One way to think like a witch, practice mindfulness

Good Evening,

I've been working on various objectives in my life, as I'm always trying to improve, make myself a happier, more fulfilled witch and I've come across a concept that is commonly called mindfulness.

Mindfulness is the concept of focusing totally on something rather than multi-tasking, which allows one to semi focus on many things at once. Multi-tasking allows one to half halfheartedly do a number of projects, but many times they just get done adequately rather to the best of the person's ability. Mindfulness is total focus, being present and aware during every aspect of a project or task. I have practiced total focus in my magickal practice for years, such as spell casting and have taught the concept to my students as I feel effective spell casting and magickal manifestation requires an intense focus and total concentration.

Now, I'm just allowing it to flow into my day to day life and its changing my life in a positive way. Even simple things like watching television or a movie. I used to, as many do, watch television while working on my laptop computer and while on my laptop I'd be immersed in several different projects, and each would get some attention, but not my all. At the end of the day I would find myself tired, but stressed and without that feeling of accomplishment I used to find before modern technology made it easy to do a bunch of things at once. So, I have slowed down. I will watch a television show without turning on my computer, I even pay attention to the commercials. I will watch a movie from beginning to end and be able to recall what it was about! I eat dinner without reading a magazine article or watching t.v. and find I can appreciate my food and dinner company better.

I spend time with my cats just playing with them, not doing anything else. I have also put into my day to day life time to sit under the old maple tree in front of Enchantments and just gaze at the gardens, enjoying the view and feeling at peace with nature. Mindfulness. Being aware in the moment of the moment.

It's a lovely practice that you might like to try, it has started to change my life in many positive ways and continues to do so. A concept that is a must in magickl manifestation, that I find is manifesting needed change in my day to day witchy life.



Peace and Happiness





© 2010-2012 Faith M. McCann. Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website. Please note that the copying and/or further distribution of this work without express written permission is prohibited.


If you know someone who would like my work, please send them this link. If you or they would like to be included on our daily email distribution list send me an e mail with your email address to be included. If you ever wish to unsubscribe to this blog, please contact me and you will be immediately removed from our list.

The longest day of the year can do with another discussion from your Contemporary New England Witch!

Good Evening!,

I'm feeling a bit chatty today and have a bit more I'd like to share with you! Considering it's the longest day of the year, I figured I could squeeze in another fun discussion surrounding the Summer Solstice! This one concerns the harvesting and use of the magickal herbs gathered on the Summer Solstice.

The herbs I gathered today are just wonderful. In addition to gathering St. John's Wort (Wort is an ancient word for herb) and by the way St. John's Wort is good for health, protection, love and happiness, I also gathered Lavender and Thyme. I made little bundles of Lavender with Thyme and I call it my Faerie bouquet as both herbs are used in faerie magick and to attract the faeries to your garden and into your life. Thyme is also good for healing, love, increasing your psychic powers and courage. Lavender is good on its own for Love, protection, sleep, happiness and peace.

Here's some pictures of the little herb bundles I made today whilst sitting beneath the lovely old maple tree in the front gardens of Enchantments:





I think they're lovely and I had a wonderful time making them. I blessed each one and now they're available for sale to be used as you wish. If you gather herbs and wish to bless them, just hold a handful gently in your hands and close your eyes. Ask the Goddess to bless the herbs and make them ready for your use. Give thanks and open your eyes and then tie the bundles with string or ribbon and hang or place where they can dry.

I also had a phone call today where a friend of Enchantments asked me about harvesting herbs today. She knew that the herbs should be harvested during a certain time for maximum peak effectiveness but was worried that she was working all day and was not able to harvest until tomorrow. Not to worry! Pagan days like the Summer Solstice have a way of falling where they will and this year it fell on a Wednesday! And, we don't live in a culture that is always understanding of our Pagan need to commune with nature, not when our bosses expect us to be at work! But as I said, no worries.

Let me explain. Sometimes we come across books or 'experts' in the magickal world that live a pretty black and white existence. For instance they'll have you believe that you must harvest an herb at a specific exact time and no other time will do! I gently reply 'NONSENSE'. Nature is not and never has been that specific in general. You see the magick that builds up in an herb or flower follows an arc. It slowly builds over the course of its growth until it reaches its zenith and peaks and then seems to almost balance out for a few days to a week and then slowly starts to dissipate again until it dies in the fall or winter. Which means, from this witch's perspective at least, you can harvest your herbs anytime this week! And again in a month or so. The magickal ability the plant contains will work for you, as its a tool that aids you in your magickal workings. Truly the majority of the magick comes from you.

Don't get hung up on 'missing a moment'! Can't do a full or new moon spell on the exact night of the moon? You have three days before and three days after to do a spell and I've found over 30 years of spell casting using the moon, that its just as effective as the actual day of, I don't care a wit what anyone says. Be careful of people that try to force you into extreme specifics, its usually a power trip they themselves are on, and has nothing to do with effective magick or spell casting.

So worry not, by dear witchling! Harvest your herbs throughout the summer, just know that this week is a really lovely time in which to do so. Dry them in a cool, dry place where they will get plenty of air, which discourages mold growth, and then store them away to use throughout your magickal year. They will work wonderfully for you, their witch.


Have I wished you a Blessed Summer Solstice? Please let me do so and I hope the magick of the Solstice remains with you all season long! Blessed Be



Peace and Happiness





© 2010-2012 Faith M. McCann. Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website. Please note that the copying and/or further distribution of this work without express written permission is prohibited.

If you know someone who would like my work, please send them this link. If you or they would like to be included on our daily email distribution list send me an e mail with your email address to be included. If you ever wish to unsubscribe to this blog, please contact me and you will be immediately removed from our list.

Happy Litha! May you have a Blessed Summer Solstice!

Stonehenge Summer Solstice Sunrise



Good Day!,

Today is Litha, the Summer Solstice also known as midsummer. I wish you a happy and blessed day! This day is the longest day of the year and the shortest night. It's only appropriate that I have been up since very early this morning as one shouldn't waste a precious moment of such a beautiful day.

At the moment, I am watering the gardens of Enchantments as this is also supposed to be one of the hottest days of the summer, reaching almost 100 degrees! Now, even for a witch, that's hot!

I'd like to share some interesting tidbits about Litha, that you may not know about. For instance today is the first harvest. Not a food harvest, that happens in August on Lughnasa, but today marks the first harvest for medicinal and magickal herbs and flowers. With the Sun at its zenith in the sky, the magickal essences within plants are at their peak also, making this a perfect time to cut and dry herbs for the rest of the year. I will be harvesting St. John's Wort today trapping its medicinal and magickal essence in and drying it so it can be used throughout the upcoming year. St. John's Wort grows wild on Enchantments property, truly a gift from the Goddess.

Today is a time for faeries to come out and play. One time, around this time of the year I actually saw a real faerie. We had just lost our cat, she had grown ill and passed away and I was very upset and grieving and had just buried her beneath a yew bush in our yard. I lit a candle and was sitting nearby sending prayers and blessings to her spirit. I saw a being, glowing white (it was nearing dark) reach around the yew bush and it lifted its head and it looked at me. I looked at it. I knew our cat would be safe and cared for on the other side. I just knew it. I've never seen a faerie since, but I know they exist. There is an old legend that if you sit near the base of an elder tree around dusk on this night, and stay very still, you may see a parade of faeries,led by the faerie king, troop by playing instruments and dancing.

In Great Britain, The Summer Solstice is celebrated by the thousands around Stonehenge as its believed that the megalith was created by those who celebrated the Solstices. There is one stone that at the moment of sunrise on the Summer Solstice the sun lines up perfectly and shines through a key stone marking this moment. There is a picture at the top of this blog that demonstrates this phenomenon.

Litha is an ancient name, some feel it is the name of an ancient Celtic Goddess of Summer, but my research fails to confirm this. It may be a Saxon name or even Germanic as the ancient Celts were a migrating agricultural culture that moved from far Eastern Europe to far Western Europe over the course of many centuries. Yet, I don't mind not knowing the origins of the word Litha, to me, it speaks of summer, dancing around a circle in a large field of green grass, feasting and making merry.

In America, this day is referred to as the first day of summer when in truth it has traditionally been called midsummer for centuries in many countries. I call it mid summer because it makes summer longer for me. I start celebrating summer on May 1st and continue until November 1st, a full six months. But again, it matters not as long as you have the spark of summer within and can find your own way to celebrate.

In the past I've done many things on the Solstice from Handfasting couples (performing weddings) to hosting a goddess festival, to holding large open circles (ritual services), conducting drum circles and many times in the past I've stayed awake 48 hours or longer just to get everything done. I even celebrated Summer when I was growing up, and not just by taking a vacation from school.

When I was a girl, growing up on a dairy farm I would often lay down in a hay field and gaze at the sky and marvel at the clouds, playing in the woods and trying to find natural clay along the edges of the brook that I could sculpt and play with. I always had many things to do growing up on the farm and celebrating Summer was one long glorious event. I rode horses, made make believe while playing on stone walls and climbing trees. Always outside, always happy to be outside!



Today, I will sit under a beautiful old maple tree ad gaze at my garden, blooming profusely with flowers and herbs. Watch the cars drive by and look for the bunnies that have made their home under the front ramp of the Enchantments store. I will separate my St. John's Wort into little bunches and wrap them in tissue paper and ribbon making them ready for sale and just enjoy the day. It may not sound like much, but to me its peaceful, enchanting and just what I want to do. I hope you get to do just what you want to do today, also.


Peace and Happiness






© 2010-2012 Faith M. McCann. Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website. Please note that the copying and/or further distribution of this work without express written permission is prohibited.

If you know someone who would like my work, please send them this link. If you or they would like to be included on our daily email distribution list send me an e mail with your email address to be included. If you ever wish to unsubscribe to this blog, please contact me and you will be immediately removed from our list.

Do you think you have bad luck?

Good Evening,

In my capacity of running a witch shop I encounter all sorts of interesting people and all sorts of issues that can be solved magickally. One I run into often is people that feel they have 'bad luck'. Simply that, bad, awful luck. Everything goes wrong for them, nothing turns out as they desire, and they attribute it to bad luck or energies that surround them.

Well . . . I see this problem in another light. I truly believe that we create our reality. Let me state that again. Our world, that we are surrounded by, our friends, family, job, the good times, the crappy times, we create them all! We may not want to recognize this, or take responsibility (especially for the crappy stuff) but its true. We create our reality. So if we have bad luck, we need to look to ourselves to help change that.

I believe very much in visualization. We visualize all the time. What we're going to wear tomorrow, what we'll have for dinner tonight, how much fun we'll have at that party we're going to etc. When it comes to luck and how it manifests in our lives, we can get into a habit of remembering and visualizing all the crappy stuff that we've experienced. Or the last few crappy things. If we do that, then we will draw to us more unwanted crappy stuff.

I guarantee everyone that says they have bad luck, that by speaking with you for a few minutes that I can prove to you that you have just as much, if not more good luck! Did you drive to work today and back home tonight? Did you do it without an accident? Good luck!! Have you been feeling O.K., no colds or flu for the past few weeks or months? Good luck!! Do you have friends in your life you love and enjoy being with? Good luck! Now, now some of you may say "Hey, those things just are, they're not necessarily good luck." I'll respond, "Aren't they?" To a person who has an accident everyday they travel by car, gets a cold and flu every month or has no friends or loved ones at all in their lives, they would differ!

You see in our media crazed, drama fed society we are given a regular diet of 'bad' stuff. From the nightly news, to tabloid television and print media, to the gossip around the water cooler at work everyday, we thrive on situations and experiences that aren't good. So, it makes sense (to this witch at least) that we'll focus heavily on the negative and we tend to lightly dismiss the positive. So, we think we have bad luck. Well, say you do, have bad luck that is. I can teach you to "think like a witch" and help you change that. Here's how:






Candles and Stones

First gather the following supplies: Candles (any color will do, but white or purple are good choices for general bad luck. Green for financial bad luck, red for love, blue for emotional issues, green again for physical.

Some stones that are known to promote general good luck and help repel negative energies such as: Tiger's Eye, Turquoise, Chrysoprase, Jet, Sardonyx, and Amber to name a few. You don't need all of them, just a few of one or two of them.





Gather your stones and hold in your hands for a few minutes and with your eyes closed feel them pulsating and glowing with bright white energy. Ask the Goddess to bring into your life the ability to see the positive, appreciate the wonders and love and light in your life. Do this also with the candle. Then take the stones and place closely around your candle. Light your candle and visualize yourself happy, strong and empowered with everything going right in your life. Keep this visualization strong in your mind's eye and feel the flow of magickal energy flowing from the candle flame into the stones and watch them glow under the flickering light. After the candle has burnt out take the stones and place them in a pouch and carry the pouch with you. Touch and hold the pouch, or even take the stones out occasionally and hold while visualizing your image of yourself.





Do this, hold your stones at least once a day after burning the candle and you will find the 'bad luck' you've been having fade away to be replaced by all the wonders in your special life.


Peace and Happiness



© 2010-2012 Faith M. McCann. Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website. Please note that the copying and/or further distribution of this work without express written permission is prohibited.


If you know someone who would like my work, please send them this link. If you or they would like to be included on our daily email distribution list send me an e mail with your email address to be included. If you ever wish to unsubscribe to this blog, please contact me and you will be immediately removed from our list.

Working hard in the gardens of Enchantments! Some magickal tips for your gardening projects!

Good Evening,

I have spent the last week or so working and loving every minute of it, in the gardens of Enchantments! While doing so, I often employ little magickal tips and tricks which seem to make my garden grow better and bloom brighter. I want to share those tips with you tonight.

Ask for Blessings:

When working out in the garden start your work by asking the Goddess to bless your work for the day. To make your garden healthy, vibrant and lush. There's no ritual needed, just an honest request that She bless your work. I often say something like "Lovely Lady, bless the work I will do today. Make my gardens vibrant and gay, healthy and strong, all the summer long. I thank you for your blessings"

Burn a green candle:

While working in the garden, having a glass container within which you have a green candle burning is also quite helpful. I like to burn a votive candle which can have up to 15 hours of burn time. As I move about the garden, I move the little candle and its flame keeps me focused on the job at hand. I always keep it in a small clear glass container so an errant breeze doesn't put it out.





The Breath of Life:

When planting or transplanting seedlings, new plants, trees or shrubs in your garden
be sure to hold the root ball up to your mouth and gently blow your breath onto the roots. This is an ancient technique that 'gives life' to the plant and encourages it to grow and become strong. You may have to bend down if its a tree or shrub, but just a gentle breath is all that is needed. While doing this envision a stream of bright white energy flowing from your body, along your breath to enter the plant.





White Light Energy:

In addition to the breath blown onto the root system of the plant, holding the plant in your hands or, if its a large specimen, placing your hands on the plant, root system or stem (it matters not) and envisioning the entire plant glowing a bright, vibrant white will also help it grow and become strong. Closing your eyes and imagine the plant pulsating with vibrant, bright white energy. Imagine the energy flowing all along the structure of the plant, from the root system, up the stalk or trunk, through the branches and into the leaves or petals.





Protective Pentacle:

After planting the plant in the ground following proper planting and gardening techniques for the specimen at hand, place your palm (your dominant hand) onto the surface of the ground and feel your energy combine and intermingle with the energy of the plants roots, underground. Just give the surface of the soil a firm pat and then take your index finger and inscribe in the air in front of the plant an invoking pentacle. That's a five pointed star surrounded by a circle. Start at the top of the star, move your finger down to the right lower foot of the star, up to the left arm of the star, across to the right arm, back down to the left foot and back up to the top. Then going in a clockwise direction move your finger in a circle surrounding the star you just inscribed ending back at the top again. That's it. The plant has been blessed and protected.




These are just a few tips and witchy tricks to make you a greener witch than you were before! Now I have posted some pictures of the work I have done this past week at Enchantments. I hope you enjoy them.


Peace and Happiness






© 2010-2012 Faith M. McCann. Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website. Please note that the copying and/or further distribution of this work without express written permission is prohibited.


If you know someone who would like my work, please send them this link. If you or they would like to be included on our daily email distribution list send me an e mail with your email address to be included. If you ever wish to unsubscribe to this blog, please contact me and you will be immediately removed from our list.