by Vedina Mosê
“Don’t believe in yourself; don’t deceive with belief… Knowledge comes with Death’s release, aaaah, aaaah, aaaah, aaaah….”
-David Bowie “Quicksand” from the album HUNKYDORY
Slip a hand in the pocket, rummage. Pick a coin, toss it. Whichever way it lands… it’s the same thing, the same coin, only that the moment serves us a different face of it.
Magician and Musician (enter your creative endeavour) are the same thing.
Grounded in craft and practice, observance of self (and others), with raw desire, you take flight to channel things from the ether and manifest them in this plane.
You play with the elements and you learn to tease them, to temper them until they *zing* in your favour, and this attracts people who want to hear you, smell you, touch you…
If you can do all this right you can absolutely thrill people, inspire them and stongly influence them for good or for evil!
David Bowie, like Fela Kuti, Grace Jones and others, was an absolute MASTER at this and he leaves behind for us a delicious, dark and lovely legacy for everyone to draw from, especially us witches. Let me explain.
I’m a musician from London. Even today, what’s left of the music scene there is a jagged and snappy beast.
Years of slogging and scrapping for gigs and deals await all who would tempt their chances.
You can rub shoulders with the right industry boulders, suck dicks to open doors, dodge your rival’s claws and you may still find yourself walking down “a million dead end streets…and everytime you think you got it made it seems the taste is not so sweet…”
Bowie was on intimate terms with the tricky beast that is the London music scene, but instead of being gobbled up by it he found a way to ride it and make it his bitch.
A Brixton boy, he came up in the 60’s as a goody goody, doe eyed folkster and had a few minor hits but never quite got over.
He made good albums, was a skilled guitarist and sax player but this was not enough to pay the bills. (“I could do with the money…I’m so wiped out with things as they are”)
Poor with a child to feed, staring oblivion in the face and terrified at being lost in the cogs of the music biz with all the other wannabe-also-rans, he did that big bold scary magical thing….
“So I turned my self to face me, coz I’d never caught a glimpse….”
He faced his shadow.
Then he grabbed his balls and integrated it. No no! More than that- he revelled in it and flung it out for all the world to see.
He also got serious about infusing an actual ritualistic magickal practice into his day to day life.
Then he hit the stratosphere and made shitloads of money. Adieu, dusty dank obscurity – hello sticky tricky fame and power.
On “Hunky Dory” we can seen his transition occuring, and it is definately complete by the time he releases “Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from mars”. From then he goes on to write the book on pop music reinvention again and again and again.
When he finishes with one persona he kills it dead and moves on to the next, knowing that there is always more.
MaGiCiAn – MuSiCiAn
With both of these things you must go on voyages to places few will dare to go, return and live to tell the tale.
And you need the chops to tell it. Pianos and guitars don’t play themselves, spells and sigils don’t just cough up the goods without you – the skilled witch behind them.
As a musician and witch myself I am learning that to really engage fans, make money and create work that moves people I have to fuse together all my elements and hold nothing back.
I have tasted obscurity and and played gigs to one drunk and her pimp and I hated it!
I have to be a bad-ass who gives no fucks. Like really really.
In these time of corporate slime with major labels churning out mind dulling cookie cutter music the power lies with us independant musicians to really move and shake things up.
We need to wake up the muggles and get the witches wet between the legs.
Some try now to live in the house that Bowie built. In fact, too many major label artists nowadays are rich kids who wanna be like Bowie, or be like Grace Jones, or be like Whitney Houston or be like….
It’s not about “being like”, it’s not even about being liked!
It’s about “doing like”… It’s about working on a craft with all your guts and sinew, embracing your shadow and putting yourself out there with aplomb in whatever witchy way you can.
David Bowie passed on to other realms on January 10, 2016, 2 days after his Birthday, around the time of the New moon with Mercury in retrograde. That in itself is magical.
About the Author:
Vedina Mosê is a mother, musician and mischief maker. Born in Dar Es Salaam and raised in London, she is currently travelling around Europe in her big purple van spreading love, magic and anhKy…. She has sung with artists such as Manu Chao, Shakira and the Go! Team and knows first hand the dark side of the music biz.
She released her debut solo album “The Soul Remembers Everything” and is currently working on a follow up. To buy it hurry on down to www.vedinamose.tumblr.com. Support independent music!!!
To find out more, connect with her on her website www.vedinamose.com, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and on her (sorta neglected) blog.
featured image – source
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