The Virtual Pagan Monastery 2023

Posted on April 19, 2023 by Francesca

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!

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.

The Enchanted Kitchen: an Online Course

Posted on July 15, 2021 by Francesca

Starts the week of August 15, 2021

Learn kitchen magic for prosperity, protection, peace, confidence, courage, and nearly anything else you want.

These are quick, easy spells for life’s essentials and life’s joys. Lessons are quick and easy, too.

The way I teach you, a complete beginner can be a powerful kitchen witch.

My style hearth magic fits into your day. Most of it can be done while cooking, cleaning, and other customary activities, which means you can do plenty of witchcraft to manifest the life you want.

Use ordinary household objects, like spoons and culinary herbs, as mystical tools.

When busy, stressed, or ill, it’s hard to find time and energy for spellwork. Learn sixty-second enchantments, manageable for anyone. These spells are so easy and powerful.

And learn longer hearth rituals, for special occasions when you have time and desire.

The Enchanted Kitchen is one of the Faerie shamanism courses I channel: this style of hearth witchery is potent mystically, spiritually, and magically, and we’ll access these immense blessings easily. The Fey Folk add beauty to the magic and reveal mystical secrets. Beginners and adepts gain huge improvement, inside and out. I have something unique in this class—channeled from past lives.

You receive:

1) Twenty lessons, one a week. Each lesson is a digital Book of Shadows entry (PDF), ornamented by my original shamanic art, which blesses our work.

Course material is spread over 20 lessons to make every lesson bite-sized, so it fits into your busy week. You also get three weeks off for the holidays.

You’ll learn a lot a lot a lot. But I tailored lessons to be manageable even for super-busy folks who have countless responsibilities and constant, unexpected commitments. I want you to have tools to overcome the challenges life throws at you.

2) Four audio recordings, from my Faerie hearth to your Fey heart. Hearing a spell’s words can be enchanting. Each recording is a quick audio snack: a recitation of a bit of that week’s PDF.

3) I’m available by phone for up to 45 minutes. If you have questions about the material, need support 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.

You can also ask for support from fellow students:

4) Access to my website’s exclusive online hearth. This private page is where classmates can support each other, share victories, and ask each other questions.

This sacred discussion is just for students, without “teacher looking over your shoulder,” so you feel free to express yourself. E.g., I won’t check for “mistakes” in your magical viewpoints. You’re a grown up, in your unique process, and if you feel you might be on the wrong track with something in the curriculum, you can ask me about it by phone or ask your fellow students. My students tend to give wise feedback.

I will however pop in regularly to check that no one’s being a meanie. You deserve a safe space.

5) A free bonus: a PDF Book of Shadows for optional journaling about the lessons. Every page has my shamanic art and no text. Either type into the PDF or print the file to handwrite in.

6) A surprise gift: I commissioned fantasy artist Kathleen Marshall to paint a modern rendition of a traditional hearth blessing. You receive a digital file of the art for your kitchen, plus lore about the blessing.

Starts the week of August 15. The course is 20 weeks, which are consecutive except we skip the holiday weeks of Nov 21, Dec 19, and Dec 26. If an unexpected event makes me unable to send one week’s planned material, I’ll extend the course one extra week.

Tuition for this four-month course—20 lessons, four audio recordings, access to our private online hearth, free bonus, and surprise gift, plus one-on-one private support—~~$600~~ . Special reduced rate: $200 savings. Your cost is $400. $100 a month for four months.

Use the Subscribe button below for four monthly payments of $100. Enroll securely with PayPal:

If you need more info or want to discuss scholarship, trade, or payment plan other than the subscription, phone me. No refunds.

My online courses aren’t my oral tradition or transcriptions of oral tradition classes. The online courses are something special unto themselves—spectacularly useful and powerful.

I’ll continue to teach oral tradition classes by phone. My oral tradition cannot be conveyed online.

The online courses are curriculums I’ve worked on for years. I channeled magic tailored specifically to be exciting, effective, and safe when learned online. I was willing to spend years figuring out how to make this course worthy of you. So mote it be.

Mysticism in Times of Crisis

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Francesca

During crisis, mysticism can become a source of strength, renewal, and hope, or foster self-destructive escapism and denial. This post has an empowering ritual.

Please note: though this post discusses how to avoid denial and escapism, sometimes it is important to let them be. Trust yourself to make the right choice. Or, if unsure, ask for input from a trusted expert. For one thing, denial and escapism can be trauma symptoms that help you cope.

Some situations can feel like too much to bear, and I long for something bigger and more powerful than me to fix my problems. I turn to mysticism for the solution. It often works.

Sometimes, all doors seem shut, and I am desperate for a door to open somewhere, somehow. I turn to mysticism. It often works.

However, mysticism can be healthy or unhealthy. Personally speaking, my otherworldly endeavors must be very grounded in my real life, so I get my feet on the ground and remain down-to-earth. I will explain what I mean by that. … Well, a full explanation would take pages, but I can quickly explain enough for the purposes of this post.

Some of my rituals are not as mystical as other rites I perform. All magic is mystical, but there are varying degrees. Sometimes I do very mystical rituals; they might have highly lyrical liturgies and fanciful images, and create a very trancy, sparkly, buzzy experience. Other times, my rituals are less mystical, more direct, and more straightforward, e.g., they proceed in a rather mundane manner, directly dealing with my inner blocks, by necessitating I own up to a specific anger, fear, self-doubt, sense of powerlessness, or the like. I often deal with anger, trauma, fear, etc., in extremely mystical rituals, but that would be escapism were it the whole of how I handle inner turmoil.

The ritual below deals with unsettling emotions, self-defeating beliefs, and the like in quite a grounded manner, while also including more mystical ritual elements. The more grounded aspects of this little ceremony help keep it from feeding denial and escapism.

The Choice to Have Power: a Ritual for Magnificent Selfhood and Divine Support

This magical spell can help you experience spiritual renewal and fortitude, and feel longed for peace and hope. Other possible benefits are increased confidence and a substantial claiming (or reclaiming) of selfhood—who you are deep down, with all your strengths. The ritual also helps you tap into the Goddess’ immense power.

If, when doing this ceremony, you feel you are not doing a “good enough job,” not to worry. The sheer attempt is sufficient.

If unsure how to implement part of my instructions, you might explore whether that text is suitable for one of the three following approaches.

1. Do a visualization. For an example, let’s use the ritual’s paragraph “I choose to live in the reality of my truest self with its wisdom, balance, and magic. I settle into that reality by letting my body sink into it. I sink into my truest self with its wisdom, balance, and magic.” Decide what physical sensations you might experience if you trusted that you had wisdom, balance, and magic, and then imagine your body feels that way.

2. To continue using the same example, you could recite that paragraph as a liturgy, slowly reciting it two or three times. That can be powerful.

3. Or read that paragraph aloud as if you were telling a Faerie tale, and try to go along with the mood of the tale.

Here’s the ritual:

I choose the reality in which a caring Goddess holds me close.

To implement that choice, I start by looking inward to find what inside me keeps me from living in that chosen reality.

For example, do I fear that no deity can be kind? Do I believe that choosing happiness is somehow deserting my loved ones if they remain unhappy? Is false pride keeping me from relying on something other than my own resources? Or is something else in me blocking me?

If there is more than one block, I choose only one to work with in this ritual today.

I center into the reality of that block by letting my body sink into it. I don’t analyze the block, try to change it, or do anything else to it. I sink into it.

I choose the reality in which a caring Goddess holds me close. I center into that reality by letting my body sink into it. I don’t analyze it or otherwise get overly cerebral about it. I sink into the caring Goddess Who is holding me close.

I choose to live in the reality of my true self, with its wisdom, balance, and magic.

So I look inward to find what inside me keeps me from living in that reality of marvelous selfhood. Do I think that optimistically trusting in myself is self-inflated? Do I fear I’ll be deserted if I live according to my own ideals? What’s blocking me?

If there’s more than one block, I choose only one to work with in this rite.

I center into the reality of that block by letting my body sink into it.

I choose to live in the reality of my truest self with its wisdom, balance, and magic. I settle into that reality by letting my body sink into it. I sink into my truest self with its wisdom, balance, and magic.

So mote it be!

Additional ritual instructions:

1) During the ceremony, if you don’t land smack dab in the center of your personal essence, at least momentarily, you likely moved radically toward it. Try doing the ritual once a day for five days, over the course of a week, to continue the energy’s positive direction.

2) If you feel performing the ritual once didn’t progress you toward your magnificent selfhood at all, it could’ve happened anyway—even to a large degree—without you feeling it yet.

3) If the ritual felt effective, or even fairly so, you might want to do the ritual twice more over the next week, to re-find, remain in, or move deeper into the reality of your most competent beautiful self who is living in the care of a loving Goddess.

4) Here are two reasons to work on only a single block in the ritual:

Sometimes, working on more than one not only diffuses a ritual’s energy but also turns the rite into escapism.

Also, focusing on a single block allows me to own up to it on a gut level, rather than just recognizing it with my mind. That gut recognition can make a big difference in whether I can move past that block or not.

I’d love to hear how this ritual goes for you.

… I want to time how long it takes to read and execute this ritual. … It took nine minutes, reading slowly. That nine minutes includes time I added for pauses in case someone needed to go over the instructions to better understand them. The timing also represents doing the rite as you read the post, as opposed to reading it all first then going back to do the ritual.

I timed for three reasons. I wanted to see if this is a ritual that easily fits into a busy schedule.

Brief ceremonies can be powerful.

I also wanted to see if I might use the ritual in the Virtual Pagan Monastery, an event held via group phone calls. The meetings are mini-retreats that last fifteen meetings, and I lead a ritual in each one. A nine-minute ritual leaves us time to open with the quick protection spell with which we always kick off meetings. We’d also have time should anyone need to jump in to ask a question about instructions as we were doing the rite. Perfect!

My third reason for timing is that I love my Virtual Pagan Monastery. It’s a chance to touch down a few times a week with other seekers and lead a rite to take care of ourselves. But some folks don’t enroll because they don’t realize that brief rites can be powerful. So now this little ceremony is here to prove otherwise.

Diana’s CrossRoads During the Pandemic

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Francesca

Diana’s CrossRoads During the Pandemic
Creating Spiritual, Physical, and Financial Wholeness in Crisis

I’m at double risk regarding Covid 19, being elderly and disabled by a chronic health problem. I’m also unable to receive medical care, due to corrupt bureaucrats.

So I understand that ethics and inner empowerment are possibly irrelevant luxuries for some folks when life gets really hard. But not for me. My spiritual wholeness and commitment to serving community during this crisis are tantamount.

After repeatedly conquering circumstances that easily kill people—e.g., poverty and life-threatening illness—I saw that, for me, my spirituality at such times was an essential tool for both surviving and the subsequent establishing of my happy, prosperous life.

At a ritual I led last week, we each found ourselves at a moral crossroads and made decisions about which route to take. In the months ahead, I think a lot of people, myself included, might face a lot of moral crossroads. Most of mine will likely be about the need to dedicate myself more than ever to relinquishing false ego, surrendering to my Gods, and serving Them and all Their children. At least that’s what came up for me during the ritual.

During the rite, I channeled the “script,” so it’s not written down. But I’m hoping to convey a bit of its sentiments in this post.

We each went to the otherworld and stood at the archetypal trivia with Goddess Diana. In Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia, C.M.C. Green says the crossroads of Diana is not the cross-shaped junction made when two human-made roads cross, but is the Y-shaped trivia found in less tame environments and is created by animals’ travel. Green spoke of paths that connect to make the trivia as wild and dangerous, explaining that a human walking such trails might stumble upon a ferocious animal, and an animal traveling thusly through the forest might come upon a hunter. I couldn’t find the passage in the book again that discusses this; I hope I’m not misrepresenting Green’s work.

The day of the ritual, the roads’ deadly possibilities represented moral dangers to me.

Morality is not an abstract, for me. For one thing, when I do not make moral decisions, my good fortune diminishes. The diminishment isn’t always related to the decisions, per se. Poor ethical choices block me from blessings. Ethical choices increase not only my wholeness of spirit but also the wholeness of my finances, physical health, and every other part of me. For example, when I sink endlessly into worry about finances, income dwindles if not outright evaporates. It is only human to fret. But, at least in my particular case, living in that mindset is being self-involved, which isn’t a virtuous state.

I’m not implying poor ethical choices cause all misfortunes. I was talking about my own life. Plus, my good fortune is far from dependent upon my flawed, human efforts. My generous Gods have my back. But any of my problems not of my own making can be exacerbated by my poor choices.

I cannot speak for other people, but I am by nature a selfish stubborn person, who suffers from ego. I do not know if these propensities in me are greater than in anyone else, but they have caused me great suffering. I work hard doing everything I can to do away with these flaws, but, being human, will never reach that goal.

I recently hit a point where I felt I had to dedicate myself to my efforts to eradicate the aforementioned traits more than ever. More about that in a bit.

There are always opportunities for my selfishness and false ego to exert themselves. For example, it’s easy for me to condemn someone hoarding supplies during the outbreak. My reaction to hoarders is pure ego. Instead of climbing up on my high horse by harshly judging someone, I want to remember we are all flawed, and we’re all in a growth process, learning and growing, so there is no logic in judging.

It is easy to spot obvious immoralities, such as hoarding supplies during the pandemic. It is harder to spot subtler immoralities, such as condemning hoarders. Flaws can be sneaky, disguising themselves so that we don’t see them in ourselves.

The overinflated ego of judging others hurts me. Grandiosity can make me feel I am above the need to look at my own failures. Time spent in outrage is time I need to look at my own errors that day, cook myself a good meal, and otherwise be good to me. Plus the time I spend judging others is time needed for being of use to community.

Judging others also closes heart and mind, not only to the those judged but to everything. I want my heart and mind open to the Goddess’ guidance about ways I can support my community during the pandemic. I want to do everything I can as a shaman and human to help folks—myself included—stay on an even keel, stay whole, stay on top of things, and remain effective.

It’s impossible to walk on air like a saint. However, my past experiences of major crisis taught me how to keep returning to an even keel, keep returning to practices that build wholeness, and thus stay on top of things and be effective.

For me, listening to my Gods and staying close to Them is a priority. It helps me stay centered and strong, so I’m able to take good care of myself and be of maximum service. And I need Their constant guidance to be effective. They give me ideas about everything from the logistics of executing a mundane chore that seems beyond my limited physical capabilities, to the creation of specific shamanic events that’d serve folks well right now.

Important aside: My upcoming three week event is one such event: https://stardrenched.com/2020/03/16/upcoming-event-3/

Crisis and trauma are crossroads at which I grow—even if I can only do so quite slowly—or go down big time. The chances for selfishness and false ego to emerge quadruple. So, given that the societal traumas of the past year have impacted me, I’ve dedicated myself more than ever to pursuing surrender, service, and egolessness.

As an example, here’s one way the chances to stumble ethically increase: possibility of hardship can make one feel like one must do something wrong in order to survive. The expression It’s just business embodies that attitude. It excuses ill behavior by positioning the choice for morality in the face of survival threats as a new and different quandary, specific to one’s own situation, instead of as a core aspect of spiritual struggle since earliest human times. In fact, we might say that, in a way, (and only in a way), the dilemma of choosing one’s spiritual ideals over survival might be the essence of morality (or an essence). This is not to suggest that one should not fight for survival. Survival can be the moral choice.

I hope the above paragraph or anything else in this essay doesn’t sound preachy, judgmental, and black-and-white, as if 1) anything less than perfection makes you a complete failure, 2) we should shame ourselves for the least mistake, and 3) I alone know the correct steps in crisis, and thus am capable of making moral decisions for you. To the contrary, I believe that, under the pressure of crisis, people might need more than ever to be gentle with themselves and others: more than ever accept how imperfectly we act, more than ever esteem the littlest step we take toward our moral ideals, more than ever honor every act of kindness we make, and more than ever respect the need to take breaks from solving problems.

And I surely don’t know what anyone other than myself needs to do.

In any case, moving on: Many of us on spiritual paths can easily fall into focusing on spirituality as a tool only for personal gain. E.g., “If I meditate to be more serene, I’ll be more levelheaded. Then I’ll be able to earn a better living.” Though I think using spiritual tools to enrich one’s material life is healthy and important, and I teach that sort of application, it’s not healthy for me if it’s the whole picture. I need spirituality to also be a means by which I stay in shape to be of maximum service to the Gods and all Their children.

I have watched people who, when navigating hard times, cleaved to Spirit solely as a tool for their own sole betterment. It backfired, increasing their selfishness, false ego, and bitterness, and often causing them serious financial, romantic, and other problems. Some of those folks persisted endlessly along the same path, which turned them into horribly harmful people. It frightened me. I don’t want to be like that.

And, as I said, if my spirit is not in reasonable shape, neither are my finances or anything else.

Moreover, when I forget spiritual tools were gifted me both for my own personal betterment and to keep myself in shape to be useful, I find myself on an emotionally distressed hamster-wheel, with thoughts like, “I’ve got to improve myself. If I don’t, there’s going to be a disaster. If I don’t there’s going to be a disaster. A disaster. A disaster.”

Then, focusing on spiritual tools as a means to getting in shape to serve restores my balance, peace, common sense, joy in life, and trust that the Gods have my back.

I had three choices standing at the trivia. Going backwards didn’t seem a choice because you can never return to the past. But I could stay where I was. Sometimes that’s the moral stand. For example, I might need time to be with what I’m feeling, or to rest and gather the strength to move forward, or to choose which direction to take, or to plan my first steps along the road I choose. (Self-care is a virtue.) And sometimes I am just stuck. Moving forward is more than I can manage, and I can make a choice to accept that, and thereby surrender to life as it is, since I too, even when I’m stuck, am part of life.

My second option was the right hand pathway forward (I don’t know why it was to the right). On it, I could move forward into once again deepening my commitment to serving, surrendering to my Gods, and letting go of false ego.

The left-hand path was also a path to greater surrender, usefulness, and egolessness, with one difference—compassion for myself.

I realized, looking with my otherworldly eyes, the right-hand path at my particular crossroads included constantly chastising myself for not changing fast enough and for not being “better.”

That path also required I view each of my missteps, no matter how small, as proof that I’m a complete moral failure, and that my vigorous moral strivings are insincere. Forgetting that we all stumble a great deal, I’d live in fearful certainty that my smallest error would lead to moral, emotional, financial, or other disaster. The path also had me traveling along, all the while overlooking my improvements and all the good I do.

Whereas on the left path, I’d learn to walk toward my goals with compassion for myself. That self-care would consist of
* acknowledging that we grow bit by bit (with occasional, magnificent leaps and bounds)
* celebrating my progress
* being gentle with myself when I fall short
* admitting my errors without becoming fatalistic
* recognizing my dedication and the vigorousness of my efforts
* honoring my achievements—great and small
* seeing the good I do
* and enjoying the celebratory pleasure of being grateful to the Gods for giving me the ability to do the things in this list.

Two of many reasons I love my friend, Jenn Campus, is that she keeps surrendering to life and focusing on service. The day after the ritual, I happened to see an exquisitely worded Instagram post of hers (she had not been at my ritual): “We have yet to see the spring of this pandemic period. We are still in the brutal winter—wondering if our stores will see us through, wondering who will be standing with us on the other side of it…even if we will be one of the ones still standing. … In the words of Sophie Mainguy, a French ER Doctor: ‘We are not at war and we do not have to be at war. … The firm ambition of a service to life is enough. There is no enemy. There is another organism living in full migratory flow and we must stop so that our respective currents do not collide too much. We are at the pedestrian crossing and the light is red for us.’ ”

Jenn’s post is related to what we did at the ritual. I love my fellow seekers.

The doctor’s eloquent statement about remaining quarantined to avoid the coronavirus has meaning on the mystical plane, as I am sure the good physician knows. For me, that layer speaks of abiding by life however it manifests, which for my own practice is the same as surrendering to my Gods.

Surrender to life is not about giving up or being a doormat. I will continue to stand up for my rights and the rights of others.

Surrender is not about forsaking all pleasure. Surrender helps me use the enormous amount of ethical magical and mundane power available to create the world I want, a world of joy, beauty, and abundance.

Surrender also helps me be of maximum service, whether I am providing shamanic services for my beloved clients, or dialoging with the vet as I try to understand her patient but nevertheless confusing dietary proposal for my ever sick kitty.

During the ritual yesterday, I felt Diana blessing the path I chose. I felt the power She gave me to do what I need as I begin along that path. I felt chills throughout my body from the starlight, moonlight, and sunlight with which Diana filled me.

I also knew Her amazing help that day wasn’t enough. I’d need Her continual help as I walked that path. I have to constantly rely on my Gods. I don’t remember the prayer I said about getting divine help along the road I’d chosen, but I wrote a comparable prayer. Here it is, should it be helpful to you:

Magna Mater, Great Mother of All, Bear Madonna,
and Our Good Father, Co-Creator of All,
Wild and kind horned Pater,
please give me the power and wisdom
needed on the path ahead,
each step today and in these coming months.

Help me affirm:
I have a healthy ego.
I release my false ego.
I acknowledge my limits.
I acknowledge my limitlessness.
I celebrate my inner and outer beauty.

I dedicate myself to joy, usefulness, and power. I give myself to My Divine Parents, that You may shape me and use me as You will. Your desires are also mine, deep within my cells, even if unknown to me for now. I can and do create the amazing loving, beautiful world I truly want. So mote it be.*

I will probably need to make that prayer a lot in the coming year.

The ritual described above was one of the free rites I lead once a month. I’d love it if you joined me in any of them. They and other upcoming events are announced in my newsletters. Subscribe for free here: https://outlawbunny.com/newsletter/

I love you, be safe.

* Attribution: I read spiritual literature of all kinds. As a shaman, I seek the core of reality, and it is found in disparate places. There’s an Alcoholics Anonymous prayer in which are the words God, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt.

My prayer’s words I give myself to My Divine Parents, that You may shape me and use me as You will are an adaptation of the Alcoholics Anonymous words I quoted. Their sentiments, for me personally, are vital to me, absolutely vital to my spiritual, psychic, physical, and financial well-being, and every other imaginable aspect of my well-being.

Women’s Grief, Women’s Victory: a Three-Week Healing and Empowerment

Posted on January 8, 2020 by Francesca

My sister, we need not be maidens drowning picturesquely in pools of our own tears, fulfilling the delicate, helpless portraits men have painted of us.

My sister, if your heart has long held quiet sorrow, raging sorrow, or other sadness, it is not your inevitable home, though the patriarchy would trap you there. Instead, in this event, we will rise up from pervasive sadness and helpless anger, leave the past behind, and claim our power as wild women and Goddesses.

Women, as a class, suffer grief that is specific to them.

Grief visits every human. Life includes loss. Women’s experiences of loss and grief can be quite specific. Anyone might lose a job, a child, a love, and opportunities. However, women’s losses occur in the context of a systematic oppression of women. That changes the nature of—and the number of—their losses dramatically.

A woman might mourn endless opportunities lost to sexism. The lost opportunities’ wide range is tragic. Some examples: glass ceilings; living in poverty because someone co-opted ideas, products, or services she developed; stolen micro-chances accruing day by day, year after year, effectively stopping a woman from pursuing financial independence, financial security, personal fulfillment, and other well-being. Loss after loss, macro and micro, on and on.

Other examples of losses: a woman’s more likely to experience a child turning away from her forever because society teaches us the mother causes every problem a person has. A woman is more likely to grieve for the abuse her mother suffered. She might even mourn lack of visibility, as both her sufferings and her strengths are overlooked.

A woman’s many deprivations can cause great sadness that is perhaps repressed, painfully deep in the belly, just so she can get through the day.

Great sadness affects physical health, spiritual vigor, self-confidence, emotional well-being, and effectiveness.

We’re going to change that!

I developed ceremonies to help women move through grief and rise from it as powerful Goddesses.

Join with Goddess sisters in a three-week journey to healing, power, and peace.

Until we face our sadness and grieve over the tragedies and losses we’ve suffered, we remain stuck in the past.

We will leave the past behind, move on, live life.

This grieving process can open our spirits in big ways, so we no longer block the prosperity, love, and other blessings the Universe sends us.

This grief work also helps unlock our magic, joy, creativity, confidence, and warrior spirit.

You will learn material you can use whenever you need it. Life includes loss. Now you’ll have new ways to move past it. I’ve even used this material to recover from tragedies my ancestors suffered.

Rise up, rise up.

To rise up, rise up, we must grieve.

Enroll here: https://outlawbunny.com/special-events-registration/

I wrote lyric to express the theme of this three-week journey:

The above poem doesn’t point to something abstract and ungrounded from our actual lives.

It is my call to you, sister, to the upcoming ceremony, to honor your woman’s power.

It is also a description of what will occur during that ceremony.

Are you wondering how you could possibly manage to ever mourn so much loss? Or wondering how you could heal from so much grief? Mine is a down-to-earth shamanism that addresses real life issues. This three-week process can make a substantial improvement in your well-being and circumstances.

This three-week journey has four powerful aspects:

1) Three ceremonies, one per week, for three consecutive weeks. These rites are via group phone calls. To participate, just dial your phone. These will be major healing ceremonies.

We will work in old-style oral tradition, which allows immense headway quickly. Enrollment is limited to 12 people, so we can perform ceremonies that can only happen in a small group, and so each participant can receive individualized attention if they want that support.

The rituals facilitate major transformation: energy will continue to shift in us after each rite, and probably snowball long after the three weeks end. If you need support for this big work, you can have plenty.

2) Throughout your process, you receive emails that provide nurturance, inspiration, and ideas. This support arrives in your mailbox five days a week. Each message is brief, so you can read quickly and then continue to go about your day, in an improved state of mind.

3) Direct spiritual transmissions for three weeks. These transmissions bring more healing and serenity into your process, make it powerful and safe, further your personal growth, and boost your power as a woman and Goddess.

You receive a transmission five days a week for three weeks! One of each week’s transmissions will be during the group meetings.

I can’t say what “direct spiritual transmission” means for other practitioners, but in my case: I was born a good luck charm who automatically generates a beneficial field of energy. I don’t do anything to you; I don’t inject you with energy, rearrange your energy, or even dust off your aura, LOL. I simply give off a blessing energy during a transmission, the same way burning incense gives off specific magical energies in a room.

My transmissions’ energy adapts to your needs. Whether you need healing of gender-oppression wounds, physical healing, safety, serenity, something else, or several things, my transmissions address it.

They also add a boost to any effort you make. Our efforts combine.

4) In addition to individualized attention during class, I’m available for one-on-one support by phone, should you need to privately discuss anything, or if something comes up for you that would take too long to discuss during a group ceremony.

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

We’ll meet Sundays, 3:00 to 4:00 pm EST, for three consecutive weeks, starting February 2. Reserve Sunday February 23, same time, for a makeup meeting, in case I’m unexpectedly unavailable for one of the planned sessions. If an unexpected problem makes me unable to send one or more of the support emails, I’ll send it the week after the event ends.

Full cost is $250—for three ceremonies, three weeks of direct spiritual transmissions, three weeks of email boosts, and one-on-one support. If you have previously made this journey with me, your enrollment cost is half: $125. Your carrier might charge you for the phone calls into the ceremonies. Pay securely with PayPal: https://outlawbunny.com/special-events-registration/

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

I’m committed to this event not being overwhelming. There’s enough that overwhelms women nowadays, without a healing and empowerment process also doing that. This will be a gentle, loving event.

Our journey will be only three-weeks long because that helps create gentleness.

A shyster would promise that a three-week ritual will heal a lifetime’s worth of grief. An inept facilitator would attempt that much work in three weeks. Trying to do too much transformational work, all at once, can buffet the psyche, doing more harm than good.

Our journey will cause a remarkable, life-changing difference for you. Many individuals who have done short journeys like this with me called the results miraculous. The gentleness of the journey will help create the remarkable results, rather than diluting or otherwise weakening the process. Plus, I have an exceptional shamanic skill set, which allows me to facilitate major change in a short period of time. Gentle magic has enormous power to create huge positive changes *stat.*

After the three weeks ends, should you ever want to continue grief work on your own, this journey will have transformed your being in ways that help you do so. Also, should you want to do additional grief work with me later, I’m happy to discuss options.

Our culture’s systematic denial of women’s wounds causes many women to internalize that denial. They don’t see some of the injuries their psyches have suffered, and some of the healing they need. The best of us can internalize oppression.

So, please don’t gloss over this event. Give a moment’s thought to whether you can afford to pass it up.

A woman’s many sorrows can overwhelm her. Some women suppress immense grief, in order to get through the day. Living in a state of sorrow, conscious or subconscious, suppresses our power.

My sister, do not miss this ceremony, do not miss this, do not miss this. I don’t know if I will offer this event again.

And I turn 70 next year so, if you need this, now’s the time. Yay!

Enroll here: https://outlawbunny.com/special-events-registration/

Winter Ceremony

Posted on November 1, 2018 by Francesca

Moving into the Quiet Core of Winter’s Joy and Beauty:
A Seven-Week Ritual Group,
Centering You into Your Power and Essence

Miracles become commonplace, when your magical and mundane powers and essences come forward. Dreams impossible to fulfill become viable. Major insurmountable problems, both inner and outer, give way to a miraculous improvement. A success you’ve achieved is followed by even greater successes.

Spending a big chunk of my time on mystical practices can be the thing that creates what’s described in the above paragraph. And, though I can’t always apply my shamanism anywhere near as consistently as I want, my attempts to do so still cause major triumphs.

Though I do need to attempt consistency with shamanic practices, they don’t always have to be difficult or serious. Winter months have subtle Faerie gifts that make shamanism easier, and I’ll show you how, in this seven-week ritual. No need to always be struggling to cope or grow. During our meetings, which will be peaceful, revitalizing, and individualized to participants,

* Enjoy quietly whispering wintry magics that help manifest what you need inside and out, on both the mundane and spiritual planes.

* Create a successful winter and year ahead, as we travel into a lush hidden realm—the heart of reality; the starlit center of Goddess power—where we can manifest miracles.

* Be immersed in a peace that provides mental, emotional, and psychic clarity. We’ll draw on wintertime’s intrinsic ability to root us in the core of our own being and Gaia’s rhythm.

* Receive direct spiritual transmissions that foster good luck, physical health, and spiritual wholeness.

We meet via group phone calls. To participate, just dial your phone.

The ceremony is without prerequisites and suitable for both newbies and adepts.

I’m jazzed that this group’ll happen through the absolute darkest part of the year! Doing this rite at that time is sooo relaxing and powerful.

We meet seven Thursdays, 3:00 to 4:00 PM EST, starting December 6. The Thursdays are consecutive, except we’ll skip Thursday Dec 27 and Jan 3, for the U.S. holidays. Then we pick back up on January 10, continuing through till our culminating session on Jan 31. Reserve Thurs Feb 7, same time, for a makeup meeting, in case I’m unavailable for one of the planned sessions.

Enrollment: $250. Your carrier might charge you for the call.

Click here to enroll securely using PayPal: http://www.outlawbunny.com/special-events-registration/

Upon receipt of payment, your place is reserved, and event details emailed to you. No refunds.

If you need more info, or want to discuss payment plan, trade, scholarship, or semi-scholarship, call me: 814-337-2490.

Blessed be the lushly beautiful witch-powers and wisdoms residing deep within the winter and ourselves.

Druid (Elven) Chant

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Francesca

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.