A Coke and a Smile

I just came across the last blog post by Brother Moloch titled "The Wise & the Ignorant". In it he makes some good points about the importance of communication skills to sorcery. Which is certainly something that I plan on talking about more in the future. Further in the post the following statement is what really caught my attention:

"Hoodoo is typically the Occult practice of the ignorant and superstitious. Most of the folks who practiced it back in the day were illiterate and highly superstitious. "You need to tear paper and not cut it so you can use it in Hoodoo"... really? Who is the moron that believes that shit. What, scissors too high tech for you? Or my personal favorite, "You need to use a paper or wooden match to light things with in Hoodoo"... pure horse shit. A lighter works just fine. Why? Spirits don't give a damn about matches or whether you cut/tear your paper. Hello???"

First off, it can be said that all forms of folk magic were the Occult practices of the ignorant and superstitious. Hoodoo is not alone in this fact. Also there is particular reason that scissors aren't used in making name papers, and it has nothing do with them being too high tech. I already covered that reason here. All forms of folk practice have methods that seem ridiculous to the outsider, but have a specific reason and purpose. In my opinion, most of spell casting is just superstition, rather we want to admit it or not.

 Superstition 

1 a :  a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic              or chance, or a false conception of causation.
    b : an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God                    resulting from superstition.
2 :   a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary

When it comes to conjure, and sorcery in general, I am no purist in any sense of the word. Everyone is free to take what fits their practice and omit things that don't. But don't feel that what you have decided to keep is somehow more true or the core of what's needed to work. I take a "to each their own" mindset to sorcery, and encourage others to do the same. The fact is that little or none of what I do in my spells or rituals can be proved to be the cause of the results that I obtain. There have been some studies that show "why rituals work".  There was even a study showing  that people are more likely to trust a ritual or spell that seems more complicated, or has more steps. So it doesn't matter if if one insists on wooden matches, or not not using scissors. It's all just personal belief. My belief is that we all have the ability to influence the world around us and effect outcomes. But I can't prove that my rituals, or any one step in them are the cause, nor do I care to. Any quest to do so would more than likely be plagued by confirmation bias. While typing this I thought of the bit in Eddie Murphy's "Raw" where he recalls the story of being called up by Bill Cosby, who tells him that his act is too dirty. After talking to Cosby Murphy called Richard Pryor, and part of the conversation went like this:

"Do the people laugh when you say what you say?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Do you get paid?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Well, tell Bill I said have a Coke and a smile and shut the fuck up."

The point being, that the end results are what matter,  You go about achieving those results using whatever techniques you see fit, if they work for you. If anyone wants to talk trash about it you tell them that Ash said to have a Coke and a smile, and to...You know the rest.

Clothes Make the Mage

Virginia Postrel: On Glamour

I want to talk about a tool with the potential for influence that is often overlooked in conversation on sorcery, that being personal style and presentation. I recently discovered an older lecture on "Ted Talks" by Virginia Postrel about Glamour. I would like to touch upon a few of the points that she made and expand upon them here. First let’s look at her definition of glamour:

"Any calculated, carefully polished imaged designed to impress and persuade."

Many magical operations are designed to impress and persuade. I some cases the spell has been directed at an individual that the worker is attempting to persuade or influence in some way. Attention given to personal glamour can be a deciding factor in the outcome of that working. Studies have shown that most people make a decision about a new acquaintance within the first thirty second to two minutes of interaction. It is within your power to influence that decision not only with magical action, but with a carefully crafted image, as well as communication skills.  This naturally applies to interactions of both a personal and professional nature.

When I was in New Orleans this past fall at the Folk Magic Festival, one of female attendees of the festival approached me and commented on how I was "The most elegantly dressed man there". I don't say this to brag, because trust me when I say that I won't be featured in a Calvin Klein ad anytime soon. After she made the comment I began to try and explain to her that I consider personal image another tool of sorcery. She nodded her head in agreement, but it seemed clear that it had never occurred to her to utilize it as such. Some magicians will dismiss the notion of mastering glamour as an art. They feel that if a working is powerful enough than that is all that matters. More experienced workers know that magic works better on a path of least resistance. Proper glamour application can provide just that. No point in creating a mojo hand to command respect and power, when your entire wardrobe comes from Hot Topic. I was once guilty of that myself. Unless of course the circle that you are attempting to influence and image you are attempting to project is of a gothic nature. 

What many tend to forget in regards to glamour, which Postrel pointed out in her presentation is that glamour was once thought of as being rooted in magical practice and witchcraft. Consider the etymology of the word itself:

Glamour (n.) 1720, Scottish, "magic, enchantment" (especially in phrase to cast the glamor), a variant of Scottish gramarye "magic, enchantment, spell," alteration of English grammar (q.v.) with a medieval sense of "any sort of scholarship, especially occult learning." Popularized by the writings of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). Sense of "magical beauty, alluring charm" first recorded 1840. As a verb, by 1830s, from the noun. Via. Etymonline.com

The way that is applied may have been changed, but the intent has not. Your chosen look can project an air of enchantment, magical beauty, or alluring charm if you craft if that way. As Postrel states, "Glamour is all about transcending the everyday". People are rarely drawn in, attracted to, or impressed by the average or every day. Be it mystery, beauty, power, success, or sex, people are attracted to and long for the things that they do not encounter on a usual basis. If you can successfully embody and project one or a combination of these things, than you can influence and persuade a great many of people. 

Two things to remember when crafting your image which Postrel also points out are that glamour is an illusion and should appear effortless. This is the balance that has to be understood and mastered. As an illusion it is essentially a deception, or misdirection, like a stage magician performing a sleight of hand. Also much like a sleight of hand maneuver it should be practiced and honed until it seems as if no effort is needed to pull it off, until appears to the target to be magic. Practice in front of a mirror, work on your mannerisms, walk, body language, posture, etc. Do t his so that nothing about you ever comes off as unauthentic, forced, or awkward. Glamour is enchanting and elegant; you should strive to be as well. People will often ask, "why not just be yourself"? You are being yourself, just cultivating, practicing, and projected a beneficial aspect of yourself that few take the time to do. There is a part of everyone that is sexy, mysterious, powerful, and so on. You are merely tapping into that with your image ad when done successfully those that are attracted to such things will respond. Look around you, glamour is used all around you to influence and persuade, and marketing, and the like. Shouldn't you tap into that power?

I have never seen glamour mentioned in connection with conjure practice. However if you look into the old lore, and descriptions of many conjure men and woman, you will see that they created images for themselves that projected power and mystery to attract and persuade clients. Actually being able to project that onto a client is one of the secrets to being able to help them. I will let you all ponder that for a while. I know that I learned to importance and of image presentation early on from my mother before I ever learned any conjure. I remember asking her once, why she was going through the trouble of doing her hair, makeup, and the rest just to run to the store. She replied with the old phrase, “you never get another chance to make a first impression". I have heard people exclaim, "I ain't trying to impress anybody". Well the fact is no matter what,   you are leaving an impression, as a sorcerer you should be in control of that that impression is at all times. 

Also we all know that feeling that washes over us we know that we look good. Look good and you feel good. Feel good and you begin to attract good, in whatever way you perceive it. Looking good effects us and thus those around us on a metaphysical level. 

"You will like the way you look. I guarantee it." 

Frag Out!

About a week or so ago I came across someone asking what they were doing wrong when it came to spell casting and in particularly casting to get a job. Of course he was bombarded with replies to the tune of "you are doing it wrong", or "you may have astrological elements against you" etc. These things may indeed be a factor. The person also mentioned that they only cast one spell which in this case was a candle spell. I advised that he cast multiple targeted spells and recounted my own process that I used last year to acquire a job. Here is that process.

1. First I fixed and burned a 7 day glass candle for a job spell. I laid copies of my resume under the candle. Within the week I had two interviews. For each interview I took one of the resumes that was charged under the candles.

2. I carried charged gravel root in my pocket on the interviews which is traditionally used in getting a job .

3. One job I liked in particular so I decided to do another spell directed at the hiring manager. During the interview I got her full name , she also commented on me being a libra so I knew her sign as well. I decided to do a "sweetening" spell on her. In a shallow bowl I laid down a name paper with her name and my desire anointed with libra oil. I then covered that with job getting herbs and poured honey and commanding oil and fast luck powder over it. I stood a white candle up in the middle of the honey anointed with commanding oil and set it light on my Baron Samedi altar. I let that candle burn all the way down and lit a new candle in it's place each following day. I got the job 3 days later but kept lighting candles on the spell until the new hire paperwork was all finished. Of course I called on the aid of Baron Samedi which was certainly a help, but this spell stands on it's own. One could also direct prayers to a saint, angel or higher power of your choice.

That's pretty much the entire process I took. While you can completely knock it out of the park with one spell it never hurts to utilize a number of strategically targeted workings to achieve your goal. Of course backing these magical acts with as much physical/"real world" effort as possible. Jason Miller champions this sort of approach as Strategic Sorcery and I highly recommend that you check out his blog and book for a better understanding of his technique. I like to call it the sorcery frag grenade myself.

As always...

With Regards,

Brother Ash
"You must have the Devil in you to succeed in the arts." Voltaire
"Don't quote me boy cuz I ain't said shit." Eazy-E