A Surrender: Diving into the Void

Posted on January 13, 2022 by Francesca De Grandis

My latest animation, 24 seconds long, no audio.

Please note: At about 11 seconds, movement stops. That is a pause—intentionally—but not the end.

I’m proud of the piece. It represents improvement in my relatively new animation skills. And, as someone who relies on word-crafting more than on visual art to communicate, I was happy that I could represented a truth that is important to me without using words except the piece’s title. In the same vein, to give a substantive message within seconds felt empowering to me as a visual artist.

Posted in Art, Writing, and Music, Spirit, The Whole Thing | 2 Comments

Grief Can Lead to Blessings

Posted on January 6, 2022 by Francesca De Grandis

The Power in Mourning
Releasing the Old Me

This post is a personal account of three somewhat disparate themes that came together experientially for me over the course of decades:
* It is okay—even normal and healthy—to mourn the loss of that which hurts us.
* Looking for a magic bullet is a way to avoid responsibility for oneself.
* The grieving process can draw joy, power, and all other blessings.

I hope sharing my personal journey reveals more aspects of these themes than theoretical exposition might, and that some of the lessons I learned through my experiences are useful to you.

Letting Go of the Old Me

Forty years ago, I started putting the old me to rest. The old me:
* None of my problems are my fault.
* Circumstances dictate my happiness or lack thereof.
* Poor me, nothing I can do about it.
* I expect society or someone to rescue me from life.

The New Me Is Happy

A new me began:
* I admitted that, while I don’t cause every problem that comes my way, I sure the heck cause some of them.
* I admitted I sure the heck can exacerbate problems that are not originally my fault.
* I rose above circumstances to thrive, even though the situations would’ve crushed–if not killed—most people.
*I am proactive, taking command of my life.
* I began daily self-examination that allowed me, among other things, to spot when I was not fully participating in life, co-creating the cosmos, but was instead needlessly centered in inner turmoil (explanation about this is below).

A Magic Bullet Is Part of Death Culture

Expecting someone to save me from life was subconsciously wishing for death. Numbness. Life is inescapable as long as I breathe. Life includes hardship and misery. Life is also beautiful and joyful. Expecting a person or circumstances to be a magic bullet robs me of life’s beauty and joy. The idea of a magic bullet is death culture.

Subtle Self-Sabotage

Recently, I found the old me is still here, in subtle ways I had not spotted:

* I felt that if a certain friend would only love me, would only see how much I love him, would only accept my love, would only see the lengths I go to, to do every last thing he asks of me, then I would feel okay. Ha! (Argh, the hoops I jumped through! Good grief, yes, the old me remained.) If my feelings do not seem subtle to you, I agree. But they were operating in me subconsciously for a while.

* My moods were swinging from a sense of security and contentment to despair and rage when he would disparage my efforts, belittle my expert opinions, or assign negative motives to my positive actions. (His way of doing all this was also subtle, at first. So I didn’t recognize it initially.)

I am grateful that I was taught a life of self-examination.

I am grateful I was taught that self-examination had to include looking for selfishness.

I am grateful I learned that, when I let myself be emotionally bounced around by circumstances or someone’s opinions of me, I am selfish, in that my inner turmoil robs me of time, energy, and focus needed to contribute to community, participate in life, co-create the cosmos.

I am grateful I have tools to change myself. It is a wonderful thing.

Mourning the Old Me

So here I am, letting go of the old me more deeply.

I grieve her passing.

I cry.

It is not enough yet, more tears will spill.

Enough will spill.

My tears will be the pyre from which my Phoenix new self will rise again with new powers, including the power to leave my friend behind, soon.

I don’t want to face the pain of weeping, but it will end.

Avoiding Mourning
by Shedding Tears with the Wrong Person

I want to avoid the pain of mourning and the scariness of self-reliance by crying in my friend’s presence, hoping that my pain will motivate him to change his behavior.

The old me believes that my happiness depends on him changing. Hah!

I see no evidence he would change. Besides, he has a right to be exactly as he is.

My tears with him would be attempted manipulation. My tears would be shed in the expectation that he would take responsibility for my happiness. But only I can step up to the plate to meet my needs.

So, I have to shed tears free of expectations and face my grief over the loss of my old self, my closeness to my friend, and my foolish dream of being rescued from life.

I will cry alone and with those who respect my grief. Good for me!

Avoiding Mourning by Living in Anger

Though I will move away from my friend, the old me would prefer to live in anger at him, at me, and at the world instead of facing loss and grief and striking out on my own. Anger feels safe because it provides me a false sense of control. Grief feels wild, untenable—my Dictionary app defines untenable as “not fit to be occupied, as an apartment, house, etc.”

My grief is without walls, tumbling me in to a void, the impossibility of false ideals coming true, the futility of old selves remaining.

But I do not have to live in anger, and I need not live in grief, with its emptiness of uncertainty.

I have to enter, visit, and move through grief—enter, visit, and move through its emptiness of uncertainty.

Avoiding Sorrow Would Make Me Lose Myself

I reject escape from grief. Sorrow avoided would become a stone in my heart, stone growing until I became Richard the Lionhearted—ever-militant, with pretenses of superiority, instead of admitting that my crusade is simply rage and the desire to control the wild.

I choose life.

I would lose myself if I did not let go of—and grieve—my old self.

If I do not let go of—and grieve—closeness to my friend, he will continue to rob me of myself.

Moving through Grief into Joy and Power

So I will mourn my losses, face the emptiness that grief pulls close to me, and embrace that wild void. It is life.

Hence, a home worthy of occupancy will come:

I will know my Gods and myself more fully, more than ever give myself over to life that I might serve life, and more than ever allow the feral void to bear abundance and all other blessings to me, if it will.

So mote it be!

—————

If you resonate with my above sentiments about self-sufficiency and facing emptiness, please check out my event that starts January 16, 2021—Shamanic Rituals that Fill the Spiritual Void: https://outlawbunny.com/2021/11/03/shamanic-rituals-that-fill-the-spiritual-void/

Posted in Spirit, The Whole Thing | 2 Comments

Absolutely Nothing

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Francesca De Grandis

There came a point when there was nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Not the rug pulled out from beneath me
but the floor gone,
nothing holding me from falling
into endless irredeemable deprivation.

There came a point when there was
absolutely nothing except the nothing to which
I had to surrender
if I was to find more power, beauty, and joy than ever,
and if I was not to live in fear.

Terrorized by the possibility of no security,
I had grasped at magic bullets
—the right friend, enough money, the perfect solution,
feeling utter connection to my Gods—
though no substance, image, or Divine elation
could replace diving into the floor-less flawless depths
of my unknowing and the future’s uncertainties.

I had to understand this eerie fall is not necessarily
into the aforementioned abyss of hardship.

There came a point when there was nothing,
absolutely nothing
except the nothing into which I dove—
instead of dangling perilously from
substance, image, or bliss—
because the barren vacuum had become the place I could
know my Gods and myself fully,
give myself over to life that I might serve life,
and allow the void to bear abundance and all other blessings to me, if it will. Hah!

Dear reader, if my above thoughts about spiritual surrender resonate with your belief system, please check out my event that starts January 16, 2021—Shamanic Rituals that Fill the Spiritual Void: https://outlawbunny.com/2021/11/03/shamanic-rituals-that-fill-the-spiritual-void/

Posted in Spirit, The Whole Thing | 4 Comments

Shamanic Rituals that Fill the Spiritual Void

Posted on November 3, 2021 by Francesca De Grandis

Overview of upcoming class: Even a spiritually-evolved individual can unknowingly suffer from a spiritual void inside. And they might mistake it for loneliness, fear about finances, or other feelings. Mistaking the source of the problem, a person might turn to the wrong places to fill the awful emptiness, desperation driving them into relationships with inappropriate people, unfair expectations of loved ones, lessons from unkind spiritual teachers, or other destructive behavior.

My class shows you how to change all this. You’ll learn rituals through which you and your Gods can fill that emptiness—only you yourself and Divinity can accomplish it. You’ll find fulfillment, happiness, and power that do not rely on other people or your circumstances. And you’ll become more able to follow your star.

I don’t make these promises lightly, oblivious of the tragedies people face, but am informed by my own traumas. For example, despite fearing for my life when racists made ongoing threats, some of them face-to-face, I found enduring happiness and productivity.

End of overview.

Faerie Shamanism Course:

Shamanic Rituals
that Fill the Spiritual Void

You Can Be Happy Regardless of Circumstances

This seven-week teleseminar begins January 16, 2022.
Enroll by January 12.

What Is a Spiritual Void?

Some individuals feel a spiritual emptiness that cannot be filled by someone’s affection for them or opinion of them. Nor can that emptiness be filled by food, money, possessions, prestige, or anything else except your own efforts and those of the Divine.

Humans are wonderfully tribal. The longing for love, support, and companionship is healthy. As is the instinct to be respected and even treasured. Interdependence empowers us to thrive materially and spiritually. However, being too dependent actually leads to alienation and isolation. Distinguishing between being interdependent and overly dependent can be difficult.

Spiritual emptiness can be mistaken for loneliness, isolation, or other ways we might feel unfulfilled or bereft. So we might turn to the wrong places to fulfill the soul. This can drive someone into
* relationships with inappropriate people
* unfairly high expectations of loved ones
* obsessions about relationships
* addiction
* compulsive work habits
* overwhelming sadness
* hopelessness

The upcoming course helps you avoid that pain and lost opportunities for abundance and happiness. I’ll channel transformative rites especially for that purpose. I will also channel rituals to meet your specific needs if you desire.

Fill the Soul to Create Spiritual Wholeness

In the course, you’ll learn:

* spiritual practices in which Divinity and self fill the emptiness

* practical mysticism that breaks the pattern—perhaps compulsion—of trying to fill the void with people, money, prestige, or anything else that won’t work

* ways to spot the difference between spiritual interdependence and spiritual independence

* how to integrate interdependence with independence

Instead of looking to people or circumstances to fill the soul, you’ll find fulfillment, happiness, and power that do not rely on circumstances. Changing circumstances won’t devastate you emotionally or otherwise.

Fill Your Soul
to Improve All Parts of Your Life

The shamanic practices in these lessons increase all goodness, from prosperity to creativity to sexual satisfaction. Here’s how:

Perhaps you experience mood swings caused by your reactions to other people’s feelings about you.

Or you lose time, energy, and focus because you’re preoccupied with what people think of you.

Or maybe you’re so busy taking care of others that you don’t meet your own needs.

Or perhaps you support everyone else’s goals but don’t pursue your own.

Or people’s ideas, problems, or emotions send you into hopelessness, heartbreak, or another emotional tailspin.

If you suffer from anything I’ve described above, the course will help you stop changing circumstances—including other people’s reactions and lives—from eating up your time, thoughts, and emotions. Nurturing such independence creates ripples throughout your being and your whole life. Centered in the richness of your soul, you are able to:

* Focus on self-care.
* Follow your star—e.g., your dream career.
* Enjoy deep satisfaction from the small wonders of everyday life.
* Create worldly success in many areas of life.
* Trust in your deep self and its wisdom.
* Experience the ecstasy that comes from wholeness.
* Feel immersed in care from the Divine.

Stephen R. Covey said, “People can’t live with change if there’s not a changeless core inside them.”

Finding that core during life’s constant changes is a challenge. I’ll show you how to conquer that roadblock. At the end of the seven weeks, you’ll be able to say with confidence, “I know how to fill my soul so I can live in my true self, with all its power, wisdom, and joy. The internal void provides an opportunity to flourish!”

The Internal Void Is an Opportunity to Flourish

Responding with knee-jerk denial to the idea of having a spiritual void is easy for any of us because society has gone to great lengths to create blindness to this soul wound.

Society wants us emptied of ourselves so we become
* needy enough to be easily influenced
* overly reliant on our oppressors
* and no more than consumers

Even insightful, independent thinkers can unwittingly have a degree of emptiness that hurts them.

I’m not preaching from on high. Though the decades have allowed me to grow lightyears past this problem, I’m not exempt from it. I still recognize—and overcome—patterns in myself.

Before your busy day requires you leave this page, please consider whether this prevalent soul wound should concern you personally. Don’t miss a chance for incredible empowerment.

Psychological therapy can be an insufficient solution (though it can be helpful) because the spiritual void is not psychological, but spiritual and energetic, hence the effectiveness of shamanism at filling the soul.

In this experiential learning process, you are blessed by the Cosmos’s otherworldly healing powers, and connectivity to Divine love and guidance infuses the class meetings.

Fey Witch mysticism is soul healing, solves real-life problems, and otherwise helps you create an amazing life on the spiritual and material planes.

Suited to all levels of experience: accessible to newbies, yet adepts experience depth.

Spiritually-evolved individuals who are independent overall and have a rich inner landscape can still occasionally—or often—find themselves fruitlessly looking to people and circumstances to fill the void discussed here.

Shamanism offers both adepts and beginners connectivity—union with the Cosmos, the Earth, and all Her children. Shamanism also creates an inner union, all aspects of the self weaving together harmoniously. This course provides steps toward a personal wholeness that allows us greater connectivity with everything else. Each step toward wholeness within ourselves allows a more satisfying and beautiful connection with other people.

This course can serve as one of the two electives required before advanced Third Road training.

The class meets by phone. Just dial your phone to attend.

You receive spiritual transmissions in every meeting, which increases your ability to fill the spiritual void.

Enrollment is limited to 16 participants so we can perform ceremonies that can only happen in a small group, allowing old-style oral tradition in which immense headway happens quickly. A small group also allows each participant to receive individualized attention, should they want that support. This tailors a lesson so you receive the exact help you need.

You can phone me if you have a concern that might take too long to address during class or that you prefer to discuss privately.

Starting January 16, we meet Sundays 6:00 to 7:00 pm EST, for seven consecutive weeks. Reserve Sunday March 6, same time, for a makeup session in case I’m unavailable for one of the planned dates.

Full cost—for seven classes, direct spiritual transmissions, and one-on-one private support should you desire—is $200 a month for two months. Your carrier might charge you for the phone calls into the meetings.

Pay securely with PayPal. Choose one of two options:

1) Use the Pay Now button below to pay tuition all at once one, and you’re taken care of!

2) Or use the Subscribe button to make two payments of $200, one now and a second one automatically a month later.

If you do not receive an email confirming your payment within a few days, please check your spam filter and spam mailbox. If the email isn’t there, or you want to discuss a payment plan, trade, or scholarship, or you need additional info about the course, please call me. Upon payment, your place is reserved. Refunds unavailable. A few days before our first class, you receive an email with the event phone number and other details.

Francesca De Grandis 2021

Francesca De Grandis is the best-selling author of “Be a Goddess!” Her work couples Goddess mysticism with practical magic and a down-to-earth philosophy. Raised in a traditional Strega family tradition that has Celtic shamanism in its heritage—the family is originally from France—she practices an ancient European witchcraft that is a form of Fairy shamanism. She has worked professionally as a community shaman for four decades.

The course might be a one-time event, and enrollment is limited. Take advantage of this opportunity now.

Posted in Classes, Books, and Other News | Tagged abundance, Celtic, class, course, Divinity, empowerment, emptiness, faerie, fairy, fill, Francesca De Grandis, Franchesca DeGrandis, fulfill, goddess, gods, happiness, isolation, Loneliness, magic, mysticism, rituals, shaman, shamanism, soul, spiritual, strega, teach, traditional, tragedies, trauma, tribal, void, wholeness, wisdom, witchcraft | Leave a comment

Pagan Pastoral Counseling

Posted on September 30, 2021 by Francesca De Grandis

Upcoming Faerie Shamanism Course:

Learn Shamanic Counseling

Pastoral Counseling—Pagan Style
Lessons on Witchy Counseling Techniques

This seven-week teleseminar begins October 19, 2021.
Enroll by October 13.

Though I use the word client below for simplicity’s sake, the course is equally useful to professionals and non-professionals. Examples of the latter: someone who wants to increase the solid, down-to earth advice they give, co-counsels in their coven, and/or receives intuitive guidance for friends and family.

What is Shamanic Counseling?

Valid definitions vary widely. Some gifted practitioners supplement a psychologically-based treatment mode with shamanic techniques, while I prefer a shamanically-based treatment mode. Here’s what that consists of, for me:

Shamanic culture and techniques, well-rooted in the shamanic training of the counselor, are the core of my counseling (as opposed to shamanism being an adjunct to other approaches). The upcoming course will reveal the details of my process. But for now:

A client is guided into an experientially mystic session (as opposed to being led solely toward a left-brain understanding of their issues). Mysteries come alive in the sessions. In this experience, the client is blessed by the cosmos’s otherworldly healing powers, and connectivity to Divine love and guidance infuses the moment.

The client’s experience of wholeness, connectivity, and peace re-patterns their cells, nervous system, and DNA, creating miraculous shifts in themselves and their lives. The counselor, as a channel of these benefits, also receives them, including:
* ecstatic wholeness
* a sense of empowerment
* increase of magical, spiritual, and worldly strengths
* worldly success in many areas of life
* respite from life’s sorrows
* immersion in Divine Love
* trust in one’s deep self.

The counselor’s Fey Witch mysticism combines with a down-to-earth, practical wisdom, the combination of which addresses and solves real-life problems and otherwise helps clients create amazing lives on the spiritual and material planes. Head in the sky, feet on the ground.

Inherent is a worldview and system that supports a Pagan ecstatic spirituality, instead of intentionally or accidentally suppressing it. However, a traditional shamanic counselor forgoes Pagan sensibilities, if the client’s beliefs are otherwise.

While this definition skims the surface, it suits our purposes in this post.

Alternative Definitions of Shamanic Counseling

Some psychologists treat clients through a psychologically-based modality supplemented by shamanic rites, as opposed to a modality that is shamanically-based. The psychological focus is legitimate and effective, though I cannot speak to its specific results since it is not my approach.

Other guides base their work on Christian pastoral counseling, supplementing it with witch rites. These folks may not recognize their approach as Christian because Christianity is such a dominant paradigm that many of its aspects are society’s default spiritual positions. Even if you strip the dominant pastoral counseling model of overt Christian beliefs and practices, they’re so ingrained in the model that they inevitably convey Christian beliefs and influence a session’s outcome. There’s nothing wrong with that unless the counselor or client dislike it.

There are yet more definitions. Some guides prefer shamanism that works on an intellectual, instead of experiential, level. Someone else told me she saw shamanic counseling as synonymous with the peer-counseling that happens in 12 step groups. And there are other definitions, but the important thing is:

Whatever shamanic counseling means to you, this course supports and strengthens your approach.

This is not training in psychic-reading. It is far beyond. You learn universal principles that anyone can use to counsel.

This course suits a variety of seekers who want to strengthen what they already know and do:
* People confide in you and, without any training, you know exactly what to say to help. You have no desire to become a professional, but everyone turns to you with their problems, and you want to do your best to support them.
* Or you’re trained in psychology and want to involve spirit more in your work.
* Or you read tarot—with or without training in it—professionally or for free.
* Or you priest(ess) a coven.
* Or you’re a healer of body and/or spirit, using physical, psychic, and/or spiritual means.
* Or you have other reasons this class is relevant.

Come join me. As a professional spiritual counselor, raised by a Sicilian witch who trained me in shamanism from birth, I’ll share what I’ve learned, including techniques only spoken of among pros.

Learn the techniques, strengths, and limits of the witch as spiritual advisor, as well as rituals and meditations to heal friends and clients, and help them follow their star.

We’ll discuss shamanic counseling methods to guide people through life’s everyday challenges, as well as secrets witches use to heal alcoholism, heartbreak, and trauma.

You’ll discover how to:

* Practice traditional shamanic counseling.

* Gain confidence in your innate wisdom and ability to counsel, comfort, and inspire.

* Be the high caliber spiritual guide that people seek out.

* Express your inner Goddess or God.

* Better apply your existing tools to help friends/clients.

* Reap self-fulfillment, joy, spiritual growth, and self-healing by serving others.

* Use shamanic counseling modalities to augment your own counseling approach, whether you work in a shamanically-, psychologically-, or Christian-based mode, or another modality.

Suited to all levels of experience: accessible to newbies, yet adepts experience depth.

This course serves as one of the electives needed before advanced Third Road training.

The class meets by phone. Just dial your phone to attend.

You receive spiritual transmissions in every meeting, which increases the lesson’s power and your ability as a counselor.

Enrollment is limited to 16 participants so we can perform ceremonies that can only happen in a small group, allowing old-style oral tradition in which immense headway happens quickly. A small group also allows each participant to receive individualized attention, should they want that support. This tailors a lesson to you.

I commit to my students. You can phone me, should you have a concern that’d take too long to address during class or that you prefer to discuss privately.

Starting October 19, we meet Tuesdays 6:00 to 7:00 pm EST, for seven consecutive Tuesday, with the exception of Tuesday Nov 23 (Thanksgiving week), which we’ll skip over. Reserve Tuesday Dec 14, same time, for a makeup session in case I’m unavailable for one of the planned dates.

Pay securely with PayPal. Choose one of two options:

1) Use the Pay Now button below to pay tuition all at once one, and you’re taken care of! Half price if you’ve attended this class before. The drop-down menu has a half-price option.

2) Or use the Subscribe button to make two payments of $200, one now and a second one automatically a month later. Easy!

If you do not receive an email confirming your payment within a few days, please check your spam filter and spam mailbox. If the email isn’t there, or you want to discuss a payment plan, trade, or scholarship, or you need additional info about the course, please call me. Upon payment, your place is reserved. Refunds unavailable. A few days before the first meeting, you receive event phone number and other details by email.

Wee witchling Francesca De Grandis, 1961

Lynn Andrews, author of Medicine Woman: “Francesca De Grandis has given us an inspirational bridge between ancient wisdom and our current life.”

Patricia Sullivan, Director of Clinical Services for U.C.S.F. AIDS Health Project: “Training with Francesca has had a significant impact on my work as a therapist, teacher, and administrator working within the HIV epidemic.”

Francesca De Grandis, 2013

Cathy: “Francesca, Thanks for the spiritual counseling and support. I’ve gone to many different “spiritual advisors” and gotten lots of junk. Everything I got from you was pure quality and I truly appreciate it. Looking forward to another session, Cathy”

It’s been six years since I’ve taught this, and it may be that long before I teach it again. Take advantage of this opportunity.

Posted in Classes, Books, and Other News | Tagged advisor, alcoholism, Andrews, challenges, class, clients, counsel, counseling, coven, De Grandis, DeGrandis, Francesca, friends, god, goddess, guide, heal, healers, heartbreak, Lynn, Medicine, meditations, methods, pagan, Pastoral, priesthood, professional, psychic, rituals, secrets, seminar, shamanic, shamans, Sicilian, skills, spiritual, style, support, tarot, techniques, Teleseminar, training, trauma, wisdom, witch, woman | Leave a comment

Upcoming Shamanic Event

Posted on September 21, 2021 by Francesca De Grandis

A Three-Month Direct Spiritual Transmission,
starting October 11, 2021

**Have constant shamanic support tailored to you.**

A direct spiritual transmission is a ritual I perform to give you powerful blessings:

I was born a good luck charm, generating a beneficial field of energy that adapts itself to fulfill your specific physical, spiritual, and emotional needs, even when they change from moment to moment. Perhaps you need
* more money
* spiritual strength to get back up after life’s knocked you down
* creativity
* safety
* a soul healing
* other blessings
* or numerous blessings all at once.

You don’t have to attend an event or do any work. Just sign up, and I do the work for you! Receiving this transmission is easy. I have spent decades honing my natural-born gift. Serving you is my privilege, joy, and sacred profession.

Even if you’re a shaman yourself, you deserve a constant ally who has your back.

No experience needed. But adepts are deeply impacted.

I send you this spiritual transmission five days a week, every week for three months. That’s a lot!

Most people feel improvements immediately. And they tend to be cumulative and continue to snowball after the three months have ended. Whether you’ve already made significant changes for the better, are only beginning to improve your life, feel completely stuck, or are on top of the world, major shifts can happen at any moment.

The magic I do helps you whether you’re using all your power or feel you’re not using it at all:
* Even if you have enormous power, you still profit greatly from my services. The transmission builds on your achievements, goals, and dreams, helping you soar even higher than the possibly huge flights you’ve already had. And if your magnificent flights hit stormy challenges, I help keep you aloft.
* If you feel you are not powerful, the transmission helps you see—and use—your enormous powers. You have them even when you don’t know it. The transmission also furthers your goals and dreams, helping you survive and soar, flying higher and higher.

Click the subscribe button to pay securely with PayPal: three easy, automatic monthly payments of $150. You receive mega-support each month for that amount. Total cost: $450. Payments appear on the credit card associated with your PayPal account.

If you do not receive an email confirming your payment within a few days, please check your spam filter and spam mailbox. If the email is not there, or you can’t afford payment, need reduced payment, or want additional info, please call me. No refunds, but you may cancel your subscription any time.

Abundance, power, serenity, love, and compassion permeate every atom of existence—for you to receive. Imagine what it would be like to have constant, loving shamanic support tailored to you for three months. Whether you need help with romance, career, health, or anything else, I have your back.

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

Posted in Classes, Books, and Other News | Tagged body, compassion, De, Direct, emotional, Francesca, Francesca De Grandis, Grandis, healing, magic, money, needs, peace, physical, receive, safety, shaman, shamanic, soul, spiritual, strength, support, Transmission | Leave a comment

Mother Bear California Is a Home in Eternity

Posted on September 15, 2021 by Francesca De Grandis

Mother Bear California
Is a Home in Eternity

Sept 10, 2021

In the cab of a 26-foot truck.
The closer to California,
the closer to home,
my bones know this.

Cross the state line,
see California’s flag,
Mother Bear, I’m home.

She takes me to Her bosom
immediately and immeasurably.
I’m home.
I’m whole.

Moving to Pennsylvania 17 years ago,
I thought it’d be permanent.
But not a day passed that I didn’t miss S.F.

I couldn’t admit, even to myself,
till I was back in the City by the Bay,
that when I’d first entered the Pennsylvania house I’d purchased,
I felt rootless, bereft, in exile.
An outsider.

I could never lay down roots in Pennsylvania soil.
No matter how much I tended the land,
how much I healed the land,
how many rituals I did to heal my refugee heart,
my roots remained in California—
for 17 years, I felt like my legs had been torn off,
left in the earth of the West coast.

Years of insomnia.
Then, my first night on the bedrock of Nob Hill,
I fall asleep within 15 minutes.
I know it was 15 because
my audiobook shuts off after 15,
and usually I turn it on for another 15, another 15,
another … but I didn’t hear the audio stop
my first night here.

Three days in my new apartment, I feel at home,
was never at home in Pennsylvania,
but now Mama Bear California holds me
holds me holds me holds me.

The town is filled with gorgeous, young
Hispanic and East Indian men,
their heartfelt eyes smiling at me
above their KN95 masks.

Other youth, artfully shabby
and loose-limbed after their yoga classes,
stalk past like professional predators, each after another.

But Mother Bear fuels the humans
whose hearts are moored to this sandy stretch.
Kush, one of many refugees from S.F.,
phones from New York
to tell me I’m “in eternity. Nob Hill is sacred.”

He adds that my living here “intensifies the sacredness.”
Decades back in S.F., I told him of my sorrow,
sad that, as a shaman,
I did not have a piece of land to tend.
He responded, “The place you used to live on Ellis Street
burned down after you left.”
Oh, I tended it without knowing.

He adds in his recent phone call that “S.F. needs healing.
This is Dreamtime Beach.
San Francisco has the vision, those who have it have it.”

He also explains I am “destined to be in San Francisco.
Think Communitas. Constellation. Ecosystem.
Be attentive to all and weave.”

My friends near and far weave the dream with me.

I do not reject the predators but wrap my heart around them.
There is only we. That is part of the dream,
a piece of eternity. So mote it be!

Dear reader, the first recorded image of a Madonna with child was a bear with Her cubs.

She is the primal Goddess, Mother of all Who manifests as mighty currents sweeping throughout the universe to carry us to our dearest goals.

She also reveals Herself as a living, loving presence in every rock, blade of grass, and human heart.

She is Eternity in every rock, blade of grass, and human heart.

I feel Her no matter where I am but find it much more challenging to nestle into Her love and Living Eternity in some places and circumstances.

Always journeying with Her, running toward Her, running away from Her—even when I’m stationary—life is a travel adventure.

For freebies, classes, and rituals that support your special path, click the banner below:

Posted in Spirit, The Whole Thing | Tagged bay area, Bear, bedrock, California, classes, DeGrandis, ecosystem, exile, flag, Francesca De Grandis, Franchesca, goddess, Madonna, Mother, Nob Hill, refugee, San Francisco, shaman, vision, West coast | 4 Comments

People Like Us, Demons Like Them

Posted on May 20, 2021 by Francesca De Grandis

Soon-to-Be-Released Fantasy Novel

My fantasy novel will be released soon. Eek! I’m a little scared but am mostly happy, excited, and smiling. This is fun.

Above is the cover’s final version hopefully.

2004 and the few years immediately following were difficult for me. During that time, I wrote this book for sheer escapism, running from my problems to play in a fantasy realm.

The book’s ceremonies, spirits, and other portrayals of otherworldly matters aren’t meant as authentic depictions. This is a work of imagination, written to entertain me. Use a ritual in this book, and your head might explode. For authoritative otherworldly information, see my non-fiction work.

I’m grateful the Muse brought me the book’s characters during one of the hardest periods of my life. I moved on to happy days, partially because working with these characters to create their personalities, motivations, and stories entertained me so much that I did not get utterly lost in my problems.

The manuscript languished on my computer all these years, for a variety of reasons. Now, the book’s characters want to be out in the world. It’s their time. So mote it be!

I’m reading the manuscript again, after years. It’s lovely to visit with these characters once more. Both heroes and villains are like friends to me, I love them all, and they entertain me even now, after all our time apart. I soooo want to introduce them to you.

People Like Us, Demons Like Them will be available only from the author.

More to follow, soon. Don’t miss the release announcement. Subscribe to my newsletter by clicking this banner:

Posted in Art, Writing, and Music, Classes, Books, and Other News | Tagged demons, fantasy, Francesca De Grandis, Novel | Leave a comment

Fairy Magic Lunar-Year Ceremony

Posted on May 20, 2021 by Francesca De Grandis

A Year with the Trees
Shamanic Power Quest

This year-long ceremony begins in July, 2021.

Enroll by July 7, 2021.

We’ll gather via teleseminars—group meetings by telephone. Just dial your phone to attend.

This will be the fairy witch’s ancient magics—both enchanted and down-to-earth, with rituals to reach spiritual, worldly, and mystical goals.

We’ll do practical spells for abundance, wisdom, serenity, joy, pleasure, ease, and more, using the ways of our ancestors. We’ll also enliven and celebrate our Fey nature.

Like the ancient Druid, we’ll draw on the various powers of the year:

Monthly Moon Rites * The Old Lunar Tree Calendar * Sacred Trees Rituals * Eight Sacred Fairy Holidays * Life Based in the Annual Solar and Vegetative Cycles * Healing from Gaia * Healing for Gaia *

Here are explanations of the above fairy witchcraft powers, all of which are part of every year’s passage:

1) Monthly Moon Rites
Based in the Lunar Tree Calendar

The ancient lunar tree calendar has thirteen months instead of our modern twelve. The ancient calendar month is measured by the moon’s cycles–its waxing and waning.

Each moon cycle holds a special power: lore tells us the moon’s magic is different every month of the year. We’ll use the special magical power of each month’s moon.

2) The Druids’ Sacred Trees Rituals

Every tree offers us particular enchantments. E.g., birch has different magics than oak or rowan. In the lunar calendar, each month has a corresponding tree, whose powers come forth especially during that moon cycle. Our yearlong mystical journey will be empowered by the specific enchantments of each month’s sacred tree.

The Welsh expression, dod yn ôl at fy nghoed, which means “to return to a balanced state of mind,” translates literally as “to return to my trees.” The trees will bless us with their wisdom, peace, healing, beauty, and magics, to help us reach our life goals and fulfill our spirits.

3) The Eight Sacred Sabbats (Pagan Seasonal Holidays)

We’ll perform rituals for the eight Sabbats of the year—eight Pagan holidays that are sacred to the Fey Folk.

Each of these days is a crux of magical power—a spectacular moment of power we can draw on to cast strong spells.

4) Life Based in the Annual Solar and Vegetative Cycles

We’ll honor the seasons—as opposed to only the Sabbats—drawing on the year’s solar and vegetative cycles, both ritually and on the earthly plane.

These cycles are alive in our own beings. By harmonizing with the seasons, your cells will harmonize with each other, creating spiritual and physical health, strengthening intuition and other magical powers, and letting Gaia enchant your life to bring your deepest wishes into being.

Solar magic, the magic of the annual vegetative cycles, and Sabbats rituals go deep into the Mysteries of our relationship with the old fairy Gods.

The yearwheel magics I’ve discussed can be woven together as a whole, which we will do. In that weave, these Fey enchantments come together into an astoundingly effective journey into prosperity, peace of mind, and other spiritual, mystical, and worldly needs.

How We’ll Weave Year Wheel Magics Together

I had visions of the cosmos, in which the various year-wheel magics—lunar, tree, solar, vegetative, sabbats—weave together as a whole, instead of being held as distinctly separate parts, which is the more common understanding. The visions showed how this weaving had been designed by the Old Gods, and how I might use Their design when I channel rituals.

Our rituals throughout the year will be this weaving of the lunar, tree, solar, vegetative, sabbats—to create a whole far greater than the sum of its parts. It’ll be the truly Pagan experience our ancestors lived; we can really be of the earth, be with the earth, and live with the Old Gods by our sides.

This weaving will also provide an opportunity for powerful healings of—and from—Gaia.

More benefits from weaving the year-wheel magics together:

Our Heritage as Children of the Old Gods

We are fey-touched. Starlight runs in our veins. The fairy Gods are our ancestors Who still want to walk with us today.

Our heritage as Their children is abundance, wisdom, pleasure, and ease. Our heritage is the fulfillment of our life goals and strength in our magic, bodies, and spirits.

The year-wheel’s natural patterns are the living presence of the Gods’ magic and love for us. My careful integration of the various year-wheel powers will help you live in tune with and enjoy the year-wheel. Thus, you live more fully in the Gods’ care that They may empower you to reclaim your heritage. In other words:

Oppressors have tried to rob us of our divine legacy. In our twelve-month quest, we’ll reclaim our inheritance by living in the old calendar. We’ll embrace the powers of the Old Ways that our Gods want for us. So mote it be!

To be in harmony with the year’s turning, we’ll not only use the aforementioned yearwheel magics, but also a sprinkling of
* Herbal Enchantments
* Kitchen Magic
* Animal Totems

Using herbal, hearth, and totemic rites according to seasonal cycles will help integrate the yearwheel’s power and its rituals even more deeply into our lives.

My shamanic approach helps you honor your whole self, so you, for example, don’t have to choose between being an artist or a psychic, a logical thinker or an intuitive, a responsible family member or a mystic, but can be both.

You’ll find that our year with the trees, by weaving different styles of magics together, will help you live in the weave that is the entire cosmos, an experience that in turn will unite your many aspects and help you fully express them. This year-wheel rite nurtures all your powers and honors all your emotions, ideas, and other facets. Imagine such happy fullness of being!

I am a fairy Druid, refusing to let my spirit be subdued. This journey will uphold me and my fellow travelers. It can deliver everything this post promises because my ceremonies are carefully constructed and well-rooted: our shamanic journey will use material I channeled over decades. The year-long rite will draw on a lifetime of developing shamanic theories, techniques, and liturgy.

In the ‘80s, I taught that the yearwheel is more than the eight Sabbats. I believed in going beyond the Sabbats to honor each, entire season and live according to that season. My students and I celebrated both the Sabbats and the whole year’s wonders, as will happen in the upcoming yearwheel group.

In the ‘80s, the term year wheel was mostly used to refer to the Sabbats exclusively. That felt so wrong to me, when the whole year’s wheel offered such special blessings as part of its turning. My year-wheel ideas, practically unheard of in modern Paganism, were met with resistance, not by my students but by the larger Pagan community.

I am 70 years old. This event is one of the culminations of all my years of teaching and of living as a Pagan. I have so many innovative yearwheel magics and theories to weave together into A Year with the Trees.

I’ve wanted to offer A Year with the Trees for decades, but the time never seemed right. Special thanks to three of my dear initiates who told me what would be helpful to them in their shamanic journey right now. They and another of my fellow travelers illuminated my mind and heart; I knew the time had come.

A bell rang out from faery, and I knew I must lead this yearlong rite—oh, to thus live in the love of the Old Gods made manifest is pure joy.

This yearwheel journey has three powerful parts:

1) Our Circle Meetings. The group meets via teleseminars—group phone-calls. To participate, just dial your phone.

Beginners will be taught what they need to take this journey, but the material will be rich enough for the most advanced practitioners.

We’ll work in old-style oral tradition, allowing immense headway quickly. Enrollment is limited to 16 people, so we can perform ceremonies that can only happen in a small group, and so each participant can receive individualized attention, should they want that support.

A shamanic journey is personal. Traditional shamanic circles include the chance for individualized attention, which tailors the journey to you.

2) You receive spiritual transmissions, in every meeting.

Spiritual transmissions are an ancient Faery Faith method that deepens the experiential nature of the lessons, increases the serenity, power, and safety of your shamanic journey, fosters personal growth, and adds good luck to your life overall.

3) I commit to my students. Part of oral tradition is the teacher being available. You can phone me, should you have a concern that’d take too long to address during class or that you prefer to discuss privately.

Choose to be in one of two groups:
* One will meet Sundays, noon to 1:00, EST, starting July 11.
* The other meets Mondays, 6:00 to 7:00 pm EST, starting July 12.

Both groups will have 43 meetings. We gather in ritual together once a week, usually for seven consecutive weeks, after which we break for a week or more, before another seven consecutive weeks.

Breaks will be the weeks of August 29, September 5, October 31, November 21, December 19th, December 26, January 2, January 16, March 20, March 27, May 22, May 29.

Reserve Sunday noon or Monday 6 PM, depending on which group you choose, on the weeks of July 31 and August 7, for makeup sessions in case I am unavailable for some of the planned sessions.

A year might seem like too much of a commitment, but the schedule isn’t overwhelming. Meetings will span 55 weeks, with 12 weeks off. During the holiday season, weeks won’t always be consecutive, so you have time for holiday celebrations and obligations. January’s schedule is lighter too, since many individuals prefer January be somewhat laid back.

Full cost—for 43 meetings, direct spiritual transmissions, and one-on-one private support should you desire—is $200 a month. Your carrier might charge you for the phone calls into the rituals.

Enroll securely with PayPal. After giving your phone number and choosing the Sunday or Monday group, click the Subscribe button to make twelve automatic monthly payments of $200:

Upon payment, your place is reserved. No refunds. However, if you choose to drop out at any point, cancel your subscription, and I won’t expect further payments.

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

For more information or to discuss scholarship, semi-scholarship, trade, or a payment plan other than the subscription, phone me.

Join me on this quest for power, visions, and fulfillment. Align yourself with nature’s beauty that you may draw on it to embody your values and goals and know your worldly, spiritual, and mystical strength.

Wee witchling Francesca De Grandis, 1961

Francesca De Grandis is the best selling author of “Be a Goddess!” Her work couples Goddess mysticism with practical magic and a down-to-earth philosophy. Raised in a traditional Strega family tradition that has Celtic shamanism in its heritage—the family is originally from France—she practices an ancient European witchcraft that is a form of fairy shamanism.

A mystical event is not a substitute for medical care by a trained physician, psychiatric counseling, or other therapeutic treatments. Participants are personally responsible for the consequences of their voluntary participation.

Posted in Classes, Books, and Other News | Tagged calendar, ceremony, cycle, De Grandis, DeGrandis, faerie, fairy, fey, Francesca, Franchesca, gods, lore, lunar, magic, moon, old, power, quest, rite, ritual, rituals, Sabbats, shamanic, spell, Tree, witch, year | Leave a comment

Lessons in Tree Magic

Posted on May 11, 2021 by Francesca De Grandis

FairyTale Forests, Witchcraft,
and the Journey to Power

Shamanic Quests, Folk Tales, & Enchanted Forests

Trees love witches, druids, and other magical beings, blessing us with peace, joy, and strength. There’s a good reason fairy tales and folk tales depict journeys into the woods as enchanted events and quests for power.

When I think of forests, fairytales, and quests, what comes to mind is Hansel and Gretel’s saga, with its lost trail of breadcrumbs and their encounter with a witch. What comes to mind also is little Red Riding Hood’s story of venturing toward grandmother’s house, meeting the wolf en route, and the miraculous rescue from the wolf’s belly. These are stories about quests—overcoming tremendous problems and coming to power—in which magic inevitably figures.

Sometimes, in fairytales, not a forest but a single tree or small grove is pivotal to the quest. For example, a tree holds the spirit of the protagonist’s deceased mother who helps that heroic figure overcome dire challenges. We need not go into the woods to receive aid from trees.

Every single tree has power and a dryad. What is a dryad? Greek lore tells us a spirit lives in a tree. Such a spirit is called a dryad.

The Joy and Peace of a Visit with Trees

The idea of entering the woods elicits memories of my eager, expectant wanderings into shaded forests I’d never visited previously. I always know there’ll be new magic and wonder to explore. I also know my peace will be renewed.

Going into the woods also reminds me of laughing with friends as we ran free and joyously—literally ran—through a forest that was our beloved magical playground.

It’s no surprise that forests are dear to witches, druids, and other individuals who follow a Pagan path. There are many reasons for this, but one is: the joy and serenity we might find in the forest is par none.

Joy and calm might also be experienced if one can sense the energy or dryad of a solitary tree that blesses an urban street.

A Shamanic Journey into the Woods and the Self

Whether as a long arduous hike, a brief stroll through the woods for part of one’s weekly exercise, a fictitious narrative, or a piece of old lore, traveling into the woods often equates with a journey to self-realization, inner power, and confidence. As such, going into the woods is an easily accessible symbol for something subtle and hard to portray; often, the journey to self is unseen, has no visible trappings, and is much quieter than facing a wolf or avoiding being shoved into a candy-house oven.

A druid, witch, or other individual drawn to nature spirituality might journey to power in hidden, quietly blessed shadows of a forest. That trek can be more frightening than the wolf’s brutal teeth or the oven’s fierce fires. And just as dramatic.

One’s own self is definitely among the hidden places of enormous power, and traveling into self is the wildest—and sometimes most frightening—shamanic quest.

How to Ask Trees for Magical Help

All trees are enchanted, having powers with which they might help us move toward joy, power, freedom, prosperity, and self-fulfillment. When in a forest, or near any tree, simply request help. You can do so by using the following liturgy or whatever other way feels right to you.

Prayer to a Tree

Beloved tree(s), please
hold me safe in my journey,
uplift my spirit,
strengthen my resolve,
bless my goals,
and grant me the joy and beauty of your company.
So mote it be!
Thank you!

The Magic of the Alder Tree

Each tree also has its own special magics to help our journeys. For example, Alder tree told me it can center you into your essence—your true self. You can ask an alder tree to do that, if you come upon an alder in your wandering. Here’s a prayer I wrote for that:

Prayer to an Alder Tree

Sweet Fey Alder,
please help stay me in my power,
my wisdom,
my strength,
my chosen goals,
my confidence,
my choices,
my joys,
and my journey ever forward.
Thank you!

Alder magic can be subtle. If you don’t feel anything right after the prayer, the tree might nonetheless be already helping you a lot. It might take time to notice. Or, as is the case with any magic, it might take time to bear fruit.

You could also make that prayer when no trees are nearby if you happen to have a piece of Alder wood you can hold while you pray. Or if you feel a personal connection to Alder, make the prayer even if there’s no Alder wood or alder tree nearby.

Here’s a talisman Alder pendant I made, so you can see this gorgeous wood and, if you want, tune into Alder’s energy:

There are many trees on this planet ready and wanting to love you, support you, and smile with you.

Helping the Trees

If you’re devoted to nature spirituality, you’re probably also devoted to environmentalism. Magic honors the give-and-take of life: the trees help us, and we help them. When you ask a tree for help, consider giving it some water and fertilizer afterwards. And it’s always a good day to hug a tree, plant a tree, fertilize a tree, write to an elected official to support environmental action, or otherwise be a friend to trees. So mote it be!

For announcements of upcoming classes, including Kitchen Magic, Herb Magic, Tree Magic, Fairy Druid lessons, and Learn Ogham Divination—an online course about divination using the ancient Ogham tree alphabet—click the banner below.

Posted in Spirit, The Whole Thing | Tagged alder, Alphabet, De Grandis, DeGrandis, Divination, druid, dryad, fairy, Francesca, Franchesca, help, herb, journeys, kitchen, learn, Lessons, magic, Ogham, peace, power, prayer, quests, tales, Tree, Trees, witch, woods | Leave a comment

The Power in Mourning Releasing the Old Me