Re-Feminist History (aka Bitchstory)

Catch up on podcast episodes!  Bitchstory Join Patreon and get weekly  Bitchscopes  & more!   When people talk about the “origins of Christmas,” they usually point to a mash-up of men: emperors, popes, kings, saints, and bearded mythic figures who allegedly decided how the holiday should look. But Christmas — like most cultural traditions — didn’t survive because of decrees. It survived because women carried it. They sang it. They told the stories. They baked the rituals into family life. They kept the light going when the official narratives shifted, collapsed, or outright lied. Here are some of the other women and feminine figures responsible for the Christmas traditions we still practice — even if their names didn’t make the greeting cards. Saint Lucia: The Girl Who Brought the Light In Scandinavia, Christmas doesn’t start with Santa. It starts with a girl in a crown of candles. Saint Lucia (or Saint Lucy) is celebrated on December 13th, during the darkest par...

Catch up on podcast episodes!  Bitchstory Join Patreon and get weekly  Bitchscopes  & more!   This week's podcast is about the women who built the Christmas we know and love.   Every December, the world slows down and tells the same story. Lights twinkle. Choirs swell. A bearded man in a red suit becomes the unquestioned CEO of joy. And we’re meant to believe Christmas has always looked like this — cozy, sentimental, male-led, and powered by “tradition.” It hasn’t. Behind the tinsel and nostalgia are women — real women — whose courage, labor, creativity, and quiet rebellion shaped Christmas as we know it. Women whose names were erased, softened, or replaced by men with better PR. This week on Bitchstory , we’re reclaiming Christmas for the girls, by telling the stories of four women who built the holiday — whether history bothered to credit them or not. Harriet Martineau: The Woman Who Invented Christmas Vibes Before the 19th century, Christmas ...

This week has been a blur of sage walls, new polish displays, and hauling furniture around like a Capricorn with something to prove. I’ve been getting the salon ready for its little Apothekelly corner — a space for charms, intentions, and the kind of handmade magic you can literally clip to your bag on the way out the door.  Since I didn’t have time to write something deep or historical or full of feminist fire, I thought I’d share a tiny piece of what’s been lighting me up lately: custom charm work. If you’ve been following along, you already know that Apothekelly is where I pour the parts of myself that are equal parts witch, artist, and emotional problem-solver. Every charm I make is basically a usable spell — a small, intentional piece designed with someone’s energy, season, or story in mind. And lately? People have been asking me to make charms for new jobs, new beginnings, grief, protection, confidence boosts, birthdays, breakups, and “I don’t know why, I just know I need ...