SALEM, N.H. – An innovative program being offered by Temple of Witchcraft in Salem, New Hampshire, is redefining ecological awareness and may even lead to a new sacred site for magical practitioners.

The new certification program, an apprenticeship in Energetic Geometry, brings to life a system of techniques aimed at creating harmonious living with the natural world. Among its cornerstones is the building of structures that cultivate the energies of the land and learning how to harmonize spaces, from homes and gardens to animal shelters.

At the heart of the course, however, is healing – the healing of lives and reestablishing lost connections to spirituality.

Dominique Susani and Karen Crowley Susani are the pioneers behind Energetic Geometry. The couple has been teaching its principles and leading tours to sacred sites throughout the world for decades. They will bring this wisdom and its practical applications beginning in April 2023 in a meticulously designed course of study consisting of five “levels,” offering students a hands-on approach to learning.

A free introductory session will take place online on September 10th, 2022.

“The Temple of Witchcraft has always been about sacred space, the creation of temple in a magickal, communal, and literal sense,” said Christopher Penczak, who co-founded ToW with Steve Kenson and Adam Sartwell. “I’ve always had a deep interest in ancient temples, stone circles, and cultivating the energy of sacred spaces. A few years ago I encountered the work of Dominique Susani and Karen Crowley Susani, and their school of Energetic Geometry in the Master Builder tradition. I was immediately impressed by their mix of the ancient and the modern, and the ‘how to’ aspect to apply the principles to your own home or land.”

Penczak, a longtime leader in the Pagan community, is the author of over 30 renowned books on witchcraft, magic and spirituality. A teacher himself, he noted the specificity of the Susanis’ approach to Energetic Geometry, which can be an intricate and time-consuming subject.

“Their system of teaching looks at the proportions for the latitude of the site, and analyzes stone circles, temples and churches based on those proportions, showing the potential patterns the builders had in mind, and the energies they enhance,” he said. “While lots of books talk about the geometry of structures, I hadn’t come across such a clear system that helped you design forms for your own particular area, using dowsing methods to find the appropriate earth energies. After taking a few online courses with them, I knew I wanted to apply those principles to what we are building here for the Temple of Witchcraft.”

Shortly thereafter, Penczak, Kenson, and Sartwell hosted a few online webinars that introduced the Susanis to the ToW community. This past April, ToW held an in-person weekend intensive on stone circle building (also known as cromlech building) that demonstrated up close the power of Energetic Geometry.

“Over the course of the weekend, we built a 34 stone cromlech, based on the proportions of our latitude, over the crossing of two water lines near one of our wells,” Penczak explained. “While the math was complex, the process of setting out the circle and stones, aligning each stone to the energy of the land and the rituals to activate it went incredibly smoothly.”

Though Penczak was already familiar with the Susanis’ teaching methods, he came away from the weekend intensive with a deeper understanding of their work and how it could complement the already extensive educational catalog ToW offers the Pagan and magical communities.

“I was really surprised at how much hands-on work we did in one weekend, creating mandalas and circles and exploring their shifting energy by moving where people were standing, or moving the stones of the perimeters of the circle we eventually built,” Penczak said. “The natural energy enhanced there is of initiation, transformation, and healing, and quite a few people since have had some significant physical healings they feel were the result of the circle.”

Among the participants who experienced such a healing was Ashara Mayim.

“I went to New Hampshire and had the opportunity to visit the Stone Circle on the Temple grounds,” Mayim explained. “I was excited for it in that it was a beautiful space, but nothing could have prepared me for the energy present there.

“As I knelt in the middle of the circle, time and space warped and came to a standstill,” Mayim continued. “The ground seemed to swirl like a vortex beneath me, physically calling to me to place my hands in the dirt. I knelt down, sinking my hands in the leaves, and felt all the sickness, all the fatigue, all the distress, the depression, just drain from my fingers and toes and down into the earth. In 10 years of practicing Witchcraft, I have never felt anything like that.

“It has been about a month since my Stone Circle experience,” Mayim said, “and I have yet for any symptoms to return, aside from the fatigue. I am back to normal, able to work on my feet. I can concentrate, and the brain fog has totally lifted. Two minutes in the Stone Circle did for me what nothing else could. It is the most magickal place in which I have ever set foot.”

Marian, another participant, felt her sense of time shift in the circle.

“As all the initiates walked around the circle counterclockwise I felt time began to shift and I was in a place from long ago yet somehow not. It felt more as if I was walking with all the witch ancestors that lived before me. I was astounded by the force/vibration that entered me. It was unlike any energy I had experienced,” said Marian. “Reiki energy to me is light and tingly. This energy felt deep and I began to feel as if my very cells were being shaken free from whatever binds them or makes them sluggish and sticky. When I returned to the circle, I had a completely different vibration than when I started. I felt changed and renewed. A month later I can still feel that vibration as if I am somehow tethered to this place beyond time.”

The glowing testimonials are a reflection of how the Susanis view both the scope of their teaching and the information they impart to students.

“What we teach is a vision of the world that was very common in ancient times,” said Karen and Dominique. “Ancient people like Egyptians, Greeks, Hindus, Celts, Mayans, considered that the world was composed of three main parts. For example, in the concept of Yggdrasil of the Norse people or Cruz Foliada of the Mayans, there is an underworld (chthonic), middle world (where we live), and an upper world (world of the sky gods). These gods, or conception of the universe, is connected to the existence of the five elements; space or ether or vital force, earth, water, fire, and air.

“The ancient people found a natural concept that the Greeks called geometry to find the length of these five elements,” they said. “This special geometry, connected to the rhythm of the sun, the moon, and the earth, the principle gods, allowed them to build sacred spaces that have some very clear and special characteristics. For example, the sacred triple enclosure and the magic squares.”

Dominique, a professor of literature and philosophy, and Karen, a former military and airline pilot, have co-authored several books, including Secrets of Sacred Geometry: Solar Geometry for Health and Life. Though the esoteric discipline they have spent many years delineating is complex and multilayered, they view their teachings as accessible to all.

“Our training is for everybody, because the most important thing our students experience is the change of paradigm,” the couple said. “In our modern society, people don’t even know what spirituality means. Taking our certification, each person receives the tools to build their own spirituality. Of course, as it is a training containing a special solar geometry connected to the rhythm of the earth and celestial bodies and the seven sacred directions, and to the feeling of the elements, people who are most attracted to it are architects, builders, interior designers, landscape designers, craftsmen and women, artists, sacred site designers, people interested in spirituality, magic, esoteric subjects, and finally, cosmic travelers of sacred places. These techniques are not taught elsewhere.”

It is that last point which leads to Temple of Witchcraft and its stately building and wooded property in New England’s other Salem, which was named one of the “Best Places to Live” in 2020 by Money Magazine. The idyllic setting in southern New Hampshire is home to Canobie Lake, the Arlington Mill Reservoir, and America’s Stonehenge, a rock formation attraction believed by some to hold mystical power. It is here where the course work is carried out in nature.

“This body of knowledge contains a relationship with the spiritual beings of the land, such as the elementals, devas, fairies, et certera, which works well within the Temple of Witchcraft and Pagan practices,” said Dominique and Karen. “During the certification, we teach how to build different types of sacred structures of spiritual healing, which are aligned to a free spirituality, where the higher values are unconditional love, respect, and freedom. We found a wonderful community of people within the Temple of Witchcraft and are in tune with their values. Because of this, we are happy to share our knowledge and participate in helping them with their vision of building ceremonial structures.”

That vision is part of the long-term plans that Penczak, Kenson and Sartwell have Temple of Witchcraft, with the goal of creating a spiritual destination and legacy that can be carried forward. At a time when traditional religious groups are facing a decline in participant numbers and downsizing of real estate holdings, the ToW’s approach is an encouraging sign for the Pagan community.

“We teach how to get in touch with inner sacred space, create ritual sacred space, building community through events and groups, and have obtained land to create a community center and sacred grounds,” Penczak notes. “A big part of the Temple’s mission has been to create physical space and resources that will outlast any one generation. We started by obtaining this 5.5-acre property and are fundraising to reconstruct the barn into a community center, and working to build ritual sites, shrines, gardens, and healing spaces throughout the land.”

How this goal intersects with the Energetic Geometry course becomes evident when one understands their approach to land use and design.

Penczak notes that the Susanis’ use of occult traditions and tools, like the elements, numerology, and sacred forms like squares and seals, aligns with ToW’s “own rituals, myths, and symbols.” This gives them an advantage in creating spaces for spiritual healing and practice – like an area for the ancestors, a faery shrine, a celebration circle for sabbats, and energetic labyrinths – as well as understanding the importance of their appropriate placement among the property’s water sources and preexisting land vortices.

“I found everything they taught so in harmony with Witchcraft and Hermetic Magick,” said Penczak. “Our hope is to work together to create a cohesive energetic design to the entire area that will aid all who visit, and reverberate healing and harmony into the local landscape and community.”