Shamanic BreathWork and SoundHealing

Posted on September 22, 2026 by Francesca De Grandis

Shamanic Breath Work
and Sound Healing

Techniques to Speak Your Mind,
Live Your Truths, Express Your Beauty,
and Own Your Power

Click here for information about this upcoming class, 2026.

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An Ancient Bloodline

Posted on September 22, 2026 by Francesca De Grandis

The Old Blood:
A Faerie Tale Liturgy

Introduction:
Magical Art, Transformation, and Childlike Ease

I coined the term Faerie Tale Liturgy to describe the following:
* Some of my stories, rituals, liturgies, expressions of my worldview, or other material, if read, are a transformative Shamanic experience.
* The transformation doesn’t require struggling to understand the piece’s meaning. It requires an attempt to be childlike. Trying to let go of mental busyness and simply read—like a child reading a fairytale—allows meaning and magic to emerge.

Fairytales often have heroes. Heroes face challenges, which are not always pleasant. 1

The Old Blood: A Faerie Tale Liturgy by Francesca De Grandis

Are you drawn to tales about the Faerie Queen? Sense magic in your veins? Think you might be part Faerie? Feel you’re meant to create positive changes? The following Faerie tale might be part of your story.

Long ago, they tried to erase us, we who are of the Old Blood.

The blood of our attackers is coarse, lacking nuance. They befoul the earth and want no race here except their own.

Their blood is coarse, like unrefined iron, the veins of which traverse the earth’s dark caves and weave structures that hold the planet together. Their blood often lacks nuance, but it has a might that can shape future galaxies. Instead of celebrating these powers and ours, they desecrate the earth and want no race here except their own, that they might be purveyors of all the earth’s gifts.

We … are … not … their … race.

We are not their race. 2

… I must rephrase that: We bred with them from the very first. Genes intertwined.

However, even now, most humans are predominantly one race or the other.

Eventually, those with the less subtle blood discovered they could not risk exterminating everyone who had immensely magical DNA. Without us, their bloodline will die, because it is weak, lacking breath. 3

We with subtle blood trace our lineage to ancestors from the stars. Our veins run with possibilities. We live between the cracks of reality.

We serve the Faerie Queen and King, each of us a Holy Grail, a consecrated vessel holding all that is sacred and good, holding even the earth, holding all of existence. Our very beings are the source of—and template for—the health for all of existence. Our very beings are the origin of all safety. We hold that which must be passed down to the next generation. 4

We were the bloodline of royalty carefully nurtured for centuries.

We will not be kept as cattle any longer by coarse beings, will not be breeding stock enslaved to invigorate their bloodline.

Once we mated with them by choice. We see their beauty and sacredness. We do not want to exterminate them. Our coupling with them was once held sacred, creating wholeness for all beings and the earth. Then they engineered society that our mating be with our submission, oppression. No.

I do not outline their cruel perpetrations to imply that we should switch roles with them, stifling them as much as they have stifled us. I write to reveal their too often denied cruelty.

They believe that escaping oppression requires becoming the oppressor. We can teach them otherwise. We do not want to rule them. We see their beauty and sacredness.

We need to be neither below nor above them. We need to be alongside them. Then all beings and the earth can be whole because that can be accomplished only by both races standing together.

They have strengths we do not. Theirs combine with ours to make all things whole. Perhaps the unsubtle ones descended from different Deities than the Gods who are our ancestors. All Gods are worthy of worship.

The unsubtle ones serve knowledge we do not have, serve paths we cannot walk. It is as vital for us to protect their knowledge as it is for them to protect ours. It is as vital for us to protect their paths as it is for them to protect ours.

Their sorrows teach them lessons that our sorrows do not teach us. It is as vital for us to learn their lessons as it is for them to learn ours.

Only with their help can the Holy Grail continue now and for future generations.

I focus here more on our strengths and lives than on theirs not to imply that ours are superior, but because

1) Theirs are well known—the culture at large mirrors them.

2) It is vital to point out strengths and lives that society has hidden so well.

I focus on our wondrousness here not to imply that we are better or more worthy than they are, but because

1) Their wondrousness is already applauded far and wide.

2) It is vital to point out the wondrousness that society has hidden so well.

We claim our destiny. They can go about their business—as long as it is their business. It is not their business to hurt ours—we want them to do what they need for themselves, we want them to claim their destiny.

We claim our destiny.
We claim our destiny.

We claim our destiny:

We celebrate the stardust from which we and all of creation were made.

We honor our ancestors from the stars.

We emerge into fullness, for possibilities run in our veins.

We live between the cracks of reality.

We serve the Faerie King and Queen, each of us a Holy Grail, a consecrated vessel holding all that is sacred and good, holding even the earth, holding all of existence. Our very beings are the template for—and source of—the health for all of existence. Our very beings are the origin of all safety. We hold that which must be passed down to the next generation.

We are a Holy Grail that must be passed down to the next generation.

We are the bloodline of royalty.

We honor both those like us and unlike us because all beings are beautiful, sacred, and important. All beings are worthy of worship.

We live free to mate with whom we want or not at all. We understand that what is between our legs should serve only with glory.

We play free. We play free. We play free.

Footnotes about the Holy Grail, Magical Art,
Successful Transformation, and ICE

A terrifying event occurred when I was preparing to post this blog. The event was nevertheless helpful in its synchronicity. You can read about it in one of the footnotes. The footnotes that proceed it provide context.

1) I can’t know for sure when I wrote this liturgy. I think it was before 2009, perhaps well before. My estimate is based on the innumerable times over the years that I looked at the piece, debating whether to publish it, then left it for a year before looking at it again. Then reading it to a friend who said, “Publish it,” then forsaking it until a year later, when I’d read it to a student whom I thought it might help, on and on.

2) I do not tend to view life as innately polarized. I believe polarization is one of many ways life manifests.

Polarization is often a falsehood some people construct and then play out. This piece was an attempt to portray a situation like that. But my writing itself was polarizing. For example, I portrayed everyone as more polarized than they are, as if everyone is just one thing or the other, or certain traits are exclusive to one group. I did the latter when I represented only one type of individual as a Holy Grail, when everyone is a Holy Grail in their own way and in a way that is vital to the health of everything now and in the future.

One reason I refrained from publishing the piece was that I doubted it could help remedy a situation if it was feeding the problem! We cannot go to new places using the old routes.

However, I cannot write a way around the problem, except for this footnote. When trying to uncover the hidden polarization that permeates every second of modern society, the best I could do was to paint with broad strokes. They bypassed vital nuances, even some of the very details I wanted to highlight.

… Hm, perhaps some of my wording was shaded with anger. I won’t correct that. I do not know if I should or shouldn’t.

In any case, now I believe sharing my vision is vital, despite its flaws. I have not encountered anything else like this written or spoken. It needs to be published.

And now I release its inaccurate views. This will allow me to do more work to remedy the situation that the piece describes. I invite you to do the same. So mote it be!

… Holy sh* t, ten minutes ago, people were screaming “ICE go home” outside my window! At first, I thought it was a neighborhood reaction to an abduction. Terrifying. But it was a protest march that passed by. Still, America is terrifying.

One reason that I thought ICE was abducting a neighbor is that “ICE go home” doesn’t sound like a protest chant. It seems like something neighbors coming to the rescue would shout.

I didn’t join the protest because I’m a 76-year-old disabled person. I’d be a liability. But I first heard shouting when I was formatting this piece to publish it here. The shouting affirmed: It is time to publish this, even if it makes me look biased, ignorant, or whatever. I care more about serving Gaia and all Her children than I do about how I appear. I will risk people thinking poorly of me, in case this essay will help someone. I am done debating forever.

Trying to imagine new ways of living is hard. Voicing faulty ideas leads to better ones. Silence until I only have perfect ideas is an excuse for inaction. No perfect ideas exist. I must take action to implement the best ideas I know.

An hour and a half later: The protesters are marching by again, returning from where they went. I can see them better now. I had suspected they were high schoolers. Yes, the protesters are high schoolers and middle schoolers, and I am crying. They are just children, most of them look about twelve to fourteen years old. Fighting for their freedom. I am crying because they are brave, because children shouldn’t have to do this, and because children always have to do this.

When they came by the first time, the ferocity of their voices was one reason I thought they were not demonstrators but neighbors trying to stop abductions. Their screams of “ICE, go home” had been filled with rage. These kids know what’s going on.

Last night, I was able to listen to Bruce Springsteen’s song about Minneapolis’s response to ICE, right after Bruce released the piece. I felt it calling me to continue sharing my Shamanic art—for example, the above liturgy. It’s easy, in times like these, to get discouraged and think that my art is useless. Quite the opposite, which is why oppressors hate artists.

The mystical—the Fey-touched, the otherworldly—is equally important and equally threatens systemic oppression. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake because (among other things) she visited with Faeries. A Fey-touched life threatens oppressive structures.

3) Do you think karma is fulfilled and enlightenment reached when a person is no longer predominantly one race or the other but is fully both?

4) Decades ago I had a vision that I have since taught repeatedly in oral tradition: There is no Holy Grail, except the one inside each of us; the Arthurian legend of quests for the Grail is a patriarchal lie to distract us from questing within for an immensity of power; the lie also serves to make women ignorant of their special powers. The liturgy’s paragraph for which this is a footnote implies a lot of my vision of the Holy Grail. Yet there’s far more to the teaching. It can be conveyed only in oral tradition and its experiential lessons.

Francesca De Grandis is the bestselling author of Be a Goddess!. Now she publishes less to focus on oral tradition: Long-distance Faerie Shamanism classes, psychic readings, and other services. Fifty years as a full-time community Shaman inform her work. Francesca is a mystic whose Goddess spirituality combines otherworldly travel, practical magic, and down-to-earth wisdom. De Grandis developed Shamanic theories, rituals, and worldviews that have been a seminal influence on modern Paganism. Her home is ecstatic paradox.

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Narnia, Faerie, and C.S.Lewis

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Francesca De Grandis

Narnia, Faerie Magic, C.S.Lewis’s Visions, and His Prejudices—Francesca De Grandis

Narnia, Faerie Magic,
C.S.Lewis’s Visions, and His Prejudices

An earlier version of this was published in Eternal Haunted Summer

This essay explores Lewis’s remarkable visions, deadly prejudices, and how both relate to Faerie. I adore Narnia books. They changed my life for the better, in important ways. And Lewis’s prejudices in the books contributed to systemic oppression that nearly killed me. I am not attempting a comprehensive overview of all his bigotry and its relationship to Faerie. That would require an entire book.

Introduction: Theories, Revelations, and Poetry

This essay’s theories and opinions came from common sense, visions, and 75 years of traveling with the Fey Folk.

Humans have the innate ability to receive direct revelation instead of having to abide by supposed authorities.

Revelations differ. They should.

Respecting yours does not require disrespecting my own. I trust my personal gnosis, though never blindly, and state it unapologetically, without disclaimers. I support you to do the same.

Often, I can best express my theories through lyric that my Goddess, in Her aspect of Muse, kindly inspires.

A magic door appeared.
So did its key.
I went to Narnia on an adventure—a quest for power.

1) A Goddess of Door Hinges:
Magical Opportunities Abound

In Juno Covella—Perpetual Calendar Of The Fellowship of Isis by Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence describes the Roman Goddess Carna as a “guardian of door hinges, i.e. of … the life of man.”

Lawrence’s description resonates with my belief that opportunities to use magic abound; they surround us every moment. The universe is magical, everything is Fey, we can always access power.

Even door hinges are enchanted. So a wardrobe can open into a Faerie realm.

C.S. Lewis’s mysticism allowed him to recognize magic in the commonplace. This insight is rare even among magicians. I suspect the recognition was in Lewis’s subconscious alone. Judging from his overall writings, Lewis viewed a magical wardrobe as a metaphor, other literary device, or whimsy to delight children. But I believe his cells knew the truth. They felt the magic in his books. They knew a mere wardrobe door could be a magical portal.

2) C.S. Lewis: Extraordinary Visions and Sexism

In his Narnia series, C.S. Lewis portrayed the White Witch as a megalomaniac tyrant. But I know Her personally. She is the Faery Queen, Who is kind and bestows power.

Lewis’s vision and sexism are at odds. In the Narnia adventures, his visions triumph more often than not. The books have a socially acceptable facade of Christianity; prejudices typical of institutionalized Christianity are disguised as virtues and philosophical thought. But the deceptive gloss does not hide the Faery King and Queen’s magic and love filling the texts. At heart, Lewis’s series is all heart.

I believe he channeled magic beyond his own knowing. His sexism and religious prejudices made him portray Narnia’s major villain as female and an enchantress: the White Witch. But he managed to channel many true Faerie mysteries in the Narnia series.

Unfortunately, that does not mitigate the enormous harm caused when his sexism and other prejudices held sway. Enumerating all those sections of the series and what they cost others is beyond the topic of this essay. But it’s vital to state that his prejudices had deadly consequences. Otherwise, I might be implying that they are less severe.

3) Irish Mysticism, the Faerie Faith, and Disassociation

C.S. Lewis, though known as an English literary figure, was born in Ireland and identified as Irish. My intuition and common sense told me that must be the case, once I read Narnia.

For one thing, I knew a few male Irish mystic poets. One was born and raised in Ireland. They were torn in half. On one side of the rift was their love of the Goddess and their DNA rooted in the old Faerie Faith. On the other side was a Christian upbringing that suppressed Fey longing and other passions for life.

This is not their analysis of themselves. This is mine, from watching their self-hatred including its subconscious aspects, recant of their visions, and abuse of women.

Here’s an example of one renunciation: One of these men wrote a lengthy piece outlining the meaning of a poem he had written. The analysis stripped away the poem’s meaning and passion.

His process of analysis killed his passion. In other words, he left his body, mystical awareness, and intuition behind, so that he could use his intellect alone to analyze the poem. This created a dissociated logic and a dissociated mystic.

The other poet, brilliant in his lyrics to the Faerie Queen, confessed to me that he loved gaslighting women. He was a therapist.

Not every male Irish mystic poet is disassociated. But it is common.

4) Fey-Touched Mysticism and Magic are Holy …
Only in a Christian

Though C.S. Lewis was clearly in touch with magic, he betrayed it. For example, he portrayed it as beautiful and loving when the lion Aslan—a male deity figure—performed spells. But magic was evil in the White Witch. Note the word Witch. The longstanding Christian tactic of villainizing magic unless it’s performed by a male—usually a male God or clergy—oppresses Fey-touched women and their power.

For decades, the Snow Queen has been in my pantheon. She is the Faery Queen in winter. She is the true White Witch. In Narnia, the White Witch curses the world with an eternal bitter winter. But the Snow Queen is known worldwide as benevolent, unlike C.S. Lewis’s cruel despot.

The Snow Queen has consistently been kind to me. She blesses me with Her magic, bestows Her power on me, and walks beside me in loving companionship.

C.S. Lewis’s evil queen opposes Christmas and Santa Claus. Santa Claus is in my pantheon. The Winter Queen is His loving consort. She and Santa grant my wishes. Santa Claus puts a bow on what I request and gives it to me, if it’s what I really need. They grant my wishes at Yule, but They fulfill my dreams the rest of the year too.

5) The Narnia Tale of Creation Vs a Faery Myth

C.S. Lewis’s Narnia mimics the Christian myth of creation. A Biblical God spoke into a void and thus His word caused all of creation. This story is an underpinning of Western culture and one of the most destructive myths of Western culture.

The Narnia creation myth is in The Magician’s Nephew, 1955. In it, God, in the form of the lion Aslan, speaks into a frightening, dark void and thereby constructs Narnia.

Both the Biblical and Narnia versions strip away all feminine creation. The womb is scary and foreign instead of beautiful and holy. It is merely a void to be filled. Women are merely tools for men to create children or whatever else they define in words.

I’ve written at length about the destructiveness of the Biblical myth and channeled a highly developed Fey alternative. But in brief:

No mere “word of God” was spoken into the void and thereby constructed the cosmos.

A cognizant, living Darkness Who is a Loving Goddess and has all power and potential created the entire universe.

Darkness is not an empty void. The darkness I see with my closed eyes is the Magna Mater—Great Mother Goddess. In Her are vast expanses of love and potential. She has the means to create everything. So mote it be!

Mind you, Narnia’s creation has beauty. I honor and magically draw on that beauty. Writing his creation myth, Lewis was in touch with magic—the wonderful gift that the Great Mother Goddess gives us.

6) The Spiritual Truths in C.S. Lewis’s Creation Myth

Gods, Goddesses, and other mythological beings manifest when Aslan creates Narnia. Some animals are given the ability to speak.

Then Aslan says, “I give you yourselves. … I give to you forever this land… I give you the woods, the fruits, the rivers. I give you the stars, and I give you myself.”

That is an incredible vision by a brilliant visionary. I interpret it as a Faery Witch, which might offer a different interpretation than C.S. Lewis’s vantage point would provide. Here is my understanding of the vision:

* We are given ourselves: Our Creator gave each human dominion over themself. No clergy can choose our fates, take away our rights to make our own moral decisions, or interfere with our relationships with the Divine.

* We are given God, our Creator: He is not a distant judgmental deity who runs the show whether we like it or not. He gives Himself fully to us because He loves us. He gives Himself to us by walking next to us every moment, helping us each step of the way, bestowing His power on us, and providing luminous companionship.

* We are forever given the land … the woods, the fruits, the rivers, the stars: Yes! I abhor the Christian myth of Adam and Eve being kicked out of the garden of Eden to toil in slavery and misery endlessly.

The Eden myth supports colonizer culture. Supposedly, if you’re a good Christian, you will labor miserably, throughout the day, until the end of your days, with very little show for it. The myth justifies oppressors reaping what others sow.

My Divine Mother would never kick me out of Her garden. Here are song lyrics I wrote about it years ago. I still sing it for students who need healing from colonizer culture:

Both day and night we are held by our Mother’s hands.
Her garden gates are open wide.
We live within Her land.
Her children, we are without shame.
She’ll always understand.
By day, we’re kissed by Her sunlight,
then sleep in Her dark healing night.

7) Acceptable “Morality”

Immediately after the gorgeous passage in which an endlessly generous God gives everything to His children, Lewis unfortunately adds a “moral” lecture. Aslan warns His children not to become like beasts. It’s as if Lewis thought he could only get away with his inspired visions if he followed them up with acceptably sour morality. Did he hope no one would attack his vision of freedom, autonomy, and bounty if he distracted them with a pompous lecture that returned the moment to Christian repressiveness? Or did he feel so uncomfortable with his vision that he had to distract himself?

8) Shamanism, Adversity, and the Faery Faith

In the Narnia adventures, siblings are sent to the country to escape bombings during World War II. These displaced children discover a magic portal into Narnia, where they go on a quest.

A core premise of ancient Shamanism is that crisis can be a crossroads at which we find power.

Kindly Fey Folk want to help people in times of hardship. So do magical beings in Narnia.

This is timely. Displaced emotionally, economically, or otherwise, we can ask the Faery Queen and King for a magical adventure that empowers us to overcome oppression and help all Gaia’s children live free.

Like the magical beings in Narnia, some Fey Folk help humans, and other Fey Folk sabotage humans. This is not the place to expand on the benevolent and malevolent inhabitants of Faerie realms. But it’s important to point out that both exist.

9) Coming Home from a Quest

When the protagonists Edmund and Lucy learn that they can never visit Narnia again, they are horrified. Aslan explains that it is time for them to get close to their own world.

A premise of Aslan’s dictate is that being thoroughly part of the mundane world means never returning to Fey-touched realms. I disagree. I repeatedly tell my Faerie Witch students that a Fey path combines feet on the ground with head in the clouds.

I do think that we have to constantly leave Fey realms to apply what we learn there to the mundane world. A human is both a magical and worldly creature. We cannot live in visions alone. We must apply them to serve Gaia and all Her children. Otherwise, we spiral down into a self-pitying “spiritual” abyss that we might mistake for noble sacrifice and transcendence. Applying visions must include mundane, practical, quantitative actions.

I also believe there are Fey realms that we are meant to visit only once or a few times. Visiting them more than that is dangerous. Narnia is one of those places.

I’ve been there and brought students with me, and now that is over.

But I still read the Narnia books, watch the movies, and enjoy beautiful memories of my own Narnia adventures.

Those memories are like the eastern sea water in The Chronicles of Narnia. It is not salty water, but fresh and pure. It nourishes beyond food. That nourishment is otherworldly in itself.

Mystical adventures and memories of visions are meant to nourish our spirits, long after a Fey vision or adventure ends. So mote it be!

Francesca De Grandis is the bestselling author of Be a Goddess!. She teaches long-distance classes about Faery Witchcraft. De Grandis is a bard, painter, and innovator. Her Goddess spirituality embraces both mysticism and practical magic. Stay informed: click here for her free newsletter

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Magic for What YOU Want: A Twelve-Week Ritual

Posted on June 21, 2026 by Francesca De Grandis

Your heart’s desires are sacred.

Life has challenges.

Magic is real.

So here is effective, practical, relevant spell-work:

A Twelve-Week Ritual for YOUR Goal, with Francesca De Grandis

Reach the Goal You Choose

Begins August 2026

In our first meeting, each participant chooses their goal for the twelve weeks. You get to work toward a goal that is important to you. For example:
* prosperity
* romance
* starting a business
* soul-healing
* overcoming an awful problem
* creativity

If you can’t decide on a goal, I’ll help. For example, if too many things need to change for you to select a single goal, I will show you how to do it.

This is not a class. No need to take notes that you might have time to apply.

This is a ritual. It consists of one magical spell a week for twelve weeks. Each spell is a big step toward your goal. The spells combine automatically to create thorough magic that achieves success.

We do each spell together. I lead you through it, step by step. A beginner with no experience can do this.

Good chance you are a busy person who might miss a few weeks. However, the weeks you do attend make a profound difference. Each of the twelve spells stands on its own and, heck, might do the trick by itself. And the magic of whatever weeks you can attend weave together automatically to create big results.

Plus, if you miss a session, I’ll still do magic for you. More about this is below.

Shamanism Is the Opposite of Colonizer Culture

Oppressors insist that success requires pushing yourself until you are drained dry. No! Faerie Shamanism is the opposite of colonizer culture:

Each week’s ritual is powerful and gentle. You won’t need to exhaust yourself. Here’s why:

The Old Gods
Will Add Their Power to Our Rite

The Old Gods will lovingly give Their power to us during our rites. And it’s not a rough ride. Empowerment from Fey Gods is a lovely experience. For one thing, you are immersed in starlit Faerie magic. It is some of the Old Gods’ power surrounding you. For another, if you’re exhausted, Their Divine love replenishes you.

Love from the Old Gods
Can Accomplish Anything

So our spells can accomplish the “impossible.”

Miracles occur often in my events. Usually, there are at least vital improvements. Those tend to lay the ground for even bigger ones.

The rituals are suitable for complete beginners and adepts.

Also, You Receive:

1) Direct Spiritual Transmissions During Every Rite

I generate a beneficial field of energy. This talismanic presence conveys what one could call a direct spiritual transmissions.

The spiritual transmissions give you good luck with the goal you choose for our twelve weeks, overall luck in your life, protection, plus spiritual, magical, and worldly power. The transmissions also add to our weekly rituals’ power and richness.

Transmissions can boost hope and perseverance, even in situations where neither seems possible.

You don’t have to do anything to receive the transmissions. And their energy adapts to meet your needs.

2) Personalized Enchantment

Magic is personal, not like the estranged mechanistic world. I will channel material for each participant to help them overcome challenges and reach their goal. You don’t even need to tell me what’s going on with you.

3) One-on-One Mentoring

I’m available by phone for your questions or other concerns about the rituals.

You can even call if you want me to expand on part of a ritual that you found tantalizing.

4) Digital Book of Shadows Pages

These otherworldly documents can center you, boost your spirits, and otherwise enchant your life between our weekly rituals and after our twelve weeks.

The twelve-week ritual works splendidly, without the Book of Shadows pages. No need to even look at the pages if they would add too much to your plate. The Book of Shadows pages’ magic are a wonderful added resource, to use if you want. I offer them because the world can never have too much magic, and I love giving you as much as I can.

Every page includes my Shamanic art.

I painted the art for this post. The Book of Shadows’ art is crisp and clear. I reduced file sizes for this page to make it load quickly for you, but that blurs graphics sometimes.

Schedule

We meet on Sundays from 3:30 to 4:30 pm PST, for twelve consecutive weeks, starting August 2.

Reserve the usual hour on Sunday, October 25, for a makeup session in case I’m unavailable for a planned meeting.

How To Attend

Call the event phone number that you receive after enrolling. You do not need special technology.

Enrollment

The total cost is $300 a month, for three months. Your carrier might charge you for the calls.

Enrollment closes Wednesday July 29 at midnight and is limited to sixteen people.

Let’s begin. Enroll securely through PayPal with the subscribe button below:





If you want more information or need to discuss a scholarship, partial scholarship, or trade, phone me at the number below. I do not give refunds.

A few days before our first meeting, you receive an email with the event phone number and other details.

Francesca De Grandis is the best-selling author of Be a Goddess!. She provides Witchcraft classes and other Shamanic services, long-distance. Francesca developed Shamanic theories and rituals that have been a seminal influence on modern Paganism.

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Fairy Blessings on Your Entire Life and Whole Being

Posted on May 21, 2026 by Francesca De Grandis

You don’t have to do everything on your own.

I will do the heavy lifting for you.

It will be real magic, practical magic, relevant magic:

Energy Work
for Everything You Need and Want
Over the Next Three Months

A Long Distance Blessing
of Your Entire Life and Whole Being

Three months of blessing ceremonies
performed for you
begin June 7, 2026

Sign up by midnight June 3, 2026

You don’t have to attend an event, meditate, or do anything else. I do the work for you.

Total cost: $200 a month covers a ceremony every week for three months.

Pay securely with PayPal: click the Subscribe button.





Shamanic Magic Tailored to You

My blessing ceremonies can also be called “direct spiritual transmissions.” However, they are unlike better-known spiritual transmissions. Here’s information about mine:

I’m a good-luck charm. I was born generating a beneficial field of energy. My Fey-touched mother trained me to apply this talismanic presence well. Its beneficial energy adapts to meet your physical, spiritual, and emotional needs, even when they change from moment to moment. Examples:
* the strength to persevere
* protection
* joy
* money
* soul-healing
* spiritual strength
* improved intuition
* practical insights
* romance
* career
* hope

You receive as many simultaneous blessings as you need.

The transmissions also give you good luck.

I don’t have to know what you need because the transmission’s energy transforms to suit your desires. I get out of its way.

Recipients usually see immediate substantial improvements. And then more come. After the three months, benefits tend to remain and snowball.

Powerful Mojo for Three Months

Given the state of the world, I want to do a lot of magic for people. Three months of weekly ceremonies create a lot of power.

Hope and Possibility

Some religious groups exclude and oppress you. The Old Religion is the opposite. It is inclusive. It frees you, empowers you, and lifts you up. That energy is in my transmissions. They help free your wild heart and open the way to the life that is your human right, a life of freedom, bounty, peace, and fulfillment.

No experience is needed to benefit from these blessing ceremonies.

Adepts are deeply impacted by my work.

Even if you’re a Shaman, you deserve a constant ally.

If you need more information, call me at the number below. Or call me if you need to discuss a scholarship, semi-scholarship, or trade. No refunds, but you may cancel your subscription at any time, to be blessed by every ceremony I’ve done for you up to that point.

Reviews

The days seem more meaningful, my time more useful, my attitude more positive. Great opportunities have come my way and sales are coming in (even with the shop closed).—Sandy

For the first time in ages, I feel like someone has my back.—Kathy Davis

It was so wonderful to realize that we don’t have to fight for everything – we can just agree to someone transmitting healing and joy to us. We can just open up to your gifts. It took a huge weight off my shoulders. It’s wonderful knowing that someone gently supports us whatever we are doing at the moment. I felt a burst of energy and positivity and am certainly in for the next transmission!—Robyn

I worked through moments of stress and found creative solutions. I feel capable and strong. … Thank you so much Francesca for being such an amazing ally.—Mary Rose

If you could compare me from last week to this week, you would swear I was a different person.—Arwen Professional Joy Seeker

Whatever help you need, I have your back. Click the Subscribe button.





Francesca De Grandis 2024, photo by Susanne Kaspar

Francesca De Grandis is the best-selling author of Be a Goddess!. Her Goddess mysticism includes practical magic and a down-to-earth philosophy. She was raised in an ancient European Witchcraft tradition. This centuries-old Witchcraft is a multicultural Faerie Shamanism. The De Grandis family tradition is rooted in Strega practices (Italian Witchcraft), Celtic, African, and other Shamanism. She draws on De Grandis magic to live free, fight colonizer culture, and help you do the same.

Magic is not a substitute for psychiatric counseling or medical care. Participants are responsible for the consequences of their participation.

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Amidst All, Beauty and Calm Arrive

Posted on February 10, 2026 by Francesca De Grandis

A Nine-Week Ritual:

Shamanism, Self-Healing,
Fascism, and Trauma—

Amidst All, Beauty and Calm Arrive

Please note, I use ceremony and ritual synonymously.

This ceremony will focus on:
* healing ourselves from the trauma that current fascism is causing
* and gaining power.

Oppressors lie when they insist that you cannot heal from trauma during it and have to wait until it ends.

Ancient Shamans knew otherwise. Experience taught them that Shamanic tools can heal trauma during a traumatic situation.

A psychologist agrees that healing trauma during crisis is possible.

Many—if not all—individuals have suffered their whole lives from fascism. So the ritual-healing will not ignore past traumas.

To expand on the above points:

Historically, Shamanic healing of trauma has been a cultural norm. Also, during trauma, Shamanism mitigates damage to one’s psyche and even heals it. These ancient ways have proved a means for my survival and wholeness during a crisis, every time. So I will lead you in similar methods, during the nine weeks.

Also, many traditional Shamans have discovered their traumas were otherworldly gates to magical and worldly power. A traumatized individual is in a specific state that Shamanic tools turn into an opportunity to become powerful. If they are powerful already, then they become more powerful than ever.

Since ancient times, Shamans have used even their worst traumas as irreplaceable opportunities to create power. They accomplished this by using Shamanic techniques.

My personal experiences showed me that Shamanic methods for using trauma as a gate to power works. So some of these methods will be included in our nine weeks.

I would never promise to “fix everything” in a nine-week ritual. Plus, too much transformational work all at once can buffet the psyche, causing more harm than good.

But this nine-week journey can cause life-changing shifts. Many individuals who went on short Shamanic journeys with me called the results miraculous. The brevity of the journey helps keep the process from being overwhelming.

To keep fighting the good fight, take care of our loved ones, and reach cherished goals, we need self-care.

Self-care is resistance.

Amidst all, beauty and calm arrive.

Every day, amidst all, beauty and calm arrive.
The potential for beauty and calm is in our atoms.

Shamanism invokes beauty and calm
so amidst all, beauty and calm arrive.

Old-Fashioned Magic
to Reach an Important Goal

Faerie Shamanism is practical. We will use some of the power we gain to help you reach an important goal of your choosing. In other words, each participant chooses a goal. For example, maintaining a good income, starting a new business, or awakening creativity. To be clear, the individual goals will be in addition to the nine-week goal of healing and empowerment. And you will gain far more power than what you apply toward your personal goal.

My De Grandis ancestors,
thank you for my Faerie Witch heritage
—a lineage of the Goddess’ love:
a down-to-earth heritage of power and joy
that free my wild, fierce heart.

More Magic

Magic In My Cauldron

In addition to our weekly ceremony, magic will simmer in my cauldron for you. It will be a spell to send you good luck, protection, and both mystical and worldly power. The spell also helps our rituals. For example, when I lead you in self-healing, it will be more powerful yet gentle.

Diana and Lucifer

Lucifer is an ancient Italian Deity. Hs is not the Christian devil.

Diana and Lucifer are the Italian Faerie Queen and King.

I will invoke Them for our rites because
* They helped ancient peasants fight oppression.
* They love rebels.
* Their power and Their love for each other are so great that the combination created all of existence.
* In Their love for us, They will lend that power to our ceremonies.
* I consider Them my loving Ancestors. Gods are our Ancestors. Diana and Lucifer are among mine.

How To Attend

Call the event phone number that you receive after enrolling. The group meets by teleconference. You do not need special technology.

Schedule

Rituals will be on Wednesdays, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm PST, starting March 25, and occur weekly for nine weeks.

Reserve the usual hour on Wednesday May 27 for a makeup session in case I’m unavailable for a planned meeting.

Enrollment

The total cost is $200 a month for two months. Your carrier might charge you for the calls.

Enroll securely through PayPal with the subscribe button below:





Phone me if you want to discuss a scholarship, semi-scholarship, trade, or payment plan other than the subscription, or if you have questions about the event. I do not give refunds.

A few days before our first meeting, you receive an email with the event phone number and other details.

Magic is transformative art. The Old Gods empower the fight for freedom. They love us. So They do everything They can to help us be happy. Faerie Shamanism is the exact opposite of colonizer culture. Joy is political. Joy is resistance.

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A Daily Pagan Reader

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Francesca De Grandis

Sprinkling Faerie Dust on Breakfast:
A Daily Reader for Busy Parents and Their Children . . .
and for Any Way-Busy Person

This post is under construction. Please come back soon.

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Magic for Freedom

Posted on January 29, 2026 by Francesca De Grandis

This article was first published in one of Anne Newkirk Niven’s 2014 or 2015 Pagan magazines.

Magic to Overcome Oppression
Power to the People

Magic to Overcome Oppression: Power to the People—Francesca De Grandis

I cast a circle of magic and welcome you into it.

I’m writing this while in a circle because I can discuss traditional Witchery only in a sacred space. This time-honored practice has proven its worth. Unless I experience magic while discussing it, my words are empty.

Feel my writing with your heart and intuition. Does it echo past lives?

This post is a personal, emotional, and philosophical outpouring, instead of exposition alone. Expect me to share, not attempt to prove. Even the limited aspect of traditional Witchery represented in this article is best understood through experiential lyrical mysticism. Instead of logical dissection, I prefer reveling in magic with you, weaving together all this essay’s topics, and discovering its threads woven into the web of life, glistening with star dust.

This post discusses a tenet of old-fashioned Witchcraft: One reason that the Gods endowed humans with magic is so we can free ourselves from oppression—classism, racism, or other forms. Many traditional Witches embrace this belief, such as Pagans I circled with in Europe. It was also accepted in the Shamanic family tradition in which I grew up.

High Magic VS Low Magic?

Systematic discrediting of magic has kept many people from using it to fight for their rights. This smear campaign has been so effective that many Pagans internalized the oppression by dividing magic into “High Magic” and “Low Magic.”

This is an unnecessary, untraditional, and disempowering distinction.

The following erroneous definitions from those who would keep us down are:

“High” Magic is defined as esoteric or mystical ritual.

“Low” Magic is that which fulfills one’s mundane goals—one’s needs and desires.

Low magic tends to be frowned upon as base and not spiritual. No! That is oppressive. Taking care of yourself—through mundane and magical means—is neither low nor base. Self-care is an important part of spirituality.

High and low magic are false distinctions. They are one vital whole. This idea is developed throughout this essay.

Goddess-Given Magic

My Goddess gave me magic for many reasons. One is to improve my mundane life, because I am Her beloved child. Like any good mother, She wants to see my needs met.

In that vein, magic is a Goddess-given tool to fight for my rights, as it was for ancient Witches.

I’m not suggesting greedy or cruel magic is okay. Magic is a tool. Like all tools, it should be used for good, not evil.

Let’s look at Aradia: Gospel of the Witches by Charles G. Leland to continue the discussion about magical freedom-fighting.

Aradia: Gospel of the Witches

(A wee side note: I am not bringing up Aradia to prove my opinions. Something being in a book doesn’t make it true. Some people debate whether Aradia is historically accurate, although I happen to think it is. I mention this eccentric book from the 1800s because it rings with beauty and depth that reveal the heart of Witchcraft as I know it. Mysticism takes priority over magic-suppressing false logic. The book’s passages on magic and freedom from oppression shift my cells. I want to convey a bit of that joyful empowerment.)

Part of Aradia’s immense resonance with rich Mysteries is one of its themes: The Goddess gave Witchcraft to the peasants as a tool to fight their oppressors; Witchcraft exists to set you free from both physical and spiritual tyranny.

The following quote from Aradia reveals the importance the text gives to peasants magically fighting for their rights: “Thou shalt bind the oppressor’s soul with power.” 1

As far as I know, Aradia contains the first printed version of The Charge of the Goddess. Let’s look at some of Aradia’s version. I will include preceding passages for context, to reveal that the Charge’s reference to freedom has a meaning that differs from modern Pagans’ usual interpretation:

“The true God the Father is not yours;
For I have come to sweep away the bad.
The men of evil, all will I destroy!

“Ye who are poor suffer with hunger keen,
And toil in wretchedness, and suffer too…
Ill the fate of all who do ye wrong!

“Now when Aradia had been taught…to work all Witchcraft, how to destroy the evil race of oppressors, she imparted it to her pupils and said unto them:

“…Whenever ye have need of anything…
Ye shall assemble…
She who fain would learn all sorcery…,
Then my mother will teach her…
And ye shall all be freed from slavery,
And so ye shall be free in everything;
And as the sign that ye are truly free,
Ye shall be naked in your rites.”

This passage conveys our modern understanding that the Goddess offers spiritual and sexual freedom. So it’s clear that some traditional Witches had this same wisdom. However, the passage firmly roots that esoteric and sensual freedom in the physical freedom of both personal safety and mundane self-care, which requires liberation from oppression.

Aradia recognizes no differentiation between High and Low Magic: When we take good care of ourselves on both the material and esoteric planes, we soon realize that the material is mystical.

Old-fashioned magic was always a tool to fight oppression. And it still can be.—Francesca De Grandis

What about Hexing?

Sitting in circle, freedom-fighting magic hits me so strongly that I remember it cannot be fully addressed in an essay. For one thing, it requires personal dialogue.

The power of freedom-fighting magic coils around me, making it plain that it would not be revealed through solely left-brain exposition and analysis in a theoretical overview. That approach is more suitable to academia than to an understanding of magic. So, I am touching on a few crucial aspects of magic for freedom here. This will imply layer after layer to the discerning reader.

One crucial aspect is hexes—magic intended to attack a specific target. Aradia exemplifies the old-fashioned Witchy wisdom that hexing is an honorable tool for redressing injustice. I am not a pacifist, so I am not against hexing. However, I do not seek battle; I fight only when and as needed. For example, I am often tempted to throw down a hex when I am emotionally overwrought. That would usually be a big mistake.

Hexing tends to be my last resort. Just as you can be injured easily when fighting physically, you are as likely to get badly hurt when you hex. Hexing is risky.

There are many ways to claim one’s rights. Spells for justice and protection are effective. In the mundane world, protests and lawsuits come to mind.

Throwing a proper hex is complex (as are many battle magics). A hex done improperly or when inappropriate costs the spell-caster and innocent bystanders great damage.

To show examples of hexes gone wrong, I will describe five instances in which a hex adds trouble instead of fixing a problem:

1) Often, hexes are reactions to imaginary threats. So, one might hex an innocent person, or someone who is annoying or inconvenient, but not dangerous. One of many possible damages from such a hex is that it might backfire and rebound against the spell-caster.

2) Other times, a minor menace exists but seems far greater to the threatened individual. If they think a hex is justified when it is not, good spirits might punish them.

3) Hexes made preemptively can be out of proportion. They have their place, but they are often thoughtlessly inhumane when they are unnecessary. Just as an unwarranted military drone strike outrages decent people, so an unnecessary hex should be odious to a magical practitioner and recognized as unjustified brutality.

4) Sometimes, executing a hex makes magicians subconsciously buy into the corrupt structure they hope to overcome: A system of dog-eat-dog scarcity. Subconsciously motivated, they perpetuate this societal atrocity. The culture of hate (or deadly indifference) for anyone outside one’s tribe (however tribe is defined) is fostered, which is not good for anyone.

Hexes are excellent tools, if thoughtful discretion allows alternatives.

Here is one alternative. Innate goodness and endless potential flow through all the fibers of existence and the human spirit. We can draw on those loving sources of abundance in cooperation with other people, instead of fighting with each other in a model of scarcity and hate.

5) A hex executed sloppily or in haste can rebound back to its maker.

I do not teach hexes publicly. Every situation is different and must be dealt with in great detail for a hex to be safe and effective. I mention hexes here for two reasons. The first is to help you feel empowered about fighting for your rights magically. There is too much shaming about using magic to take care of ourselves. Hexing is often portrayed as a selfish, petty, mean-spirited witch throwing a tantrum, when it is actually a powerful tool that can be used ethically.

Yes, hexing can be tantrum-driven, petty-minded, selfish, or mean-spirited, but that is an improper hexing, as opposed to your inherent right as a human to be a magical warrior!

Here’s the second reason I discuss hexes here with some detail: We humans tend to swing from one extreme to another. Going from no magical self-defense to careless or ruthless hexes is one such swing. It does not embody the magical freedom-fighting I advocate. Instead, as implied above, the swing further traps oneself and others in an oppressive system.

What if I Need Magical Help?

The Slander of Grassroots Pagan Ministers
Working on the Front Lines

The defamation and persecution of Witches has helped keep oppressed people from fighting back for millennia. This attempt to restrain us from using magic is part of a long history of class, racial, gender, and other oppression.

A notable example—even with the growth of the modern Pagan movement—is the belittlement of occult shop psychics, many of whom are legitimate grassroots ministers helping blue-collar people, people of color, and other disenfranchised individuals.

There is a long lineage of nearly invisible ministers working as occult-shop psychics, root doctors, Southern Spiritualists, and in other down-to-earth magical roles. These ministers practice within the framework of traditional Witchcraft’s fight for freedom.

Some Pagans promulgate the belief (commonplace in mainstream Paganism) that such pragmatic grassroots workers are frauds or are prostituting their psychic abilities by receiving payment for their work.

When the disrespect stems from ignorance, it is relatively easy to remedy. But the origin of the disrespect was classism and other “isms.” Oppressors concocted a lie to keep disenfranchised groups from claiming their power. This is harder to change.

Many Pagans insist they wouldn’t “dirty their hands” by doing readings (or, heavens! spell-casting) for money. Some individuals speak like this until they learn better. But the rest? The majority of people espousing this belief are building wealth in careers that foster systemic oppression. Their supposed moral high ground is disguised classism, racism, etc. (I differentiate between them and the individuals working under them—earning far less—because it’s the only way to keep food on the table.)

If magic-workers were in it for the money only, they’d choose other work. Most of them are on the front lines every day, counseling battered wives, runaways, and others in crisis. They empower their clients by doing spell work for them. Hard-working, ethical psychics are as worthy of their wage as any other specialist.

Even many Pagans do not know about the longstanding tradition of otherworldly spiritual advisors who quietly aid disenfranchised people. These ministers work to be of service, not for national praise.

Being paid allows them to serve community full-time and work for free when appropriate. And their practice seats them all day long in the company of the Gods, who provide earthy spiritual joy.

I feel blessed: I have been a part of this grassroots oral tradition for decades. Let me tell you a story, to make a point:

Many years ago, I had been guiding folks in a private practice, mostly by referral. Then I started working as a spiritual counselor in an occult shop. Suddenly I was on the front lines to a degree I had not been previously. People came for a consult because their daughter had died; or their 14-year-old son had gotten somebody pregnant; or their husband beat them.

After my first shocking day, I went home and threw out all my lofty New Age
abstractions. I threw out my Celtic cross spread, because it requires a
lengthy session. (A lot of the readings were only ten minutes long. After that my boss pressed the buzzer: Time’s up!)

I sat there, inventing very fast Tarot spreads that would tune me into the heart of a client’s issue(s) and the essence of the advice that they needed. I compiled a list of community resources, such as women’s shelters and teen crisis counselors. I honed my psychic skills so that I’d sense a client’s needs stat—remember, ten-minute sessions. (I was in the psychic’s equivalent of an intern’s training in an emergency ward.)

In other words, I had become a minister in the trenches.

I still am, decades later. That does not mean all my work was, or is, with trauma survivors. I spend a lot of time helping with more “everyday” concerns, such as creativity or marketing.

But all my work is on the frontlines because it’s down-to-earth support instead of approaches that serve an elite and suppress everyone else, which is one of the points of my story:

Who offers practical magic and approaches clients’ issues with Shamanic (aka “Witchy”) tools? Usually, it is the old-fashioned Witchy psychic, root doctor, Voodoo priestess, etc., who is often frowned upon, even in the Pagan community.

I am proud to be among these practitioners. I offer psychic readings, cast spells for whatever you want and need, and perform energy clearing of your home or other space.

“Respectable” modern Shamanic counseling and Pagan pastoral counseling tend to be based on psychological and Christian models. They are important, save lives, and counter oppression. They might also exemplify the fight for freedom. However, they are granted a legitimacy denied grassroots magical practitioners. 2

The defamation of Witches has helped keep oppressed communities from magically fighting back for millennia. A notable example is the belittlement of occult shop psychics, many of whom are legitimate grassroots ministers.—Francesca De Grandis

Here is another reason that the grassroots oral tradition of Pagan ministry remains nearly invisible. It tends to disappear as soon as anthropologists or other academics arrive. Academia is largely based in upper-class sensibilities, which create a mental and verbal framework in which oppression and remedies for it cannot be expressed.

Also, oral traditions can only be oral. They are as evanescent as the morning mist and fade as soon as you try to write down certain of their methods and underlying techniques.

For example, often its methodologies and principles (the macro) must be conveyed through the micro (the on-the-ground moment). The micro is adapted moment after moment, to each teacher and student, each practitioner and client, and each particular moment, by using intuition and common sense. Study, experience, and creativity also bring Shamanic wisdoms and rites that are necessary tools to make adaptations. This cannot be accurately represented through overviews and theories. When writing, I am not teaching my oral tradition.

The Whole World Consists of Magic

To understand the kind of magical freedom-fighting that I’m trying to convey in this article, understanding a bit more about traditional magic as a whole is important.

The following analogy provides a glimpse:

At first, a potpourri’s ingredients are distinctly separate from each other. There might be flowers, leaves, spices, essential oils, and a fixative. Once mixed, their combined scent evokes strong feelings and ideas. Just so, the rich magical world of traditional Witchcraft is a creative, lyrical potpourri–individual elements coming together into a sensory-rich blend that invokes Gods, miracles, and ecstasy. The blend is far more than the sum of its parts. Elements were blended by the art of witchcraft and the magic of the now. When you experience that, you meet the rich scope of traditional Witchery. That is why this article includes a potpourri of musings on the same topic and related ones.

The way to learn traditional craft at depth is not from written materials, but through personal study with a teacher in oral lessons. I am available for that. My newsletter will let you know about upcoming classes.

My childhood illustrates more about traditional craft as a whole. Born into an Italian Shamanic line that was previously in Celtic countries (talk about eclectic!), I learned magic con leche. So it was not magic as some people think of it: A separate, distinct part of existence or a field of study, academic or otherwise.

Instead, awareness of a magical world was ingrained into me, atom by atom, and into my everyday existence. So today, I experience all of existence as innately magical.

We needn’t choose between High or Low Magic, but can apply magic to any part of life, since magic is already a part of it.

Important aside: Saying that the entire world is magic does not mean I’m burying my head in the sand about evil. Some of the magic is good, some is bad. I choose the good magic. I fight, ignore, run past, or otherwise try to not be subjected to the bad.

In Closing: Multifaceted Magic

Witchcraft means different things to different people. It means endlessly different things to me. I experience it as a multifaceted lifestyle, one part of which is magically freeing oneself and others from oppression. There are many other parts. For example:

To me, magic is surrendering to a flow of beauty that encompasses me with its love. Magic is tuning into the season and celebrating it. Magic is feeding my Gods the power They need to turn the YearWheel. Magic is using a teaspoon as a wand, and stirring healing into a cup of tea before I drink it. Magic is the connection I feel with my students when we walk between the stars together. Magic is experiencing the joy of all these things and many more.

But unless magic is used to overcome oppression, some people will never get to have that joy.

There are many other beautiful aspects of traditional Witchery. It is not limited to the glimpses herein. But I hope this essay has loved your longing for star-drenched magic.

The circle is open. Go with freedom. Merry part and merry meet again.

Endnotes

1) I don’t agree with everything in Aradia, nor do I consider it infallible. For example, its passage “When a priest shall do you injury by his benedictions, ye shall do to him double the harm” is not necessarily good advice. I included passages with which I disagree for context.

Fighting for rights aside, I highly recommend Aradia. It cannot replace oral tradition, but it is as close as print can get to old-fashioned Witchcraft, in all its beauty, depth, mystery, ferocity, and inner strength.

2) Just as you would ask for recommendations for a plumber, electrician, or other skilled professional, it makes sense to ask around if you are looking to hire someone to do divination or a magical working for you. Avoid being credulous, gullible, or falling prey to grifters and con artists. Use your intuition and common sense. The same goes for seeking Pagan ministry that excludes magic to closely follow Christian or psychological models.

Francesca De Grandis is the bestselling author of Be a Goddess!. Now she is publishing less to focus on oral tradition: Long-distance Witchcraft classes, psychic readings, and other services. Fifty years as a full-time community Shaman inform her work. Francesca is a mystic whose Goddess spirituality combines otherworldly travel, practical magic, and down-to-earth wisdom. De Grandis developed Shamanic theories, rituals, and worldviews that have been a seminal influence on modern Paganism. Her home is ecstatic paradox.

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Enchanted Radio Flyer Wagon

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Francesca De Grandis

A painting of a Radio Flyer wagon. It holds a hat, mandolin, cup of tea, plus apples and books. A birthday cake with one candle and a book titled “Radio Flyer” are on the ground

I am committed to life’s adventures. Everything I need for them is in the little red wagon in my above painting. And, look, the painting shows my road ahead, oh, the road ahead!

Here’s how the picture came about:

A Magical Red Wagon

A friend bought a wagon to haul books and art supplies from her car to the classroom in which she teaches.

Her wagon is very modern and grown-up. It is black canvas on a metal frame and folds up to fit in her car.

However, when she told me about it, the word wagon made me picture the wagons children had in my youth: A Radio Flyer. The image included a gleeful child pulling a red wagon.

This idea of sweet, childlike delight kept returning.

My friend’s enthusiasm about her new, very practical, grown-up tool was also childlike. Isn’t it wonderful to take delight in life’s little pleasures? They can appear wondrous. They add the magic of whimsy to my day.

I had to paint a picture.

Art helps me go on adventures. Here’s how:

Whimsy, Fun, and Magic Art

Whimsy, fun, and art are magic.

Whimsy, fun, and art are talismans:
They are lucky charms to make a good life,
amulets to overcome serious problems,
and talismans to wrap me in Divine love from Faerie Gods.
With all that, I have what I need for any adventure.

Whimsy, fun, and art help me embody my motto, Choose joy. Express yourself. Serve community. Trying to embody that motto is the best adventure I know.

The Fey Folk personify whimsy. No wonder I love Fey companionship.

Adventures can happen in the mundane or magical realm. I want to discuss otherworldly adventures. Read on.

Doors into Faerie Worlds
and an Enchanted Radio Flyer Wagon

Whimsy, fun, and art are doorways into Faerie worlds.

My magic wagon has everything I need for my next magical adventure:

* A magic hat that makes me invisible and is a talisman for good luck. I like being an invisible Faerie Witch sometimes.

* A cup of tea blessed by Fey Gods. The cup never empties. Its tea gives me spiritual and physical health.

* Magic apples from the Tree of Life. They give me power, insight, and joy.

* A book about the Radio Flyer wagon. It is an instruction manual in case the wagon breaks down in the other world. I am a practical Witch.

* A picture book of Art Deco masterpieces. Art is magic.

* My mandolin. Music is magic. When you express yourself, you choose joy and serve community. I enjoy making music for myself. And this music is magic that heals the Gods. I hope I will also get to make music for Faeries or other fellow travelers.

The cake next to the wagon has one candle to celebrate the birth of the universe, when all things were created. All things are one, so there’s one candle. I’ll eat a slice of the cake when I need to remember I’m part of the larger whole and it is part of me.

I will put a magic circle around the birthday cake before placing it in the wagon. The circle will protect the cake from getting squashed along the road. The magic circle will also keep the candle flame from being doused or setting my possessions on fire. I love believing in the impossible. And believing in the impossible is necessary for successful adventures, both worldly and otherworldly.

* Faerie Witch magic books. Those books came from my mind. Their magic spells remain in my memory, ready when needed to bless, guide, and protect me. The rituals help me to stay connected to the Gods no matter what and manifest my heart’s desires.

The magic books hold all wisdom and power. I surely cannot remember to add everything I will need in my cart. But when something is missing, it’ll be in the magic books. All wisdom and power is in each of us. Though I wrote these books, their magic is in all beings.

More Amulets and Other Tools
for Journeys in Faerie Worlds

Am I missing anything? Perhaps something else is needed to do practical spells during my magic adventure? Tell me in the comment field below. Ditto, if you want to find and share answers to my next questions.

Is something in the painting unseen, tucked behind the wagon’s other contents? If you suspect there is a hidden good luck charm, Druid’s stone, talisman to overcome awful problems, or other hidden magical tool, please tell me, so I can use it on my journey. Or is there a hidden practical tool that I might need for a mundane purpose?

If you went to a magic world, what would you need to bring that is not in my magic wagon?

I said that all knowledge and power are within, but I still ask friends what they think I might need. Here’s why: We may have everything within us, but that doesn’t mean we can access it. Power is a communal effort, instead of always a solitary quest. So I am open to suggestions.

Also, I ask you what you’d need in case it gives you an opportunity to delve inside for power you haven’t recognized in yourself, or have been forgetting to use.

I wish you could see better copies of the paintings. I reduced them so this page doesn’t take too long for you to load. But I am grateful because I get to use high-quality versions in handouts for my Witch classes. So mote it be!

A painting of a mandolin. Its turning pegs are flowers, and fanciful scrolls decorate its body

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Kitchen Magic, Faerie Witchcraft, Herbs, and Beauty

Posted on January 4, 2026 by Francesca De Grandis

Kitchen Magic, Faerie Witchcraft,
Herbs, and Beauty

Beauty Is Practical Magic

Beauty in everyday items enchants them and blesses the home.

Art as Talismans

My goal as a painter is to create art pieces that are also talismans.

How to Make Magic Art

There are many parts to creating art pieces that are talismans. Two are especially relevant to this post:

1) The act of creating beauty invokes magic. I am not talking about beauty that is measured by sexist, classist, or other ridiculous standards. Beauty comes from the heart.

And art doesn’t have to be expensive to be beautiful. A child’s drawing can be gorgeous in its sincerity.

Art doesn’t have to be perfect. Far from it. I have a high standard for my art, but I love anyone’s work if it comes from their heart.

2) I pour magic into my art. I use different methods with every piece. Trying to go with the flow is one of those methods. When I try to go with the flow, magic envelops me and enchants whatever I am doing. Two examples of going with the flow: If painting a piece will take me years, I will do that. Or, if I come up with a simple design only, I accept that as exactly what is needed, instead of assuming an elaborate painting would be better.

Making Beautiful, Magical, Everyday Objects

My art ornaments my newsletters, blogs, and books, to bless the work.

For newsletters and blogs, I have to reduce my art to small files, which are not the best quality reproductions of the work. But I don’t let perfectionism keep me from adding what beauty I can to my interactions. Perfectionism does not encourage magic.

And I do get to share crisp, detailed reproductions of my art in my digital books, as well as in handouts for the Faerie Witch classes I teach.

Enchanted Herb Labels

Herbs for magic, herbs for physical health, herbs for culinary purposes, … I love herbs.

I love herb labels. I look for any opportunity to adorn everyday objects. Art fills my home. Beauty blesses my home, kitchen magic, and everything else that occurs where I live. Labeling jars of herbs is another chance to add beauty to my home. The magic I pour into the art for the labels adds more blessings.

How to Make Enchanted Herb Labels

1) When drawing the labels, don’t be a perfectionist. Faeries love all sincere attempts at art. Do what you can, even if you only have a few minutes, and Faeries will bless you with good luck.

For example, I’m good at painting, but I’m not good at lining up paintings in a digital file. The labels in the photo at the top of the page are all in one digital file. I eyeballed the layout. The paintings may not be exactly lined up with each other. That makes them harder to cut precisely. But they look nice even if not cut perfectly. And so I might find a Faerie tap-dancing on top of my herb jars.

2) Go with the flow by using what is on hand. For example, maybe you have cardstock that is a pretty color. No need to paint; Use it as is. Or plain white cardstock can look lovely if you have pretty stickers to put on it.

3) Part of going with the flow and using what’s on hand could be looking through your old artwork to see if any of it is useful. My art for the above labels is mostly from 2025. It comes from various projects, ranging from Witch class handouts to pieces drawn for my personal use.

If you look at the above labels, you’ll see a real variety of pictures. It’s fun for me to see different styles on my herb jars.

I digitally reduced each painting to label size. When reduced a lot, details can get lost, and lines can get fuzzy. But the labels are pretty anyway and are a happy magic for my kitchen cupboard. So don’t be a perfectionist when looking through your art for what would be suitable.

4) This is a practical tip: Do not glue herb labels to jars. Glue is hard to wash off later. Instead, I punch a hole in the corner of a tag, string a pretty cord through the hole, write the name of an herb on the back of the card, and tie the cord around the jar that has that herb.

Free Talismans and Rituals

My newsletters announce free talismans. For example, I sent a Faerie Witch newsletter offering a free, high-quality, digital file of the labels in the above photo. Then newsletter subscribers can print the labels on card stock to make their own labels.

The newsletters also announce free monthly rituals. The rituals are on teleconferences (group phone calls). Magic transcends time and space so, during phone calls, we can walk between the stars together. So much magic happens!

More magic giveaways are coming. To stay informed about free rituals, talismans, or other gifts, subscribe to my newsletter:

Click here for newsletter. Fairy freebies, upcoming events, and stardust.

Magic is transformative art and political resistance. The Old Gods empower the fight for freedom. Faerie Shamanism is the exact opposite of colonizer culture. Joy is political. Joy is resistance. Choose joy. Express yourself. Serve community. —Francesca De Grandis, bestselling author of Be a Goddess. Shamanic guide teaching effective, practical magic. Faerie bard & painter

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