2 more works

I worked on these yesterday also. One is an herbal blend. It can be used as a general herbal blend for mojo bags or sprinkling around the area. It can also be burned as a loose incense on charcoal. The 2nd is a bottle. 


This is a Home Blessing Herbal Blend. I have plans to do a home blessing later this month or next month. This is the recipe I used: 

1/2 teaspoon of each of the following dry  herbs: 
peppermint for happiness
hibiscus for harmony
rue for protection
rosemary for peace of mind
lavender for love
valerian for tranquility
and a small amount of red rose buds.

I crushed them all together in my mortar. 

My next work, I got from The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells by Judika Illes.
Dragon's Blood Public Peace Protection
Mix sugar, salt and dragon's blood powder. Place in a small bottle and seal with red wax. Keep it in the kitchen to maintain peace in the home and between family members.  

My bottle is about 2 inches high, or 1/2 ounce. I used 1/2 tsp of sea salt and sugar and a few chunks of dragon's blood resin. I ground them all together in my mortar the slowly spooned in into the bottle (I REALLY need a small funnel!!!!) I then laid the bottle on it's side and melted a red candle over it until I got what you see above! I placed the bottle on the top part of my stove where it can been seen by everyone!

My Red Brick dust

I finally took the time to make my own red brick dust!! I will say that it is very hard work!

This is what I started off with. I actually have a few of these around the yard. The people who lived here before us used them as flower bed borders.

I hit the brick a few times with the hammer to break it into smaller, more manageable pieces. The piece on the top is the only piece I wound up using. I definitely recommend using a towel you don't mind getting messed up!!  This is what happened after only a couple of hits!! Also, be sure to do it on smooth concrete. Where I was is some old sidewalk stones that are rough and the towel kept getting caught in it. When I moved to the smooth carport floor, I didn't have that problem.   

After about 15 minutes or so, this is what I have now to work with: 

I kept working for another 10-15 minutes on it and got most of the bigger chunks down to finer bits. It's not really smooth dust, but for me, it will serve it's purpose.

I wanted to explain more these 2 items. Both are exactly what they say!!! And obtaining both can be fairly easy. 

Red Brick Dust 
It is exactly what it says!! Obtain a red brick, the kind used to build houses and such. I usually find mine in new home construction sites. No, I don't steal them. I got for the refuse pile and grab bits and pieces from there.   Take them home and crush in what ever manner you chose to get the dust. As you can see above, some use a mortar and pestle. Or you can wrap the brick in a towel and crush it with a hammer.   


Graveyard Dirt 

    Despite what some think, Graveyard Dirt is exactly that....dirt obtained or purchased from a graveyard or several graveyards. It's been said ( as seen in the last post) that graveyard dirt is actually slang for certain herbs or herbal mixes. But that is not the truth!!! There are several different manners of collecting graveyard dirt and there are certain types. 

It is advised to pay for graveyard dirt. Some leave money, rum, whiskey, etc. (not a whole bottle, just pour a shot or 2 on the grave). The reason is so that you don't make the spirit of the grave angry for stealing. Basically, you are appeasing the spirit and asking for their help. It also helps to know the situation for which you are going to use the dirt so that you know what kind of graves to collect from. You wouldn't want to collect from a murderer if you are doing what would be considered good work!!! 

I have read that you can collect from several different graves in several different graveyards. But this is another "to each his own". I've personally collected it from one grave in a single graveyard. 

For more information on graveyard dirt and working with it, I HIGHLY recommend visiting Lucky Mojo here

"Red Brick Dust: This is actual powdered red brick dust, believed by many, especially in Missouri and Louisiana, to have protective magical qualities. It is also reputed by some to draw money and business. Lay a line down at the doorway for protection from your enemies, or to draw customers to your place of business.

Hot Foot Powder: used in African American hoodoo folk magic to drive unwanted people away. It is a mixture of herbs and minerals, virtually always including cayenne pepper, and usually other ingredients such as sulfur, black pepper, graveyard dirt, bluestone, gunpowder or salt.

Graveyard Dirt: There are basically three ways that Graveyard Dirt is employed in hoodoo: in spells of protection, in enemy tricks, and in coercive love spells . Despite its inclusion in such harmful formulas, graveyard dirt is not evil per se, and it has uses all its own that reflect its venerable stature in the African religious practice of ancestor veneration.

In African-derived magic such as hoodoo and Obeah, graveyard dirt is an important "magical link" (in the Crowleyan sense of that term), because of the powerful cultural beliefs centered around the role of the dead in rituals of invocation. This was and remains especially true in the Kongo, from whence most African-American slaves came, and in West Africa, where most Afro-Caribbean slaves came.

(You may find veneration of ancestors rather misleadingly called "ancestor worship" by earlier Western scholars, and you will often see it referred to in that way in books published in English prior to the 1990s, but American and European scholars have recently come around to using the more accurate African term "ancestor veneration," due to their contact with Africans who have entered academia and gotten on the internet .. and still practice ancestor veneration.)

In Palo Mayombe, a mostly Cuban and Brazilian survival of Kongo religio-magical practgice somewhat admixed with Catholicism, the dirt from graves is kept in a "prenda" on an altar.

In hoodoo, as in African magic and in Palo, graveyard dirt can be used for good or for ill. There are several well-known love-spells that utilize graveyard dirt, and just as many spells to hold someone down or restrain them in some way (what British people might call a "binding spell".

In hoodoo, the ritual of collecting graveyard dirt -- by the practitioner him- or herself -- is called BUYING graveyard dirt. The usual payment in the US, since the 19th century at least, has been a silver dime, preferably a Mercury dime (this brings up thoughts about that earlier thread about Mercury / Hermes / Eshu / Nbumba Nzila / Eleggua). Customs vary, but generally the dime is offered to the dead in the entire graveyard or to the specific spirit from whose grave one will dig the dirt.

If one wished to do harm, one might buy the dirt of someone who "died badly" -- before their time, through execution, or so forth, because their spirit, once invoked, would be inclined to perform evil deeds with little compunction. If one wished to bring about love, one might buy the dirt from someone who loved one in life (a relative or a deceased spouse, for instance) because their spirit, once invoked, would be inclined to help one achieve lasting love. Some workers prefer dirt from a baby's grave, because they say that the spirit thus invoked is malleable and biddable; but others say it is too weak, being young, and will not prove as effective as dirt from the grave of an adult.

This practice of the individual buying dirt from a graveyard led early on in hoodoo to the root worker / herbalist buying the dirt and then re-selling it. No stigma is attached to this practice, but the re-seller may be questioned closely as to whether the dirt was properly "bought and paid for." I have ads in old catalogues in my collection dating back to the 1920s in which graveyard dirt was offered for sale to the African-American community, so this is not a recent phenomenon. -- like most of the merchantile aspects of hoodoo, it arose as urbanization made the personal gathering of symbolic ingredients difficult to achieve. The price of graveyard dirt is usually nominal -- it's dirt cheap.

Neo-pagan authors such as Scott Cunningham have written that graveyard dirt is "just code" for certain herbs, such as mullein, but this is easily proven untrue by simply asking the average root-worker. In the African-American community (if not the Wiccan community) graveyard dirt is dirt from a grave that's been ritually "bought and paid for." ~ Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by Catherine Yronwode


Differences between Voodoo and Hoodoo
Hoodoo and Voodoo are often mistaken for one another. Some believe that the terms may have a common etymology. Simply put, Voodoo is a religion, whereas Hoodoo is a group of magical practices.

The ancient African religion of Vodoun is an established religion with its ancient roots in West Africa. Its modern form is practiced across West Africa in the countries now known as Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso, among others. In Haiti, Cuba, and other Caribbean islands, the worship of the Vodoun gods (called lwa or loas) is practiced in a syncretic form that has been greatly modified by contact with Catholicism. The Voodoo of Haiti and Louisiana Voodoo are better known to many English speakers; similar practices among Spanish speakers in Cuba are called Santeria.

Hoodoo shows obvious and evident links to the practices and beliefs of African folk magico-religious culture. The Hoodoo practiced in the U.S. by the enslaved Africans was brought from West and Central Africa, specifically, the area that is now known as the Congo and Angola, Togo, Nigeria and other West African regions. ~ wikipedia

Badb

Badb (pronounced BIBE) is the Irish Goddess of war. Along with her sisters Macha and Anu, she forms the triple Goddess known as the Morrigan. All three could take the form of crows or ravens, and would fly over battlefields, choosing who would die and who would live. They would then take the souls of the deceased in their black wings, flying them off to the Otherworld. Badb would sometimes take part in the battles herself, usually in the form of a wolf. She had the power to cause confusion in the opposing soldiers and courage in those on her own side.
Badb, Macha, and Anu are the daughters of Ernmas, an Irish mother Goddess, and Delbaeth, High King of Ireland. They are also the sisters of another triplicity of Goddesses: Banba, Eriu, and Fodla, Goddesses of Irish sovereignty. Where the latter three Goddesses embodied the sovereignty of Ireland, the former three protected it, through war but also through life. Badb is said to have a cauldron similar to that of Cymidei Cymeinfoll, in that it can provide life to those who have died. Legend says that Badb will cause the end of the world some day when she lets the cauldron boil over and flood the world.
Badb’s name has been translated as either “crow” or “boiling,” both of which fit her mythology. Variations of her name include Badhbh, Bave, Baobh, Badhbh Chaointe (“weeping raven”), and Badb Catha (“battle crow”), and she was known in Gaul as Cathubodua, Cathubodva, Catubodua, or Cauth Bodva.

Satene

Satene is the Seram Goddess of the Underworld. The Seram people of Indonesia say that she was born from an unripe banana. When another Goddess, Hainuwele, was killed as a witch, the man who found her body, Ameta, took her arms to Satene. She created a spiral gate on the dancing ground where Hainuwele had been killed and stood in the center of it. Satene told the people that she was leaving the world and they would have to pass through the gate to see her again. The gate became the doorway to the Underworld, and those who were able to pass through when they died were reborn as people. Those who were unable to pass through were instead reincarnated as animals or remained on earth as spirits. When people did pass through, Satene would hit them with Hainuwele’s arms, and those who passed to her left formed one tribe, and those who passed to her right formed another. Satene’s name, which means “judgment,” is also seen as Mulua Satene.

Celebrating Ostara: Ostara Activities

Celebrating Ostara: Ostara Activities

 

 

Celebrating the changing of the seasons and the Pagan sabbats is sometimes considered to be something that must be done with elaborate rituals and feasts.  The modern domestic witch, however, knows that not only should we celebrate the whole season (not just one day), but we can work the celebration into our daily lives through appropriate activities.

Here are a list of ideas for celebrating spring, whether on Ostara or on another day:

• Spring clean your house physically, then magically
• Color eggs.  Blow out a few raw eggs, color them and fill them with finely ground herbs corresponding to a magical intent
• Research egg magic
• Get outside with kids or friends and play old fashioned games like red rover and tag
• Start clearing out space in your yard for a garden, or getting your garden beds ready to plant
• Practice oomancy
• Perform a spell or ritual focused on healing the earth
• Go out for a walk and look for signs of spring: robins, nests being built, flowers buds, bulbs shoots, plants starting to green
• Buy a new broom for magical or mundane cleaning
• Do meditations focused on new beginnings or growth
• Practice weather magic
• Make paper flowers and use them to decorate your home or altar
• Take your broom outside and use the handle to thump the earth to "wake it up"
• Have an egg hunt
• Learn about the migration of butterflies or the plight of the honey bee. Vow to take steps to help them on their way
• Have a seed blessing ritual
• Start seeds indoors or out
• On the morning of Ostara, plan to have a bonfire or light candles as a way of greeting the return of light and the sun.
• Eat eggs for breakfast on Ostara morning and bury the rinsed shells in your garden to promote prosperity and abundance of your crops
• Try to incorporate at least one traditional correspondence into you daily life through the spring season: cook with seasonal foods, use traditionally colored cloth napkins,  display a vase of wildflowers on your table,  burn traditionally scented incense, etc.