Vulvaverse talk decolonising heavy music with mysticism and spirituality

Witchcraft, gender, and the body

In this talk we will learn and philosophize about what we as women, queers and non-binary people can learn from our hunted-witch-ancestors. The historical relationship between the governing of women’s bodies, voices, stories, relationships and autonomy by patriarchal systems all connect to the persecution of dissenting voices, narratives and practices: othering and erasing. Framing us as a threat and taking away our human-ness normalizes these witch-hunts. We see this in the 300-year prosecution of women throughout history, but also through the present-day prosecution of trans women and indigenous women.

We want to emphasize on the power in dissent and its inherent connection to loud music. Challenging the status quo is undoubtedly one of our most important tools to liberation and emancipation.

In music we see that heavy genres lean towards occultism with a high interest in paganism and rituals. Fundamentally, satanic, Black Metal, for example is about inverting Christianity, going against the current, which means this genre should be and has always been inherently feminist, queer and matriarchal.

However, there’s still so little non-male, non-white representation in Black Metal and the patriarchal machismo, pagan warrior, many men talk about or fantasize about in their lyrics and music is only different from the Christian patriarchy in aesthetic (paraphrased quote: Kim Diaz Holm). We believe that heavy music is one of the best vessels for healing, challenging and destroying the structural oppressive powers because it is lawless and limitless.

What can we learn from collective singing? From sharing knowledge amongst generations of women? How do you make an abortion-potion? How did our ancestors deal with accusations and threats to their autonomy? How can we de-center maleness and whiteness in our music? Can the return of witchcraft be the key to our liberation?