Abby McMonagle's Blog

 The Meaning Behind "Gypsy" by Fleetwood Mac     When I was preparing for my popular media presentation (scrolling on TikTok), I watched an overload of WitchTok. When I was presenting, I realized that "Gypsy" by Fleetwood Mac was in the background of 2 out of the 5 TikToks shown. I went back and looked at more of the TikToks I watched when selecting which ones to include in the presentation, and even more had "Gypsy" playing in the background. I've never thought about what the lyrics of this song mean, or if there is any relation to the title itself.      In my first search, I found that Stevie Nicks was actually rumored to be a witch. The song refers mainly more the feelings, than actual witchcraft or being a gypsy. The first line "So I'm back to the velvet underground, back to the floor, that I love, to a room with some lace and paper flowers, back to the gypsy that I was" refers to Nicks childhood when she worked at an underground bout...

 Witch Thanksgiving: Mabon When deciding what to write about this week, I decided I would write about the season we are currently in- Thanksgiving. I had no idea if there was any sort of correlation between Witchcraft/Witches and Thanksgiving. After I typed in "Witchcraft and Thanksgiving" on Google, I discovered something called Mabon. Mabon is essentially Thanksgiving in Witchcraft, but it is around the Fall Equinox in September.  Mabon is practiced by Earth-based spiritual practioners and originates from the Pagan culture. Celebration of the autumn solstice is something that dates back to the early Greeks. The Greeks celebrated Persephone, a greek goddess, returning to Hell. The Romans also had celebrations for autumn returning. Mabon, the name given to this celebration in the 1970s, celebrates the second harvest of the year and the perfect balance between day and night. It's also a way of showing gratitude towards the Earth's abundance, which makes sense because i...

 Self Care and Witchcraft     Last week when I was researching Oomancy (watching TikTok videos and reading other blog posts on the internet), I noticed being calm was frequently mentioned. In the article, the woman said to be calm and practice mindfulness before starting Oomancy. In some of the TikToks, it was said you needed to be calm to let the power fully talk to you. Witchcraft in the movies we have discussed has the frequent theme of practicing to get what you want. In this world, people often search for calmness with a huge emphasis on self care. I started to wonder if witchcraft can be used as a self care mechanism.      Upon my first Google search, I found an article titled "Creating a Witchy Self-Care Routine." I had no idea what a witchy self care routine contains. According to this article a witchy self care routine contains "elements of divination, energy work, moon watching, spiritual watching, spiritual connection and healing." The article go...