The Contemporary New England Witch

The Contemporary New England Witch
Author Ms.Faith

Saturday, February 28, 2015

A Requiem Rite (Funeral Service) at Enchantments


Good Afternoon,

This morning I had the sad, but important duty of conducting a Requiem Rite at Enchantments. A Requiem Rite is an old way of saying Funeral Service. A lovely lady who is a graduate of Enchantments lost her father recently, and asked me if I would conduct a service.

I chose a beautiful and profound Requiem Rite as written by Ms. Janet Farrar and Mr. Stewart Farrar in "The Witches Bible" which is still in print, and I highly recommend it. It is a beautiful Rite which when conducted uses a golden bowl, a silver cord and a hammer.

Earlier in the week, I  took an earthenware bowl and spray painted it gold, and then spray painted the wooden handle of the hammer gold and the metal top of the hammer silver. Then for the Rite itself,  I had the woman whose father had passed bring a silver cord. The silver cord is an ancient spiritual concept of the spirit or soul of man or woman which is connected to the physical body with a silver cord. We wrapped the silver cord around the golden bowl, which in this ritual represented the physical body. 

The words are spoken " Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain or the wheel be broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the ground it came from and the spirit returns to Goddess who gave it .  .  .  "

Then I handed the silver and gold hammer to the daughter and untied the silver cord from the bowl. We covered the bowl with a black cloth and the daughter took the hammer and broke the bowl, symbolically releasing her father's spirit from this Earthly plane of existence to allow him to travel unencumbered to the Summerland, the Pagan version of Heaven. 

We then had a Priestess who acted as the Maiden for this ceremony gather up the silver cord and walk to the Watchtowers of the West, the Gates of Death and Initiation, and offer the cord up to them. Then the Maiden walked the silver cord to the Watchtowers of the East, the Gates of Renewal and Rebirth and offer up the cord to them. The silver cord was then lain at the foot of the Eastern Realms until after the ceremony when I gathered the silver cord up and presented it to the daughter for her to keep.

After the Requiem Rite was concluded we held a Love Feast in the honor of the deceased and everyone socialized, ate, visited and remembered the one in whose memory we gathered. It was a beautiful, sad yet joyous gathering and I feel everyone took away from the experience something special for them.


It's not everyday we get together to conduct a Requiem Rite but just as a Christian funerary service is, for Pagans, it is about remembering and honoring the one who has passed. And being there to comfort and support those left behind.


Peace and Happiness



 © 2010-2015 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, February 20, 2015

What a Wicked, Wet and Haunted Week at Enchantments!



 Good Afternoon,

Well, this has certainly been a crazy week at Enchantments! I started my week, on Monday, by coming up to the store (which is closed on Sundays and Mondays) to feed the cats of Enchantments. I let myself into the store and as I turn on the lights I heard what can only be described as a waterfall in the tarot room! A large, gushing, torrential waterfall!

I looked in the tarot room and saw that the ceiling had fallen down and water was just gushing from the ceiling! I quickly went downstairs and shut off the main water shut off. Then I called 911. The place quickly filled up with firemen and the building inspector promptly shut us down. They turned off the electricity and I soon found myself with a lot of work to do.

I called a plumber and he was there in a half an hour. The electrician was there in a couple of hours. In the meantime I noticed, we had been very lucky. No merchandise was affected and the offices, upstairs classroom and ritual room were bone dry. The only room affected was my tarot card reading room.
Even the basement drained the water and dried up within a few hours! We didn't even need to suck up the water, lucky that!

Well, we hired a contractor, did the insurance thing and started to clean up and put things back together. Then I noticed something two days ago. I was upstairs feeding the cats and thinking about the damage to the building and all that it was taking to put things back in order. The light above my head flicked off.  The other lights stayed on, but that one light went out and I thought it odd because it's a multiple light florescent fixture. But I continued doing what I was doing. Then I went into the office and the television where I watch my video surveillance of the store downstairs, which had been turned off, turned itself on. I found myself watching the downstairs cameras of every room. I could feel I was not alone. Someone else was there with me watching. I felt a feeling of concern and anxiety (when I had been feeling better myself because everything was being taken care of, and all my subcontractors were lined up and getting the work done.)

I started to talk out loud, saying that everything was going to be O.K. That work was being done and we would all be fine. I felt as if someone was listening intently to my words. Then today, the ceiling has been replaced and we were able to open for business after having been closed most of the week. There were no customers. I could feel that sense of anxiety again. I checked with myself and I'm feeling fine, I could sense it around me. I started talking out loud again, saying "We're back in business and things are going to be O.K. We just need a first customer to make the energy flow, and we'll be fine."

Well, I no sooner said that then within 5 minutes the bells on the front door rang and in walked our first customer, needing magickal advice and magickal supplies.  The energy feels just fine now. I will wait for the contractors to finish the job tomorrow, just some baseboard trim needing to be put in place, and when they're gone I will smudge with a nice, new smudge stick! That should settle the energy and make things happy again! I already feel the Spirits of Enchantments feeling better and less anxious.

It will take a day or two to put my tarot room back together with all the cool, magickal, some say spooky decor and paraphernalia I use to decorate it. But we are sooooooo close. But tonight is supposed to be 5 degrees below zero again, so I will keep the heat up and allow a trickle of water to flow in every sink. Just to keep the water elements happy! 

If you're able, do stop by Enchantments to see the new tarot room and to say hi! We're open tomorrow, Saturday the 21st of February, but for students of Enchantments we will resume magickal studies classes next Saturday, February 28th.


Wishing you all Warmth, Sunshine, Peace and Happiness!




© 2010-2015 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.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Some Exciting Speakers coming to Enchantments!




Good Afternoon,

Here at Enchantments we are already gearing up for some informative and exciting speakers that will be here in the next few weeks and months.

The first speaker we have is Grand Master Joel Waldron who will be here Saturday February 21st at 10 am. He will be discussing Conversations with God, a series of books by author Neale Donald Walsh. If you're Pagan bent these books are right up your alley. Don't let the name God fool you. This is not a religious discussion, it's more of a discussion on the laws of the Universe and how the world really, metaphysically works. Thee is no charge for this discussion. A light breakfast of pastries and coffee will be served.The discussion goes until noon.

Grand Master Joel Waldron


Our next discussion will be with Mr. Christopher Penzak, a well known Wiccan published author of several books on Witchcraft and Wicca. Mr. Penzak will be here the evening of April 30th from 6-8:30. He will be discussing The Nine Maidens. Seek the mysteries of the nine maidens who appear in myth and witchy folklore. They manifest as the nine maidens of Awnnwn, warming the cauldron of the underworld with their breath, as well as the nine sisters of Avalon. They are the nine witches of Gloucester and the nine maidens of the well. They are the nine Marys and the nine muses. The nine sisters are teachers and tutors, healers and guides. Come and experience the nine sisters of the Other world through Celtic, Christian and Greek imagery in ritual and guided vision. See which one speaks to you and ask them for healing, wisdom, knowledge and power.  There is a $35 charge for this lecture and space is limited. Please reserve your space by paying for your seat in advance at the sales counter of Enchantments.

Mr. Christopher Penzak

These lectures are open to anyone who wishes to attend. I look forward to seeing you there! Ms. Faith

Peace and Happiness 








© 2010-2015 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.