Everyday Enchantments

Only realised after I had started reading that I have already reviewed this book on Netgalley. Here is a copy of the review I sent to you: After re-reading the first part and becoming aware of the deep feelings and emotions the beautiful writing evoked, I will up my four stars to five. Thank you

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 - Thank You

Very nice little book. A great read to start or end your day more mindfully. Thank you for the advanced copy.

This is a book that shows you many things. It is a collection of writings by an author who finds the happiness in the small things. She makes the everyday seem like magic. There are snippets in here of just about everything. From morning to evening, there is so much that we could be reflecting on, so much to be thankful for. The author shows you how to see things differently.

Maria DeBlassie and I have never met, but after reading her new book Everyday Enchantments, I think it might have been written just for me.



From the very first page, Maira DeBleassie’s words drew me in. I was not familiar with her before. I found this book as an advanced reader offering and selected simply because of the title. By page 4, I was already typing her name in Google. Who is this woman? Why have I not seen her words until now?



I clicked around her blog for a few minutes, then returned even more enamored to Everyday Enchantments. This collection of essays makes mundane experiences seem filled with magic and wonder. I am all in for that.



In this book of very short essays -- musings, really -- DeBlassie talks about tea, used bookstores, yoga, herb shops, rainy days, and pretty much everything I like. If you like these things, too, go get this book.



Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Upon finishing this book, I find myself to be seriously lacking in the whole "words" department, but I'm going to try to do this book justice nonetheless. Honestly, I feel like this author is a long lost friend of mine because so many of the musings and wanderings found here seemed like they came from my own mind. There's something so beautiful about having one's own thoughts and perceptions spoken or written by another. I guess the beauty lies in feeling found and known.

I will admit, it took me a while to become accustomed to this second person narrative. However, now that I've finished, I really can't imagine this any other way.

If you consider yourself an introspective person, often lost in your own thoughts, then this book is for you. If you can find magic and joy in the small, ordinary moments of life, then this book is for you. If you are simply looking to relish the beauty of this world around you, then this book is for you.

I could go on, but I will leave it at this--I truly wish I had a physical copy of this book because it was so poetic and soul-soothing that I'd love to be able to pick up this book and peruse it when needed from time to time. All the love for this one, folks--go read it!

Great book. It really made me feel good about myself after reading it. Her descriptions were awesome. They say it's written you can see what she is talking about.

Everyday Enchantments reminds us to find the magic in everyday life. I enjoyed the picturesque stroll through the author's life. Looking at the magic of life through someone else's eyes and life was an enchanting idea. I enjoyed the scenery, the meditations, and the prose as it all took me away from my own day. The author has a way of tapping into the beauty of the small moments that make life such a blessing to live and sharing them in a way that makes you feel as if you are part of that moment.
I will reread this book for the joy of reading it and to revisit the author's world. It is much like taking a mini vacation where magic and spirituality are an accepted part of every moment.

This book is so charming. I adore it ! I am soon to buy copies for Xmas presents and a hard copy for myself. This is a book to savor, to read daily, to highlight and make notes in the margins. This book should be part of all. of our daily routine. It is divine and exactly what we all need in today's crazy world.
Everyday Enchantments is a lovely book created to make your world more beautiful, filled with joy and soul enriching. The author has penned a wonderful book of enchantments to our home and life that fill our lives with joy, complete our homes and fill our soul.
I quote:
“To live with Enchantment is to see beyond the bricks and mortar that make up your home and into the magic infused within its frame. It is made up of stories and dried bay leaves and dreams whispered into the heads of dandelions. Of bare feet on carpeted floors and the smell of burning sage. Crystals – amethyst, citrine, amazonite, smoky quartz – winding in and around your books; all the better to magnify their magic. It is to peel back the layers of your day-to-day and search for that elusive energy that winds its way up your spine and outward into your life. Let the snake at your base wriggle free of its coil to climb up to your shoulder blades and across your open back. There is no room for tightly stacked discs here, just the taste of joy when the sun licks your skin.
You might find it at the bottom of an empty teacup. Your future written in soggy leaves or in the whisper of trees, their leaves rustling and murmuring secrets only they can understand. Sometimes they are kind enough to translate for you – if you listen long enough. If you shower their roots with distilled love songs and feed them the black earth from your compost. It’s there, too, when you run your tongue along the grooves and ridges of a well-loved sentence. It’s everywhere. Even in the spaces you think have lost hope, like the junk drawer where you keep your faded dreams, stray screws, and half-forgotten heartbreaks along with wine corks and a few rubber bands. They’re not lost, just resting like seeds in the earth before they are ready to break open.”

Everyday Enchantments is full of joy for life and very inspirational. The author teaches you to find the beauty in the simple small things in our life for these are the important things. She teaches thankfulness, reflection and simplifying to make your home more beautiful. Through the simple ways she suggest once can improve their viewpoint and outlook of their home and work consciously toward making your home more a expression of your heart and soul. . She advises that we create our :magic" in our lives and therefore begin to live a fuller more realistic life. She teaches the reader to live more consciously through our care of our selves and our homes. It is a step by step guide that will improve your life. I highly recommend this lovely book !

About a month ago, I requested the eARC of Everyday Enchantments from NetGalley (Thanks!). A few days afterwards, I was given permission and started to read it. Just by the title and the press, I was thinking that maybe it would be something directly related to magic or paganism but quickly I learned that this was not the case. Instead, Everyday Enchantments is a collection of meditations from everyday life and activities. As I read more and more I quickly fell in love with both the subjects of each passage and the writing style of the author.

In my personal life, taking moments out of my day to appreciate what I have and understand the value of life is crucial. Some of the most mundane daily tasks and chores are turned into moments of meditation and contemplation for me. While I wash dishes or sweep the entry way everyday, I allow myself free time to think about what my mind wants to. As I finish my task, those thoughts are given away to the universe and I am cleared. Like my mind, even though I clean the spaces up everyday, there is always something to sweet away the next day. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but these things are how I get through a lot of my days.

What I found so intriguing and emotive about Everyday Enchantments was how easily I could identify with most of the small passages. The topics she picks to discuss are right on target with myself. Some things she discusses are books, tea and tea making, yoga, fresh fruit, rainy days, reading, snow days, the moon, New Mexico, the body, flowers, Coyote, and the seasons. There are so many points in this book where I can picture myself in my own home doing what the text is discussing whether it be reading in a comfy spot, watching rain fall on the windows, or making massive pots of soup to freeze for the winter. The ability to transpose myself in the passages she discusses made it a very personal book for me.

I was taken aback with how beautiful the writing is even when it covers such seemingly mundane ideas. While this book is set up as prose, it reads like poetry. At times, passages seem to only be poetry as the word choice and descriptions are just too beautiful. This feels like a very feminine book; one that should be read by women of the world as to allow time and space for reflections. Reading this book and then using the author’s techniques for reflection on the everyday was the biggest takeaway for me. While I already do reflect on the mundane, this book has taught me that there is so much more ritual in my life and I do not see as ritual or special. In a way, it opens a door to appreciation of myself and where I am in the world today. Knowing that these two things will changes as days, months, and years go by, it is probably imperative to reflect as I go so I don’t loose sight. I enjoy reading books that make me stop and think about myself and what I’m doing versus whisking me off to another world or universe entirely. It’s like a refreshing break from real life while still being present in the moment.

While the writing is well-done and the subjects are interesting, the only critique I have deals with the organization of the book as a whole. The subjects of each short piece really jump all over the place and cover so much, I feel like some sort of organization would be beneficial. Personally, division of the book by season would have been really beneficial. The author discusses all the seasons, but passages are so mixed up that it can be difficult to find a passage you might want to go back to. Luckily, each title is pretty descriptive. I feel like it would be easier to revisit seasonal pieces with the seasons, if there was some division or index accordingly. Maybe even organization based on subject would work. The only other critique deals exclusively with the eBook. At times, the headers where messed up or the spacing just wasn’t right. I could have been because I had an advance copy that wasn’t fully edited. It didn’t take away from the writing of the book, but was a bit confusing the first few times I encountered this problem.

I would, without a doubt, recommend this book to others. While I think this book is probably directed towards women (I haven’t researching this), it could easily read by anyone with the interest. Everyday Enchantments can be a quick read or a drawn out one if you like; I read it over the period of a month so that I could enjoy it and savor the passages. On Goodreads, I gave this book four stars for its accessibly and poignant imagery. I was really able to get into the short pieces and take some good points away, so for me that is a winner!

Maria’s book is described as a collection of ‘micro-meditations and celebratory reflections on living life as a wild woman’. How could I not be intrigued? Though far from a true wild woman myself thanks to my urban-slash-suburban setting, I’m always drawn to the idea of being freer, away from the hubbub and city grind. This book holds chapter after chapter of golden, glowing moments from just such a life, and is as compelling as it is calming.

Each chapter is short and sweet in the best possible meaning of that phrase. One chapter focuses on the magic of chamomile, from the point of view of taking the tiny, dried buds and bringing them to life in a soothing cup of tea. Another reflects on the divine powers of the onion. This is true ‘everyday’ magic. Rituals we may go through every day without perhaps realising the power inherent within our actions. Maria encourages us to pause, drink in what we are doing and absorb every moment’s magical potential.

I love the meditative nature of the chapters. Most are written in the second person, a style I normally find a bit jarring. In this book it works really well. This is because it is written in the same way a guided meditation is spoken to you. As you read you can almost hear a gentle voice whispering the words directly into your brain and allowing you to completely visualise and lose yourself in each moment.

I have found this book immensely useful for reminding me to stop and take stock. It helps me enjoy each moment more fully, not by trying to recapture the moments in the book but by following the example of living fully in each minute and being grateful for the enchantment that flows through every second. A thoroughly wonderful book. Recommended for all.

http://paganpages.org/content/2018/12/book-review-everyday-enchantments-by-maria-deblassie/

Enchanting read:
Everyday Enchantments is a book that reminds the reader to cherish the little moments in life. I like that the book is originating form Marie DeBlassie"s online blog. The a blog-style with its small chapters lends itself to either reading the book from beginning to end or choosing only to read a single passage anywhere in the book. I found myself doing both. First, I read the whole book and then I went back to reread the chapters that struck my interest in that moment. In her little chapters, the author weaves a tapestry of observations and contemplation about the little things in life that matter to her. It is both, very personal and also universal. This is a book that I will surely come back to often.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I have to first off say how much I love the cover of this book. The moon is so cool on the cover. The book made me closer looks at things in my life on a daily basis and that is something that I something that needed to do and this helped me focused my way of thinking. IT is a useful book that I will go back to again.

This book is a little gem which I think of most days when I'm making a cup of tea or see a flower. It reminds you to appreciate little things and find magic in the everyday. As lockdown continues it is ideal read for 2020.

The further I read, the more I felt I was looking at the author's perspectives rather than my own and experiencing her thoughts from looking over her shoulder. What is striking about these short thought-spills is the consistent positivity expressed and how one might find joy or strength from ordinary things.

While I didn't always feel the perspectives applied to me, the second person format worked to draw me into the author's mind and see her life from an optimist's view. The idea here is to turn around and apply these positive thoughts to your own life details.

I could see this being of benefit to those who tend to get down about things generally. I'm rather an optimist myself so although I couldn't identify with the details, I could appreciate the author's attitude.