Things Your Local Ethical Witch Will Not Do For You

Good Afternoon My Witchy Readers,

Although many of my regular readers already know about the ethics a witch is obligated to abide, there are always new readers who just don't know the truth. I was recently browsing on the Internet looking for some magickal websites and I saw some Satanic sites listed.  I started looking at them to see what kind of information they were sending out and it was a bit sad to see they often use the term witch.

In my opinion, a Satanist is just that, a Satanist, not a witch. Semantics aside, I saw so many websites and now full YouTube videos teaching people how to conduct black magick spells and as always, in the dark realm, they promise the practitioner the world! They promise, not just that you can become wealthier than anyone else, get any beautiful man or woman you want (regardless if the person wants you! Eeewwww, can we say stalker?) But, they promise that you can destroy your enemies, bring harm to others, and wreak havoc wherever or whenever on whomever you want.

All I can say, is simply scroll down social media lately. There is so much anger, hatred, prejudice and blame being thrown around, that if any of the above were real? The world would implode as all of these angry, hell bent people gave into their childish temper and did spells to bring down everyone else. But, if you will look around you, you'll see this is not the case. Sadly, these websites and videos cater to those who feel helpless, hopeless, and so very unhappy with their life, that they feel in such misery only by sending out more misery and hurting others can they themselves be healed. This attitude borders on the fringes of mental instability.  I strongly advise, if you see yourself in these words above, that you seek out competent psychiatric help.

By this time you are asking, but what can my local witch do for me when I have an issue or problem?

Well, let's discuss what a witch that follows ethics and has a care about their karma and others and what we can and cannot do.

• We cannot instruct you as to how to change others in your life. As much as you absolutely feel you are right and they need an attitude adjustment. That is not up to you and crosses a boundary. You can only change yourself, you attitude and if the people or person is so uncomfortable to be around, you have free will. You can divorce them, move, get another job, or do spell work that will help you step up to another level and deal with them in a better way. 

This one issue above is probably the stickiest one to come into my store or classroom. Over the years I have had students, and customers leave Enchantments never to come back, simply because I would not teach them how to manipulate others. Many times, it would have only taken the student/customer to voice their issue to the person in question, but they prefer to do it behind their backs in a sneaky, magickal way which equals black magick. That never works the way the practitioner wants. It always comes back in a bad way to the one who cast the spell.

• If a person should dabble in black magick and becomes embroiled in their own nasty magick, pretty much a curse they intended to send to another, but it always wraps around the practitioner, a witch cannot undo this. I once had a  customer who had gone to a 'witch' and together they cast a love spell on a man this woman wanted. Good news! She got him. Bad news! When the relationship ended badly, a short time later, he became he stalker and had physically attacked her several times, almost killing her twice and she spent the rest of her days in hiding. I haven't seen her in a number of years now. But when she did tell me the story, she really wanted to undo the spell. Unfortunately, while I wanted to help her, she was cursed by her own magick to live out the consequences. 

• We will also not lie to you, at least the Witches of Enchantments will not. I cannot speak of any other witch or to their own agendas. But we insist on being honest with a customer or client, even if it negates a sale. For instance, someone might want to clear their home of negative energy so we recommend they smudge with a desert smudge stick. It will indeed clear the stagnant, negative, frenetic energy out of the building. Yet, if the people that live there are constantly angry, miserable, depressed and sad, the negative energy will build up again. 

Magick can and does change a person's life for the better, but it is up to that person to do the work necessary to make those changes. Look at it this way, you decide how you wish your life to change and magick simply greases the wheels to make the change smoother and more easy to accomplish. 

• We cannot tell you how to cast a spell that would manipulate another or cause someone to fall in love with you. Ah, but our love spells work very well. The key is you cast the spell and only see yourself, happy, loved, cared for. You are not allowed to visualize another, as that may negate the right person coming into your sphere. In addition, we will not advise you on how to get an ex lover to return. That would have to be done with their permission. We are not allowed to cast spells on another without their full knowledge and permission. 

 

• We also will not heal you. You need a doctor for that. We can sell you magickal stones that will help you on your path to healing your body, mind and spirit, but that is as far as we are allowed to go. 

• We do not bless people or things they bring in. We may be Priestesses but we are not Catholic Priests. We feel that you, yourself, are far more effective with charging or blessing your object. 

• We will not proclaim you a witch. That is a personal choice and if you feel you are and wish to call yourself one that is fine by us. We do not pick and choose who we think are witches or not. That is a totally personal choice. 

• No, we will not cast a spell on your wife, husband, ex lover or boss. But we will chuckle along with you simply to be polite as we have heard that request far too many times. 

• We cannot tell you what or who you were in a past life. That is up to you to explore with a past life regression. It's important to know, others also cannot do this. If someone comes up to you and without your asking tells you that you were an Indian Princess in a past life, or something about your future, or that a loved one that has died has a message for you, get away from them. A professional witch or psychic does not approach a person without their permission. Yes, a psychic may indeed have a message for someone, but they may not be in a place to hear it. It is up to them to seek out this information. 

• When we meet you, no we can't tell things about you, your future or what you will be eating for dinner that night. Perhaps if we were doing a reading for you, we could tune into it, but when we are not doing readings we turn off that channel, simply so we can function and do what we wish to do. 
  

• We do not cast spells for people. We will show you how to cast a spell for yourself, as it will be more effective when you do it. We also will not take money for spell work done. We charge for spell kits that you take home and do yourself, but we cannot be bribed to do a spell for another. 

• We also will not choose a magickal stone for you. We encourage people to touch the stones and crystals and choose the ones that feel best to them.What feels right for us may not be right for you. 

You might have noticed a pattern so far. We teach people how to use the magick within them as that is the secret for effective magick. There is a reason that the industry of witches doing spell casting for others fell by the way side years ago. The spells cast just did not work.  Especially when money exchanged hands. Unfortunately, the Internet has brought this scam or con back into living existence because it is so easy to promise a helpless, hopeless, in some cases desperate person everything they wish for, only for a fee. The money is sent and indeed, maybe a candle is sent to them or a bar of soap or something of the like, and when the customer realizes nothing in their lives have changed, the website is no longer accessible or the email address is permanently disabled. 

If you wish to dabble in magick, please stop by our store and talk to one of the Witches of Enchantments. You will get realistic, truthful magickal advice and we will not lie or lead you on. If we can help you we will try, if it is a situation where magick will not work, we will tell you. 

Have a magickal week! 

Peace and Happiness

© 2010-2016 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 'Grounding'

Good Afternoon,

Today I want to talk to you about 'grounding'. It can be called by other names but many magickal practitioners call it grounding. Many times it is done at the end of the ritual, by putting our excess energy into the ground by placing our hands on the ground, into the altar by placing our hands on the altar, some will even lay on the ground or on a bed to help ground the energies that may have built up during a ritual.

But, the concept of grounding I am going to discuss today, is a little different. Rather than just placing your hands on the ground for a moment or two after a ritual, try going out and with bare feet sit or stand or walk on the ground, dirt or grass, not concrete or asphalt, but actual ground for 15-30 minutes. Do this every day if possible.

No equipment is needed, no incantations or candles burning, no special words needed, just put your skin in contact with the earth. It will help ground your physical, emotional and spiritual energies. It will help calm you, balance your emotions and clear your mind and help you focus. People claim to experience many physical changes with better health but try it and see for yourself. There really is something to the concept of a "tree hugger", the idea of a witch deep in the forest inside her witches cottage working magick. Well, you can get that magickal feeling without moving into the depths of the forests, by finding a piece of earth and lay on it, stand on it, sit in a nice comfortable chair and place your bare feet on it. You will notice a difference.

As I write this, I am reminded of a trip I took last September to New York City with friends. We  went into the city for dinner and a concert, and got into the city early so we walked around the west side of Manhattan for a few hours. As we walked along, we passed a walled area that on top of was a small section of green, real grass. The area couldn't have been more than a dozen or so square yards of grass. Very small from a suburban concept.  But every inch of grass was taken up by people laying or sitting, just enjoying the sunny autumn day. But I found it funny in a way that people that didn't know one another, but were as close as they could get, just to have a piece of the earth, the grass. Truthfully, that was one of the only pieces of grass I saw in the city. We didn't go to Central Park, but on the West side of Manhattan those people were engaged in grounding, even if they didn't know it.

Try grounding, this is the best time of year, as in winter it is more difficult to enjoy this pastime. There are other ways of grounding in the winter time and we can discuss those as we get closer to that time of the year. Let's not rush things!

Grounding is a simple, yet effective way to bring needed change into your life. You don't need to make everything ritualistic, complex and difficult. The best magick is that which is done easily, naturally and which flows out of you only to flow back in. This is one of those types of magickal activities that you can do which is easy, beneficial and will make a difference. Of course if you wish to meditate while doing this, that is great.

If you do choose to add to your grounding experience you may choose to hold some semi precious stones. Good ones for this grounding practice would be green agate, moss agate, leopard skin jasper, mugglestone, and tiger's eye are all good choices.

If outside, if you like incense, you may choose to burn a stick of your favorite incense. Use the time to sense your energy as it flows through your body and feel it flowing deep into the ground and feel it flow back into your body, returning back and forth.  Imagining, visualizing the energy flowing into the ground and then slowly flowing back into your body.  Do this for 15-30 minutes a day.

Do this for a week or so, and for many, it will become something you start to look forward to doing as it makes you feel so good afterwards. Give it a try and Happy Grounding! Ms. Faith



Peace and Happiness




© 2010-2016 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 Witches Pyramid - New and Improved!

Good Afternoon,

Advanced magickal practitioners have heard of the Witches Pyramid, To Know, To Will, To Dare and To keep Silent. Yet, as things progress and times change, so should we. Modern practitioners have added another layer to the pyramid and that layer is To Go.

This pyramid is important to consider and think about should you be interested in "picking up the broom stick" and walking the path of the witch. Let me start by saying a scared, weak, fearful individual will not succeed on this path unless they work at making many changes. As much as our religious freedoms are protected in this country (the United States), it is a foolish witch that thinks everyone will be warm and welcoming once they find out about her/his beliefs.

My research has shown me that the Witches Pyramid's origins originally called it the Four Pillars of the Witch, as well as the "Magician's Manifesto" out of hermetic teachings as well as "hermetic quatemary".  Of course these older titles all reference the pyramid with only four layers, whereas today it has been given a fifth.

Many beginner students of witchcraft and magickal studies either never learn of the Witches Pyramid, or if they do, they quickly read about it and then set it aside, more interested in other aspects of the magickal world. But, in truth, the more you sit and study and think about these layers, or 'lessons', if you will, of the witches pyramid, the more your magickal world will open up and develop.

The base, which is also the foundation and largest layer of the pyramid is "To Know". Think of the construction of an actual pyramid. No matter how big or small, if the base were not the largest piece, considering it's shape, it would topple over. This is true, as far as I am concerned with magick. To Know is not a suggestion, but an absolute necessity. Seriously, if you don't wish to, or won't spend the time to really learn the magickal principles, the scientific principles of magick in all it's aspects, then stick to blowing out birthday candles once a year on your cake and hope for the best.

Unfortunately, there are those in the 'magickal world' who simply want to dress Goth or Bohemian, witchy if you will, dance around under a full moon (usually with wine or other liquor involved, burn a candle and call themselves witches, and that's pretty much the extent of it. That's O.K. for them, and you also if that's what you want to do. And you can call yourself anything you'd like.  But, for those who wish to live the life of a witch, to be and live and exist as a magickal being, there's more work to be done. To Know, speaks of the learning, studying and practice that is required of the witch. You simply must know your craft. The study and practice is also called 'The Craft of the Wise", and witches were at one time called the "Wise Ones". This should still hold true today. Be sure you are casting circles, writing down in your Book of Shadows, following the esbats and the Sabbats, casting spells, working with the Goddess and God, all of this and more is part of living a magickal life. Those that live this way know, it is not a dress up party, it is not a temporary play, it is their lifestyle, it is the life of a witch. 24/7. If you are not there yet, do not despair, you will get there. Keep practicing and it will happen. This layer corresponds with the element of Air which governs the intellect and knowledge.

To Will - This is the next layer of the pyramid. And this one is more about the magickal manifestation you will achieve as you practice and live the life of a witch. To create needed change in your life by using your magick. By using your will. Now, I don't mean you force things to happen by forcing your will upon the world. No, I mean you use your magickal will, when you cast a spell, cast a circle, conduct a ritual, work with the Goddess. We never force our will on anyone or anything, we magickally extend it in the areas we need it to go. And, by doing so, by sending it out, it returns back to us, with our magickal goal manifested.  This layer corresponds with the element of Fire which governs discipline and courage.

To Dare-  This next layer is again important and can be one of the most difficult layers for the practicing witch. The times when you  might be challenged about your beliefs, or have your practice and lifestyle scoffed at or misunderstood. Sometimes it is beneficial to spend a little time explaining to someone how they might be mistaken, and again others it is best to just give them wide berth and care not if they misunderstand or don't wish to know the truth. Sometimes it can be daring and difficult to simply walk away, and realize it is not your purpose to correct the entire world as to their misconceptions. To realize that some people don't wish to hear the truth as the misperceptions, rumors and lies are so much more sensational and they are vested in their erroneous beliefs. Another aspect of the layer of daring is to be strong enough, brave enough and sure enough of yourself to cast strong, confident spells with self assurance. Weak intentioned, half hearted, uncertain energies mixed into your magick will manifest the same for you. You need confidence, empowerment and daring to create effective magick that really works for you. This layer corresponds with the element of Water, which governs emotions and asks us to focus on our emotions and work our magick with balanced emotions.

To Keep Silent-  This layer hearkens back to the time when any mention of magickal workings, spells or ritual would not only have the practitioner arrested and hung, but friends, family even simply acquaintances could be put to death because of association with the witch. You simply did not speak of the magickal world and if you did you knew how dangerous it was, even when speaking about such things with your own immediate family. This layer has changed over the years and now there are many opportunities and times when one should speak out and help educate those who wish to learn and understand our ways. So the term 'To Keep Silent" should now read "Know when to speak and when to keep silent" and follow through accordingly. This layer corresponds with the element of Earth. Strong, steady, silent and supporting. But for the magical ones, even the Earth speaks when one is able to listen.

To Go - This fifth level has been added in more modern times. This level corresponds with the Spirit, while the other four levels correspond with the physical world of the elements. This last level encourages the magickal practitioner to go forth and change their world and the world around them with their magick and magickal practice. To go forth and practice, study, and live the life of a magickal person. For all of the magickal study and contemplation is really of no use if one doesn't go forth and use the knowledge you've acquired to help change your life for the better and the world around you for the better.


Each and every layer discussed here can be further explored and delved into much more deeply than the brief description I've given each of them, but that is work for you to do. It would be an excellent idea to have a few pages in your Book of Shadows dedicated to the Witches Pyramid and your own personal insights into these concepts, as you contemplate and notice how each one manifests in your life and magickal practice.



Peace and Happiness






© 2010-2016 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.

Understanding Your Responsibilities as an Empath

Good Afternoon My Witchy Readers,

I am not going to start this discussion by asking you if you are an Empath or not, pretty much everyone is. An Empath is the root word of empathy. Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. An Empath is just that, a person who is sensitive to the feelings of others around them.

The reason I didn't start by asking if you are an Empath or have empathy is, unless you are clinically psychotic, you are and you do. Everyone is born with this extra sense. Actually, it is one of the reasons our species has survived as long as we have. Having that extra sense to 'feel' the energies around you can and does warn us of danger so we can get out of harm's way, helps us bond with loved ones so we can procreate and perpetuate the species. It helps keep us alive, safe and happy.

I have met people who have introduced themselves to me as "I am an Empath!" and I kind of wait a moment for the sound of thunder. Haha, but seriously, to me, it is the same as saying "Hi, I am a human!" also, no thunder. It's lovely that you know this, that you are an empath, as many people don't. But .  .  .  it is what you do with it, that is key.

You see, there are two sides to the Empath coin. On one hand, you absorb the energies and feelings of those around you, you process them and for some people they actually will take on the sense of feelings from the other person. If the person is sad, or happy, or excited or depressed you might feel a sense of those feelings for a while yourself. That is the receptive side of things. Bringing the feelings of another person into yourself.

But there is another side of this con. It is the projective side, the energies and feelings you project into the room you walk into. When you walk into a room are you smiling, happy and full of energy and light? Or are you grumpy, stand-offish, with a leave me alone attitude? Maybe you simply come into a room neutral? That is possible. But if every time you walk into a place, where you work, your home, a place you spend time with others look at their reactions. Are they happy to see you? Or are they hesitant and stand-offish? What we send out we receive right back to us.

I'm not talking about one person who may be dealing wit their own issues. But if everyone seems to have the same reaction, every time? Then they are reacting to your energies you are putting forth. Working as a witch, we deal with the energies of just about every thing around us. Every natural thing, from herbs, stones, crystals, foods, people, animals. Everything that is a natural being.

We work to sense the energies around us, and then use that information in ways that can help us achieve our magickal desires. It all comes down to energy. The energies around us. Yet, as much as we use the energies we find around us we must be responsible for the energies we send out.

In our society today there is a lot of undesirable energies we may encounter.  We may encounter people who gossip, speak badly about others, try to cause drama or trouble with their words, people who lie or do other non-loving actions. We, as beings of light, magickal people, we are understandably repelled by those energies. The one thing people who come to this path often fail to realize, is they may be sending out these negative energies themselves. Simply 'picking up the broomstick' and stepping upon the magickal path does not make you Glinda the Good Witch of the North.  No, work is required for you to strip off those un-desirable elements, and to change bad habits, to stop looking at the world through negative eyes. Work is necessary to stop yourself from being jealous of others, of having personal low self-esteem, to directly face your 'shadow' self and bring yourself into the light.

Simply calling yourself a witch, will not do this. I have been on this path for a long time and I have met many, hundreds if not thousands of magickal people. Some are indeed, true beings of light, and some simply wear the witchy clothes, talk about the spells they have cast and continue to be unhappy, un-magickal, unenlightened and mundane people. Don't get me wrong, you can call yourself a witch and continue to be all the things you were before you discovered witchcraft, but that is just using words and not living the life altering and life enhancing lifestyle of the witch.

You create your reality. In turn, you create the magick or lack thereof in your life. Only you. No one else. You cannot walk this path and then point fingers of blame on that one or those over there or your teacher or your spouse, your children etc. for your life not being as you wish it to be. It is all up to you.  There will be, of course, those who will continue to cast blame on everyone other than themselves, but they simply do not get it, or even understand what it is all about, to live a magickal life.


Peace and Happiness, Ms. Faith






© 2010-2016 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 Truth about Clearing Energies by Smudging with Sage!

Good Afternoon,

I wanted to send you an additional discussion this week, as I have been asked may times lately about clearing with sage.

Fist and foremost, one needs to use the proper sage. Not every sage will cleanse an area of stagnant or negative energies. The picture above is of desert sage also known as sage brush. This is the sage reputed to have energy clearing properties and should be used to smudge a home or business, even people can be smudged.

My research over the years has led me to many places, the places of magickal origins, rather than just the say so of this person or that. For even the most sincere individual can perpetrate misinformation if they do not check out the origins first. My research led me to understand that desert sage is the sage of legend that will remove and clear out harmful, negative energies. This comes from the Native American tradition of burning the prairies and after scorching them, new growth, flowers and plants would grow and bloom.

But, back in the early 1970's a book was written in which the author mentioned the clearing qualities of sage and he referred to it as 'white sage'.  Unfortunately, he did not go into detail and many people, especially on the East coast, mistook what he said and thought it referred to the white garden sage or clary sage we grown in New England. That was not what he was talking about.

So, over time, many, many people started to grow garden sage and bundle it up and sell it. It is very inexpensive and makes a person a good profit, if only it worked that way. Burning clary sage can be used for love spells and to communicate with spirits that have passed over, but it does not clear an area of negative, unwanted energy. Many who have tried this, using the simple garden sage have been disappointed and have felt it was just a hoax. It is not. One simply must use the right ingredients.

This next photo is a picture of desert sage bundles. Look at them closely:

You will see they have thin, needle like strands. Next is a picture of a bundle of garden or clary sage:

You see how this bundle has wide leaves? This is a bundle made from common garden sage or clary sage. It will not work at clearing an area. The plant this sage comes from looks like this:

A completely different plant from sage brush or desert sage. It has it's uses, to be sure. It simply does not work as those who sell it and perpetrate the myth wants you to believe it does. It is important to know your supplies, ingredients and tools when working in the magickal realm. This is also why I caution my students against getting too much information from unproven, unreliable websites. You can get good information from reliable sources online, you simply need to do research before buying into everything you read.

Also, in addition, the price of the garden sage bundles and the desert sage bundles vary greatly, with the desert sage being more pricey. This is because it does not grow in this part of the country and it needs to be harvested at the right time of the year. Common garden sage can be grown indoors or out and is cheap and available year round. But that doesn't make it work! There is a financial obligation to working your magick and if you try to scrimp and always buy the cheapest, your magick will come out that way also. There is no reason to go broke practicing magick, but realize some supplies and ingredients cost more because of their rarity or the method in how they are developed.

Essential oils are a good example. You can find aromatherapy, blended oils online, cheap, cheap. But that doesn't make them essential and they will not work the same. And no, you cannot manufacture your own essential oils. Simply because you need a distillery to do so, and in many cases hundreds of pounds of flower petals to make a significant amount of oil. Our houses are not big enough for this process. So it may indeed cost from $10 to $20 for a dram or two of essential oil, but the good news is, it never goes bad or rancid and you normally need only a few drops for a spell or potion. I hope this discussion clear up some misconceptions concerning using sage to smudge and cleanse.


Peace and Happiness!



© 2010-2016 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.

Advice for New Witches from an Experienced High Priestess

Good Afternoon my Witchy Readers,

Well, I certainly got the cauldron stirring lately, haven't I? There have been some, just a few, who have taken offense to my most recent post labelled "Why Witches do not need to hex or curse."  My Goddess, you would think I took away a toy from an over tired toddler!!

My viewpoint and advice comes from over 30 years of being a magickal being, a practicing witch and a High Priestess of Wicca. But one certainly does not have to listen to my advice if they choose not to. This topic segues  nicely into today's discussion, as I am going to give some advice to those new to the path of the Witch and to the Craft.

In regards to the comments I have received, one, fairly intense and nasty individual (and that is why I did not publish their comments) asked why I think my Wiccan rules and laws applies to others, who may not be Wiccan and wish to harm and curse. To answer, they did not read my words very carefully. I did not say much about the Wiccan ways and rules, as much as I discussed Karma. Be very clear. Karma has no religion or spiritual boundaries. What you send out returns to the sender. That is not by definition a Wiccan principle, but a Universal one. It is like gravity.  Pick up a pencil, hold it in the air, open your fingers and it will drop. Every .  .  .  single .  .  .  time.  There is no religion surrounding the pencil. You don't have to believe in a pencil God for gravity to work. There is no wish or prayer or spell or commandment that will stop that pencil from dropping once you've released it. See what I'm trying to say? It does not matter what you think, feel, desire or believe. If you send out harm, it will return back to you! In truth, everything you send out returns back to you. It is a true witch that understands and respects this.

The nasty person also wanted to know how I knew the witches in the Midwest did not get the rape victim's permission to cast an evil hex on the rapist and the judge. Simple. They do not publish rape victims identities and they did not do so in this case. Again, toddlers, screaming mad, that they don't get to have their way. As far as I am concerned they can cast all of the evil hexes they choose. Just do not call yourself a witch, a wise one. You are simply a non magickal person burning black candles and voicing ineffective incantations. You have no right to compare yourselves with those who choose to do good and not evil. And yes, casting hexes and curses is by it's very definition, evil.

But now, enough of this nonsense, let me get back to my witchy readers who are truly serious about what we do and want to lean the proper ways of doing things. For those new to the path, or perhaps you've been dabbling in magick for a while there are some things you need to have in your magickal cupboard. So use the following checklist to fill out your supplies, tools and reading materials:

A witch creates magick. We do so in a magick circle. Before you can cast a magick circle you will need the following basic tools:

• An altar (please note the correct spelling of altar) This can be a table, a cloth on the floor, a flat rock outdoors, even the railing on a deck or porch. Just a flat surface to place your magickal tools. An altar, in witchcraft, does not take on it's own sacred energy. It is simply a surface to do your magickal workings on. For instance you may use your kitchen table, cast your circle, do your magick, then put everything away and serve dinner on it. It is not a shrine, unless you choose to make it so. 
• An altar pentacle. This is a pentagram surrounded by a circle. It can be made of metal, silver is most common, copper, brass etc. It can be made of wood, stone, it can even be on a piece of jewelry you take off and place in the middle of the altar for your ritual. 
• Elemental representations: You will need a small bowl of salt to represent the element of earth which resides in the North. A vial of powdered incense to represent air, located in the East. A cauldron or censer with a charcoal briquette to represent fire and place it in the South, and a bowl of water to represent water and it is placed in the West. The bowls for the salt, water and incense do not have to be special, but many people look until they find something just right. You can always switch them out for a nicer bowl when you come across it. Remember, once you start to practice magick these tools will be used by you for many years to come.  
• Candles: A Celtic (pronounced Kel-tic) based circle and ritual, uses candles set around the perimeter of the ritual space in the cardinal directions. N, S, E, W. Use a compass app on your phone if you do not know your directions. The candle colors, typically, are Green for the North, Yellow for the East, Red for the South and Blue for the West. Having a nice stand or pedestal in each corner provides a pleasant place to set your candles. These candles represent the elements, and may also be called the Watchtowers, The Guardians, The Old Ones, as well as other names. They stand for the elemental energies that we work with in a circle. So by now you see the elements are represented on the altar as well as around the circle. Inside and out. 

          You will also need candles on the altar.  My coven or group uses three candles to represent the Goddess. A white votive to represent the Maiden aspect of the Goddess, a red candle to represent the Mother aspect and a black candle to represent the Crone.

• You will need an athame (which represents the God) and this is a two edged knife used to direct energy, similar to a wand. You may use a wand if you'd like. 
• A bell, to ring before and after the ceremony
• A candle snuffer to safely extinguish the candles (no blowing out of the ritual candles) 

This is pretty much it. You may add whatever you'd like to your altar in addition to these required tools and supplies. You may wish to put flowers, a God/Goddess statue, magickal stones and crystals, whatever makes you happy. It is your altar. 

In addition to the altar/ritual rooms tools and supplies listed above, you may wish to have a Book of Shadows. Do not go out and look to buy a published Book of Shadows. Oh, not that you will not find one, there are a few that have been published. But that is someone else's magickal workings. Your Book of Shadows is a notebook or a journal within which you record your magickal workings. These are by far, much more special and powerful, because they are yours. 

At Enchantments, in the first year of Magickal Studies, we work on five magickal goals. Five goals that everyone can relate to and everyone can see needing a bit more in their lives. These five goals are love, money, health, protection and tranquility.  Please leave healing others and doing magick for others aside, until you learn more. A lot more. Do spells, only for yourself. 

To start stocking your magickal cupboard you will want to have some oils,herbs and candles for these five magickal goals. 

Love-  For love spells you can use oils of Rose, Ylang Ylang, Cedarwood, and Cardamom to name but a few easy to acquire oils. Herbs to use can be:  Garden sage (as found in New England also called Clary Sage) Lavender, Jasmine, Geranium and Cinnamon.  Candles for love spells can be red, pink, and gold. 

Money and Abundance- Oils for money and wealth spells can be Patchouli, Bergamot, Chamomile, and Galangal. If you have a hard time finding these oils, the same herb as the oil can be used. Candles for money and wealth are green, gold and silver. 

Health and Healing (again stick with working magick on yourself. If you are not a licensed doctor you have no business trying to heal someone who is sick) 

Oils for health and healing:  Calendula, Arnica, Clove, Frankincense and Corn Oil to name a few. Some herbs useful for health and healing are Eucalyptus, Rosemary, Peppermint, Orange and lemons (the actual fruits) and Cinnamon. For candles, the colors of blue for emotional health and healing and green for physical health and healing. You may use both candles at once if you are in need of both emotional and physical healing. 

Protection-  Oils, geranium, frankincense, cedarwood and sandalwood. Herbs for protection: Angelica, Bay leaves, Carob, Caraway and these can be carried with you. Candle color for protection is the traditional black candle. Important while burning to visualize a white ball of light or energy surrounding you. 

Tranquility- Oils for tranquility are lemon balm, lavender, patchouli, balsam fir, chamomile are all excellent for calming and relaxing. The same herbs can be used in spells calling for tranquility. Candle colors are purple, blue and silver. 

Some excellent reading materials to help you start on your way to practicing witchcraft: 

Mr. Scott Cunningham, who passed away in 1993 was and still is one of the most published authors in the magickal realm. His books seldom go out of print. He was the first to come up with encyclopedias for the magickal properties found in natural items such as his encyclopedias for "Crystals,Gem and Metal Magick ", "Magickal Herbs" and "Incense, Oils and Brews" and these are still excellent references and I highly recommend them. 

I also recommend  "The Witches Bible" By Stewart and Janet Farrar, "The Power of the Witch" by Laurie Cabot, and "The Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft" by Raven Grimassi.  These are books still available today which will get you started and answer a lot of questions about the magickal world. I could, indeed, recommend older books published in the 1960's and 1970's and perhaps in a future discussion I will. But those are primarily for historical purposes and while they give an excellent history and discuss witchcraft in ancient times up to modern times, the books I have mentioned above will actually allow you to start making magick and casting circles, conducting rituals and all the rest a new witch is looking to do. 

I will also recommend my book "Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts, First Year Magickal Studies" which covers a good part of the first year curriculum at Enchantments School. This is available on my website www.enchantmentsschool.com by mail order and also in Enchantments Witch shop. 

Well, today's discussion  started with a bit of magickal ethics in working magick, covered some basic tools, supplies, ingredients and books a new witch would benefit from having in her magickal cupboard and now all that's left is to start! I have, sadly, met too many people who have read up on the magickal life, waiting and wanting to start practicing but hesitating from doing so because of all sorts of fears, worries and doubts. Put those aside and simply get to the business of working magick and before too long it will be a lifestyle. A way of living and not just something you do occasionally.  And that, my witchy reader, is a wonderful thing! 

Peace and Happiness, Ms. Faith 

© 2010-2016 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.

Why Witches Do Not Need to Hex or Curse

Good Afternoon My Witchy Readers,

Those of you that follow me on social media will be familiar with today's discussion. But there are a couple of thousand readers of my blog on a monthly basis that do not follow me on social media and I find this topic important enough to try to touch as many readers as possible. As always, please feel free to share any of my posts or discussions with others, if you'd like.

In the past few weeks, in the news, have been various news stories that have outraged many people. One such story is of a rapist in California that attacked an unconscious woman and even though he was caught in the act and so his guilt was not in question, the judge sentenced him to a lenient six months, suspended after three months. Understandably a matter for public outrage.

There have also been those politicians who are against gun control, in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting, those who are proud to be hate filled, racist, misogynistic people who simply want to segregate, isolate and stop any immigrants from entering the country. Those that fear any that look different, have different lifestyles, different opinions, .  .  .  .  who are different.

All of this has built up and has culminated in some in the Pagan Magickal community to start publicly calling for mass hexes and curses to be sent to those who have offended them. And, most surprisingly, or maybe not, so many people have jumped on the band wagon to endorse this concept. I have seen so many that easily, without thought as to future consequences have said "Sure, sounds good! let's conduct a mass hexing!" Some have even said it sounds like fun!!!

I am  a witch who has practiced for over thirty years, and I think, in some small way, that that history of my practice gives me an insight that might evade many newer to the path. I remember when, 30 some odd years ago, I was part of a coven and we had been approached by the local newspaper, for an interview. We agreed to be interviewed, no names were used, pictures of us from behind only, no faces were shown. I even remember, before the reporter came to the door, of putting masking tape over our name on the paper box on our front step, so the reporter would't know our last name.

Why the secrecy? Because back then, and this was before personal computers, social media and tweeting (which I do believe has given people a false sense of power and protection) we were afraid. Afraid of the reaction of our neighbors, our community, of losing our jobs, losing family, friends. Just to name a few fears. And these fears were real. As Wicca and witchcraft became more common in our culture, slowly step by step, witches and Pagans that have been published authors, witches like me that have gone into our local community college to teach the history and the truth about our path, have slowly changed mass perceptions that we are evil, harmful and vengeful. We have worked to change the historical legend and lore of the evil witch, as poisoner, evil spell caster, of child killer, as succubus who was a rapist of sleeping men. There are so many historical, horrible untrue rumors and lies about us. And many people still believe these to be true even in this day and age.

But, the laws of our country, the United States of America, protect us and allow us to practice, to worship as we choose. But that freedom has been taken for granted by many today. Many new witches and Pagans have the mistaken belief that the freedoms we now enjoy cannot be taken from us. Well, the truth is, people still lose their jobs because they are witches. It might not be the reason your boss gives you, but it still happens. People are still discriminated against for being a witch or Wiccan or Pagan.

But many witches, Pagans and magickal people over the past 50 years have worked tirelessly, writing books, conducting workshops and going into the non magickal community to try to dispel the rumors ad lies. Unfortunately, with the availability of many free websites, so many are going there to get their magickal knowledge. In a word, so many websites about the magickal world are garbage. Anyone can start a website or a blog and tout their interpretation of the magickal, and they are simply regurgitating the same garbage they read on yet another website. I once wrote a discussion on something magickal on this blog, a few years ago, and one young witch commenting on social media with another young witch said " I don't get her. Just where does she get her information anyways?" Of course, this was not meant to be complimentary, but no matter.

Let me answer that question now. Where do I get my magickal information? Well, when I started over 30 years ago, I was lucky. I had only available, the very best Wiccan and magickal authors. Their works still grace my bookshelves to this day. I glance over and I see the works of Gerald Gardner, Doreen Valiente, Dr. Leo Louis Martello, Raymond Buckland, Stewart and Janet Farrar, Vivienne Crowley, Patricia Crowthers, Starhawk, Margot Adler, Raven Grimassi, Laurie Cabot, Scott Cunningham to just name the authors on the first few shelves of my magickal bookshelf.

These individuals have worked tirelessly and still do so today, those that are still with us, to help teach others about our ways. To dispel rumors and lies and explain to people we do good. We try to help others, we work magick to bring good changes into our lives and to send out love and positive energy to affect the world around us in a positive way. But those in the magickal community that have learned exclusively from Internet sources, and teachers who have had little training in the Craft of the Wise, but who teach and run covens for their own personal gain and to build their own sense of power, have in truth learned very little of our ways. We do not do magick to put us on a pedestal, to give us a false sense of power and prestige.

Now, having set the foundation for my talk, let us get to the meat of the issue.  Those in our magickal community that have called for mass hexing, or curses to be sent to those who they disagree with or who have offended them, are simply either forgetting the science behind witchcraft or have never known it. The magickal concept "What you send out, returns to you." Is not a "Wiccan" "White witch" concept, by any means. It is a Universal law that is not bound by religion or belief. It works like gravity. Whether you believe it or not. And sending out harmful energies, any energies, will simply return to you. By the way, they will not affect the intended target. And let me explain a little more about this.

Magick has been around since the dawn of time. It isn't new, by any means. There is Karma, but that is governed by God/Goddess, not us.  Frankly, if a pissed off witch or Pagan could effectively mess with someone by casting a curse or hex upon them, well .  .  .  think about it for a moment. Understanding human nature and all it's foibles, well, people would be falling down all over the place! If magick worked that way. Like the end of the last Harry Potter movie, with spells being slammed at everyone, and flashes of light exploding parts of the stone castles, and killing people and wreaking havoc everywhere, leaving everything in ruins. Um, people, that is Hollywood! A good story, but simply fiction.

Magick does not work that way! Though, there are some witches, that simply do not understand magick and how it works. They do not understand how to get personal power from magickal workings. How to work with a Goddess or God to make needed change in their lives. If they did they would never call for a mass hexing, simply because they would know it is not necessary. If there is injustice in the world, something wrong that you would like attended to, we light a candle and work magick with our Goddess, asking Her to help us in our needs and desires.

But, I assure you, something will, indeed, come out of these misguided individuals calling for a mass hexing. That will be the reinstating the rumors, lies, the fears and mis-beliefs that witches really do do evil, and cause harm. That we are vengeful and that we cast spells on others. The above magickal masters have worked for decades to try to eliminate this nonsense, and in one fell swoop, it can all be ruined. Simply because some silly women that do not know enough about magick to understand this will not work, yet they call themselves witches so lay people in the non magickal world, who wouldn't know the difference, thinks they really are able to do this. Then those who have always feared us and believed the worse can now point fingers and say "See! We were right! They are evil and do harmful spells against others!" Sadly, in one sense, they would be right.

At least one of the above magickal masters has come out on Social Media and has spoken against this hex casting nonsense and I can only hope others will also do so. The more reputable, credible and authentic magickal people to come out and speak against this attack on the magickal community's credibility and reputation, then perhaps the young, newer ones on this path may think twice about what they are planning. Hopefully they will realize that they have still more to learn and that it is an emotionally immature witch or Pagan who falls into this mistaken course of action, and only themselves will be harmed in the end.

'Throughout the world, it has been many a year since Witches have been burned. Yet misuse of the power may raise the persecutions once again.  So never break the laws, however much you may be tempted, nor ever consent to their being broken.  And if you know they are being broken, then you must work strongly against it." 

"In order to bring the ways of Light and Love and Life to the peoples of the Earth, our secrets are slowly becoming secrets no more, and it is good that this is so --  for the age of shadow and secrecy is passing. Yet the sharing of our ways is always to be guided by wisdom and by love. Let our rites and our mysteries be kept sacred. Let no one defile our worship or our heritage. For the defilement of our ways is an honor loss to self and for the Craft." 

-- The above two paragraphs in quotes, is copied directly from The New Wiccan Book of the Law" by Lady Galadriel


This discussion has taken me several days to compose and has been very difficult for me, as the topic is very upsetting and disappointing, to me as a High Priestess and a daughter of the Goddess. I can only hope the sense and reason in my words will touch those who are mistakenly thinking of doing harmful magicks, and instead that they will get a hold of some of the written works by the magickal masters I mentioned and learn the true Craft of the Wise and set aside the Internet sites that only feed the self importance, self entitlement and power seeking of those who do not know of our ways. Seek a true teacher. Someone who will not feed a naive desire to strike out at those who disagree with us, but who teaches that the only law of magick is love.

For truthfully, for those that know magick, they know that is the only law. Love


Peace and Happiness, Ms. Faith



© 2010-2016 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.

Now This Witch is Really Ticked Off!!!

Good Evening My Witchy Readers,

I have to discuss with you a very serious situation happening in our country today. A little over a year ago there was this woman, who was raped while unconscious by a Stanford University Freshman by the name of Brock Turner, 20 years old. He was caught in the act by two good Samaritans who stopped him and held him until police could get there. That entire situation is bad enough, but unfortunately it gets worse.

He was found guilty of the crimes he was accused of, and instead of receiving up to 6 years in prison,  that the prosecutors asked for, the judge, for whatever reason, sentenced him to 6 months in prison, to be released after 3 months. The judge was quoted as saying "A prison sentence will have a severe impact on him. I think he will not be a danger to others."  The rapist's father also spoke to the court and dismissed his son's actions as "20 minutes of action". Ridiculous? of course! Outrageous? Absolutely! There are times when our justice system does not deliver justice, as in this case. But for witches, Pagans and magickal people this story continues to get worse.

In just the last few days some misguided women, I believe in Iowa, have decided to conduct a mass hexing on the rapist and the judge. The woman who arranged it calls herself a 'traditional hereditary witch'. As well as "very powerful and her hexes and spells absolutely work".

Well, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride! Without getting too deep into the science of witchcraft, and it's a science more than an art, just think about it, just for a moment. If we could hex anyone we felt entitled to, that we disagreed with, that had offended us, hurt us, or wronged us in some way. If we could really harm them in return, well .  .  .  considering the nature of humans, it would be like the end scenes of the Harry Potter books and movies where everyone was slamming curses at everyone else and all hell was breaking loose. Stone buildings were exploding, flashes of lighting was killing people left and right, I mean .  .  .  really??!! Alright now, I am now seriously ticked off! And that takes a lot for this witch!

This foolish, inexperienced, emotionally wrought woman (who I am hesitant to even call a witch), has absolutely no idea of what she is talking about. None! And I am confident in saying that. Because I know how the science of witchcraft goes, and it doesn't do a damn thing to light a black candle and incant a hex three times on someone. What WILL happen? Nothing to the intended target. But it will come back on her and her silly coven. And she put it on social media! Oh goodie! And over 1,000 other people who may or may not be magickal people but wanted to play at being a witch for a moment also jumped on the band wagon and at the same time, a day or so ago, all lit black candles and said a few words. Am I making light of this 'evil' spell? You bet your cauldrons I am! Now, there are ways to do spell work to right wrongs. To bring justice about in an unjust situation. Absolutely. But this isn't the way to do it. Also, a witch truly worth her magick? Well, she certainly wouldn't put it all over social media. That simply strokes her ego and gives her her 15 minutes of fame. And it makes her spell far less effective.

But, please hear me out. She did succeed in doing extreme damage .  .  .  ah, but not to the rapist. No, but to all of the real witches in this world who have worked tirelessly over decades to bring respectability, reason, understanding and credibility to what we do in the eyes of our communities. We have worked to help the environment, our Blessed Mother Earth, to help the animals, to help the unfortunates, to help those with serious issues in their lives and to show people how they can work a little magick in their lives and create needed change, for the better. We have worked to teach those who are not of our ways that we are not evil, we do not hex or curse others, we do not seek to harm others. We simply wish to go about bringing beauty, love and a better world to others and ourselves.

She, and I will not mention her name, because she has enjoyed enough notoriety on the backs of real witches, that she doesn't deserve to have her name mentioned ever again. But she has hurt the craft, in many ways. she mentioned she wanted to give women, who felt helpless in this situation, regarding the judges decision, some power. She wanted to send love and kindness to the victim. But what she did was take the entire focus away from the victim and focused it on her and her evil coven of childish, inexperienced women.  And most importantly, did she receive permission from the victim to do any magick on her behalf? That is first and foremost the most necessary requirement. I can tell you she did not, because the victim's name was not released.  So her little revenge spell also violated the victim in yet another way, she wasn't given the opportunity to say whether she wished for this to happen on her behalf. As witches, WE DO NOT get to decide for another if we can do a spell for them, no matter how much WE think it's for their best interest. The power trip this woman and her merry band of women is frightening.

Powerless? When a witch works with her Goddess she never feels powerless. Oh, there are ways to work with Her and make this situation more just and to balance the scales. But not how this woman attempted to do it. It simply demonstrated how very un-knowledgeable and ignorant of magickal ways that she is. It does scare me to think she does have a coven of women she might be teaching these non-magickal methods to.

All this woman succeeded in doing, is to prove to those in our community, that are scared of us, that feel that we do evil and hex and curse others and that we are harmful .  .  .  that they are right. She has made a mockery out of real witchcraft and Wicca the religion of the Witches. There have been so many wonderful, magickal and knowledgeable women and men over the past 5 decades that have worked tirelessly teaching, educating, conducting workshops and lectures, spreading the word of our spirituality and goodness, our desires to heal the world and not to bring harm and they have done an excellent job. I myself have been accepted and respected n my community in Southern New England by most of the people I encounter.

I have lectured at various universities, civic organizations and groups as well as churches and women's spirituality groups. I teach at my own school, men and women who are interested in learning the real practice of the magickal practitioner and learning to create needed change in their lives, gently, with flow and grace. The true path of the witch is to bring awareness not harm, understanding not hexes or curses, a willingness to work within our community and with our natural world not to punish and act like a petulant child when a decision made does not please us.

The witch, at the very least is practical, resourceful, innovative and clever. We have ways of making our magick work without needing to curse or hex others. This woman and her coven and their actions have done nothing but hurt themselves along with all of us.  I have contacted the the media, television and newspapers alike, but I do not think I am a sensational and outrageous as they like. I am simply a natural witch doing what comes naturally and always following the Rede "An it harm none, do what ye will."

I find it interesting how many 'witches' nowadays choose to set aside the Rede and regardless of harm caused or intended, do what they will anyways. But what they do not understand, the Rede is not a suggestion to be followed or not. It is the very definition of Karma. Oh and some young witches do not wish to believe in Karma either. But those that truly understand, know that karma is like gravity, there is no way around it. It simply is.

I am saddened by the media's jump on this sensational, totally erroneous fantasy, this woman has perpetrated and indeed, she probably truly believes she has the power to harm others, but it simply demonstrates what happens when you get all of your training from Hollywood movies, some sensational websites and do not bother to read or learn from any magickal master with years of experience and training.

If this discussion does anything, I want it to tell people who read this, that the woman from Iowa and her coven do NOT represent Wicca, Witches and magickal people, at all. She is doing what she wants to do without regard of how her actions affect others. Our actions do affect others, in many ways and as a part of a community, where ever we find ourselves, we must be cognizant of this. We do not live isolated on a desert island, and we have to take responsibility for our words, our actions and for witches, most especially for our magick that we send out into the world.



May you find peace and Happiness this day, Ms. Faith







© 2010-2016 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 Tragedy at the Tiger Temple

Good Morning,

I had initially planned another discussion for today, about candle magicks and how they sync with the magick of the days of the week. I will get back to that in just another day or so. But, a new topic, has become very important that I share with you.

The sickening tragedy of the tigers housed at the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand in a Buddhist Monastery. Now, let me initially state, that many, many Buddhist's, whether monk or not, are very often spiritual, loving and kind persons. At least the ones I have met. But as with any group or demographic of humans, there are always those who are swayed not by the good that life has to offer, but by the evil, dark forces of wealth, abundance and luxury which at times can cause a person or persons to do unspeakable cruel things to gain the monetary excess they desire.

I am afraid, this is the case with the monks at the famous Tiger Temple in Thailand. This temple has become famous with tourists from all over the world for allowing people to walk the seemingly docile tigers, have their pictures taken with them and to pet and touch these sacred beasts.

But truthfully, tigers are wild beasts that are not docile and should not be treated as a 'family'pet. After many complaints from caring, compassionate tourists who witnessed things that seemed wrong, such as regular feeding of drugs to the tigers to keep them quiet and docile, as well as the sale of trinkets made from tiger's bones and tiger skins, finally, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) raided the temple last week and rescued 137 live adult tigers. In their search of the facility they also found 40 frozen tiger cubs they believed were to be sold for various and sundry illicit reasons.

There is also a belief that the monks sold tigers for their meat to restaurants in Thailand that have tiger meat on their menu for tourists. The temple's Abbot, Luang Ta Chan, is upset by the 'robbery' of 'his' tigers. He was expected to speak of the situation to reporters this week, but instead rolled through the crowd of reporters and tourists on his gold cart and waved at the people. Hmmm, a Buddhist monk on a gold cart? That kind of puts it all in perspective, at least for me.

All he could say was the DNP taking his tigers has destroyed his life. Not one word mentioned as to the welfare of these big cats and what they had been subjected to, only his grief at losing his influx of money and wealth now that the temple is closed down, the tigers removed to a safe sanctuary and no more tourists or their money coming to the temple gates. I am sure his life as he knew it, is destroyed and what a wonderful thing that is.

When the authorities first raided this temple a week or so ago, they intercepted a truck leaving the temple with five men, three monks among them and a truck load of tiger bones, fangs and tiger pelts. These horrible products are sold to people for jewelry, knick knacks, souvenirs and other macabre object d' art.  It is truly horrible what these evil monks were up to, but it is as horrible that people buy these items without a care as to where they came from and at what cost. Right now those five men, three of them monks from the temple are under arrest. The investigation continues and more arrests are expected. The saddest thing, is now that it is all out in the open, all of the horrible treatment of these tigers has been exposed to the world, these evil monks and their helpers are still denying any wrong doing. They have been so blinded by the tourist's money and their growing wealth that they are not even able to see what they were doing and how wrong it was.

There are things we can do. Firstly, be aware. If you are someone who travels around the world know that trying tiger meat off a menu is not a rare delicacy, but an abomination. There are only 4,000 wild tigers in existence in this world today. That is bordering on extinction. Buying items made from the bones or skin of tigers simply adds demand that unscrupulous, evil people try to supply. And, it is NOT O.K. for a famous, rich, spoiled musician, actor or other celebrity to own a tiger in their penthouse or mansion. Supporting this by not speaking out and telling them it is not alright, only condones this practice. With social media today, the celebrities of today are quite accessible. You can speak for the tigers, who cannot speak for themselves.

I had a dream of the temple tigers last night. Not the living ones, but the spirits of the ones who have passed on. They surrounded me as I sat on a rock, laying around in the grass, relaxing and they want to be remembered, to be honored. I ask you to do this, in any way you see fit. You may wish to burn a candle in their memory, or to donate to an animal/tiger sanctuary. To speak out against rich, elitist, entitled celebrities who own tigers and other exotic animals without thought or care to what is best for them. You may choose to have a ritual honoring their spirits and the souls of the tigers still alive. Talk about them, tell their story to others, share this discussion, anything to keep their memory alive and to make people aware of this horrible situation. It was only by the complaints of a few people who went out of their way to make sure the proper authorities were notified was something finally done.

Apparently for years tourists and animal activists were unhappy with the treatment of the tigers, but being unhappy and refusing to visit the temple and give your money to the monks did nothing to help these animals. Speaking out, again and again, until the right person hears your complaint is what it took. And now the tigers are no longer drugged or malnourished as some reports stated. There are still those at the temple that say the tigers were better off there and not at a sanctuary, but it is only the temple's monks and helpers feeble attempt to regain their illicit pay check that is behind their words. The tigers are being fed, not being drugged, being allowed to live as tigers and not as pets for photo opportunities and to feed the selfish desires of humans. Finally they are free of the horrors they suffered. There are good monks in the world, but this is an example of some very bad, very evil men masquerading as monks who truly do not know of the teachings of Buddha or of any great spiritual master.

Please honor the memories and spirits of the sacred tiger this week. Do not let them be forgotten!

Peace and Happiness, Ms. Faith



© 2010-2016 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.

Avoiding Rookie Witchling Mistakes!

Good Evening Witchlings!

As a new witchling or magickal practitioner steps upon the path, and starts working the craft, there are some mistakes commonly made which can make your beginning practice challenging.  When practicing magick in the beginning, it's understandable to be nervous and uncertain. But having a sincere heart is key, and do not spend time worrying about upsetting the Gods or Goddesses or the Watchtowers or Elementals or any such thing. You cannot upset or disrespect them unless you deliberately go out of your way to do so.

But some mistakes made can make your magickal experience less than wonderful and can in some cases be dangerous. So here are some of the mistakes that either I have made in my over 30 years of practice or coven members have made while in ritual.

• When casting a circle, many choose to burn powdered incense on charcoal briquettes. DO NOT use charcoal meant for your BBQ grill. Those charcoal briquettes are treated with petroleum solvents and are very toxic and can make you very sick if burned indoors. Always use charcoal tabs that come in a foil wrapped packet. These are sold to be burned indoors in hookas and for incense burning. This is what they look like: 

• I started attending rituals and then conducting coven rituals in the 80's. For those who remember the 80's, Big hair was a 'thing". And Witches and Wiccans had the biggest hair going. Big hair along with lots of hair care products and hair sprays can make for a dangerous combination with burning candles, hot charcoals, and flash paper petitions. Once during a coven ritual about a dozen of us were dancing around the altar, singing, chanting and doing what witches do I saw the hair of the girl in front of me starting to smoke and then a tiny flame appeared. Without missing a step I started to pat out the fire and it quickly went out and no one was injured. We had a good laugh about 'burning witches' and how passe' it was. Hahaha Since that incident I have cautioned women, especially, against using heavy, alcohol based hair care products when attending rituals. 

• The next mistake I see new witchlings make is wanting to ingest, drink or eat magickal potions. Actually the term for a magickal liquid that you drink is called a brew. Potions are never to be taken internally. If you want to drink something, stick with teas sold as edible teas from the market or health food store.  I had a student, in the very early days that told me she was burning magckal herbs as incense,every night next to her bed before she went to sleep. I questioned her and she was going from A-Z. Thankfully, I found this out before she got to Mandrake or other very poisonous herbs.  Be aware of the basic properties of any herb or natural ingredient you use. Look up to see if it is poisonous, toxic or if it could cause allergies or other sensitivities. And do not burn every thing just because you can. Some herbs work better by burning, others by carrying them on your person, some by boiling in water and allowing them to diffuse in the steam, whereas some work best by surrounding a candle with them and burning the candle. 

• Learn the specific associations and magickal properties for the ingredients, herbs, stones, crystals, flowers, colors, etc. that you are working with. A big mistake is trying to fit everything into the same boxes, so to speak. Learn the individual magicks of each thing you are working with and then see if they compare with anything else. For instance do not try to find an astrological connection to every spell you cast. Do not try to force an elemental correlation with every magickal thing you study. Some will mesh nicely and some will not fit at all. This does not invalidate any of the magickal potential of what you are working with. It will only make it  more difficult for you if you can't be open minded enough to accept the magick as it is in each thing. 

• And probably the biggest mistake I have known new magickal practitioners to make, and the most damaging, is when they read one magickal master, like what they read and they then compare and discount everyone else that does things a bit differently. Truthfully, in over 30 years of practicing magick I have never seen two witches or magickal practitioners do things the same way. And after having practiced for this long, I have developed my own magickal ways of doing things. And after a year of study my students will in turn begin doing things in their fashion. That is the very nature of magick, it can't be stamped out cookie cutter like, but it melds, flows and bends. Becoming unique and special, like the person wielding the magick. 

• In conclusion, when practicing magick, don't be shy when it comes to asking questions. I had a student once that lit an incense stick and didn't blow it out and it burnt down very quickly and didn't smell. She said she didn't really see what was so special about incense, until I explained the proper way of burning incense. If you are working for the first time with a tool, supply or ingredient, ask someone on how to use the item. Realizing you don't know it all and having a willingness to learn will make your first few years of practice much more satisfying and magickal. 

• Practice, practice, practice!!! 

Peace and Happiness! 

© 2010-2016 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.

Witches and Healing . . . One Witch's Opinion

Good Afternoon my favorite Witchlings,

Now, to start off, some of you might enjoy this discussion and some might absolutely not. That's O.K. But the following is my personal opinion and views on witches and healing, that I have developed over the last 30 years.

Nowadays, it seems like the very second someone steps onto the witches path they want to heal others, or cast spells for others. Well, right off, that is the wrong attitude to have. Being a witch is a personal path and should only be embarked upon only because you wish to bring the magick into your life. That you desire the changes that walking a magickal path can bring to you and the desire to make those changes, thus changing your life for the better for you. It is a singularly, personal, private undertaking that should have YOU first and foremost the focus of all your work.

It is perfectly wonderful to want to celebrate the Sabbats or Esbats with other like minded, witchy ones, with each adding to the celebration and enjoying fellowship with each other. But one must be careful of the path they tread. For instance, this past weekend I conducted a lecture on crystal grids and how to construct and the use of them.  Thee were many questions and one woman was pretty determined to find out how to construct a crystal grid to heal others. She even said "Yes, but I have the best intentions. I know they need healing." Well, .  .  she didn't like my answers, but I was honest with her.

First I told her, if you are of the mind to do a healing spell for someone else you MUST have their permission and they must know you are doing spell-work for them. SPELL-WORK. A big, magickal and for some scary word. She didn't like that answer. I could tell she wanted to do healing for those she felt needed it, without their involvement. I told her that was considered Black magick. Period. If you do conduct healing for another with their permission, please stick to the magickal healing i.e. burning candles, charging crystals and perhaps burning incense.

Now, take this into consideration for a moment. Take the concept of getting sick and dying. Many who follow this path understand that we are of three 'bodies' if you will. Body, Mind and Soul. Many times, when the body gets sick, the mind absolutely wants to heal. Few people enjoy being sick. But, the Soul is really driving the bus. And at times, we get sick with something, that will be the catalyst for our transitioning out of this physical life into the next realm. That's a fancy way of saying many times we get sick and die. The great truth is .  .  .  we all HAVE to die, and shed this physical shell we call a body. If you think about it, there's an awful lot of 'stuff' going on, surrounding this transition. It is a 'sacred agreement' between our body, our mind our soul and the great divinity or God/Goddess.  Now imagine that someone else decides to get involved, without your permission! Even doctors and surgeons need your permission to try to heal you and sometimes it works and sometimes other powers, energies have a greater mission in store for you.

Now, let's say we're not so terminal that we are dying, but just don't feel good. Again, without that persons permission, you should not do anything magickally for them. Take a love spell for example. Say someone at the office you work with, but you wouldn't dream of dating them or even going to lunch with them, decided to do a love spell with you as their focus. How violated and inappropriate would that feel to you? I bet a lot. It's the same with healing or any magick really. Even the ancient witches knew that they needed to be approached by someone and back then be paid for their spell work. Today, because of the proliferation of charlatans and con men, witches do not do healing or spell work of any kind for others, for money. NOT if they are legitimate and honest. To charge and tell someone you can do a spell for them or heal them in any fashion, is being a charlatan. No one can guarantee a spell will work, not myself nor even the most advanced and practiced witches in the world.

The best way to ensure your spell will manifest is to do it yourself.  And continuing on as far as healing spells are concerned, most witches I know are not doctors. There are laws in the United States, at least, that prohibit people from doing healing without a proper medical license. I know many people are out there doing Reiki healings, and crystal healings and herbal healings etc. etc.  And in the over 30 years I have been practicing witch craft I have seen all of the above category of practitioner, either arrested or worse, sued for failing to actually heal anyone. Also I have seen 'schools' that have taught students, for a tuition, healing studies, get closed down in this state and in others. They might be around for a few years, but then the authorities come around and shut them down. For good reason. If you are NOT a doctor or a natural-path, or a holistic doctor with a degree or a pharmacist, then you run the very serious risk of being in trouble one day.

Here at Enchantments we do not teach any healing arts, only the magickal and we do not encourage any customers or clients to use any of the products we sell for healing purposes. My students actually sign a contract which states they will not engage in any of the above practices while they are students of Enchantments. In all of my years of being a practicing witch I have found, very rarely, that I ever needed to do a healing spell. I use competent doctors, acupuncture, natural-path and herbal remedies, but all come from state medically approved sources. And I do magick. I can do magick to help the medicine work better, to help my body heal faster (using candle magick) and I work closely with the Goddess to help me find the right practitioners to help me along my path.

Do I always get the healing I want? No. Not always. And then, when that is the case, I trust that there is something greater than myself at work and I try to respect that.

So, spend your time learning the magickal properties of plants, herbs, flowers and grasses. The magickal properties of resins, herbaceous and woody plants, and practice the magick. That should keep you deeply immersed and studying for several years. Then if you should still feel the need to heal others, and it's just not being on a power trip, so you can show off your magickal prowess, then I encourage you to enter a medical school where you can follow the path of the healer. Some might shy away at that, because it takes a lot of time and a lot of money. Of course it does, and it should. Taking a couple of Reiki classes or an herbal studies course and then thinking you can go out and heal the masses? I call it what it is, a Power Trip. If it's not, then you'll spend the time and money getting a real medical education.

In conclusion, there is one very real reason why one should get a medical degree before trying to heal others. Because over the years many, many people have been injured, and have died from so called alternative healing practices conducted by those who did not get the proper training nor have the proper experience to treat others. People die every day in this country, having gone to 'quacks' who promised to heal them and then a mistake was made or the wrong treatment given. For a simple example, did you know that by drinking red raspberry leaf tea a pregnant woman can miscarry? By giving a small child white willow bark tea for pain can cause Reyes Syndrome disease and they can die?

Natural does not mean safe, nor does it mean effective. Remember poison ivy is natural.  And if you eat the green plant of a tomato plant you will die a painful death. There is a lot to know on this topic, more than a simple witches training. So work on your magick and leave the healing to the experts.




Peace and Happiness






© 2010-2016 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.