The Contemporary New England Witch

The Contemporary New England Witch
Author Ms.Faith

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Happy Imbolc!






 Good Evening,

The Pagan Spring celebration of Imbolc is coming up February 1st. Whilst many celebrate this holiday on February 2nd, know this date is a Christianized variation, called Candlemass, of the original day which was February 1st. I celebrate and recognize the first of the month. Call me a traditionalist! This spring holiday is also the Sabbat when all the altar candles and candles in the ritual room are replaced with fresh new ones.

Yes, I did say Spring celebration. With temperatures in the single digits lately, it seems a bit cold to be celebrating Spring, but it is almost here. Now, maybe flowers won't be blooming in your yard this week, but you can find early signs of spring if you know where to look.

By the end of this week, geese and migrating birds will be flying northwards again, and the thick ice on the ponds and rivers will start to thin, and for those that tap maple trees for its sweet sap, it is also starting to flow.

We will be celebrating Imbolc with an indoor ritual and I encourage you to celebrate Imbolc also! Have fresh flowers for your altar, and your cakes and ale could be fresh, sweet milk and cheese placed on a platter kept cold with clean snow from outdoors. This Sabbat, called Imbolc, which is Gaelic for 'In the belly' in reference to the cows ans sheep being pregnant and ready to give birth and new milk for the spring season. So the milk and cheese is appropriate. 

For your spiritual awareness in turning the wheel of the year, this ritual is the planning ritual. Plan what you wish to plant, then tend, grow and finally harvest later in the year. What do you wish to create? What do you wish to bring into existence this year? Think about this concept while you celebrate this wonderful spring holiday. For truly spring is right around the corner!

I hope you have a beautiful Imbolc

Peace and Happiness


© 2010-2013 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, January 17, 2013

Intro to Pagans, Witches & Wicca in April at MCC





Good Evening,

As you may be aware, I teach an Introductory course on Pagans and Witches at Manchester Community College and have for over ten years.  If you have ever thought to take this class, please consider it this Spring Semester as the last couple of semesters the course has been cancelled for lack of attendance.

I will be teaching this course 'An Introduction to Pagans, Witches and Wicca' CRN#11921 on four Monday evenings in April, 4/8 - 4/29 from 7 - 9 pm at Manchester Community College in Manchester, CT. The cost for the semester is $65 and is payable to MCC.  If you are interested in attending this program, you may register over the phone by calling 860-512-3232 and pay with a credit card.

This course is a PowerPoint and lecture presentation that covers the following:



First classHistory of the witch, magickal terminology, witchcraft today, Wheel of the Year, the elemental world
 


Second classSetting up an altar, and casting a magick circle, conducting a ritual
 


Third class-Spell Casting, The Science of witchcraft, Anatomy of a spell, Spell Manifestation, the first year’s five magickal goals 


Last class-- Potions workshop at Enchantments at 349 East Center Street, Manchester, CT. The student will be able to make a potion for one of the following magickal goals for a $10 materials fee: Money, Love Protecton, Healing, or Tranquility.
All of the above and more are discussed and questions answered in this exciting four week program. Again, if you have ever thought that you might like to take this course, please sign up right away to reserve your place in class. If attendance is not sufficient the class will be discontinued. Only four people need to sign up to guarantee this program. I hope you can make it. 
   
Peace and Happiness  





© 2010-2013 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, January 11, 2013

Divination, Fortune Telling. . . is it real? How to Spot a Fraud





 Good Evening,

Tonight I wish to discuss with you some concepts to be found in the ancient art of Divination.  To begin with divination is the art of seeing into the past, present and most commonly the future. A regularly used method today uses the Tarot. There are many methods or techniques for determining the future of a client  and I, myself, use several, including  the crystal ball, the tarot cards, witches runes and stone divination.

 There is, today, much speculation when it comes to fortune telling and how authentic it really is. For myself, I started 'seeing' things that would then happen when I was about 12 to 14 years old. I then came across a tarot card deck when I was about 16 and started to read the cards. I have been reading cards ever since.

So, how do I come to see things that will then happen in people's lives? I can't honestly say, but my clients come back time and time again to re-affirm that what I had seen in the cards did indeed come to pass. There are those skeptics that speculate that a psychic is merely someone who is hyper aware of tiny details and super observant and then 'reads' this information back to a client. I can see how this could be true for reading a person's past and present, but how could one possibly see a detail today and tell someone what will come to pass six months from now? For myself, I believe in psychic ability because I believe everyone has it,  not just a chosen few. It's simply a matter of developing it. This is one of the things I teach at Enchantments.

Now, let me add a disclaimer here! YES, there are charlatans out in the world around us who claim to be able to read a person's future, yet they are nothing more than frauds. Here's some pointers on how to tell the difference between a real psychic and a phony. 

  • A real psychic doesn't care if others sit in on the reading (as long as the client wishes it) nor if the session is tape recorded, video taped, or observed in any way.  A phony will insist that only the client can be present, that the information is only meant for the client, blah, blah, blah. A real psychic has nothing to hide and I tell clients they can bring their attorney with them if they want. It's their reading, not mine. 

  • A real psychic charges for the reading and only the reading. There is never hidden additional fees involved in the reading such as i.e "there's a curse placed upon (the client) that for an additional fee I can remove for you." Or "You need to come back and bring something (an article of clothing, picture, hair etc) along with additional money for me to work this spell for you" and things along that line. A reading should be a single charge, paid for in advance with no increase for future readings. 

  • A client should never be encouraged to come back frequently for additional readings. I advise clients who wish for additional readings to come back when what we saw in the current reading starts to come to light. Now a client may wish for a financial reading today and a love reading next week. That's acceptable, but it should be the clients desire not a recommendation from the reader (psychic). 

  • If possible, find out how long a psychic reader has been in that location. Readers who move from location to location, town to town, state to state are suspect. I have known a few frauds who moved just about every two to three years and in doing so, stayed ahead of the local authorities whose job it is to shut down charlatans and frauds.

  • Beware!!!! Of readers who claim you have a curse placed upon you, or other evil, negative influences that surround you. Modern readers today do not look for the negative and if something seems amiss it's really up to the client to determine if it's a good or bad thing in their lives. For instance, I may see that someone's job is coming to an end. The client may think its a good thing if they are preparing to retire or leave that job for a better one. Or the client may think its a bad thing as they are on the brink of being fired! BUT, most importantly, IT IS NOT up to me to make that determination. It is up to the client.  

  • In conclusion,  when having a reading done, make sure firstly you can afford the reading fee. Secondly, go into the reading with a sense of using this information in part to make decisions on your life. Never rely wholly on the reading as the reader could be slightly off that day, or may be misinterpreting the signs. YOU are the one who decides how accurate a reader is. My best advice, take what works for you and leave the rest behind. In this way will you have a fun, enjoyable reading.

I hope these tips give you a little insight when it comes to having a reading done. Many readers use various methods of divination using such tools as the Tarot, Runes, Palms or Stones whereas some simply do an intuitive reading. Don't make a judgement on the reading before hand if a different technique is used from what you've experienced in the past. I find the best readers use the tools they are expert at using.  I have had potential clients come into the store wanting a palm reading and leaving when they find we don't offer palm readings at Enchantments. That's a shame as they would have received a good reading, but with a different method from what they were used to.

The new year is an excellent time to get a reading done, to see what will be in store for you for the upcoming year. I hope you enjoy your reading!



Peace and Happiness




© 2010-2013 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, January 4, 2013

Gratitude - In which direction should it be directed?





 Good Evening,

Happy New Year!! I hope you have had a lovely holiday season and are looking forward to an exciting and prosperous New Year ahead. Tonight I want to discuss with you .  .  .   gratitude.

I believe having gratitude for the blessings in our lives is a healthy concept to employ.  Yet there are times when it seems gratitude gets a bit skewed. That is, the direction in which it is expected to take. 

Do you do things for others and expect gratitude in return? Why? I believe the things we do for others should come  from a desire to simply do those things, and not from a place of expecting and wanting thanks in return. Now, don't get me wrong, getting thanks for your actions is always nice.  But doing things with that expectation and in some cases, not doing something because thanks wasn't received the first time, is a way to lower your vibrational energy.

That's right! We live, work, breath on a level or wave of vibrational energy, and the actions, thoughts and energy we send out can affect the frequency of that vibrational energy. 

For instance, do you send out holiday cards? Many people do. Do you compare who sends you cards and adjust the following year? I know people who do this. Why? Send out the cards to those whom you are thinking of and be grateful for those who send you cards. But to keep a check list of those who do and those who don't? This will result in a lowering of your vibrational energy.

Do you have a Facebook account? I often see people 'cleaning up' their Facebook accounts and deleting friends. Simply because some people don't interact with them as often as they feel they should.  What a waste of time and energy, in my opinion! One can have up to 5,000 friends on Facebook and to interact with all of them would be an impossibility, not to mention wasting time and vibrational energy!

Do you ever see people on the exits that hold up signs that say " homeless, poor, please help"? They are becoming more prevalent in these tough economic times. Many people say they don't give money to them, because 'they might use the money for drugs or alcohol', 'they make thousands of dollars doing this and don't need the money', etc. etc. When you give to someone, don't rationalize it on their part. It doesn't matter what they will do with that money, it really doesn't. It matters that you sent it out into the universe and that energy comes back to you and raises your vibrational energy frequency. If you're not inclined to help them initially, then don't. But .  .  .  if your first thought is to give them a few dollars, then you talk yourself out of doing so because you rationalize what they might do with the money, or how deserving they may be .  .  .  this is what we are talking about tonight.

Gratitude should be directed outward. It's not necessary to have it be returned. Although that energy will return back to you, perhaps from a source different from what you expect, but that's o.k. it doesn't have to come from the area where you sent your gratitude.

We can only control what we send out. We should not interfere with it's path back to us.



Peace and Happiness







© 2010-2013 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.