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Third Road Classes
This post provides an extensive overview of the Fairy Witchcraft I teach, not details for each course or a schedule of classes. To be notified of upcoming classes and each one’s topic, price, and other details, subscribe to my newsletter by clicking here.
Here’s the overview:
What gives me joy is igniting
someone else's unique joy, the delight that lights
them up like
a happy Yule tree and is their special gift to the world. Each person
has a
unique talent or talents. Third Road nurtures these passions—you attain
rich
selfhood. Classes open up your shamanic and mundane gifts.
What gives me
joy is my students. I get the
coolest students in the whole world and am blessed to walk a spiritual
path
alongside them.
The quality
of the people who study Third Road says the most about my work. I’m in awe of my students. And a bit humbled
by the honor of teaching these folks who want to: enjoy life to the max
while
working hard to remain firmly entrenched in an ethical way of
being; find joy
and meaning no matter what; enjoy the career they were put on this
planet for;
pursue maximum self-expression; be of service to their family, friends,
and the
world at large; and make a difference to the people they touch. The
majority of
current Third Road students are national leaders in their field. Two
examples:
a celebrity chef; an innovator in paradigms for helping at risk youth.
Even students who think
themselves “newbi es” quickly show
themselves to be my peers. Hmm, everyone on the planet is a peer. But
what I
mean is: my newbies usually show spiritual and magical depths that make them not newbies
at all,
even if they don’t know it. (Part of what I do as a teacher is to show
someone
how amazing they already are. I’m not right for anyone wanting a mentor
whose
attitude is “Study with me, I will reveal how to become as pompous and
superior
as I am.” LOL.)
When a class has old and
new students,
my old-timers really welcome newcomers, instead of trying to cow them
with
supposed superior power. How cool is that?
It seems right to have
kicked off by
saying a good deal about my students: You the participant, not me, are
what my
classes are for.
Where
does
all this begin? With beginners and adepts all
together in my
entry-level classes. Entry-level classes are multilayered, suitable for
beginners and adepts.
If you are
new to paganism, shamanism, and the like, don’t be put off by
my
talk of amazing students. Get on my mailing list.
When you receive a class announcement that says "no
experience needed" or the like, trust it. Entry-level classes are totally accessible to beginners. Honest!
 Elders,
begin at the
beginning. Spiritual seekers on any path occasionally start ground up. Also, my lessons meet you where you are, so if you're an experienced witch, you'll experience the entry-level classes as advanced. For example, Fred Lamond—a student of Gerald Gardner's, as well as an amazing magician who was one of Europe's most respected Wiccan elders before his recent passing into the Western Isle of the afterlife—took entry-level
lessons. He
had the beginner’s mind to profit from them and liked them so much he
invited me
to teach them in England.
The Third
Road tradition is Faerie
shamanism. (For our purposes here, I use the
following terms interchangeably:
Third Road,
Wicca, Paganism, Goddess Spirituality, witchcraft, Faerie Tradition, Celtic
shamanism, Third Road
Shamanic Wicca, Faerie mysticism.)
This
ecstatic path is surprisingly down to earth. We must
become mystics who apply our visions practically, so that we can
fulfill
ourselves and obligations to family, friends, community, and
cosmos. Third
Road lessons develop one's spiritual, psychic, and worldly potential.
Third Road
lessons include psychic training; personal
growth; the lyrical power of the Faerie Faith; a practical application
of
paganism to life's joys and challenges; inner change to help you be of maximum service;
and solid
magical technique, including spells for manifestation of material
goals.
This is
integrated with tools for
experiencing the love of the Old Gods in daily life. Non-theists are
shown how
to adapt this part of lessons so that it is relevant, empowering, and
beautiful
for them.
Classes consist
of lecture, ritual and
discussion. Weekly ritual practices are assigned. If you desire, I
directly
address your specific issues.
Material is
taught experientially, not
academically. The Old Religion is learned through applied
theology, living
in myth, ecstatic techniques, celebratory transformational
ritual-experiences, attempts to embody one's ethics, and rites to create wholeness.
Ol' fashion
witchcraft. Ol' fashion
innovation.
For
notice of
upcoming classes, each with a description of
that particular class, prices, and the like, go here.
Teleseminars
(group meetings by phone): Third
Road classes are group phone calls. No computer or special
equipment needed. Just
dial your phone to
be with the group.
It's not me
lecturing at you for an
hour, it's magical, it’s interactive, and you ask all the questions you
need. A
shaman walks with her students in the other world. We can get there on
the phone. I use traditional Celtic teaching methods, including direct
spiritual transmissions during classes.
 Entry
Level Classes: An
entry-level class is usually seven
weeks long. There are many to choose from. They can be taken in any
order. Each
is a complete training unto itself. They often have a specific focus
for those
who desire only that particular class’s material. E.g., herbal magic,
traditional healing used for gender empowerment, shamanic counseling,
or sacred
sexuality. These "sister" curriculums complement each other, adding
up to a larger whole.
Most classes are
limited enrollment so 1) we can do rituals suitable only to small groups 2)
students can receive individualized guidance about making lessons
relevant to
their present lives and strengthening the God(dess) within 3) I can facilitate emotional and psychic safety—my tools for inner
change
can be deeply moving.
 The Core Third Road
Training
is 2 years long. Four entry-level
classes are part of it: 1) Be a Goddess Master Class; 2) Gentle Heart,
Palm Up; 3) Holy Sweaty Joy; and 4) The Ecstatic Path. They can be
taken in any order.
Along with the
above four
prerequisites, a student is required to take two
"electives" before the advanced training (AKA the second year
of
lessons). Advanced training is one year and of a piece.
There are many
electives to choose
from. A class announcement will say whether that class qualifies as one
of the
two electives required before advanced training.
 Advanced Training is
a yearlong supervised shamanic
journey. Magical instruction and spiritual development are
challenging—a big
commitment, but it creates huge shifts in one’s mundane life, as well
as the
sweetest mystical fruits. Curriculum advances topics introduced in
entry level
courses. For example, students come to an even deeper trust of their
inner
voice.
Via focused
exercise and repetition,
students gain facility in the Magical Art much the way dancers or
martial
artists train to command their art.
Students also
learn and/or sharpen
magical techniques most relevant to their own work and personalities. I
develop
individualized curriculum; one student might learn about pastoral
counseling,
another about animal totems. Personal attention is an integral part of
Wiccan
training. Private lessons are built into the class schedule.
Advanced work
includes many other
things, and this page is long nuf as is! But my classes are oral
tradition,
most of which is best described within ... um, within oral tradition. Call me! My phone number is below.
Class
Schedules: For
notice of upcoming classes with prices, curriculum details, and the
like, go here.
Your
Unique Magic
 In ancient
times,
each shaman had their own skill or
skill sets. One might drum into the underworld, another might be an
herbalist,
another might be a drumming
herbalist. Yet another shaman may have a totem animal, another shaman
might
pull illness out of patients. There is not space here to name the
different
forms. Nor could I write them all on the entire sky. It is not big enough.
The essence of
magic is expressed
differently by each person. My goal in entry level and advanced classes
is to
help each individual discover the heart of mysticism and life as
it manifests uniquely in that person, and facilitate its
fullest
expression in a safe process.
Each person has
their specific depths
to explore. My curriculums are tailored to that. Students go deeper and
deeper
into the mysteries that draw them. For example, Margaret eventually
became a
master astrologer. One day, after working on her astrology with me for
a half
hour, she said it was the best astrology lesson she'd ever had. I am not an astrologer! Margaret travels
the world getting awesome astrology lessons from top people in the
field. Why would she still need me? I know how to uncover,
affirm, and
facilitate someone's personal power in ever deeper ways. Atypical
Paganism.
The 3rd Road Is an Initiatory Path. Initiation is not guaranteed upon
completion of the core training, but almost all students have received
it—some before the two years end, some a year or so after training.
Some do not want it! Feel free to call me with questions about
initiation.
After
advanced training, some
students continue lessons. Over
the years, longtime Third Road initiates develop their own shamanic
style and
specialty to a master level. I respect Michael Harner's sincerity and
contributions, but I do not hold with his modern idea of standardized
shamanism. I do not describe the post-two-year-training on this site—it
is a
moot point until one has undergone the earlier training.
I
love Wicca, so am heartbroken
that it’s become one more
organized religion with dominant sectors that insist on set beliefs and
liturgies, invalidating thousands of sincere seekers. The word Wicca used to refer to a path along which travelers found their own truths. Now the word has come to represent an
oppressive approach to many people. I don’t renege on my Wiccan
teachings; I
just sometimes explain that they’re teachings of my own devising, and I stand by them.
Nowadays, calling
Third Road Wicca confuses some
folks about what I
teach. I will use the word, though. The Goddess frees us from
oppression: It is
important for non-fundie Wiccan traditions to remain.
My style of Wicca
embodies the
following philosophy and provides tools to implement it: We need no
priest--Christian, Pagan, or other--to
tell us how to act. Anyone can talk directly to Divinity; hierarchical
dogma can
be replaced with connectivity and personal revelation, through which
one finds self, wholeness, and the Divine--whether for you that is the old Fairy Gods, a forest, or anything else. I help non-theists who study with me
adapt theist
parts of Third Road.
Which
Class
to Start with
Jump
on the
merry-go-round at any point. Choose an
entry-level class that appeals to you. Its description might not say
"pagan basics" even if they're part of the curriculum. Ditto "introduction to faerie magic." My classes improve your worldly life and ignite your spirit. In the process, you learn the Third
Road magical
techniques and shamanic culture. Traditional training is contextual. I
teach
shamanic technical development as part of a larger whole. Shamanism is
more
than the techniques. For example, you are the primary shamanic tool, so
as we strengthen the whole of you and
enhance your
life, your magic gets stronger as a result. My belief is I cannot train someone in a vacuum of pure technique
and
theory.
Faerie,
Sshhh
All
my classes
are fey-touched, whether or not an individual
class is described as such. I am fey in all I do, and my curriculum
comes from
my stardusted DNA. Also, traditional European shamanism as I know it is
never far
from Faerie realms.
I am
old-fashioned. I
learned
magic con leche, so the family tradition in which I was raised is a quiet subtle given, a
powerful
whispering magic inherent in all my thoughts, actions, and teachings.
The entire Third
Road curriculum is a
single eon-long bardic poem. It is an enormous responsibility—and
blessing—to
channel a poetry of transformative earth spirituality. I strive
diligently to
stay a clear channel for a curriculum that is comprehensive,
finely-tuned,
effective, and safe.
I am 70 years old. My work
still evolves, as it
should. I let go of harmful and mediocre early influences. I hopefully
let go
of enough ego to be a better conduit of the Divine and more adept at
increasing
my students’ power instead of trying to impress them with my own. (I'm
not
reneging on any of my books. I stand by them 100%. I'm talking about my
evolution within oral tradition.)
I've returned to other of
my early influences, such as my family tradition, drawing on it more
than ever.
I
still use some
old material I taught,
intertwined with the newer. The heart of my work remains: 1) offering Fey-touched
tools
that transform people and their lives, spiritually and materially 2) living
in the heart of magic, while facilitating that experience for others 3) always
developing
better methods to do all this--e.g., new liturgies.
 Money: Enrollment fee
varies. Class
announcements include cost. Your carrier might also charge you for the calls.
People who can
pay me, do. People who
cannot, don't. Scholarships and semi-scholarships are available. Or call me to work out a payment plan. My phone number is below. I am also open to
trading
for services or products.
I am a
traditional shaman: I charge for
my services and took vows to not charge for certain lessons and
services.
Despite the current trend against charging at all, money plays a sacred
role in
traditional shamanic culture. Further
discussion of paid shamanism
is on my other site.
Drugs: Shamanic
perceptions that are
transformative, joyous, and informative can be gained without drugs. It
is a
matter of training. Third Road is such a training. This is rarely
mentioned in
a class description. If you can't figure out from its description
whether a
specific upcoming class has this sort of material, feel free to call
me.
My phone number is below.
What Third
Road Is Not
Being
mean, decadent, or haughty is not edgy, they are
destructiveness disguised as
freedom. Self-fulfillment and freedom can be gained through less
flashy—but
utterly ecstatic—methods. The environment of a Third Road class is a
subtle
route to joy. My students and I meet in the real, where love,
empowerment,
and personal freedom thrive.
Freedom
is not temporary release followed by
an undisciplined, frantic search for the next escapist delusion. Liberty and joy
require work, commitment, and a
teacher who is not "better than you."
Self-love
isn't justifying one's addictions,
wrongdoings, and inertia. It's knowing one is worthwhile exactly as is,
and
nevertheless releasing inner blocks to happiness. I help you face those
blocks.
Healthy
ego is not thinking you can
do it all yourself,
but knowing you are worthy of support and reaching out to get it.
Healthy
ego is not criticizing others
in a superior manner, it is going 100% for what you desire and believe
in. The
Third Road nurtures the ability to find and maintain unstoppable
healthy egos.
I
do not bolster someone’s false ego if they feel insecure
or lost. I help them experience their innate goodness 100%. That is one
of many
things I do to construct an unstoppable healthy ego.
I
do not develop curriculum that nurtures identification
with a process rather than doing the process. Nor an identification of
being
something instead of being it. To
live in a false-ego-state of a definition causes great damage to self
and others.
Many
alternative spiritual systems are not substantive,
they are simply polarizations against mainstream religion. Or they are
thrown
together quickly to be, voila, pagan. My teachings are deeply pagan,
carefully
constructed over time—this is what I do, what I have given my life to.
I might spend
years writing a
seven-week curriculum that I only teach to ten people. If I'm teaching
ten
people, they deserve my highest standard. It's weird because, in our
society,
most people would spend this much time on a curriculum only if they
were going
to teach it to thousands of people. Weird, W-y-r-d.
Devotion to
excellence in the
transitory is part of oral tradition. My best poems were in the moment,
I have
no record of them. Devotion only to documented events or to the ego
feed of
teaching many people results in arrogance, hierarchy, and pain for all
involved.
The immense work
and painstaking
process needed to raise your children or maintain your marriage or be
great at
your job, and so on, as well as your brilliance, generosity, and
selflessness
in these things—these invisible efforts are oral tradition. They are no
less
spiritual and devoted than a Catholic mass. This quiet excellence is
what Third Road
nurtures.
Third
Road is neither trendy nor out of date.
Oral
Tradition: My
classes are embedded within a long
lineage of oath-bound oral tradition. Despite how long this page about
classes
is, the written word is incapable of representing what is taught
orally.
My oral trainings
cannot be learned
from a book.
I’ve seen
well-intended misinformation
online about what is in my classes. Not surprising, because oral
tradition is
invisible. Plus, most folks know my work based on the small part of it
that's
published. If you want to know more about my material and whether it
would be
useful to you, give me a call—oral tradition!
A marketing
consultant told me very few
national authors teach small groups. I’m now an international author,
but oral
tradition happens in small groups. I am not in this for the money.
Some witches
offer three easy steps to
be lord of the universe, hehe. I go slowly, so sometimes students go
other
places to get "advanced material," thinking I do not have it. Or
because I don’t hint of dark secrets that will make you superior to
everyone
else, LOL. (Anyone who brags about occult secrets has lost those
secrets.) Or
because they assume everything I teach and practice can be found in my
published work. I live in my day, not in a book. Oral
tradition cannot
be conveyed in print.
Divinity:
I experience the Goddess Mother and all my Gods as living beings. Some of my students believe in deity, some don't. Each to their own. I live in ecstatic paradox. Third Road is not an either/or paradigm. I don't buy into trends and the either/ors thereof, e.g., that a belief in Deity is oppressive to those who don't believe in Deity. By that measure, the only way to support others is to believe in nothing oneself. I can know something in my heart, and love that you know the opposite in your heart. Why not?
More
Paradoxes
I
work hard to
help students find and trust the inner voice,
develop strong wills, live according to their passions, and fulfill
their
dreams. Yet, we work equally hard to surrender to something bigger than
ourselves. We also learn to balance healthy ego with authentic
humility, our
wonderful wills with gentle willingness, and self-fulfillment with the
sacrifices entailed in being of service.
This balance is
not just a passing nod to humble willingness
and service. They are worked on as vigorously as we work on inner
voice, strong
will, passion, self-fulfillment, and magical
techniques—therefore, my teachings
withstand the rigors of daily life and the crises that are part of
living.
Some spiritual
teachers have a thin
gloss of humble willingness and selflessness, a veneer hiding teachings
that go
no further than developing a sense of self or rebellion against
mainstream
religion.
Developing sense
of self is vital, I
work hard to help my pupils do so. And it is good to rebel, I
facilitate it.
Then I assist people in healing further to be 100% empowered. Initial
rebellion
can be hard won and is wonderful freedom! To fully live your life and
fully use
your innate shamanic powers requires additional steps, which Third Road
provides—steps that move you past mainstream nana, past frustrating
rebellion,
and into a…well, into a beautiful gratifying Third
Road!
The above are
only a few examples of
major paradoxes within Third Road lessons.
Shamanism Is
Based in Relationship
I
commit to my students. I am
available by phone outside of classes to discuss your
questions or problems.
I don’t treat you as yet another e-mail that needs answering. Oral tradition
necessitates that encounters be … yes, oral. (There are times when
students
e-mail me, e.g., they are not in the U.S.)
I lead free
monthly rituals via group phone
calls, for my students, newsletter subscribers, and their friends. The rites are
announced in my newsletter.
Students gain (or
strengthen)
heart-openness to deep relationship with self, Divinity (according to one's own definition of the Divine), family, community,
and
cosmos. While nurturing the individual, classes also foster each
person's
weaving with society, nature, and universe. Again—relationship! Relationship that fosters personal wholeness.
Be in the now with
me. Be in union with
all, through oral tradition earth-based mysticism--stand firmly in the cosmos’ moment to moment.
For
18 years, Third Road was the hub of a pagan community in SF, California. Then, I was
vision-driven to live quietly in rural northwestern Pennsylvania.
Now I continue my work midst wildflowers, trees, and dryads. The community is world-wide, yet
meets in small groups. A fey global-village. An uncomplicated intimate
structure can be effective—I have taught innumerable students.
Am
I Right
for You?
Use
your common
sense, intuition, tarot cards, or hula hoop
to decide the quality of my work. Think for yourself. For example, a
reader-reviewer convincingly argued against things in one of my books.
I never
said those things in the book. Now many people think otherwise. Heck,
had I not
known better, the review would've convinced me
the book is terrible, and its author (moi!) a shyster.
Feel free to
"read" whether
1) my motivation in offering classes is to be of service, 2) the cosmos
has
imbued me with Fey magic for the good of all, 3) enormous healing comes
through
me, though I am just another flawed human.
If we are not a
fit, may you always
have what you do need.
Questions?
If you want additional information, to talk about your goals, or to discuss whether a particular upcoming class is right for you, call me. I am print-disabled so usually prefer phone to email and am happy to talk by phone
as long as you need. I'll answer quick-to-read emails that can be adressed with a brief response.
Committed to
oral tradition, I'm willing to talk with you, but you're not required to
phone before enrolling. I'm saying I am available.
My life is about
cosmic (and, egad,
sometimes comic) connection. Need to "feel my vibe" to decide whether
to take one of my classes? Call me. I’ve nothing to hide and
am here to
serve.
Class
Schedules: For
email notice of upcoming classes with prices, curriculum details, etc,
go here.
My
bio has more about what I bring to the table as a teacher.
Great Mother Goddess, My Sweet Father, and all my Gods, thank you for everything You give me, which is everything everything everything.
Copyright
1992-2021
Francesca De Grandis. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication—this web
page and the site's other pages—may be reproduced in any manner without
written
permission. Copyright reverts to author.
This page
was updated April 2021
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