Priest(ess) Prayer

Goddess, keep me mindful that a priest(ess) is a servant.

Untitled_artworkHelp me serve Your plan.

May I always know Your plan is best implemented by the means You ask, not by my short-sighted approaches or addiction to unremitting activity.

May I know that serving others is a vital way to love myself.

May I know that care of myself is a vital way to serve others.

May I do work I love as a way to serve.

May I remember: Serving mends those of my wounds that cannot be healed by anything else.

Untitled_artworkIn all exchanges, may I focus on bringing peace, compassion, and empowerment.

When bothered by difficult or even terrible people, may I remember that we are all in this human journey together, doing our best, no matter how poor that best might be.

If I start to match someone’s anger—so that I shift into their myth instead of my own—may I instead hold my own anger within me lovingly, to heal it and make it whole.

May I do the same when starting to match anyone’s other troubling traits.

Self-development can be an important goal of one’s spiritual practices. May it never waylay the equally important purpose: To be made immensely capable of serving.

Goddess, make me Your finely crafted tool, shaped precisely to the work You ask.

But keep me mindful that I’m not the ultimate tool, no matter how well you have honed me. Goddess, help me willingly, happily, and peacefully get out of Your way when You—and You alone—must act.

Let me remain mindful that, paradoxically, self-development is sometimes the same as being made most capable of serving.

I am a priest(ess)—Your servant.
I am a priest(ess)—servant to community.
I am a priest(ess)—servant to Gaia.
I am a priest(ess)—servant to World Tree.
I am a priest(ess)—servant to the Cosmos, its rhythms, and its Love.

I am a priest(ess).

The above 2013 poem, written for my own private devotionals as a priestess, lists some of my core principles regarding service. But I decided to share it here. A major proponent of inner wisdom, self as Deity, and maximum self-development, the courses I teach focus on attaining fullest self expression. But it is not the only focus: The greater the self becomes, the more one must humbly know one’s limits and live in surrender. This paradox is a crux of my teachings. In this seeming contradiction resides ecstatic priesthood. I fully address enlarging the self elsewhere; this prayer mostly focuses on aspects in the other side of the equation.

CnslingBotmBnr2

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Priest(ess) Power

Priest(ess) Power: A Direct Spiritual Transmission, starting March 3, 2014

EglThumbnailYou have a special gift. You might express it as an artist, a healer, or something else. Or you might not express it yet.

Receive a spiritual transmission that empowers priesthood: It will help you find and/or strengthen
* your unique gift
* self-expression
* confidence in inner wisdom
*the power to do the work you love
* an experience of self as Deity
* and gut-knowledge that self-care is a vital way to serve others.

imageYour selfhood will grow! However, the above benefits are just part of what you receive. I will give a highly-sophisticated, month-long spiritual transmission that goes much further.

The greater the self becomes, the more one must live in humility and surrender. In this paradox, exists ecstatic priesthood. We can serve Cosmos, its Rhythms, and its Love. So the transmission, in seeming contradiction to the benefits stated so far, also helps you:
* Stay mindful that a priest(ess) is a servant.
* Serve Divine Plan.
* Remember that Divine Plan is best implemented by the means Divinity asks, not by our short-sighted approaches or addiction to unremitting activity.
* Experience how serving others is a vital way to love oneself.
* Learn how serving others mends your wounds that cannot be healed by anything else.
* Bring peace, compassion, and empowerment to all exchanges.

Self-development is an important part of my spiritual practice. I pray it never waylays an equally important purpose: To be made immensely capable of serving. (Self-development is often part of being made capable of serving. But that is already covered in the first list of benefits.) So this far-reaching transmission also helps us strive toward:
* becoming Divinity’s finely-crafted tool, shaped to the work Divinity asks,
* while staying mindful that we are not the ultimate tool, no matter how well we are honed,
* and happily getting out of Divinity’s way when She (He, It, Them, Fred, or Whatever-Else-You-Choose-To-Call-It)—and She alone—must act.

Those are big goals. You are capable of big shifts.

The transmission adapts to your specific needs. No experience needed. But adepts are deeply impacted—for example, the strongest previous headway is strengthened even further.

The transmission is a month-long: I will send you this spiritual transmission five days a week for four weeks, then three additional days on the fifth week, wrapping up on April 2.

Again, it starts March 3.

It is easy to receive this transmission. You do not have to attend an event or do any work. Just sign up for the transmission, and I do the work for you! Scroll down to sign up. Pay what you can honestly afford, whether that is low or high.


Sliding Scale
Please enter your phone number




Upon receipt of payment, I’ll send you email confirmation of registration. No refunds.

Francesca De Grandis, 2013

Francesca De Grandis, 2013

If you need more info or can’t afford payment, phone me. 814-337-2490. I do not discuss this work by email.

A shamanic treatment does not substitute for medical care by a physician, psychiatric counseling, or other therapeutic treatment. Participants are personally responsible for the consequences of their voluntary participation. This spiritual treatment is extraordinarily effective, but may not work for some individuals.

This spiritual empowerment is an act of self-love and love for others. Register now.

EagleBar

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Magic Doors

Creative process clears the mind, so we can better understand our life and ourself.

Detail from My Door, Francesca De Drandis.

Detail from My Door, Francesca De Grandis.

I love faerie tales in which a magic door appears and opens to another world. I wanted to paint such a portal.

But the story’s been done so many times. I needed to portray something new—make sure the door was painted in a way that was true, and original.

I couldn’t get a grip on executing that, until I realized it had to be my own door—the one that I personally go through. Mind you, I did not fully understand what that meant, did not fully know what “my door” is. But just knowing it was mine was enough to start painting.

Besides, had I fully understood, there would’ve been no point in starting the painting, because there would have been no adventure.

There was still a surprise though, revealed well into the painting process. Little did I realize that my door was going to be the door to my home.

Let me be clear as to what I’m saying. Often, when a magic door appears in a story, the person who walks through it feels at home for the first time. They’re in another realm. They are finally in a world that makes sense. That is not what I’m referring to right this second (although the painting surely does refer to that). But right this second, I’m talking about realizing that the door I was painting was the door to the home where I already live and sleep and cook and write and paint.

This realization should’ve been self-evident, given my lifestyle, and who I am, but it’s amazing how oblivious we humans can be. And amazing how the creative process clears some of the oblivion—so I could better understand my door, my home, and myself. Heh, creativity too is a magic door.

Below is the painting. Scroll past it for the rest of the blog.

My Door, Francesca De Grandis.

My Door, Francesca De Grandis.

There was another theme to this piece and to my process: Spring beginning. Outside the door, the foliage on trees begins; and a potted plant has been put out onto the stoop after the long cold winter. I was exploring the transition between the hearth’s indoors mysteries and spring’s mystical burgeoning. I will display this painting on my altar when I celebrate Spring Equinox.

Exploring the beginning of Spring was part of meditating on a theme beyond the season: Thresholds and magic. A contemplation on a time of transition and embracing possibility. Again, the creative process became a door, in the sense of helping me see … well, see life’s doors, LOL.

Detail, My Door, Francesca De Grandis

Detail, My Door, Francesca De Grandis

My Door—this painting is dedicated to my students. They know why, probably. But to explain to someone who doesn’t know me: Even before I became a shut-in (due to disabilities), I taught almost all my classes in my home. Teaching in my home was crucial to me spiritually. Hundreds of people have sat in my living room, which has blessed me tremendously. Painting this picture allowed me to muse on years of joy, and to celebrate joy I still receive because I still teach in my home. Now I do it through group phone calls, or in one-on-one phone calls. But it is still us, in a personal visit, walking between stars together.

Also dedicated to one very special patron of my art. (And I say to her, “I bet you know why. If not, let me know.”) She is a patron of my (he)art.

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Faerie Taoism

2016 Update: The following piece is in my newly released Book of Shadows. Most of the Book of Shadows entries have never been published until now! I also included a few previously-published favorites, like the one in this blog. For more information about the Book of Shadows: http://stardrenched.com/2016/10/01/book-of-shadows/

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Faerie Taoism

purchsbanr2

If you can’t see the above graphics, here is their text:

Faerie Taoism

We’re born magic.
Born stardust.
Born touching
Divinity.

Be magic.
Be Stardust.
Touch Divinity.

It is effortless,
because
it is who you are.

It is effortless;
allow yourself to be
who you are.

It is effortless.
It is who you are.

——————

A Faerie Book of Shadows, available only from the author. Click here for information: http://stardrenched.com/2016/10/01/book-of-shadows/

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Free Ritual Jan, 2014

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BotmBevldNwslter

If you cannot view the above graphics:

Fellow Stardusted Traveler,

Please join me for a ritual on Thursday, January 16, from noon to 1:00 EST.

One of my favorite quotes is “The last thing we learn is simplicity.”

Simplicity. The ritual will respond to the inner need to streamline our day, and let all dross fall away, so that we spend each day on our dearest goals.

We’ll create a 2014 that is peaceful and sincere, instead of being swayed by New Year promotional hype or other nonsense that appears in the coming year.

The event is a group phone call. Free and open to all. (You might pay long-distance charges, depending on your long-distance plan. If so, they appear on your phone bill. The event is a U.S. area code.).

No experience needed.

To participate, call 1-712-775-7000. When prompted, enter 1095248#. Dial three to five minutes before noon; it can take a bit to connect, and latecomers are not allowed.

Mark your calendar. Let’s start a great 2014 together.

In starlit fellowship, Francesca De Grandis

PS Sources contradict author of the above quote.

I hope you sign up for my newsletter because I am all about sharing the journey with fellow star-dusted travelers. Yes! Here is the link: https://www.outlawbunny.com/newsletter/

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The Dark Is Still Deep

Happy new year! A blessing on our 2014: Music about post-Yule darkness and light.

The Dark Is Still Deep
Francesca De Grandis

The light returns.
My friends draw near,
my friend the deer,
my friend the air,
my friend the Bear,
my friends who care.

The dark is still deep.
The snow is still steep.
My soul will still sleep
in dreams of a God who sleeps
in dreams of me.

The Light returns.
My friends draw near,
my friends who care,
my friends who care,
my friends who care.

Written/recorded 2011. What I said about it then: “Day after solstice. I needed a new song to sing to God and self tonight, so had to write it. I look forward to when I have time to get into my recording studio, cause I want to build harmonies and instrumentation and, oh, I am jazzed. But tonight, I recorded with the app built into my iPhone. So forgive audio quality, but it’s that or nothing. The skull is so you have something to look at other than me desperately trying to read lyrics and melody while holding the camera. I love writing complex melodies but wrote a simple song tonight, bc I needed something to sing right away. Had the simplicity not worked, I would have stopped the project, knowing it was not meant to be. I am not saying I give up on difficult writing; I will take forever to get a song; but I wanted a song to use right away, and if I could not write something worth singing, I would have stopped the writing.”

image

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Yule Magic Wishes

Letters to Santa—Yule Magic Wishes
A simple holiday ritual for children of all ages.

2015 update: Yup, you can still make your wishes to Pagan Santa. But instead of scrolling down to do it, click here for the updated page. End of update.
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image

Click on Santa to see that twinkle in his eye clearly. It is part of his magic.

Back story, unless you already know I’m one of Santa’s elves: Most of the year, I’m a vagabond shaman, traveling astrally, as a shamanic guide and talismanic artist. But come late fall, though I continue working as a guide long-distance, I retreat to the North Pole, where I create talismanic art to fill Santa’s bag a.k.a. my online Etsy shop. End of backstory.

This year, Santa gave me an additional job. It’s very special. He’s asked me to gather Yule wishes to him. I’m thrilled to be doing this, it’s very important work. And I am honored that he trusts me with it.

Here’s how to send Santa your wish. In a comment field below, make a wish or wishes to Santa. He’s a “jolly elf.” So he has the magic to grant your heart’s desires.

I will give Santa your comment!

image

Click on my Yule letter to Santa to see it clearly. Note that my wishes are not for Yule per se, but for the overall season. Santa loves to give.

And remember: He knows if you’ve been naughty or nice, so be a good girl or boy or gender-marvel or faerie or wolf or rabbit or dragon or girl-boy-gender-marvel-faerie-wolf-rabbit-dragon or whatever you are. Eat your veggies and play nice with others. I can’t wait to see your wish, and I promise not to get too proud about Santa giving me this big job.

Please post a wish or wishes now, before you forget. I don’t want Santa to think I’m doing a bad job. I really want to be a good Yule elf.

You can come back later to post more wishes, if you remember. Bring your children, for mystical pagan Yule fun.

But post now, because I want to make sure you get your wish(es)!

EtsyBotmBnrYule

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Only If …

image

I want people to get presents
only if they believe in Santa Claus.

Keep Santa in Christmas.

#KeepSantaInChristmas

(I could not resist, I just could not resist.)

On a more serious note, I had to make that joke. I am feeling a little paranoid that someone will get mad at me, but it is such a straw man to insist on Christmas remaining Christian when it was originally Yule and, worse, constitutes unkind lies about our holy day, that I had to take the high road and make a joke instead of getting resentful.

Happy holy days, whatever your religion!

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

Updated November 2023

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Winter Joy

Winter Joy: A Direct Spiritual Transmission, starting December 9, 2013

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by holiday responsibilities and anxiety.

So I am giving a direct spiritual transmission that helps you:
* Have a peaceful, joyful winter, blessed by happy camaraderie.
* Manage holiday busyness without holiday madness.
* And take care of you even while you fulfill responsibilities to others.

imageIf you do everything in the above list already, the transmission can help ensure you stay on top of it. Or if you’re just beginning to want a better holiday season and need a big boost, I got your back. And if you are somewhere in between those two examples, we’re still good. The transmission adapts to your specific needs.

The spiritual transmission is a whole month-long, and its effects can be permanent. During the month, I will do the transmission five days of each week.

Again, it starts December 9. If you want to receive this transmission, it is easy and sliding scale. Simply pay what you can honestly afford, whether that is high or low. Scroll down.


Sliding Scale
Please enter your phone number




* Upon receipt of payment, I’ll send you email confirmation of registration. No refunds.
* If you can’t afford payment, not to worry. Phone me. I only can give scholarships to someone I speak with. 814-337-2490
* If you need more info, do not email me; my disabilities do not allow enough time at the computer. Call 814-337-2490.

Francesca De Grandis, 2013

Francesca De Grandis, 2013

No experience needed. But even advanced practitioners are deeply impacted—for example, no matter how strong previous headway, it can be strengthened or regained.

You do not have to attend an event, just register for the transmission, and I do the work for you. Receive!

A shamanic treatment is not a substitute for proper medical care by a trained physician, psychiatric counseling, or other therapeutic treatments. Participants are personally responsible for the consequences of their voluntary participation. This spiritual treatment is extraordinarily effective, but may not work for some individuals.

This spiritual empowerment can be the perfect holiday gift to yourself. Allow yourself to receive it.

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Joyful Tears

Keep scrolling to read why the following photograph made me break into tears.

SAMSUNG
I recently sold the ritual robe in the photo. Its buyer, Evangelina, kindly sent me the above photo of herself in it. When I saw the photo, I cried like a fool.

I phoned a friend, and was sobbing joyfully, because the photo showed me that Evangelina belonged in this wearable art. And I was sobbing because she had made the decision to buy it. And I was sobbing because the smile on Evangelina’s face was beautiful.

Those would have been reasons enough. But I continued to cry for an additional joy.

Backstory: I’d long ago embraced the lesson that it is good to earn your living doing what you love, but there’s always new layers of a lesson.

A typical artist, I find pricing my art challenging, particularly if a piece needs the high end of my prices.

Click on this photo to see it full size.

Click on this photo to see it full size.

This was the highest price I’d ever set on one of my paintings. The robe is hand-dyed, all hand-painted, and a one-of-a-kind work. I made it for its one unique buyer (though I did not know who it would be). This dress took immense time. End of backstory.

Evangelina’s purchase worked magic on me, helping me trust more than ever the propriety of earning my way with my art (that includes teaching shamanic classes, which I consider one of my art forms).

Then Evangelina’s photo caused an even newer layer of that lesson, causing the aforementioned additional joyful tears. Because one of the purposes of my work hit me more than ever: Here was this woman in all her beauty, and I had been given the privilege of adorning her. She is a goddess. I am crying again as I write this.

Look at the pride shining in Evangelina’s eyes. I got to adorn that healthy pride.

Evangelina’s photo will help me never again doubt that we should offer what we love as our profession.

EtsyBotmBnr4

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