“Harry Potter changed my life. Hermione, too. In addition to giving witches everywhere a more positive name, both characters left an indelible mark on my heart as they kept me company as a teen.

I first met Harry Potter in grade nine, right before the release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It would come to be my favorite book of the series.

My mother died at a young age, and like Harry, I didn’t have any memories of her to console me during hard times. At the time of the third book’s release, my father was just about to marry my step-mother….”

It’s my turn to guest post! Read the rest over at JeriWB’s site, home of my lovely critique partner!

What’s the difference between Faith and Confidence?

Previous posts were Deep Love New Moon, Full Faith Full Moon, New Name New Moon, Full Fire Full Moon. (See the Moon Series here)

I have come so far in such little time, but still my ideas have not quite been fully expressed.

Faith is a seed planted into empty ground. It takes a long time before any shoots appear.

But under the ground, roots are forming, and gradually this is what forms the matrix of confidence

Confidence is a net of beliefs, resulting from the steady rewriting of limitations into a new amazing story of reality.

Confidence is a smile when there are many things yet unknown and that could go wrong.

Confidence is knowing that there is nothing to benefit from going down that road. That critic doesn’t have that much to say, and so far none of it has led anywhere joyful.

Confident, you are, when you say YES to the whisper in your heart. It will lead you somewhere joyfully even if the direction seems strange.

Confident, you are, when you say YES to the whisper in your heart again. It may be hard, but the results encourage you on.

Confident, you are, when you remember the many wonderful things that have already happened.
The discoveries, the ideas, the seeming coincidental messages from all around that you are on the right track. Still no shoots.

By not only planting the seed, but caring for it day by day you build steady roots.

It may get windy, but you will bend with it.

And eventually the sun will come out again.

For us both. Have confidence.

Hey there just got to post this and run out the door!Another class with Chrisopher Penczak!

Recently for a group ritual I wrote a story about the many myths surrounding the Constellation of Orion. I thought I would put it up to share!

(Approx. 119,000 words. Although part of a series, this is a standalone book.)

Sofia Wren’s Review:

So now I have to say straight off–as a writer reviewer I am the hardest to please! I want to give this a 4.5 for super close to perfect

Her plans are dashed so Madeleine uses more dark magic to separate them before the wedding. Her reluctant lover doesn’t remember anything and the heroine doesn’t know where he is. Madeleine makes sure that both of them will live forever since their lives are tied, but if she has her way, they will never find each other again.

1. I love the dark sorceress.

I am a witch myself, and although I’m not the evil kind (it’s fiction, y’all), I like reading about characters like Madeleine de Brandeville.

Her character is really well developed even as a villain and I also enjoy the young assistant she obtains later.

2. Seductive and sensual writing

Of course! It’s NATALIE G OWENS. What else is there to expect but beautiful settings in Italy and England, elegant fashion, and a smart use of history and architecture.

3. This is definitely a page turner

This month I have made huge strides towards my dream. I have decided to have faith, to take leaps and follow my heart as fully as possible, more fully than perhaps I have my entire life.

At times I have so much energy and so much passion for developing my business, my writing, my singing, my magic, that I am up late at night thinking, planning, seeking. I wake up each morning to begin and work nights and weekends to continue.

This is living on purpose. I have decided that a purpose isn’t one thing you obtain, or choose or discover, its a lifeline of inspiration and drive that you tap into.

I am tapped in.

Two runes were flipped for me on my altar. I paid notice and looked them up.

 (All quotes from A Practical Guide to the Runes by Lisa Peschel ; Image Source)

Raido–the chariot, movement, travel

“If you are on your soul’s path, keep going.”

This bodes well for this passionate work I am on, and also the trip to Italy I plan later this month.

Daeg–increase, growth, prosperity

This bodes well for an increase in income I am working towards, and confirmation of my feelings from New Name New Moon

“Sometimes, drawing this rune will mark a mark change in your life, perhaps something so radical that you will never live your life in the same way again. Usually this deal with making a new start on some level.”

My memoir is nearing completion, somehow this work started last year and has come to develop faster than the mermaid novel I have been working on for two years. I will finish it first and publish it. To do this I must have courage.

It will reveal a whole different side to me, and that is terrifying. Perhaps after this I can never again hide who I truly am, but perhaps I cannot survive without publishing it, because I believe that what I have to say is so unique that it has potential to save the world, to heal the feminine, to expand the masculine, to erase shame and redefine the paradigm of strength.

 My whole life I only wanted to be a good girl deserving of love. I never asked to be an artist, I never asked to be sexual, I never asked to be different. But those are the cards I was dealt. 

Those are the things I have been given to express and to accept and to love. Others may not love them, others may shame them, but I am as I was created and that must be natural and beautiful. 

I hope Oprah will understand.

When a storm builds in momentum it cannot be stopped, it can only be released.

Michele Fogal, author of the Wildseed Series, speaks on her Passion as part of the February Guest Post Series. She believes, as I do, that OUR PASSIONS CHOOSE US. 

Thanks Wren for the invite to share my thoughts on this awesome topic! It’s an idea that is very close to my heart these days.

I started writing seriously in high school. There was an outreach program called New Shoots from a local university (University of British Columbia) where their grad students were sent out to high schools to facilitate extra-curricular Writing Groups for the high school students. I loved it and it resulted in me getting a poem published and getting my work into the year book which were thrilling events for me, as well as overwhelming to the point of nausea.

I knew I wanted to go into Creative Writing and so ended up quite naturally in UBC’s Creative Writing Dept. But then something happened. As my degree in Creative Writing unfolded, I started asking questions about job prospects and journalism and writing for magazines, and publicity and all the real world concerns almost sunk me. I finished my degree mostly because my grandmother told me to (thanks Granny) and came out of it determined to get a “real job” and be a strong independent woman and not a starving artist.

Several jobs and incarnations of myself later, I woke up and realized that I had barely written in a decade. It pulled at me and weighted me down. It was like a tender aching wound in my heart, knowing that I needed to write, that I SHOULD be writing and I wasn’t. Just the thought of all the writing I hadn’t done drained a little more blood out of me. Oh I’d tried to sit down and do my “hobby,” but even those moments that I’d carved out of my life (to pour into this thing that was supposed to make me happy) were fraught with unhappiness. 

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Whee!! Now it’s time for me to reveal what you’ve been taught to expect.

Forget the fruit where’s the juice?

What’s the dark secret under the mystery of this magic and witchcraft talk?

Here’s the deal with 
1. The devil 
2. hurting or manipulating people 
3. embracing darkness


Have a good day guys,
An it Harm None Do as Thou Wilt
Direct Link to Youtube

xx Sofia Wren

So it has been a fascinating week for me. Two major events have occurred– I saw Patti Smith and I saw MDs marijuana laws begin to change.

The first is that last week I was able to attend the Katherine Hepburn Award Ceremony for artist, author and rock poet Patti Smith. It was an incredible gala and I knew everyone around me had to be pretty rad.

I got to catch up with professor Nathan Wright, who is an official Patti Smith blogger. He and several other professors are commenting as their book club reads through Just Kids. I loved it myself. See my review or check out their very intellectual comments.

As for Patti’s acceptance speech, I went ahead and recorded my memories when they were fresh. I was exhausted from the car ride home, can you tell? I got choked up from the emotional tenor of Patti’s words but her message was so powerful I wanted to share with any other fans in the universe. <3

The second major thing that happened this week was that I went to a meeting with Maryland governmental officials. I got my high heels and suit on to support someone very important to me. He gave testimony about his own arrest to a MD State Senate Committee. Later found innocent, he had been charged with possession of marijuana (aka cannabis).  He spoke in favor of a law change that instead of putting those caught carrying a bit of cannabis in jail, officers would write tickets with a $100 fine.

Watch his testimony or read a summary below

David had been illegally searched while in someone else’s car. When the police found a bag of cannabis under his seat they booked both in jail. He did eventually get off the hook but had to blast all his savings to pay for the lawyers fees before found innocent.

At the end of his testimony he expressed the anger mixed with relief that he felt—why was any of this necessary? Who would his arrest benefit? Does anyone really feel safer with nonviolent marijuana users behind bars? How would he pay for college?

I was very surprised while listening to the other testimonies and the boards questions. They asked for clarification and as the Senators discussed the issue, I sensed a growing understanding and agreement that as it stands now, the process is all wrong. A waste of resources, and a burden for citizens.

I feel really positively about the changes in the landscape around this issue. Back in college I wrote my senior thesis on whether there is a right to use drugs, i.e. a right to choose what we put into our bodies. I explored the rights to privacy and equal protection in hope of finding grounds to assist suppressed minority Americans. Unfortunately, I found that the court history makes the judiciary an unlikely avenue for these changes.

Imagine how surprised I was to be attending a Maryland Senate Judiciary proceedings committee pressing for change. I remembered my old project.  I had concluded with a recommendation that change should be pressed in the legislative and democratic avenues rather than court case decisions. If the committee passes this bill it will be argued in the Senate and lower house of Maryland—or go to referendum.

Called it.  My next prediction–Maryland will either completely legalize through referendum or change possession to a citation by 2014.

Tying both events together I have learned– it is possible for one person, even a young person, to take one’s horrible experiences and heal the world. It is possible to achieve your dreams. 

What do you think?