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

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...

Antoine Wiertz was a popular Belgian artist of the 19th century. He painted a variety of subjects, many of which were perfectly pleasant , but the ones for which he is best known are dark subjects like a trainee witch , a vanitas and a premature burial.  He was successful in his lifetime and has a museum in Brussels dedicated solely to his artwork. One of Wiertz's most famous works was a triptych called, in English, The Visions of a Guillotined Head .  Sadly the original painting is now in poor condition (Wiertz wanted a paint that would resemble the matte look of a fresco, and to this end he created a paint medium which did not hold up well with time.) The art style is meant to resemble the works of Peter Paul Rubens .  But perhaps more interesting than the painting itself is the story of how the artist did his research into what it's like to be decapitated. I have translated from the original French given in a 19th century catalogue of his paintings. Vi...

In what is probably a surprise to many people, lots of hoodoo style spell casters will not perform negative workings like death spells or jinxes. Despite a culture that considers "voodoo" and "hoodoo" to be synonymous with evil and black magic, the fact is that hoodoo is used for lots of other purposes; and, furthermore, many practitioners have moral or religious objections to performing these types of wicked workings -- even if they might know  how  to perform them, they won't. I am one of the practitioners that will perform harmful magic spells.  I've even written a book teaching how to perform them.  That said, I don't do cursing spells indiscriminately --  I will usually be willing to perform a spell of equal payback for anyone , and otherwise I will do death and misfortune magic in suitable cases. Examples of unsuitable cases I might get are: *When the curse isn't the point -- for example, someone who wants someone dead because he's a love r...

The Haunted Close The area around Mary King's Close, from an 18th century engraving. I think the first time I even heard about Edinburgh, Scotland, what I was really being told of was the famous Mary King's Close , a supposedly haunted underground complex beneath the city, where the miserable spirits of wretched poor still wander their old abodes. I forget whether the rumor of plague victims being bricked up inside the close was part of what I had heard at the time or not -- it seems to be a common myth about the site nonetheless -- but definitely the miserable state of the town's paupers during the 17th century was an aspect of some importance in the story as it was being told. With the poorest of the poor living underground in its particularly wretched conditions, it was said to be known as "The Street of Sorrows." When I visited Edinburgh for the first time in 2001, Mary King's Close was -- much to my disappointment -- not open to the public. ...