The Portal to the World of GrannySage
Ranked #774 in Squidoo Community, #86,006 overall
Welcome to My Portal to All Things GrannySage
A portal in the real world is a gateway or a doorway, the entrance to some structure or tunnel going somewhere.
A magickal portal, on the other hand, is a doorway that connects two distant locations, whether separated by time or, most commonly, space. It could be a different place in the universe, an alternate reality, a time portal to the past or future, or a different dimension.
This is the portal to the mind and creativity of GrannySage, aka Diane Wallace. Once you step through the portal, you never know what you might find. Of course, there is always an escape portal, if you can find it that is!
The picture is of our gnome, Wanderer, when he and my husband had "boys day out." It appears that he might have found a portal. Will he go in to check it out?
Diane's Background
I was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, on the shores of Lake Superior. The picture shows me standing in front of a one room schoolhouse I attended in Copper Harbor, Michigan. I went to college at Northern Michigan University and graduated with B.S. degree in Social Work.
I married a boy from Kansas and moved there after graduation. I worked in the social work field for years. My last social work job was as a nursing home social worker. But writing has always been my passion. I had three children and was a stay-at-home mom for 10 years. During that time I wrote a weekly column for the local newspaper that was a cross between Erma Bombeck and Ann Landers.
But life gets in the way, and I didn't write anything for years. Then, in January of 2008, I quit my job as a customer service representative at a call center. While waiting to find a new job, I started writing again. And this is the map to all the things I have created since then.
I have remarried and am now following the Wiccan spiritual path. I talk about that on my GrannySage's Almanac blog.
I am a published writer on Associated Content. But I have found a home here at Squidoo and have been focusing all my energy to making new lenses. It's fun and easy, and you get to meet a lot of really interesting people.
I hope you enjoy the journey!
Lenses Chosen for Lens of the Day
It is an awesome honor to have not just one, but three lenses chosen as Lens of the Day. This is an incredible honor and I am proud yet humble that my lenses are getting noticed. I decided to list them here, although you can also find them in their separate categories.
Romantic Gifts: Fairies Not Flowers was selected Lens of the Day on Jan. 21, 2010.
David McCallum: The Real Reason I Watch NCIS was chosen to be Lens of the Day on Feb 5, 2010.
Woman Who Hobbles After Wolves was selected July 27, 2010,
Sage with Wanderer the Gnome at Copper Harbor MI
Lenses that Describe Where I Grew Up
The Northern Michigan University Wildcat.
Where Did You Say You Grew Up?
I know, it is hard to explain. Even a lot of Americans don't know where the U.P. is. So I've provided a map. The red at the top is Canada. The green area belongs to the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and Wisconsin. The white is the Upper Peninsula. I grew up on the very tip of that peninsula sticking out in the water. And yes, it snows a lot there.
By Upper_Peninsula_of_Michigan.png: User:Yassie derivative work: Saukkomies (Upper_Peninsula_of_Michigan.png) [GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
A Beautiful View of Copper Harbor from Brockway Mountain
I am very grateful to the folks at Pasty.com for letting me use the great pictures they have in their gallery. This one shows a gorgeous rainbow reaching down to touch Copper Harbor. It doesn't get any better than that.
Copper Harbor Ornament
Newest Lens by Grannysage
This lens contains a little bit of everything. It is a travelogue, a how-to article, a personal story, and a philosophical and spiritual discussion. So tag along with me as I explore the Crater of Diamonds and begin the quest for the yellow diamond.
Lenses About my Favorite Music
I like a variety of music. These lenses reflect just a few.
Lenses About My Hobbies
I love to collect fairies and my husband loves to surprise me with fairies instead of flowers. I also love gnomes and we take our friend, Wanderer, on trips with us.
The Art of Copper Enameling is both a resource for people interested in enameling, and a tribute to my mother who taught it to me..
The International Wolf Center
GrannySage's Animal Lenses
I love all kinds of animals. I have two cats and I wrote "White Cats Can't Jump" about Wileykat, my cat with special needs. Lady Ghost Whispurr wanted to write her own lens so I was hired as her ghostwriter.
I am also a strong supporter of helping endangered species and love wolves.
A Lens About Nature
Wicca is a nature based religion. We honor the spirit in all forms of nature. This lens is about tree spirits.
My Oz Book Reviews.
Books have always been my friends. Come and meet the Oz books by L Frank Baum that I grew up with.
The Wicked Witch lens discusses the witch character of the Wicked Witch from both the movie and the book.
We took this photo of old Oz books at the Oz Museum in Wamego, KS.
Devin O'Branagan Book Reviews
Devin's latest book is called THRESHOLD, a story about a young boy's near death experience.
My Patron Goddess, Diana
How cool to be named after a Goddess. Now when I meet other women named Diane, Dianne, or Diana, I remind them that we are named after a powerful goddess.
Lenses About Goddesses
But Iz a Good Witch, Rite?
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Are You a Good Witch, or a Bad Witch?
As I mentioned previously, my favorite books as a child were the Wizard of Oz books. My mother read them to me every night. Little did I know that some day I would call myself a witch.
About 15 years ago I realized that Christianity, the spiritual path of my youth and most of my adult life, no longer spoke to me. I began an intense search to find myself and a belief system I could embrace. The search led me to Wicca. Wicca is Not Satanism, as many still proclaim. It is a religion that venerates nature and views divinity as having both masculine and feminine aspects, both God and Goddess.
Wiccans do not strive to convert others. We do not stand on street corners handing out "Witchtowers." We believe in not harming others and in not imposing our will upon others. We look just like other people, unless we are dressing up for one of our celebrations.
Witches believe in magick, which can be defined as "the science and art of causing change (in consciousness) to occur in conformity with will, using means not currently understood by traditional Western science." (Modern Magick, by Donald Michael Kraig)
Today, quantum physics is proving what witches have understood for thousands of years.
The picture above is of GrannySage, or Sage as I was known then, and my husband Arawyn who is also a lensmaster. We were celebrating the pagan sabbat of Midsummer on the beach in Oceanside, CA. At that time we were honoring the sun as it set into the ocean.
Don't Take My Word For It
In case you don't believe me about the quantum physics, and there is no reason you should, take some time to watch the video at this website. Physicist Krister Shalm gave this talk at the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto on February 26, 2010. I had a physics teacher in college that first gave me an inkling of this strange new world.
- The Quantum Physics of Harry Potter on Vimeo
- The universe of Harry Potter is filled with magic and wonder. Yet it is not that different from the world we inhabit. Just beneath the surface of our ordinary lives lies a shocking quantum reality.
Ran Out of Catnip
But Found Granny's Potions
Yule/Winter Solstice Lenses
"The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to - er - let our hair down." Minerva McGonagall (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Here are three lenses I made for Yule
A "Witchy" Lens
A Story About Samhain
I made this lens for Halloween, which Wiccans call Samhain
Thought Provoking Lenses
I don't claim to have answers. I have questions, lots of them. And when I have a question, I go searching for clues to the answer. These are lenses about thoughts or questions I had.
Proud Member of Senior Squids
This is a lens that I wrote when I was in a personal funk about writing and making Squidoo lenses.
Celebrity Lenses
Every now and then I feel the need to write about a famous person. These celebrities earned the "GrannySage Award of Excellence."
GrannySage's Almanac
Fetching RSS feed... please stand by
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Published Articles
- Diane Wallace's Content Producer Page - Associated Content
- Associated Content is a great place to get published and make some money too.
Test Your Memory
See if you can remember these facts about grannysage. Of course, if you didn't read it and just skimmed over the pictures (don't hide, I saw you!) you won't get these right.
GrannySage Welcomes You
I like visitors and I love to hear from you. Don't be shy, leave a note.
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linhah
Feb 11, 2012 @ 6:23 am | delete
- Anybody that uses the word portal is cool with me.
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CelticWays
Jan 10, 2012 @ 5:07 pm | delete
- Oh my, oh my, Upper Michigan. I spent some time there once, in the 90s, in Scandia. Also went to a Hiawatha Festival, fascinating. Beautiful place.
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EMangl
Nov 21, 2011 @ 6:15 pm | delete
- i am way tooo shy to leave a note, sorry
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OceanFaerieGoddess
Aug 20, 2011 @ 8:08 am | delete
- Hey Diane! Thought I'd visit you under my new guise ;) Was lovely reading more about you. Always nice to find another quantum physics enthusiast! Love and Light, Louise
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CCGAL
Aug 6, 2011 @ 5:18 pm | delete
- This is one of the prettiest lensographies I've ever seen, and you have a LARGE number of lenses that pique my interest. Oh, would that I had more time. Next best thing - I shall bookmark your profile so I can easily find you again and feast upon your words. (I know that sounds a bit barmy, but that's how the observer in me speaks, so it felt right to share that here. Something tells me you will understand.)
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sidther
May 24, 2011 @ 6:43 pm | delete
- Very nice to get to know more about you! Very cool lensography!
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Wonder-V
Mar 21, 2011 @ 10:45 am | delete
- What a fabulous lensography! You have inspired me to make one, too! I just wish I had better HTML skills to make it pretty like you have!
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foovay
Mar 19, 2011 @ 10:21 pm | delete
- What a really lovely lensography. I really enjoyed it. And hey, I aced the test!
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vallain
Jun 19, 2010 @ 8:40 pm | delete
- Always fun to snoop into the background of other lensmasters. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
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poutine
May 31, 2010 @ 5:23 am | delete
- Very interesting lensography.
I enjoy getting to know you better.
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What's Up With All These Colors?
I am a true believer in the use of color on my lenses. Colors are used as memory tags, such as "I remember her. She wore a green dress." Colors influence us emotionally and serve as a visual tool to communicate ideas to others. It can be used to express your personality, and highlight important content.
Most of my lenses have a color or texture theme that is distinctive to that lens. So on this lens I chose to use some of the colors and backgrounds from those lenses as markers for the lenses that are featured in that category. The significance may not be understood on a conscious level, but I believe that it intuitively will lead readers to what they are searching for.
"The whole world, as we experience it visually, comes to us through the mystic realm of color. Our entire being is nourished by it. This mystic quality of color should likewise find expression in a work of art."
Hans Hofmann
German-born American Abstract Expressionist Painter, 1880-1966
My thanks to lensmaster Color_Expert for leading me to a great resource of quotes about colors. See her lens below.
Wanderer Has Found the Exit Portal
Better Follow or You Might Get Lost (click on his picture)
Graphic Backgrounds Courtesy of GRSites
For more information on how to use these backgrounds on your lens, please visit the lens that was my tutor and mentor.
by grannysage
My name is Diane Wallace, aka GrannySage. I consider myself to be a storyteller. I like to wrap inspirational messages inside little vignettes of my life... more »
- 36 featured lenses
- Top lens » The Art of Copper Enameling
Where Science and Magic Meet
Amazon Price: (as of 02/17/2012)
"A thoroughly well-written piece on the physical reality of magick in all of it's forms."
(Mark WebMeister Amazon.com customer review)
Copper Harbor LIghthouse
Spoontiques Lighthouse - Copper Harbor, MI
Amazon Price: $17.99 (as of 02/17/2012)
For anyone who loves Copper Harbor, MI, this lighthouse replica makes a great gift.
Mind into Matter: A New Alchemy of Science and Spirit
Amazon Price: $3.79 (as of 02/17/2012)
Fred Alan Wolf is one of the physicists who appears on "What the Bleep Do We Know."
"As our scientific community continues to advance our understanding of the underlying nature of things, we are also realizing the wisdom in the mystical traditions. Fred Alan Wolf is one of the best writers alive today in the area where advanced physics and mysticism converge." (Amazon.com customer review)
