I am in awe when people take their creative gifts and pour forth beauty and magic, dousing the world in delight.  Amy Zerner and Monte Farber do just that. I encountered their creations years ago, and was beckoned into their ‘enchanted world’ in which faeries and Goddesses join hands in the dance of the divine. Their Truth Fairy Pendulum and Message Board kit was a birthday gift from my friend Gary when I turned 50. They seem tireless in their productivity, weaving wonder in the form of books, jewelry, clothing, tarot decks and music. A  common thread is the connection to Spirit that informs their designs and the love that swirls around them

Colorful works of he(art) themselves, they entered into each other’s lives in 1974 and have been married 30 years.

How do you live your bliss?

We agree with the Dalai Lama that the purpose of life is to be happy. Also, as Joseph Campbell said, “Follow your bliss.” For Amy and me, our bliss and our happiness has been our journey together on the path to making our life a work of art and our art a work of life. Sharing our art and our discoveries about life with others has also brought us much happiness.

What is it like to live in The Enchanted World?

 

We’ve evolved our individual schedules so that we can take care of the many, many creative projects we have going at any given time. In fact, the worst thing that can happen is if someone says “I forgot what I was going to say and it was important!” We then sit there reciting our mile-long project list and it starts to sound crazy, like “Stop us before we create again!” Amy wakes up early and takes care of whatever emails have come in since Monte went to sleep, usually late. This way, I can be up speaking to Australia and Hong Kong and Thailand, while Amy can catch our British business people. We are very fortunate that we have become friendly with almost all of the people we have done business with. That helps a lot! After we’ve done the rest of our morning rituals, including exercising, we sit together and go over what is going on and what needs to be done to keep our Enchanted World turning. The rest of the day is spent doing all of those things and there are so many of them that we are always playing catch-up, but it’s the life we’ve chosen. We both have pretty good senses of humor, Monte even did a spontaneous stand up comedy routine at a local club one night, which was a great success, and so we are usually laughing and occasionally, singing. The word “enchant” means “to sing into” and, like all happy couples, we have our weird ways that keep everything interesting and occasionally very exciting. We usually eat dinner early and then sit taking turns massaging each other as we watch a movie or something interesting, and then it’s back to work. Our joke is that our house is a factory with bedrooms. Of course, we sometimes have people over but more often we go out to be with our friends. We are very happy in our beautiful home and travel infrequently, but even that travel is invariably for business related reasons. The best thing about even our worst days is that we are together as true soulmates – we are very rarely apart, even to drive to town, and it is very lovely where we live. We have our mission, to bring beauty and enlightenment to our readers and customers, and that and our many wonderful and interesting friends are what gets us up in the morning – actually, that’s Mr. Zane’s job (our cat)!

What drew you to the colorful creativity that you have become known for?

 

Monte: My talents were never put to their best and most focused use until I met, Amy, the most creative and artistic person I know. Amy is the third generation of artists on her mother’s side. Since we met in 1974, she has produced over 2000 of her stunning fabric collage tapestries. She has shown her inspiring visionary tapestries nationally and internationally, winning numerous awards, including a coveted National Endowment for the Arts major fellowship in the category of Painting for work that is mainly fabric, a first in NEA history, and a further blurring of the line between fine art and fine crafts.

 

Amy is a pioneer, and as the old joke goes, you can always tell the pioneers–they’re the ones with the arrows in their backs. I mention this to remind you that to live creatively requires as much bravery as it does dedication and wonderful ideas.

 

When I was older and realized that I had a gift for using words and for making heretofore occult and difficult subjects like astrology, the tarot, alchemy, talking boards and other forms of divination fun, easy to learn and easy to put into practical use in everyday life, I found my life’s work. But I also found that centuries of misunderstanding and ignorance do not disappear overnight despite my best intentions. I now realize it was a good thing my early years required me to rebel against all constraints on my creativity. This made me strong and able to take rejection.

Do you each have a favorite way of expressing your purpose and passion?

 

Virtually everyone hungers deep down to express their creativity as fully as possible. Yet, too many fear to identify themselves as creative beings. To call oneself an artist conjures up as many charged and loaded image. It seems to require too much defense to the challenges sure to come to such a bold claim. It seems that to be ourselves fully will surely require too much change in our life, but that is the whole point of living life creatively, whether or not you think of yourself as an artist. Amy’s passion is working with color, texture, fashion, beauty, healing design and archetypes. My passion is helping people, using words and my psychic perceptions.

How does the mystical inspire you?

 

We are often asked about our spiritual practice. Neither of us are joiners and we know too much about ourselves and other people to ever follow any guru. We want a direct experience of our true mystical nature and for that you do not need anyone or anything, just faith in yourself, faith in the fact that you can know these things, and the commitment to be honest with yourself and others as you do the work, day after day.

 

Our spiritual practice is that we have confidence that the answers exist and all you need to do is ask, while you are moving forward doing it, and the answers will reveal themselves. And synchronicities happen! Our spiritual path could be called “The Way of the Oracle”, as we use the tools that we have invented (Enchanted Tarot, Goddess, Guide Me!, The Healing Deck, The Psychic Circle, Chakra Meditation Kit ,The Enchanted Spellboard, etc.) to tap into our inner selves to check in, like reading a compass of our lives- it is important to stop, look, and listen for the signs and signals, and so to make adjustments and to know which direction to take. Our “Spiritual Power Tools ©”are all systems to get you in touch with your higher self which is your most creative part. The point is to be clear and focused and to be connected to that spiritual part of your life as much as possible.  And so we do daily exercises, rituals and meditations to stay connected.

I’m fascinated with couples who work together to be a greater force for good in the world. How does the work wind its way through your interactions and how does your relationship feed what graces the world?

We do EVERYTHING together. Most people don’t believe how well we work together. Monte is the writer/typist/agent/psychic/contract person/importer and Amy is the artist/designer/namer of projects/manager/art director/fashion designer, but we feel that it’s all part of a whole and that we contribute equally to our life and our business. There’s a lot of cuddling, too! Our art is our life and our life is our art, and we’re not just saying that! We are each other’s best friend and we love being with each other. We work together on every project, though we do each have our own studio to work in. We are lucky that we are so driven because, to tell you a little secret about Soul Mates, once you find each other and the joy fills you, you can just be with each other and that’s enough. Nothing gets done and soon you’re both out trying to get your money-making thing going again. We have evolved our relationship so that there is no distinction between our life and our work, which does require understanding from our families and friends, but we couldn’t produce all of the work you can see on our website – and that’s not all of it! – if we didn’t make sacrifices to get us the time to do what we love. 

Does the Muse speak to you in all forms?

 

By looking within, using your intuitive powers, astrology, and oracular work, we can identify our special dreams, learn how to develop our personal creative power, make our base secure, and our dreams real.  This crusade is not a selfish one.  It is the only one justifiable in our time.  Creativity is spirituality.  By realizing and actualizing our creativity we become a spiritual human being, a most glorious occurrence.  A world populated by such people can only make a paradise of our planet, a dream of the ages that is not only technologically possible at this time, but is crucial to our survival as a species.

Visit Amy & Monte’s beautiful website: www.TheEnchantedWorld.com