The Fey folk love your beautiful witchy heart.
After having the above thought, I painted a border for it. To add Faerie magic, I paint everything I can: memes I write, the newsletter button below, my clothes—including my shoes …
(The art work blurred a bit and what-not, when I made the file smaller so the webpage would appear quickly for you.)
This was my first needle felting.
Whenever I see felt gnomes—almost any style—I have to either grin or outright laugh in delight.
So I conjured three gnomes friends. Sure enough, these fellows have me grinning and laughing. They’re also good conversationalists, as long as you talk about things that interest gnomes.
Call them gnomes or Tomte—they do not care, as long as you give them a loving home. They definitely bless a home.
I’d only seen felt gnomes with one or two non-wool parts, eg a wood head. I wanted mine all wool instead, because I love working with it. Plus I hoped all wool might make them look roughhewn; I envisioned rough and tumble Tomte.
The only non-wool was a little needle and thread work to reshape one gnome’s base into a stable foundation.
I expected to make the fellows completely by wet felting, but when I couldn’t do everything by wet felting, I tried my hand at needle felting. It was easier than I expected.
I loved watching each fellow’s unique personality emerge as I made them. For example, the gray bearded guy is a big-hearted mischief-maker and ruffian-warrior who enjoys good ale.
Happy holidays!
Bragging rights! I have a great sense of accomplishment. Finished making over 60 Yule ornaments. It’s my job as a Yule elf: I designed, painted, personally printed, and hand cut ornaments for my friends and me. It was a labor of love, gifting loved ones and helping Santa spread magic. Happy holidays!
The only lore I’ve read about dreamcatchers is specific to dreams and nightmares. I sensed a deeper layer about visions—and an even deeper layer about the Goddess. To convey everything I channeled, I crafted a poem and a sculpture. I call them both “Goddess Womb Dreamcatcher.”
The poem and sculpture also convey my thanksgiving to Goddess.
To make the sculpture, I felted wool into organic shapes like leaves, vines, flowers, and a feather. I attached the shapes to a V-shaped stick, so the Dreamcatcher would be reminiscent of a woman’s reproductive system.
The poem is below, but first a detail of the Dreamcatcher: the wool sculpted feather.
Shout out to the folks at Living Felt, where I purchase my wool: they sell quality felting supplies, created without cruelty to sheep, and provide exceptional customer service.
OK, this is the poem, (prayer, affirmation, contemplation, story, brilliant insights, brilliant application of said insights, visualization, ritual, etc.,):
Goddess Womb Dreamcatcher
All visions spring from the Goddess’ belly.
They travel down
until they meet a feather,
then tumble from between Her legs,
onto my mind.
I give thanks.
My mind is a womb upside down, though my mind is right side up.
My womb is a mind upside down, though my womb is right side up.
I am whole if I live in paradox.
I give thanks.
All life is woven within Her womb.
She’s the spinner who spun Herself into being.
I offer the life and art I weave to Her.
I give thanks.
She is the dreamer and the dream.
There is no Dreamcatcher but Her.
I send Her my dreams as an offering.
I give thanks.
The Goddess protects me—
captures both nightmares and sweet dreams,
taking them into Herself,
then birthing only the beauty
into my waking day.
I give thanks.
Yes, She’s Nightmare as well
—cackling menace in my powerless hours,
which are both sleeping and waking.
Even in those times, She holds all creation
—including the whole of me—
as the weaving of life that’s safe in Her womb.
I give thanks.
She bestows on me Her complete Self:
all creation and all beyond creation.
My ideal: give Her no less of myself,
offer my entirety
to Her and Her dreams.
I give thanks.
The road to Faerie is not civilized, but kinder.
I wrote the above line in the 80s, but recently someone asked why. Good question! Here’s my answer:
Indoctrinated with the idea that our wild aspects are always ruthless and to be feared, many people’s wild, beautiful power is crushed.
Breaking out of that oppression, they often go to the other extreme, allowing themselves any actions at all, even cruel or irresponsible ones, unaware they’re being hardhearted. They might honestly believe they’re doing no harm, insisting, “I’m just being me. If you don’t like it, you’re trying to oppress me. Not my problem, because I’m a free spirit.”
I wanted to create a maxim showing a third option, other than the two extremes of suppression or hardheartedness. So I coupled the ideas of wildness and kindness.
However, it’d take a whole book to fully explain why I wrote the maxim, since I was trying to express so many ideas in it. I use my skills as a poet to write lyrical aphorisms because they can contain endless concepts and levels in a few words and touch the heart rather than just the intellect.
However, I should share: on one level, the adage refers specifically to the path I walk with my students—the Third Road—and was written as part of a blessing for students entering into a deeper level of study with me.
I wanted the blessing ceremony to include the following thoughts: We’d long ago rejected the hardheartedness mentioned above. But our upcoming shamanic journey would release more of their —and my—wild power than even our previous work together had done. When gaining another degree of wildness, it’s easy to fall prey to foolishness previously discarded. We needed to continue to integrate our wild and civilized aspects. This would more than ever make us whole in ourselves and as a community. Otherwise, we more than ever risked becoming enormously fragmented in ourselves and alienated from fellow seekers. I preferred to express all those thoughts in words that could be carried through the training not just in the mind but also the heart: “The road to Faerie is not civilized, but kinder.”
Hmm … maybe putting all the stuff in the above paragraph into the ceremony would’ve made things clearer, LOL.
Always happy to answer a question! I can’t always explain my poetry, because sometimes poetry is the only way I can explain something. But I tried my best today.
Blessed be.
My Goddess, I place my now and my future in Your hands. May all my actions be in Your service. Mother, help me put myself in Your care, by living my now and all my tomorrows in Your service.
This is a seasonal chant. It can be used not only for the Winter Solstice, but also for winter months subsequent to Yule.
If you recite it, please tell me what happens. Walking through falling snow, I channeled this poem. When the Goddess gave me a line, I chanted it immediately, while continuing my passage beneath a gray snowy sky. The experience was a gift from the Goddess, and doubly joyful when, reaching home, I managed to get a version of it in writing, because now I can share it with you, my fellow seeker (as well as use it again myself). Sharing our journeys blesses me utterly. So it would be wonderful to know your experience with this chant.
And, by the way, it works perfectly well without the snow storm, LOL. You do not need falling snow to use this chant.
Druid (Elven) Winter Solstice Chant
Francesca De Grandis, 2014
With the falling snow,
stars plummet to ground.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
I, elf, know my losses.
I, elf, know my losses.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
I, elf, know my pains.
I, elf, know my pains.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
I, elf, am not trapped by any sorrow.
I, elf, am not destined to mythic melancholy
or an inevitable tragedy of erroneous lore.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Stars descend with the falling snow.
The chill and the heat bless me.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
All the power of the stars is mine.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
My powers are from the dark Mother Goddess.
My powers are from the blazing newborn King.
My powers are from the earth’s molten core.
My powers are from the fiery silver stars.
My powers are from the Dragon flame—all cauldron fires are mine.
By my powers, I easily manifest utter connection to my Gods.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
By my powers, I easily manifest self.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
By my powers, I easily manifest beauty.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
By my powers, I easily manifest self-love.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
By my powers, I easily manifest usefulness to others.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
By my powers, I easily manifest peace.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
By my powers, I easily manifest fun.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
By my powers, I easily manifest happiness.
By my powers, I easily manifest wealth.
By my powers, I easily manifest health.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
I easily manifest connection to all my self.
I easily manifest connection to all things.
I easily manifest integration within myself.
I easily manifest integration within the World Tree.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
Aaahhhhhh, wooooooo.
I easily manifest Faerie.
Aaaaahhhhhhhh.
Wooooooooooo.
Aaaaahhhhhhhh.
Wooooooooooo.
Om.
Om.
Om.
Being a Yule elf is part of my personal mythology. Do you have a personal myth this time of year? Please share it. When we share our imaginative lives, we make an even larger mythology spontaneously emerge, to enlarge all our joy, power, and creativity.
Besides, being one of Santa’s elves makes me so happy that I’m bursting at the seams! I have to share about it, or I’ll pop, like a balloon. Here goes:
Santa put me in a managerial position this year. I wasn’t sure what to think about that, at first. I mean, I was honored, but it’s not what I expected, and I did not like totally the idea.
But I’ve learned that, when Santa wants me to do something, there’s no point in resisting, because he always knows what I want, better than I might know it myself. So I knew the job would be good for me, in the long run.
Besides, I’ve worked as middle-management for chaos gods for years. I have the perfect skill set for managing wild elves and the crazy goings-on at the North Pole. Plus, I am not the only manager, the jobs are divvied up.
My particular job involves a lot of organization. I’ve been organizing the elf games (but not the reindeer games). This requires coming up with fun activities.
My elf friend Kathi Somers helped out. Her Yule gift to me this year was the Ravensberger game Funny Bunny. Yeah, it’s for ages four and up, but I’m not too proud to enjoy a silly preschoolers’ game. As the song says, “It’s a gift to be simple.” Simple things in life can be the best. And foolishness wakes up life’s magic.
My work is not just managerial, but also creative. I like that. Part of organizing the festivities has been coming up with holiday menus. Last year, I created a chocolate recipe I really liked. So I used it again this year. My personal formula for keeping spirits up during the Yule season: Chocolate lumps, not lumps of coal. Gluten and sugar-free.
I’ve also been responsible for decorating the Elfin communal spaces, to ensure the areas are cheerful, peaceful, and conducive to a happy winter. For example, the photo below:
And I painted one of my brother elves, then made the painting into a Yule ornament:
Oh, another thing: I get to be in charge of the Make-A-Wish-to-Pagan-Santa page again this year! I experience such joy doing it, because the wishes people make to Santa are beautiful! I am so lucky to convey them to Santa! Click here to make your wishes.
Share your imaginary life. Quite honestly, imaginary doesn’t mean that it’s not true. Happy holidays!
Diana Lucifera
Love, Beauty, Blessings, and Occult Danger
Diana, the Light Bearer.
Magna Mater.
Goddess of Stregas.
You are all power, love, and beauty.
You are bliss.
You are eternity in which I reside each moment.
You are every moment.
This blog is not about the wonderful Diana that many American Pagans know—virgin huntress and patron of Dianic Wicca, a women-only witchcraft tradition.
This blog is about the equally wonderful Diana, known more in Europe. She is the Great Mother. I painted the above portrait to honor Her.
I discovered amazing love from Her and for Her. After I’ve given my students rituals to experience the same, the majority of the men chose Her as their Patron.
Pray—not just read—the following prayer, to experience an example of Her heart. It can only be understood experientially.
Prayer for Solace and to Be Filled with Her Spirit
Diana, enfold me in your embrace. Comfort me. In the wailing of my heart and the sorrow that wracks my back and chest, let yourself shine down upon me, your moon self. Hold me. Be with me. Let me feel your loving presence. Send the Bird of Heaven to me, to enter my heart and fill me with your spirit.
You know, I think I published this prayer/poem in a 1980s SageWoman magazine. … Yup, except there I’d called it “Invocation to Diana.” I called Anne NN, who gave me this link to the issue.
Running with Psychic Scissors
A blessing can become a bane. The bigger the blessing, the more it can sour. Diana bestows immense blessings, so let’s discuss how a blessing can turn against one. Much of what I will say can be adapted to apply to many other blessings and occult explorations.
She loves each of us completely, knowing every cranny of our psyche. This makes us feel special, as we should. However, specialness can cause us to doubt She can love anyone else so purely. That is arrogance.
Arrogance can ruin any blessing, in ways that harm you and people around you.
Whether a relationship with Her is new or decades old, we can stay humble, by knowing 1) its amazing love is unique yet not unique and 2) it will always be only a beginning of the love and power She can give. Thus we walk in grace and fulfillment of our life goals.
She bestows great love and great power, both beautiful beyond description. When you think you have a monopoly on a pure beauty, you’re in trouble.
I try to help my students navigate amazing gifts they receive, not just those from Diana. The occult world is dangerous if navigated alone. Without input from a teacher and other friends, any of us can badly harm self and others, despite good intentions.
For one thing, when you receive a blessing of immense power, negative spirits might try to trick you into using it for evil. They might masquerade as your Patron Deity, feeding your ego (arrogance) with “spiritual” nana.
They also might give you untrue information about your allies, making you mistreat and forsake them, so that you have no input to counter the negative spirits’.
Plus, we do not hear everything from our actual Patron correctly. We listen with flawed perceptions. Other people’s input is important.
After watching a fair number of people whose amazing, illuminating visions preceded those people’s descent down the tubes, I’m grateful for teachers who saved me from my own arrogance by consistently giving me input.
Anyone, newbie or adept, can profit from simply praying, “Diana, please shine your light on my heart, so that I stay humble in your love.”
Diana’s Secrets
Diana offers moonlit secrets. Meditate on this painting to receive a secret blessing from Diana. (You may have seen my former renditions of this decades ago. Now that I paint digitally, I can offer Her a better version.)
Paradoxes: Her secret wisdoms, being so perfect, are only for you. Keep the secrets, but do not think they make you more deserving than other people.
Closing
With humility, your power and bounty never cease.
Serve according to Her will, then your heart and cup forever fill.
She accepts our flaws.
Diana’s decades-long flawed servant, my blessings only increase.
