Look at the Stars and Dream

April - Creators Realm - Jelly 19

The owls were hooting their haunting enchantment as my sister and I slipped from our room. The moon was new and, as was part of the Wanderlores’ tradition, my sister performed a ritual to bless the coming month. I was not initiated into my mother’s magic at the time, yet—no matter the weather—if I was […]

Stardust Souls

April - Wanderlore Grove - Creators Realm - Jelly 23

Some believe we are made of stardust. Others believe we are souls captured in a divinely crafted body. Either way, many of us are living unfulfilled lives. I believe this happens when we allow society to dictate our priorities and measures of success. This is where the rat in a wheel feeling comes from. Perhaps […]

Dark Bard

April - Wanderlore Grove - Creators Realm - Jelly 23

In our realm, it was the Wanderlores who kept the realm in balance.  It was through their rituals that nature could coexist with the virtual, that everyday wonders could flourish side by side with the Magic, and that the dark could be at peace with the bright. My mother was a Wanderlore. My sister, Poppy, […]

Here Be Love

January - Creators Realm - Jelly 19 - Earth Orb with Rubber Ducky and Hearts

I keep a small, parchment* map tacked to the wall of my room. It’s a map of Earth that was created by my sister Poppy while we were teenagers in Cratersville. I had used this beautifully illuminated map to fulfill one of her dearest wishes on the day of the Winter Solstice shortly after I […]

Midnight Flowers

January - Creators Realm - Jelly 18

In the depths of winter, I conjure flowers. It’s a perk of being a Creator. For those of you familiar with my world, you know that I live in a realm of techno-magical construct. You might think, because of this fact, that planetary seasons would be of little consequence to life where I live. You’d […]

Here Be Dragons

Here Be Dragons

It started with a map. I still remember my sister’s glee as she unrolled an ancient-looking map of Earth in the room above our mom’s tea shop. On the map, emblazoned across a vast swath of ocean were the ominous words—Here Be Dragons. Poppy’s love of dragons had been well established long before we started […]

Little Blue Orb

December 24 - Creators Realm - Jelly 18

From afar, Earth is a marble of blue, green and brown shrouded by an ever-changing, wispy cocoon of white. Zooming in, this placid jewel turns more rugged as mountains, rivers and roads come into view. At night, bright webs of light electrify the darkened land. I can’t recall the number of hours that my sister, […]

Prayer for Rain

October - Wanderlore Grove - Creators Realm - Jelly 25

After the Autumnal New Year, the Wanderlores do what they do best—they travel. There are several times of the year where this “traveling” takes place, usually during the change of seasons. These journeys are more intense than regular vacationing or site-seeing for they are based on ritual, and there are a lot of different formalities […]