Happy Samhain!

 Happy Samhain!

I'm writing this discussion a few days early with the Hurricane called Sandy threatening our state and our power, so I thought to get it on-line earlier than later.  Today I want to discuss Samhain, pronounced Sow-wen.  This sacred holiday on our Wheel of the Year (our Pagan Calendar) that falls every year on November 1st.

Samhain is the third and last harvest of the year, the first being August 1st (Lughnasadh), the second being the Fall or Autumnal Equinox (Mabon) which falls between September 20 and 24th.  The ancients depended on the harvest for survival as any food they had was what they harvested from the field and stored away for the upcoming year.

This is also a sacred holiday where we remember the dead. We remember and honor our ancestors and loved ones who have passed away. A way to honor your ancestors and loved ones who are no longer with us is to have a plate of food during your dinner on Samhain Eve and place the plate in a place of honor on your dinner table, I place mine, right in the middle of the table. No one eats from this plate and it is filled with all the wonderful food everyone is enjoying.

November first also has the distinction of being the Pagan New Year's Day. That's right, it's the first day of our year and as such has sacred, special energies for starting new endeavors, planning for the upcoming year and it's the celebration of another year over and a new one to begin!  Most people put all of the emphasis on October 31st when in fact November 1st is truly the most special of days for Pagans!

On a special note, if you are in any area that is threatened by Hurricane Sandy please be smart and stay safe. Many people have asked me about spells to thwart, divert or stop a storm and while I do believe and also perform weather magick I assure you that with a storm like a hurricane, especially this one, there is nothing to be done except wait for Mother Nature to be done with her business. While weather magick can be done for small weather systems, this storm is reported to be over 1,000 miles across and very strong. Stay inside, evacuate if required of your area, and do what is necessary to get through this unharmed. Be careful of burning candles indoors and never leave a lit candle unsupervised, most especially around children and pets.

Be Safe and 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.

The History of Halloween this Friday Night at MCC!

 Good Morning!

This is a picture of how I spent my day yesterday. I walked with friends in the Breast Cancer Walk held in Hartford, CT in Bushnell Park. There had to be a couple of thousand people at the walk and a great time was had by many if not all. I wore my witch hat, sadly the only one I saw the entire day, but many people said hi to the witch, adults and children alike.  Several people asked to take my picture and the friend I was with took one also, and here it is!

Well, this week is shaping up to be a busy week for a witch. I start it by speaking with a group of children at a local library about witches and who we are and what we do. I try to emphasize to children that witches are not mean or ugly nor do they mean to harm or hurt anyone, children included. I tell them witches can be pretty, happy, fun and good.

On Friday, October 26th at 6 pm I will be conducting a 'History of Halloween' PowerPoint presentation at Manchester Community College and I hope you can make it! The presentation is two hours long from 6 to 8 pm and will be held in room GPA GP232 in the Great Path Academy part of the college.

I start the presentation with a short parody of William Shakespeare's Macbeth which shows how people, even today, still perceive witches to be, cackling, evil, cauldron stirring hags. Then we go into a PowerPoint show that covers the ancient and mysterious origins of Halloween, a holiday that is still celebrated today over 5,000 years past its first murky beginnings.

You will learn in the presentation that the History of Halloween is really the history of the witch and as such, the history of the woman. We also discuss, black cats, bats, pumpkins and trick or treat! Registration to attend this presentation is required and a fee of $20 is payable to the college. To register over the phone for this class please call 860-512-3232 and have a credit card handy. The course number you will need to register is CRN#31876.

On Saturday October 27th I will be conducting a Samhain celebration at Enchantments at 6 pm, followed by a ritual feast where everyone brings a dish to share and then we will conclude the evening with a seance, speaking with the ghosts of Enchantments. Oh, didn't you know Enchantments was haunted? Oh yes! There are several spirits that inhabit the old Victorian Home that now houses Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts and Witch Shop. You will meet some of them Saturday night, that is .  .  .  if you dare!  If you plan to attend, and are not a student of Enchantments Magickal Studies Program, please call me at 860-791-6033 to make reservations as this ritual and feast will be held indoors and we have limited space and seating.

I am getting excited for Samhain, (Halloween) are you?

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 Green Faced Witches Offend you? This witch's opinion

Good Evening,

'Tis the Season .  .  .  of the Witch! Although, truthfully I feel every season is our season, but hey, that's just me!  This time of year, with Halloween nearing, I hear all sorts of comments regarding witches. Some comments come from non magickal people and others from like-minded magickal, pagan and witch.  I was recently in Salem Mass and heard a story regarding a green faced witch.

It seems a little girl was walking the streets of Salem with her mother and she was dressed as a witch complete with a green face. She was approached by a real witch, one quite well known in town. The little girl was given a serious lecture by said witch on how wrong it was to have a green face.  That it was insulting and wrong to portray witches like this. The little girl became upset and started to scrub at her face to remove the green. Poor thing.

I officially call, NONSENSE! A few points I would like to comment on. Firstly, the little girl may have been portraying a witch but she was still, without question, a little girl. Now, she's a little girl that I assure you will always remember, and not too fondly, that encounter with a 'real' witch. I only hope she doesn't have nightmares about it! Secondly, there is a time and place  for teaching, .  .  .  anything. That was not the time or the way to get that lesson across to that little girl and her mother. Not in my opinion. My, wouldn't it have been a different scenario if that Salem witch had taken the time to tell the little girl she was a real witch, which she might well have done, but then to have answered her questions, talked to her about magick, tell her  how witches are pretty with any skin color and had then left her with a happy experience. Ah, but it was not to be. I only hope that little girl grows up to learn and understand that even if one is a famous 'real' witch that not everything one says is necessarily true for everyone.

I would also like to address the 'Green Faced Witch' debate I've seen bantered about every year around this time. I look at the green faced witch differently than some. Yes, there is the famous Wicked Witch of the West portrayed by Ms. Margaret Hamilton in the classic Hollywood movie 'The Wizard of Oz', and its a given she was green faced and evil to the core.  This is what many think of when they see the green-faced witch. But some of us, have a different image in mind. When I see a green faced witch I think of the 'Green Witch', the magickal herbalist, and the Hedge Witch, all ancient versions of the modern witch today.  I mean let's look at the image of the witch around Halloween. We see children and adults dress in the witches conical hat and carry brooms around Samhain, Halloween and many wear the 'look', not being real witches and not understanding of our ways and most do not take offense. I think we can look at the green face and be as understanding about it as we are about other things pertaining to witches.

I personally will attest to the fact that not ALL real witches are nice, peasant or even good at heart. We are just like any other group or demographic. Some are very nice, sweet and good to the core and others are mean, rude and just not nice. Every group has its spectrum of people ranging from one extreme to the other. How we treat others, whether witch or not, really speaks of our character and what makes us who we are. 

It's really up to us if we choose to be offended, and being offended is most definitely a choice. I choose to use some opportunities to help educate people, again when the time and place are appropriate and at other times I choose to go about my life and pick the battles I have a shot at wining. But the times I choose not to pick a battle I don't get all huffy about it and allow that negative energy to affect my day or to affect others around me. It's all a choice, most of the time. I like to make the choices that benefit my life and also respect that others can choose differently and that has to be O.K.


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 Witch's Hat ~ a bit of legend and lore

Good Evening,

Tonight we will discuss the witch's pointy hat and what it may mean. Many recognize the witch's hat with its wide brim and long pointed center. As a matter of fact the witch's hat is thought by some to be the most recognized head wear through out history. Everyone from the smallest child recognizes it and knows it to belong to the witch.

But has it always belonged to the witch? Many ancient cultures have examples of tall, pointed hats in their history with the 'princess hat' or 'hennin' being a popular ladies fashion accessory in the 15th century, which had no brim and at times tied under the chin to keep it secure.

There are many symbolic claims to the witches hat I have heard over the years, one being it is a representation of the male/female union. The brim represents the female genitalia and the pointed center the male member.  The two worn together in the traditional witch's hat bring together the male/female creative energy that creates all of creation.  You see this male/female combination repeated in many areas of witchcraft for instance our pentacle. The pentacle has the five pointed star representative of the male surrounded by a circle, the female energy. Even the practical mortar and pestle has a male/female designation with the mortar (the bowl being female, the vessel) and the pestle (the grinder) being male.

Ancient Roman Priests wore conical hats in ritual and ceremony, and some anthropologists speak of cave paintings that seem to depict pointed hats or perhaps horns worn by ancient cave dwellers.  In ancient times it was the sign of intelligence and wisdom and in more modern times the pointed brimless hat was worn and seen as a dunce cap by unruly children in early 20th century schools. 

Few witches today wear the witches hat except around Samhain, Halloween. I personally love the witches hat and like wearing it along with my cloak in the fall time.  I will admit to getting unusual stares and the occasional whisper of 'witch' as I walk by, but I am. A witch that is. I like wearing traditional witches garb and with owning my own witch shop I can often get away with it!

Not everyone is comfortable dressing year round as a witch, but now is the season you can dress witchy and enjoy it. For .  .  .  'tis the season  .  .  .  of the witch!


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.

Victim of a Crime? Empower yourself with Magick!

 Good Evening,

If you read my discussions regularly you know I tend to be optimistic, happy and a pretty upbeat witch, at least I try to be! But as my blog description states, I want to share with you all the witchy things that happen to me. Or the witchy ways I deal with the real world. Tonight's discussion is a bit more sobering but I am sharing as I hope it may help you should you ever find yourself the victim of a crime.

Just a few night's ago, my witch shop Enchantments was broken into by thieves.  They kicked in the door and busted the door frame out. They stole the money out of the cash register and fled into the night. Luckily the cats, who are barricaded upstairs, were not hurt and nothing was destroyed except the door frame.

It was a decidedly un-magickal moment for me.  I came into work the next morning with a girl that helps me in the shop and we found the evidence of the break-in. We did the typical thing, called the police, made a report ,cleaned up the mess and arranged for the door to be fixed that afternoon.  As anyone who has experienced a break-in could tell you, it leaves you in a funky, unnerved, and uncomfortable place. But that's where my magick comes in.

I had class that morning, as I teach Magickal Studies to adult students on Saturday mornings and this was Saturday morning.  So as we were planning on doing a ritual for the full moon, I modified the ritual from our typical full moon ritual and made it into a protection spell ritual. 

Let me share with you some of the things we added to our circle in case you wish to do a spell like this for yourself. By the way, a protection ritual can be done before any harm comes to you or your property. It most assuredly should be done after an event also. By doing this ritual it had a two-fold affect. One it sent out strong protection magick around Enchantments thus preventing any other attempted break-ins.

Two, it helped to balance and center me and those associated with us that morning, as everyone felt a bit violated that 'their' place had been so shabbily treated.  I cast a simple circle, you may cast one as you normally would.

Then I held hands with two female students (it is believed the most powerful force in the universe is three witches or women working together. I read this once and it has always resonated within me as truth) and we sent a blue sphere of protective energy out from our bodies that started in our throat chakras and flowed down our left arms, moving deosil around the circle and up our right arms, and when it was strong enough we pushed it out of our bodies and out around the Enchantments building.  I must give credit for this circle casting with blue energy to Ms. Janet Farrar and  Mr. Gavin Bone. They taught this method to me the last seminar they conducted at Enchantments and I personally find it to be very powerful and effective!

Normally this blue field of energy is pulled back in after the circle work is finished but we left it out there to do its job of keeping the harm away. Eventually it will dissipate as all energy will wane, but we will reinforce it and continue to keep the protective circle strong.

I spoke with the Goddess and asked her to protect Enchantments from further harm and to prevent further break-ins. 

I then lit a smudge stick and we smudged each other and then the ritual room of Enchantments then took the smudge outside. Starting in the North, we acknowledged each Guardian of each element and asked them specifically to aid us in protecting Enchantments. We walked deosil around the building, sticking to the perimeter, stopping at each compass point, speaking to the Guardians of that direction and moved around until we were back in the North again.

Then the store of Enchantments was very well smudged and a few windows were opened to allow the smudge to slowly dissipate.  We then went upstairs and concluded the ritual and ended the class for the day. I felt more balanced and less stressed afterwards.

That is what magick is really all about. Manifesting needed change in your life. Bad things sometimes do happen, that's Life, but a witch takes that situation and makes it an opportunity to magickally make a difference. That's what I did.

Magick can and will empower you. I don't like the term 'victim' because to me it sounds voluntary.  I may have experienced a break in and theft, but I'll be damned if I'll let it get me down and ruin my outlook on life. I love life and people and I believe most people are generally good at heart. I honestly hope the person that stole the money needed it for food and was able to eat that day and the next with the cash they stole.

But, with the spells cast around Enchantments and the future spells we will cast, I don't believe it will happen again.

And, I hope you never experience a crime, but if you do, I hope you find something magickal and practical in this discussion that you can use to help empower you!


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.