Mojos, or Conjure Hands, or Medicine Bags, or whatever you like to call them, are popular and classic parts of hoodoo and rootwork. The fact that they are easy to make and send as a "ready made spell" also causes them to be popular with the retailers of occult supplies.
This post is focusing on another element: feeding a mojo. This is usually an issue whether you bought your bag ready-made or whether you put it together yourself. In fact, if the bag is actually a mojo (rather than a gris-gris) it's always supposed to be fed. Only rarely are some mojo hands meant not to be fed repeatedly -- most typically in cases where they are meant to work on another person and are hidden or buried near the spell-target's home or workplace. Of course the practitioner isn't expected to have further access to the bag, and thus they are not given further feedings.
Most hands, however, are kept in the practitoner's home or, most commonly, carried by the practitioner. These are meant to be fed repeatedly. Exactly what type of "food" is needed by the mojo will usually be specified by the maker: these can include a conjure oil, urine, magnetic sand or conjure powder, whiskey, or cologne. Less commonly provided is the actual instruction on how often to feed it.
Method A) Feeding the mojo on a set schedule. This might be once a week, or every three days, or some other cycle. Important numbers in hoodoo style magic are usually odd numbers, but especially the numbers 3, 7, 9, 13 and 21; and those who use lunar magic might prefer to go by moon cycles, such as feeding the bag every full moon.
Method B) Feeding the mojo before it's expected to be used. This is most commonly the case for gambling mojos; other hands for Steady Money or Luck in General are often less suited to this, as they need to be "running" all the time and so don't have such brief windows of use.
Method C) Feeding the mojo whenever it "feels" like it needs feeding. This is best suited to practitioners with some psychic abilities of their own; others might never be able to get a good sense of what their bag wants.
Method D) Feeding the mojo when it has worked, as a way to "train" it to keep working; much as one would reward a pet when it's being taught a desired behavior.
I've done all of these methods but B, since I'm not much of a gambler and my mojos are usualy for long-term use. It has been my own experience that D produces the best results -- the bag wants the food, and when it becomes used to being fed only after working, it works more often.
Of course, this is only my own experience, and individual results and experiences may differ.
The use of a mojo bag is one of the best magical techniques for creating a long-lasting spell or controlling a situation that might need continued effort. In my book The Hand Book I give all kinds of information for how to create a mojo all of your own.
Mojos are, in effect, living entities. They have to be fed and cared for in order to serve you magically. Unfortunately, much like a pet animal, not everyone is capable of taking good care of one. I've done several magic spell casts where I've been horrified to discover that the customers decided to ignore my instructions and instead followed random advice they found on the internet, or were otherwise careless with the bags.
NO-NOS FOR MOJOS:
- don't open your mojo or add/subtract ingredients from it after it's made
- don't feed your mojo with items other than those which were instructed
- always make sure to carry your mojo WITH YOU unless otherwise instructed
- if someone else does your laundry for you, be extra careful to keep the mojo near you and out of reach of others (I've heard WAY too many "my mom washed my mojo bag" stories.)
Remember: the mojo is a living entity and should be treated as well as you'd treat a live plant or animal. Don't be a slave to your mojo, but don't disrespect it!
OLD TIME MOJO BAGS
"Thus in Jamaica once upon a time
(Ah, well remembered by the man of rhyme!)
Quako, high priest of all the negro nation,
And full of negro faith in conjuration,
Loaded his jackass deep with wonder-bags
Of monkey's teeth, glass, horse-hair and red rags..."
This 18th century poem attributed to "Peter Pindar" seems to be accurate in its description of mojo bag contents of the era (at least as far as the glass, horse-hair and rags... I have not seen monkey's teeth mentioned otherwise in historical sources, but that may be due to the rarity of monkeys in America.)
While there is tradition nowadays of making the bag itself of red cloth, in older sources red cloth is actually most commonly utilized inside the bag as an ingredient all its own. In African belief, red was reportedly thought to be the favorite color of spirits; additionally, if the bag was for harmful intent (as Quako's is) red contents were perceived to be particularly powerful and desirable. Red clover, red berries of Jack-in-the-pulpit and all kinds of red-colored things were all historically used in evil intentioned trick bags based on their color.
Mojo is a word that older scholarship holds to derive from the word moco, from Gullah. New scholarship says, however, that it comes from Kongo mooyo.
Moco means magic. Mooyo means a spirit or nkisi. Which do you think is the better description?