The Contemporary New England Witch

The Contemporary New England Witch
Author Ms.Faith

Thursday, December 27, 2012

How to bring Abundance into your New Year's






 Good Evening,

 New Year's is just around the corner and so is the opportunity for sympathetic magick that can make your upcoming year financially prosperous and abundant while bringing in fresh, new energies into your life.

For centuries mankind has had all sorts of 'superstitions' concerning the New Year.  I find that it is in common superstitions where the ancient folk kept their sympathetic magick. Sympathetic magick is magick that has a correlation to what is seen or done.  For instance if a witch hops about a field of wheat on a broomstick, the higher she hops would indicate the height of the wheat when it's ripe.

In the instance of New Year's Day, the first day of the year is said to 'set the tone' for the rest of the year. That what you do or don't do on that day can make a difference in your upcoming year and whether it is successful or not. So with that in mind here are a few suggestions for making your upcoming year a great success!

Have any and all salt shakers in the house filled to the top. Have an abundance of bread and grain products in the house. Bread and salt both being ancient forms of currency and both, by having them, reflect on one's wealth and prosperity.

 New Year's Day, or the day before are great days for giving the house, especially the kitchen, a thorough cleaning. Eliminating any clutter and trash is also ideal for this day. Throw or give away that which no longer serves you.  This allows for fresh, clean energies to sweep through your home and, as such, your life.

Smudging your home or business in the beginning of the New Year can also eliminate stagnant, stale energies. Smudging helps remove unwanted energies from the past year, allowing new, fresh and abundant energies to enter. Redecorating, reorganizing or even moving furniture around into new, pleasing arrangements aid in bringing in a fresh, new air.

Have fresh flowers in your house for New Year's Day and NEVER eat leftovers on New Year's Day!!! Have a meal cooked fresh to start off your year right!

 It's an ancient superstition that on New Year's Day the first person over the threshold of the home would step over the threshold with their right foot and not their left foot. This would assure that prosperity and good fortune came into the home all the coming year. These are just a few simple suggestions to help you start off your New Year on the right foot!

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.

Monday, December 17, 2012

A tragedy that has touched us all . . .







Dear Magickal Reader,

Here in Southern New England, Connecticut, we are saddened and grieving for the precious souls lost this past Friday in Newtown, CT.  As a witch, it is a tragedy such as this that makes me feel as if a bit of the maagickal has been taken from our world.  And, in the lives lost, of the children and those who took responsibility for them, it has been.

A magickal truth is, with all the spells, blessings, magickal stones, herbs, potions and candles we use everyday to affect magickal change in our lives, there still remains the sobering fact that bad things happen to good people in our world.  But it is important to understand that the victims and families of this tragedy DID NOT do anything that made this event 'karma returned'.  I don't personally believe death to be karmic return.

So many of us are affected by this tragedy, even if we don't personally know any of the people involved. Yet, they are part of our community, part of the 'human community' so even if you find yourself half way across the world you may very well be affected by these terrible events.  A feeling of helplessness is common as there is, honestly, little we can do to affect change in these instances. But, there is something I do every year, at Yuletide, 'my personal holiday tradition' that I want to share with you, as it seems especially relevant this year, at this time.

Thank the first responders in your community.  It's simple to do, and it means so much. Not only to them, but I personally find it feeds my soul.  I started my personal holiday tradition several years ago, and I want to share it with you now.  Many years ago, we needed to call 911 and thankfully the first responders were at our door in a matter of a few minutes or so.  Every year since, on Christmas Eve, I spend an hour or so delivering plates of home made cookies to the first responders in my town. I bring a plate of cookies to each fire house, to the police department, one plate for the officers and one for the dispatch room, and also the emergency room at our local hospital and ambulance company.

I try to keep in mind, this time of year, when we are with our families, celebrating and enjoying good food and company, that the first responders are there for us.  Sleeping in their fire houses, patrolling our streets in their police cruisers, manning the phones in the police station, working in the emergency room, away from their families and friends and distant from all the festivities. Yet, they are steadfastly there, waiting and ready to respond, should we have an emergency regardless of the holiday, time of year, time of day or night. They are there for us.

It's a small thing that takes a few minutes of your time, the passing of a plate of cookies from your hand to another and a heartfelt thank you! This year, in light of recent horrible events, it seems even more important for me to continue my 'personal holiday tradition'.  I share it with you and hope that you might like to do something similar in your town. I know it makes me feel less helpless, and as I said earlier, it 'feeds my soul'.

I wish you a holiday of peace and happiness.


Ms. Faith






© 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.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Can you make me a witch? . . . please?


  Good Evening,

I hope you are having a fun and exciting holiday season! I know it can be a bit hectic, frantic and crazy!!!! But just remember to think of all the blessings you have in your life and it will make it easier and less stressful. That's what I do!

Tonight I address a question that has been put to me many times. Can a witch make someone else a witch? Hmmmmm? Well, to answer this we must first travel back into ancient history and walk our ways back to the present time. Many things happened long ago that no longer apply today, and being 'made' a witch is one of them.

You see in ancient times, the legend goes that to be made a witch, either male or female, you needed to be made such by a witch, most notably a high priest or priestess and the doing so consisted of the following:

A female would be made a witch by taking part in a special ceremony or ritual where she would have sex with a high priest! The same applied for a male, but he would have sex with a high priestess! Oh my!!

TODAY .  .  .  THIS IS NO  LONGER THE CASE!  Seriously, nowadays it's a bit different, but let me continue our walk back from ancient times .  .  . 

Then, after several generations or centuries things changed and in recent history, including my own history, one could be 'made' a witch by another witch in a ceremony where they named you a witch and walked you along a path, proclaiming you as a witch to the watchtowers or elemental guardians. These elemental guardians are the spirits of the North, East, South and West, respectively.

Yet, today things are different. No one needs to proclaim you to be a witch. You only need to call yourself one for it to be so. Simply that. The reason I say this is because most who follow this path know themselves to be a witch long before they learn from another, most following a solitary practice.  Does solitary practice invalidate one's self claimed witchdom? Only those on a personal power trip would say so today. 

Yes, yes, I know I anger some by stating this, but I believe it to be so. There are those who would have the world of the witch be an elitist, "only certain people are entitled world", when nothing could be further from the truth. ANYONE can be a witch, they have only to want it to be so and to practice the 'wonders of witchery'.

AND NO!!!!! We NO LONGER require any sex, whatsoever to be performed in the circle. The circle is the ritual space where coveners (same meaning as congregants) come together to worship and share fellowship with one another.  Religious practice was very different in ancient times for ALL religions still around today, not just witch craft.  Note * Witch craft was practiced in religious ways long before Wicca was assigned as a religion in the early 1950's.  Witches came together, danced and worshiped in a circle and did things that today we see and understand as being part of Wicca, the 'religion of the witches' for a very long time now lost to history.  The legends and lore I speak of comes from this ancient of times. 

Today you are a witch if you deem it so.  I can't 'make' you a witch. I do however, after being asked by so many of my students past and present, to, in some way, proclaim them a witch, perform a ceremony at graduation from classes at Enchantments (classes are taken for a year and a day and then, if the student passes all tests, quizzes and exams given, they graduate) where I walk the student along a path and introduce them to the watchtowers as a witch and priestess or priest.  This does not give them clergy status, it simply reaffirms what they have already found to be so in their hearts and souls. That they are witches and work to serve the Goddess and the God.  Many find this to be as a graduation ceremony and we hold a feast afterwards to celebrate and socialize. 

So, to answer the question put forth at the beginning of this discussion, I can't make you a witch .  .  .  but I will recognize the witch within you and help you along your path of self discovery and study.


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.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Do witches celebrate Christmas?



Glad Tidings to you!,

The holiday season is upon us! Fa la la la la .  .  .  la la la la   ♫♪♪♫♪♪♫  Again I am addressing questions that are posed to me this time of year, and the latest is "Do witches celebrate Christmas?"  yes, yes we do. In our own witchy way.  You see, once upon a time, in ancient times, Christmas was called Yule.  You may have heard of the Yule log, which still retains it's ancient name. 

We had a Yule tree which is now called the Christmas tree. We hung Mistletoe and brought greenery into the home to help dispel the harsh bleakness of the cold winter months. At one time many, many candles were lit to bring the light back during the dark months and today we still hang pretty lights to add to the celebration of the Yuletide season.

What? You say that you do all of these things today while celebrating Christmas? Well, of course you do! You see Christmas is just the modern equivalent of Yule.  There's very little difference as far as this witch is concerned.

The main focus of the season?  Christians celebrate the birth of the Son of God, Witches and Pagans celebrate the the re-birth of the Sun. The point? Everyone can celebrate the focus of their choosing. We all still have a holiday feast, the gathering of friends and family, the exchange of gifts and actually we share more things in common than apart.

Many people get uptight this time of year because people wish one another 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas' .  .  .  sigh. Really?   Isn't it nice that someone wishes you a pleasant and thoughtful greeting of good tidings? Do we really need to get uptight about what the wording is? My, my. There is so much in our world today that we can get upset about .  .  .  war, starvation, homelessness, sickness just to name a few. Many of us find ourselves to be very fortunate.  I personally light a candle just about everyday and thank the Goddess for the blessings in my life.

It doesn't bother me how people choose to celebrate the holidays or even if the choose not to. Isn't that one of the perks about being alive in today's society. We, as adults, get to choose.  I respect others choices and then go about making my own decisions on what to celebrate and how to recognize the season. 

So whether you call it Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanza or something else, I wish you a happy and healthy one and I hope you enjoy the holiday season.


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.