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

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...

The mojo, gris-gris, hand, or conjure bag is an important item in hoodoo style folk magic . Several different methods exist for creating these talismans, which are typically made from a cloth wrapper or bag surrounding herbs, sigils, animal parts, minerals, and/or personal items taken from the person the bag is meant to effect.  Once the ingredients have been assembled together, a process is frequently undertaken to consecrate the bag and awaken its special mystical powers. This is an old process. Take up your nearly-finished bag, which should be filled with your ingredients but still open. Get ready to tie a knot around it, either with a separate string, or with a drawstring if your bag includes one.  Fill up your mouth with a shot of whiskey -- or just about any strong alcohol (bourbon, aquavit, scotch, moonshine, whatever.) DO NOT SWALLOW. Holding the liquid in your mouth, mumble without spilling it your blessings and prayers for the bag.  Tighten the kn...

David J. Lieberman's book Get Anyone To Do Anything explains the following:    The way people gamble and how they live their lives often parallel one another. Because, really, life is a series of decisions and gambles [...] Gambler A: The Chaser Here is a typical scenario of Gambler A. He bets $10 and loses; he bets $10 again and loses; now he bets $20 and loses; $30 and loses. He increases his bets as he does worse. The gambler tries to chase his money -- trying to win it all back in one hand by betting more to make up for the times he's lost. Gambler B: A Man Divided Against Himself Will Fall Here is a typical scenario of Gambler B. He bets $10 and loses; bets $10 and loses; after some time his bet goes down to $5.00 Good plan? No, because he never feels successful. If he wins the $5.00 bet then he feels he should have bet more and if he loses then he still lost. And he's partly pleased he's lost because it is through losing that he can now justify to h...

The modern gris-gris is viewed similarly to a mojo -- sometimes the words are even synonymous. Generally the gris-gris one finds in the United States today are either miniature mojo hands made with herbs wrapped in cloth or leather, or else decorated balls filled similarly, meant to be hung up in a house. A popular folk-etymology is that the word means "gray-gray" because it exists in a halfway point between black and white magic; another explanation is that it refers to the color of old-style herbal mixtures. However, research indicates the similarity to the French gris (gray) seems to be coincidental -- merely an effort to transcribe a native African word according to French spelling rules, apparently having been first introduced to Europe through the works of Le Maire in 1695 . The earliest gris-gris were something rather different than the modern herb charms -- something much more specific. The 1797 Encyclopedia Britannica gives an entry on the word: Grisgris: a...

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 a...