Incense and Goodies

I picked up some incense at the farmer's market yesterday, and today a few things I ordered online arrived early. Yay!

First up, the incense.

I picked up some of the house-brand incense sticks in opium and jasmine.

Opium poppies and jasmine share something in common: they're both flowers that can be used for psychic work and love work.

The opium poppy, aka bread poppy, (papaver somniferum) is my favorite flower. It's power rests in its alkaloids, such as codeine and morphine. If you've ever used prescription opiates or heroin, then you know exactly how powerful poppy's effects are. Poppy seeds are frequently used to cause confusion, especially in court cases where you want witnesses all confused and unable to give a good testimony or you want the other side to get confused and slip up. Both poppy seeds and flowers are used to stuff pillows for restful sleep and/or psychic dreams. When one is really high or heavily sedated on opiates, it's not uncommon to go into frequent catnaps which are filled with incredibly vivid dreams. This is where we get the term "pipe dream" from. I used to keep a large dried poppy pod for use as a natural rattle. It's use in love work is also heavily tied to it's psychoactive nature. If your goal is to have someone who's doped up, dreamy, and easily led, poppies are the way to go. Think of the one witch in Four Rooms (played by Ione Skye) who entrances Tim Roth's character.

Yeah, I use "love work" a bit broadly.

Now if you really want to seduce, look to jasmine. Jasmine has been prized for centuries for it's gorgeous scent. Indeed, one of my two favorite perfumes, Fracas, is full of jasmine and other captivating white florals. One thing about jasmine that makes it especially great for seduction (and this is directly tied in to its association with psychic work) is that it releases its fragrance at night. Yes, jasmine is another great choice for dream work and other psychic endeavors.

There's one more flower that I know of which is used for both love and dreams, and that's hibiscus. Try combining the three.

Next up is a little obsession of mine: Incense matches.

These are AWESOME. I can light my candles and have incense going and not even need to look for a lighter or matches because the incense IS a match? WHAT? Genius.

I got jasmine and patchouli, and I already own frankincense, cinnamon, french vanilla, "Egyptian Goddess", and musk.

Everyone either loves or hates patchouli. I blame the people who don't wear deodorant and just drown themselves in the stuff for the strong hatred many claim to have. More than once someone has ranted about patchouli, how even a whiff of it makes them sick, only to be surprised that the perfume they'd complimented me on contains patchouli. Then again, it's impossible not to love Fresh's Cannabis Santal, my other favorite perfume.

Patchouli is a powerhouse, it can be used for almost everything. It can be used for seduction, money, uncrossing, and domination. It has a very commanding, even overpowering, nature.

I'm going to have to do proper posts on these items, but I also received in the mail: more Florida Water, more aloeswood power, and both frankincense and myrrh essential oils. I have the latter two in resin form, but I wanted these for oils and skincare.

As you can guess, my room smells incredible right now. Funny, I can be surrounded by all this but all it takes is a tiny bit of Glade to send me into a crazy painful, aura-accompanied migraine.

Wart Charming

Wart charming was one of the very first magics I learned how to perform. By third grade, I'd learned all about wart charming, water witching, the SATOR square and Abracadabra pyramid, various herbal cures, astrology, and a whole host of folk remedies and "superstitions". I freely shared this knowledge to help friends and classmates. Yep, I was conjuring in only grade school.

Warts are caused by several strains of human papillomavirus, HPV for short. That's right, they don't come from toads. I provide this information as what it is: folklore, folk medicine, and folk magic.Your absolute best best for getting rid of warts is to see your medical doctor. Of course, that doesn't mean you can't charm them away in conjunction with treatment.

I'd be writing until my hands were cramped if I tried to cover every single wart charming method I know, so I've decided to only include methods I was taught first-hand. The methods I've read about in books are already preserved for history. This is my history.

The important thing to remember here is that prayer is always involved. Sometimes it's as simple as "In the name of The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit".

-Rub the wart with a sliced potato/apple/tomato and bury it.
-Rub each wart with a tomato seed/an apple seed/a pebble/a penny/a bean. Bury the items off your property or at a crossroads, or toss them over your shoulder into a crossroads/running body of water/old well/rotting tree or tree stump and walk away without looking back.
-Strip away the bark from a switch (usually hazel, sassafras or willow) to reveal the inner green part, rub the wart with it, and stick it in the ground. Walk away without looking back at it.
-Cut as many notches as you have warts into a switch, rubbing each one on the wart it was made for, and stick it in the ground. Walk away without looking back at it.
-Cut as many notches as you have warts into a root cutting (sassafras is one) and bury it.
-Rub it with bacon fat, and either bury it (when it decays, so will the wart) or leave it somewhere where it will be eaten by animals or insects.
-Wash it with water that has collected in an old stump.
-Wash it away in a running creek/stream/spring.
-Rub it with a bone and bury it.
-Sell someone your warts. Literally, you get another person to agree to buy your warts for a penny/button/pin/pebble each. Get rid of whatever they pay you with.
-Touch it to/rub it on a corpse or something that has touched or been rubbed on a corpse. (People would do this discreetly at a funeral.)

Ok, now this last one is disturbing and gross. I've heard it only once, and I was really young at the time and did not want to know more!

-Kill a toad, cut it open, and rub it on your warts.

I know, ugh. Please don't hurt animals! I guess it's in the same vein as other "hair of the dog" treatments, believed to work in the same way that some people believe doing the same with a snake cures snakebite.

I Want A Salt Lamp

I've wanted a salt lamp for a while now, they're just so pretty. I love their rich, radiant, warm sunset/sunrise tones. Some of the larger lamps are incredibly expensive, but I found some smaller, more affordable lamps on Home Depot's website. Salt is so incredibly powerful and versatile, I'd love to experience working with such a large, unbroken specimen. I would like to make something clear: there is no tradition of working with these salt lamps. I just think they're neat.

By the way, magically, salt is salt is salt. There is no "best" or "most powerful" kind of salt. If you want to buy some fancy salts to cook with, by all means. Just don't let anyone fool you into thinking you need anything more than the salt in your kitchen.

On to the cool lamps!

This little guy plugs right into a USB drive:

This one looks like a bowl of hot coals:

Oooh, this one is also an oil warmer. I've used an oil warmer before when I absolutely could not burn incense and I was very pleased with the results.

Do you die? How amazing this one?! It looks like a crystal ball (well, I guess it technically is) or a planet.

Last, how incredible are these candle holders?

(Sneaky, they cloned the image to make it look like you will get an identical pair.)


I think I need this Pinkie Pie nightlight too:

You know, speaking of My Little Pony, the spirits really know how to speak my language! Recently I've been receiving several dreams where the characters appear as symbols. For example, the other night I received a warning about false friends which included an image of a cartoon snake moving flatly through glass (snake in the glass... snake in the grass... clever) and fake MLP toys! With each of the main characters representing one of the "Elements of Friendship" (Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, and Magic), they are perfect dream symbols.

If you've never seen the show, definitely check it out! It's smart, funny, charming, and even touching and inspiring. I'm so glad that a) little girls have this wonderful, empowering show as an antidote to the usual cotton-candy princess dreck that gets pushed on them, and b) it has been able to transcend gender lines and capture a rather large male audience. Bronies 4 life!

My Favorite Condition Oil

Genesis 8:11 - And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth [was] an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

 Exodus 27:20 - And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.

That's right, my favorite condition oil is plain old olive oil. Olive oil or sweet oil (a type of refined olive oil), blessed, is the most versatile oil you can own. The olive represents abundance and peace, making olive oil excellent for all good works. You can use it to fuel oil lamps. You can use it as a base to make your own condition oils (stick to the lighter, non-virgin olive oils if you don't want the smell to interfere.) When Jesus and his disciples healed people, they anointed the sick with oil. Following this tradition, Godfrey Selig's Secrets of the Psalms recommends the use of olive oil in conjunction with specific psalms to relieve pain throughout the body and even to restore domestic happiness between partners. In John George Hohman's Pow-Wows; or, Long Lost Friend, he recommends sweet oil for a variety of ailments. You don't need the expensive stuff, I usually get huge bottles of it for about $5. Just make sure it's 100% olive oil and not a blend.

This is how I bless my olive oil. Every worker's way will be their own, there is no set way to do it:

First, I uncap the oil and add a pinch of blessed salt*. With the cap off, breathing on the oil as I pray, I pray the 23rd psalm, making the sign of the cross over it three times as I say the line "Thou anointest my head with oil", and once when I finish, saying "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

I do this for 7 days, beginning on a Monday in a waxing moon in a week that ends with Sunday still in the waxing phase of the moon. I try to do it just as the sun is beginning to rise, but failing that, I do it in the hour of Sun, and when the clock hands are rising.

My method of timing is complicated, but I will tell you that you don't need to be as crazy about timing as I am. Planetary hours, clock hands, and other timing methods will come in another post. If nothing else, I would recommend just starting on any Monday so that it is finished on a Sunday.

*I prepare blessed salt in a very similar way.

DIY: Orange Oil Lamp

Oil lamps have been used in conjure a lot longer than candles. They're cheaper and more practical than candles, especially for ongoing work. You can add to them and modify them over time and really grow their influence. If you're interested in more lamp work, I have another DIY oil lamp post coming up which I think even die-hard candle addicts will love.

A friend of mine showed me how to make these. I mean, in conjure we just use glass oil lamps, but how amazing is this? These orange lamps are especially great for love and any kind of attraction, be it money, luck, or love. I just love sweet orange, it's so sunny and bright and clean. I am never without orange zest, orange blossom water, orange blossoms, and even orange blossom honey.

MATERIALS NEEDED:
-One orange
-Knife
-Oil, either olive or some kind of vegetable oil
-Grapefruit spoon (optional)
-Herbs, roots, dried flowers, minerals, condition oils,etc
-Personal concern(s), petition paper (optional)

1) Begin by slicing your orange in half, being careful not to sever the column of pith that runs through the middle. This will be your wick:

2) Remove the top. Either peel it first and eat the fruit or, if you've a steady hand, carefully separate the peel from the fruit with your grapefruit spoon. Some people make a lid with the top, a bit like a jack-o-lantern, but I didn't include that in this tutorial.

3) Next, scoop out the fruit in the bottom.

Remember to keep your "wick" in tact. Scoop out all the wet flesh, especially everything surrounding your wick. This is where having a grapefruit spoon really comes in handy. Be careful not to puncture the peel.

4) Set it to dry for about an hour. If you try to fill and light it too soon, it will be too wet to light. If you are really impatient, I guess you could just snip out the pith wick and stick in some cotton wicking.

(I evened up the sides after I looked at this picture.)

5) Add your herbs, roots, oils, etc, and fill with either olive oil or some kind of vegetable oil, taking care to leave about 1/2" of space between the top of the oil and the brim. Don't overload it with "stuff", you don't want a mass of roots and herbs that will catch fire and turn your lamp into a fireball. I have included cassia, myrrh, Queen Elizabeth root, sugar (a bit), and two appropriate condition oils in mine. You can add personal concerns such as a piece of a strand of hair or a drop of bodily fluid, but I never advise loading petition papers into candles or open lamps. Place them safely underneath. You can always write your petition directly on the orange or carefully carve it into the peel, like a candle.

6) The procedure of starting a lamp is not too different from starting a candle. You still say your prayers and speak to Spirit and light it when it's ready. Try using long-handled matches or a utility lighter as it takes a little bit to get the wick going.

 (It's not actually an inferno in there, that's just the reflection off the oil.)

That's all there is to it! For safety reasons, you should never leave an oil lamp burning unattended, but... you can place them in a large metal tray with at least 2" of sand for safety. I wouldn't leave an orange lamp burning unattended even with sand, however. While warmed orange peel smells amazing, burnt orange is horrible.

Ghosts and Honey

Do you ever stop and realize you have no idea how you know something? I was drafting another post which included a comment about ghosts liking to eat honey. For the life of me, I can't remember where I learned that. Family? Book? Campfire story? Huh. Maybe some sweet-toothed spirit whispered it to me while I slept one night.

Van Van Oil

My last bottle of van van oil is dwindling rapidly and I could not be more upset. Why not just buy more? Because I can't! The amazing little spiritual store I used to buy it from closed over two years ago. Let me tell you, van van is one of my favorite condition oils ever. I used to wear it on my body every day, even keeping it in my bag to reapply throughout the day, but I've used up all but this one last bottle. What makes this van van so special is that it's real van van, made with vervain like it should be. I could try making my own, I guess. I just hope I can get the smell to match.

Sassafras

I love fall. Love it. There's Halloween, my favorite holiday ever. In the US, we "fall forward" and adjust our clocks by an hour for daylight savings--aligning the day with my circadian rhythm a bit better. It's cool enough for sweaters and my favorite faux-fur coats, but not so bitterly cold that you have to really bundle up before heading out. I love how everything becomes so colorful, all gold, yellow, red, orange, and purple.

One of the more showy fall trees is the sassafras tree. You can find just about all the colors of fall throughout it's three leaf shapes. The smell is just amazing, all parts of the tree are aromatic. You can take a few leaves and crush them to release that familiar spicy-sweet scent. Sassafras tea is awesome, you can make it with the root, bark, or leaves. I wouldn't drink too much of it however: safrole, a naturally occurring compound, has been linked to liver damage and cancer. Once in a while is ok, just don't drink it daily or even weekly. Everything in moderation. I think the leaves have a lower safrole content, so stick to leaf tea if you're really worried. The leaves are made into filé powder and used to thicken up dishes like gumbo. It does have some health benefits, encouraging circulation and reducing fever while relieving the pain of rheumatism and even PMS. "It makes you sassy" I've been told too many times to count. Incidentally, it's used in the production of MDMA and other MDA chemicals.

Sassafras is great for prosperity work. Think about the way filé powder is used to thicken up foods and you've got a great idea of how sassafras works. Use sassafras to make the most out of what you have and get the most out of what's coming to you. Most people favor using the root, but I've also had great success with filé powder. I like to sprinkle some in the little zipper compartment of my bag, where I keep my money and debit card. If you have any sassafras trees near you, bury some money, a personal concern, and an offering of cornmeal with it's root, asking it to help you with your money concerns.

As an incense, sassafras is great for purifying an area of evil spirits. Burn some before bed if you're plagued with hags. You can also keep pieces of dried root under your bed for the same purpose. Carry some to ward off evil influences.

 Filé powder can also be used to hurt. I think I'll save that for another post, because I've got some things to say on the subjects of bad works and justified revenge first.

Tip: Whiskey Nips

Instead of, or in addition to, one big bottle of whiskey, consider picking up a few nips. The mini bottles are the perfect size for oils. I sometimes even go so far as to coordinate the label to what it might later be used for, as was the case with this Crown Royal nip, which now houses Queen Elizabeth root oil:

And speaking of nips, how BRILLIANT is this?!: The Whisky Advent Calendar
http://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/drinks-by-the-dram/the-whisky-advent-calendar/

While I would love love love to have one for myself, it's pretty far out of my price range right now, at least as far as justifiable expenses go. But... but... IT'S AN ADVENT CALENDER. ONLY WITH WHISKEY!

You could absolutely do a homemade version of this, either for yourself or as a nice gift. You'd just need 24 assorted nips, a box, cardboard to make compartments, duck tape, wrapping paper... ooh, yes, I might need to try this.

Turkey Bones

With Thanksgiving coming up, I thought I'd do a quick write-up on the use of turkey bones in conjure.

Most everyone in the United States knows all about the wish-bone and the wishing ritual. Some people hang the whole wishbone above their door like a horseshoe for good luck. I've also heard of girls hanging wishbones above their doors to discover their future husbands, with the first man to walk through the door being the one. I assume this would be done on New Year's Eve or maybe the night before May 1st like many other "husband divination" methods call for. Turkey bones are also used in love work.

Let me first explain something about using bones. Bones are a link to the spirit world. When working with bones, they are not lifeless objects. When you work with turkey bones, you are calling upon the spirit of Turkey to help you. When we work with spirits long-term, we "feed" them to keep them strong and working for us. You can feed them with either some whiskey, Florida Water or similar cologne, oil, or a sprinkle of corn meal.

If you're a woman who wants her man to be more passionate, more attentive, and just stupidly enamored with her, turkey bones are the way to go. You can keep them under your bed. (I really recommend this over the cruelly obtained coon dongs marketers buy wholesale from the horrific fur industry.) You can hide them in your man's home, under his front steps where he walks, in his car. You can even keep one in your purse so you always have one around when the two of you are together. Taking this a little further, turkey feathers are sold in craft stores cheaply, dyed all kinds of vibrant colors. You can get these, trim them, and use them to write petitions and love letters.

On Faith and Healing

A woman with terminal cancer returns to religion with fervor. She knows that God will help her get better.

Early in her sickness, a surgeon proposes radical surgery.

"No", she says, "I don't want to get mutilated and suffer pain. It's not necessary, God will help me".

A while later, she sees a radiologist and he proposes radiation to treat the tumor, which by now is uncomfortably large. "No", she says, "I don't want radiation burns inside and out. It's not necessary. God will help me."

A year later, the cancer has metastasized. It's painful and she is referred to an oncologist. Chemotherapy is advised. "No", she says, "I don't want to be sick all the time and lose my hair as well. It's not necessary. God will help me".

Soon after, she dies. She goes to Heaven and demands an audience with God. "Why didn't you help me?," she whines.

"What do you mean? I sent you help three times: a surgeon, a radiologist and an oncologist. What more did you want?"

I believe in the power of roots and herbs, the healing of power doctors, the healing of conjure, in miracles... because I have seen them all work. But I also firmly believe that skilled doctors, medications, and diagnostic tools are all answered prayers. It makes me furious to hear about kids suffering and dying because their parents "don't believe in medicine". "God helps those who help themselves." If you are able to help yourself, and you have the means to help yourself, that is your miracle.

This applies to everything in conjure. If you do money work, a sack of cash is not going to fall out of the sky and into your lap. Something like a great job offer might come up, and if you pass that up because you're waiting for your big magical payout to come... well, you're going to be waiting a very long time.

Healing work must be done with modern medicine. Whether you take willow tea or aspirin for a fever, you must be willing to accept the help that has been provided to us. I will post a lot about healing work, but I want to make it very clear right now, spiritual healing and physical healing are a partnership. I understand the problems that exist in Western medicine, especially within Big Pharma. Find a doctor you are comfortable with and trust, and always keep yourself well-read and informed. You can do work to bring your doctor clarity and insight, to give yourself strength, even to heal yourself. Just never close yourself off to the wonderful doctors and medicines that have already been provided to you.

Hardware Store Conjure

It kills me that marketers sell stuff like red brick dust for up to $4 per small bag... and that people are willing to pay for it! There's nothing special about what they're selling; you can save yourself a ton of money by shopping at your local hardware store.

BRICKS
Bricks are anywhere from dirt cheap to free. Half the time, you can find a few just lying around your neighborhood. If you can't locate any spare bricks, they can be had for less than $.50 at your local hardware or home and garden store. To pulverize, simply wrap in a tea towel and smash with a hammer. Next, pray over the brick dust for protection. Easy, and you aren't paying such an absurd markup. There's also something to be said for doing the work yourself. You can't just buy $100 worth of products, not build any relationship with the spirits or do any real work, then just "shake 'n bake" and sit back, demanding to be catered to.

MAGNETS
 Magnets, some people love them, others hate them. I personally love them. Don't let anyone teach you that using magnets is "wrong", you're got to spend time with both lodestones and magnets and get to know their spirits. That's another thing, some people teach that magnets are "bad" because they're not alive and don't have a spirit... again, that is someone's personal opinion. Some people like magnets ok, but still prefer the more gentle pull of lodestones. I am not one of those people! I've even come to love the small rare earth (neodymium) magnets, which pack quite a punch.

Magnets still need to be fed the same as lodestones. You can get a metal file and some iron, like a small piece of rebar or something, and make your own iron dust. In this case, I wouldn't blame you for just buying either the pre-made stuff or magnetic sand (iron granules).

SQUARE-CUT/MASONRY NAILS
I think these nails are just lovely, and you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for them. Something I haven't really seen online: some people make crosses with them (representing the nails of crucifixion) and wear them for protection.


OTHER NAILS
All "coffin nails" are made, meaning that they weren't really pried from coffins. Some marketers just rust up some iron nails, a few bury their nails in a graveyard to rust, but a few do bury their nails at a paid grave. Paying up to $1 per rusty nail is just way too much. And, personally, I have a real problem with graveyard work being farmed out. It feels like... spirit pimping.

I've personally found that I like working with copper roofing nails for protection work. Those coming into conjure from European pagan or Wiccan backgrounds sometimes have a difficult time with separating the strong association they have between copper and love work (copper is a metal of Venus). In conjure, we primarily use copper for protection. This comes from the West African influence, where copper has been used for centuries for protection and to promote health. See below for more about copper.

CANDLES
 Household candles and citronella candles. All the bells and whistles of colored wax candles, figure candles, novenas, and 7-day candles are nice, but they are all modern conventions. Household candles are what old workers used, if they burned candles at all. In my family, it's always been either household candles or novenas. I've branched off into the other types of candles, but I still primarily use household candles because that's how I was taught.

Besides keeping the biting bastards at bay, citronella candles are great for protection and turning your luck around. Obviously, you have to pray and work them, but that's the same with all conjure tools. I really like how some companies have been putting out citronella candles with additional scents, like lavender. Every one I've seen was made with real essential oils, rather than artificial fragrance. I like this because you can really get specific with your needs. Citronella-cinnamon, just for one example, is perfect for increasing business luck. Burn it outside, where customers enter.

SULFUR, SALTPETER, ROCK SALT
All are available in the gardening department. Saltpeter (potassium nitrate,  NAo3) will be branded as "stump remover". If you buy a bag of rock salt, make sure you are actually buying salt (halite, NaCl) and not calcium chloride.

COPPER
If you're the creative type, you can use copper wire, coil, and fittings to make protective amulets, jewelry, altar pieces, and even pieces to go in protection hands. Some people wear copper to protect against rheumatism. If you work with the rod/staff/wand, you can craft a very nice one from slim copper pipe. Cap one end and affix a small quartz point to the other.

BROOM/WHISK
Natural, not nylon. I feel like the use of the whisk is slowly being forgotten about, people online only want the black chicken feather ones if they even want one at all. A whisk is used the same way as a broom, only it is more commonly used to sweep a person. I keep my whisk right by my bed, sweeping myself after arguments, nightmares, or whenever I feel I need cleansing. Broom straws can be added to baths and floor washes.

SAND
It is technically illegal to remove sand from a beach, so consider purchasing it to preserve our beautiful shorelines. Look for any broken bags and ask if you can buy them at a discount. You'll usually only have to pay about $1-$1.50. Sand is great for burning incense on charcoal, since it absorbs the heat. You'll want about 2" of sand in a heat-proof container. For those of you afraid to let candles burn while you are not home, get disposable aluminum trays and fill them with sand. Should any candles tip over or glass crack, the sand will prevent fire and catch any mess.

LIVE PLANTS, SEEDS
Look, even if you live in an apartment, you can still at least take care of a small cactus or succulent. How are you supposed to work with herbs and roots when you've got no connection to their spirits? Learn to care for plants, speak to them, and listen. You can even grow many of your own supplies. Trust me, a rose bush or rosemary plant that you've personally nurtured and built up a relationship with will be that much more willing--and therefor powerful--than some dried herbs bought in bulk.

QUEEN ELIZABETH ROOT
What? Yes! Only seasonally available. Bulbs for spring are sold in late summer/early fall for planting. What you're looking for is Bearded Iris (iris germanica). You can either plant some and harvest the extra rhizomes each year when it's time for fall dividing, or you can use just use them out of the package. If you're after queen elizabeth root, you will absolutely benefit from planting it around your house and working with the live plant in addition to the root.

CERAMIC TILES
For hot incense censors.

There's lots more useful stuff at the hardware store (mirrors, twine, chain), so take your time to really look around and keep an open mind. The people who sit there and say "Oh, I'd rather just order it all online, it's more expensive but it's sooo much easier" are, in my opinion, not doing real conjure and not worthy of the gift of conjure. That saying about God helping people who help themselves? That's what conjure's all about. You have to want it and you have to work for it. Put in the work, while saving yourself some money, and you will be surprised by your results.

Offtopic: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Season 4 and Doctor Who 50th Aniversary Special! Yeah!

I am just a big kid and I am shamelessly obsessed with MLP:FiM. Today (11/23) the long-awaited Season 4 begins with a 2 part episode. Last we left the Mane Six, Twilight had just become a princess and alicorn and there was some weirdness with the Equestria Girls movie. The teaser trailers have me really excited, it looks like Discord will have a significant part, at least in the season opening. I just love Discord. For those of you not familiar with the show, Discord is a character who is an homage to Star Trek's Q (<3) and even voiced by John De Lancie. I will totally be curled up with my Pinkie Pie plush while watching!

Me as a pony.

After ponies I will be restlessly awaiting DOCTOR WHO'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL! I just know I'm going to need a box of tissues, Doctor Who is so powerful and moving and that's one of the many things I love about it. I've done my best to avoid reading anything online about the special because I don't want anything spoiled.

 

Yes, this Saturday is shaping up to be a wonderful, lazy couch potato day :D

Blog Feature: "The Greatest Conjure Book In the World"

In her book "Mules and Men", Zora Neale Hurston refers to the Bible as "the greatest conjure book in the world" and nothing could be more true. I might not consider myself Christian, but I was raised in a Catholic family and I respect that conjure is, and always has been, a Christian-based magic. This is a bit confusing to outsiders, the idea that something can be non-religious but Christian at the same time. In conjure, it is believed that one's power comes from God, one works with the spirits (including the spirits of nature) to achieve one's goals and God's will, and the reason why this magic is good is *because* it is a gift from God. It's because of this that conjure is actually not compatible with pagan religions like Wicca.

Let me put it this way... if my mom were to walk in on me lighting a candle to St. Jude, she would ask me about what I was doing, offer to pray with me, and further offer to have her friend, Reverend "Pearl", pray for me as well "because you know Reverend Pearl's prayers always work!" She'll chant to St. Anthony while searching for something without batting an eye. She's got a lucky horseshoe. But if that same candle was to Apollo, she'd have a fit that I was practicing witchcraft. See, the tools and ritual would be the same, but since it isn't through God, it's considered witchcraft and not conjure. Conjure is not witchcraft. But more on that in another post.

I personally consider myself... well, Spiritualism is closest, but it's not a perfect fit. I wear an Isis pendant, but I don't worship her as a god the way one would in a pagan religion... I work with her as a spirit, a spirit of a devoted wife and mother who "really knows how to keep her man together."* I honor the spirits of my ancestors and dearly departed friends. I work with the spirits of nature, found in plants and animals and rocks and places. I work with Jesus, spiritually. I work with several other spirits and Spirit guides me every day. I believe in respect for nature and other people and that those who go around preaching hate like "God hates gays!" are poison.

I of course don't have a problem with any pagan religions themselves (aside from the fluffy bunny mix-n-match Borg incarnation of Wicca/NeoWicca) but I do have a problem with people being taught that because conjure is not a religion, it's anything you want it to be. The people who say it is just want your money. It's not ok to march in and start appropriating someone else's culture just because you find it exotic or you think that just because it "speaks to you", you have a right to it. I think Buddhist malas are beautiful but it would be wrong of me to order one and start carrying it around; they are sacred to the religion and culture they come from. You can't just take what you like and leave out what you don't.

God is a part of conjure. The Bible is a part of conjure. If you want to learn conjure, you've got to accept that we work with God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, The Bible, and prayer. Some of us work with angels. Some of us work with saints, but it's not quite as prolific as the online community would have you think. Just because I, personally, after growing up Catholic and spiritualist, do not believe in God proper (that's a whole other post), that does not mean I'm going to 1) teach conjure wrong, 2) teach you that it's ok for YOU to not believe in God, Jesus, Spirit, or ANYTHING and insert whatever religion you like. [11/27 Edit: To be clear, I mean this purely in the context of conjure. Of course it's ok for you to practice religion freely! It's just not ok for you to attempt to rework and rewrite generations of tradition and cast aside the spiritual foundation of conjure. If you are unwilling to adapt, you must find something compatible with your own beliefs.]

Now that I've said what's needed to be said...

YES, if you can afford only ONE book in your conjure library, THE BIBLE is the one! Powerful prayers and charms are found in books such as Psalms, there is information about rootwork and incense, it's used in a form of divination called bibliomancy, it's used in ritual, and the book itself is carried or placed under the bed/pillow for powerful protection against evil. It doesn't matter whether your Bible is a gorgeous, brand-new, leather-bound beauty with gold leaf edges, or a tatty and well-loved charity shop find. It's the content and what it is that matters. As far as translations go, there's no hard and fast rule about what you MUST have, but the King James Version is very traditional and many classic books utilized in conjure rely on the KJV. Older Catholics may prefer the Douay-Rheims Bible.

"The Greatest Conjure Book In the World" will be a recurring feature here on Coyote Moon Conjure. At least once each week, you can look forward to prayers, recipes, herb and plant magic, and other traditional conjure straight from the Bible. I will be writing about bibliomancy, as well as the many other ways the Bible itself is used in conjure works. It won't be long before you understand for yourself why the Bible really is the greatest conjure book in the world!

*My boyfriend once quipped about Isis, "Now there's a woman who really knows how to keep her man together." I died :D

Corn dollies!

In my last post, I linked to New World Witchery. Not having read it in a few days, I clicked over to catch up, and to my delight the first post included a section on corn dollies!

The above picture is a corn husk doll I had made on the fly for a coworker a few years ago. She wasn't perfect, and she wasn't made with any magic intent; I had just twisted, tied, and pulled her together while chatting. I first learned to make them as a kid from people on my father's side of the family and friends. Indeed, these are not conjure, rather they are sometimes used in mountain and PA Dutch magic. Most all the time when you see them, they're nothing more than toys and folk art, but corn dollies are are a part of sympathetic magic called doll magic or poppet magic. They can also be used for protection.

Dolls, dollies, doll babies, voodoo dolls, poppets... every culture has a slightly different name for a figure that represents an actual person and is used to affect that person. Using a corn dollie as a poppet is pretty similar to the way you would construct a wax or cloth doll in conjure.You include personal concerns of the person (hair, nail trimmings, bodily fluids, scraps of worn clothing, etc) and maybe herbs appropriate to your goal (not everyone does). You might dress the doll with clothes, especially clothes *made from* the clothes of the person. The doll is baptized in the person's name and then worked on and spoken to as if it *is* that person.

I'm not sure how widespread their use in protection is, sometimes things that were once used for magic lose their meaning over several generations. I've known people, both in and outside of my family, to create corn dollie angels and pray over them for protection, hanging them on the front door or sitting them up on bookshelves. Sometimes you'll find corn dollies of angels or ladies in kitchens. I've seen corn husk angels being sold at farmers markets that I'm not sure were meant to be anything but decorations, but who knows?

The Best of Online Conjure-Part 1

My first two posts might have given you the impression that I think there's nothing of value online when it comes to conjure, rootwork, and hoodoo. While it is difficult to find traditional workers and good information, it isn't impossible! Allow me to share a few of my favorite blogs and writers.

Sister Sharon at Rootwork4U and her topix.com account
Momma Starr and Dr. Lovebug at Old Style Conjure
Doc Conjure at My Secret Hoodoo and his other blog, The Demoniacal

New World Witchery covers a wide array of magical traditions and frequently covers American folklore and folk magic, including conjure.
*Remember: conjure, hoodoo, and rootwork are not witchcraft. They are not pagan. Practioners don't call themselves "witches" or claim to "cast spells"... I'll cover this in another post.

In Part 2 of The Best of Online Conjure, I'll introduce you to some of my favorite websites, more blogs, ebooks, and other online gems.

Pet Peeve: "Cut And Clear"

I have been itching to write about this for quite some time. All over the internet hoodoo community, people are obsessed with various types of lemon-based lines of products called "Cut And Clear", taken from a certain marketer's original name for their line. The formulas all follow the same basic concept: using lemon as a spiritual cleanser. There's nothing wrong with that part, lemon is fantastic for cleaning up all kinds of messes. The part that I have a problem with is that people are being taught you can "cut" with this formula.

Let me say it loud and clear: IN CONJURE, CLEANSING IS CLEANSING AND CUTTING IS CUTTING. You might be about to argue with me that the "cutting" part is just a figure of speech, like when you "cut" or sever ties with someone. This is not so in conjure, where the concept of "cutting" is becoming erased because it's not something marketers can make an oil/sachet/powder/incense/bath out of and sell for a huge profit. In conjure, we literally use sharp objects (knives, axes, hatchets, scissors) to CUT away illness, pain, evil attachments, etc. If someone is sick in bed, you would place the sharp object under the bed to cut away the sickness. If a woman is in labor, you would place the sharp object under the delivery bed to cut her labor pains. To cut someone out of your life, you would literally cut all around you with a knife, praying to cut the ties between the two of you.

AFTER you have done your cutting, you can use all the lemony cleansing products your heart desires. The combination of cutting--totally breaking the hold of something--and then cleansing it away is incredibly effective. If you want to cleanse only, that's fine, but don't let others confuse and erase a very important conjure practice by calling cleansing "cutting".

Start at the Beginning

It's this first post that's delayed this blog for so long. I've felt like I should start with a thorough introduction, including an extensive autobiography, before I even begin to touch on the subject of conjure. Maybe because there's so much mixed-up nonsense online being presented by marketers and "experts", I feel it's important to share what it's like to have a background in conjure that doesn't come from books or (worse) online classes. Actually, the deluge of internet nonsense being passed off as real hoodoo, rootwork, and conjure is exactly what prompted me to write this blog. As I watch all the fascinating folk tradition I've grown up with become distorted and muted, I feel the need to preserve what I can in writing.

So why has this introduction post delayed the start of this blog for almost two years since I first felt moved to create it? Well, besides the enormity of the task, pouring my life out to strangers just feels unnatural. That's not how people get to know each other in person. We don't first sit down and share our life story with strangers so that they can decide whether they want to hear our thoughts and opinions. No, what we say and what we do speaks for itself, and we get to know each other over time. That's how I'd like to work this blog. I've got so much to write about, why rush it?

The stories about learning conjure and folk magic can wait until I actually write about the things I've learned, if that makes sense.

I'm tired of the fake internet hoodoo, full of "spells" like honey jars and mirror boxes (we don't call it a spell, and neither of those are traditional like they're claimed to be), "cut and clear" jobs with no cutting (seriously!), Wiccans/neo-pagans stealing and repackaging conjure, "certified experts" (HA!), repackaged material from Harry M. Hyatt, and marketers who will do anything to get everyone hooked on their mass-produced products, destroying real conjure in the process. I'm tired of the laziness and entitled attitudes. I'm tired of the disconnect from and even disrespect of nature. I'm tired of the "experts" judging that something isn't real/traditional conjure because they didn't read about it in Hyatt's books. I'm tired of people daring to call themselves two-headed doctors when they don't know how to heal medicinally (and half the time they don't do healing work magically!) I'm not saying there are no traditional workers or sites with good information online. There are! The good just tends to get drowned in the sea of nonsense.

It's time for me to stop complaining and start blogging. I hope you, dear readers, enjoy my blog and find it helpful and informative. Always feel free to hit me up with questions and comments.