I've been selling my used books and CDs on Amazon's Marketplace for a while now, but since moving into my new apartment, I've realized just how many books I own which I no longer have much attachment to. Plus, my shelves are just in need of some plain old spring cleaning. Some of them I bought just to write reviews about them. Thus, I've put a number of them up for sale and more will be joining them soon!

I'm very good to my books, so virtually all of them (other than ones I myself purchased already used) are in mint condition. Most are as good as the condition in which they were originally purchased, and you wouldn't be able to distinguish them from the ones currently on bookstore shelves except for the highly discounted price :D

Most of the books I'm selling relate to NeoPaganism and Wicca but there are also books on ancient Egyptian history and culture, etc. If those topics might be of interest to you, and you're looking for some cheap books, you are more than welcome to drop by my Storefront.

After almost 7 years of expansion and updating, I think I may finally be ready to let desideratum/Desirée's Musings go. I honestly don't think I have the drive left to actively maintain it, and my views on many matters have changed considerably since I wrote many of the pieces therein. Virtually all of my artwork has been moved to my deviantART website, and while I am planning on purchasing a new domain for my artwork, I don't plan on continuing the Main Wing section. I don't want to obliderate the content of the Main Wing and make it completely unavailable, but I don't have the desire to keep (and pay for) my current domain.

 January 20, 2004:  My Lady took two lives the other day. An overturned canoe was found in Her frigid waters, an abandoned firearm found upon Her shore. Apparently, two men had been duck hunting and one fell into the water. The other attempted to help him, but both shared in the same fate. The murky depths and underwater vegetation of Her lake have taken others before them.

And I must acknowledge all of Her faces.

The same waters have shown me the face of the moon, disturbed only by the faint concentric rings produced by a tossed pebble or a fish contacting the surface. They have soothed and consoled me in some of my worst hours, and they have held my small kayak afloat as I explored the terrain from a different perspective.

Her winter snows split and bend the young Eastern Red Cedars, and She calls forth the purple crocus from the chill soil. The osprey, whose presence seems to be less frequent as the years pass, graces Her sky with his arched, dappled wings. Her features are delineated in the foliage - Tulip Poplar, Sassafras, Pin Oak, White Ash, Dogwood, Sugar Maple - they are the delicate lines that etch Her skin. Her bones are the water-worn boulders left behind by glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age.

    She breathes in the air, flows in the water, resounds in the earth, quickens with the warmth of the sun.

 I am searching for Her name.

( further musings )

As you can tell by the dates included in this writing, it is already a few years old. It is obviously in need of some (okay, a lot) additional work.

Update 7/16/07: Although many of my opinions regarding much of popular fairy art (aptly represented by the volume in question) are still quite intact, my views and overall approach to the contemporary fairy craze and changed and softened somewhat. My earlier, more asinine reflections on the craze were not, as some might suggest ¹, due to jealousy borne of the commercial success of some of the artists who are at the vanguard of the genre. Rather my initial fervor has entirely to do with the fact that something very near and dear to me is being cheapened and deprived of its integral mystery and ambiguity largely for the purposes of financial gain and popularity.

If contemporary "fairy artists" derive joy from their art, then it is hardly my place to attempt to intervene. I also completely understand that artists have to eat, and if "fairy art" is the vehicle though which they obtain the funds to do so, then more power to them. I still feel that there is a great deal more to Faery than what is displayed in virtually all of their work, and to the extent that what they do contributes to the growing superficiality and watering-down of a deep, profound tradition (sometimes this is born from the artist's genuine lack of knowledge of the subject, other times it is a blithe, arrogant disregard for viewpoints contrary to their own) I cannot fully endorse it.

My new approach has been to seek to initiate change from the inside of the craze rather than by shunning and trying to disassociate from it entirely. An apt phrase comes to mind: "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." Instead of focusing on what I believe to be detrimental, I am working to encourage that which reveals the depth and potency of Faery, hopefully by planting some seeds in the vast soil of the fairy craze with my own art and writing. I want to make peace with the contemporary fairy craze so I can more readily focus on my own work, and it is much more valuable to me to work on establishing and strengthening an alternative path for those genuinely interested in Faery than to waste precious time with criticism. Thankfully, I am not the only one seeking towards this end. In keeping with this more tolerant, progressive approach, I have removed the following review from the Amazon website where it had the most exposure. It contains what I still believe to be valid points,which is why I am allowing it to be viewable here, but most of them are stated in a more harsh manner than I would now prefer.

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I just posted my review of David Riché's The Art of Faery to my website and submitted it to Amazon. You can also read it below the cut. ( A Disappointment: Pretty and Whimsical but lacking in Substance )

1) Galbreth, Jessica. "Advice from Jessica." Enchanted Art. http://enchanted-art.com/pages/advice.php.
I'm referring specifically to the following statements: "Of course with the huge amount of artists springing up, there is bound to be a bit of negativity as well. I've heard that those of us who did it first have often become targets of hateful bashing on forums. While this is sad, we must remember that this is just like any other industry. And, some people react to other's successes by trying to tear them down, maybe with the hopes that if they do, there will be more room for them."