Working Conjure

"Working Conjure is a blessing. With the increasing commodification of African American and African Diasporic traditions, books about our practices that are simple, direct, and useful seem few and far between. Hoodoo Sen Moise manages to balance a solid delivery on the practice of Conjure with just enough theory to create a foundation to do this spiritual work—which is not, as he also reminds us, spiritual easy—and to continue the work given to us by our ancestors to heal each other and the world we share."—Mambo Chita Tann, author of Haitian Vodou Conjure, also known as Hoodoo or Rootwork, is an old and powerful system of North American folk magic. Its roots derive primarily from West and Central African spiritual traditions but it developed during the slave trade and its purpose at that time was to help ease the terrible oppression experienced by the slaves. Working Conjure explores the history, culture, principles, fundamentals, and ethics of Conjure, while simultaneously serving as a practical how-to guide for actually doing the work. Author Hoodoo Sen Moise has been a practitioner for nearly forty years. In Working Conjure, his first book, he shares the techniques and lessons that will bring Hoodoo alive to those who are new to the practice as well as useful and enlightening information for the adept. In the book he: Explores the primary materials used in Conjure Features spells, rituals, and workings for various purposes Guides readers to learn how to bring this profound school of magic to life “Conjure,” writes Hoodoo Sen Moise, “is not a religion or spiritual path, per se, but rather magic/spiritual work that is done to bring about change in a situation. Whether that situation is a relationship, money, a job, revenge, healing, or cleansing, the fundamental tenet of Conjure is to do work that changes the circumstance.”

Are you looking for magic that actually works? Hoodoo is old North American folk magic, born from African spiritual traditions brought over by slaves. Over the centuries it incorporated Native American and European influences, using what worked and discarding what did not. What is left is an adaptable, powerful magical system that works. In this book you'll learn: The history of Hoodoo, including how it relates to Voodoo How to work with your ancestors using an ancestor altar Why Graveyards and Crossroads are important in Hoodoo, and how to work with each safely The importance of Spiritual Cleansing and how to do it Which roots and herbs are important when getting started with Rootwork How to make your own Conjure Oils and use them in your spells Why Candle Magic is important Simple instructions to make and use Mojo Bags to carry magic with you And much more. This book covers everything you need to know to get started with Hoodoo, and includes over twenty five simple spells to draw money to you, bring luck and love into your life, and protect yourself from evil. Angelie Belard has helped hundreds of people with their problems using the potent and practical magic of Hoodoo. From customers who needed help with financial or romantic problems, to friends and loved ones who wanted a way to connect to their ancestral roots, she has used Hoodoo to improve and enrich their lives. Now she's ready to share her lifetime of learning with you. Hoodoo was hidden by its practitioners for hundreds of years, but now you can safely get started with information you won't find anywhere else.

“Starr Casas is the real deal. Anyone seeking to comprehend Conjure and benefit from its powerful magic would do well to read Old Style Conjure."—Judika Illes, author of Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells and many other books Conjure, hoodoo, rootwork—these are all names for a uniquely American form of folk magic. Conjure first emerged in the days of slavery and plantations and is widely considered among the most potent forms of magic. Written by Starr Casas, a hereditary master of the art, Old Style Conjure is an essential guide to using Conjure to achieve love, success, safety, prosperity, spiritual fulfillment, and your heart's desires. Old Style Conjure is a guide to using conjure to achieve love, success, safety, prosperity, and spiritual fulfillment. It introduces readers to the history and philosophy of conjure and provides practical, modern day, advice for using it. In its pages, you'll learn about: Bone reading Candle magic Conjure bags Building your own conjure altar Featuring Casas' own rituals, spells, and home recipes, the book provides useful information suitable for novices and seasoned practitioners alike.

Traditional Southern root magic and conjure from someone who learned the old ways growing up in rural Appalachia. Folk magic conjurer and root worker Orion Foxwood invites you to take a walk through his native Appalachia, through moonlit orchards and rural farms, to the dark of the crossroads. From the oral tradition of his ancestors to the voices of the spirits themselves, Foxwood brings readers the secrets of Southern magic: • Working by the signs (the ability to synchronize work such as farming, fertility, and orcharding) •Faith healing •Settling the light (candle magic) •Doctoring the root (the ability to use herbs, roots, stones, or animal parts for magic or for clearing, cleansing, and blessing a person) •Praying or dreaming true (blessings of spirit/God to a person, place, or thing as well as prophetic or predictive dreaming) •Blessing or cursing Mountain Conjure and Southern Root Work shows how to create magic in today’s world with the old ways and traditions of Appalachia. This book was previously published as The Candle and the Crosswords. This new edition includes a foreword by Mat Auryn, author of Psychic Witch.

"Chireau has written a marvelous text on an important dimension of African American religious culture. Expanding beyond the usual focus of scholarship on Christianity, she describes and analyzes the world of magical-medical-religious practice, challenging hallowed distinctions among "religion" and "magic." Anyone interested in African American religion will need to reckon seriously with Chireau's text on conjure."—Albert J. Raboteau, Princeton University "Deprived of their own traditions and defined as chattel, enslaved Africans formed a new orientation in America. Conjuring—operating alongside of and within both the remnants of African culture and the acquired traditions of North America—served as a theoretical and practical mode of deciphering and divining within this, enabling them to create an alternate meaning of life in the New World. Chireau's is the first full-scale treatment of this important dimension of African American culture and religion. A wonderful book!"—Charles H. Long, Professor of History of Religions University of California, Santa Barbara and author of Significations: Signs, Symbols and Images in the Interpretation of Religion

Working Cures explores black health under slavery showing how herbalism, conjuring, midwifery and other African American healing practices became arts of resistance in the antebellum South and invoked conflicts.

A bold reconsideration of Hoodoo belief and practice Katrina Hazzard-Donald explores African Americans' experience and practice of the herbal, healing folk belief tradition known as Hoodoo. She examines Hoodoo culture and history by tracing its emergence from African traditions to religious practices in the Americas. Working against conventional scholarship, Hazzard-Donald argues that Hoodoo emerged first in three distinct regions she calls "regional Hoodoo clusters" and that after the turn of the nineteenth century, Hoodoo took on a national rather than regional profile. The spread came about through the mechanism of the "African Religion Complex," eight distinct cultural characteristics familiar to all the African ethnic groups in the United States. The first interdisciplinary examination to incorporate a full glossary of Hoodoo culture, Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System lays out the movement of Hoodoo against a series of watershed changes in the American cultural landscape. Hazzard-Donald examines Hoodoo material culture, particularly the "High John the Conquer" root, which practitioners employ for a variety of spiritual uses. She also examines other facets of Hoodoo, including rituals of divination such as the "walking boy" and the "Ring Shout," a sacred dance of Hoodoo tradition that bears its corollaries today in the American Baptist churches. Throughout, Hazzard-Donald distinguishes between "Old tradition Black Belt Hoodoo" and commercially marketed forms that have been controlled, modified, and often fabricated by outsiders; this study focuses on the hidden system operating almost exclusively among African Americans in the Black spiritual underground.

In Backwoods Witchcraft, Jake Richards offers up a folksy stew of family stories, lore, omens, rituals, and conjure crafts that he learned from his great-grandmother, his grandmother, and his grandfather, a Baptist minister who Jake remembers could "rid someone of a fever with an egg or stop up the blood in a wound." The witchcraft practiced in Appalachia is very much a folk magic of place, a tradition that honors the seen and unseen beings that inhabit the land as well as the soil, roots, and plant life. The materials and tools used in Appalachia witchcraft are readily available from the land. This "grounded approach" will be of keen interest to witches and conjure folk regardless of where they live. Readers will be guided in how to build relationships with the spirits and other beings that dwell around them and how to use the materials and tools that are readily available on the land where one lives. This book also provides instructions on how to create a working space and altar and make conjure oils and powders. A wide array of tried-and-true formulas are also offered for creating wealth, protecting one from gossip, spiritual cleansing, and more.