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

My life's introduction to Cornelius Agrippa was not through reading his books, but through the article about him in Man, Myth and Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural. It includes the following little rumor about Mr. Agrippa: ...He went out one day, leaving the key of a secret room with his wife. She foolishly lent it to the lodger, a student, who went into the room and found a huge book of spells, which he began to read. After a while he looked up and found a demon standing in front of him, asking why it had been summoned. He gaped at it in horror and the demon strangled him. Agrippa returned and, fearing a charge of murder, made the demon restore the student to life for a few hours. The young man was seen walking in the street but when the demon's magic wore off, he collapsed. In that same article, his appearance in the German children's book  Struwwelpeter is mentioned purely because they wanted to use the public domain illustration of him. Now, the fir...

Finding the right materials for spellwork can be a challenge, especially when one is in a situation where traditional ingredients are unavailable. Whether it’s due to limited access, tight budgets, or time constraints, many practitioners face the question of how to adapt their tools without compromising the spell's effectiveness. Fortunately, magic has always been a practice of ingenuity and resourcefulness! Hoodoo in particular was practically founded upon adapting traditions to new cultures and landscapes where the old herbs, tools and licenses were no longer possible to employ. Adaptation is absolutely possible in witchcraft of this type. Yet there are limits. It is considered perfectly good practice to substitute certain items with certain things, but not others. For example, if one were to perform the Return a Lost Lover Spell from Homemade Hoodoo , but one didn't have any access to lavender oil, what would one use instead to substitute for it? The thought might be to use ...

  Why ghosts wear clothes or white sheets instead of appearing in the nude Shane McCorristine , Newcastle University When you think of a ghost, what comes to mind? A ghastly, mouldy winding-sheet? A malevolent pile of supernatural armour? Or a sinister gentleman in a stiff Victorian suit? In 1863 George Cruikshank, the caricaturist and illustrator of Dickens’s novels, announced a “discovery” concerning the varied appearance of ghosts. It does not seem, he wrote : That any one has ever thought of the gross absurdity and impossibility of there being such things as ghosts of wearing apparel … Ghosts cannot, must not, dare not, for decency’s sake, appear without clothes; and as there can be no such thing as ghosts or spirits of clothes, why then, it appears that ghosts never did appear and never can appear. Why aren’t ghosts naked? This was a key philosophical question for Cruikshank and many others in Victorian Britain. Indeed, stories of naked or clothesless ghosts,...

  It is very common online and in books to see the claim that a "magic spell" is so called because you write, or spell, it out on paper. Contrary to popular belief, spells are not so called because you "spell" them out. It is in fact a branching out of  a now-obsolete Middle English word spel , meaning "an utterance, something said, a statement, remark; also, a conversation." It could also mean a fixed story or poem (that you memorize and recite) and then, by extension, a chant you recite. And, by extension, a spell in the magical incantation sense. In one Middle English to Latin glossary, spell is equated with "syllabicos."  Of interest, this word is also the second element in the term  gospel . Literacy was not the most normal of conditions until fairly recently. There are parts of the world even today where it is uncommon. It is therefore no surprise that in former times, things were communicated more often by speech than by writing. However,...

Kyphi was the name given to a style of sacred incense, rather than to a specific blend. The name is derived from the Greek rendering of the Egyptian word kapet, which simply means “fumigation” or “incense.” Whether due to the limited number of fragrant herbs available at the time, or due to some requirement dictated by the way it would be used, kyphi recipes do have certain things in common and do not seem to be a totally random combination of herbs. Honey, cinnamon and mastic appear to always be included, and raisins or wine are very typically added. The total number of ingredients might be fewer than ten or they could number more than seventy. A much simplified version of the recipe can be found in my book The Conjure Cookbook. Here is a fairly easy version of kyphi from the 12th century BC. palmarosa cinnamon sweet flag mint pine resin mastic raisin wine (preferred -- red wine from grapes is an acceptable substitute) honey The herbs can be used fresh or dried. A proper kyphi should ...

  I've posted about chakras before. I might have even mentioned them in my books . Chakras are so ubiquitous you don't even think about them -- you see chakra candles at Whole Foods, chakra gemstone necklaces at art fairs, you can buy Wiccan athames with chakra symbols on them  and chakra smudge kits . As of this writing, the #1 search result for the word "chakra" on Google is a Healthline page . Chatting with a Nepalese-born clerk at a local shop, he was describing to me anxiety symptoms and termed the sensation as "hitting right in the heart chakra." Didn't even need to explain what that was. I happened to take a Sanskrit class at age 12 and I'm sure I was exposed to the word chakra there and thus aware of the Hindu origins of the term. I cannot be sure everyone who utilizes chakra magic/energy is aware of that origin. It's a Sanskrit word meaning "wheel" and also applies to a sort of discus weapon used in antiquity, which the Hind...

The particular idea of the  vampire has its origins in Eastern European lore. However, the simple idea of undead corpses returning from the grave exists in many cultures. Sometimes they're seen as merely a type of ghost , or other times they may be a flesh and blood creature such as the zombie .  Vampires, as we understand them today, did not feature prominently in medieval English sources. However, the concept of the undead or revenants, beings that returned from the grave to harm the living, did exist. These creatures were often described in folklore and ecclesiastical texts rather than in literature. Medieval England had its own share of supernatural beliefs, heavily influenced by both Christian doctrine and older, pagan traditions. These beings were believed to rise from the grave, often as a result of improper burial practices, curses, or as divine punishment. They were sometimes said to cause misfortune, illness, and death among the living. One of the earliest medieval ...