiction by Rios de la Luz
Rios de la Luz is a queer xicana/chapina living in Oregon. She is brown and proud. She is in love with her bruja/activist communities in LA, San Antonio and El Paso. She is the author of, The Pulse Between Dimensions and The Desert via Ladybox Books. Her work has been featured in Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Entropy, The Fem Lit Magazine, World Literature Today and St. Sucia.
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Via here.
5 Types of Sexists at a Poetry Reading: A Taxonomy
Let’s put these sleaze-balls back into the dusty, forgotten books where they belong.
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Andrew Amistad
Poetry by Phoebe Rusch
Phoebe Rusch is a Zell fellow in fiction at the University of Michigan, where she has received Hopwood awards in screenwriting and non-fiction. She is working on her first novel. Her essays also appear on the World Policy Journal blog and in Luna Luna. She blogs at https://phoebecrusch.wordpress.com/
Read MoreHate Trump? Watch This Over and Over and Over Again
You're welcome.
Evelyn Garcia
Flash Fiction by Valerie Marie Arvidson
Marianna, Yevda, and Nadya are shivering up there in the sky, (like three jewels jittering inside their flying crowns, or coffins, depending on their fate). Marianna is known as the Sapphire because she is blue eyed; Yevda is the Emerald, green eyed, and Nadya is the Ruby (with brown eyes and red hair). Their fairy tale is one of war and of witches, of poverty and prettiness, of lightness and speed, of secret terror and secret victory. Their enemies call them the Nachthexen: night-witches.
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