Tag Archives: Francesca

What Is Oral Tradition?

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What is Oral Tradition?

Oral tradition is spoken communication that conveys ideas, societal customs, and cultural underpinnings such as ancestral practices. Forms of oral tradition communications include folk tales, other lore, and poetry. There are exceptions to oral tradition being the spoken word. For example, live music can be oral tradition.

The above definition of oral tradition is the one most people will see in books and on websites. And it is a good start.

What if that’s not enough for you? What if the term oral tradition calls to you in ways that the above definition doesn’t address?

What if the words oral tradition invoke something wild and mystical for you, and you know there must be more than the common definition?

What if you sense mysteries that are never spoken, but you sense they are in oral tradition?

Perhaps you have another reason that the usual answer to “What is oral tradition?” is not enough for you.

If so, you’re in the right place. That usual and widespread definition is not enough for me.

I’ll give you a larger definition from my heart and bone marrow. I spent years analyzing what I experienced and observed and how to express all that.

Most of this post is theories I developed based on those experiences and observations. Often, the best ways to express my theories are:
* lyrical writing
* storytelling
* sharing my personal feelings
* and other approaches that are far from the usual means of communicating theories.

I put a lot of work into my theories. I take pride in that. I am also proud that my theories come from years of analysis, common sense, intuition, and trust in my emotions.

Telling a personal story is the best way to start a larger definition of oral tradition. I wrote the following in October 2011. I don’t know if I’ve shared it until now:

I get frustrated because I’m devoted to oral tradition, grew up in it, but can’t explain it—it is so foreign to our society. The Fairy Witch classes I teach and the Shamanic counseling I give are oral tradition. But I can’t get across what I do in them because it can’t be explained. It has to be experienced.

When I do talk about what happens in my classes and counseling, it sounds like promotional hype. The classes and counseling sessions are filled with amazing gifts from the Fairy King and Queen and my ancestors. So I try to explain these gifts. They can only be expressed with the passion I feel about them. No dry logic would do. I feel impelled to share these gifts because I love them and want folks to have access to their immense power. But the passion and inexplicable nature of oral tradition make my words sound like promotional hype.

But, wow, despite all that, I am jazzed! Today, I wrote some poetry and prose poetry combined that gets it across a little:

Oral Tradition

Spaces between the spoken word. Tiny gemlike emptiness that can’t be caught on paper. Places and feelings that aren’t captured by memory (unless your cells are teachable. Even then, remembrance fails, your cells need to relearn the lessons). Moments that can’t be duplicated, conveyed a second time, even by the finest performer.

People being—operative word being—together.

We gobble being up
like it is an ice cream sundae;
we each get a spoon—the moment is shared,
we have chocolate running down our chins,
we grin at each other,
even if we are joined together on the phone
instead of in person.
On the phone, we are in person
when we work in oral tradition.

The above gives a glimmer of oral tradition, but conveying a little bit of it is something. If I could describe it fully on paper, it would not be oral tradition.

How to Learn Oral Tradition

If you want to learn the oral tradition of a particular culture, here are three guidelines:

1) Sit with someone who grew up in that culture and loves it.

2) Pay attention to more than their words.

3) Choose someone who is loving to sit beside.

Let’s look more thoroughly at those guidelines:

To learn the oral tradition of a particular culture, sit with someone who grew up in that culture and who loves it. You can be with them in person, by phone, or on Zoom.

You can be with them in a class they are teaching about the culture in question. You can be with them in a class they are giving about something else. You can be with them by driving them to the grocery store.

If all a person does is lecture abstractly about their culture, you’re only learning ideas. Ideas alone do not make not oral tradition.

Not everyone loves the culture in which they were raised. Here’s a story that shows why that matters.

I grew up in a Shamanic culture. It was the culture of my family. My mother came from a centuries-old family tradition of Fairy Witchcraft. And my siblings will swear that my mother was not a Witch.

Their reaction is not exclusive to my family. I disclosed to an Indigenous American Shaman that my mom had trained me to be a Shaman. I refrained from telling him that my siblings did not recognize my mother’s Witchcraft. But he responded that his mom had trained him to be a Shaman, and that his brother insisted their mother had not been a Shaman. I was grateful for his disclosure because it echoed my similarly odd history. I felt less alone in hereditary Shamanism.

Like many aspects of oral tradition, the blindness of siblings to magic that another child in the family sees is puzzling. Here’s the theory I developed. If you do not have love for a culture, you don’t see it. Think of how colonizers look at Indigenous People as uneducated savages, clearly demonstrating that the colonizers are the uneducated savages. That is an extreme example to make the issue clearer. But the problem doesn’t have to be that extreme. I am not suggesting that anyone who doesn’t see magic is savage and uneducated.

My siblings were not tuned to magic, so they never saw it, let alone as a cultural part of our hearth.

Well, I know they saw it sometimes because occasionally they admit Mom’s incredible psychic abilities and Witch spirituality … and then deny them moments later. So in the long run, they don’t admit Mom was a Shaman.

Now to expand on my second guideline for learning in oral tradition:

Pay attention to more than words. Pay attention to gestures, silences, emotions in the air, and how you respond to them.

Oral tradition is not only the spoken word. It is also everything else in the moment.

You will notice how the second guideline weaves with the third:

Choose someone who is loving to sit beside.. Then the gestures, silences, and everything else in the moment will be filled with love, kindness, and compassion.

If someone’s words are mostly ego-ridden, constantly emphasizing that their ideas are important and the only right ones, walk away fast. Find someone else.

Oral tradition is about people being together. So if someone is filled with arrogance, it fills the moment, the air, and you with toxic energy. You are receiving a dysfunctional version of oral tradition. This is one of many reasons I advise you to pay attention to how you respond to gestures, silences, and emotions in the air. When you examine your reactions to someone’s company, you can sense whether they are good company.

Arrogance and pride are not the only toxins that can fill the moment. Just as a loving person adds love, kindness, and compassion to the moment, so a person who harbors hatred brings hate, cruelty, and judgmental condemnation.

Some individuals skillfully mask their judgmental nature and other flaws as the high moral ground. Some individuals mask abusive expressions of anger as righteousness. Anger is healthy. Expressing it abusively is not.

I learned all this the hard way. After Mom died, continuing to train as a Fairy Shaman in oral tradition was almost impossible because I could not find anyone else who taught through an oral Fairy tradition. I finally found one person. There was a lot wrong with him. I studied with him anyway. I justified my decision by thinking that I could handle it. After all, I was already a powerful savvy Witch. I paid dearly. Don’t settle. Study on your own and pray for the right teacher. The teacher will come.

We are all flawed. No teacher is going to be a perfect human. But find a loving one. Note your experiences of the moments when you are with a teacher. That will help you choose someone who is loving. Don’t settle for less.

For full disclosure, I need to admit that, as a young priestess teaching Shamanism, my own arrogance got in the way. Luckily, it did not take long for me to see how hurtful I was. I changed my ways.

A Story about Learning Oral Tradition

The following story illustrates some points I’ve made about learning through oral tradition:

My mother taught me Witch spirituality from the day I was born. But she never mentioned the word Witch until she was on her deathbed. A lot of what she taught was by example. I do not mean I only watched her do ritual. Her mundane actions demonstrated Witch spirituality by embodying it. She taught me Witch spirituality mostly by the way she walked through the world on a daily basis. Here are examples: her business savvy, her excellence in the kitchen, her fierce protectiveness of me, and her loud uninhibited laughter.

Here is another way Mom taught me: I was surrounded by her essence every day. That’s the nature of living with someone. So, even were she not practicing magic, her Fairy energy surrounded me, sinking into me. Therefore, the patterns, rhythms, beauty, and power of her magic became mine.

I want to phrase that a bit better: “Even were she not practicing magic overtly, …” Adding that word is important. For one thing, a lot of oral tradition magic is woven so seamlessly into everyday activities that it escapes notice. For another, everything is magic. Every person on the planet is always doing magic, whether they know it or not. In either case, her magic surrounded me.

Oral Tradition and Magic

Ritual is one of the most important parts of oral tradition. It is also a pivotal way that oral tradition can transmit power.


Oddly enough, most published definitions of oral tradition do not include ritual, let alone include it as one of the main ways to orally transmit ideas, culture, etc.

I think the rituals of oral tradition are often left out of publications for two reasons.

1) Ritual can be subtle, especially in oral tradition. Someone might be praying silently while pouring you a cup of tea. Many anthropologists and other outside observers overlook anything that is not right in their faces.

2) Academics hogged the mainstream dialogue that defined oral tradition. Search “oral tradition” online, and you’ll mostly see academic definitions. If this dialogue included more indigenous groups, working-class people, and other less privileged individuals, a different dialogue and definition would emerge.

Let me expand on the two reasons.

Academia tends to reinforce systemic oppression. Ignoring a non-colonizer culture’s subtleties helps minimize that culture’s nuanced sophistication and its importance. This reinforces arguments that justify eradicating the culture.

Leaving out ritual and its importance in oral tradition minimizes the power that ritual gives its participants. So fewer people turn to oral tradition, not knowing the immense power that it can give them. In other words, academics will say that oral tradition conveys cultural sensibilities. That’s wonderful. But more people would turn to oral tradition if they understood that oral tradition rituals help cultural sensibilities come alive in one’s heart and cells, instead of being ideas alone. Ideas are powerful but the ability to embody them is more powerful. The wisdom of ancestors and other resources that are in our DNA and resist oppression can come forward during oral tradition rituals. Rituals instill other powers too.

People who reinforce systemic oppression do not want less fortunate individuals to find sources of power.

No one has expertise in all oral traditions. This essay emphasizes oral tradition and Shamanism. It is a weaving in which I am expert. Also, I am committed to sharing oral tradition in the context of Shamanism in my classes and counseling. I thought this essay might help explain my work. (… Or should I say “committed to sharing Shamanism in the context of oral tradition”?)

As I said, oral tradition cannot be defined or explained. It can only be experienced. In that vein, I won’t try to fully explain the relationship between oral tradition and magic. The relationship is only understood through experiential lessons.

But if I move away from trying to define the undefinable and give illustrations instead, they might be helpful:

Learning Magic from My Mother Experientially

From birth, Mom helped me strengthen and refine my natural-born magical gifts. Here is one way she did this:

From my earliest memory, Mom wrapped the ancient Faery Faith around me, not as an abstract idea but as a living magic.

This magic was in my Fey-touched mother’s maternal love. All powers are in a mother’s love, including love and magic from the Fairy King and Queen. These ancient Gods helped Mom be loving. Her love is a role model for my behavior in my classes: The words I choose, how I say them, and whatever else I do during and between my words.

Here are more illustrations:

Teaching Magic Experientially

I teach Shamanism as an oral tradition. During class, I am not talking at you. We are in ritual together, in Fairy realms. It is psychically kinesthetic. We walk between the stars and become star-drenched.

The lessons are experiential learning. Mind you, my students learn not only from doing magic and experiencing oral tradition, but also from my linear, logical explanations of magical techniques and other parts of Fairy Shamanism. But even if an explanation on the surface is a lecture, we are in ritual. The explanations are ritual. And as ritual, they too are experiential learning.

I was born a good luck charm and an amulet for peace, prosperity, and more. Good luck, peace, prosperity, and other blessings fill the air around you during a class meeting. Like I said, the energy of the participants fill the space. If you’d like to learn more about my talismanic ability, click here.

Just as my mother taught me Witch spirituality by embodying it, I try to walk my talk in interactions with my students.

Where to Go from Here for Oral Tradition Shamanism

You can learn oral tradition Shamanism, live in oral tradition Shamanism, live in magic, be magic, draw on magic. Here’s how:

Experiential learning: Attend one of my free rituals to experience the mysteries of oral tradition magic. Subscribe to my newsletter for announcements of upcoming rituals. Click here to subscribe.

As I said, you can’t explain oral tradition in print. I wrote this essay in hopes it would affirm your wild longing for something beyond the printed page, beyond dry definitions of oral tradition, beyond equally desiccated definitions of magic, and past the supposedly informed opinions of oppressors. Those opinions are lies. They not only conceal magic and mysticism, but also help suppress and destroy the culture and power of many groups.

Your wild longings are beautiful, holy, and rich with dignity. Your passion for life is blessed by ancient Gods. So mote it be!

Elder Tricksters

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September 28, 2024

Protecting eccentric elders
lets them do vital work.
It is work that only they can do
to protect our communities.

Today I read the September 28 entry of Juno Covella—Perpetual Calendar Of The Fellowship of Isis, by dear departed Lawrence Durdin-Robertson. Here’s an excerpt:

“A comic old woman … with her jokes and lewd gestures moved Demeter to laughter. … This episode served to relieve the mourning.”

In Japanese lore, the sun Goddess Amaterasu retreats to a dark cave after being overcome by misery. An old woman, with humor and lewd gestures, draws Amaterasu from the darkness. Amaterasu’s exit brings Her light back to the world, which had darkened during her retreat.

To my mind, the old woman who made the Greek Goddess Demeter laugh ensured humankind’s survival. Demeter is a harvest Goddess. When She was not able to move on from Her immense grief, plants could not grow. Food is life, just as the sunlight that Amaterasu embodies is necessary for life.

Both these myths reveal tricksters to be Shamans. This is contrary to the usual portrayal of tricksters.

Elders Who Teach, Heal, & Empower Us Through Good-Natured Tricks and Joy

Seeing trickster as Shaman is only one way I reject the standard definition of a trickster. I also reject the portrayal of a trickster as someone who plays mean tricks to teach us important lessons. I view a trickster as a kind person who empowers us enormously through joy, fun, and good-natured tricks. (Read a pivotal 4000-word essay about Trickster in a two-volume Book of Shadows. It provides a more comprehensive look at my unusual theories about tricksters and their powers. Both human tricksters and trickster Deities can give you so much.)

Trust Your Intuition and Common Sense

The two old woman tales embody my understanding of a kind, joy-bringing trickster. How wonderful to finally find my theory embodied in traditional lore. It shows me, once again, that if I trust the conclusions I reach through intuition and common sense, I will eventually find them backed by traditional lore.

… Perhaps I noticed this embodiment in the Japanese lore decades ago. However, seeing the same archetype in a second tradition today brought it home.

Kind Eccentric Elders Are Important to Humanity’s Survival

Elderly tricksters healed Demeter and Amaterasu of pain so that They could bring Their gifts to the world again. This embodies elders of all gender identities who are kindly, joy-bringing tricksters helping younger individuals overcome pain. Thus, younger generations are more able to contribute to their community and the larger community that is All Our Relations.

This is a pivotal and overlooked power of crones.

One reason patriarchy devalues and otherwise oppresses elderly women: So that they cannot uplift their community, which is then more easily oppressed.

Elderly trickster men are devalued for the same reason. The disrespect heaped on them is seriously damaging. It may not be as bad as the disdain commonly shown to elderly trickster women. But pointing that discrepancy out might be splitting hairs. In any case: Wisdom is often attributed to the tricks of elderly men, and the positive results of their antics are more likely to be acknowledged. Regardless, they vitally need their communities’ support. Keep reading.

Elder Tricksters Help Us During Crisis

When crisis causes paralyzing grief, pain, and anger, so we cannot overcome the crisis, eccentric elders can step in. Each one is Trickster as a Shaman who heals us and empowers us.

It is important to know that they will bestow their joyful healing tricks on anyone. Tricksters embody love.

It is equally important to recognize old lady tricksters as Shamans who heal matriarchs—the latter being women who, like Demeter and Amaterasu, provide for their loved ones, communities, and All Our Relations.

It is important to recognize this because matriarchs usually lack even the dubious support their male counterparts receive. This affects everything from their mental health to their physical health to their productivity.

In a moment, more about the importance of supporting their male counterparts. My immediate point is:

It is important to see old lady tricksters as Shamans who heal matriarchs because patriarchy pits younger and older women against each other. Both lose vital support. This influences not only their productivity but also their chances of survival.

Wonderful trickster men uplift the individuals who lead by vitalizing—instead of by dominating—communities. These elderly fellows are like the tricksters who uplifted Demeter and Amaterasu. It is important to support these guys. They reject patriarchal male leadership models. By doing so, they give up privilege and fight systemic oppression. This makes them vulnerable to oppression.

I’ve been talking about men and women. It is equally vital to recognize and protect tricksters who do not identify with either gender. Or who identify with both. Or who otherwise gender-bend.

Some lore represents ultimate power as a hermaphrodite. There is good reason. By transcending gender, a hermaphrodite transcends all divisive dualities, thus embodying the ultimate connectivity—the union of all parts of the cosmos.

This is one of the greatest tricks that anyone can play! It is one of the greatest and most delicious tricks to have played on you! It invites you to open to a blessing that is the essence of life, love, and Shamanism. It is the trickster offering the following invitation to Demeter, Amaterasu, and any of us when we are trapped inside ourselves:

Come out from isolation and sorrow
so that you can be embraced by all of life
and be in union with the cosmos,
in all its goodness, beauty, joy, abundance, and power.

Tricksters who gender-bend are subjected to all the disdain and other harm that male and female tricksters encounter, and for the same reasons.

They are also targeted for additional reasons. Here is one specific to tricksters who heal honorable young leaders:

As mentioned, a person who does not adhere to so-called gender norms embodies unity and an invitation to union. All power resides in union within the self, union in a community, union with the cosmos. To alienate people from their inborn power and power as a community, oppressive cultures divide everything into opposing boxes.

Opposing boxes. Light supposedly opposes dark, as if day and night did not happen by the planet’s natural rotation.

Nature is not seen as harmonic union, but as separate parts always in feral conflict. This idea implies people must constantly vie for dominance or be crushed. Thus pitted against each other, they won’t work together to throw off oppressors.

Boxes. Our bodies and life itself are seen as machines, with mechanistic parts independent of each other. Death culture!

No! The universe is alive. It is a glorious, complex, synergistic, and jubilant weave, of which we are a part. And we each mirror this tapestry in all its wondrousness. The weave within and around us makes all magical and mundane power accessible. Ours!

Individuals who represent that by not gender conforming threaten the idea of mechanistic dualism. It is a core cultural underpinning of systemic oppression. So they are targeted in awful ways specific to them.

The horror can start at birth: The word intersex is a term for individuals born with traits that are not gender-conforming. This can include having both male and female genitals. Surgeries that cut away some genitals so the baby’s body represents only one gender still happen today. This is physical and emotional mutilation. An infant’s body and psyche are too vulnerable to withstand this trauma without suffering an awful impact that could last a lifetime. I imagine how terrible it would be for an adult to withstand the surgery, and then think of how much worse it would be for a newborn

I dedicate this post to a dearly departed friend. They were born with male and female genitals. That is still sometimes called a hermaphrodite. Some intersex individuals do not like the term hermaphrodite, and the term is definitely out of favor right now. It was a definition my friend liked.

A card in the Rider Waite Smith Tarot deck portrays a Hermaphrodite. A divinatory meaning of the card is ultimate power.

How to Learn from Old Tricksters and Let Them Empower You

Let us honor our elder tricksters, learn from their wise eccentricities, and be healed by their so-called peculiarities.

For example, have you ever thought an elder was rambling verbally, perhaps about glory days? Or repeating stories you’ve heard a million times?

Perhaps through repetition and so-called rambling, they are weaving a lifetime of experiences together for you and thereby weaving the different parts of the universe together. Open your heart and relax, so the weaving that is the universe can wrap around you like an enchanted blanket. It’s a trick!

Note: This essay emphasizes protecting elders because of their vital contributions. But everyone deserve protection and respect from their community, even when their value is not obvious.

If you liked this essay, there is a lot more: Fairy freebies, enchanted events, and stardust. Click the banner below to subscribe to my newsletter.

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Please tell me your thoughts about this post in the comment field at the bottom of the page. A single sentence can make a big difference to me.

Comments connect us better than social media does. We can share our ideas in a community without haters trying to divide and distract.

It’s okay to be the only person commenting on a post. I don’t care about receiving appreciation and approval from a lot of people. In Traditional Shamanism, people connect as individuals. That is what my Fey-touched heart wants.

Does anything come to mind that you’d like to share?

Or claim trickster power simply by writing “trickster” in the comment field. It’s a trick!

To respond to another reader’s remark, click reply below their comment. Yay!

New Weekly Witch Gathering

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A Magical Haven 2025

Escape to a Magical Haven
with Francesca De Grandis,
Fairy Witch elder
and best-selling author of Be a Goddess!

We’ll meet once a week
for four months,
starting Monday April 28.

Enroll by Wednesday April 23.

At our weekly meetings,
you enter a Magical Haven
where you are safe,
and your wild Pagan heart is free,
your power grows,
and the Goddess Diana, Queen of Fairies,
hand in hand with Lucifera, the Fairy King,
bless you with abundance,
freedom, justice, joy, protection,
and your other heritages as a child of these sweet Deities.

Most of the event will be easy. It is not a class, so you don’t have to learn spells and study a lot. This is a series of enchanted experiences: Once a week, I lead you in a rite. Each one will be a spell for magic to lovingly embrace you and carry you to your goals, goals like serenity, prosperity, sovereignty, victory, and healthy relationships.

So instead of your always having to work hard, magic will take care of you, helping manifest pivotal material and spiritual successes for you.

Magic is the living presence of the Goddess protecting us, empowering us, and carrying us to our most precious goals. She is all matter and motion, all substances and energy, and the connections between all substances and energy. She is the living spaces between particles of matter. She is the Tao. And all that Divine power will take good care of you during this new Fairy Witch gathering.

There will be practical spells, lyrical mysticism, experiential awareness of the Gods, and other Fairy enchantments. It won’t just be talk. It will be live magic.

You will become your myth and live your poem. Faerie tales do come true.

Definitions if you’re new to my work:
*Witchcraft and Shamanism are synonymous in my tradition. Ask me why if you want.
* Ditto spells, rituals, ceremonies, meditations, etc.
* All the magic I teach is Fey, whether described as such or not.

Attend by Phone. It’s Easy!

Simply call the event phone number to attend. The group meets by teleconference. No special technology needed.

Schedule

A Magical Haven occurs weekly on Mondays, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm Pacific time, for four months, starting Monday April 28 and continuing through Sept 1. Also reserve Sept 8, the usual time, for a makeup session in case I’m unavailable for a planned session.

It Is Fine if You Miss Some Sessions

If you need to miss some sessions, enroll anyway. Here’s why:

1) Perfect attendance isn’t always possible in real life.

2) You benefit from every meeting whether you’re at it or not, because I cast a spell for you during each meeting. More about that spell is below.

3) If you commit to something important, even if you don’t know how to accomplish it, the Gods make it work for you: You’ll be able to attend often enough.

Enrollment

Cost is $200 a month for four months. Your carrier might charge you for the calls.

To drop out, simply cancel your subscription, and no further payments are required. No refunds.

Enroll by Wednesday April 23.

Click the Subscribe button below to enroll securely through PayPal.



Pls give me yr ph number



Limited enrollment. Upon payment, your seat is reserved. If you don’t receive an email confirming payment within a few days, check your spam filter and spam mailbox. If the email isn’t there, or you want to discuss a scholarship, semi-scholarship, or trade, or you need additional information about the event, please call me at the number below. A few days before our first meeting, you receive an email with the event phone number and other details.

Three Master-of-the Arts Magic
Will Fuel Your Success

The enrollment price is a bargain. I’m charging less than I might. I do a lot to help your life be wonderful. Here are three Master-of-the Arts magics I bring to a Magical Haven:

1) Oral Tradition Faerie Rituals

I use master-level shamanic techniques to create powerful ceremonies that are safe for beginners and substantive enough for adepts.

My oral tradition allows luscious connectivity to the Goddess’ power so immense headway happens quickly. Fairy oral-tradition magic works only in small groups so enrollment will be limited.

2) I Cast Spells For Your Success

Each meeting, while we do a ritual together, I also silently cast a spell that sends you good luck, adds power to your efforts, and helps you achieve goals.

This spell adapts to meet your needs, e.g., money, soul healing, physical health, opportunities to express your wild heart, or relief from pressing spiritual challenges such as despair.

3) One-on-One Shamanic Support by Phone

I’m available if you have concerns to discuss privately. Or, if you have a question that would take too long to answer during a group ceremony, you can call.

4) Plus Magic Shamanic Art Empowers You

Instead of three, let’s have four Master-of-the Arts Magics. I was happily motivated to add a fourth. That is going overboard because these sessions would be incredibly powerful without this addition, but there can never be too much magic, joy, and wonder in life:

You receive seven gorgeous pieces of enchanted art. These are my original paintings. You receive digital versions, to which I have added Fairy power. When we meet, I will provide easy instructions on how to use this art during the meetings to add yet more magic.

Reviews

I am genuinely in a much more secure better-feeling place than I was in a matter of a couple of months. I went from high anxiety to a deep abiding feeling of peace, but without really understanding what happened LOL – It was like it was magic.—Adam Busch

WOW FDG!!! … My life really did change for the better. … What came to me has been big money and [work that let me] be of service.—Kathy Crabbe

I have always found it difficult to get into a trance state of healing, but you have (many times) helped me via telephone, which I would not have believed possible. You are a truly magical healer; your warm, calming voice and your wisdom have helped me thru some very difficult times.—Thomas Byrnes

I so want the good and increasingly oppressed hearts among us to take just a step—just one—onto the path you offer and into the presence of the way you hold yourself, Francesca. That path and your essence will enfold them with not just the promise of peace but the living presence of it, deep as the inner earth, vast as the starry heavens.—Rebecca

Cost for four months of rituals, transmissions, one-on-one support, and enchanted art: $200 a month.



Pls give me yr ph number



Power Belongs to Everyone

The Fairy Gods stand with us against hierarchy. Anyone can visit the Magical Haven. The Fairy Gods are inclusive and bestow magnificent blessings on anyone who visits Them.

My shamanic methods have conquered challenges that should’ve killed me, and have freed me from some enormous inner and outer limits. They can do the same for you.

They give you spiritual and worldly power to have a happy life, no matter how large or complex your challenges and goals.

Think of the Magical Haven as a sanctuary hidden in Faerie realms—somewhat like a Goddess temple, Druid grove, and a Pagan monastery combined. There, the Universe lends us all Its power to fulfill our longings for love, money, health, serenity, self-love, and more.

It is a sanctuary and joy, even in the hardest times.

A mystical environment with magic that centers you into power, serenity, wisdom, and good luck, even when you’re in crisis or have trauma symptoms, might seem impossible. But my students will tell you I deliver.

Every visit to the Magical Haven is pure enchantment … literally. … You can interpret that sentence literally because I am using the word literally correctly.

Ritual moments between the stars nourish and uplift us like few things ever could.

Ecstatic contemplations in our Magical Haven help free us from subjugation and help us have the magical and worldly powers to live wild and free.

I support you in your life circumstances and frame of mind.

I’m offering A Magical Haven because there’s an especially great need for it now.

Grab this opportunity.

For Beginners and Adepts

The rituals work for beginners and adepts.

I facilitate our circles with easy-to-understand, step-by-step magical instructions.

I’ve never met anyone too successful materially, spiritually, or magically to not profit in major ways from my work.

I Am Devoted to My Students

My shamanic community work is dedicated to mentoring individuals who want
* spiritual growth
* beauty
* the ability to serve well
* prosperity
*joy
* and magic that is powerful enough to help reach these and other major life goals.

If that describes you or who you want to be, you will experience incomparable progress in this event.

Every day is new and offers miracles.

Hard as a Diamond

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Hard as a Diamond

Note: Diamonds are remarkably hard. They are used in industry for grinding, drilling, and sawing. Diamonds can cut through concrete.

Diamond hard times hone me
into the sharpest, most sturdy weapon.

Diamond hard times shine,
revealing evil—all that blocks freedom.

Diamond hard times shine brilliant,
revealing all evil,
including my own,
that I may overcome this inner enemy.

Diamond hard times shine,
revealing my resistance to my freedom.

Diamond hard times
force me to choose hope.
Thus I sacrifice my excuses for inaction.

Diamond hard times force me to
either recognize even more of my duties to community and self
or sink into self-pity and despair.

Diamond hard times force me to fulfill my duties
or live in self-pitying despair.

Diamond hard times are strong enough
to grind down my resistance to beauty.

Above diamond hard times,
the sky arcs:
Searingly compassionate blues
—that only an Artist could create—
enfold the moment. A loving embrace.

Diamond hard times
force me to raise my gaze,
study the sky,
and ponder the ring of mountains
that circle me with their
sun-bleached grass and cloud-like crests.
Beauty fills my cells with joy,
revealing meaning and purpose.

Francesca De Grandis, bestselling author of Be a Goddess!, is a fairy witch. She offers long-distance classes and shamanic counseling. She will also cast spells for you. Her Goddess spirituality embraces practical magic spells.

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Fairy Yule Ritual 2023

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In this year’s Fairy Yule ritual, we’ll draw on the transformative powers and other magics of the Yule season.

During the ritual, the Sun King will bless us. He is born on Solstice morning, bringing us hope, empowerment, and tribal connection.


We’ll also cast a spell for prosperity and whatever else we need, by drinking in the season’s wonders and enchantments.

Then there will be a spell to help us help those we care about, whether family, friends, Gaia, all Her children, or …

The event will be via teleseminar—aka group phone call. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you have the information about how to attend.

If you don’t subscribe yet and are interested in attending future free rituals, click here or the banner below.

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Fairy Magic Quest 2023

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Cerridwen and Taliesin:
A Ritual Journey
to Achieve Your Sweetest Goals

You can live the Cerridwen-Taliesin myth as a ritual process of
personal transformation and empowerment.

Experience a guided quest with me. Enter the Fey realm of all powers and possibilities. Leave behind barriers that restrict hope and achievements. Even if your barriers seem impenetrable, this event will show you how to fulfill your longings for abundance, soul healing, physical health, adventure, and more.

If you don’t know Cerridwen and Taliesin’s tale, and thus don’t understand my references here, that’s not a problem. I tell the story during the ritual. For now, please enter into the spirit of this post.

Cross the Fey threshold into mythic lands, where you live a revisioning of the Mabonogian tale of crone Cerridwen and bardic-visionary Taliesin.

Win the knowledge in the Goddess Cerridwen’s cauldron, to overcome major challenges—both mundane and spiritual—and know magics that create the life you want. Gain the Fey light that anoints Taliesin’s brow, filling him with inspiration, courage, and down-to-earth savviness. You can be a visionary and practical, and the combination will make your dearest goals come true.

RosesTwineExplore esoteric mysteries in ways that make a big positive difference in your life, spiritually and materially. We don’t have to choose between the two. For example, we can believe we are fairies and create abundance. We can have peace and career success. We can meet our responsibilities and have self-care.

This is a four-month Fairy magic ceremony. It conveys power and wisdoms not available elsewhere. My analysis—or call it a revisioning—of the myth is an esoteric understanding of the story’s elements. I created something so innovative that it generated imitations for at least a few decades—rituals described as similar to mine. My version is the only one enchanted by the extensive shamanic underpinnings that I developed for this ritual process.

My initial development of this ritual of grounded empowerment took three years. Since then, I led the ritual many times for two (three?) decades, continuing to refine it. Now, I only offer it every four years or so. (Last time was 2019.)

This is the first time I am offering this ritual without participants needing to have taken certain classes as prerequisites.

For decades, prerequisites allowed participants to powerfully and safely use this event’s magic to speedily move toward their dream lives.

Then, in recent years, I developed new approaches that work wonderfully for both advanced practitioners and beginning students. The power is enormous, beautiful, and safe. Adepts will receive the advanced experiences they require, while beginners can experience a more accessible route. This occurs because the ritual’s energies will meet people where they are, adapting to their needs, desires, and circumstances, even if those shift from week to week.

This is live magic: hands-on. Vibrant magical power that is the living presence of the old Gods’ love for us. In our mystical voyage, you will get more out of any spiritual and magical work you’ve already done. But if you have no magical background or haven’t tended to yourself spiritually lately, you will never be in over your head during our meetings. Instead, you’re nurtured, empowered, and embraced by a circle of love.

This is the first time I’m extending this ritual to make it a whole four months. I’ve channeled new energies to bring into this ritual, for an additional layer of wisdom and power that meets our current times. The additional time allows us to use the additional material.

Also, as Tania Troyan, a teacher of the Italian language, says, it takes 49 days for new neural pathways to develop and be used. Mark Fischetti and Jen Christiansen wrote in Scientific American, “In 80 to 100 days, 30 trillion (cells in your body) will have replenished—the equivalent of a new you.” A four-month ritual allows you to be embraced by love, power, and support while your cells, brain, and nerves are completely shifting, right to the end. But wait, there’s more! Hahaha.

The work we do will snowball so a lot more growth, healing, shifting, and wisdom come to you long after the four months end.

And I am available after the four months, if you need support with your continuing experiences or have questions about them. I commit to my ritual participants.

RoseLine

Nuts and bolts:
* We meet in teleseminars (group phone meetings). To participate, just call the event’s phone number.
* The event is on Sundays from 6:00 to 7:00 pm Pacific time, starting October 22, 2023.
* We will skip the following Sundays for the holidays: November 26, December 24, and December 31.
* Reserve Sundays March 3 and 10, 2024, same time, for a makeup session, on the off chance I’m unavailable for one of the planned sessions.
* Enrollment is limited to 14 participants.
* Cerridwen and Taliesin qualifies as one of the two electives needed before advanced Third Road training.
* Cost is $200 a month. Your carrier might charge you for the calls. Click the Subscribe button below to enroll securely through PayPal.



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If you’ve participated in this event, repeat it at half-price and go to different enchanted lands this time. Here’s the half-price subscription button:



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* Upon payment, your seat is reserved. If you don’t receive an email confirming payment within a few days, check your spam filter and spam mailbox. If the email isn’t there, call me at the number below. A few days before our first meeting, you receive an email with the event phone number and other details. Refunds unavailable. If you want to discuss a scholarship, semi-scholarship, trade, or special payment plan, or you need additional information about the event, please call me.

Be!

Online Course: Holiday Magic

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HlidaMagc

Enjoy the holidays, Pagan style. Make your season happy, abundant, safe, sacred, sane, and magical. This course has five powerful aspects:

WhtSnoflkOne) Weekly lessons, delivered to you by email. Each lesson is a digital Book of Shadows entry (PDF), ornamented by my seasonal shamanic art, which makes the Book of Shadows a cherished tradition in the years ahead.

I boiled lessons down to their essence, so they tend to be easy and accessible. They include:

* simple quick spells, prayers, and affirmations, to nourish, energize, and inspire you during the holidays.

* fun holiday crafts and decorations, Pagan-style. Use common household items to make enchanted seasonal decor: charms for just about anything you might wish. Children enjoy these crafts. Also, discover how typical American holiday decorations can be used in spells.

* Special rituals. We’ll experience the Winter Goddess’ sacred realm. Center into wholeness and joy. Enjoy the season’s spiritual beauty. Rites include a star-drenched Faerie Solstice celebration.

* Lots of material to choose from. Pick what you want to use this year and enjoy the rest for many years to come. The course includes powerful Fey-touched material I’d not published previously.

During your busy holiday season, there’s no need to waste time searching online for fun or meaningful activities. This course delivers them to you.

Enjoy unique magics not available elsewhere.

PnkSnoflkTwo) Magical decor: eight digital full-color amulets—my original Pagan art—for harmony, success, and more. Print and cut out to hang on your Yule tree or elsewhere in your home. Four of the amulets’ designs are suitable to display all four seasons, for yearlong blessings.

WhtSnoflkThree) Six audio recordings made especially for this course. Hearing spoken word can be enchanting, and a way you and I can be in sacred space together. So I recite excerpts of the weekly lessons. One recording will be part of the Yule ritual.

Receiving gorgeous PDFs, relaxing to enchanted recordings, and printing amulets are a satisfying, productive use of the digital world, instead of overdosing on social media and online shopping.

PnkSnoflkFour) I’m available by phone for up to 45 minutes. If you have questions about the material, need support because your commitment to the lessons falters, want to further explore a particularly tantalizing part of the curriculum, or have other concerns, feel free to phone.

You can divide the 45 minutes into two or three conversations. Conversations must occur during the span of the course or within a month after.

WhtSnoflkFive) Exclusive gift: I’ll give you a five-day direct spiritual transmission during Solstice week at no extra cost! Free! The price would have been $150. This Yule blessing heals inner blocks that sabotage your happiness, spiritually rejuvenates you, and centers you into what’s important to you. These benefits can last for months if not years.

StarSwirl3November is a turning point in the Pagan calendar. The course starts November 5, with your first lesson. You receive one lesson a week by email for 11 weeks. That will bring us halfway into January.

Post-Solstice lessons provide spells for a great 2024. You also learn how to work with mystical energies that occur in the weeks immediately after Solstice. Years ago, I noticed those energies and spent goodly hours developing related shamanic modalities for significant self-empowerment. Most of the post-Solstice material has remained unpublished till now.

If an unexpected event makes me unable to send one week’s planned material, I’ll extend the course an extra week.

Tuition: The regular price is $209 a month for three months, but I’ve lowered the cost to $167 a month. That is 20% off!

Scroll down to pay securely with PayPal:



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No experience needed. However, even advanced practitioners will enjoy this. If you need more information, or want to discuss scholarship, trade, or a special payment plan, call the phone number below. No refunds. My online courses aren’t transcriptions of oral tradition lessons. I teach oral tradition by phone. The online courses are special unto themselves—magic tailored to be spectacularly useful, exciting, effective, and safe when learned online.

Lessons are substantive without being overwhelming. You are brought gently and deeply into star-drenched Mysteries that heal, empower, and uplift.

Lessons also help us find joy. Joy is not an extravagance but more important than ever. Even when it is tiny, or we’re striving for it unsuccessfully, it wraps us in the Gods’ love for us. This helps Them protect, heal, and strengthen us. And They become more able to bring us abundance and other material blessings. Embrace Their gifts. Enroll now.

The Virtual Pagan Monastery 2023

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The Virtual Pagan Monastery 2023

Retreat to the Virtual Pagan Monastery
where you can use Fairy magic to
achieve worldly and spiritual goals.

The Virtual Pagan Monastery group
begins Monday September 11
and is three-months-long.
Enroll by Wednesday September 6.

Ceremonies are led by Francesca De Grandis,
Fairy Witch elder and best-selling author of Be a Goddess!

Table of Contents

If this table’s links don’t work, scroll down for any of the event information.
Magical Overview of the Event
Attend by Phone. It’s Easy!
Schedule
Enrollment
Three Master-of-the Arts Magics Will Fuel Your Success
Feel Too Busy to Visit the Virtual Pagan Monastery?
Anyone Can Find Power in the Virtual Pagan Monastery
Ongoing Empowerment
Going It Alone?
Fairy Gods Create Miracles
Miracles Can Happen Fast

Magical Overview of
The Virtual Pagan Monastery 2023

You are invited
to fifteen-minute-long ceremonies
three days a week
at my Fairy monastery.

In each brief meeting, you enter a mystical environment that quickly centers you into power and serenity. If that seem impossible—because, for example, you’re dealing with trauma—my students will tell you I deliver on my promises. Plus, the rituals also help manifest your pivotal material and spiritual goals. You get this three times a week without spending a lot of time. Ongoing re-centering, ongoing miracles.

Walk between the stars with me.
We will cast old-fashioned magical spells
for prosperity, serenity, the ability to serve with our precious gifts, or your other goals.

We will find peace, healing,
and outrageous joy,
our spirits held safe by Fairy Gods.

Then we’ll return to earth,
our hearts and strength renewed
with the ability to reach cherished goals.

If the earth’s weight bears down on us again,
we can return to our Faerie sanctuary
to walk the stars again and find the power we need
to meet the hours ahead,
triumphing
with joy.

Definitions if you’re new to my work:
*Witchcraft and Shamanism are synonymous in my tradition. Ask me why if you want.
* Ditto spells, rituals, ceremonies, meditations, etc.
* All the magic I teach is Fey, whether described as such or not.

Think of the Virtual Pagan Monastery as a haven hidden in Faerie realms, or a Goddess temple, Druid grove, unusual monastery, or whatever feels right to you.

It is where we find power to fulfill longings. Love, money, health, serenity, self-love, and other desires.

It is a sanctuary and joy, even in the hardest times.

Paganism needn’t lack contemplative aspects to remain wild and free. Inner adventures fuel my passion for life. Ritual moments between the stars nourish and give joy like few things ever could.

Plus for my outward efforts to be effective and loving, I need an inner life. For example, the mystical planes are where I perform magical spells to succeed on the worldly plane.

I needed new terms to depict monastic spirituality that liberates instead of oppresses. The devotional practices, contemplations, and shamanic rites I channel for the Fairy monastery are not dour, overly formal, or anti-sex. I created the term ecstatic contemplative to describe folks like me. I also coined Pagan monasticism to expand the sense of spirituality. Ecstatic contemplations in the Pagan monastery free us from subjugation and give us the magical and worldly powers to live wild and free.

Attend by Phone. It’s Easy!

Simply call the event phone number to attend. The group meets by teleconference. No special technology needed.

Schedule


The Virtual Pagan Monastery group meets three times a week for three months, starting September 11 and ending December 8.

We meet from 7:15 to 7:30 pm pacific time, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

You’ll need three minutes after each session to perform a special grounding ritual, which I’ll teach.

Reserve Monday December 11, Wednesday December 13, and Friday December 15, 7:15 to 7:30, for makeup sessions in case I’m unavailable for planned sessions.

Enrollment

Cost is $200 a month for three months. Your carrier might charge you for the calls.

To drop out, simply cancel your subscription, and no further payments are required. No refunds.

Enroll by September 6.

Click the Subscribe button below to enroll securely through PayPal.





Limited enrollment. Upon payment, your seat is reserved. If you don’t receive an email confirming payment within a few days, check your spam filter and spam mailbox. If the email isn’t there, or you want to discuss a scholarship, semi-scholarship, trade, or payment plan other than the subscription, or you need additional information about the event, please call me at the number below. A few days before our first meeting, you receive an email with the event phone number and other details. Refunds unavailable.

Three Master-of-the Arts Magics
Will Fuel Your Success

The enrollment price is a great bargain. I do a lot to help you accomplish a lot. Here are three Master-of-the Arts magics I bring to the monastery:

1) Oral Tradition Faerie Rituals Three Times a Week

I use master-level shamanic techniques to create ceremonies safe for beginners and substantive enough for adepts. Enrollment is limited so we can work in oral tradition, in which immense headway happens quickly. Fairy oral-tradition magic works only in small groups.

2) I Cast Spells For Your Success

Three times a week, for the entire three months, I cast spells for you to achieve goals. Here’s how:

Each meeting, you receive direct spiritual transmissions. Spiritual transmissions are a method I use to give you good luck, add power to your efforts to improve your life, and strengthen the magic of our rituals.

The transmissions also adapt to meet your needs, e.g., money, soul healing, physical health, opportunities to express your wild heart, or relief from pressing spiritual challenges such as despair.

3) One-on-One Shamanic Support by Phone

I’m available if you have concerns to discuss privately. Or, if you have a question that’d take too long to answer during a group ceremony, you can call.

Reviews

Someone might think, “I won’t get much from 15 minutes.” But Francesca’s Pagan Monastery showed me how deep a 15-minute ritual can go. She knows how to do this.—Jenelle Campion

Life-changing. I don’t have words adequate to thank you. … One of the most deeply meaningful experiences of my life.”—Melissa

“I am truly blown away at how much I was able to resolve and heal.”—Chad Woodward

Cost for three months of rituals, transmissions, and one-on-one support:
$200 a month.





Feel Too Busy to Visit the Virtual Pagan Monastery?

If you have to miss a lot of sessions, it’ll still work. For one thing, the rituals are set up so that, if you can’t attend all the meetings, you won’t miss instructions or continuity needed for the rituals you can attend.

For another, you benefit from every meeting because I give you a spiritual transmission whether you’re at the meeting or not.

I support you in your life circumstances and frame of mind.

I’m charging less than I might for the amount of work I’ll do. This way, you have the yummy option of coming to all of the rituals but can miss some without wasting money. Show up when you can, even if it’s only half of the sessions.

Another reason to not worry about time: When I’m not centered in my Gods’ love for me, I lose far more time than three fifteen-minute rituals a week. I waste hours on
* worry
* obsession
* time-robbing habits like too much social media
* ineffective solutions that leave me battling problems endlessly.

In ancient shamanic culture, tribes were busy—hunting, weaving, etc.,—and even more so during crisis. They didn’t shoulder on without group rites. Sacred group meetings were part of the everyday.

Grab this opportunity for immense blessings. This is the second Virtual Pagan Monastery group I’m leading in 2023 because there’s been an even greater need for it than usual. I tend to open the monastery briefly for visits only once a year and, in fact, it had not been open to visits in three years.

Anyone Can Find Power in the Virtual Pagan Monastery

The Fairy Gods stand with us against hierarchy. Anyone can visit the Virtual Pagan Monastery and get a lot out of it—beginner, adept, monastic, non-monastic.

I facilitate our circles with easy-to-understand, step-by-step magical instructions.

Ongoing Empowerment

Continual spiritual sustenance: fifteen-minute-long ceremonies, three times a week for three months.

It can be hard—if not near impossible—during crises or other busy times to spiritually tend to oneself, but the virtual monastery is a quick way to do it regularly.

Ongoing spellcasting: rituals three times a week to create and maintain success, luck, and wholeness.

A happy life requires care. Repeatedly, we need to regain emotional balance, experience spiritual renewal, and create positive outcomes.

Enrolling in this event might be one of the most important actions you take. If you need to miss some sessions, enroll. Perfect attendance isn’t always real life.

These special visits to the monastery are a chance to continually center into your wisdom, truths, and power, and to remain in a flow of good luck.

I need miracles often if not daily. Visits to the Pagan monastery keep miracles happening. For example, magic washes away doubt and pain, replacing them with confidence, peace, and success. Every visit is pure magic.

Going It Alone

Even if you know how to do rituals, it might be hard to fit them into your week because it takes time to do them, let alone create or choose the right ones. Plus willingness to consistently take care of oneself can be weak when on one’s own.

You needn’t go it alone. I’ll lead you in rituals.

One reason I open the monastery to visits is so that I have to show up three times a week to hang out with beautiful people and my sweet Gods. We all need fellow travelers.

Fairy Gods Create Miracles

Their magic is so strong that fifteen minutes improves your life. You emerge from each brief session more able to cleave to your path, do what’s needed to achieve goals, stay centered, take maximum advantage of opportunities, and overcome challenges.

Don’t take my word. Trust your gut. It might say that I excel at facilitating fifteen-minute shamanic experiences that are relevant, extraordinary, and miraculous. (If my self-praise seems overly bold: Mom told me to let everyone know how good I am at what I do because no one else was going to say it enough.)

If You Think You Have No Time to Visit the Monastery

Whether happily swamped with efforts toward fabulous goals, or consumed with holding your head above water, enroll. Here’s why:

Without the sophisticated, effective magics we will do, you might waste a lot of time going down rabbit holes. Instead, the rituals help keep your life and thoughts streamlined, focused on what you need and want.

When I commit my time to something important, even if I don’t know how I’ll be able to fit it in, the Gods make it work for me.

You’ll be able to fit in 15 minutes often enough.

Miracles Can Happen Fast

With the ancient Fairy Gods by us, we’re unstoppable. The Old Gods are miracle makers so They accomplish a lot quickly.

My shamanic methods have conquered challenges that should’ve killed me, and have freed me from inner and outer limits. They can do the same for you.

They give you spiritual and worldly power to have a happy life, no matter how large, complex, or sophisticated your challenges and goals.

I’ve never met anyone too successful materially, spiritually, or magically to not profit in major ways from my work.

Recoup, regroup, restart. Every day is new and offers miracles.

Be a Goddess Who Has All Powers

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Rage, Despair, and Grief Are Chances to Be a Goddess (or Other-Gendered Deity) Who Has All Powers—Francesca De Grandis

Rage, Despair, and Grief Are Chances to
Be a Goddess (or Other-Gendered Deity) Who Has All Powers

To survive and thrive, I am so flexible that I am formless.
A nomad mystic, traveling Faerie realms, I am stardust.

All Human Fates Entwine

Part of my human and Fey heritages is connection with humankind as a whole.

All our fates are entwined.

As a shaman and servant to the Fairy Queen, I have a joyful duty to serve not only my shamanic students but also the larger whole.

My students and other friends are wonderful spiritual companions. Traveling spiritually alongside them upholds and nourishes me. The following is not about these friends. It is about the human race, which is part of my larger community along with Gaia’s other children.

A substantial percentage of humankind practices greed, heartlessness, and cruelty regularly. At times, my rage, despair, and grief overcome me. I’ve realized that, at such times, these painful feelings might be the only way I connect with humankind as a whole.

Though a misery to me, these feelings are strong fibers that bind me to every human on the planet.

One way or another, connection to humankind must happen. I cannot escape it, no matter how terribly a large part of humankind treats Gaia and all Her children. I want to choose how I connect.

Escape from Cruel Situations Can Feel Impossible

When rejected, mauled, and deprived from birth,
when carried in the womb of a Faerie woman
who was scorned, battered, and exiled,
when our skin and hair
was perceived as reason for incrimination,
when humans have haunted me and hunted me
for almost three-quarters of a century,
until in old age and a sleepless night,*
my past seems to be proof
that escape from cruel situations is impossible,
my despair, grief, and rage are inevitable and sane.

I must embrace them.

Then I can recognize
that my exhausted mind deceived me.
I can achieve freedom.
Doors to freedom surround me.

Rage, Despair, and Grief Are Gates to Power:
I Am Stardust

Yes, I embrace them.

They become my gates to power: To survive and thrive, I must become so flexible that I am formless. Formlessness immediately leads to my transforming further, into star dust. It is my natural state. I remember my path. I can plant my feet firmly into it.

Once in my natural state, I quickly, without even trying, become the entire cosmos—Diana, Magna Mater. It’s one of my favorite states.

Now I have no choice but to be in it if I want to survive and thrive. In it, I have all power.

My job is to be my true self—I am stardust, Diana, Magna Mater—because that innately serves the cosmos.

I Am Stardust and Faery Power. I Release Everything Else

Preparing to move to Italy, I am ruthlessly getting rid of every material possession possible. I want nothing but stardust.

I will keep what I need for functionality and beauty. Stardust.

I don’t regret moving back to California, even though, now, I don’t intend to stay.

California is my home—my mother land. But you can’t go home again.

I had to return here to take care of some things before moving to Italy. I didn’t know that is why I came back.

A Nomadic Mystic Traveling Across Faerie Realms

Before moving across the pond, I need to spend time with dear friends in California. I need to revel in and strengthen our connections with each other. Almost all my friends here had kept in touch with me long-distance before I moved back to California. But I need time with them here. Not only am I enjoying wonderful companionship, we’re strengthening a foundation to continue our authentic connection long-distance. This time together will make that long-distance friendship even better.

I need to revisit the land beneath San Francisco’s concrete to say the proper goodbye I could not manage when I moved away before. I need to do other things here, too.

I hope Italy will be my permanent home. But who knows.

I’m no longer counting on a permanent home.

My father was likely Middle Eastern. He might’ve been a nomad. Has my bloodline kept me from settling down happily? Is my DNA the reason that trying to make a permanent home on the material plane made me unhappy?

My home is within myself and within care from my sweet Fairy Gods.

My home is between the stars. I have always known that. I have always traversed Fay realms, but they are my home even more than ever.

Is a Spiritual Home an Illusion?

… Perhaps the idea of a home in the mystic and spiritual realms is a deception.

… No, it’s not a deception. A spiritual home is an important concept. A spiritual home has many vital meanings. … I will never let go of the idea of a sacred “home.” … There are good reasons that I work hard to help my students find their spiritual homes. There are good reasons that I strive to help each student find various metaphysical homes. They could range from being at home in a career to being at home in oneself to trusting one’s magical truths.

And a paradox exists. I need to relinquish the idea of a home, in some ways. The free movement of Nomads with their ever-moving homes is battled by the patriarchy, a death culture that wants everything fixed in place. Borders and boundaries maintain greed-based institutions like patriarchy, colonization, and racism**.

To be free of society’s oppressive spaces and culture, I need, to some extent, to let go of even a metaphysical home other than the ever-shifting Tao. It is the glorious now that is always magic aka miracle.

This is not to say I can escape misery. Or despair. Or rage or grief. They are part of life. Part of the Tao.

Clinging to any rigidity that my fear insists protects me increases misery. Surrendering to the Tao opens every moment to the possibility of joy.

After decades of practicing this surrender, my hopefully-correct understanding is that it’s become time to take it further. So I am. If I understand correctly, my survival and thriving require formlessness greater than I’ve ever experienced, despite my decades of shifting, shifting, and shifting. And I must be formless more consistently than ever.

My formlessness turns into stardust. And then I am a Goddess, Who has all powers. So mote it be!

Enjoy Shamanic Fey-touched travels.
In my events,
we have our heads in the clouds
and our feet on the ground.
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Click here to subscribe to my free Fairy newsletter. Magic giveaways, Fey events, and stardust

Footnotes

* A friend of mine says that whatever comes into your head after 9 pm is garbage. That’s obviously not true. But I understand her point. When you’re tired, it’s easy to sink into beliefs like, “My life is meaningless.” I am grateful when I remember my friend’s words at such times.

** Patriarchy, colonization, racism, and the other isms are synonyms to some degree. They’re also synonymous with greed. For example, if a white woman fights only to overcome her own oppression, good chance she is trying to climb into the upper caste so that she too can profit from the exploitation of oppressed groups. That is not feminism. It is greed. However, if she also fights misogynoir, she helps dismantle society’s oppressive structures. In other words, she understands that stopping isms requires stopping them as a whole. Mind you, there are many necessary exceptions to seeing them as a piece. For one thing, every ism has a distinct nature and needs to be fought against as such. But always fighting each one individually will dismantle none of them.

La Vecchia Religione

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LVROnline Course:
La Vecchia Religione—
An Inside View of Traditional Italian Witchcraft

“La Vecchia Religione” is Italian for “The Old Religion” and refers to the traditional practices of a strega. “Strega” translates into “witch.”

I was born into an Italian shamanic family tradition that dates back hundreds of years. Our family has many magics. This online course focuses on one of the most pivotal. Traditional magic is taught contextually, so lessons also provide a mystical overview of La Vecchia Religione.

The Strega practice we’ll focus on is considered the most advanced magic possible, can improve every aspect of life substantially, yet is accessible to a magical beginner.

stregamoonThis course has five powerful aspects:

One) Weekly lessons received by email. Each lesson is a digital Book of Shadows entry (PDF).

Storytelling relays a great deal of the course’s information, making lessons easy and fun for you. I’ll share tales of an Italian shamanic family tradition.

stregaroseI’ll add other relevant chronicles, too, as well as more material needed to understand the aforementioned pivotal strega practice and traditional Italian witchcraft as a whole.

La Vecchia Religione is a shamanic path. Some shamans invoke magic simply through their personal, quite human stories. If you want strega magic, it’s in such stories.

Your reading this course’s stories, with no more effort on your part than when you read a fantasy novel, magically transforms every part of your life—large improvements everywhere. After the course, a special enchantment always remains available to continue creating numerous, marvelous changes for you.

Benefits of merely reading the stories:

* You automatically start becoming a new you, with greater wholeness of being and peace. You notice your power growing magically and in other parts of your life, so you have better access to all the inner resources needed to reach life goals.

* Your circumstances automatically start improving. Your most cherished goals become more viable and attainable.

* The stories transport you to a Fey-touched realm. And this course’s stories are true-life Faerie tales with real magic that helps you live in your own special Faerie tale: dreams can come true.

Our lessons will bring us into the presence of Diana Magna Mater (Great Mother Goddess). She gave humankind magic so we can live free and prosperously, overcoming challenges, including liberating ourselves from oppression. She will protect and guide us in our journey.

Lessons also provide easy shamanic exercises that reinforce the tales’ enchantments and deepen your relationship with them.

stregamoonTwo) My full-color art ornaments the PDF Book of Shadows pages, including new paintings created especially for this course. I joyfully painted for ages to create fifty new page ornamentations specifically for these lessons! I wanted imagery to convey the enchantment of Italian sorcery.

Think of medieval illuminations, except they are not painted by a stuffy repressed monk but by a modern wild-hearted Pagan. My paintings are filled with magic that blesses your day.

Three) Nine audio files recorded expressly for this course. Spoken word is a way you and I can be in a sacred space together. So I recite excerpts of the PDFs.

stregamoonFour) Two fun, easy crafts projects. I’m thrilled about my Pagan-style craft ideas because they’re sooo magical: they help you experience the power of Italian witchery, deepen the magical journey, and increase its benefits. I’ve never seen anything like these projects, and I’m not going to say here what they are, heh. They’re special, and I’m saving them for you.

I painted art especially for these projects, making your part easy: you receive full-color digital files of my Pagan art, so you only need to print the artwork and follow a few simple instructions. I can barely wait for you to have the art! Heck, I’m chomping at the bit, waiting for you to have the rest of the course, too.

stregamoonFive) One-on-one support. I’m available by phone for up to 45 minutes. If you have questions about the material, need help because your commitment to doing the lessons falters, want to further explore a particularly tantalizing part of the curriculum, or have other concerns, feel free to phone.

You can divide the 45 minutes into two or three conversations. Conversations must occur during the span of the course or within a month after.

stregarose2I love integrating my art into my writing. Ditto creating audio portions and being available by phone. The five parts of the course (text, art, audio, etc.,) weave together to take you on a mystical journey into the heart of Italian witchery. During it, along with the benefits already listed:

* You gain confidence in your own journey—its spiritual, magical, and mundane aspects.

* You find confidence in yourself, just as you are, right now.

* Important insights come to you—wisdom needed to get the maximum out of life.

* You claim your birthright—your heritage of magic and wildness as a Fey-touched child of the Old Gods.

In addition to being transformative, this journey is core to understanding Italian witchcraft as a whole. In other words, along with improving your life, the journey is also an experiential lesson that conveys a mystical overview of: traditional Italian witchcraft as a magical culture, its otherworldly sensibilities, and its history.

stregarose3Though they impart an overview and history, lessons are easy, not like reading a textbook. This is not dry history, not dry material, not a dreary recitation of facts, charts, and lists that you have to memorize, plod your way through, or otherwise labor over. You experience La Vecchia Religione in your spirit.

This look into my family’s magic is traditional Italian shamanism no one else teaches. A lot of this is material I’ve never taught until this course.

stregastarThe course starts February 27, with your first lesson. You receive one lesson a week by email for 11 weeks.

If an unexpected event makes me unable to send one week’s planned material, I’ll extend the course an extra week.

Tuition: The regular price is $209 a month for three months, but I’ve lowered the cost to $167 a month. That is 20% off!

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No experience needed. But even advanced practitioners benefit greatly. If you need more information, or want to discuss scholarship, trade, or a payment plan other than the above subscription, call me at the number below. No refunds. My online courses aren’t transcriptions of oral tradition lessons. (I teach oral tradition by phone.) The online courses are special unto themselves—magic tailored to be spectacularly effective, relevant, exciting, and safe when learned online.