...and Horus wept

If we are to believe Aliester Crowley, then this is the Aeon of Horus. A time when the Child rules, the great union of the Mother and Father. This is the time when we put our differences aside, stop our useless bickering, a time when the Goddess dominant and the God dominant eras are no longer, as they come together to understand one another, to live side by side.

And this is the world we present to the Divine Child. A world of war, murder, rape, theft. A world which we have spoiled and ruined, lain waste to and paid no attention to. But Horus does not weep for this world because He knows that Mother Nature will fight back. He weeps for us, as He sees the futures we have created for ourselves.

Is it too late? No.

You can order prints at http://www.redbubble.com/people/redoak/art/6060677-1-and-horus-wept

Michael

I've been wroking on this for a few weeks, but got stumped on the right wing about two weeks back. Just couldn't get it right, so kept redrawing it. However, today I decided enough was enough and worked on it most of the day. Finally got it finished. Oh, it's Archangel Michael :o)

Changes to HLMS

A lot of changes have been made at The Hobthrust Lodge Magick School, and I thought I should let everyone know. First of all, all the lessons and courses are now free, and I am hoping to keep it that way, depending on the response I get and the traffic that goes through the site.

 

Secondly, I have included a Chat facility, a Yahoo Group, and my favourite being the HLMS Community which is a social networking site (but seriously needs some members and activity, especially seeing that it was only launched today...please, I'm feeling lonely).

 

Now, just to make things clear about how the HLMS courses function. There are no exams, projects or certificates. The material you will find on the site is for personal spiritual development, soul alchemy and to perfect your Arts as a Magician or Witch. You are responsible for your own progress and the development you want to attain, and therefore there is nobody who can test you, but you, and there is no peice of paper that will qualify you to become Enlightened.

 

Each course opens into a new window so you don't have to leave the main site, and each lesson or chapter is presented as a web page. I will be creating a paperback version of each course for those who would like to sit down with a book in their hands, but everything is available through the site.

 

So, take a look and have fun - http://hlmagickschool.com

 

Best Wishes,
Lee 'Red Oak' Johnson
http://redoaksponderings.blogspot.com

Your Spirit in a Hand

You may have heard of the mojo bag, which has nothing to do with Austin Powers by the way, although I suppose if you have your mojo, you are quite safe. The Mojo bag is a small material bag that contains particular items to draw something to you or for protection, depending on your purpose. These bags are often referred to as "hands", and the mojo hand is not the only one of its type. We also have Nation Sacks which are specifically for women, and in New Orleans you may find gris-gris, but what I want to talk about are those hands called Jacks, otherwise known as Jack Balls or Lucky Balls.

 

The items that go into a Jack can vary from person to person and conjurer to conjurer, but there are some common elements such as a name paper for the person it is made for, a personal effect, usually a small snipping of the person's hair and some roots and herbs. This is all bundled together into a ball of wax and then wrapped in string, yarn or thread to form a nicely packed ball with a length of the string extending from it. This Jack is then put into a mojo bag and carried with you at all times.

 

But what is its purpose? Everything really, to protect you, to bring you good fortune and luck, all the positive things you could think of. However, the aspect which I became most curious about was the inclusion of the spirit. When constructing a hand, whether it be a Jack or a Mojo, breath is used to enliven it, so either the conjurer creating the Mojo for a client will breath into the bag, or the client, i.e. the person it is designed for will be the one to breath into it. Breath is connected to the spirit. We find mention in various religions and spiritual paths of prana or some other equivalant, which is connected to the spirit. Apart from that, breath is life. By breathing into the hand we breath the "breath of life" into it, which is why it becomes enlivened with the spirit. This spirit we talk about is usually considered the spirit of the person that the hand is intended for. In the case of the Jack Ball we have an account by Mary Alicia Owen in her book published 1893, Voodoo Tales as Told Among the Negroes of the Southwest, Collected from Original Sources. Mary Owens had decided to go to a particularly renowned conjure doctor of the area to have a Jack Ball made for her mentor, Charles Leland, who was at that time overseas in Copenhagen. After creating the ball, the "king" (King Alex, as he was known) spoke to the Jack in the following manner:

 

"Now," said he, addressing the ball, as he dangled it between his thumb and finger, "yo' name is Leland, Charles Leland. Ise gwine ter sen' yo' er long way off unter er master, er mighty long way off, 'cross big watteh (the ocean). Go out in de woods an' 'fresh yo'se'f fo' yo' staht. Go 'long! Do ye' hyeah me? Is yo' gwine? Is yo' gwine way off? Is yo' climbin'? Is yo' climbin' high?"

 

Apart from the purposes of protection, luck and good fortune that the Jack is intended to bring, it is also used as pendulum and can be taken out from time to time and consulted, which is obviously why we also have a length of string which the ball dangles on.

 

However, concerning the spirit that goes into a hand, it may be considered that it is a thought form of some kind and the hand is a fetiche, but this is not necessarily the case, which is why I now bring to Kabbalah. The Lower Soul or Self of a person, as explained in Kabbalah, is called the Nefesh. If you have read any of my other scribblings, you may have come across some where I mention this, but for those that haven't, an explanation is worth repeating. The Nefesh is that part of our soul that operates much of our base instinct and our experiences with the world through the five senses. It is not the rational part of our soul or our being, but it is that which retains memory, and this is the important part in this little discourse. The memory it retains is not only that which you experience on a day to day basis, but ALL memory. It is directly connected to everything in this regard, and can access memory that is past, present and future. Some may call this the Akashic Record, and they would be quite right in terms of the Akashic being that which holds all knowledge. If we can therefore access our Nefesh directly, we have the means to access all knowledge and can therefore become knowledgable of all things, which is where the pendulum part of the Jack Ball comes in.

 

Unfortunately the Nefesh, not being a rational aspect of ourselves, does not communicate with us directly through language, and so we have to rely on visions, dreams, ideas, impressions, etc. However, one of the ways I was instructed to communicate with the Nefesh was via a pendulum. The whole process to create that bond takes about three weeks as I was taught by Jacobus G. Swart, who got the same instruction from his mentor, William G. Gray. Start with week one by sitting in front of a mirror and just talking to yourself. As mentioned the Nefesh experiences the world through the fives senses and so by doing this you are talking to your Nefesh through sight and sound. Once or twice a day just sit in front of the mirror and talk, tell your Nefesh about your day, about any frustrations or just chat as if you were talking to a friend. During week two you allow the Nefesh to communicate with you, and this is done via dream, so each morning note any dreams you had, and if you wake up with the lyrics of a song in your head, repeating over and over, take special note. Quite often this communication will be through memory and so you may find that the dreams are of things which have happened to you, and can get somewhat disturbing at times as it is almost like a cleansing in a way. Just work through it, those memories may be something your Nefesh needs to release to you so that you can deal with past issues. Then, during week three, you take a pendulum and communicate directly with your Nefesh, however, this process needs to be programmed. By the way, by this stage you should have a name for your Nefesh, either given to you by the Nefesh, or one you have chosen and agreed upon by the Nefesh, so you can speak to it directly and call it by name. It is very similar to a child's imaginary friend, which makes you wonder if such a friend is really "imaginary" or whether a child knows something which we have forgotten. Start your pendulum practice by telling your Nefesh which swing is yes, no and maybe. When doing this make sure you tell the Nefesh which is which, and get it to respond. If it gives you the wrong swing when you tell it to give you a yes, then just gently, but sternly say, "No, that was wrong, this is a yes answer" and keep repeating it until you get the correct swing. Then start asking questions, but be careful not to repeat yourself in a testing manner because if the Nefesh decides you are being a nuisance and not trusting it, then it will just shut down and not give you any answers. Don't ask stupid questions like, "Am I male/female?", as you already know the answer to that and the Nefesh will look at you as if you are an idiot.

 

So why am I mentioning all of this in relation to the Jack Ball? The "spirit" that is connected to the ball, in my understanding, is your own Nefesh, and so in regards to it being used as a pendulum, you have what I would consider to be a very powerful tool at your disposal. If I make a Jack for someone, I would actually suggest they go through the process I mentioned above, but unlike a pendulum you may find in a shop and use from time to time, put down and forget about for a few hours or a few days, the Jack is with you constantly, keeping guard, bringing positive things to you. It is like a friend in your pocket, which it really is as your Nefesh is your best friend, it is you after all. So what you ultimately have is an object which has a direct energetic connection to that part of your soul which has all the answers.

Hoodoo and Extra

Last night I performed a Honey Jar spell with a few extras. Now please bear in mind that what I did was not entirely traditional to Hoodoo, but I don't see why we should not be able to add elements of other magical practices in with our own Workings. I may not be able to call it Hoodoo per se, but it gets the job done, and gets it done well.

 

In the morning I had a chat with Papa Legba about the Honey Jar spell. Apart from some things that he told me to do which were more personal to me, he suggested that I create a quincunx, or artificial crossroads in my room and do the spell work in the middle. It was a simple affair of creating five piles of salt, one on each corner and one in the center, and then I proceeded to call him to open the Gates so that I may enter the Temple. Once that was done I went about creating the petition, adding the necessary elements to it and dusting it with the appropriate powder. I folded the petition paper up and then incorporated a Kabbalistic technique of Directing Spiritual Force. Now this is used mostly to draw Spiritual Force or Ruchaniyut from an inanimate object, however it can be reversed to fill an object with a particular intent. So, I breathed in Avir saturated with the intent of the spell and then projected it out along a series of energetic lines from my body, those being the brow, throat, heart, solar plexus, groin and the hands including the fingers. After three such breaths I could feel the energy build up from the petition paper, stronger than I have ever felt it before. Now I don't tangibly feel energy very often, but this was incredibly strong. It was actually pushing my hands away as the energy was building up and intensifying.

 

Following that I put it inside the honey jar, annointed the candle and stood it on top. Whilst the candle was burning, I repeated the process of Directing Spiritual Force and again, it built to an intensity that was tangibly felt.

 

So, in my opinion, although I may not be able to call what I did Hoodoo, Rootwork or Conjure because it diverted from the traditions of that path, the point is that we perform magic to work, and if what I did works better, then so be it. Amen.

Honey Jar Spells

This is probably one of the most popular spells that can be found in Hoodoo practice, the Honey Jar Spell. It is simple and effective and used to sweeten people up to you. So, if you have someone that you want to love you, like you, befriend you, or make them agree with you, then the Honey Jar could be the answer.

 

Simply take a jar of honey, must be a glass jar with a metal lid, if not then get such a jar and decant the honey into that jar, write out a petition, add some personal effects and if you like some powerful herbs, fold it all up and put it in the honey. Then close the lid and burn a candle on top.

 

Of course, things are never as simple as that. When writing out your petition it is suggested that you take a peice of paper, preferably a brown paper bag as that is what was traditionally used, and tear the edges off so that you have no machine cut edges. Then write the name of the person you wish to sweeten up three times on the paper, turn the paper 90 degrees and write your own name three times over that name. Then you need to create a petition, just something short like "let him love me" or "make him/her agree with me" and in a circle around the names start to write this petition in one constant flow, repeating it until you reach the end. This means that you do not lift your pen and all letters must flow into the next. When you reach the end, allow the last letter to flow into the beginning of the first letter you wrote.

 

To this petition paper you add your items. The personal effects can be some of your hair, and if you are doing a love drawing spell with someone else in mind, then you can get some of their hair and cross it over yours and tie them together. If you can't get the person's hair the only thing I know of that will replace this comes from the account written by Mary Alicia Owens when she got a rootworker to make a Jack or Luck Ball for Charles Leland. Because she couldn't get any of his hair as he was overseas, the rootworker used red clover to substitute for the missing hair. However, it is probably best to use the other person's hair or nothing at all.

 

Once you have all of that, you can add some roots and herbs or dust the petition paper with an appropriate powder which you can get from me at Red Mojo (mabonis@gmail.com or info@redmojo.co.za) or if you are not in South Africa, the best place to go is Lucky Mojo. Then fold the paper toward you and speak aloud the petition. Keep folding it toward you and repeating the petition until you can't fold in anymore.

 

Open the jar of honey and take a teaspoon of it, eat it and say, "As this honey sweetens me, so shall it sweeten [person's name] toward me". Do this again two more times and then push the peitition paper into the honey. Close the jar and take a candle of the correct colour; red to sweeten a love, brown to sweeten a judge in a court case, etc. Annoint the candle with the proper oil for your need (available from me), melt it onto the lid of the jar and burn it.

 

This should be repeated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, just replace the candle with a new one each time, until the work is complete. Honey Jar Spells are designed to work slowly, but they can be sped up somewhat by adding cinnamon or ginger. I would use cinnamon in money related spells and ginger in love, but either are fine for whatever cause as they are explained as being "sweet-hot" so you would be sweetening up the target but speeding up the process with the heat.

 

You don't however have to use honey, you can also use syrup, mollasses or even sugar, as long as it is sweet. Some of the older Honey Jar Spells used a box of sugar. In others an apple that had been hollowed out, the sweetner placed inside with the petition and then put into a jar.

Internet and Oils

I have been experiencing severe internet problems and still fighting with iBurst. Hope to get it all resolved VERY soon, but it does mean I am having difficulty updating sites and adding articles. Fortunately, I can email blog updates, so will be sticking to this for a while.

 

I have some new hoodoo oils ready. You can find out more on the Red Mojo Facebook Page or website if you like (the FB Page is probably the best place to go at the moment though). Click on one of the banners above. These oils include:

 

Oil of Abramelin

Blessing

Fiery Wall of Protection

Love Drawing

Pay Me Now

and Revenge

 

If you would like me to perform the candle lighting or spell work for you (as you may not be in a situation where you can do it yourself), then please let me know and we will discuss your particular circumstance. You can email on mabonis@gmail.com or info@redmojo.co.za