Jeanie Mossa – Author

Jeanie Mossa is a licensed acupuncturist and medicine woman with a Master of Traditional Oriental Medicine degree from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. She is a passionate artist working in mixed media, and in addition to her drawings and paintings has created healing spirit dolls, jewelry and clothing.

Melanie Rockett: You are a licensed acupuncturist, healer and an multifaceted artist. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your background and how you got started writing.

Jeanie Mossa: I have always been enamored with fairy tales, myths and magic. Since I was a kid, I knew that someday I would write and illustrate a children’s book. I co-wrote two whimsical books about mermaids with my cousin about twenty years ago. They never were published and I let that dream go for a long time.

I became interested in holistic medicine while experiencing health challenges and went back to grad school for a degree in Oriental Medicine. While in school I created a coloring book about Chinese herbs for acupuncture students. Following that I wrote a few more non-fiction books on alternative medicine.

Some years later, when looking at the effect my negative childhood had on my adult self, I was inspired to research and write again as a path to healing my inner child, perhaps fulfilling the role as a wounded healer.

Melanie Rockett: Your book, Whispers of the O’Fae: art & affirmations for the wounded inner child has just been published. Can you tell us how you came to write this book and a bit about your unusual title?

Jeanie Mossa: Fae is another word for faery. The O’Fae and their Spirit Being friends began to appear in my art journals during times of emotional and physical upheaval. At first I thought these spirit doodles were just cute paintings. I then began to realize they each held a deep message, speaking to the trapped child within me. During those months that I drew many of them, memories from the past flooded my nightmares and daydreams. Eventually I had an entire book filled with friendly spirits I refer to as the O’Fae, along with a few demons of worry, anxiety and fear, mixed with my own affirmations. I made this book with the inspiration of those spirits and demons. I realized through showing these drawings to others that they can speak to the lost inner child in everyone.

Originally this book was intended to be a children’s book, but during the process it morphed into a self-help book for those who have had traumatic or bizarre childhoods. Wanting to keep it light, these whimsical Fae invite the reader to take a magical journey into the Enchanted Forest O’Fae, a safe place to play, heal and relax with positive affirmations and tips on healing that wounded inner child trapped inside.

Melanie Rockett: Though you caution readers not to substitute the book for professional therapy, it contains a huge amount of inspiration and practical resources. How can this book help?

Jeanie Mossa: The beginning of the book starts with a few exercises to release painful memories from the past. The reader is then invited to go play with the O’Fae. Each chapter has its own positive message, lifestyle suggestions and affirmations that can be said out loud or written in a journal.

I believe that there are many forms of therapy one can use to help heal the body, mind and soul. During my own personal quest I found that it took a combination of these to help me through. Since everyone is different, the book mentions several of these along with a resource guide to recommended books, websites, blogs and videos. Many of these modalities such as meditation, EFT Tapping, kitchen dancing and art therapy can be done in the privacy of your home for free. For other types of therapies such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, counseling therapy and hypnosis, a licensed practitioner is needed.

Melanie Rockett: Your book includes over 40 beautiful and whimsical multi-media full-color illustrations. Did you create them especially for the book?

Jeanie Mossa: The Spirit Beings, the Fae and unfortunately a few demons began to appear in my art journals. I added notes and my own affirmations to deal with the emotions the images revealed. It was after I had created most of them that I realized they told a story and needed to be put into a book. As I wrote the book, a few more Fae came were created. I guess they didn’t want to miss out on the chance to help others.

Melanie Rockett: Together with your husband and business partner, Norman Kraft, you have written two acupuncture healing books, one on Treating Dogs With TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine including Acupuncture) and The Screaming Uterus, An Alternative Approach to Healing Your Uterus. Do you have other books you are now working on or on the backburner?

Jeanie Mossa: There is another O’Fae book rolling around in my mind right now. I am also in the process of researching how to turn these paintings with affirmations into a set of whimsical Oracle cards that can be used on a daily basis for guidance. We also have another holistic healing book for dog owners in progress.