How About Nonconsensual, Manipulative And Execration Spells?

Hoodoo is a well-recognized magical tradition that condones, tolerates, and even sometimes promotes nonconsensual spells. Its adherents even utilize and prescribe spiritual supplies for domination, control, and enemy works. Because of this, it is very likely for people to question if it is unethical for a conjure worker to cast a spell on someone without their permission? 

Every practitioner has to come to their own terms on permission, consent, and such. However, unlike in many Neo-pagan traditions, one rather extreme answer that a practitioner of Hoodoo would give to you would be: "not at all." 

A less extreme position would be that while casting spells against other people's will is always pro-tanto wrong, other moral, spiritual, and divinatory considerations can sometimes outweigh the pro-tanto wrongness of manipulative or nonconsensual magic. People from different religious and magical traditions might think it is always wrong. Nonetheless, in Hoodoo tradition, conjure workers are known to weave spells or put roots on someone even if their target doesn't know they're being worked on. 

Some countervailing moral factors might sometimes suffice to justify casting spells against others' will on balance. What might such factors include? One obvious candidate would be consequences. For example, the fact that a mother's successful manipulation of her son's resistant attitude and disreputable behavior through the Cast Off Evil spell would save her boy's life. Other factors might also be thought to be countervailing considerations like the intentions. Perhaps the immorality of the son's character, or the fact that he is acting on an evil desire or intent, is a countervailing factor that can outweigh the wrongness of his mother's manipulation. 

So are we admitting that manipulation is wrong? Yes, to a certain extent. 

In the Hoodoo tradition, we believe that God is also the source of wrongness or evil. Fundamentalist Christians will say no. They argue that man's free will is the source of evil. But didn't God create our free will? And doesn't that make Him the ultimate source of evil? In Isaiah 45:7, God said, "I form light, I create darkness; I make well-being, I create woe; I, Adonai, do all these things." If God isn't the source of evil, what can the Scriptures possibly mean when it tells us that "an evil spirit from God" came upon King Saul (I Samuel 18:10)? Even the prophet Jeremiah declared in Lamentations 3:38 (KJV), that "both bad things and good proceed from the mouth of the Most High?"

Vamoose! Hot Foot Spell could cause enemies, ex-lovers, and unwanted people to leave you alone and never return. We use traditional conjure supplies such as hot foot powder, red fire ants, and peppers to set your adversaries' feet on fire and drive them away and graveyard dirt to make the spirits haunt their minds. Annoying people and troublemakers won't linger long with hot foot spell on the job!

Biblically speaking, evil is an expression of the Divine and an aspect of our interrelation with the spiritual world. There is 'evil' in the sense of manipulation, execration, destruction, revenge, or violence – in other words, those aspects of existence in this world that we consider 'bad' or 'wrong' because they hurt us or inconvenience us in some way. 

If God employs wrongness or evil in His actions, it is always for a virtuous purpose within the all-embracing scheme of His eternal and sovereign plan. For instance, He sometimes uses affliction to compel people to seek His face (Hosea 5:15). Similarly, He works all things, including trials and troubles, "together for good to those who love [Him]" (Romans 8:28). Humans are created in His own image. Just like Him, we may have any number of reasons for weaving evil, even destruction, and damnation, into the fabric of other individuals' experiences. Calling these actions immoral would mean that God is corrupt too. We are just imitating how the Divine works. 

Good and evil, blessings and curses stem from the Divine. God is the sole source of all and is the essence of both good and evil. There is no other force independent from Him. Even a Hoodoo practitioner from the book, Hoodoo, Conjuration, Witchcraft, and Rootwork by Harry Middleton Hyatt, explained that:

"In hoodooism, anythin' da' chew do is de plan of God undastan,' God have somepin to do wit evah' thin' you do if it's good or bad, He's got somepin to do wit it ... jis what's fo' you, you'll git it." (In hoodooism, anything that you do is the plan of God, understand? God has something to do with everything you do, whether good or bad; he's got something to do with it... You'll get what's coming to you.)

In the words of my mentor: "Good and evil descend from heaven. Good can be experienced only as such in our lives. Evil can emerge too from the Supernal One, but actually, it is a concealed good - a good that is subject to how we choose to receive and experience it. God and our willpower can change these heavenly blessings into curses, to subvert these positive energies into negative forces."

So, does it mean even cursing is good? 

My mentors explained that even for specific human suffering, which is, in fact, a curse from the Divine and inflicted by His emissaries (destructive angels or demons), one must distinguish between Divine motivation in cursing and human dualistic motivations in punishing. A high percentage of humans punishing behavior is egocentric. With God, all curses are educational. Sometimes losing wealth moves a person forward spiritually. Sometimes a health crisis moves a person forward. These kinds of sufferings are opportunities given by God with the aid of some spiritual adversaries to shake oneself out of behaviors that have become second nature.

As conjure workers, this is how we should operate as well. Our cursing should be educational too. When cursing, we can discover how much ego is involved in human reactions. Intuitively, we know that our cursing or punishing behavior, as mentioned, is egocentric. We should never indulge in egocentric punishment. However, our anthropomorphic concepts of God and the spirit world often project this accusation onto the Divine and the spirits. This should not be the case at all.

In human punishment, there is usually a significant element: "You did something bad; therefore, you should suffer." In Divine or spiritual punishing, the approach is always, "You did something bad. Therefore you must learn your lesson so you will not repeat such actions." In this way, the 'evil' that we are employing in our works, or rather the 'concealed good,' is already being experienced as something other than an expression of the Divine loving relationship with humans. 

By contrast, some might still hold that nonconsensual, manipulative, and execration spells are always immoral based on first impressions. And even though some acknowledge that sometimes manipulative or destructive response is a must, they still opt to stay neutral on this kind of topic. But this presumption can be defeated in some situations through reliable spirit communication and virtuous divination. When the presumption is defeated, manipulation or cursing is not considered a sin. On this view, we might say that while manipulative or execration magic is usually wrong, it is not wrong at all in some scenarios. We do not perform any kind of spell or spiritual work without consulting our spiritual community first through any divinatory methods. 

It's merely a question of intent; do you want to 'defend' someone against something unjustifiable or 'attack' the cruel cause? 

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, cruelty, and bigotry, you have chosen the oppressor's side. Suppose an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral for the sake of your peace of mind because you believe nonconsensual and manipulative magic is unethical. In that case, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

In some cases, even if it is not wrong on balance to cast spells on someone without their consent, it would still be morally preferable to avoid it in favor of some other, ethically legitimate form of influence. However, it should always be noted that whether a given instance is immoral will always depend on the facts of the situation, the spirit's advice, and the divinatory result or outcome, and the term itself includes (or should include) no presumption one way or the other. 

Bend Over is a spell that is said to subjugate the will of another person so that they will greatly wish to please you, will do as you say, and will be more generous and flexible, without causing a confrontation of wills and arguments or disagreements with one another. 

Package Charms

A cut piece of clothing from the target's shirt was made into a packet charm.

 

Hoodoo packet charms, or some people from the Deep South called 'package,' are magical amulets that root doctors make during spell workings or rituals. These curious objects have evolved from Kongo fetishes called "nkisi wambi." Like their Kongo counterparts and mojo bags, packet charms are spirit-activated bundles of herbs, minerals, animal parts, and other ingredients wrapped in fabric and bound together by ribbons or cords. 

Conjure workers use the binding strategy associated with magical packets when working on challenging or difficult conditions or situations such as domination jobs or enemy works but most especially with the fierce spirits summoned to aid the client's request. The tight and harsh binding captures the forces needed to get the owner's prayer answered. It also harnesses and channels mystical powers, which ultimately control other people's behavior, make oneself strict about achieving their desires or allow the spirits of the curios to perform effective work. Their efficacy depends on careful wrapping and binding techniques that include ropes, cords, chains, threads, strings, or locks - seven, nine, or thirteen times - symbolic of an umbilical cord connecting the physical charm to the spiritual world. Given this visual articulation of bondage, they are believed to be useful allies or servants for the conjure worker or his client to materialize things and help them in their endeavors in general. The packages or bundles were then placed in secret locations to protect an area or bring harm to harsh slaveholders or any troublemakers. Artifacts of package charms were found in slave quarters and plantations in Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, and Maryland. 

Dixie Love Mojo and Magical Package prepared and fixed by Tim Soji for our valued client. 

Magical packets or packages are said to have the power to attract good juju and empower one's willpower. They can also be used as protective amulets in people's homes, bringing health, wealth, and happiness. 

Like any other amulets or charms, these objects fix things. And as aforementioned, like a mojo hand, it also contains a spirit who works according to the owner's instructions. Some root doctors who make packets include personal concerns, providing the individual who owns this charm an opportunity to alter a circumstance. As such, magical packages become extensions of their owner's agency because they become the source and vehicle for change.

Magical dried herbs with hand-trace on the cloth and printed photo of the client have been prepared as ingredients of two seperate package charms. 

The practitioner also chooses what to incorporate into these objects and how they will look. Not only do these choices ensure the object's efficacy, but it does also steer a situation toward a particular desired outcome by giving tangible form to a problem and its solution. 

(Photo courtesy of Memphis Conjure Shop)

Protection and Empowerment Package Charm

Materials Needed:

- Three orange candles with a sun carved into each

- Protection oil

- Power oil

- St. Michael the Archangel holy card

- Frankincense resins

- Red cloth

- Hair from your head

- Couch grass leaves/root

- Master root

- High John the Conqueror root

- Sampson snake root

- A piece of lightning-struck wood or stone

- Sulfur powder

- Anvil dust

- Jute string

- Match/lighter

- Charcoal disc

- Metal bowl

- Tongs

Ritual Procedure:

Best performed: In the sunlight/daytime.

Set up the metal bowl or an incense burner to place the charcoal disc. Hold the disc with a pair of tongs so you don't burn your fingers, and then light the disc with a match or lighter to set it on fire. Set the disc in the prepared bowl or burner and let it heat up. Put a small piece of frankincense resin on top of the charcoal and let it produce some smoke. Bathe yourself and your items with incense smoke. 

Once done, dress the candles in an upward motion with Power oil followed by Protection oil. Then dress all the curios with the same conjure oils. Light all the candles while saying: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," and place them on your altar before the holy card of Archangel Michael. Assemble all your materials at the base of the candles.

Now, take a moment to visualize what you wish to accomplish with this spell and think of all that will come about. Then bless God for creating the Sun by saying: 

"Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, maker of the works of Creation."

Focus on the flames of your candles, and the Sun carved in each. Think of the orange color releasing the negativity and calming yourself. Envision the Sun as the energy and power you need to move past the negativity. Reflect on how you want to eliminate the bad jujus in your life and how your life will improve. Pray to God until you are empowered with positivity and growth. Now that you are empowered, it's time to fix the packet. Recite Psalm 112 three times.

Each recitation has different personal prayers and visualization. The first time, place your hair strands and couch grass onto the red cloth while visualizing the negativity as a weed planted in the ground trying to grow. Next, place the Master root, High John the Conqueror root, and Sampson snake root while visualizing the plant spirits pulling the weed out as the Sun gains in intensity, making it impossible for the weed of negativity to grow. And the last time, add the lightning-struck wood, sulfur, and anvil dust, burning the weed into ashes and the Sun reaching its full potential killing the negativity before it could even grow, thus fully protecting you. 

Ask for the intercession of Saint Michael the Archangel, who guards the Sun with a sharp, cutting sword, and request him to defend you too, and not let any weed of negativity grow within or without you.

Take a moment and meditate on the feeling of protection and empowerment that the Sun and its protector, Saint Michael, are giving you. After that, breathe into them three times.

Allow the rest of the candles to burn until they go out, then put the Saint Michael Archangel holy card and wrap them tightly, making a small packet. Bind it thirteen times while praying loudly and reciting the Psalm one last time. When you are finished, tie the package up firmly and roughly with four knots using a jute string. Dress lightly with the oils (occasionally with one or more conjure oils to keep it working for you).

Protection paper packet charm I personally fixed for clients who were victims of a love jinxing trick. 

Catholic Saint Packets

Catholic Church practices entered Hoodoo when Black Americans culturally intermingled with Afro-Caribbean and Latino folk Catholic practitioners. The techniques they accorded to some Hoodoo men and women include the veneration of saints and the petitioning of saints as intercessors who carry prayers to The Holy Trinity or The Blessed Virgin Mother Mary. It is a tradition of the Roman Catholic Church to designate saints as patrons of various locations, situations, and jobs that were associated during their lives, or an aspect, a body of knowledge, condition, or place associated with the saint after death due to multiple accounts of the saint's miraculous intercessions.

A mojo bag and package charm being blessed with the aid of Archangel Michael. 

Religious folk charms traditionally used for various magical and spiritual purposes in Mexico, the Caribbeans, and other areas of Latin America, were also introduced to some conjure doctors. Depending on local customs, these charms come in various shapes and dimensions and are fabricated from many different materials like cloth, paper, foil, wood, metal, and even wax. As part of a religious ritual or an act of devotion, religious charms can be presented as a votive offering to a saint, as a reminder of a petitioner's particular need; or as a symbol of gratitude for a prayer answered. They can also assist in focusing attention on a specific ailment. A saint packet is an example of a religious charm widely used in the Hoodoo tradition.

Saint Peter - Road Opener Packet

Material Needed:

- 5 white candles

- St. Peter, Road Opener or Olive oil

- Saint Peter holy card/printed photo

- Parchment paper

- White handkerchief

- Crossroad dirt

- 2 skeleton keys or any old keys

- Abre camino or boneset leaves

- White plate

- Jute string

- Sandalwood or pine incense

Ritual Procedure:

Prepare your petition paper by writing your prayer requests on parchment paper.

Next, carve your name on one of the candles with the key. Dress them with oil, the Abre Camino, or boneset leaves, and place the white candle with the carved name at the center of the plate, then put the herb at the base of it. 

Around the central candle and the herb layout, the crossroad dirt is in a quincunx pattern. Now, place the remaining candles in the four directions of the quincunx or cross. Sprinkle them five times with a little of the Abre Camino, too. Place the holy card and the keys among them.

Light the candles in this order: the four directions first (north, south, east, west), then the central candle. Light sandalwood or pine incense. While it burns, say your prayer or wishes for road opening out loud and call upon Heaven for aid.  Ask for the intercession of St. Peter. 

Allow the rest of the candles to burn until they go out. Gather up the dirt, herb, keys, and holy card and wrap them tightly in your petition paper, making a small packet. Tie the package up in the white handkerchief with five knots. Dress it lightly with oil. 

Human Finger Bones

homo sapiens

The employment of human bones has a long history in African and African-American folk magic. Just as the skull is emblematic of the mind, so are the fingers symbolic of getting, clasping, holding, and keeping something that the conjurer wants; and of the facility in specific creative fields, such as music and arts. 

During the Black-Belt Hoodoo period, some enslaved conjure workers preferred to carry a dead man's whole hand with all the putrefying flesh still attached. Bones of murdered men were the most sought-after as these were regarded as more powerful than the bones of those who died by natural causes. 

Human finger bones are either carried in one's pocket or attached to strings and worn around one's neck. But since the fingers essentially perform a task to obtain the individual's material desires, "helping" fingers bones are more commonly utilized now in making mojo hands for business and gambling or conjure bags owned by musicians and artists. 

The thumb or the middle finger is generally used as an amulet or ingredient in mojo hands. Still, every finger bone is highly efficacious in attracting material inclinations.

Conjure workers who work with the dead are the ones who conventionally employ human bones in their workings by visiting a graveyard for the conduction of the proper ceremonial ritual to invoke the spirit of the dead. To perform this, I usually bring the bones and light a white candle while I recite Psalms 25 and 23. I invoke the spirit by stomping my conjure cane. Once I feel the presence, I anoint or soak them with olive oil and make some offerings and libations to the spirit (fresh herbs and a Whiskey). I usually mouth spray the liquor into the dead man's bones. 

I disagree with people attempting to contact the spirits of the dead when they don't exactly know what they're doing.

Whether a genuine occult phenomenon or just a hallucinatory event, the danger of spirit possession is real and something to guard against during any sort of spirit communication (séance, spirit of the glass/ouija, and other necromantic practices, etc.). In my experience, dealing with human spirits is far more psychically, emotionally, and mentally draining than dealing with other entities such as nature spirits and planetary spirits.

If one must contact the spirit alone, it's imperative to do some protection beforehand.

Our authentic human finger bones were collected legally and are, therefore, legal to possess. 

What Is Spiritual Power And How Do You Know You Have It?

True power has to find its source in prayer and devotion to God and our spiritual community (spirit guides, ancestors, guardian angels, patron saints, etc.), not from other people. If you believe that your self-proclaimed master is giving you power such as telepathy or telekinesis, then that's plain buffoonery and tomfoolery.

The Hebrew word for prayer is "tefillah," from a root word that means 'to judge oneself.' I was taught that this signifies the examination of not only one's actions but also one's beliefs. We can always surrender each day all our actions and beliefs we interfered with the previous day and ask for a pearl of wisdom to see them in a higher light that we can use for the following days.

Each day, we can ask God and the spirits to help us be open to new views, meet essential people, and be able to hear more deeply what they have to share with us. As soon as we establish contact with our spiritual community through our prayers and devotions, we learn how to accept our mistakes and correct ourselves to be filled with spiritual light. This illumination, this spiritual light, is the true power that the Spirits can bestow upon us when we finally understand both righteousness and wickedness, or both good and evil paths, so to speak. 

Anyone can also be 'empowered' regardless of whether he is a "Babaylan," a Hoodoo practitioner, a Tantric guru, or Theistic Satanist. True power is not based on what one is practicing.

So do we all have power? Yes, we do. But the workings of this power in our life depend on how we live. If you spend most of your time assassinating one's character to others just to show dominance, then that power you thought you already had is purely delusional.

Let us, therefore, commit ourselves to use our mind and soul to probe, investigate and research the depths of God and the spirits, surrender into the Higher Voice that speaks a greater truth, so that we may reach the level of a complete, wholehearted 'POWER' rather than using your mind and mouth to think and speak of accusations, insults, and lies you would throw to those who you feel are inferior to you. 

Prayer and devotion are the source of one's power, not ego. (Photo courtesy of Dr. U-Wen Low)

Black Snake Root

cimicifuga racemosa, cimicifuga serpentaria

Also known as black cohosh root, it has tall white feathery racemes or flower spikes and thick knobby roots that resemble rattlesnake's rattle or scorpion sting; that is why it is also called rattlesnake root. It is highly protective and lucky. 

Hoodoo practitioners add some root chips to floor wash or sprinkle them on the floor and sweep them into the yard. They also mix black snake roots in their bathwater to kill an unwanted suitor's love or controlling or possessive infatuation for you or ward off snakes, both literally and figuratively. One can also carry the chips in a mojo hand with licorice root, and a red string knotted nine times and wear it at your waist.

They are also utilized in sachets for love. Those who are known to be working on employing this root have tendencies to be really envious of people who would try to steal their lovers. This root won't hesitate to bite or sting someone, just like an agitated rattlesnake or scorpion, given the wrong circumstances. Too much manipulation of this root, though can cause aggression and thus can easily make others commit a crime together. So, use this curio wisely and responsibly. 

Putting black snake root in a small bottle of Hoyt's Cologne, carrying it on you for three days, then burying the bottle at your doorstep would ensure luck in the home. In other's respect, burning the root with the unwanted tenant's hair particles, placing the ashes in a jar, and burying the jar in a graveyard would make the renter move out.

According to some midwives conjure women, black cohosh can be used at the end of a pregnancy to help ripen the cervix. It has also been used with other herbs to terminate an unwanted pregnancy in the first month or two. Thus, anyone who is pregnant should stay away from it. Traditional midwives also prescribe it for menopausal distress and menstrual discomfort. It can also ease hot flashes, nervous irritability, and mild mood changes accompanying menopause.

Cherokee and other Native American ethnic groups use this root to promote joint comfort for respiratory health.

Candle Burning And Ministry

Folk Judeo-Christian magic is hard to imagine without candles. We use them often for a variety of spiritual and magical purposes. This week, for example, we did our traditional ancestral veneration, and for hours a memorial candle shed its light in our home to remind us of their ongoing presence in our lives. At the saints' feasts, it has long been customary for us practitioners to light offertory or votive candles to recall the memory of the holy people. And during the day of uncrossing a client experiencing a complex and challenging adverse situation, a single, long-burning fixed candle illuminates the darkness in the client's life created by crossed conditions such as trauma, serious illness, spirit attachments, or enemy works. According to my mentor, all three of these rituals are based on the comforting thought expressed in Proverbs 20:27 "The human spirit is a lamp of Adonai; it searches one's inmost being..." Light betokens life.

But symbols are malleable, and candles in Judeo-Christian magic are also made to express transitions. Thus, spell casting or working is set apart by the lighting of candles. Whether one or seven, wax or oil, the flame burns evenly and quietly on the wicks symbolizing to a tee the sacredness and tranquility of the activity. Just like in prayer and sometimes, even in meditations, spells and rituals begin with lighting candles to mark the transition from profane to sacred time, from mundane to spiritual, from darkness to light.

The seedbed for this widespread ritual use of fire as symbolic language is none other than the Bible, where light imagery abounds. Repeatedly, to express the inexpressible, its authors took recourse to images of light. Thus, the process of imposing order on chaos begins with the divine command, "Let there be light..." (Genesis 1:3). Or Moses first experiences God's compassion in the form of a random bush aflame yet unconsumed (Exodus 3:2). That same compassion manifests itself in the wilderness as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to guide the Israelites on their arduous journey (Exodus 13:20-21). At Mount Sinai, God's presence is established by fire atop the mountain, "Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the Lord had come down upon it in fire..." (Exodus 19:18).

By extension, the metaphoric language of light is also applied to the Scriptures. Based on Psalms 119:105, "Your word (God) is a lamp to my feet, a light for my path," the exegesis depicts the Bible as a light that keeps one from stumbling, an unerring moral compass. Metaphor has created kinship. God, the Scriptures, and the human soul find common ground in the imagery of light.

(Photo courtesy of Ariel Marzan)

Based on this, we can deduce that the developments in the ritual candle magic in the Hoodoo tradition were inspired by a long tradition of Judeo-Christianity, specifically, Roman Catholic candle-burning combined with African-American folk magic to produce a brand-new style of working with lights, both for prayers and tricking. 

The process of candle burning replaced some old rituals of plantation conjurers. It only became more popular when New Orleans Voodoo, Santeria, Lucumi, and other Afro-Caribbean religions intercrossed with the practices of Hoodoo. But in the plantation or antebellum days, a magical or spiritual flame was sustained with a wick in the appropriate oil for a spirit, saint, or deity. 

Candle burning initially does not appear in the Black-Belt Hoodoo tradition. Candles were costly during those times, and they were rarely encountered by slaves except in their masters' houses which they called the 'big houses.' During slavery, Blacks used grease lamps in their quarters to supply them with light. Southern Louisiana Hoodoo appeared to be the exception with the influence of Roman Catholicism and Haitian Vodun and the emergence of New Orleans Voodoo, which all utilized candles in their workings. 

Candle shops eventually surfaced as successful Hoodoo enterprises specializing in manufacturing, selling, and supplying conjure or spiritual candles. Most candle shops were owned by companies that distributed other spiritual supplies, such as condition oils and sachet powders. Due to this, candle burning became one of the fashionable and sought-after magical techniques employed in root doctoring. With Judeo-Christian and European magical amalgamation, conjure workers and root doctors were taught that employing candles would make their works more efficacious. This methodology soon spread throughout the rest of Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina and, by the late 1940s, was relatively uniform throughout the South among all professional conjure workers. Adaptation of European occultism and Judeo-Christian mysticism could also be seen in the colored wax candles in glass jars or glass-encased candles that are often labeled for specific purposes such as 'Fast Luck,' 'Love Me,' 'Money Drawing' and 'Uncrossing.' 

The books of Mikhail Strabo, the proprietor of Guidance House, a leading supplier to the spiritual, Hoodoo, and magical community, and Henri Gamache, a prominent mid-20th century occult author and folklore researcher who developed a unique Creole combination of African, Judeo-Christian, Zoroastrian, and Spiritualist magic, were believed by many to have contributed a lot regarding African-American candle magic.

Seven-branch menorah candlestick. 

Following the methodologies of the two said authors, it became popular among conjure workers of the 1940s to light and burn small candles of various colors to draw money, luck, love, and success; to ward off evil; to incite revenge; to dominate others. Because many, if not most, of the spiritual suppliers at that time were Jews, they usually offered 7-branch menorah or 9-branch menorah. Jews and African-American spiritual practitioners at that time shared a similar belief that one should strictly decorate their home with this type of candle holder as a symbol of the First Temple in Jerusalem. This also gave Hoodoo candle-burning ceremonies a slightly Kabbalistic representation.

Some deacons, reverends, ministers, or bishops began practicing candle burning too on behalf of their congregants, and they became known as candle workers, and their altar works, 'candle ministry.' The preparation of the candles by most Church workers in the past and until this day is accompanied by the recitation of prayers or Psalms. 

Candle Work Terminologies

• Dressing or Fixing - includes preparations like carving names or words in the wax; dressing with oils; loading; butting; rolling in herbal blends or mixtures; dusting with dried herbs or powders; decorating and enchanting; praying over them. 
• Loading- involves digging a hole in the wax of a glass-encased, jumbo, or vigil lights and pouring oils or inserting herbs and petition papers. Jumbos are loaded from below, and vigil lights are from above. Skewers can be used to poke and dig the wax of glass-encased candles.
• Butting - involves cutting off the tip, carving a new one on the bottom end to bring out the wick, and burning the candle upside down.
• Steady Burn - if conditions or situations take some time to resolve (a court case, for instance, or healing a serious illness), the worker may light one candle after another for several consecutive days. Likewise, if one uses a kerosene lamp, the worker may add new oil several times without putting out the flame while refilling the reservoir, thus ensuring a 'steady burn.'
• Burning in Sections - an intentional interrupted burning - only requires the worker to burn the candle portion by portion at a time for several days. 
• Moving Candle Spell - a progressive conjure ritual procedure in which the candles are repositioned during their burning period, acting out the intentions of the spell works.
• Setting Lights - dressing, fixing, and lighting candles for a specific person with the desired outcome and letting them burn through until they are finished. 
• Carving - etching the name of the person, the intention, or sometimes even symbols using a pen, needle, nail, knife, sharp bone, stick, or any pointed objects. 

Color Correspondence

 

Road Opener spellwork utilizes a red candle for love and romance, a green candle for money, an orange candle for opportunities, and a yellow candle symbolizing our client's devotion.

Note: The color symbolism used by conjure workers is influenced by European magical traditions, admixed with remnants of African religious symbolism.

Black
Magical Property: Banishing negativity, sorrow, revenge, maleficia (sorcery)

Blue
Magical Property: Peace, harmony, tranquility, joy, blessing, healing

Brown
Magical Property: Legal matters, justice, balance, endurance

Copper
Magical Property: Money, passion, professional growth

Gold
Magical Property: Abundance, achievement, finances, good fortune, healing, intuition

Green
Magical Property: Growth, fertility, prosperity, business, gambling luck, good job

Gray
Magical Property: Neutrality negate the negative influence

Indigo
Magical Property: Astral work, meditation, overcoming depression, spirit communication, stop gossip and lies.

Lavender
Magical Property: Intuition, gay love, or romance

Light Blue
Magical Property: Intuition, understanding, communication

Olive
Magical Property: Confidence, forgiveness, prosperity, travel, growth

Orange
Magical Property: Action, encouragement, overcoming addiction, opportunity, road-opening

Pink
Magical Property: Friendship, domestic harmony, fertility, love, relaxation, emotional healing, romance

Purple
Magical Property: Influence, spiritual communication, spiritual development
Planet: Jupiter

Red
Magical Property: Action, courage, passion, love, sexual potency, sports, strength, fast luck

Silver
Magical Property: Intuition, meditation, psychic power, gambling luck

Violet
Magical Property: Mastery, power, ambition, control, command

White
Magical Property: Clarity, spiritual blessings, purity, healing

Yellow
Magical Property: Confidence, inspiration, spirituality, travel, money

Phallic, skull, and cross-figure candles. 

Figural and Novelty Candles

• Black Cat candle -  for gambler's luck.
• Bride and Groom candle - red for passion, pink for reconciliation, white to attract new love or sanctify marriage and fidelity, black to cause harm or damage to a couple, and blue for peace in the home.
• Cross candle - used as altar candle to invoke divine forces to uncross yourself or the client. White for spiritual purity and insight, black for enemy work, brown for court cases and legal matters, green for money drawing, red for love drawing, orange for luck and success, and yellow for road-opening.
• Devil candle - burned in exorcism or if a house is infested with evil vibration. 
• Double-Action candle - this candle is designed to reverse any negativities or evil that worked against you. White and black are used to reverse hex, red and black are used if someone is destroying your love life, and green and black are used when someone is causing you financial problems. 
• Genital candle (penis and vulva) - relating to sexual behavior. White to attract a new sex partner and to heal the genital organs, pink for romantic sex or to turn a friend into a lover, red to induce lust and passion, blue to bring fidelity or limit their sexual interest to their current partner only, black to control a person's sexual nature.
• Human Image candle - used to represent the target of a spell.
• Lovers candle (nude embracing couple) - red for sexual passion, white for new love.
• Seven Knob Wishing candle (flattened spheres stacked seven-high) - burned on seven consecutive days, for seven different wishes, or for seven-fold strength on the same wish.
• Lucky Buddha candle – for good fortune, happiness, contentment, and abundance.
• Skull candle - can be used to represent the head of the person.

Lovers candle employed in Return to Me Spell.

Tips and Tricks for Fixing a Candle

• Fixing a candle to draw - rub the oil up one side and down the other from the center point or simply stroke the oil toward you.
• Fixing a candle to repel - stroke the oil away from you.
• Fixing a reversible candle - cut off the original tip, carve a new one on the bottom end, and etch the enemy's name in mirror writing. If you are returning evil to the sender and you know where he lives, turn and point the candle toward his house and dress it with oil in that direction. Burn the candle upside down on a mirror.
• Fixing a double action candle - butt the light, make sure you carve a new tip on the black portion. Etch your name or your client's name on the colored portion, from the center outward, and the enemy's name or the condition you want to remove backward, in mirror writing, on the black portion, also from the center outward. 
• Fixing a genitalia candle - flow oil onto it and handle it like you are holding the real counterpart, then rub the oil on it intimately like you do on an actual genital or sex organ.
• Fixing a lucky Buddha candle - flow oil onto it, particularly rub its round belly.
• Fixing candle with herbs - melt a beeswax or cheese rind wax on a cookie sheet in the oven or on a hot plate, sprinkle the herbs on, remove the cookie sheet from the heat, then roll a candle in it until it collects the herbs. Other practitioners tend to simply dress or rub the candle with the appropriate oil and then roll the candle in a mixture of dried herbs.
• Fixing a candle with oils and powder -  dress the candle with oil, then sprinkle them with a sachet of powder.
• Feeding a candle while burning - when the candle forms a well of melted wax in the center as it burns, drip extra oil into the well to keep it strong as it works. 
• Fixing glass-encased candle - poke holes into the wax with a barbeque skewer, drip oil into the holes, finish off the top with herbs and symbolically colored glitter, pray over it, and knock or seal it.

Loaded glass-encased candle.

Mercury Dime

Coins, especially old ones or coins passed down from generation to generation; old coins from other countries; and non-monetary metal tokens are considered lucky in Hoodoo. But, there is a particular preference for the Mercury dime, silver dime, or Winged Liberty Head dime among experienced conjure workers. 

Silver dimes were issued between 1916 and 1945. Contrary to popular belief, the obverse depiction of the legendary figure there is not the Roman God, Mercury, but a young Lady Liberty, identifiable by her Phrygian cap with wings on the side, sort of like the style in which Mercury is sometimes depicted.

In the eyes of some African-Americans and Hoodoo practitioners, they were still Mercury, the Roman God of financial gain, commerce, business, eloquence,  communication, travel, luck, games of chance, and trickery. Therefore, it is still employed in money-drawing, business success, gambling, and safe travel works.

Due to this, some Hoodoo men and women also found a sense of familiar comfort with him and, as a result, honored him or worked with him - I, myself included. Mercury governs most of those things I do and love: business, magic, the Internet, and trickery. 

In addition, a leap-year date on the coin is believed to be luckier than any other date due to its rarity. Some mojo makers prefer to use a leap-year dime combined with a two-dollar bill as their main ingredient. Traditional combinations incorporate some lucky curios such as nutmeg, lodestone, rabbit's foot, High John the Conqueror root, Lucky Hand root, horseshoe charm, four-leaf clover, and Swatiska charm.

A simple money-drawing hand with nutmeg, lodestone, brown sugar, and mercury dime inside.

The dimes are also the most common payment given when purchasing graveyard dirt. 

Mercury dimes are also very protective against foot-track magic. Some old conjure workers advise their clients to wear them as an anklet or put them inside one's shoes to fear not walking over evil. Other coins with heads are effective, too, especially those figures who died as national heroes. This trick can also work as a warning device and an apotropaic charm against enemy work: if the coin turns black, an enemy has laid out an evil trick on one's path and stepped in it.

Fifty-seven-year-old sharecropper woman. Hinds County, Mississippi. Thin dimes around the ankles to prevent headaches. (Photo courtesy of Dorothea Lange, June 1937)

Tying it around the feet is also a popular remedy for rheumatism and sprained ankles among Black Americans throughout the States. This tradition has been well recorded in hospitals throughout the Deep South and East Coast and can be traced back to the West African practice of tying nine knots in a cord for healing and cursing.

Keeping a coin inside one's shoes during an interview or public speaking right under the heel is also practiced to relieve tension and stiffness, which can be physical symptoms of anxiety.

Likewise, some folks keep a silver dime under their tongue when taking food from a person they suspect to be a sorcerer; the coin would turn black if the food was poisoned.

Boiling a dime in water or milk and drinking the liquid is widely believed to be effective against magical poisons. When boiling and the coin moves around, if it is turned facing up, then the presence of poison is affirmative. If it is turned facing down, then it is negative. Silver dimes were difficult for slaves and even some freed Blacks to acquire, so they usually had to substitute coins or coinlike objects such as metal buttons to perform this diagnostic and curative ritual.

Sympathetic Magic

In many magical traditions from different cultures, both ancient and modern, the concept of sympathetic magic plays a crucial role. Scottish social anthropologist James Frazer distinguished between the two fundamental types of sympathetic magic - the imitative and contagious. For him, the first type, imitative magic, observes the Law of Similarity and, thus, holds the axiom that 'like produces like. The contagious magic, on the other hand, follows the Law of Contact. It infers that whatever the practitioner does to a material object will affect equally the person with whom the item was once in contact, whether it was once part of his body or not.

A poppet stuffed with herbs and other magical goodies. This one doesn't have a taglock inside since I plan to use this Dollie as a personalized one in which it could represent anyone just by attaching personal concerns to the outside.

Hoodoo sympathetic magic resembles imitative and contagious folk magical practices in West Central Africa known as "Juju." It is a magical and spiritual belief system practiced by some people of Akan, Ewe, Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo tribes, among others. Rainmakers in Ghana, for instance, would mouth-sprayed water into the air to imitate the falling of rain and blessings. Medicine men in Nigeria would smother spots on the body of a person suffering from chickenpox and wash away the patches afterward to imitate the removal of the disease. Some hunters in Cameroon would make effigies of animals they desire to kill.

The most familiar kind of African Juju is image magic, wherein an image is ritually prepared and fixed to represent a living person, who can then be charmed, healed, injured, or killed through performing some ritualistic gestures and magical operations to the effigy, such as praying it over, smoking it with herbs, sticking needles into the image, or burning it. Juju practitioners use imitative magic to produce the desired effect of imitating it. 

A voodoo doll, fixed and prepared to represent a target. It is noticeable that the doll's left eye is shut to signify and ensure that he will only have one-sided views and thinking. And he shall refuse to see someone else's viewpoints other than his right-hand man.

The second principle of thought in African Juju is contagious magic. The principle holds that objects or materials, once in contact with a living person, can influence each other even after the connection is broken. A typical example is a relationship between a person and any part of his body, such as hair strands, fingernails, or teeth. Some tribes in West Africa are careful to conceal their biological cast-offs, such as extracted teeth since these might fall into the hands of certain people who could harm the teeth owners by working magic on them. 

 A cut piece of clothing from the target's shirt was made into a magical packet.

These objects or materials utilized in contagious magic are known in Hoodoo as 'personal concerns.

Personal concerns are biological matters and personal items from the target or victim or anything that carries the DNA or identity of the target. Employing personal concerns is vital for developing confidence and a sense of reassurance and contentment with the practitioner working on someone at a distance. It helps in crafting an image and individuality of the person being worked on since these items are extensions of one's identity, personality, values, and lifestyle.

Types of Personal Concerns 

Generally speaking, the more intimate and personal the link is to the individual, the more powerful it is, and the more the magic will entangle with them. The most powerful personal concerns originate within the physical body and decrease in strength as the personal concern departs from the body. 

1. Bodily Fluids

• Blood
• Semen/Penile Discharge
• Vaginal Secretions
• Saliva

2. Bodily Effluvia and Detritus

• Urine
• Feces
• Sweat
• Mucus
• Phlegm
• Earwax

3. Body Sheds/Cast-Offs

• Hair Strands/Particles
• Nail Clippings
• Skin Sheds
• Skin Dirt - Bathwater or wash water 
• Teeth
• Umbilical Cord
• Placenta or Amniotic Sac

4. Articles of Clothing

• Underwears
• Socks or any footwear
• Panty-hose
• Shirts
• Pants
• Skirts
• Other apparels

The couple's dirty underwear is tied with a cinnamon stick and sprinkled with sexual and love-drawing herbs such as damiana leaves, cubeb berries, rosemary leaves, catnip leaves, rose petals, etc. 

5. Representations

• Photographs
• Portrait Painting
• Sculpture
• Drawing of a Person
• Other Artistic Representation of a Person

6. Impressions

• Person's Signature or Handwriting
• Thumbmark
• Handprint or Footprint 
• Body Measurement
• Silhouette of a Person

7. Miscellaneous

• Business Card
• Official Records of Legal Documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, divorce papers, identification cards, etc.)
• Newspaper Clipping
• Something Owned by the Person
• Something Touched by the Person (e.g., cigarette butt, keyboard dust, the dirt of the shoes, left-over drink, etc.)
• Person's Legal Name

Remember that this ranking is only applicable and constructive in the Hoodoo tradition, as some traditions view some specific concerns on the list as more powerful than others. For example: employing pictures is rarely used in Middle Eastern magic due to the injunction against graven images in Judaism and Islam, but hair, nails, and especially a person's name are considered potent due to their belief about the sanctity of names (clearly evident based on how the stated religions revere the sacred names of God). In West African magic, the feet hold a special place which is why the emphasis is on foot-track magic.

Another thought to consider about using personal concerns is what type of magic one is attempting to perform. If you are working on affecting someone's sexual nature then sexual fluids are a great tool to bring about change. If you are trying to impact someone's mind, hair particles are a perfect tool to influence your target. If you are trying to affect someone's appearance or allure, a picture would be the better choice for this job. 

Panty with the vaginal fluid of the client and her petition paper was placed inside a jar to capture and conjure her essence.

Laying Down Sneaky Tricks

Pebbles soaked in conjure oil and chalk dusted with conjure powder are employed for this trick. The small white pebbles are arranged in a cruciform pattern, while wavy snake lines are drawn on the ground using the dusted chalk. 

The trick that I personally laid down, which I shared above, is an example of a traditional method of laying tricks and foot-track magic. The effects of being tricked in this manner are pretty expressively and articulately described by the Mississippi blues singer Robert Johnson in the song "Stones in My Passway."

STONES IN MY PASSWAY

by Robert Johnson

I got stones in my passway, and my road seems dark at night

I got stones in my passway, and my road seems dark at night

I have pains in my heart, they have taken my appetite

I have a bird to whistle, and I have a bird to sing

Have a bird to whistle, and I have a bird to sing

I got a woman that I'm loving, oh, but she don't mean a thing

My enemies have betrayed me, have overtaken poor Bob at last

My enemies have betrayed me, have overtaken poor Bob at last

And there's one thing certain, they have stones all in my pass

Now you're trying to take my life and all my lovin' too

You have laid a passway for me, now what are you trying to do?

I'm crying, "Please, please, let us be friends"

Now when hear me howling in my passway, rider,

        please open your door and let me in

I got three legs to truck on, whoa, please don't block my road

I got three legs to truck on, whoa, please don't block my road

I have been feelin' strange 'bout my rider, babe, I'm booked, and I got to go

Many sneaky conjure tricks were born in a period of American history of widespread persecution and oppression among enslaved people. The fixes and tricks provided hope, comfort, and relief from the conditions of enslavement and a sense of empowerment granted by the spiritual world. Enslaved African populations in the history of the American Southeast were multicultural too, and so were their practices in 'tricking,' 'laying down sneaky tricks,' or 'throwing down for someone.' In the slavery era, most plantations' slave quarters housed at least one trick doctor, to which the enslaved turned for spiritual assistance. The enslaved typically approached the Whites with grudges and animosity due to their inhumane treatment. Frequently, they did not have access to solace when Whites were around, so most enslaved people relied upon their own trick doctors to dominate their masters, relieve themselves from further sufferings, or even poison their abusive masters' feet - ultimately, to take control over their condition or situation, and change their fate. 

Most of the tricks that Hoodoo practitioners share are ritual components and elements from among tribes originating in Sierra Leone, Senegambia, and the Kongo-Angola region of Africa. 

The manifestation and production of symbols such as the cross, wavy lines, skulls, etc., are traditionally African brought to the New World. In Dahomey, an ancient kingdom in the region that is now southern Benin, red palm oil was and is still used to draw specific geometrical figures on the ground. Kongo people are also known to use cruciform, a sacred point usually marked on the ground on which a person stands to make an oath under the all-seeing God. 

Not all tricks involve figures and symbols, as most of the tricks, I have been taught only entail concealing and deploying spells and disposing of ritual remnants. Many folks in the Southern United States (and even here in the Philippines) would often find notable curious materials in different sites, consisting of alcohol bottles, coins, hen's eggs, blood, feathers, pieces of polaroid photographs, remnant candle wax drippings, and residues, paper packets, bits of shells, colored powders, oily substances, dolls, and sealed boxes, pots, and jars that had specific ingredients in them.

There are several ways to deploy such items when laying down a trick or disposing of ritual materials after using them, and here are some of them: 

- For offerings and libation, bury, burn, or leave them in nature (mountains, trees, rivers, seas, etc.).

- For attraction or drawing luck, scatter or throw them in the front yard. 

- To make someone stay, bury them in the backyard. 

- For breaking or destroying magical or psychic influence, dispose of them in fire (especially an open-air bonfire). 

- For banishing something or someone, flush them in the toilet or throw them in running water (rivers or streams).

- For concealing something, bury them in the forest. 

- For necromantic or graveyard work, bury them in a cemetery.

- Mix them in food or drink for tricking and working on someone in secret. 

- For money-drawing and customer attraction, leave them inside or outside the shop. 

- For prosperity and financial stability, leave them outside the bank. 

- For influence, persuasion, control, or domination, throw or hide them in the target's place (house, room, office, etc.).

- For personal empowerment, throw them in the railroad. 

- For hot-foot, throw them in the crossroads or town or city boundaries. 

- For justice, leave them in the court hall. 

- For retribution, throw them in police stations or prisons.

- For healing or making someone sick, throw them in hospitals or health centers.

- For job dismissals, throw them outside the company building, job site, or place of employment.

- For ruining marriage or family, throw or hide them in their house or yard.

- For destruction, bury them in a graveyard. 

- For general spell works, tricks, curses, and hexes, throw or bury them in the crossroads.

These specific practices can be viewed as retentions and survivals of ancient African beliefs concerning spirits of nature, commonly held by the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria, Edo of southeastern Nigeria, Ewe of Ghana, Benin, and Togo, and Fon of Benin. These nature or tutelary spirits are referred to as "orishas" or "vodun." Although there are many variations in the details of the practices and materials brought into play, the underlying concept is essentially the same.

From the West African point of view, any location or place (natural or man-made) that has diverse useful functions for human beings has a spirit dwelling in it. Among them are the farms or plantations, forests; rivers, lakes, and streams; mountains; certain trees; the market; the graveyard; the intersections or crossroads; boundaries of the cities; and the railroad. Veneration is directed at the spirits that reside at the site where some phenomenon manifests, such as crossroads for opening or attracting opportunities since the place presents many paths and directions. At the same time, the summits of the mountains for clarity and wisdom since one can see a bigger picture of the area when he is on the mountain's peak. 

Burying the curse of the mirror box in the graveyard to turn the body and souls of the enemies over to the hungry spirits!

This is consistent with modern Hoodoo tricks and spells being performed today. Due to the belief in nature, tutelary or local spirits, practitioners write petitions incorporated into their tricks or spells. These petitions request aid from the local spirits. Written materials in container spells buried in a graveyard, for instance, would have listed the wish of the practitioner or the client against the individual named or pictured and/or the complaint against them. Other contents like black cloth or ribbon outside the container, black candle wax, sulfur powder, red peppers, and other curios all speak to anger and cursing. 

Other sneaky tricks don't necessarily involve complicated ritual procedures as mentioned; some workings only require:

- mixing powder, oil, or bath crystals into floor wash solution or bathwater

- hiding tricks under the carpet or floor rugs

- hiding tricks inside the closet, wardrobe, cupboard, fridge, drawer

- hiding tricks under the bed

- burying or hiding tricks under the doorstep

- deploying tricks via pets

- deploying tricks in a quincunx pattern

- adding or mixing powder or oil into someone's shampoo, liquid body soap, lotion, astringent powder, medicated powder, body sprays, perfumes, or colognes

- discreetly dusting body parts

- dusting greeting cards, love letters, and documents connected with one's lover, a job, bank loans, or court case

- sprinkling oil or powder inside the shoes and even on the car tires

- giving someone a mojo hand

- blending powders and oils with dirt and dust

This does not necessarily mean that these tricks don't imply any form of spirit-working at all. Hoodoo is a form of natural magic. One of its accepted principles is that the herbs, roots, minerals, and other items used in rootwork all have spirit forces and are inherently powerful.

Clandestinely dusting the table of a roommate with conjure powder.

Variations exist for the processes and specific ingredients used in laying down tricks; the information I share here should not be taken as a complete and rigid step-by-step prescription for all sneaky tricks with the same goal. Commonalities are indicators of a shared symbolism that incorporates essential elements necessary for the desired result. Still, each trick doctor typically personalizes and creates variations for their own spell or trick, depending upon their areas of expertise and understanding of the power of natural curios and specific locations however he wants to employ them. 

Trick doctors also attempt to differentiate the deployment and disposal of tricks. In Conjure tradition, deployment is setting a trick or work in the field - like a commander deploys troops and equipment for military action, so to speak. Disposal, however, brings the spell or job to a conclusion with a final act or procedure for the desired outcome. 

Furthermore, when laying down a trick, it is significant to remember one of the basic epigrams passed along from Hoodoo teachers to students: "Lay your trick, walk away, and don't look back." Looking back can undermine the spirits and powers of the curios meant to set the trick to work. It also demonstrates a lack of faith and willpower.

I have met a lot of people, beginners in Hoodoo and my clients alike, who tend to make a big deal out of how they "can't do this," or "can't do that," or "this is not practical" or "that is not feasible." I tell them that the spells will not succeed then, either because Hoodoo is not for them or because the spell is concerning or bothering them.

Employment of red brick dust at the front gate or stoop is most often practiced in New Orleans and St. Louis, where red brick buildings are typical.