The Contemporary New England Witch

The Contemporary New England Witch
Author Ms.Faith

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Ancient Magickal Techniques - Using Candles


Greetings My Magickal Reader,

We have covered many ancient magickal techniques over this past month from using hair, stones, music and todays discussion will cover the ancient magickal technique of using candles. When I use the term 'magickal technique' it covers the tools, supplies and the actual usage of such tools and supplies.

Before candles were developed, candles as we know them to be fashioned with a wick in the center, rush lights were used and were made from sheaves of reeds dipped in animal fat and set on fire. Yet before candles in some areas of the world, around approximately 4,500 B.C.E. years ago the first oil lamps were created in countries that used oils such as olive oil. Then approximately 3,000 years B.C.E. candles were credited to the Egyptians who took scrolls of papyrus and rolled them tightly and dipped them repeatedly in animal fat, inserted a wick in the center and burned them, resembling closely the candles we have today.

The concept of magick surrounds the candle / oil lamp because before this time, the darkness was a handicap to deal with for everyone in the nighttime. Many times one would have a fire or even more than one but when one went to bed or even moved a few yards away from the fire, the darkness surrounded them. The idea of being able to hold a light and carry it with you was magickal and would quickly have come to represent keeping the spirits and harmful things that hid in the dark away, thus bringing a sense of protection to surround the one carrying the light.

Originally the first candles were made from animal fat, primarily beef tallow, but that made for a smoky, smelly darker light and the candles dripped and often when blown out flaming globules of fat were a danger of catching the surrounding area on fire. I have often wondered if this may have been the origin of our now common practice of never blowing out spell candles but always snuffing them out? Perhaps a habit of safety that hearkens back to a time in the long distant past?

At a later time the Egyptians had started using beeswax for their candles, at least the Royals did, as it was much more costly to obtain, and prepare, but burned cleaner, made for a brighter flame and smelled sweeter. The poor were still subject to using the tallow candles if they could afford to make any at all.

It is very hard to find early written evidence of the use of many magickal techniques, as so many written works, if they were written down at all, were usually destroyed by the invading forces of a civilization which overtook another such as the Roman Empire, or eventually the Catholic church which tried to eliminate that which did not adhere to their desired version of historical events.

I find many of the earliest magickal, or call them spiritual or religious techniques are readily preserved in the bible, most especially in the Old Testament, again most especially the versions of the Old Testament that are the first 5 books of the Torah called the 5 books of Moses, that have not been adulterated and revised as in some Christian bibles. They present not just religious teachings but historical information of legend that can tell us so much about a time when magick and miracles were considered one and the same.



Many do not realize that in Jesus's time it was a common practice for 'religious men' be they called Priests or Wise Men who would go door to door knocking and asking the inhabitants if they had need for any magick to be done on their behalf? During this time it was common to cast healing spells, curses upon those who had caused you harm, protection spells, most especially legal spells, and many others.

Magickal practice was as common then as going to a physician is today. It was not frowned upon or considered evil or bad. It was considered something that was part of regular society and people lived in a world that understood that magickal forces were around them everywhere.

It only makes sense that candles would also be used for magickal purposes. Many old candles have been unearthed by archaeologists that have been found with pins stuck through them for some unknown ancient purposes. Candles have been found in cess pits, in tombs, and in unearthed foundations of abandoned ruins of ancient churches.

I have found early Catholic church dictates that made it forbidden, that colored candles never be used in church or by Catholics, but only white candles, as colored candles donated Pagan practice, which tells us a lot by this simple rule of the new Church. So it is apparent that Pagans were using colored candles before the Catholic church took hold and that was approximately 600 C.E. when Pope Gregory unified the Catholic church in Europe. Now the church did exist a bit before this time, but it was truly empowered and came into full strength in the 7th century, along with most of it's new rules, regulations and newly enacted sins.

Today this most ancient of magickal practices, using candles for our magickal spell casting, to use in ritual, to honor Divinity, actually Pagans and witches use candles in just about any and all opportunities, allows us to touch a deep, ancient magickal place within ourselves.

One of our most ancient of all candle spells, which just about everyone has practiced and does so every year, whether they feel they are magickal or not, is the birthday candle spell. Yes, if you have ever blown out the candles on your birthday cake, you have cast a candle spell that goes back appx 5,000 years ago, this time to ancient Greece. You see ancient Greece was very close to ancient Egypt right along the Mediterranean and as such they shared and often came up with similar innovations at about the same time. Well, this candle spell can be attributed to the ancient Greek temple of Artemis.

It is reputed that people would go to the temple on a night when the moon was full, as the temple had an open space in the roof so one could see the moon shining down. They would bring small, crescent moon shaped cakes and tiny candles. They would lay out the cakes on tables and put candles all around. Then each person would light a candle, ask Artemis for a wish, blow out the candle and take a tiny cake and eat it, thus assuring the wish would come true. In a sense like an offering you would take into your body similar to our cakes and ale ceremony or the Catholics Holy Communion.

There is no doubt, just with this simple candle and moon shaped cake spell that candle magick has been around for millenia. Even today, it is not just Pagans or magickally minded folks who believe in candle magick. There are many Christians who burn candles to Saints, or for loved ones who are sick or needing prayers.  Even those who do not think of themselves as spiritual, religious or magickal are  known to burn some candles on the table when serving a special dinner for lovers, for Valentines day or an anniversary or other special occasion.

Candle magick has a long, varied history and today can be as simple or as complex as one wishes. There are entire books written on candle magick, but the best advice I can give you, is if you have candles in your possession, .  .  .  burn them.  Hanging onto them, will do you no good, unless you release their energy, by burning them.

I have an altar where I burn a candle every night. A love candle, to send love out into my world, every single night. I will also burn a candle if someone I know is sick and has given me permission to burn a healing candle for them, or for some other special reason. What you send out will return to you on one level or another. This is one way to do that. A most ancient of ways.




Live, Laugh and Always Love, Ms. Faith






© 2010-2017 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 receive the link to the most current weekly blog post send me an e mail with your email address. You will receive a new blog post weekly. If you ever wish to unsubscribe to this blog, please contact me and you will be immediately removed from our list.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Ancient Magickal Techniques - Using Music

The Divje Babe Flute - 67, 000 years old

Good Afternoon My Witchy Readers,

 When we practice magick today, conduct rituals, celebrate Sabbats, web-weave with other like minded magickal people we often have 'new age' or 'witchy' music as an accompaniment or background to our festivities.

It is almost impossible to go through a day in our world, in our society without musical accompaniment. From listening to the radio in our cars, to television commercials, to the musical score that flows through each and every movie we watch, to the background of every video game and phone app game you play.  Every television show, whether it is a news show, a sports show, or a sit-com, they all have a musical theme song that starts and ends each show.

That is not even mentioning the nightclubs, bars, churches, restaurants, and of course concerts and casinos, malls and supermarkets we frequent. Actually music is around us all of the time, so subtle so many times we are not even away of it. We take for granted that music will be there, and when we find ourselves somewhere without the music and chatter of humans the silence can be "deafening."

This discussion started as I was contemplating the origins of music created by humans and when it would have started being used ritually/spiritually in our world. I find we must go far back into the mists of time back to prehistory, back to the dawn of paleolithic times, where archaeologists and music-archaeologists have come to some very interesting conclusions where they have found prehistoric cave paintings in caves, in areas of caves where the resonance was optimal and 'pitch perfect' if you will, than in other areas of the cave.

This has been proven to be the case in not one, but in several caves and in any areas where cave paintings were found, and some of these paintings were in very unusual places, very difficult for humans to access and seemed to make little sense as to why they would be placed there, but when the resonance was determined to be musically superior in these locations it seemed to make more sense as to why these remote locations may have been chosen

Ancient flutes, carved by human hands from bones made from bear bones, bird bones and other animal bones have been found, one being as old as 67,000 years old found in Slovenia. Understanding how humans lived back then, spending every waking moment in the employment of staying alive. Hunting and gathering food and animals to be made into food, clothing and other items for purposes of sustaining life. Crafting shelter and tools, and doing all that needed to be done to ensure life and survival for oneself and ones tribe or village. The Divje Babe Flute, 67,000 years old is believed by some experts to be the only musical instrument associated with the Neanderthal culture, whereas other experts feel that the use of musical instruments by the Homo Sapiens and not the Neanderthal is one reason the Neanderthals became extinct and the Homo Sapiens flourished, but we will never know for sure. We can only speculate.

It seems activities such as making music would be more directed towards ritual practice, which was to thank the Creator, rather than making music for festive entertainment and fun.  We have much evidence by unearthed early Goddess figurines that early man felt it was a Great Mother figure, who was the Creator of all of life. I have written earlier about the Achuellian Goddess who has been carbon dated to between 800,000 and 1 million years B.C.E. (Before Common Era) and is the oldest human crafted artifact ever unearthed, to this date.

Some of the oldest musical instruments to have survived to this day, including the above pictured flute The Divje Babe Flute, and this flute dated to 35,000 years old
were all created during the time of an era where artistic culture began to develop and became very significant among human tribes that interacted among each other on the earth. This time was between 70,000 and 30,000 approximately years ago.  This is when most of the early cave art paintings were first developed, the regular practice of crafting and wearing of jewelry was undertaken, Many more Goddess figurines were being crafted, such as the Willendorf Goddess  (crafted between 28,000 - 25,000 B.C.E.) which again falls into the window of the artistic cultural era. It makes perfect sense that this level of human creative development would include the development of musical understanding.

In the earliest books of the Bible, the Old Testament, there is many references to music and musical practice in relation to honoring God and celebration of the Spirit. Many have heard of King David and his use of music in religious ritual and historians ascribe the 150 psalms of the Book of Psalms from The Old Testament, attributed to King David,  as the poetry most often set to music in Western civilization than any other. We have heard of the trumpets that brought down the walls of Jericho, which were really rams horns called shofars, and whereas their melody may be questionable they were absolutely music played for divine, religious spiritual purposes.

There are some music-archaeologists who feel the first concept of music struck early prehistoric man when he felt his own heartbeat. as the oldest musical instruments made by mankind to be found date to 165,000 years ago and are percussion instruments.
Percussion stones  165,000 years old

Now, many believe the very first musical instrument was the human voice, but after that, the banging and rhythmic beats kept by banging and striking objects against other objects, making a rhythm or a beat in a manner to resemble the heartbeat may have been one of the first musical making instruments made by prehistoric mankind.

Whereas these percussion stones were used to strike and bang and to make noise of a sort, the oldest skin drum ever found, so far, is an elephant skin drum found in the Antarctica dated to 37,000 years old. Here is a portion of this ancient drum pictured here:
It was preserved during the ice age.

Pan Pipes are at least 30,000 years old and date back to the ancient Greek Culture:

The bull roarer also known as a rhombus or a turndun is an ancient ritual instrument and with the loud sound it makes was also used as a way to communicate over long distances. It was used in ancient Greece in rituals and dates back to at least 17,000 B.C.E.



Aside from musical instruments you might be interested in the earliest known written musical notes and those are found here in this cuneiform tablet from Iraq, and dated to 2,000 B.C.E. with these notes specific to strings on the Lyre. This tablet represents one of the earliest melodies ever found.



During later cultures we have well documented ritualistic musical practice where some ritual groups would go into musical frenzied dance to create an element of magickal power and to raise their energy. Some use music to aid in meditation, to go into ritual trance, to tap into the magickal energy to aid in our rituals and our spell casting.

Music still today is used in churches to raise spirits, to touch the energy of the Divine, used in rituals of Pagans as well as every spiritual and religious group typically found in this country and around the world. What is today called religious is also known and was in ancient times known as magickal.

There are times when singing a song I can feel the energy of the Divine overtaking my spirit and overtaking my entire being and I am filled with an energy and a power greater than myself. This is what the ancients felt and what we so often feel today. The best thing about music is you do not have to be in a sacred space to create this phenomenon, because music works by its very vibrations on the airwaves and by doing so, it creates sacred space simply by the notes being played, wherever you may be.

Something as simple as ringing a bell to start a ritual, three small notes, can start an amazing magickal energy that builds and accumulates until we release the cone of power to be sent off to manifest in the change we wish to make.

Humans have known the power of music for thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of years and the magick of music is with us still.


Live, Laugh and Always Love,  Ms. Faith








© 2010-2017 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 receive the link to the most current weekly blog post send me an e mail with your email address. You will receive a new blog post weekly. If you ever wish to unsubscribe to this blog, please contact me and you will be immediately removed from our list.

Monday, June 19, 2017

Ancient Magickal Techniques - Using Stones



 Rose Quartz


                                                                                                                    
Good Afternoon My Magickal Reader,

Many people these days use or have heard of the use of stones, crystals and minerals for magickal, ritual, or spiritual even healing properties. Yet most people are not aware that the human use of stones go back thousands of years, even more than a million of years.

We know that the first humanoid species used stones to create tools, such as some stones struck against others creating sharp edges which could be used as cutting edges, and the creation of other tools, thus the human creative era called the stone age. But, these stone tools were made and used in practical, necessary, functional manners.

One of the earliest ritual or magickal uses of stone I can find in my research is the use of red ochre, which is a form of hematite and was found to have been used by Paleolithic man (Old Stone Age) when preparing the bodies of their dead before burial.  They did bury their dead or entomb them deep in caves, but before doing so, they pulverized the red ochre into a powder and when mixed with water, created a paint which resembled blood and they painted the bodies before placing them back into the body of the Great Mother earth.

We see the creation of Stonehenge in Western Great Britain which dates from the Neolithic period, (New Stone Age) as another example of a ritualistic, magickal or spiritual use of stones. There are thousands of stone circles still in existence all over Europe to this day as well as cairns. Cairns are piles or mounds of stones which seem to have their origin in ancient Scotland, and cairn is an old Gaelic term which means  heap or mound of stones.  They first originated as a grave marker for people who had been buried,  as a common way to keep wild animals from digging up the corpse to attempt to consume it.



Crystal Quartz


Cairns were later used as border markers for properties but rather than simple stone walls which would have sufficed, the mounds, or cairns, were placed at compass points or intersecting spots along the property lines.  Some legends hold that people would place protective items under the stone cairns like an item of silver, a shoe, a witch bottle, or something from a local specialized tradition or legend and lore which was supposed to bring protection or to prevent some harm like lightening or a tree from falling on the property and causing disaster.

Another very ancient magickal, ritualistic use of stones is the Jewish tradition of placing stones on the gravestone of a deceased loved one. My research turned up an ancient legend which interestingly shows that the actual origin of the gravestone or headstone we see today in a cemetery was started by this tradition.

Malachite


As the legend goes, a Jewish man broke the Sabbath by trying to solve a crime where he placed a note. Later, he felt guilty for breaking the Sabbath, though it was necessary, and decided his punishment should be his grave should be 'stoned' after his death. So, the tradition of placing stones on a grave became popular.



Thus the tradition of Jewish people placing stones at the head of a grave in honor and remembrance of their loved one became a tradition. After a time, the pile or mound of stones at the head of a grave was eventually morphed into the headstone or gravestone we are familiar with today. And Jews today still will place small stones on top of the headstone in this tradition.  This dates to Biblical times or even before and of course is a legend and as such is difficult to prove and must be looked at as myth as much of the earliest legends.  I present it as yet another ritual way of how stones were used by a culture thousands of years ago and are still used in a similar way today.



There are other legends surrounding stones and graves where legend says that people would place heavy stones over the graves to prevent the spirits of the dead from rising and walking in spirit form among the living.

It is a legend that ancient Roman soldiers would carry Tiger's Eye stone, some carved with certain symbols, into battle with them to provide protection for them.

In ancient times, the stone we know today as Peridot along with other stones were known  as Topaz. These stones were kept in the home to prevent fire and accidents from happening in the home.

Any stone you find that has a hole in it, not man made but caused by natural means is called a Hag stone and is considered extremely lucky and magickal to have in your possession. Hag stones like many magickal, superstitious items from the distant past have a dual legendary purpose to both keep witches away and to ward against witchcraft as well as to be used by witches and aid a witch with her work.
Bloodstone


It simply depends on the viewpoint of the person using it and their beliefs.  Hag stones could have been used to look through into other worlds, as a divination device, a portal into the faerie world. It was reputed to prevent nightmares, ward off curses, sickness, the evil eye and to allow the possessor to really "see" another person without magickal glamour surrounding them.

Also throughout history we have heard the legends of the sorceresses using their natural crystal balls, within which they were able to see the future for their client most notably a King or Queen, and semi precious stones have been treasured and considered as valuable as money, if not more so, than gold in just about all ancient cultures from the ancient Egyptians  to the Incas to the Asians, from all corners of the world.

Some cultures would powder the semi precious stones and use them as cosmetics, some would ingest them, some would use them in magickal potions, on ritual altars, on ritual tools and religious artifacts and relics. Everything from sarcophagi to tombs to temples to inner chambers of the Pyramids would be encrusted with stones, crystals and minerals mined from the inner earth.


Rhodochrosite


We have decorated crowns and diadems of royalty, to tipping scepters to weighing down necklaces, bracelets, torques, and rings of ancient rulers and people of power and importance. Emperors, Kings, Popes, and the very wealthy have always had stones of some significance, some of special importance, some of superstition, some of supposed curses or good luck.

Silver and Gold representing for millennium, the Goddess and God, to Amethysts, Malachite, Carnelian, Hematite, Jade, Quartz Crystal, Citrine, Blood stone, Tiger's Eye, Rose Quartz, Lapis Lazuli, Pyrite, Jaspers and hundreds of other stones found all around the world. Some were easily picked up off of the ground to some being mined from deep within the earth. Some were cracked open within geodes, to those being found growing inside of caves, have always enchanted and awestruck humans with their beauty and seemingly mystical, magickal and possible potential to make magickal change for the person who held the precious stone within their grasp.


Lapis Lazuli

Where we have the Blarney Stone in Ireland where people need to hang upside down to try to kiss it to attain a semblance of good luck, and hundreds do so every year willingly,  we can also see the magnificent Hope diamond that has been owned by the richest and most famous of celebrities and has brought nothing but death, sadness and tragedy, but hundreds flock to view it in a museum yearly to dream and wonder.

Stones have been held in special regard by the earliest humans. Perhaps because by their very nature, stones are permanent and never die, never waste away, never biodegrade. You can pick up a simple stone and be holding a piece of earth that is a million of years old. I believe some people take comfort in the stability and longevity that they find and feel in holding a stone.  I feel humans have felt this way for millenia. Perhaps we always will. For even after we have passed away and have turned to dust, stones will remain. Steadfast and shining in their beauty.



Live, Laugh and always Love, Ms. Faith











© 2010-2017 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 receive the link to the most current weekly blog post send me an e mail with your email address. You will receive a new blog post weekly. If you ever wish to unsubscribe to this blog, please contact me and you will be immediately removed from our list.

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Ancient Magickal Techniques - Using Hair


Good Evening My Witchy Readers,

This month I am going to present to you a short series of discussions which will focus on some ancient and unusual magickal techniques and or objects or materials not normally considered magickal. Like tonight's material, hair. Actually hair has had many magickal attributes attributed to it since the earliest biblical times, and is mentioned magickally numerous times in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.

We all remember the famous story of Samson and Delilah and how she robbed him of his strength by cutting his hair and that way he was able to be overtaken by the Philistines.  And in the New Testament when Mary anoints Jesus at Bethany (John 12:3) 'Mary therefore took an expensive pound of ointment, made from spikenard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.' After anointing his feet with the special ointment, the only reason to wipe his feet with her hair was magickal in its totality. It was known, and still is, that the hair holds an electrical charge and it can be released into what it is rubbed against to enchant or charge or 'bless' if you will.

Yet most of the stories throughout history focus on taking the woman's or the witches magick and power from her by cutting her hair, In many very old cultures, from Greece, to Rome, other European cultures, coastal Mediterranean cultures the most magickal hair on a woman's body was the underarm hair. In various legends any hair from pubic to head hair even body hair was considered powerful, as those accused of witchcraft in ancient times often had their entire bodies shaved before trial and subsequent execution.  If the hair was not considered powerful and magickally dangerous it seems that such a laborious step would not be taken and the accused would simply be tried and put to death.

It is interesting that one of the first 'spells' was considered to be braided into women's long hair. It is the only 'hair style' considered unacceptable' in the Bible for a woman, and it is mentioned because of the adornment but hair had been adorned in much more elaborate ways even before then, but the braided hair being considered a witches spell was known back then and was forbidden. The reason is because it was a common fashion for Pagan women.

The braided hair containing spells were common among Pagan women who used magick in their day to day lives. We see the braided design used again and again in the Celtic designs in their elaborate knot work, as seen in their jewelry, their clothing patterns, and in later times in stone carvings in their cemeteries and in sacred texts. Their knot work itself was magickal by its very nature and it is braided by design, so it is not hard to see a strong coloration to a woman's hair braid, which ancient Celtic queens and royal women were often depicted on coins, that have lasted through the centuries.

During the Victorian Era 1837-1901, mourning hair jewelry became very popular, especially as funeral pieces. Loved ones that had passed on, some of their hair would be harvested by a family member as the body was prepared for the funeral service, which was typically held in the family home, and different jewelry varieties, all unique, would be made from the hair of their loved one. These pieces would be kept as a keep sake or a talisman as a way to keep the loved one close and protected.


I do not think, in this day and age that hair jewelry would be a big thing anymore, but there are magickal ways we can continue to use our own hair to create magick and to cast spells to make needed change manifest.

You can use the ancient Celtic concept of braiding a love spell into your hair as long as you think of yourself and the happiness and love that will come your way. Only think of another person if you have asked that person and have received their permission.

You can use some of your hair from a hair brush of yours to help bind something of yours to you and to keep it in your possession. If you have a pet, that has a collar with a pocket for a tag, you can tuck a bit of your hair inside to help keep your pet from wandering too far away from home.

If you find a car at a dealers or an apartment for rent you really want, you can leave a small bit of hair behind to make circumstances better for you to be able to come back and take possession of your car or apartment.. Now, that is, if you are supposed to actually move into that space or buy that car. If there are other energies working, most likely energies you may have already put into the universe  that have determined you are meant to go in another direction then that will happen. But your hair can help keep your 'item'' waiting for you until the time is right.

You might just need a couple of weeks to get the last of a security deposit or to get approval from a bank or something like that, so the placement of the hair just keeps things waiting for you, while others are not kept from buying a car or apartment, they simply find themselves attracted to other choices.  It is much better that you do not know of any others who are interested just to be sure you are not manipulating any others. If your dealer or realtor starts to tell you of other interested parties stop them immediately and tell them you do not want to hear of any others.  Besides, they only do that to pressure you anyway, there is no real reason you need to know of others interest.

Of course, some of my readers who may be more mature or nostalgic may remember when it was a more common thing to wear lockets, and at times one would put a lock of hair from a loved one within the locket to wear close to your heart. Actually, being one of the only body parts (if you will) that one can carry that would not be considered creepy or just downright weird, it still will do as it has always intended to do, carrying hair in a locket would keep your loved one close to you in spirit and energy. It does not matter if they are alive or passed on, their energy would be just as strong, carried this way.

Ancient women in most ancient cultures were considered young and innocent when they had short hair and when their hair was long and luxurious, it indicated a power and wisdom, experience and knowledge. Women back then were respected and revered.  When the witch hunters came, the witch or woman accused of witchcraft was always stripped naked, her entire body was shaved of all hair including her head  and in this fashion, completely naked and shaved, in front of hundreds of jeering, gaping, scornful, accusing people, she would be brought before a bank of 3 to 10 or more judges and tried. Many times in a language she did not understand.

Many of the 'witches' were country women, from small villages,  who had little to no formal education and worked on their small farms who were accused and brought into the larger towns.  Not knowing the formal language of the day, be it Latin, or formal French, or courtly English, only knowing the dialect of the countryside she resided in, she was unable to defend herself and was not allowed any legal defender, no witnesses in her defense and no defense of any kind except the opportunity to confess. Most did so, hoping for the forgiveness afforded the sinner that confessed her sins, but that was normally given over her body after it had been hung, burned or stoned to death.

All of this spoke of a great and deep abiding fear of the woman, even a simple country, village herb woman and the believed power she held. A power so great that she needed to be stripped of everything but her very skin to try to take as much of her power away before her life was taken.  This happened again and again, hundreds of thousands of times, for well over a thousand years before the grip of fear of the witch finally loosened. It has only loosened because of the advent of modern, rational, reasonable laws preventing these actions from happening again.

Yet, the fear of the witch and the woman still, insidiously exists in our society to this day and we can see it, if we look very closely.  We also see it in older women being told by the media and fashion magazines and men!! that shorter hair as they get older looks better on them. I myself have heard men say, older women look better with shorter hair. Hmmmm, really? I wonder why? Maybe because an older woman with wisdom and longer hair is just too much for a typical man to handle?


I will be discussing other ancient techniques over the next three discussions over the next week or two.


Live, Laugh and Always Love,  Ms. Faith







© 2010-2017 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 receive the link to the most current weekly blog post send me an e mail with your email address. You will receive a new blog post weekly. If you ever wish to unsubscribe to this blog, please contact me and you will be immediately removed from our list.