Spreading the magic of women ...

Where there is a woman there is magic 

Ntozake Shange

Let there be magic!!!

In 2019 I started #100daysofwomenwonders where I posted quotes by women with an illustration, an origami dress or other graphic. I have decided to revisit this project now, 2025, as one way to deal with the insanity that this year will bring!  I am terrified about the havoc the new administration will wreak on humanity and the world. 

I am a firm believer in the power and energy of words so my plan is to flood the internet, ether and universe with feminine energy, be it quotes by women, accomplishments by women or maybe just information about women wonders. 

I am not exactly sure of how this project will unfold but I believe passionately that it is very important at this moment in history.  I believe where there are women, there is magic and I plan to celebrate and spread that magic!!! 

peace!

may this dress bring us all amazing strength ...

As we advance in life 

 it becomes more and more difficult, 

but in fighting the difficulties 

the inmost strength of the heart is developed.

Vincent Van Gogh

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Worthiness your birthright, you alone are enough!

“There’s a difference between thinking you deserve to be happy and knowing that you are worthy of being happy. Your being alive makes worthiness your birthright. 

You alone are enough.”

Oprah Winfrey

simply this!! 

 love, mom

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Happy Birthday Virginia Woolf!

“A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living.”

Virginia Woolf

I love this quote so much because I used to believe that at a certain point in one's life you are done 'growing'?!?! I had this idea that you worked off a check list of achievements and then you were set, an adult?!? I can't believe that is what I thought but I remember being in my twenties when a fellow artist challenged that idea and suddenly I saw everything anew!!

One never stops growing and changing!! That is one of the amazing things about living, every day is a new adventure, offering new lessons, new joys, new tastes, smells and sights.  

So remember that my dears, embrace change!! 

love, mom 

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less stress, clearer mind!!!

The decrease in stress and anxiety leaves 

your mind stronger and refreshed.

Eileen Rose Giadone

* important to remember during this holiday and exam season!!

love, mom

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today may we trust the unfolding ....

I’ve come to trust not that events will always unfold exactly as I want, 

but that I will be fine either way. 

The challenges we face in life are always lessons

 that serve our soul’s growth.

Marianne Williamson

love, mom

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today, let us NOT get paralyzed ...

"Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you;

they're supposed to help you discover who you are."

Bernice Johnson Reagon 

a simple reminder, as lately i know so many people dealing with so many difficult things.  so let us all not get stuck or  paralyzed, but let us remember to breathe and grow!! 

love, mom

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Do your best, whenever able ...

"I have done my best... 

that is about all the philosophy of living one needs."

Lin Yutang

Always a good philosophy to remember!!

love, mom

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Remember, its NOT you, its them!!!

This is an idea that I need to remind myself of over and over.  

I am not sure if it is a cultural thing or if it stems from being raised Catholic, but in many situations, and especially in a relationship type situation, when someone is acting badly or lashing out I tend to believe it is my fault?!?

and it usually is NOT!!

It is SO important for us all to remember that people's reactions and behaviors stem more from their own personal experiences and beliefs than from anything you have done!! PLEASE girls!! know this to be true, 

because this is a very important lesson.

So you can either listen to the Dalai Lama or a minion, but don't let other people's beliefs, behaviors, comments or internal stories bring you down or in anyway make you think any less of yourself!!

love, mom

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Nevertheless, I am persisting ...

© virginiafitzgerald.com 2017

This past March I celebrated National Women's History Month by posting mini-biographies of famous women on my art blog, virginiacreates. 

It was a thoroughly satisfying experience to learn about and share these amazing women's stories. 

During my project I discovered so many more extraordinary women that I wanted to celebrate, but soon the month ended and my time and energy was pulled away. So I reluctantly stopped sharing their stories, but...

 nevertheless I am restarting my project, 

HERE!! 

I figure the book of 'motherlove' is a perfect place for the biographies of strong, smart, outspoken, funny, engineering, courageous, unconventional, curious, opinionated, political and just all around phenomenal women, because these are important stories for us all to know, especially young girls and women.  It is important to know who has come before us and what they have done, so we can learn from our foremothers and not feel the need to 'reinvent the wheel', as Judy Chicago so eloquently explained in the following quote: 

"I was inspired to write it (Through The Flower) by the writer and diarist, Anais Nin, who was a mentor to me in the early seventies. My hope was that it would aid young women artists in their development and that reading about my struggles might help them avoid some of the pitfalls that were so painful to me. I also hoped to spare them the anguish of "reinventing the wheel", which my studies in women's history had taught me was done again and again by women, specifically because we have not had access to our foremothers' experience and achievements-one consequence of the fact that we still learn both history and art history from a male-centered bias with insufficient inclusion of women's achievements. "

Judy Chicago 2005

These biographical posts will be sprinkled in between the quotes and recipes and other motherly tidbits. And I hope you will find the stories as inspiring and encouraging as I do.

love, mom

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day65: cultivate a meditation habit

It feels good. 

Kinda like when you have to shut your computer down, just sometimes when it goes crazy, you just shut it down and when you turn it on, it’s okay again. That’s what meditation is to me. 

 Ellen DeGeneres

The benefits of meditation are well documented. 

It appears that meditation is the wonder drug, the cure all for all that ails us, and yet for many, it is still a foreign concept. 

We seem more willing to fill our bodies with chemicals in the form of pills, than to sit quietly and breathe?!?! 

What's that about??? 

I wish I had had a meditation practice when you were young, so you would have thought of it as a normal part of a routine day. Even now I wish my meditation practice was as routine for me as brushing my teeth or making my morning cup of coffee. 

But this is all a work is progress and the more I weave meditation into my every day the more I experience its benefits.  And the more I recognize the benefits the more I make sure that I do it,  as I said, a work is progress.

So for today I would like you to consider weaving meditation into your every day. Start small.  

I have discovered this app called 'headspace' which has really helped me to make meditating a daily practice.  The app also presents meditation as a way to give your head some more space!!! 

Also, as you both know, I love the guided meditations from meditation oasis.  You could see if there is a meditation club or group at your school, meditating with a group begins different benefits and to have the support of a community can help you make sure that are you do it.  

There are so many, many options and aids to help one cultivate a meditation practice and I am here today to encourage you to do it!! 

In fact, there is the idea that if you do something for a certain amount of days, 

the time ranges between 21 days to 100 days or more. 

But for today's purposes lets go with 21 days, less then a month, 3 weeks in fact, 

and for the next 21 days, I challenge you both to meditate.  As I said before, start small, it could be for 10 minutes a day, you could use an app, or join a club or group, you could meditate inside or outside, there is a walking meditation, whatever works for you. You both do it for 21 days straight, and I will do it too (remember how I mentioned that my meditation practice is a work in progress.) And if we start tomorrow, the 21 days will bring us to Thanksgiving and we can celebrate in Portsmouth.  

so, what do you think,  you in??? 

love you both so, mom

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day42: be authentic ...

“If you trade your authenticity for safety, 

you may experience the following: 

anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, rage, 

blame, resentment, and inexplicable grief.” 

Brené Brown

It seems to me that the cost of not being authentic is quite high!! resentment, rage, anxiety ...
But sadly I feel that many times our authentic self gets buried by the difference expectations and messages the we receive when we are young, the 'should' from media, society, community and yes from family and parents?!?!
I was so mindful about giving you extra baggage but these patterns are deeply sown into the fabric of our lives.  But what I want to encourage you to do NOW is to start excavating your authentic self! Become aware of what you truly want in your life, what are your dreams, fears, expectations, not the ones that were handed down to you.
The sooner you become aware of what is really ours and what you inherited, you become more authentic, which is so much better for you. love, mom

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may this dress remind us to live our one wild and precious life!!!! XXX

The Summer Day

Mary Oliver

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean-

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

from New and Selected Poems, 1992

Beacon Press, Boston, MA

Copyright 1992 by Mary Oliver. All rights reserved.

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May this dress remind U of your incredible strength and brilliance my dear Maya!!!!

this weekend my Maya graduated from Natick High.  

A milestone and the beginning of a new phase of this amazing woman's journey.

I dedicate this dailydress inspiration to Maya!!!

Go forth and play, learn, breathe, love and 

conquer!!!

I love you to Pluto and beyond! XXXXXX

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may this dress remind us ALL to celebrate ourselves!!!

The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. 

Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. 

So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can. 

Neil Gaiman

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May this dress bring us self compassion ...

"Even the moon, master of the sea,

illuminator of the night, 

has some craters"

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may this dress bring us a sense of knowing . . .

Every single thing that has ever happened in your life 

is preparing you

 for a moment that is yet to come. 

 unknown

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may this dress remind us of our ecstatic being!!!

 

“Stop acting so small. 

You are the universe in ecstatic motion.”

 Rumi

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May this dress help us to quiet our minds ...

“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. 

The challenge is to silence the mind”

Caroline Myss

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may this dress bring all our holiday wishes come true!!!

my wish for this holiday season and for all times ... 

joy, peace and no fear!!!! XXXX

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