A Protection Packet For Travel

Since I've been doing so much traveling of my own, I thought I'd write a little bit about conjure for travelers.

A great 3 ingredient packet for travel I like:
-Comfrey
-Mugwort
-Rue

First, one of the most traditional roots associated with travel is comfrey. It can be added to packets or hands, and carrying it on you will ensure your travels are safe and worry-free. Next, fresh mugwort leaves are used to line the shoes to prevent fatigue, and dried they are carried for protection not just physically, but spiritually. The psychic uses of mugwort are so popular and talked about that sometimes people forget about its use in travel. Finally, rue. I. Love. Rue. It's so powerful and protective, keeping off negative forces and spiritual attack.

If you wish, you can add additional things, such as a St. Christopher charm (patron saint of travelers) or salt.

Now, once you've returned home and you've turned into a lazy purring housecat because your hosts spoiled you so much... hmm, I'm still figuring out how to fix that :D

Tragedy! (Edit: Now With Audio Aid)

Today we mourn the loss of my beloved, authentic van van oil. I have no idea how the bottle got this strange hole in it :( Just this morning I had an idea to dilute it to stretch it out a bit until I could buy some verbena and the other herbs and oils needed to make my own. This was purchased from a spiritual shop which is no longer in business, so I can't get another. The smell was just transcendent, I will be devastated if I can never match it.

There's something I'd like to educate everyone about. Ok, Van Van is so named because the Creole pronunciation of vervain (verbena) sounds like "veah vahn"†, and this was eventually corrupted into "van van". Some people know this, some don't. It baffles me why the people who know this don't put vervain into their formulas... it's the name of the damn oil! Even the people who fancy themselves grand high masters of hoodoo (yeah, el oh el) leave it out.

Now, some forward-thinking merchants have realised that you can't have Van Van without the van van, and have attempted to fix this. The problem is, every. single. one of them, that I've seen, uses lemon verbena. Lemon verbena is a completely different plant. I guess I can see the logic, if the formula has lemongrass, it must also call for lemon verbena. Lemon verbena was also very popular in turn of the century perfumery. However, it was expensive and rootworkers weren't working with perfume compounds, they were working with mostly wildcrafted and culinary plants.

Lemon verbena wipes your slate clean and sweetly attracts new things to you, especially in matters of love. Bees and butterflies absolutely love this plant! There is a lot of misinformation about lemon verbena going around, with people thinking it's a crossing herb due to a certain person with a big following misinterpreting the mechanics of a break-up job. But I guess that's what happens when you shamelessly plagiarize and try to pass yourself off as a real conjure worker. (Oh, I should stop.) Anyway, lemon verbena is best used situationally. Some things just cleanse so strongly that they pull everything off.

Verbena, on the other hand, has quite a long history of magical and spiritual use. There's the famous True Love Powder*. It was said to have been used to dress Jesus' wounds. It has been used to protect against vampires, witches, ghosts, and other evil creatures. It's mainly used for love-drawing and protection from evil and jinxing. Unlike lemon verbena, verbena is great to use on a continuous basis.

 A good Van Van recipe should look like this (sorry, I never measure, but remember that ingredients are always listed in order of quantity, greatest to least)
-Verbena
-Lemongrass
-Citronella grass (NOT the leafy plant sold as "citronella")
-Palmarosa
-Vetivert

You can use only herbs, but it's difficult to find citronella grass and even more difficult to find palmarosa. At least incorporate as many herbs as you can. You can get everything you need very cheaply from PennHerb and Edens Garden. I have not found undiluted essential oils at a better price than Edens Garden, I'm starting to build up a nice little collection. The Biblical Set (Frankincense, Myrrh, Spikenard) is wonderful, and a great money-saver to boot.

 †Edited to add: I remembered that Google Translate has a text to speech feature, so I checked to see if Louisiana Creole was on its language list. Sadly, no, but the word's pronunciation in Haitian Creole is nearly identical, give it a listen. LA Creole just has an almost inaudible "r".

*Earliest mention I remember seeing of the verbena-mistletoe-elecampane formula is H. U. Lampe's "Famous Voodoo Rituals & Spells", copyright 1974. MANY authors have plagiarized this great little book since its printing, including the certain person I mentioned above. ;)

White Florals

From top to bottom: Osmanthus, gardenia, orange blossom, jasmine, magnolia, white rose, tuberose.

"White floral", especially in the perfume industry, refers specifically to heavily perfumed white flowers. While they each have specialized uses, as a group they have a lot in common. While florals are associated with love, purity, fidelity, attraction, and marriage. Because of their purity, they can be added to any type of cleansing/uncrossing bath or oil.

Osmanthus- Because of it's fruity apricot tones, and the fact that it grows on an evergreen, I like to incorporate it in marriage and fertility works. Remember: fertility doesn't just mean physical female fertility, it can mean monetary fertility and, in this case, emotional fertility.

Gardenia- Ugh, I really need to plant myself some gardenia this spring! Gardenia is great for peace and bonding.

Orange blossom- The marriage flower. Because of it's associations with purity, it is used in wedding ceremonies to represent chastity and fidelity. Use for marriage, fidelity, and faithful love.

Jasmine- I've written about jasmine before. It's seductive, but not raunchy... though you can certainly make it very naughty just by combining it with a few things ;) It is also used for psychic work.

Magnolia- Magnolia in general is used for fidelity, and the blossoms are great for keeping the love strong even during hard times.

White Rose- The purest of pure. Because roses have thorns, which repel evil, white rose is an ingredient in many uncrossing formulas. White roses are also protective and they represent pure love.

Tuberose- Velvety and sensual, tuberose draws attention in a physical way, you know where you suddenly just really want to touch someone's arm or brush their hair back. Great for when you want physical affection.


If you are a fan of white florals, I cannot recommend enough one of my favorite perfumes of all time, Fracas by Robert Piguet

EDIT: Fracas has a bit of a cult following and it's been worn by many awesome ladies. Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Edie Sedgewick, Courtney Love, Madonna, Sophia Coppola, Dita Von Teese, and Iman are just the ones I can name off the top of my head!

I'm not sure how many newcomers know this, but you can work with your personal perfumes/colognes, you're not limited to Hoyt's/Florida Water/Jockey Club/whatever. You can pray over them for whatever it is you wish for them to do (look for ingredients that match up to your intent, of course). You can offer a spray or two of them in a glass of water to spirits. Even better if you can get scents your ancestors wore when they were alive. You can use them to feed hands/"mojos". The only thing I would caution is to look for fragrances made with real essential oils as opposed to synthetics.

Kill 'Em with Kindness

I'm so tired of, and disturbed by, the way that people online take things like goofer dust and hot foot power so lightly, using them for every perceived slight. Let me tell you the truth about this, because the marketers selling these products sure aren't:

-Just because you're not under the aegis of a Rede or Three Fold Law or "karma" (I hate when people use that word wrong), that does NOT mean you are not held to a code of ethics. Real conjure is Christian-based, it's not a free-for-all. Thou shalt not kill, bitches.
-You can't goofer someone "just a bit" or "just until they leave me alone" because that type of work is always a call for death. The person can die before you release them, and you may be unable to release them.
-You CANNOT prevent unjustified bad works from reversing to you by just doing a cleansing and/or protection work. This bullshit (yeah, that's right) about doing a hyssop bath while reciting Psalm 51 after any bad work has got to stop. Psalm 51 is for people who are truly penitent, not people looking for a "Get Out of Jail" card.
-Tricks lain can hurt more than just the intended targets. Let me repeat. TRICKS LAIN CAN HURT MORE THAN JUST THE INTENDED TARGETS. You can even cross yourself up.
-Using graveyard dirt from anyone but your ancestors is like playing Russian Roulette.
-Bad work is only justified for the most extreme of circumstances. Rapists, abusers, sexual predators, and other evil and criminal people. If you go and hot foot a rude/annoying neighbor, you have acted unjustly.
-You can't hot foot someone and then send them good work to cancel it out. The effects can last for years. You just might make them even more miserable, manifesting good things which they are unable to hold due to their mental distress.

There is really so much more, I will write more about unjustified work in another post.

When someone is troubling you, but death work and banishment is unjustified, what is one to do? Well, try some positive work before anything else. Let's look at some examples:

1) Someone is very jealous of you because you make more money than them. You've done protection work, maybe you even wear an evil eye charm, but their behavior is still upsetting. Instead of crossing them up, why not do some money work for them? Try for them to have a steady income, job success, financial security. Once they're happier, they may well leave you alone.

2) Someone wants your significant other. They flirt with them and try to break the two of you up. You've done work to protect your relationship. Fixing this is the same principle as above: you help that person to get what will make them happy. In this case, try doing some love work for the other person. Try for them to meet a new love, whom they will be happy with.

3) Someone is just a bastard to you, and you don't know why. For this you need to be totally honest with yourself. Are you really, truly blameless? Don't brush anything off as insignificant or "not that bad"... what seems small to you may indeed be a big deal to the person who now hates you. Swallow your pride and apologize to them. That may be all this situation takes to fix itself. Maybe you really are blameless, this person is just mean and miserable. Try for them to be healed of the things that cause them to act out. Try for them to be happy at home and successful at work. Do some sweetening work on them. Not those damn honey jars, try rolling candles in sugar or drizzling around them with syrup or honey. You can also stand a taper up in a small bowl or teacup of sweetened condensed milk and syrup or honey, working it for a few nights before disposing of the liquid and wax near where they live. These methods are much more traditional and work much faster.

Instead of jumping right to bad work, you should always look for positive ways to work a situation. Many, many times people are just acting out because they are hurting or they have a void in their life. Not only will you prevent yourself from getting crossed up, but you will actually fix the problem.

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.

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.

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.

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?