Faerie magic—Goddess witch spells—with Francesca De Grandis

Artists Like Money

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Francesca De Grandis

Artists like money.

We’re different from other people, who are above such minor considerations.

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Crazy like a fox? Share my insanity. Click here.

Posted in Art, Writing, and Music | Tagged above, artists, considerations, different, Francesca De Grandis, Francesca DeGrandis, minor, money, other, People | Leave a comment

Creativity and Trust

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Francesca De Grandis

Trusting the creative process, with all its starts and halts, confusions and contusions, is challenging. But it is needed to make visions come true.

We embody that trust by going with the flow; it pours from Divine Source, ensuring our creativity bear fruit. This lesson was brought home to me recently, while working on two major projects simultaneously.

This was a big undertaking. The last time I’d focused on two major (non-oral-tradition) projects simultaneously was 1998, releasing Be a Goddess! and my music album within a year of each other.

One of the new projects is a book, yet to be released. The other is the Faerie Ritual Set. My hope was to release both within six months of each other.

I’d gone back-and-forth between the two projects for a long time. When I needed a break from one of them, or one was with a friend for a critique, or whatever, I switched. I often worked on one in the background while truly focusing on the other.

Then I got a bad cold for a whole month, at a critical time—close to the book’s holiday release date. (Originally, the book was going to be released before the Faerie Ritual Set.) The month delay made a holiday release impossible. I decided an early spring release would still be ok.

So then I finished the book’s close-to-final-draft, and sent it to someone for pivotal final feedback. The project got delayed with him. Here is where I learned my lesson.

At first, his delay gave me the chance to catch up on rest and tidy my office. But continuing to wait would have created too long an empty time. Of course, emptiness can be awesome. Sometimes, the Universe halts our plans because we need to face the void or get rest or play with our pets or … (those are all part of the creative process). But this was not one of those times: My gut wisdom told me I had to move ahead.

But I couldn’t work on the Faerie Ritual Set, because it was in final stages, the immense creative elements of which I could not wrap my brain around while still mentally holding details about the impending final push on the book. A brain can only hold so much.

Argh, the book was almost done! It was my precious baby—the thought of stopping right at the finish line ripped at my heart.

I faced a choice. Should I whine and shake my fist at the sky, while stomping about in the remains of ruined plans? Should I continue to wait and waste months of my life?

Or should I trust the creative process, and go with the flow? Should I embody that trust—and flow—by finding a way to be productive, serving community instead of feeling miserably blocked, impaled by my navel-gazing about the trials of a creative personality?

It is easy to get lost in frustration, because creating is difficult in many ways. But all my hard work was no excuse for moping around waiting for the impossible! I temporarily forsook the book and finished up the Faerie Ritual Set.

It was just released. It exists, it is spectacular, and it is helping people. None of that would be true, if I had railed against the flow endlessly. The Faerie Ritual Set, too, is my baby—it wanted my attention, and it is thriving.

Yup, going with the flow embodies trust in the creative process. But we have to know what that actually look like in real life. Well, it can manifest in many (contradictory) ways. My tale illustrates three:

1) We might need to plow on, producing something useful to our community.

2) We might need to stop work for self-care, e.g., naps to get over a cold (or a vid binge when our brains stop functioning, LOL).

3) We might need to stick to a project over the longterm, which allows us to back away now and then: The book may be delayed until 2016. I’ve decided to move back to California. All the work of moving, along with my wonderfully full schedule of clients and students, are enough on my plate, for now. But the notes needed to finish the book are ready, and I will be too.

Naps. Hard work. Vid binges. A moratorium on moping. Getting work done when other work was not possible. These acts allowed me to feel incredible fulfillment through creating the Faerie Ritual Set. I will birth the book too, when its time comes.

Posted in Art, Writing, and Music | Tagged book, care, confusions, creative, creativity, De Grandis, DeGrandis, divine, faerie, finish, Francesca, Frustration, fulfillment, music, personality, Process, productive, ritual, Self, Set, source, trust, trusting | Leave a comment

I Do Not Seek War, But Dappled Light

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Francesca De Grandis

I Do Not Seek War, But Dappled Light

I see dappled light and go to rest in it. I am fierce, when needed. I live a warrior’s life, so know to seek peace when at all possible. There’s glory in war, but I do not seek war, only the glory that is mine for fighting well. I ignore petty jibes of a would-be warrior who longs for fights to distract himself from his own poor stature of spirit. Or who antagonizes others in hopes of stealing their position or their goods.

When I fight, I fight with clear conscience, and so can be ruthless in my tactics and my aim. I long for the day when I never fight again. But it will not happen until I reside in the Western Isle. This life has demanded I be a warrior though, in fact, I don’t have a warrior nature. I am a healer, a spiritual guide, a pagan artisan, a Faerie poet, a sensual baker, a gardener. I honed my fighting skills, studying with masters, to protect my healing work, my tribe, my culture, my hearth, and my herbs.

After battle, I revel in flowers that rain down on me in victory parades; I laugh, hugging the bard who improvises songs about my feats; and I boast of my prowess, pointing out my numbers and bravery. So I recognize when a claim of ferocity is not honest warrior bragging, but frightened posing by someone who may not even realize he feels powerless. I honor his fears, and might even protect him. But I recognize the danger: He will be quick to lash out at supposed injury or non-existent threat. Yes, I ignore his petty jibes; I ignore his antagonizing.

I see dappled light and find peace in it. Goddess, bless me.
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I am not a pacifist, but a warrior who prefers peace. Over decades—and lifetimes—of battle, I evolved a warrior philosophy for my personal use. The above piece represents part of it. To learn more of this philosophy and related battle skills, take the Third Road Spiritual Warrior class. To be notified when the class happens, sign up on my mailing list at www.stardrenched.com

Posted in Spirit | Tagged bard, bless, boast, clear, conscience, faerie, fierce, fighting, fights, glory, goddess, Isle, light, masters, pacifist, pagan, peace, philosophy, poet, ruthless, skills, spirit, spiritual, studying, tactics, victory, war, warrior, warriors, Western | 4 Comments

Art + Writing = Magic

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Francesca De Grandis

I’m often asked about my process as an artist. Ditto as a writer. So today I’ll discuss how they intertwined in one of my books, Sprinkling Faerie Dust on Breakfast.

Parents had told me about their hard time finding life tools for their kids to deal with our crazy world, e.g., school cliques, as well as an earth spirituality worldview that would also help their kids with such challenges. As part of this, the parents wanted simple relevant magics for their children.

So I decided to write a book to cover all that. But when choosing what sort of book to write, I try to make it as multifaceted as possible so that it is of maximum use. I spend a lot of time meditating on the best approach, as well as brainstorming with friends.

This led me to think about many parents being overly busy. I decided the book should be a 365: Parents could do just a tiny bit each day, which is a manageable way to teach earth-spirituality, life tools, and simple magics.

The next challenge was how to make this book concise but still deep and relevant. Coming up with life tools for children is no small undertaking.

More meditation led me to remember that one of my creative blocks is not recognizing what I’ve already accomplished and instead thinking I have to start all over. I remembered I’d already spent years creating life tools and a grounded philosophy, and also endlessly boiling down those sophisticated concepts into short accessible phrases. I love ideas and words-smithing!

It may seem odd that all the work I’d done did not come to mind initially. But, like I said, forgetting what I’ve already done is a creative block I have.

Mind you, I still needed to do an immense amount of writing, but some rough material already existed.

From what I’ve written above, you can see an important part of my creative process is taking my time. That allows things to develop fully.

In fact, another step was that my really high ideals gave me a nagging feeling I could add even more value to the book.

Continued meditation and brainstorming with parents made me see another pivotal support my friends needed: I wanted the book’s daily entries to nurture their offspring while simultaneously giving daily spiritual nurture to the parents.

Yup, this book needed to be complex yet easy and accessible.

At which point I realized the text would be great for ANY way-busy person who wants magical, loving days. Hence the last part of the book’s title. Here is the full title:

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

(The daily entry is usually brief—often only a sentence or two. And hence the front cover’s tag line: “Spiritual reading that fits into your day.”)

Patiently allowing things to develop, so I could bit by bit develop a vision of the project (and following through by working my butt off, LOL) resulted in a book I can be proud of.

I should add that self-publishing the book allowed me to make it truly multifaceted. Though I have been blessed that major houses and other established houses have published some of my very complex books, they have rejected twice as many as they accepted. I even got a rejection letter that said, “This book is too multifaceted. We could never get our executives to market it.” (I framed the rejection.)

Next, let’s look at where visual art wove into Sprinkling Faerie Dust on Breakfast. I wanted this book’s visual sensibility to suggest an ancient text discovered in a forgotten attic (but with a modern revisioning), so the pages would convey magic not just through their words but through their looks.

I love mystical, archaic texts, with their differently sized and shaped black-and-white ornamentations. I didn’t want my book to have the modern look of all identical pages or pages whose graphics always fit the same space. I wanted the old-fashioned look of each page being different.

So I learned to do layout and painted ornamentation for almost every page, all my original art. The ornamentations are different shapes and sizes. For each to fit into its page and to give each page a different feel, I had to lay out most pages individually.

It was a lot of work but it felt really important. I’d taken enormous care with the book’s text, honing concepts and language for years, and felt the book’s visual aspect should mirror that, and add another dimension of care, love, and magic to the project.

Also, both the title Sprinkling Faerie Dust on Breakfast and a daily mystical reading imply that spirituality and magic are part of life, not separate. I wanted the visual look of the book to convey that integration, because some folks learn from images, not just from words. The integration of lessons that fit gently into your day, instead of lessons that propose an unrealistic amount of spiritual and magical progress, allow us to actually move ahead and make positive changes.

One of the great things about taking a lot of effort with a project is that you learn a lot. You always keep growing.

Having learned so much about layout and ornamentation from doing Sprinkling Faerie Dust on Breakfast, I’m self-publishing another book soon which I’ve been able to ornament far more elaborately and in full color. I am really jazzed about the magical power of its ornamentation.

Sprinkling Faerie Dust on Breakfast is for pagan family reading, UUs, and alternative thinkers.

Please let me know what you think about this post.

Posted in Art, Writing, and Music | Tagged accepted, archaic, art, artist, block, book, books, brainstorming, Breakfast, Busy, challenges, children, cliques, complex, creative, daily, Dust, earth, faerie, kids, layout, letter, life, magic, magical, magical progress, magics, multifaceted, mystical, Parents, Process, Reader, rejected, rejection, relevant, school, self-publishing, simple, spiritual, spirituality, Sprinkling, text, texts, title, Tools, visual, worldview, write, writer, writing | Leave a comment

Filigree Fantasy, Pt Two

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Francesca De Grandis

This is blog part two on my new hobby: making fantasy jewelry from Victorian-styled and other vintage-style components.

Thank you for your supportive feedback on my first post about this. I feel encouraged to keep trying.

I was gonna make this stuff for me and a few friends only, but after your feedback, I might sell some eventually. Thanks muchly!

Today, I’m posting more of my initial designs—my beginner’s attempts—and sharing my creative process.

This is not a how-to. My designs are copyrighted.

Sharing my process may be more useful for you, to help you plan your own designs. You’ll love working with vintage-style components.

I’m sharing lots of my experiences today because I think, when we speak about our creative process, we help each other.

The piece in the first two pics is called Faerie Queen. The most recent I have a photo of, it’s also the first I feel is structurally sound, so I’m getting closer to making pieces to sell. (More below about needing to finesse some structural problems before I will sell this sort of jewelry.)

Unless noted otherwise, all the amazing metal components in these pics were purchased from Susan Street at VintageJewelrySupplies.com. Design your own pieces, with Susan’s great supplies.

Willie, note the vintage glass Japanese rose in the necklace. It is the one I’d said I would send you some of. It has a little hole in which I set a Swarovski rhinestone.

Willie, you sent me the green glass square!

(Willie Zuniga, bless her heart, surprised me with a gift of glass “gems,” gorgeous vintage buttons, and more. I’ve been busy coming up with ideas for this bounty.)

Constructing jewelry from metal components does not come naturally to me, the way fine-art freeform beadweaving does.

My learning disability makes this sort of work hard (but does not impact beadweaving), so it’s been a struggle making these pieces, technically speaking. You can imagine, therefore, that any praise thrilled me.

Most of the feedback is not here, since much of it happened in social media, so here is one example: Susan Street, a master at this sort of jewelry making, posted on her Facebook page, “Francesca tells me that she is a beginner. I would say that she was born for this. … beautiful work.”

Nope, not born for it, far from it, LOL. But soooo thrilled you think my work looks that way.

Bead weaving develops very different skills than needed for this work. (If I become adept at using metal components, I might combine the two approaches.)

Here’s an example of my beadweaving designs for comparison.

Creating new designs and figuring out technically how to implement them is taking lots of trial and error—I have to keep rethinking the construction. It’s been time-intensive.

But getting experience through experimenting suits me. As a hands-on learner, I figure out more about achieving the looks I want every time I attempt making a piece.

Do not let my challenges discourage you from trying your hand at using components—it would’ve been easy if I’d started by making simple items. I dived in at the deep end of the pool, wanting to wear elaborate pieces.

Start with simple stuff!

If you want a tutorial with simple earrings you can make, let me know.

The next piece, called Green Soul, gave me trouble. For one thing, it swings around to show its back. I do not mind, but don’t want that for my customers. (Yay, since then, I figured out how to create pieces that do not swing around.)

Since my personal learning style is hands-on and figuring things out as I go, I’d make a small purchase, to see how things went once I got my hands on the items. That would show me the right items to order next, to finish pieces I was working on.

Plus, experimenting helped me get clear enough to ask the right questions, about what supplies would suit the designs I was developing. Susan very kindly responds to technical questions, with detailed answers.

Sometimes simple stuff waylays me, eg not knowing what type jump ring would not be pulled apart by the heavy weight cabochon I wanted to use. (I’d never used jump rings with a cabochon. Instead, I’d weave the cabochon’s setting and bail out of seed beads, like in the above beadweaving. In fact, the cab in question is just like the one in the above beadweaving: quite heavy.) Susan promptly addressed my question about jump rings.

Though I’ve been copyrighting the designs, I didn’t initially envision myself selling this sort of jewelry. I was clearly fooling myself, LOL.

But thus far, each piece except Faerie Queen has a structural problem that I don’t mind for myself but would never foist off on a customer.

Nothing wrong with a high standard for what I sell.

I have to keep reminding myself that I’m a beginner with this stuff. I started making this style jewelry less than three months ago. To some extent, I’m developing my own way of structurally putting these pieces together but, if my experience with fine art bead-weaving is an example, I’ll eventually design sound structures, then I can sell items.

The above piece is called Woven Safely with God, and kind of a started this whole journey. I love fluorite beads for metaphysical reasons, but wanted something fancier than the fluorite necklaces I’d been wearing. I also had a 40 x 30 fluorite cabachon that is not attractive. So I tucked it inside a filigree I’d folded, where it peeks out nicely.

A few structural problems I am learning to fix:

1) My initial pieces do not always hang right when worn. For example, the fleur-de-lis on Grande Dame (see it in the first blog) flips behind the pink glass sometimes. I do not mind fussing with it when I wear it, but a customer shouldn’t have to do that. And one of the other pieces twists in a way I can easily untwist but someone not as crafty would have trouble.

2) I am new to using glue the ways needed in this sort of jewelry making. And I just do not understand glue! I do not trust it!

The glue I have is used by artisans who sell high end jewelry, but my learning disability makes glue a mystery! I am going to wear some pieces I made a long time before I trust the way I use the glue will hold fast.

Time and experiments will make a big diff, but it is frustrating. Eg, I spent a good many hours on what I thought was finally a salable structure. It did not work. Aargh.

Do not be deterred when frustrated. Share my new addiction for Susan’s ornate components.

I’ve spent hours exploring her inventory, to find more and more pieces to implement my fey visions.

I’ve also spent hours reading her free technical lessons as I play with supplies I ordered.

The lessons are filled with technical gems. Repeated reading helps me catch things I’d originally missed—I can be slow to understand mechanical and spacial stuff.

It was on her instructional site I got the idea to kinda hide the not-so-great fluorite cabochon. (I am committed to attributing source!)

The next piece is called “Ssshhh, Faerie Queen,” as in “Do not tell anyone its wearer is Queen of Faerie.”

The above bail is made from a piece Susan suggests folding in half as a bail. I did it a bit differently: After folding it in half, I rolled the back half into a tube, for a more secure bail.

I made the bail big so it could be used as a pendant or on a stick pin. The stick pin in the picture is not from Susan’s shop, but everything attached to the little bead hanging off the end of the stick pin is purchased from her.

I wrapped filigree around the green “gem.” I love how it glistens, peeking through the filigree. I learned how to filigree wrap from Susan’s lessons and from trial and error.

I had to solve many technical hurdles myself—such is the way of creating new designs and learning a craft. But Willie generously answered tech questions too.

Willie even suggested a few filigrees that would wrap the way I needed for some of my designs. Willie, all these designs were made before your filigree wrapping tips in our recent conversations, so I should only improve from here.

2019 update: my friend Willy passed on recently. She will be sorely missed. Her innovative jewelry and kind spirit brought joy to many people. Willie’s daughter, Melania, carries on her mom’s legacy, so folks can continue to wear Willie’s innovative designs: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MorningGloryLegacy

Thanks for sharing my creative journey. Let me know which of my experiences help you. Big hugs.

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Posted in Art, Writing, and Music | Tagged answers, artisans, bail, bead, beadweaving, blog, buttons, cabochon, components, construction, creative, designs, detailed, disability, earrings, elaborate, end, experimenting, faerie, fantasy, fey, Filigree, fine-art, fix, free, freeform, glass, Glue, hands-on, high, hobby, how-to, implement, Japanese, jewelry, journey, learning, Lessons, metal, necklace, ornate, pendant, pieces, problems, Process, purchase, queen, questions, rhinestone, rose, sell, simple, skills, structural, supplies, Susan Street, Swarovski, technical, technically, Tutorial, Victorian-styled, vintage, vintage-style, VintageJewelrySupplies.com, visions, weaving, wrap, wrapped | 2 Comments

Filigree Fantasy

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Francesca De Grandis

I started a jewelry designing adventure in March, which I have to share.

I wanted to design elaborate fantasy necklaces for myself.

A Victoriana lover, I began working with Victorian-styled and other vintage-style components. This post has some of my initial designs using the components, even though they’re my beginner’s attempts. (These are not for my shop, I’m just having fun for now.)

I couldn’t get the photos I wanted of the above piece: you can’t see the pink pendant’s luscious color and sparkle peek through the fleur-de-lis. I call this necklace Grande Dame: it is quite a large piece; see the insert in the next picture. Some of the beads are probably Swarovski; I am unsure bc I upcycled them.

Unless noted otherwise, all the amazing metal components in these pics were purchased from Susan Street, at VintageJewelrySupplies.com

One thing that drew me to vintage-style stampings and similar components is that people reshape them—or even cut them apart—to set stones, make bails, and adorn stones. I drew on those techniques in the design below. I call it Cowgirl Faerie Queen, LOL. I feel very special wearing it!

The bail of Cowgirl Faerie Queen is filigree I rolled into a large tube, so I can hang the piece as a pendant or necklace. I also wrapped a filigree around the main stones to set them. Then I cut apart a vintage-style pressing and wrapped the portions around the pendant for ornamentation. The stick pin in the picture is not from Susan’s shop, but everything attached to the little bead hanging off the end of the stick pin is purchased from her.

Making jewelry from the components is a blast! And wearing the pieces makes me feel otherworldly and very fancy. 🙂

But designing and constructing the pieces is completely different from what I’m used to—fine art beadweaving. There’s been a real learning curve. A lot of experimentation was necessary. The following example of my beadweaving designs is for comparison.

My point is, its handful of medium size beads aside, this bracelet is lotsa tiny beads, woven together much like lace is made, with very thin thread. Beadweaving entails different skills and structural designs from those required in my new adventure, e.g., reshaping filigree in a way it becomes a secure stone setting.

The design below is called Gentle Soul. The enamel floral element is a sterling silver earring of my mom’s, the mate of which was lost. I was afraid to clip off its back, in case I wouldn’t be able to integrate it into a new piece, and would’ve ruined this beautiful old earring. But I am glad I clipped. I glued it to filigree I had rolled into a bail.

Gentle Soul has some tiny beads that I think are Swarovski. The red bead on the bottom is from a necklace I purchased decades ago. The wee blue bead below it is probably vintage east Indian. I wish the photo captured how the large blue stone glistens!

The next one is called Green Magic. This too has a bail made from a filigree wrapped into a tube, so I can wear it as a pin or a pendant. Willie, this is one of the stones you gifted me!

Willie, all these designs were made before you gave me filigree wrapping tips in our recent conversations. Equipped with your tips, I should get better at this.

Susan and Willie kindly answered technical questions, when I had a design concept but couldn’t figure out how to do certain techniques in order to execute my design.

If you want to design your own pieces, buy great supplies at Susan’s shop.

If you prefer purchasing finished pieces, look at Willie Zuniga’s beautiful jewelry. She’s a master at this sort of component building and has the most amazing aesthetic awareness. 2019 update: my friend Willy passed on recently. She will be sorely missed. Her innovative jewelry and kind spirit brought joy to many people. Willie’s daughter, Melania, carries on her mom’s legacy, so folks can continue to wear Willie’s innovative designs: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MorningGloryLegacy

I’ve more initial attempts. I’ll post their pics soon with details of my learning process, in case that’s useful to you. Thank you for sharing my fantasy adventure!

Dear reader: Though my above designs were not for sale—I was making jewelry to wear myself—I do make enchanted jewelry available exclusively to my newsletter subscribers. Subscribe for free here: https://outlawbunny.com/newsletter/.

Posted in Art, Writing, and Music | Tagged adorn, aesthetic, apart, art, awareness, bail, bails, bead, beads, beadweaving, components, concept, constructing, Cowgirl, cut, design, designing, designs, earring, elaborate, element, enamel, experimentation, faerie, fantasy, Filigree, fine, fleur-de-lis, floral, Gentle, glued, Green, jewelry, learning, magic, metal, necklace, necklaces, ornamentation, otherworldly, pendant, pieces, pin, pressing, reshape, reshaping, rolled, secure, Set, setting, skills, soul, stampings, stick, stone, stones, structural, style, Susan Street, Swarovski, technical, techniques, Tips, tube, upcycled, Victorian-styled, Victoriana, vintage, vintage-style, VintageJewelrySupplies.com, Willie Zuniga, wrapped, wrapping | 19 Comments

Authenticity with Strangers

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Francesca De Grandis

Authentic connections can happen with strangers, if one is true to oneself. I recently encountered a beautiful soul. The experience brought home the importance of risking being yourself. Here’s the story.

Cindy commissioned a spirit portrait. Aside from a handful of online communications, she and I did not know each other yet.

I titled her portrait Heart of Stars. (I was thrilled when, channeling the painting, it turned into a picture-poem. Sometimes, when images come to me, they are accompanied by a new poem.) Here it is, followed by the rest of the story.

It was amazing getting to know this lovely spirit while channeling her soul portrait. Nevertheless, painting the piece and creating its words were a little scary, because I was trying to portray a little bit of a soul—the soul of someone I do not know. I worried. What if my perception was wrong and she hated the painting?

But, whew, here’s Cindy’s response to her portrait:

“Oh Francesca, thank you thank you, the painting is how I see my secret self, you are totally amazing! I thought about what I could give you and this poem I wrote last year when I was staying in Gualala you might know it tiny town on northern ca coast

So many stars, I feel small
Then I remember connection with
Goddess, tears come to my eyes
Our Gods power is strong
The Mystery is always with us
Beauty is everything
Beauty is everywhere
Mother I give my life to you
I am special in your eyes
I am worthy Mother
For I am your reflection
I am your eyes, your hands, your heart
I wish to do your will
I want to live my life in unity with you
To live in motion with the word
And the word is you

Thank you again for the painting.
Love, Cindy”

Cindy’s words, filled with heart and beauty, and also touching on things dear to me, such as serving our gods, affirmed an important lesson: When I risk expressing what feels authentic to me, the cosmos responds with its own authenticity. The profound relationship between Cindy’s poem and the portrait picture-poem, as well as the similarity in our worldviews, demonstrate beautiful connectivity, made possible because she and I both risked expressing ourselves.

Painting a spirit portrait is a great privilege, because I get to glimpse a person’s inner beauty. Everyone has immense inner light. But we may not see it unless we risk showing our own inner self (which, in my case, was painting Cindy’s portrait, because it was my heartfelt view of her).

Just be you. Authentic connections can happen with strangers. Then, as with Cindy and I, we are not strangers anymore.

Posted in Art, Writing, and Music, Spirit, The Whole Thing | Tagged authentic, Authenticity, beautiful, beauty, channeling, connections, connectivity, heart, inner, painting, poem, portrait, soul, spirit, stars, Strangers | Leave a comment

A Constellation of Love

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Francesca De Grandis

CnstlatnOfLuv

A Constellation of Love
Faerie Contemplation

You need not suffer alone, in your wanting to
be a light for the world.
Many of us shine
shoulder to shoulder with you.
Even if you never meet us.
We’re a constellation of stars.
Each stellar luminescence
brightens all other stars in the sky.
Despite storm and clouds,
our combined glow permeates Gaia.

No effort to love is alone.
All love is supported by immense love.

Stardusted traveler,
thank you for shining next to me.

————–

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Posted in Community, Spirit | Tagged Alone, brightens, clouds, Constellation, contemplation, faerie, Gaia, glow, immense, light, love, luminescence, permeates, shine, shining, sky, stardusted, stars, stellar, storm, traveler | Leave a comment

The Muse Loves Fools

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Francesca De Grandis

If you cannot view the above graphics:

The Muse Loves Fools:
Tips to Overcome Writer’s—or Another Creative—Block

Many people wait for inspiration before they start writing, and hence never express themselves (or not as much as they might wish). Just write—then inspiration will come.

The act of writing invokes the Muse, because writing requires the willingness to throw yourself into the void. Go into the empty spaces that She loves to fill.

(Or, if you prefer, the act of writing opens a channel inside you, through which your deepest thoughts and feelings can surface.)

Yes, sometimes Muse (our deep self) inspires us before we ever write—but not as much. Once you start to write, She blesses you even in the moments you’re not writing. She’ll visit you constantly with creative ideas and impulses, hound you night and day—because you are now in the void. You were brave, you were foolish, you made a commitment to start from nothing. The Muse loves brave, committed fools who risk juggling nothingness.

If you are creatively blocked not as a writer but in another way, adapt the above advice to the art form in question.

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Posted in Art, Writing, and Music | Tagged advice, art, block, blocked, commitment, committed, creative, creatively, empty, express, fools, ideas, impulses, inspiration, Invokes, loves, Muse, nothing, nothingness, overcome, risk, start, thoughts, Tips, void, willingness, write, writer, Writers, writing | 2 Comments

Faerie magic—Goddess witch spells—with Francesca De Grandis

Artists Like Money

Creativity and Trust

I Do Not Seek War, But Dappled Light

Art + Writing = Magic

Filigree Fantasy, Pt Two

Filigree Fantasy

Authenticity with Strangers

A Constellation of Love

The Muse Loves Fools

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Hey, Francesca! The transmission I received from you a couple of years ago helped heal a gallbladder issue I’d had for years! I was told I’d need surgery, and was in pain, but not anymore! Love you.—Sandra

The transmission was… well… magick! I felt a boost in my emotions as well as my sense of prosperity! I experienced physical and emotional releases. My awareness moved further back and I could see a bigger picture.—Eric Dunn

Loving, powerful, and most importantly, a SAFE spiritual teacher ... always turning me back to myself, to my own deep knowing.—Shea

It was an eye opener, I’ve grown in ways I didn’t know were possible and I was so grateful to be able to work with her!—Catherine Mills

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