Bay Rum (Stop Putting Bay Laurel in It!)

Forget all those nasty, medicinal aftershaves: a good bay rum is spicy, herbal, and refreshing. This is on my "classic male scents" list, along with Creed Green Irish Tweed, Creed Silver Mountain Water, and 4711/other eau de colognes. When your grandpop came home from from the barbershop, he probably smelled like either bay rum or EDC.

The "bay" in bay rum does not refer to bay laurel, so you can ignore all the ridiculous recipes you'll find online calling for bay leaves as an ingredient. Instead it refers to Jamaican bayberry (allspice). Also, you can't substitute allspice berries for allspice leaves. It really is better and cheaper to just buy a bottle of the real deal rather than to whip up a batch of boozy spices from a fake recipe. Although, if anyone were to procure the proper ingredients and mix me up a batch made with Sailor Jerry.... oooh.

Bay rum is used for cleansing and healing. You can cleanse candles and workspaces with it, add it to baths, add it to washes/scrubs. Roots and herbs are sometimes soaked in it to make special formulas. Sometimes for healing it is rubbed on the body, downwards from head to toe, to cleanse away and pull the illness off the person. For example: To draw out a fever, mix it with cool/ice water and rub the person downwards with a clean rag while praying. Repeat every so often until the fever breaks.*

If you mostly use Florida Water to cleanse, consider switching to bay rum. It's, at least in my experience, more traditional to conjure, and the prices are stable. Florida Water keeps getting more and more expensive for no good reason. Well, I think I know why. "Hoodoo" has been a fad (ugh) for the past few years, and all the internet crowd wants is Florida Water. I mean, I got turned onto Florida Water too, it smells nice and it used to be cheap. But I refuse to pay $7-$14 per bottle when I can get bay rum for $3-$7.

The easiest brands to locate in brick and mortar stores are Superior 70 and Clubman Virgin Island Bay Rum. Burt's Bees used to make a good one, but I'm pretty sure it's discontinued. Try pharmacies (especially Walgreens), Dollar General, and Sally Beauty Supply.

Don't let the light shade fool you, it's pretty good.

*all my standard disclaimers apply... healing should always be a partnership with your medical doctor

Free Book Friday!

Two of my favorite things, books and free stuff! Many great books are in the public domain or published online by the author. I will never link you to anything put up illegally, and I will only link to .pdfs, never files that must be downloaded. I don't know about you, but I care about my computer ;)

Without further adieu, this week's title is "Secrets of the Psalms" by Godfrey Selig

This is a great introduction to working with the Psalms and it's one of those book that has come to be a "conjure classic". The Psalms are so important to conjure work, sometimes just the earnest praying of a particular Psalm is all that is needed to do a job. Many of the healing Psalms include instructions to anoint with olive oil, proving that you don't need any fancy condition oils to work powerful magic.

Remember not to limit yourself by the "suggested use" of each Psalm. For example, Psalm 23 is listed only as an aid to receiving messages and omens in dreams. Other Psalms's ascribed uses leave me a little puzzled. Read each of the Psalms, learn and understand what they are saying, and their uses will become clear.

Some Psalms have instructions to copy them down on real parchment. While you could substitute parchment paper, a more traditional substitute is paper from a brown paper bag, torn on all sides.

Enjoy!

A Personal Healing Oil

Inspired by the generosity of Mama Starr, I'm going to let one of my own formulas go.

The purpose of this formula is to help those who've lost their confidence due to hardships really take hold of their life and shine. I call it "Three Crowns" or "Wisdom, Courage, and Success" as it's meant to bless one with those things. I've had such a positive experience with this oil since I first created it. It's helped me to better manage my agoraphobia and depression, and it really helps on those days where I'm just bone tired and unmotivated.

The ingredients are:

-Bay, for courage and success.
-Fennel, for mental sharpness, courage, and protection by way of heightened awareness. Some people are being taught that fennel is only for women's courage, but anyone can use it.
-Sage, for purification, protection, and wisdom.
-Dragon's Blood, it's just so positive and really adds a kick to anything you add it to. For luck, power, and protection.
-Rosemary, for purification and protection. If you are a female, rosemary will help you to regain control and power in your life.
-Goldenseal, for wisdom and protection of health. Please only buy sustainably harvested goldenseal.
-Bergamot, for mastery over your own life. Brings in the money too (success)

I really don't measure out my ingredients. If I had to give amounts, I'd say equal amounts of all the herbs, a full pinch of powdered dragon's blood or a splash of dragon's blood oil, and enough drops of bergamot to give it a nice scent without being overpowering. I rarely tint my oils, but when I make this I add some saffron to give it a nice golden glow.

First I pray to Spirit, state my petition, and pray for Spirit to empower the spirits of the herbs and oils. Next, I address the spirit of each ingredient and bless them with the sign of the cross in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I like to include Psalm 23 with everything I do. For this formula, I also like Psalms 8, 65, and 91. I pray over the oil with the cap off, so my breath blows over the oil. Between each Psalm (and during Psalm 23 for the line "thou anointest my head with oil"), I make the sign of the cross three times. I do this for a full 7 days, keeping it on my altar and asking my ancestors and spirits for assistance.

Snow!

Snow is over the mid-Atlantic right now. We've already got 6-8" where I am, and we were only supposed to get about 3'! It's supposed to turn to freezing rain overnight, so if you're affected by this storm, be smart and safe.

A little snow conjure:
-Wash your face with the first snow of the year for beauty.
-Wash you hands/face/body with the first snow of the year to prevent dry, chapped winter skin.
-Collect the water from snow, it is, in my personal opinion, the BEST water to use in a hyssop bath because of the line in Psalm 51 "wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."
-Snow water is really great to use in any healing or purification bath or wash.
-Rain, snow, lightning... pretty much everything that comes from "Heaven" is powerful.

I'm predicting five more significant snows for where I am, with one of the biggest being in February.

Lightning Struck Wood and Storm Water

(Oh Blogger, why am I plagued by this weird grey text? I type with black, it comes up grey.)

Does anyone remember the Simpsons episode, "Homer at the Bat", where Homer finds that lightning has struck a tree, and carves a baseball bat from the wood? (a nod to the movie "The Natural")

I have always wanted to do that.

Lightning struck wood is all about power. You can add it to anything to give it a fiery, energetic jolt of power. It's in a category of what I like to call "amplifiers", things that have such a strong spiritual vibration that they add power to and amplify whatever they're used in. Frankincense, dragon's blood, shark teeth, nut galls, oak, and sweetgum are a few examples. It can also be employed in any work in which you need to drive off or cleanse away evil, which is interesting considering some people say burning it releases evil spirits. I've also heard that you should never burn lightning struck wood in your home because you risk burning your house down.

Lightning struck sand/"petrified lightning", known as fulgurite, is something fewer people talk about. Fulgurite pieces can be used the same way as struck wood.

Storm water/lightning water is rainwater gathered during a thunderstorm. It's great for protection, driving/cleansing away evil, and uncrossing. Tip: Add some blessed salt as a preservative.

I saw St. Elmo's fire over the summer, it was an amazing once-in-a-lifetime thing. I'm so happy I was able to see it first-hand and also collect a good amount of water from that storm. I've seen ball lightning too. And once, I saw a strange orange orb of light bounce/float across the road. My friend and I each turned to each other to confirm we weren't seeing things. He finally shrugged "There's all kinds of weird things in the valley." I wonder if that thing was what people call a jack-o'-lantern or will-o'-the-wisp? Electricity is neat.

A little aside: I used to be terrified of lightning. I mean a full-on, panic attack inducing, phobia of lighting and thunder. One stormy Sunday morning, I was waiting at the doors at church while my parents pulled the car around (I was too scared to walk across the parking lot). A little old lady, on her way out, stopped and asked me if I was waiting for someone. I remember it so clearly, she laid a hand on my shoulder and said "Well let's wait together, dear. You can stand under my umbrella." She kept her hand on my shoulder and we stood in silence until the car appeared.
"Oh, um, that's them,"
"There, see? Nothing to be afraid of. You're not afraid. God bless!"
 I thanked her, but didn't see her again once I climbed into the car. It took me a minute to notice, but... I was no longer afraid. And I was never afraid of lightning again. I went from getting sick to my stomach at the mere mention of the chance of thunder showers, to loving to watch even fierce lightning storms. My mom told me about people with the power of laying on hands and said the lady had healed me. It was amazing. Even the ultra-scientific, perfect rational side of me, to this day, is astounded and humbled by that experience.

Florida Water

When I first created this blog, I had decided that I didn't want to cover things that were already pretty well-covered elsewhere online. Now, though, I'm thinking that I still have things to contribute, so I might as well still cover them.

Florida Water is the name for a type of cologne that has been produced for over 200 years. There are and have been other brands, but Murray&Lanman's (formerly Lanman&Kemp) is the most ubiquitous. If you've ever smelled Hoyt's Cologne or 4711 (a true Eau de Cologne, which both this and Hoyt's are based on), Florida Water is similar but much lighter and less concentrated. If you like Hoyt's, 4711, Bay Rum, and other "old-timey" scents, you will love Florida Water.

Florida Water is used for purification and cleansing, spiritual work, and also drawing in good fortune. It's used in several ways. It can be used in baths and floor washes/scrub water or put in a spray bottle and misted about the home. It can be used to cleanse tools and work spaces between use. It can be used to cleanse candles (let dry before using!) and other store-bought things before you use them. It is frequently offered to ancestors and spirits and, if you work with them, saints and angels. It can be used to feed hands, packets, and also roots and bones and anything else you'd feed. It can also be worn as a personal scent. I know, "duh" on that last one, but I mean a magical scent. There is even a bar soap version of it.

I want to make something clear: not everyone uses it. I know it's traditional, especially in certain areas, but I personally never used the stuff until I lived in a primarily Hispanic neighborhood and was introduced to it. I've never seen anyone in my family use it either. I've known a few to own 4711, that's as close as it gets. Before, I'd always used whiskey, vodka, or even salt water to cleanse things, maybe a little incense smoke.

A few little tips: Florida Water is GREAT for mosquito bites, it numbs and soothes them (thanks to its clove and lavender oils) and helps them to heal. It also makes a great toner for oily or acne prone skin. To keep nice and cool in the summer, mix some into ice water and soak a rag in the mix to wipe yourself down and drape around your neck. This mix is also awesome for a migraine.

I have used Florida Water in healing work to great success. My boyfriend is diabetic and gets these little sores which don't heal for months, and when they do, they scar over. He has been to the doctor about them, and his doctor didn't know what they were but ruled out anything really serious, surmising that they must be, indeed, related to his diabetes. I asked him if, next time any cropped up, I could try to help heal them. Using Florida Water on them twice a day, along with prayer and power, I got them to heal up and leave with almost no scarring. He was shocked and amazed. He'd been using rubbing alcohol on them for a long time, so I know it wasn't just the alcohol content. Florida Water contains actual essential oils as opposed to synthetic fragrance, so there is real power in it.

Please take note: the above healing work did include a visit to a medical doctor. This is one example of using healing work in conjunction with medical doctors, which you should always do.

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.

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.

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.

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".