Spells and Incantations for the Witching Hour Lunar Event

The witching hour is a term that refers to a specific time in the night when supernatural events are said to occur. This time is typically believed to be around midnight or 3 a.m. and is often associated with witches and their activities. During the witching hour, many people believe that the boundaries between the living and the dead become blurred, allowing for increased spiritual activity. It is said to be a time when witches and other supernatural beings are most active and when their powers are at their strongest.

When someone mentions the word "coven," you might envision thirteen black-clad, pointy hat-wearing witches dancing around a fire or cackling around a cauldron. I'm not sure that was ever the norm, but even if it was, times have changed. And covens have changed with them.

After all her followers but Dollie were hanged, Mercy gathered outcasts from the outskirts of Salem her children to counter Mary Sibley and the Elders. During the years when Wicca was the most common form of group Witchcraft practice or at least the one you were the most likely to find if you went looking , covens usually followed specific outlines.

It is said to be a time when witches and other supernatural beings are most active and when their powers are at their strongest. One lunar event that is often associated with the witching hour is the full moon. The full moon has long been thought to have a mystical influence and is often associated with increased supernatural activity.

The Many Faces of Women Who Identify as Witches

My first encounter with the figure of a witch in popular culture—apart from those in kids’ movies like Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” and M-G-M’s “The Wizard of Oz,” or in books like Tomie dePaola’s “Strega Nona” and Roald Dahl’s “The Witches”—was in a campy scene from Oliver Stone’s 1991 bio-pic, “The Doors,” depicting Jim Morrison (played by Val Kilmer) and one of his lovers, a Wiccan witch (a character played by Kathleen Quinlan, and based on the rock journalist Patricia Kennealy, who reportedly married the singer in a Celtic handfasting ceremony, in 1970). In the flickering light of dozens of candles barely illuminating a high-ceilinged chamber, the two peruse an esoteric sorcery tract in the nude, snort cocaine, slit their wrists with a dagger, drink each other’s blood, and have wild sex to the shrieking strains of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”

More than a quarter century later, the often paradoxical grab bag of clichés tied to the contemporary figure of the witch is not that far off, I think, from those shown in Stone’s movie. The witch is often understood as a mishmash of sometimes contradictory clichés: sexually forthright but psychologically mysterious; threatening and haggish but irresistibly seductive; a kooky believer in cultish mumbo-jumbo and a canny she-devil; a sophisticated holder of arcane spiritual knowledge and a corporeal being who is no thought and all instinct. Even more recently, the witch has entered the Zeitgeist as a figure akin to the so-called nasty woman, who—in the face of a Presidential Administration that is quick to cast any criticism as a “witch hunt”—has reclaimed the term for the feminist resistance. (This latter-day witchiness has often been corralled to commercial ends: an Urban Outfitters shirt bearing the words “Boss Ass Witch,” say, or the women-only co-working space the Wing referring to itself as a “coven.”) The muddled stereotypes that surround witches nowadays are, in the end, not so very different from those used to define that perennial problem: woman.

In her portrait series “Major Arcana: Witches in America,” which will be shown at the ClampArt gallery, in Chelsea, beginning October 4th, the photographer Frances F. Denny seeks to explore the figure of the contemporary witch beyond the cultural chestnuts that have shrouded and obscured it. In the course of the past two years, Denny, who holds an M.F.A. in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design (where I taught her for a semester a number of years ago), has travelled in California, Louisiana, and along the East Coast, taking the portraits of dozens of women who identify as witches. Her subjects are of diverse age, social class, and ethnicity, and practice a range of rituals, often drawing on “mysticism, engagement with the occult, politically oriented activism, polytheism, ritualized ‘spell-work’ and plant-based healing,” according to Denny’s exhibition notes. Among them are “self-proclaimed green witches, white witches, kitchen witches, hedge witches, and sex witches.” The series as a whole aims to avoid easy formulas and, instead, to exhibit the heterogeneity and individuality of modern-day witches, Denny told me recently, adding, “I’m not pinning these women down.”

In one photograph—“Randy (Plainfield, VT)”—a grandmotherly woman is standing in a lush green meadow, wearing a flower-sprigged sack dress, her hair arranged a bit girlishly in tousled white ringlets. In one hand she casually clasps a pair of divining rods, while in the other she holds up a pendulum, her gaze raised toward it, her lips upturned in a slight, self-possessed smile. In another—“Kir (Brooklyn, NY)”—a young, lithe woman is dressed in tight black jeans and a tank top, her booted feet planted firmly on a city street, a large, inquisitive-looking tabby cat on a leash at her side. And in “Shine (New York, NY),” a statuesque black woman, posed against a wall of ivy, is dressed in an elaborately embroidered coat, gazing piercingly at the camera. These subjects are all self-identified witches, and yet that fact would not be immediately or necessarily obvious to the uninformed viewer. When she first started the project, Denny read a book by Margot Adler about witches, in which the late journalist and Wiccan priestess argued that “witch” was not just a word but “a cluster of powerful images,” Denny said. “So I thought, I want to make this cluster of images.”

Denny asked the women she photographed for the series to wear an outfit or bring along an item that they felt would represent their practice and identity as witches, and some of the portraits do answer more readily to our expectations of what a witch might look like. More than one woman wears a voluminous cape; some subjects’ fingers are crowded with ornate, sculptural rings, and others’ makeup is goth-y and exaggerated—lips crimson, eyes dramatically shaded. They brandish mysterious implements—a crystal ball, a bow and arrow, a wooden staff; one woman reclines, entwined with a snake—and most are dressed in black. Still, Denny said, it was important for her to make portraits that diverge from the ways she had seen witches typically photographed. “In what I saw out there, there was a lot of low lighting, and a lot of use of colored gels, usually purple or green. There was an immense theatricality,” she told me. In her photographs, Denny used natural light whenever possible, and the women are posed straightforwardly, facing the camera. Like other portraitists, such as the contemporary Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra, or the twentieth-century German master August Sander, Denny captures her subjects suspended delicately between performativity and naturalism. These self-identified witches are positioning themselves before us, fully conscious of our eye, and Denny is allowing them a lovely three-dimensionality.

Mab: "You've come here to kill me?" John Hale: "It would be within my right to do so. The code of the hive is clear. But, no, we have agreed to spare you. I would allow nothing else. Still, to the issue at hand. He will interrogate you." Mab: "And I will give him nothing. I will swallow the blackened pill before I betray the cause." — Departures Mary Sibley: "If there is one thing you should take away from this conversation, child, it's this. You are in my hive, I'm your Samhain, and you are an Essex witch. You can not hide anything from me." — The Wine Dark Sea Countess Von Marburg: "I will admit you're impressive for a common Essex witch." Mary Sibley: "Has our hive not survived when so many others have perished?" — The Wine Dark Sea Countess Von Marburg: "Your strength is also your weakness. You are, as you said, a hive filled with lovely, little bees, but no true queen. You are, in reality, mere sister drones, little, meek equals whose power is shared. Why? You're like the foot of a pyramid. But you will make a fine and mighty base for one more naturally designed to rule." — The Wine Dark Sea Cotton Mather: "My father was the very scourge of witches in the old country not only in Old Essex, but also in Germany. There, he stopped this tribe of Germanic witches, led by this ancient pagan siren that he sent back to Hell. He often told me that was his proudest moment." — Ill Met by Moonlight Sebastian Von Marburg: "O’ brothers and sisters, gathered here from every dark place on the Earth. We have so long been orphans of the great gone gods, but no longer. Our Father has come home. Their God is dead or lost in senile slumber. But not ours. Our God, their devil, is alive. Awake. And now, finally, he’s here." — After the Fall Dark Lord: "What tribe of witches is so exalted that they will not bend the knee before me? " Good Mother: "The Essex witches, my Lord. It is we Essex who brought you forth to walk the earth again." — After the Fall

During a full moon, many people believe that the witching hour is at its peak, with witches and other supernatural beings taking advantage of the moon's energy to carry out their activities. While the witching hour and its association with the full moon may be steeped in folklore and superstition, there are still many who believe in its power and take precautions to protect themselves during this time. Some people may choose to stay indoors, light candles, or perform rituals to ward off any negative influences. Whether you believe in the witching hour and its association with the full moon or not, it is clear that this concept has had a significant impact on folklore and culture. It has been featured in literature, movies, and other forms of media, often portrayed as a time of danger and mystery. In conclusion, the witching hour is a time in the night when supernatural events are said to occur. It is often associated with the full moon and is a time when witches and other supernatural beings are believed to be most active. While the exact nature of the witching hour may be debated, its influence on folklore and culture is undeniable..

Reviews for "Connecting with the Moon's Power During the Witching Hour Lunar Event"

1. John - 2/5: I was really excited for the Witching Hour lunar event, but I ended up being very disappointed. The event felt rushed and lackluster. The gameplay was repetitive and the rewards were underwhelming. I expected more from this event, especially considering the hype leading up to it. Overall, it fell short of my expectations and I won't be participating in future lunar events.

2. Sarah - 3/5: I found the Witching Hour lunar event to be quite underwhelming. The concept sounded promising, but the execution was poor. The event quests were repetitive and became tedious after a while. The rewards were also not as enticing as I had hoped. I was expecting more unique and exclusive items, but they were mostly generic and didn't stand out. The event had potential, but it fell short in delivering a truly engaging and exciting experience.

3. Adam - 2/5: The Witching Hour lunar event was a letdown for me. The event quests were uninteresting and offered no challenge. It felt like a grindfest with no real payoff. The event decorations were also lackluster and didn't create a festive atmosphere. Overall, it felt like a missed opportunity to create a memorable and immersive experience. I hope future events will be better thought out and more engaging.

Unveiling the Lunar Eclipse: The Witching Hour Lunar Event