The Spellcaster's Source Hoodoo and Voodoo Witchcraft Blog of Talia Felix

When one works at home, anything goes. You can cleanse your office with sulfur burnings, a fiery cauldron, and drumming to chase the trouble out, if you so desire. In a shared office you are obliged to be subtle, both so as not to disturb the other people in the space and so as not to advertise the work itself. Practitioners in many traditions hold that work known to hostile or curious coworkers is easier to interfere with, and even skeptics will agree that a coworker who catches you drumming in a cubicle will have questions. A simple, low-profile cleansing needs the following: Any 3 spiritual aerosol sprays. These can be occult-branded products such as Van Van or Uncrossing, or ordinary commercial sprays in fragrances with a long cleansing reputation, such as pine, lemon, or sea breeze. You can also use Spiritual Waters in a spray bottle . 3 selenite wands or stones, OR 3 large salt rocks. Before you spray anything, check whether your office has a fragrance policy. Many do, and cowork...

 * A voodoo doll made from feathers bound in place; the strings are slowly unbound and the doll falls apart, bringing destruction to the target. * urine and/or red brick dust used as a scrub on the front steps to keep away evil. * coin and a piece of stale bread for luck in love (no description of how). * revenge bag worn around the waist. * nutmeg, ammonia , sugar , sand, as a floor scrub in a church with low attendance to bring visitors. * a bag of "worthless stones" in a bag, swung by a childless couple as they walk a mile each of 9 mornings, to conceive. * St Joseph's bread baked in alligator molds (same used with the coin for love?). * scrub off doorstep and sprinkle with red brick dust (said to have been common "a generation ago"). * rub (yourself?) with Uncrossing Oil to make any spells put on you go away. * dragon's blood to ward off evil spirits and ghosts ("The concoction was actually powdered bloodroot," adds the writer.) * Van Van Oil ...

 Myrrh The other day I made a bath recipe for myself using some artificial myrrh oil (real myrrh essential oil being quite expensive -- about $160 a half ounce as of this writing.) Sniffing it, it called to mind so many other spells that I've done that I realized -- this is THE smell of hoodoo. American hoodoo magic, with its blend of African, Indigenous, and European traditions, has a long history of utilizing various herbs, roots, and materials to create potent spells and rituals. One such ingredient that holds a significant place is myrrh. It is not a native plant to the Americas: commiphora myrrha is native to the Arabian penninsula and Africa. It appears often in the Bible, and because of this was adopted into European high magical traditions. As I mention in my book Conjuration , incense wasn't much used in American hoodoo till the early 20th century, when the "catalogue culture" of De Laurence and others brought to it more high magical tradition and incorpor...

  This simple spell to keep away the police comes from Zora Neale Hurston's collection of 1920s magic spells.  You need: 3 large John the Conqueror roots Talk to the roots and tell them you need them to keep away the police and the law. Then bury them at your gate or whatever entry would be used to access your property. 

There is a well-known ritual, often played by children, called Bloody Mary . The game is played thus: one or more players go into a darkened room with a mirror, and light a single candle. The main player then stands at the mirror and chants the name "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary" ad infinitum or until wishing to stop the game. It is said that the player will see his or her own reflection morph into that of Bloody Mary, who, if allowed to manifest in full, will then reach out of the mirror and kill the player. If one plays the game with the assistance of a second, it's the second's job to flip on the light switch if things get too scary -- turning the light back on will assuredly send away the spirit in the mirror. As I was taught, one can also summon other ghosts this same way, simply by chanting their name instead of Bloody Mary.  Now again, this was all taught to me as a kid in the context of being a game to play -- but of course, true believer...

Baptized candles have a tendency to display either current or to-be behaviors of their subjects. Skull candles, which are used for the purpose of magically controlling a person's thoughts, seem to "weep" with a certain frequency. Some of this is just due to the shape of the candle -- the eyes being one of the shallowest points, therefore make it likely that the liquid wax will pour out of that spot -- and one must be cautious with candle readings to comprehend what is normal burn behavior for a style of candle. Nonetheless, a weeping skull candle can indicate many things. I might suggest he subject is upset or will become upset by thing thing you're requesting, or it might indicate that he or she is already unhappy. If you get a sobby little skull candle as part of your work, consider whether your demands on the person might be too emotionally damaging to them!  Domination and control work requires careful judgment about how hard to push—this is one area where...

Henri Gamache includes a version of this Psalm in his Master Book of Candle Burning , accompanying a ritual to "Protect Against Evil Influences." The Psalm can also be read on its own or in other contexts; it can even be written out as a type of gris gris. In te, Domine, speravi In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust; let me never be put to confusion, but rid me, and deliver me, in thy righteousness; incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou my stronghold, whereunto I may always resort; thou hast promised to help me, for thou art my house of defence, and my castle. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the ungodly, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For thou, O Lord God, art the thing that I long for; thou art my hope, even from my youth. Through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born; thou art he that took me out of my mother’s womb. My praise shall be always of thee. I am become as it were a monster unto many, but my sure trust is in thee. O ...

We exist in an unprecedented era. There is now internet , a creation which allows text and images to be instantly transferred from person to person. People can have jobs and never ever see their employer or go to an office -- they might not even live in the same state or the same country as the person they work for! This has an impact on traditional magic spells. Most of your classic old time hoodoo "get a job" or "get business" spells assume you will be interacting directly with the boss or with customers. Some traditional operations of this type include: To have a successful job interview, wash your face with sugar before going to interview. To get a job, sprinkle some salt on the person interviewing you and on the floor of the business. To get customers, wash the floor of the shop with a mixture of your urine, sugar and bluing. For a successful job application, dress your resume with powder such as Steady Work or Van Van . For business success, sprinkle magneti...

Sugar spells are everywhere these days. People know you can “sweeten someone up,” and if you poke around online for five minutes, you’ll find love spells that ask you to write a name on a paper and put it in a jar with sugar, honey, syrup, or a piece of candy. It’s not just popular — it’s practically its own genre. But the real history of sugar in hoodoo is a little deeper, and as always, a little weirder. Traditionally, sugar was used to sweeten someone toward you — whether for love, kindness, better treatment, or even to grease a boss’s attitude at work. You’ll find older spells that use sugar to make a judge lenient or to keep someone from being angry. What’s rarely mentioned outside the tradition is that the type of sugar used could be significant. Yes, really. In older hoodoo practice, sweeteners were sometimes matched to the race or skin tone of the person being targeted. Molasses - thick and dark, was typically used if the person was Black. White sugar - for a white person. Hon...

This is a particularly useful spell when some unpleasant memory is haunting your sleep.  You need: Peace oil White candle (preferably a small chime candle or a tealight) soap and cleaning products -- you can use special spiritual cleaning products like Chinese Wash and Florida Water Soap for some extra oomph if you have them, but regular cleaning products will suffice. The morning after you wake from a dream you wish to never repeat, immediately strip the bedding and open the bedroom windows to air out the room. If you store any items under your bed, remove them to a new location at least for a few days. As soon as you have time, sweep or vacuum the bedroom with special attention to under the bed, and follow the instructions for Spiritual Cleansing of Bedding.   The next night, dress the white candle with the Peace oil, and shower or bathe with the candle burning nearby. Dab your forehead, wrists and the soles of your feet with more of the Peace oil af...

Dust Devils! Whirlwinds! Vortexes! These natural phenomena are considered powerful magic by hoodoo tradition. A minor whirlwind is created when local winds start to spin on the ground. This causes a funnel to form. The funnel moves over the ground, pushed by the winds that first formed it. The funnel picks up materials such as dust as it moves over the ground, thus becoming visible. Terms for such minor whirlwinds are usually a "devil" (dust devil, water devil, fire devil, etc.). They've been called by this name since the 19th century. Whether from the association from the name, or whether the name came because of an already established folklore, the connection is nevertheless that these phenomena are the product of a supernatural being. Consequently, the dirt that's been sucked up in one of these powerful vortexes is believed to have a special power. Acquiring some of the dust is a feat for a practitioner, but not impossible -- it requires seeing one on advance and p...

Concerning some secrets that one calls according to the cabbalist sages, the Apple of Love, and are performed in this manner. You go one Friday morning before sunrise into a fruit orchard, and pick from a tree the most beautiful apple that you can; then you write with your own blood on a bit of white paper your first and last name, and on another line following, the first and last name of the person by whom you would like to be loved, and you try to have three of her hairs, to which you affix three of yours which you shall use to bind the little message you have written with another one, the which is to have nothing but the word Scheva, likewise written in your blood, then you slice the apple in two, you throw away the seeds, and in their place you lay your papers bound with hair, and with two sharp skewers made from green myrtle branches, you neatly rejoin the apple’s two halves and you will put it to dry in an oven, ensuring that it grows hard and free of moisture like the dried a...

"Voodoo Doll" has come to be the standard term for any kind of magical poppet or doll-baby, and especially those which are intended to bring influence on a specified person. Virtually any kind of material can be used to make these dolls, just as long as the final shape is recognizably humanoid. Some people even like to save themselves time and use store-bought dolls or figurines around which to build their dolls.  Denise Alvarado's book  Voodoo Dolls in Magick and Ritual  has many interesting photos from her collection showing how they can be made.  Doll Babies, or "Voodoo Dolls" as they are more commonly called, have a variety of magical uses. Purposewise, they are used as a stand-in for an actual person on whom a spell is being worked, and are not themselves inherently used for evil. They are generally used in a symbolic way that is representative of the sort of effect the practitioner wishes to produce upon their human target. In previous times, they were ...

Bullying is a problem most commonly thought of as only affecting school-children, though it can impact full grown adults as well. No matter the age, to be a victim of bullying is devastating, especially as a key part of what makes it particularly bullying rather than merely "someone being mean" is the victim's inability to defend themselves effectively. It may be because the bully is a higher-status person than the victim and thereby has the institution (school, office, government, etc.) on their side, or in a purely physical sense the bully might be bigger and stronger and the victim physically less capable in a fight. The bully might even be armed and the victim not.  Beyond the physical and social dimensions, the psychological impact of bullying can be profound and long-lasting. Victims often experience anxiety, depression, and a diminished sense of self-worth. The fear and stress caused by bullying can affect their performance in school or work, their relationships, ...