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.

Plant Spirits and Conjure

One thing that I have noticed to be sorely missing from most of the books on Hoodoo and Rootwork is the concept of plant spirits. I honestly don’t know if animism part of the rootwork tradition, but it is safe to say that it is part of both the African and Native American roots of conjure. Most of the conjure books that I come across make it seem as if the simple fact of throwing some dried herbs into a red flannel pouch and then consecrating it is enough to make a powerful mojo hand. In My opinion this is far from being the case. I always like to say we call it rootwork because the roots do the work!

When our predecessors would have gathered their herbs and roots for working or medicine they would have addressed the spirits of each individual plant letting their intentions being known in the process. I feel that this is something that many modern workers have neglected while allowing their ego to believe that all the power in their working comes from them alone. To me a proficient conjurer is successful because of his skill with working with the spirits and not as much because of personal power. Knowing which energies are best suited for a particular situation, how to call them forth and then direct them toward their task is what a conjurer does.

There is no set way for someone to honor the plant spirits so I encourage each worker to devise their own. My ritual is pretty simple. I set all of the items out on the altar and then hold each one in my hand individually and talk to it. I address the spirit, let my desires be known, and then ask that the spirit reawaken and bring energy by to the plant for the desired purpose. I then set that plant on a plate and feed the spirit with a few drops of rum (whiskey also works fine). After all of the plants have been laid out on the plate and given offerings I set out four cups of water around the plate in a “cross” shape. I add a dash of spearmint water to each cup which is used as a way to thank spirits for their service and light a tea light in each cup. Let that sit over night or at least until the lights have burned out and then use them for whatever they were charged for.

Address and honor the spirits and I promise that you will see a dramatic improvement in your workings.