Do What You Believe In, Speak from Your Heart, and Don’t Let Judgmental Responses Stop You

Posted on January 3, 2020 by Francesca De Grandis

Do What You Believe In,
Speak from Your Heart,
and Don’t Let Judgmental Responses Stop You

When being yourself and expressing yourself sincerely, it can feel awful to be met with scorn, judgement, or utter dismissal. For example, recently, I reached out from the bottom of my heart to help a person, and they thought it was mere marketing on my part. Their reaction hurt my heart.

Sincerity, passion, and devotion to high ideals are often mistaken for hype or suspected of having hidden motives.

Lately, I find myself following up my remarks with assurances like I really meant that or I said that from my deep in my heart, and other statements that assure someone I’d expressed sincere sentiments to them.

Today’s preponderance of fake remarks makes it easy to believe someone’s remarks are insincere.

For example, online support is too often empty. When someone posts about a major problem, it costs only 20 seconds to answer, “I wish I was nearby so I could help you.” Sometimes that is sincerely said, but more often it is cheap and disheartening.

In the same vein, we’re assaulted by self-help shams exclaiming with adrenalized hype that their services produce perfect results. This greed-driven onslaught can make one suspicious of a sincere self-help practitioner’s passionate declaration of the worth of their work.

Social media is mired with posts drenched in artificial enthusiasm about the day’s event, making it hard to believe that anyone’s excitement is real.

So, as I said, I find myself saying over and over again things like, “I really meant that.”

The preponderance of falsities engenders skepticism that isolates people from each other, and makes it hard for sincere practitioners and other sincere folks to get their message across.

Anyone who knows me well sees that some of my greatest loves are serving my tribe as a shaman, creating innovative material to do so, and getting to witness how my students (or call them clients, if you prefer) unfold into new levels of beauty, brilliance, and joy as a result. In the midst of online marketing hype, how can I get across that results of participating in my events truly are amazing?

Amidst the barrage of online pseudo-support, how can I express that I truly truly care about my community members? (Yes, my students are not a “market” to me. They are my community, even if they decide to work with me only briefly.)

Amidst constant verbal expressions of love that amount to no more than a cheap L.A. I love ya, babe, how can anyone who is first getting to know me believe that I jump through hoops long-distance to support my students in crisis?

Do you find yourself with the same problem? In other words, do you feel surrounded by so much fake sentiment that, when you express true caring for community or the high ideals that you diligently strive toward in your work, or you otherwise express your most sincere self, your words are mistaken for the cheap remarks typically spouted by fakes? I’ll give you the same reassurances I give myself:

People who are ready for the real deal will sense it in you. If you express your passion, your high ideals, your caring, then people with high ideals, passion, and caring will gravitate toward you. I know this to be true because it describes the majority of my clients.

More about Speaking from the Heart,
Despite What Other People Might Think

I was hesitant to publish my above thoughts after I wrote them out. I feared I would, once again, be misunderstood. But I determined to post anyway. Then my friend, Jenn Campus, posted online about needing to let go of what people thought of her. I realized it was important to risk sharing everything above, to support individuals like her and me.

I am grateful she brought up the topic of speaking what you need to. My tribe has the best and bravest people! I constantly bring up the topic, too, but it’s so nice that I’m not the only one!

She and I had a lovely online chat, which also served as a chance to write down more of my thoughts on the topic, so I’ve added them here, expanding on them, in case you find it useful:

For decades I’ve said what I felt needed to be said, and tried to let go of what other people might think about it, but I resolved to bring it to a new level. Here’s one thing that came up for me around all that:

When speaking from the heart, I don’t always have the right words for it, right then and there, so I might say something that isn’t quite what I mean. Then I become afraid I’ll be judged for something I didn’t mean to say in the first place.

I asked one of my students who is a psychic for a reading about that. She assured me I can trust that, when I say something other than what I actually mean, there are people who will understand me anyway.

I thought about how, when one of my students can’t find the words for something during a class, I suggest, “Just say it to us badly.” Whatever they say makes perfect sense to us, almost always!

I need to give myself the same permission I give them.

I also remembered an old story of two people sitting on donkeys. While the two people were talking, the donkeys were nuzzling. When I’m talking to my tribe, our words may not always be exactly what we need to say, but our hearts are intertwined in understanding the actual meaning of the words.

My friend who read for me also suggested I continue to use discretion about who I let my guard down with. My analogy: some people, sitting on their donkeys, are so busy judging that they are not paying attention to the donkeys or anything that we’re really trying to say. Such folks are looking for something to judge.

A while back, a real turnaround realization for me occurred. The people looking for something to judge? If they can’t find it, they’ll fabricate it. In other words, it doesn’t matter what I say or do, they’re going to judge me anyway, so I might as well get on with the business of living and loving, making myself and anyone else I can happy. … Hm, I think I wrote about this in one of my online courses. … Sorry, I digress.

Ahahaha, I have to correct myself, and tell myself:

I didn’t digress. The online course in which I mentioned the challenge of speaking my truth was probably a course about traditional Italian witchcraft. Speaking what is needed—for example, reaching out to help someone—and dealing with the blocks to that heart-filled expressiveness are part of traditional witchcraft. For one thing, when we speak from the heart, it is a tune the Old Gods enjoy so much that They start dancing to it. And that dance spins blessings that shower upon us.

Some magic teachers define witchcraft in ways that divide it up in to tiny narrow boxes that restrict people, limiting their power and and the blessings the Gods are trying to send them. Instead, I believe magic is the all encompassing interaction of everyone’s donkeys and all the other atoms of the universe, constantly empowering us and otherwise blessing us. That weave includes my witchy lessons looking at the issue of speaking one’s heart-truth.

Ah, I am laughing in delight. Isn’t it wonderful how, when we speak our truth, it flows from one related topic to the next, in the weave of life? So mote it be!

Affirmation for Speaking from the Heart
and Letting Go of What Other People Think

I speak my heart.

I let go of how anyone responds.

“What other people think is none of my business.” *

My heart deserves to sing.

There are people who need to hear my heart song.

I listen for the heart
that might be hidden beneath someone’s words.
I pay attention, lest I overlook anyone’s heart song.
I need to hear these melodies.

I am blessed by a tribe of heart-singers.

I pour out my heart-song, whatever it may be,
whatever form it takes.

It is a tune the Old Gods enjoy
so much that They dance to it.
Their raucous jig spins blessings
that shower upon me.
So mote it be!

* The slogan What other people think is none of my business has been in the self-help community for decades. I do not know who first said it.

Dear reader, I hope some part of this was useful. If not, at least accept the love with which it was said: nuzzling donkeys.

In that spirit, I celebrate this: the decision to speak truth and listen for the heart beneath friends’ words empowers that decision in everyone else who chooses to make it. In other words, in the all-encompassing weave of the universe’s magic, each person who makes this decision thereby has made it easier for someone else who has made that decision to implement it.

You can always speak your truth to me.

Nwsltr2017B

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Insomnia, Obligations, and Sunrise

Posted on December 4, 2019 by Francesca De Grandis

Insomnia, Obligations,
and Sunrise

Insomnia is horrible, but it taught me I have the right to use my time however I choose. I wrote a Hecate Goddess prayer to claim my power and sleep better.

Someone who’s never suffered from longterm sleep deprivation can easily think insomniacs are making a big deal about nothing. Lack of sleep can be hell, causing serious problems. E.g., at one point, it debilitated me to such an extent that a minor infection was able to grow into a major infection, and a hospital stay was avoided only by hours. Luckily, in those few hours, the infection finally turned around.

Sleeplessness is terribly misunderstood. An insomniac friend of mine was actually told, “If you just put in a good day’s work, you’d be tired enough at night to fall asleep right away.” My friend is one of the hardest workers I have ever met and, if anything, needs to take a lot more time off work, not less. Sometimes I wonder if he is running on pure adrenaline in order to get through his far-too-long workday, so at night is too amped up to sleep.

There’s a world of misinformation on the topic, which doesn’t help when someone is desperately asking, “Why can’t I sleep?” E.g., insomniacs are too often told that if they managed stress better, so had less anxiety, they could sleep. Argh! While tension and worry can ward off sleep, or be a partial cause, there are other common causes, some of which are purely physical. I’m grateful that, over a decade ago, a physician explained the physical reason for my insomnia (something about my kidneys, if memory serves), as opposed to there being a psychological component. The doctor treated the physical problem with herbs for nine months, and then the insomnia left for about 15 years.

But it returned. Badly. I am waiting for the herbal treatment I am again doing to kick in.

If you have experienced the nightmare of insomnia, I encourage you to find whatever gift insomnia can give you. The proposal that a hellish time can have a beneficial aspect is not meant to make light of a bad situation. I simply believe I have to find life’s gifts wherever they are.

Here’s a story about a gift sleeplessness gave me:

The Freedom of Being Awake All Night

November 2, 2019

Unremitting insomnia has necessitated late rising, whenever possible, so that I don’t become seriously ill from lack of sleep; Multiple Sclerosis symptoms are badly exacerbated by exhaustion.

However, last night’s rest was long and lovely. Then, I rose in the wee hours this morning.

It was still dark. I moved slowly and happily through the house, as I said morning prayers, tended to my feline familiar, planned my day, and made breakfast. A cozy, quiet, blessed time.

Then the sun started to come up.

At sunrise, my body began to leave itself—reaching out, energetically speaking, to go who knows where, with no decision on my part that departure should occur—as if I do not have a right to my own being. As if I have no right to remain within myself.

When awake throughout the night, I feel no obligations, am not accountable to anyone or anything, not even to my far-fetched ideas of what I owe myself. I use my sleepless hours as I please.

However, when sunlight returns, some part of me believes I must give myself away more than is healthy, leaving nothing within.

Self-ownership is a human right; I’m mine, to do with as I wish.

To be clear: my feeling free of obligations and accountability in middle of the night doesn’t mean I shirk responsibilities or forsake morals. Quite the opposite. I always go the last nine yards for my students and other friends. And morals are vital to me, not only for their own sake, but also because nonethical behavior can seriously hurt the person doing it. I’m light-years from perfect, but I have high moral ideals that I work hard to achieve.

I believe in giving all of myself away. However, only by owning all of self do I have all of self to give.

It is only in giving all of self that one finds all of self.

But, paradoxically, one must not give too much of oneself.

Addressing the physical, spiritual, and emotional aspects of a problem can be an effective combination. Along with the herbal treatment, I wrote an affirmation and a Hecate Goddess prayer to claim my power and sleep better.

I chose Hecate because She supports us to claim our power, stands at the crossroads where inner change can occur, and loves both the night and the day. Her love of both night and day is not commonly known, but She told me about it Herself.

Affirmation to Claim Sovereignty and Sleep

I affirm:

I have the right to use my time however I choose.

I have the right to control my own life.

Today, as the sun rises, I stay within my own being,
as much as I choose. I deserve to own my self.

Self-ownership is a human right;
I have a right to my—my!—being;
I am mine, to do with as I wish.

I indulge myself.
I take care of myself.

From self-ownership, self-sovereignty, and self-care
spring the perfect abilities to fulfill duties to community.

Maintaining full selfhood fosters choices that
most effectively serve community.

In owning all of self,
then I have all of self to give.

My days and my nights are my days and my nights.
I sleep well, in Hecate’s cozy, loving protection.

So mote it be!

Note: Hecate is known for dealing with the underworld. So someone might be surprised by my finding Hecate’s protection cozy. However, She’s too often portrayed as one-sided, as opposed to Her incredibly multifaceted Self. I can turn to Her for everything. Contrary to popular belief, She is not restricted to the underworld, nor to fierce behavior. She has power in all domains and is as gentle as She is fierce.

Hecate Prayer for Sleep and Control of My Own Life

I pray:

Goddess Hecate, please keep me mindful that
daylight does not take away my rights.

Goddess, please keep reminding me
that my joy is important.
Teach me how to fall asleep.
Guide and protect my nights that I might sleep well.

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Protected: Newsletter Subscribers Exclusive: Elle Qui Oracle

Posted on November 8, 2019 by Francesca De Grandis

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Upcoming Event

Posted on November 7, 2019 by Francesca De Grandis

Update: significant changes were made to Magic Makes the Holidays Better. Here they are:
* New enrollment deadline is this Tuesday, November 26.
* We start a week later than originally planned.
* There will be five storytelling rituals instead of three.
* The event lasts five weeks instead of three.
* So you receive direct spiritual transmissions for five weeks instead of three!
* You receive one email boost a week instead of five.

All these changes have been entered in the event description below:

Magic Makes the Holidays Better:
Ritual, Enchanted Stories,
Pagan Music, and More

Magic makes life better. It’s as simple as that. I’ve spent my life choosing to be drenched in magic because the Old Gods gave us the otherworldly arts to improve our lives.

Enroll in Magic Makes the Holidays Better, to enter a magical holiday realm, a five-week immersion in sacred Mysteries, love, and joy that’ll make the season better.

This enchanted winter realm fosters emotional well-being, abundance, effectiveness for fulfilling responsibilities (responsibilities both to others and to self), physical health, serenity, spiritual vigor, and other blessings.

Drawing on my shamanic skills and creative art backgrounds, I designed five elements—including ritual, stories, and music—to create this realm. I’ll weave these elements together to envelop you in winter magic and the Old Gods’ love.

Here’s more about the five enchanted arts that can create a special holiday season for you:

1) Five half-hour rituals. A half hour once a week fits into a busy schedule. There’ll be one ritual a week, for five consecutive weeks, starting December 1. To attend them live, just dial your phone. These rites are via group-phone-calls.

If you don’t know already: a lot of energy can be shifted in a half hour. Oh, my Goddess!

Each rite includes an original wintertime Faerie tale. It’s not a Faerie tale as most people understand the term. Each Faerie tale I’ll tell is a magical spell—these tales are truly enchanted. Written for grown-ups, they nonetheless have a childlike fancy that spins magic.

Just snuggle down, listen to my tale, and go along with the mood of the story. Easy! I do the work for you, drawing on my understanding of magic and my bardic abilities to spin stories that enchant us. All you have to do is listen, and the tales’ words weave blessings, bestowing them on you and your life. These blessing include the benefits mentioned above—e.g., peace and prosperity—and more.

Each meeting can be your guilty pleasure–let me take care of you—to lessen stress and feelings of being overwhelmed, so you can be more relaxed, confident, and gracious in the week ahead.

2) Inspirational missives that nurture, calm, and enchant. These once-a-week emails are part of how I’ll maintain a sacred embrace that surrounds you with good fortune regarding your dearest goals and otherwise supports you throughout the season. Each message is brief, so you can read quickly and then go about your day, better off for it.

When the five weeks ends, the goodness continues. Such an immersive experience of yummy energy can shift our cells and our circumstances, as well as create a magical momentum that helps maintain that shift and further it. This is big.

3) Direct spiritual transmissions. They’re easy to receive. You don’t have to meditate or do anything else. Go about your day, while I do the magic for you!

I can’t say how anyone else defines a direct spiritual transmission. Here’s what it means for me:

My transmissions invoke the Old Gods’ love, helping it encompass you. Their generous, compassionate love is the essence of magic, so adapts to foster what you need, whether that’s healing of Seasonal Affective Disorder, other physical healing, emotional healing, serenity, abundance, power, safety, something else, or several things. If your needs keep changing, the transmissions address them. The transmissions also add a boost to anything positive you do.

You receive a transmission four days a week for five weeks, plus a transmission during the group meetings. That’s five a week for five weeks!

4) Recordings of original Pagan holiday music. Download three different songs. I had a bestselling music album. I tell you that so you know I have a strong musical background, which I drew on to write the three holiday pieces.

I expect to have great fun recording them. They’ll be recorded specially for this event, and will definitely embody kitchen magic and homespun art: though I’ll probably need to do several takes of each song, keeping at it until I create a recording worthy of sending to you, the final recordings will be completely unedited; I’m using lo-fi equipment and possibly recording in my actual kitchen. It’ll be as if you and I are visiting at my hearth.

As part of how I’ll facilitate an immersion in winter magic, the songs help us remain moving to the music of cosmos and connected to love from the Old Gods.

5) One-on-one support by phone. I’m available, should you want to privately discuss concerns that come up for you regarding the event.

The transmissions, music, inspirational emails, and group rites with their Faerie tales—plus one-on-one talk by phone, if you need that—all touch people in different ways, making a multifaceted immersion in magic.

Embraced by enchantment, you’re more able to find power, nurture, and joy, no matter what challenges your day brings. Also, the magics I spin—not only the transmissions but all of this event’s elements—meet you where you are, adapting to your needs, e.g., if you want major transformation, in and around you. This immersion can create a lot of positive changes for you.

No experience needed. But even advanced practitioners should find this journey well worth their time.

We’ll meet to do ritual on Sundays, 3:00 to 3:30 pm EST, for five consecutive weeks, starting December 1. In the unlikely event that unexpected circumstances make me unavailable for one of our meetings, please reserve January 5, same time, for a makeup meeting. In the same vein, if I can’t send some of the recordings or support emails as scheduled, you’ll receive them the week after the event.

Full cost: $250. That includes five ceremonies, five weeks of spiritual transmissions, five inspirational emails, recordings of three Pagan songs, and the option of one-on-one support by phone. Your carrier might charge you for phone calls into the ceremonies. Pay securely with PayPal:




Upon payment, your place is reserved. You receive event details—e.g., the phone number to dial to participate in the meetings—by email. No refunds. To discuss a payment plan, trade, scholarship, or semi-scholarship, or if you have other concerns about the event, do phone me.

Are you wondering how you can manage the holidays, let alone enjoy them? This down-to-earth Fey-touched program is tailored to you.

And it is not overwhelming. This won’t be one more frenetic item added to your holiday schedule. You’ll enjoy gentleness and peace, coupled with carefully-crafted support.

A goodly number of individuals who experienced an immersion I created called the results miraculous.

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A Review of Field Guide to Garden Dragons: Deck and Book Set

Posted on October 24, 2019 by Francesca De Grandis

A Review of Field Guide to Garden Dragons:
Deck and Book Set

Artwork by Stanley Morrison
Field Guide by Arwen Lynch
Includes 46 cards and 138 page guidebook

I just had to have this deck.

Given that I’ve been a professional psychic since the early ‘80s, it might seem odd that I rarely buy a new deck. But I’ve collected so many over the years, plus have made a good number of my own divination tools. What I already own works wonderfully for me. No reason to mess with it.

And there’s just no physical space for more. Or so I thought.

A photo of this deck on Instagram grabbed my heart and imagination. I come from a long line of dragons, all of whom have a great sense of humor and adore the whimsical. That’s one reason Stanley’s art for the deck appealed to me bunches.

But there was another reason. As I said, my ancestors were dragons. I am the daughter of a savvy powerful dragon. This insider view means dragon art and literature can easily seem lacking to me, perhaps even pretentious. By contrast, the Instagram photo of this deck rang a tone that I recognized. It rings in my heart and bones. These cards were authentic. Stanley had, either consciously or subconsciously, tapped into something 100% real.

My anticipation about receiving the package was huge. When it arrived, I waited a couple of days before opening it, until I could give it the attention I felt it deserved. I was right to do that. When I opened the box, I was not disappointed.

I was enchanted, in the true sense of the word. Everything, from the charming booklet, with its diminutive size, beautiful palette, and lovely cover, to the back of the cards, exuded a magic of beauty and love. What I’m describing in this paragraph happened before I even read the text or looked at the cards’ fronts.

Then, looking at those fronts, each of which has a picture of a different dragon, was like looking at long lost friends. Every dragon critter greeted me with delight about our renewed acquaintance.

Not that I knew these critters the way the deck and book will now allow. For example, many of the visual details that Stanley portrayed were new to me. And I did not know that this critter here was an Artichoke dragon, or that this other critter was an Apple Dragon. I know a lot about dragons, in detail. In detail. But here I was reading a book explaining all sorts of details I didn’t know, such as a food a certain dragon likes, and a specific wisdom it often offers. I knew these creatures, some of them only in a buried part of myself and, now, Stanley’s art and Arwen’s writing will help me get to know them well. I also suspect that, as I get to know some of them better, I will find that some of them were never lost to me but just have aspects I did not see until I acquired the set.

(If my review of this set is so exuberant as to seem disingenuous, understand that I’m unlikely to review a product or service unless I absolutely adore it. I almost never write reviews but, once in a blue moon, something hits me hard, as this set has done, so I want a copy, both for my personal possession and to review it to support it.)

Had the booklet by Arwen been something other than fabulous, the deck alone would’ve been dear to me. But, as I read the booklet’s introduction, and eight of the sections on specific dragons (I’ll explain momentarily why, at the time of writing this, I’ve read only eight), I saw that Arwen was demonstrating the integrity, wit, and depth of metaphysical understanding that I’ve seen in her for decades.

Her portrait of each of the eight dragons and its message was imaginative, elegant, lyric, and clear, and covered a fair amount of ground. She managed all that within three tiny pages about each dragon. She packed a lot into this small volume. As a writer, I know the labor required to make a few words say a lot. Arwen works hard at her craft.

The reason I haven’t read the entire guidebook yet: I don’t want to rush through it, but savor it, turning toward it when I can focus my attention. I think I’ll appreciate the book best if I use the cards for readings, and in that process discover what Arwen has to say about the dragon in a card I pull for a reading. It’s going to be great. Each dragon descriptions I read was packed with sweet snippets that will unfold beautifully in divination. Since I’m not reading more till I do divination with the set again, I won’t ruin the surprise and delight I expect to experience when I read a description for the first time as an oracular imparting.

Here’s what using the set for oracle work was like. I did three readings, each time pulling one card, and relying on Arwen’s writing for the card’s message. (I often interpret a card intuitively, but put that approach aside momentarily to more fully be able to enjoy what Arwen would say.) In the first reading, her message was spot on.

I reject poorly executed guidebooks as oracles. For one thing, some divinatory texts give ungrounded, condescending, shaming, or high-handed messages, rather than ones that are insightful, revealing, supportive, and down-to-earth. Arwen’s message was loving, mature, calm, and sound.

The second reading was also valuable, for a couple of reasons. Here’s one. As a shamanic guide, I find it often important to help people see their shortcomings. However, our culture leans toward pointing out a person’s shortcomings in a shaming manner, and toward a guide haughtily reciting your imperfections, with the pretense of being better than you. Instead, I strive to 1) create a safe space in which someone can feel secure enough to recognize where they might be falling down on the job, then 2) gently lead them toward that recognition, and 3) be nurturing to them about it. Arwen’s message for the card I pulled for the second reading was very much in keeping with my approach.

Arwen’s guidance for the third reading went as well as it had for the previous two.

Her text is light years beyond the average little white book that often comes with a deck. Hers is a well thought out, carefully crafted guide to dragons and their wisdom.

I have to add that I intended to do only one reading before I posted this review. I wanted to publish the review as soon as possible, concerned that, if I put it on the back burner, my busy schedule would allow the review to fall between the cracks. But I’m so enamored of the set that, before I managed to finish this post, I had to use it for a second, then a third, reading. Given that I use divination sets I made myself, and have no shortage of other decks in the house when I need a change, my feeling impelled to use the deck again so soon says a lot.

I spend a lot of time with dragons. It’s part of my ancestral work, for one thing. Lately, I have been feeding—and being fed by–at least one dragon every day. I learn a lot from dragons, fly with dragons, am a dragon. I welcome these gorgeous, special dragons portrayed by Stanley back into my pack, and look forward to seeing what their wisdom is as Arwen intelligently interprets it, and what guidance they will whisper directly in my ear.

I love the Field Guide to Garden Dragons deck and book set. It’s special, in a class of its own. Available here: https://www.usgamesinc.com/field-guide-to-garden-dragons.html

Nwsltr2017B

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The Tree of Life Bestows Power, Joy, and Wholeness

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Francesca De Grandis

Notes:

1) The tree of life represents all of reality. Reality extends past the mundane plane.

2) Speaking only for myself, I am a theist who experiences all of reality—the Tree of Life—as my Goddess: I feel Her in my surroundings, reap the fruits of Her loving care, and experience magic as the Goddess and Her love made manifest.

3) In an attempt to represent and convey a portion of my relationship with the Goddess, I wrote the following liturgy. I also hoped to create a prayer, the recitation of which would help one draw on the bounty that such a generous, all-encompassing deity is ever ready to bestow.

Oh, Tree of Life,
You Who Are Tree Mother, Great Mother,
Great Mother Creator of All beings,
please bring me power, joy, and wholeness.

By the power of your roots
please bring me power, joy, and wholeness.

By the power of your trunk
please bring me power, joy, and wholeness.

By the power of your branches
please bring me power, joy, and wholeness.

By the power of your leaves
please bring me power, joy, and wholeness.

By the power of your flowers
please bring me power, joy, and wholeness.

By the power of your fruits
please bring me power, joy, and wholeness.

By the power of your sap
please bring me power, joy, and wholeness.

Tree of Life,
Your roots, trunk, branches, leaves,
flowers, fruits, and sap
are the source and substance of reality.
You are creator and manifestation both.
Your roots are the foundation of reality.
Your sap runs through all things.
You can accomplish anything.
Please bring me power, joy, and wholeness.

So mote it be!

Nwsltr2017B

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AutoCorrect Consistently Turns Witch into Which

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Francesca De Grandis

AutoCorrect Consistently Turns Witch into Which
Though I’ve Been Correcting That for Years

I am sick of autocorrect, in my voice recognition software,
not having figured out, after months and months,
that when I say “wood,” I don’t mean “word.”
Are the autocorrect authors
so estranged from love and life
that they assume “wood” is instead the abstract—the word,
“God said the word, and the word was made flesh”?

We were not born from word,
some vague and distant deity, an absent parent,
forming us in his image; the Bible and AutoCorrect insist
I’m an impalpable, insubstantial quasi-being.
I will not reject myself. I am flesh,
not flesh from word but from flesh,
born on the Tree of Life—the Great Mother, Magna Mater, Creator of all things.
The cosmos is the manifest body of the Mother:
She not only created all things but is all things.
The Tree of Life is incarnate.
I am fruit, leaf, tree, wood.
I am the Tree of Life.
I am, dammit, I am am am not a word!

Voice recognition also does not recognize womb.
No surprise, since oppressors don’t either.

I have a womb. I am not made of your words.

I am not made of your words.
I was made in a womb—my mom made me.
After she birthed me, she continued to shape me: then
I was created by her love and her joy and her lyric laughter,
her sacrifices and her intelligence.

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Ogham Divination about Self-Care

Posted on June 26, 2019 by Francesca De Grandis

Written May 28, 2019

I did divination for myself, to gain new insights—or be reminded of old ones—about self-care when working hard. The reading was for me, but I post it below in case you find it helpful.

The following italicized paragraphs provide background, so the reading makes sense to you:

Exhaustion exacerbates multiple sclerosis symptoms badly. The final parts of curriculum development for an online course can be seriously exhausting for me because of how I tend to approach those final stages of creating an online course. I’m learning to approach those final stages differently, and have come a long way, but still have progress to make.

After working off-and-on for a long time developing a curriculum for learning Ogham divination, it’s time to finish the curriculum.

The course will be online, as opposed to my oral tradition classes, which meet by telephone. My process of creating an oral tradition class is a very different experience from creating an online one, but I’ve been teaching oral tradition for decades. I’ve been teaching online courses for far less time. And I find only the final stages of creating an online course terribly exhausting.

Mind you, I love my work, and doing it is a privilege. I adore the process of curriculum creation. But everything has its downside. For example, self-employment often requires a strenuous work schedule. End of background.

I did a reading about how to finish the curriculum in a self-caring way. I used a mini-deck of Ogham art I’d created, and pulled these three cards:

The messages from the reading:

* You have a high standard for your work, and work hard toward your ideals. That’s important. But working hard does not mean working so hard you hurt yourself.

* Perfectionism is not the same as hard work and high ideals. Perfection is impossible. No matter how hard you try, it is unachievable. Don’t beat yourself up by overworking because you think creating a course that is absolutely perfect in every way is possible.

* You are a bringer of light and goodness. Negative entities move toward those who do good work. Put up your boundaries, only allowing kindness around you.

* You easily forget you’ve already spent years honing this curriculum. Recognize that excellent work. Otherwise, your undervaluing the curriculum’s quality will cause you to overwork in the final stages of curriculum creation, sabotaging your health. Overwork caused by that undervaluing represents internalized oppression. It’s not enough to ward off external negative energy. Note when you internalize it.

* You are beautiful. Your spiritual beauty will shine throughout the course material, helping course participants affirm their own spiritual beauty.

* You let the Old Gods speak through you when you channel this course; it is far more powerful magic than you recognize yet.

* Pace yourself: if you have to take a few extra months finishing the curriculum, that’s okay.

* Yes, you’re at the point in the creative process that requires ongoing focus, to maintain awareness of all the threads that weave through the curriculum, so you develop each thread properly and weave the threads together properly. Yes, don’t doubt that maintained awareness of threads is necessary in the final stages of developing this course. Yes, if you walk away from that focus for very long, you’ll lose the ever-precarious hold of those threads, and may never find it in you to do all the work required to gather so many threads together mentally. Yes, mentally holding onto so many threads forever is impossible. But working slow enough that you might need to take a few extra months on the project will be fine; you don’t have to live in fear that you’ll lose those threads if you go at a sane pace; trust your Gods to do right by you; after all, They asked you to write this curriculum.

* Intensive curriculum creation will take a big chunk of your day, while you’ll also be doing a lot of other work. Take plenty of breaks and minimize the number of other things on your plate.

* Yes, you see nothing on your plate that you can afford to remove. Give it thought, remove one tiny thing, and you’ll get more ideas.

* Do activities that calm, encourage, center, and nourish you, so you’re centered and refreshed when working on curriculum, and hence don’t fall into work patterns that are not self-caring. (Dear reader, creating curriculum does calm, encourage, center, nourish, and refresh me, big time! In fact, it is a spiritual practice for me. It feels like I was born to do it and, as such, is a huge act of self-expression, which sometimes brings up every bit of internalized oppression—messages that I have no right to express myself, I have no right to joy, that I shouldn’t do what I love for a living, that I’ll be attacked for doing what I love for a living, that spirit and work should be separate, on and on. Harrying messages and fear can continue, debilitating me and subconsciously driving me to overwork. But adding other spiritual practices that are calming, centering, etc., make curriculum creation the wonderful, instead of negative, experience it is meant to be for me.)

The three wee Ogham cards for the reading are part of a complete Ogham divination set I made for students of the Ogham divination course. Everyone receives a digital file of the set to print and cut up into little cards. It is all my original full-color shamanic art.

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The Magic of the Grapevine

Posted on May 24, 2019 by Francesca De Grandis

A necklace and poem combined express what grapevine told me its magics are. This post has photos of the necklace, which I titled Passion and Freedom. I crafted its pendant from the wood of the grape plant. I wrote the poem to accompany the necklace, giving them both the same name:

Passion and Freedom

I give myself to the care of
Dionysus’ passion—intoxication, not drunkenness—
which fuels love, kindness, freedom, and magic.
Elegance in passion—not debauchery in stupor—
fuels enchantments that work.
Elegance in passion fuels wholeness.

A witch has elegance.
Nature has elegance.
Wilderness has elegance.
Exuberance has elegance.

Joy is sacred to the Gods,
not the province of naughty, rebellious revelers.
Joy is my innate being.
I find myself by drinking
from the Sweetest Chalice: ecstasy is gained
through peace and surrender.
I drink.

Grape vine told me joy comes after obedience. I’d wrongly though that, in rebellion, I’d find the freedom needed for joy. Wrong. Obedience allows joy.

Grapevine’s message is often misunderstood as permission for arrogant licentiousness and lack of accountability. Yes, grapevine embodies ecstasy. Yes, it does, thank you, my Gods! However, in the face of a prevailing false morality that dishonors passion, many people go to the other extreme, equating joy with complete immorality. No.

Summary: Grapevine shows me how to bring joy into my life and the lives of others, and gives me the power to do so; I would imagine that is the traditional metaphysical understanding of grapevine. However, grapevine also revealed that obedience—not rebelliousness—opens the door to joy.

There are situations against which rebellion should occur. In those circumstances, rebellion does opens the door to joy, and grapevine tells me it will assist in that revolt. However, even that disobedience is not the equivalent of naughty licentiousness and lack of accountability.

Ancient Druids considered grapevine a tree, one of the most sacred trees. … Well, some folks will say blackberries, not grapes, are the vine that Druids held sacred. I don’t think that was always true, though I’m not 100% sure yet and am still trying to corroborate my belief.

In any case, when teaching tree magic, I suggest my students have direct interactions with a specific type of tree in order to learn its magic. I’ve learned a lot of magics that way, magics I never found in books. Also, I teach tree magic and other forms of witchcraft as shamanism, in an experiential learning process through which you not only learn magic but are transformed.

I cut some grapevine back to keep it from taking over my garden, then cured the wood. I was grateful for the chance to woodwork grapevine, so that it could be in communication/communion with me. When I’m woodworking, wood sings secrets to me, often at an almost subliminal level, until the woodworking sinks my conscious mind more and more into that deep level, till I become aware—on the cognizant level—of the entire song the wood and I are singing silently together.

In the process, I not only learn about the wood’s magic but become fully alive, the song waking my very cells.

It is so restorative an experience that, when a crisis had fractured me seriously, I sanded and woodburned for hours, sinking down into the silence of our song, until I felt whole again, and no longer prey to the horrific mental chattering that can occur in me—or in most folks—during a trauma. The serenity, joy, and wholeness I was gifted despite the crisis says a lot about how powerful a wood’s magic can be.

I designed and handcrafted the one-of-a-kind talismanic grapevine necklace. The design is a culmination of designs I’ve developed over decades, as I strove toward an organic look that, paradoxically, actually takes a lot of work developing techniques for and a lot of care executing. It has not escaped my observation that I was able to create and execute this design only when I needed it to express my understanding of grapevine’s magic.

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Posted on May 13, 2019 by Francesca De Grandis

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