Using Sympathetic Magicks to Start Your New Year off Right

Good Afternoon,

The New Year will soon be upon us and I am often asked what can be done magickally to mark this special time of the year.  This time of the year is especially good for utilizing sympathetic magicks. What I mean by sympathetic magick, is when you do something magickally that will mimic or mirror the same energy back to you. Remember what we send out returns threefold, when done magickally.

For instance, to bring abundance and plenty into your home during the next, upcoming year it is good to have fresh loaves of bread in the kitchen. Bread has for thousands of years represented financial wealth and prosperity. To have lots of fresh bread translates that you have wealth and abundance. Even of you do not have all you need in the wealth department, sympathetic magick, mimics what will be drawn to you in the coming year. Of course after the New Year day has passed, you can freeze the bread for later use.

Having Fresh flowers in the house to start the New Year, represents a healthy, strong and beautiful year ahead. On the eve of the New Year, be sure to throw out all of the trash into the bins outside, wash any dirty laundry so all is clean on new Year's day.  Clean the refrigerator out so any and all spoiled or unwanted foods are discarded. Again, bring them outside to the trash cans. Even if it is a few days before trash pick up, having it all outside gives your home a fresh, clean start for the New Year.

Plan a few nice, fancy meals to enjoy around the New Year's mark. Even if you go out to eat, having a fancy meal, with a few extras that you might normally not indulge in, like dessert or a fancy wine, will translate into an abundant year with extras coming to you and your family.

Some things to avoid during the New Year's days, which is New Year's Eve and day of, as well as New Year's Day and for this year, the weekend of:

Try to avoid getting totally drunk, even with the customary celebrations as the subsequent hang over and nausea will affect you in the coming year in less desirable ways. You might find you lack energy, stamina and endurance during the next year. Your thoughts could be muddled and concentration and focus hard to come by.

Try to avoid having fights, arguments or disagreements during these few days as sympathetically this can lead to a year of discord and unhappiness with these people whom you argued with. If there are people whom you normally have difficulties with it is best to avoid them completely during these few days. Also, this time of year, a time of reflection, may have you asking yourself if you should even keep these people in your life, if they cause you anger and unhappiness. This time of the year is a good time to start off fresh, perhaps with surrounding yourself with more positive, happy people.

Try to avoid clutter and messy areas in your home or where you do your work. If it's other people's clutter or mess, especially in a work environment, there may be little you can do about it, but keep your immediate area clean and clear. To help, especially if surrounded by others clutter, place a small bowl of quartz crystals on your desk, or even scatter them on your desk top, where they won't interfere with your work. This will help keep the energies around you clean and clear.

And, this year, instead of making a resolution that may or may not be kept, instead make a list of all the things you'd like to accomplish this upcoming year.  A year long to-do list, if you will. The things listed should be fun things you'd like to experience, to enjoy and look forward to. We often give ourselves to-do lists of things we need to do but are not much fun, chores is another word for these lists. But the list I want you to make is of things you should 'gift' to yourself. Maybe a short trip to a place you've been wanting to visit, or a purchase you've been putting off because it's an extravagance or luxury you've been denying yourself. Maybe it's a visit with an old friend you haven't seen in far too long. Sit down, write out this list, then light a fresh candle (one that has not been previously burnt) any color, and allow it to burn while you sit and meditate for a few moments, thinking about what you have written on your list and 'see' in your minds eye, yourself doing these things. Save the list after the candle has gone out and place the list somewhere where you can see it everyday or a few times a week. By the end of the year, see how many items you've done on your list! Hopefully all of them!!

These are just a few ideas to help you ring in the New Year in a magickal and happy way. Have a healthy, happy and magickal New Year!


I'll look forward to having many more discussions with you in 2016!


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.

Let's Discuss Magickal Intentions vs Magickal Goals

Good Afternoon,

We, many of us, have finished the Christmas/Yule celebrations and are gearing up for the New Year's Eve/Day revelries.  For many, this also means New Year's resolutions. Well, we know where, all to often, those end up! Right out the window!

I bring this up today, to make a comparison, and to discuss, magickal intentions. For those of us, who consider ourselves practicing magickal people, whether we call ourselves witches, Pagans or both, we often hear of intent or intention. We will hear others say, "as long as you have good intent" and we read about it also in magickal writings.  But I threw out the word intent a long time ago. Honestly, it just doesn't serve.  Here, let me explain. When you look at the word 'intent', it brings to my mind the same energy as a New Year's resolution. A nifty concept, but seldom followed through to the end. Not to mention, vague .  .  .  well, I guess I just did!

To be brutally honest, many magickal people go through their day to day lives trying to have the best of intentions and things still don't go right. Life happens and stuff hits the fan. So, let's look at it a different way. A way, designed more specifically, where you have a much better chance of achieving the end result you have been 'spelling' for.

It's as simple as waving your magick wand and focusing instead on a magickal goal. Sounds simple but the differences are significant. Whereas an intention can be vague, not really thought out, no specific imagery, just a feeling of wanting everything to be 'good' or 'right' or something along the warm and fuzzy lines. But what does it look like? And let us not forget, an awful lot of not nice things are done to others with the person doing the harmful deed having the 'best' of intentions. And need I remind you 'the road to hell is paved with lots and lots of good intentions?'

Instead, sit down, and design a magickal goal. A goal, unlike an intention that can easily wisp away on a breath of emotion, is solid, specific and even though you might miss your intended goal the first time you strike out for it, you can take aim again and again until you hit the mark.

A magickal goal is not simply wanting to be good but during spell work, having a specific 'picture' of what the end result will look like. An ability to visualize helps immensely in this endeavor. Being able to see the future and what you would like it to be, aides one in then creating the reality you desire.

Alas, my dear Witchlings, casting effective spells and living a magickal life is not just having the desire and wearing witchy clothes and jewelry. It takes work. Yes, having a magickal goal and working towards it is a lot more difficult than just having a vague intention. But are you a magickal person by desire .   .   .    or by practice?

Start this upcoming calendar year with the 'intention' of making magickal goals for yourself and working towards them. Write them in your Book of Shadows (You do have a Book of Shadows, don't you?) and follow them through until each and everyone has manifested in one way or another.  At the end of the next 12 months you might be surprised at how much your life has changed and how it has become so very magickal.  All because of a simple twist in how you look at things. For that is what the definition of magick is 'to bend and shape'. To twist things just slightly and then they start working for you.

Happy bending and shaping! Ms. Faith



Peace and Happiness and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!






© 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.

The Magick to be Found in your Holiday Foods!

Good Afternoon,

Today I want to discuss the magicks to be found in foods we normally eat during holidays. In truth any celebration, typically involves food of some sort, whether it is snack foods, appetizers and finger foods like at Superbowl parties, birthday and cocktail parties or full, multi-course meals like one would find at Christmas or Easter dinners, Thanksgiving or Sunday dinners.

Historically food has been associated with magickal energies since the most ancient of times. It is not surprising, since the substance of food gives life, nourishment and satiation when consumed. Anything that can 'give' life and makes one feel so good afterwards would be bound to have magickal associations given to it by the ancient peoples who once inhabited the tribes and villages of the Earth. These people saw the magick inherent in the plants, trees, grasses, crystals, minerals and herbs of the land. Many still attribute a 'magickal' quality to the consumption of the food at meals today, when they take a moment to say grace before eating the food. This spiritual practice is simply a magickal incantation, which are words spoken to invoke a desired effect from a spiritual realm.

Let's look at some magickal qualities attributed to various holiday foods.

Meat - There are very few magickal qualities associated with meats as the ancients ate very little meat.  The meat that was consumed like beef or swine (pork, which was a sacred meat to the ancient Celts and Druids) was only consumed a few times a year at a Major Sabbat or two. There were a couple of reasons for this, if a village had a few cattle or pigs they would use them for milk, in reference to the cows and the pigs were extremely hard workers when it comes to tilling an area to prepare it for planting. The earliest time for the development of agriculture, the planting of seeds and plants to be harvested by humans was 11,500 years ago. Before this time people were gatherers and would gather what nature provided, where and when it was provided.

So, the magickal qualities of meat is primarily sacred energy, and thanks is given to the God and Goddess for the provision of meat.  Scott Cunningham retells a story told to him by the publisher of Llewellyn Worldwide in relation to meat. A woman contacted the publisher and told him she was under psychic attack. Someone had cast a spell on her, she couldn't eat, sleep, was losing weight etc. He asked her if she was a vegetarian, she replied 'yes'. He told her to eat a hamburger. She did and her 'attack' ceased and never returned. It is possible she was lacking in protein and needed grounding energies, which meat will provide. Meat also helps us stay in touch with Earth energies in a way simply fruits and vegetables and grains do not. I do not endorse any specific diet, that is totally up to the individual and their sense of what is right for them, but I found this story very interesting as to what our bodies and spirit needs at any given time.

Breads - Bread has been a staple of the human diet for thousands of years. It is found in every, earliest, ancient culture.  It can be simply made with very few ingredients, the simplest recipe contains just flour, water and eventually they added salt. This would make a flat bread (unleavened) that was a staple for centuries for many Egyptians and those in the Middle East. Eventually a simple ingredient which was a by product of brewing ales and wine making, yeast, was introduced making bread much more like what we recognize today. In ancient time, due to the association of grains and fours with the Goddess and Gods of the Earth, breads were important and considered sacred during birth events, death events, when a new home was inhabited fresh loaves of bread were considered the perfect housewarming gift bringing protection, love and abundance to the new household. Eating bread together at a meal had the 'magickal' ability to bond the diners together and became known as 'breaking bread'. The most simple of meals consisted of bread and water, wine or ale. This most simple of meals eventually became the sacred act of consuming cakes and ale in Pagan circles also known as communion in Christian religious practice.

In seventeenth century England, midwives would place a loaf of bread on the bed of a woman in labor to prevent the theft of the mother and child. In modern day Greece, men would pack a piece of bread before going into the Army and engaging in battle for protection, whilst field workers n Greece would bring a roll or hunk of bread with them. They wouldn't eat it with their lunch but only when they returned safely home at the end of the day. Some cultures will take a fresh baked chunk of bread, ripped from a loaf, and dipped heavily in salt and place it in a place of honor in the house, such as the dining room table, to protect the house from harmful, evil spirits.

Pies - Many celebrations have desserts for the enjoyment of party goers, and pies have been a favorite in Europe and America for centuries. It is the ingredients found in many pies that together can be considered magickal spells when eaten. For instance, pumpkin pie, with the ingredients of pumpkin squash, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and sugar, along with brown sugar and or molasses, all combine to make a love spell especially enticing to men. Whereas the ingredients in apple pie, apples, cinnamon, sugar, mace and nutmeg, when combined all become an attractive love spell which attracts women.  By giving a slice of these pies to a possible love interest it may help them perceive you in a favorable light, but it will not cause them to fall in love with you, if it is not meant to be.

You can make sugar cookies with fresh lavender buds (flower buds only) added and baked into them and give them to a friend or family member you may have had a falling out with. It can help heal the riff if you so desire.

Eggs - Eggs are eaten for spirituality, fertility, magick and abundance. Eggs have many past cultural associations of healing, protection, divination, money drawing, to name but a few. We still often incorporate eggs into our festive feasts  from deviled eggs, egg bread, quiches, frittatas or omelets for celebratory breakfasts and brunches. In contemporary magick, I have found, having fresh eggs in the household, especially at the beginning of the year will bring abundance, health and happiness. Be sure to throw away any old, or rotten eggs before the New Year or you could draw into the household unwanted energies such as depression, sadness, anger and unhappiness.

For many cultures, many foods are consumed at different festivities during the year to draw in good luck, wealth, happiness, good health and many more wanted energies, such as:

In the UK, eat Mincemeat Pies for good luck on New Year's Day
The Asians eat noodles for good luck on Chinese New Year's
Pears are consumed on Thanksgiving for good luck
And for general good luck throughout the year eat at anytime:
Red Beans and Rice,
Pancakes
Sauerkraut
Bananas
Coconut
Green Foods

Foods for physical strength in the body are the same foods that provide magickal power. The energies are the same. Some of these strength/magickal power foods are:

Chocolate (my favorite!!)
Coffee
Pineapple
Dates/Figs
Honey
Meat/Proteins of all kinds
Salt
Sauteed foods
Spicy foods
Tofu
Tea

Grounding Foods, especially good after any ritual/spiritual practice, when very stressed out and 'in your head', when feeling 'spacey' or not in touch with the physical plane, these foods might help:

Potatoes/ root vegetables like carrots, beets, turnips
beans/grains
cheeses
eggs
dense proteins like meat
peanuts
pasta dishes
tofu

There is so much material that covers the magickal energies found in food and most of them come from different cultures and eras, this is just a small sampling. Having just celebrated Christmas and Yule, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, we have all recently enjoyed traditional and comfort foods we remember from our childhood. Sometimes that is the greatest magick of all, the warmth and peace, comfort and memories the foods bring to you, as you celebrate with loved ones. Enjoy!  




© 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.

Do You Know the Magick to be found in your Christmas Celebrations?

Happy Yule, Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings!

Everyone seems to celebrate something this time of year, and with good reason. You see the earliest mid-winter celebrations started many centuries ago in an attempt by man to keep the breath of life going in the deadest of times on the Wheel of the Year.

That what we are really celebrating, the birth of the SUN, as after the Winter Solstice, the Sun starts to shine longer, albeit imperceptibly at first, but longer, and longer everyday.  The ever shortening days of winter now over as we start to move in the other direction. A direction that will bring us to Summer.

But, even though we know the days are growing longer, we still have at least three very harsh, cold and "dead" months to get through. For the ancients, the winter also represented dead, in a much more intimate and personal way as many that were sick, elderly or the very young often perished during the harsh winter months. The ancients used sympathetic magicks in much of their lives. Sympathetic magick is simply having or doing something representative of what you want to happen.

Our modern Christmas celebrations are chock-full of ancient sympathetic magicks, and many are not aware of them. Let me tell you about some of the ancient magicks found in our modern Christmas:

• The evergreens brought into the house, or used in decoration outside of the house. Christmas trees, wreaths, evergreen garlands, even holiday flowers and living plants brought into the house. All of these symbolize the ancient people's desire to bring "living" green life into the home. Greenery that didn't die, so to speak. Even today, with flowering plants such as poinsettias, Christmas cactus, Cyclamen, paper whites, Amaryllis. All plants that the ancients would not have recognized, but we have cultivated them to be brought inside during the dead of winter for the exact same reason the ancients would adorn their homes with evergreen everywhere. To bring life in during the dead time of the year. Sympathetic magick being, if you had fresh living plants, and evergreens in the home, death wouldn't visit.

 Many are not aware of the full cycle of the Christmas/Yule tree. It would be chopped down and brought into the village square or into a home during the Winter Solstice. Then during the Beltaine celebrations, it was used as the May pole, then after it was well aged for the rest of the year, it would be used as the Yule log. A piece of the Yule log was retrieved from the fire, and saved to rekindle the log during the next year's Yule fire.

• Do you burn candles at Christmas time? Candles have been used for thousands of years to dispel the evil forces of the night and the harmful spirits that would lurk in dark corners. The first candles were most likely used in a practical sense, to simply light up a darkened area so one could see what was happening and where they were going. After a time, ritual and magick started to be associated with burning candles and we still use candles in today's modern witches spells.  And yes, even in the Church, when you burn a candle for a person, ask a Saint or God himself to look over a person, or to fix a situation favorably, this is a spell. Spells are not evil, or wrong, simply misunderstood. I bet you have done a candle spell, probably several times in your life! If you have ever blown out the candles on your birthday cake, you are performing an ancient candle spell that is over 5,000 years old!  Placing candles on your dining room table, in the colors of the season, red, green, silver and gold and burning them, will succeed in drawing love, abundance, good health and happiness into your life for the upcoming season. 

• Some people, at this time of year, burn incense or enjoy the incense burned during church services, especially Frankincense and Myrrh. These two resin incense have been used since before Biblical times, especially in ancient Egypt during mummification and other funerary rituals. They are quite magickal indeed and were given for their magickal purposes to the baby Jesus because it was known to the religious scholars of the day that he would need protection from harmful forces. Burning these resin incenses today succeeds in raising the vibrational level of a room or area, in effect, creating sacred space. Of course the witch does more work to assure her sacred space is ready for magickal workings, but anyone can burn this combination of  resins to create  peace and tranquility not normally found in an area. 

Next week we'll talk about the magicks found in the food and drink normally reserved for the Christmas/Yuletide season! 

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.

A Contemporary Witch's Way of Celebrating the Holidays!

Father Christmas/Green Man


Good Afternoon,

Well the holiday season is upon us, and many witches celebrate the upcoming winter season in a variety of ways. With owning a witch shop, one gets a pretty good view of how others choose to celebrate. Some witches have disregarded the "Christmas" part of the holiday and celebrate Yule, with a celebration on the 20th or 21st of December and treating the 25th a just a day off from work. Others due to work requirements and such, celebrate Yule, just on the 25th when almost everyone gets the day off to spend with family. Some still celebrate Christmas, and still others celebrate both! Yes, you can celebrate anyway you choose.

 Many witches and magickal people whom I have met have bad feelings about Christianity and the Church and don't wish to be associated with it. But in my view, if we stop to think about it, what has the church or Christianity actually done to you, that is so bad? Now, yes, there are those who have an actual bad experience or memory that causes them to dislike the church. But many of us, don't. We just dislike what the institution of the Christian Church has done over the centuries to so many. Some, today, actually wave the banner of hatred and disgust against the Christian church as if they are on a crusade! My personal feels are, I try not to hate anyone, I might hate actions of cruelty and neglect, but the actions, not the person.

I wasn't brought up in a religious household, but like so many in our country, we celebrated what would be considered Christian holidays, like Christmas and Easter. In our family we would have a big family dinner and all the trappings of the holiday at hand. For Christmas, there would be presents, a tree and decorations and lights around the house.

I have had my years with just celebrating Yule as a younger witchling (just getting started) and of course, like so many others, absolutely appalled at the history of the Church against the pagan population in Europe. A few years of celebrating on the 21st and just treating the 25th as any other day. But I felt as if something was missing.

And over the years, my life as a witch has evolved as much as my practice of witchcraft. In the beginning we read all sorts of books, take classes and learn from others. But eventually, if you stay on the path long enough, you must branch out and start doing it your own specific way. Make the lifestyle your own, not someone else's. Like spell casting, where you get to a place where you start writing your own spells, designing your own recipes and making magick that is completely your own. You do this by observations and seeing what works for you and disregarding that which does not work for you.

Yule Log

So over the years I have become what I would call a hybrid Witch. Enjoying the tradition of both Pagan and Christian traditions. For truly, especially in the United States, we have the luxury of celebrating exactly how we choose to. For me, and I don't make the assumption that my way is the way for everyone, shudder to even think that!! But, for me, I love the idea of a Yule log, whether burning in the fire place or the yummy chocolate cream filled rolled cakes one might find on the buffet table for dessert.

Yule Log dessert

I also have a Christmas/Yule tree as it just doesn't seem like the season without one. The decorations can be as Christian or Pagan or sentimental as you like. It's also a really nice way of incorporating both faiths on one tree, especially if there are both Christians and pagans in the family, no one will feel left out.

Christmas/Yule tree

One decoration I like to put out every year in a special nativity scene. I had collected the white bisque porcelain figurines for several years and my husband made the manger of the creche, so that has sentimental value to me. And the scene itself highlights a time when all the world was pagan and is on the cusp of the new religion being born into the world. And while many could argue that many bad things have happened over the centuries in the name of Christianity, it can also be argued that many good, charitable things are being done everyday in the same vein.

I like my nativity scene because when I look at it, it gives me peace and hope for a better day in our world.

Nativity Scene

It is important to remember that a holiday like Christmas is predominantly a holiday of memories and tradition. We often think back to the Christmases we celebrated as children and the memories that they invoke often come back to us as adults. We might see the ballet of the Nutcracker every year as tradition, or watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" because we've always watched it! We might be surprised that a Christmas movie like "It's a Wonderful Life" still brings tears to our eyes, but it is the memories that really make our holidays. The memories from yesteryear and the ones we make today.

So celebrate the holidays the way that feeds your soul. If you want to bring some part of the Christmases of your childhood into your current Christmas celebration, there is no one to tell you no! Or if you wish to start a new tradition and make your holiday season different from what you experienced as a child, that is just fine too!  It should be about what makes you happy, in the end.

So, especially if you are new to the craft, think about what makes you happy in observance of the Yuletide holidays and decide what you wish to do. If it make you happy, it can't be wrong.


Peace and Happiness! Ms. Faith



© 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.