You’re a Blessing

You’re a Blessing, Just as You Are

Meditating in preparation for a Faerie shamanism class I was going to teach in a few minutes, I affirmed three things I’d like to share with you. They’re useful in all areas of life, not just when teaching. For context, I’ll show how they relate to teaching first, then discuss how they affect everything else.
BlessingsSm1) Instead of thinking I should hide my oh-too-human faults, it is so important just to be myself when I teach. if I pretend to be someone not riddled with faults, then the foremost lesson I’m delivering is the pretense of perfection. That is a destructive lesson, indeed!

2) Though I’m known for creating innovative shamanic modalities that radically change people’s lives for the better, what has just as much value to my students is me being comfortable in my own skin. The nature of our presence conveys as much as any of our words or methodologies will. Feeling at home in myself conveys the vital messages of self-acceptance and self-love. Those messages are core to inner transformation, happiness, and success. The three reminders in this post focus on us not trying to be “someone else” in order to be “worthwhile.”

3) In that vein, I need to trust my light. You see, even when people think their lights have been dimmed, I still see them shining brightly. I assume the same must be true of me. So, when teaching, I try to relax and trust that my light shines whether I notice it or not. One of my responsibilities as a shamanic teacher is to affirm the light in all of us. I can only do that job if I’m trusting my own light.

Whatever lesson I have planned, it is driven home if I’m at home in my own skin, trust that my light is shining, and do not hide my faults.

And so it goes in the rest of life: when one forsakes pretenses of perfection, trusts that one’s light is shining, and is at home in oneself, one bestows more blessings than all the words and ceremonies ever could. So mote it be!

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Sacred Doubt

May I not let doubts drive me into fear-based decisions.

DoubtRecently, I was feeling shaky about my decisions in a couple of life’s arenas: I had doubts about how I approach relationship with my Gods. I was also doubting one of my financial decisions.

The doubts popped up during ritual. At first, I thought these distractions during rituals lessened the rites’ power. But I’m realizing that doubt is part of the spiritual process. Sometimes, it’s good to doubt. Sometimes, doubt adds to a ritual. (Yes, doubt during a rite can lessen its power. But I’m talking about something different here.)

I started thinking about the benefits of doubt. Doubt can lead us to change our minds for the better.

Doubt can also lead us through a process that, in the end, helps affirm our decisions and cleave to them better than ever.

Moving all the way across the country sometime soon, to return to California, is a huge decision and risk. For example, I’m giving up ownership of a three-bedroom rural home on 7/10 of an acre, with a $700 monthly mortgage payment (!) to rent at a much higher monthly cost. Eek! So I wrote a prayer about doubt. The prayer could also be used as an affirmation. I share it here in case you find it relevant to your own personal life.

If you use this prayer/affirmation, please tell me how it goes. I’d love to hear your experience, because it will be unique to you.

Sacred Doubt

May I accept my doubts.
May I recognize doubts as part of life.
May I understand doubts as sometimes part of a self empowerment process.

May I not run from doubts in myself.
May I not run from doubts in other people.

May I not let my doubts drive me into fear-based decisions.
May I not let other people’s doubts drive me into fear-based decisions.

Instead, may I remember that my doubts are a part of me
that might be need healing or empowerment.
May I give that part of myself love.
May I give that part of myself respect.
May self love and respect heal my doubts, if they need healing.*

May I allow my doubts to bless me,
with power or other gifts.

Though there are times it’s good to validate,
invalidate, or analyze my doubts,
may I take time for simple gentle awareness of them.

May this simple, relaxed observance
allow my cells’ innate wisdom
to guide my whole being, both body and spirit.

Note 1: I added the phrase “if they need healing,” because sometimes a doubt does not need healing. For example, a doubt can be a partial recognition of a truth we haven’t grasped yet. When we honor doubt, instead of trying to “heal” it, we allow space in our consciousness for the partially hidden truth to fully emerge.

Note 2: Here are instructions for the above-mentioned simple gentle awareness. Instead of watching your doubts with a sharp effortful focus that is a tiring strain, rest your attention on your doubts gently, the way your head rests on the pillow at night.

Use the comment field below to tell me your own thoughts about doubts. We all have different experiences. Perhaps yours are so different from mine that they will enlighten me. Or perhaps yours are fairly similar to mine, which would be helpful affirmation for me.

Blessed be, Francesca

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On your life journey, you deserve the best tools. Click here to learn about the Faerie Ritual Set: http://www.outlawbunny.com/2014/06/11/frs/

Upcoming Teleseminar

Update: This class has been rescheduled. I hope our starting it a few weeks later than intended, and moving it from Thursday to Friday, makes it possible for you to attend this extraordinary event, since it won’t occur again for three years.
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Sleep and Other Gods—Applied Pantheism; Life as a Fey-Druid

Nurture your ability to hear Nature’s music. Join its song to heal and empower self, Gaia, and the Tree of Life.

Safe and Powerful, digital painting, Francesca De Grandis. 2013

Safe and Powerful, digital painting, Francesca De Grandis. 2013

For decades, I’ve practiced what I’ve privately defined as Applied Pantheism or Faerie Taoism. I share these personal terms now, because I want to teach more of my Druidic material to fellow seekers.

My loving, protective Gods seem to arrange a flow whereby special people visit this site. So, though some people glibly choose pantheism to avoid inner growth or spiritual rigor, I think you’re like me—wanting the full pantheistic possibility. I created this curriculum for you.

The written word can’t describe oral tradition lessons. And the attempt makes the lessons sound shallow or easily gotten elsewhere. Or what you already know. Or it sounds like hype. Nevertheless, I’ll give a few examples of what we’ll address:
* Relaxed, easygoing interaction with plants, stones, and animals, for guidance, nurturance, company, and mutual aid
* Your innate—but possibly untapped or not completely used—ability to find soul nourishment in Fey realms
* The exact pantheist modalities you personally need for maximum inner transformation
* Courage to serve community joyfully (even when “haters gonna hate”).

This teleseminar is suitable to entry-level beginners and adepts.

Nuts and bolts:
* These are group meetings by phone. To participate, just dial the phone from anywhere.
* The class meets seven consecutive Fridays, noon to 1:00 E.S.T., starting Friday April 11.
* Reserve Friday, May 30, same time, for a makeup class in case I’m unavailable for one of the planned sessions.
* Tuition is $250. Your usual long-distance charges apply, and appear on your phone bill. The event’s area code is a U.S. #.
* Register online at http://www.well.com/user/zthirdrd/specialevent.html
* Or pay by check or money order.
* Upon receipt of payment,
I email you event phone number, etc.
* Scholarship and work trade available. Refunds unavailable.
* Call me—814-337-2490—for more info or to discuss scholarship, trade, or payment plan. Do not email me.
* Participants are personally responsible for the consequences of their voluntary participation.

Want to be immersed in the immense love available through applied pantheism? Register now.

Blessed Year Wheel

imageimageFellow Seeker,

It is easy to be overwhelmed by holiday responsibilities and anxiety. Ritual and simple plans, followed by self awareness, can help make the dark time of year peaceful, joyful, and blessed by camaraderie.

I am leading a ritual on the above theme. Please join me in ceremony, Friday Nov 22, from 3 to 4:00 PM EST.

No experience needed.

The event is a group phone call. Free and open to all. (You might pay long-distance charges, depending on your long-distance plan. They appear on your phone bill.)

To participate, call 1-712-775-7000. When prompted, enter 1095248#. Dial a few minutes before 3:00; it can take a bit to connect, and latecomers are not allowed.

The two long vertical visuals on the side are details from a painting I just finished. The painting is about the fecundity of darkness, so I wanted it to adorn this particular ritual’s announcement.

The ritual includes a guided, meditative planning for your dark time of year. If possible, bring something with which you can jot down any thoughts inspired by the meditation.

I hope you come. We’ll create a great fall and winter for ourselves.

I can’t always post announcements for my free monthly rituals here. There is no one place I announce all my events bc I do a lot of projects and do not want to bombard anyone. But I announce a good many of my goings-on in my newsletter. I hope you sign up for it because I am all about sharing the journey with fellow travelers.