Enchantment Learning & Living Blog

Welcome to Enchantment Learning & Living, the inspirational space where I write about the simple pleasures, radical self-care, and everyday magic that make life delicious.

Life is Art

When I was a lowly writing student, one of the biggest messages I got was to avoid the obvious. Resist predictability. Subvert expectations. And never EVER use clichés.

That’s all good and well, until you get so lost trying to be innovative that you lose track of what it means to tell a good story.

Now that I no longer feel beholden to the inanity of creative writing programs that have no room for genre fiction, I’ve come to see that stories have their own energy and life force. One story’s cliché is another story’s narrative subversion. One novel’s canned trope is another’s blissful love letter to it. In other words, what matters at the end of the day is the story, who is writing it, and how it speaks to us (see also: the subjectivity of Taste).

And, let’s be real, always trying to be Not Like Other Writers…well, doesn’t that become its own cliché after a while?

With that in mind, I thought I’d share two of my favorite clichés. The first is: Life is Art.

The second? We are all stories.

It’s easy to pass these statements off as something you’d only see on a thank you card, written on craft-store decor, or, hell, embroidered on a cushion. Yet I find both these clichés deeply comforting.

Let’s take Life is Art.

This phrase is my antidote to one of the absolute worst clichés in my mind, that of the Super Deep Writer. Who is the Super Deep Writer, you might ask? Well, this person spends a lot of time alone, thinking Deep Thoughts, naturally, generally looking profound, and writing the kind of stuff they think is amazing but, to anyone not under the influence of alcohol or extreme isolation, is merely mediocre prose.

In other words: SNOOZE FEST.

Let’s be real — Pretty much all I could do during the pandemic was write, and, as much as I valued that as a time to complete my first novella and other projects, I’m also deeply grateful that part of my life is over and that I could connect with others online to avoid the absolute isolation and mediocre prose inherent in being the Super Deep Writer. Staying apart from the world, spending a lot of time alone to contemplate life’s big questions, and writing stories in a bucolic setting…well, it’s not as romantic as it sounds.

Frankly doing nothing but writing gets pretty borning!

That’s how I got to thinking about life as a work of art, something we can tend to daily in our thoughts, our actions, our intentions. We have the power to craft a world we want to live in and a day that is rich and full of experiences. It might not always be rainbows and sunshine, but each synchronous moment, each plot twist, each revelation is something to savor as you would sliding your teeth against artichoke flesh or biting into a peach.

The pain and heartache, the joy and pleasure, are all worthy of celebration. Our lives are richer for the experiences we lean into and the relationships we tend. That’s how I wake up every morning: eager to greet the day and see what art comes from it.

This delicious cliché is also about designing the kind of life and the kind of story we want to live in, from what we wear to how we decorate our sanctuaries. It’s about filling our cup each and every day at the well of experience.

That’s where good writing comes from: loving and living and being present in the moment.

Which is where my second favorite cliché comes in. We’re all stories, and we have to be mindful of the narratives we live out, the histories we tell about ourselves, and the tales we welcome into our lives. We also need to welcome in the plot twists and narrative subversions, the meet cutes and sudden goodbyes, the fated moments and the unexpected ones. In other words, you keep moving forward simply because you want to see where your tale is going next—the anticipation, the wonder, the surprise, well, they all make for a good story!

What makes the most interesting protagonists? Someone who leans in and, instead of trying to nail down answers, embraces the unknown with curiosity and more than a little hope. Someone who learns from their experiences without closing their heart or hardening their gaze. And always, always, they are eager, like any reader of a good book, to know what happens next.

So here are a few delightful plot twists I’ve experienced this first half of the year: a new home, a new promotion, a new outlook on life. A renewed enjoyment of the world and simple pleasures in it: cooking, dancing, good times with friends and loved ones. I’m rediscovering all my city has to offer and, I think, all I have to offer to myself, my city, and my community.

Readers, it is a heady, hedonistic feeling! It means I’ve been writing less as I adapt to all the new things in my life, but I'm enjoying my life and my writing all the more because of this widening perspective. I’m also relearning that the best things in life, and in stories, are the things you didn’t see coming.

Life happens when you least expect it. It sneaks up on you, like a ladybug on your shoulder or a kiss in the rain or a conversation with an interesting stranger.

So what have I been up to lately?

Resisting predicability. Subverting expectations. And enjoying a good cliché or two.

Alt Text: A colorful still life with a red colander, fruits, and a striped cloth, accompanied by the words "Life is Art (and other clichés I like).”

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational collection of musings touching on life’s simple pleasures, everyday fantasy, and absolutely delectable recipes that will guarantee to stir the kitchen witch in you.  If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is the everyday, subscribe here.

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Practically Pagan ~ An Alternative Guide to Magical Living Book Release!

Three years ago, I published my first book, Everyday Enchantments, a collection of musings on ordinary magic and daily conjurings. It has been a whirlwind of delightful literary magic ever since. That was the book that helped me rediscover my inner bruja and so will always have a place in my heart. But I’m also excited to look back and see how I’ve grown, developed, and continued to hone my craft as a writer, magical practitioner, and human being. That’s what everyday magic is all about: showing up every day to conjure a better way of being.

After years of blogging and that first book, it became clear that that there were other people out there, like me, looking for simple, practical ways to make their lives more magical. Thus, Practically Pagan ~ An Alternative Guide to Magical Living was born.

This is an alternative and practical guide to magical living, which means it’s a no-fuss approach to finding the mystic in the mundane. Here, there are no difficult spells with obscure ingredients, complicated rituals, or expensive tools. Instead, you’ll find that our routines are the rituals, the meals we cook are the edible spells, as are the thoughts and intentions we cast out into the world. As for crystals, athames, and velvet cloaks…those are cool, sure, but you don’t need them to conjure. All you need, in fact, is an open mind and a desire to find enchantment wherever you go.

Get your copy here.

Advanced Praise

“I'm new to practicing, so this was incredibly helpful. I loved reading ways to expand my practice and the best part is how easy everything is. It's perfect for a beginner.” ~ Kali T. Netgalley Reviewer

“What a beautiful book! I loved reading about enriching my witchcraft practices with solid acts of self-care.” ~ Sonja K. Netgalley Reviewer

“I love the way that this book weaves magic and wonder into the everyday, making paganism feel accessible to everyone. I'm going to try to reframe household chores as a form of magic!” ~ Melanie K. Netgalley Reviewer

“This book was everything I could have hoped for. DeBlassie approaches magic in a way that is less intimidating and much more natural, at least to me. The focus on intention as magic and having less focus put on complex spells and rituals makes this book both beginner-friendly and something that can re-ignite the passion for longtime practitioners.” ~ Colleen V. Netgalley Reviewer

"Practically Pagan ~ An Alternative Guide to Everyday Magic is an accessible guidebook into the subject of personal development and subtle magic, providing the reader with tips to live their best, most blessed life."
Jennifer Teixeira - Author of "Temple of the Bones; Rituals to the Goddess Hekate"

"Everyday magic is not just about developing connections and relationships with our spiritual and magical selves. How many of us have looked within at our own habits and behaviors to acknowledge the chaos and stress within our own lives and how we can change our thinking and break out of these toxic behaviors that hinder us on many levels. Maria from her own personal experience shares how she turned her life around earning a happier, healthier life, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This naturally brought back that spiritual energy and personal power that was buried beneath the drudgery of the modern lifestyle. This is everyday magic and can improve the lives of EVERYONE." ~ Martha Gray, author

"Maria's Practically Pagan: An Alternative Guide to Magical Living is a book that I wish my younger self could have read. Instead of wandering around, thinking magic needed to be elaborate and, therefore, inaccessible, I could have seen the magic in the everyday. (And to be fair, I need the reminder now too.) In addition, the fact that Maria touches on toxic patriarchy, performative extroversion, and mindless busy-ness as things to unlearn is vital. Necessary. Crucial. Timely. I can hear the passion behind the words of this book, and it feels like a spell woven between the words and the reader."

~ Irisanya Moon, author of Pagan Portals: Reclaiming Magick, Pagan Portals: Aphrodite: Goddess of Love & Beauty & Initiation; Practically Pagan: An Alternative Guide to Health & Well-being, and Pagan Portals: Iris - Goddess of the Rainbow & Messenger of the Godds.

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From the Back Cover

Practical tips for the modern mystic by bruja and award-winning writer and educator, Maria DeBlassie.

This guide is full of proverbial spells, daily conjurings, and mystical insights designed to help those in search of a little more magic in their day-to-day life, no complicated spells, expensive accessories, or experience required.

That's the thing about everyday magic: it's always within reach, within the self, and in the world. Only not in the way readers might normally think. It's a less mumbling 'double double toil and trouble' over a cauldron and more cooking a delicious soup in a beloved cast iron pot. It's simple. It's mundane. It's magic!

This book offers grounded mystical practices, including how to turn routines into healing rituals, to teach readers how to connect to themselves, the Universe, and the magic of everyday life. Journey into the realm of pleasure magic, radical self-care, synchronicity, and the profound joy of living a life beyond the expected with this alternative guide to daily mystic practices.

After all, true magic is in the everyday.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

Weep, Woman, Weep eBook Release!

I am beyond excited to share my latest ebook release! Weep, Woman, Weep, available for only $2.99, is the first of many stories set in the mythical town of Sueño, New Mexico, where magic is real and the desert holds more secrets and enchantments than anyone can imagine.

This gothic fairytale, based on the Legend of La Llorona, has a special place in my heart because it not only represents my full transition into writing fiction but also because it deals with the Weeping Woman, a figure who installs fear in the hearts of most Hispanic and Latinx children. (Don’t worry, I haven’t left non-fiction behind—I’m just now more established in fiction as well!) I grew up hearing frightening tales of the woman who drowned her children in a fit of rage and then threw herself into the Rio Grande after them once she realized what a terrible crime she committed. It is said that she now roams the riverbanks weeping and looking for her lost children. Of course, the danger is when she mistakes you for one of her children and takes you down to the bottom of the river with her. Needless to say, she inspired many a sleepless night when I was younger—okay, and sometimes now!

There are so many different versions of the Weeping Woman legend, some dating back to the Aztecs and early colonization of Mexico, which you can read more about here. These are stories about the trauma of colonization, toxic patriarchy, and toxic matriarchy. Some are even about reclaiming our pre-colonized identities by framing La Llorona as a victim trying to make things right in her own way.

As you’ll see in Weep, Woman, Weep, I’ve offered my own spin on the classic urban legend. In my story, La Llorona isn’t quite so sympathetic, even if we can understand the terrible circumstances that lead her to her doom. As Mercy, the heroine of the story says, you can’t always help what happens to you, but you can choose not to pass it on. It’s the passing on of trauma that makes La Llorona a dark archetype. In my experience, there’s a twisted part of this spirit that doesn’t want anyone moving on from the violence of our collective past. She has suffered terribly, so we must suffer, too.

All I’m saying is that the night before I made this book available for preorder, I had a terrible nightmare about La Llorona. She came out of a dark swamp in the middle of a haunted forest and tried to rip me to pieces. It was clear she didn’t want me telling this story and exposing her for the bitter spirit that she is. She clawed and raged and did everything she could to rid this manuscript from my hands. In all honesty, I’m used to dreams like this—she’s been haunting me for some time. And she gets particularly angry whenever I’m doing something that brings me joy and helps me heal my own complicated relationship with my mixed-cultural heritage.

I woke up in a cold sweat but felt strangely good. La Llorona didn’t like that I dragged this dark ancestral secret into the light, so…I must be on the right track. But that’s bruja life for you—so much happing in the dream world, so much of it affecting our day-in, day-out. Just another day of breaking the chains of ancestral trauma.

Weep, Woman, Weep is particularly unique because it centers on the New Mexican mestiza experience of ancestral hauntings and the working through of toxic cultural histories. In my experience, if we don’t directly confront the traumas of our ancestral past, then we end up perpetuating those same traumas on ourselves and our communities, sometimes in ways so subtle that we are barely even aware that we are doing it. But, since this is a gothic tale, these horrors aren't so subtle.

If you are interested in learning more about ancestral hauntings and breaking the chains of generational trauma, check out my conversation with That Witch Life. And if you’re wanting to know more about my other fiction, as well as my creative process when it comes to writing stories about the ordinary gothic, check out my interview with C.M. Rosens on the Eldritch Girl podcast earlier in the year.

In the meantime, pour yourself a cup of tea, snuggle under your favorite knit blanket, and get ready to enter a world of everyday magic and the ordinary gothic. Just make sure to keep the lights on.

Advance Praise

"This is a beautifully written, affirming and emotionally rich sort of story...There’s a lot of emotional truth here, and I think anyone who has ever struggled to find their place in the world will find it a resonant read."

~ Nimue Brown (read the full review here)

“If like me you’re a fan of the unusual or gothic and haunting reads this is one to try. With a strong voice, atmospheric creepiness and powerful storytelling, it’s one to enjoy as the nights draw in and we head towards my one of my favourite times of year, Halloween.”

~ Kate Kenzie Writes (read the full review here)

Read more reviews on Goodreads and Amazon!

From the Back Cover

A compelling gothic fairytale by bruja and award-winning writer Maria DeBlassie.

The women of Sueño, New Mexico don’t know how to live a life without sorrows. That’s La Llorona’s doing. She roams the waterways looking for the next generation of girls to baptize, filling them with more tears than any woman should have to hold. And there’s not much they can do about the Weeping Woman except to avoid walking along the riverbank at night and to try to keep their sadness in check. That’s what attracts her to them: the pain and heartache that gets passed down from one generation of women to the next.

Mercy knows this, probably better than anyone. She lost her best friend to La Llorona and almost found a watery grave herself. But she survived. Only she didn’t come back quite right and she knows La Llorona won’t be satisfied until she drags the one soul that got away back to the bottom of the river.

In a battle for her life, Mercy fights to break the chains of generational trauma and reclaim her soul free from ancestral hauntings by turning to the only things that she knows can save her: plant medicine, pulp books, and the promise of a love so strong not even La Llorona can stop it from happening. What unfolds is a stunning tale of one woman’s journey into magic, healing, and rebirth.

CW: assault, domestic violence, racism, colorism

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

Everyday Enchantments Cover Reveal!

In just one short month, my first book, Everyday Enchantments, will be released through Moon Books.  October 26 is the official release date, but you can pre-order your copy here. In anticipation of this release date, I thought I’d share the official book cover and story behind it.  

When I first started compiling the manuscript for what would become Everyday Enchantments, I always knew what I wanted the book cover to be: a cup of coffee with the hint of magic.  It was the epitome of everyday mysticism in my mind.  A cup of coffee (or tea, as is your preference), is one of the most ordinary objects of our day-to-day lives…and also one of the most universal simple pleasures.  I wanted the image to suggest that quiet moments—like a coffee break—are fertile grounds for ordinary mysticism.

So I got a wonderful designer to take my musings and turn it into this lovely cover.  Then a miracle happened: Moon Books approved my dream cover—something practically unheard of in the publishing world.  

Isn’t it lovely?

I couldn’t be more proud or elated for this cover reveal!   In other exciting news, the reviews are in and readers are loving this collection of mediations on everyday magic.  Read what they have to say:

“This book is truly beautiful. When I read 'Everyday Enchantments is a love letter to the magic of everyday life'. I knew that this was a book I'd fall in love with and I wasn't wrong. The book consists of a collection of short writings providing an alternative perspective on the everyday. Beautifully written and thought provoking, everyone should have a copy of this, or read it at least once! This is a book I will go back to over and over again. Highly recommended.”  ~ Margaret Leonard, NetGalley

“This book appealed to me on my levels. and I felt the stirring in my being with the way the words just flowed from the author. A very good read for those who want to live enchanted on a daily basis.” ~  Christina Blake, NetGalley 

“A lovely thoughtful book with an invitation to step into the magic of somebody else's life.  All the experiences are very personal and culturally related to the authors own life.  However it was a pleasure to dream up all the sights, sounds, and smells of another place and another life.  I especially loved the trip to the herb store and found it all a sensory delight.  Hopefully it will encourage you to see the magic in your own life and what is special and sacred to you.  A delightful read.” ~ Jc. C, NetGalley 

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Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on InstagramFacebookPinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!