Spiritual Artist for Freedom of Expression (S.A.F.E.)

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Erzulie Dantor

Denise Alvarado, denise-alvarado, spiritual artist, Spiritual Artist Against Spiritual Slavery (SASS), spiritual artist for freedom of expression

Little Grandfather Brings Good Luck to Those Who Need it

Horned Toad Beliefs

It is said that arrowheads are made by horned toads that blow on a rock and chip it into a form with its breath. There is a taboo against killing horned toads because they are grandfathers or guardians of arrowheads. If you kill one you will get a stomachache, or swell up, or have a heart attack.

Many different indigenous cultures revere the horned toad. It is attributed with great healing abilities to the Piman who use it during curing ceremonies by placing one on the part of the person's body in need of healing. Among traditional Mexicans, the horned toad is called the Virgin's Little Bull or "Torito de la Virgen." It is likened to a bull because of its horns and is considered sacred because sometimes it squirts blood from its eyes. This is referred to as weeping tears of blood.

True Story

I was standing outside behind House of Hope, the children's shelter where I worked in New Mexico talking to the Navajo grandmother who was on staff there as part of the traditional program. All of a sudden, a little horned toad ran right by us. Grandma reached down and picked up the little creature and held it up to her heart and said a prayer. She then whispered something to the horned toad and handed it to me. I remember thinking "How cool is this!" because I always loved horned toads. She told me to hold it to my heart and say a blessing for it, then to whisper a request for blessings or something else I needed. I did what she said, and then she placed a tiny bit of corn pollen on its back and told me to set it back on the ground. We watched it run off.

Grandma explained to me that the horned toad is called Chei Yazh, meaning "Little Grandfather". She said that whenever I see one, I should pick it up if it will let me and do as I was shown. She said he bestows great blessings on those who do as she instructed.

That lesson was given to me about 17 years ago and it is one I will never forget. I have passed the tradition on to my son who is half Navajo, and anytime we see a horned toad, we do as grandma instructed.

Coyote and the Horned Toad (Navajo)

Horned Toad was very busy in his cornfield, where the corn was just ripening. Coyote came to him and said, "Please give me some of your delicious corn."

"No," said Horned Toad.

Coyote asked her four times; then he picked some corn for him.

"Corn is very hard to raise," Horned Toad told him. "We have to hoe the weeds away from it and pick off the bugs and worms that want to eat it. We even have to water it during dry weather. I can't afford to give all my corn away."

Coyote kept begging. Horned Toad said he couldn't have any more.

Then Coyote ran out into the field and-pulled off a big ear of corn, stripped the husks away and began eating the kernels.

Horned Toad grabbed one end of the ear, and, when he gulped it down. Coyote also gulped Horned Toad down inside him.

Since he wasn't there to scold him, he ate all the corn he could hold. Then he lay down in the shade. He felt very lazy, but when he heard birds flying down to eat the corn, he raised his head and shouted at them.

"Go away! Don't bother my corn," he shouted "Don't you know it takes work to raise corn? I have to hoe it and water it, and all that."

Down inside him. Horned Toad made some sort of noise.

Horned Toad was very angry with Coyote and wanted to do something to get even with him. As he lay inside Coyote's stomach, he called, "Hey, Cousin!"

Coyote jumped up and looked around to see who was calling. He saw nobody, and he lay down again. The second time he heard someone calling, he jumped up again and ran around the edge of the cornfield, looking for the person whose voice he had heard.

This happened four times. The fourth time that Horned Toad called, Coyote realized where the sound was coming from and he looked down at his stomach and asked, "Is that you making noises inside me?"

"Yes," replied Horned Toad. "I'm going to take a little walk down here and see what I can find."

Soon Coyote began to feel strange, and he told Horned Toad to lie down and be still. Instead, Horned Toad continued to walk around, and he tugged at different parts of Coyote's insides.

"What is this?" he asked. "And what is that?"

Each time he gave a little pull at an organ, he hurt Coyote. Once he touched Coyote's heart and asked, "What is this?"

He pulled at the heart, and Coyote shrieked in pain and yelled, "That's my heart."

Horned Toad climbed upward, and when she reached his throat he called, "Now I'm going to cut your throat, Coyote."

"What are you going to cut it with?" Coyote inquired. "I'm not very smart, but I know that you don't have a knife." "

Just then Coyote felt something sharp hacking at the inside of his throat, and he began begging Horned Toad not to kill him. The toad was using his sharp horns for cutting.

"Just come out of me," he promised, "and I'll help you raise your corn. I'll hoe the weeds in your garden and water the corn. I'll even bring you some firewood."

Horned Toad replied, "No," and he kept on hacking his throat. Coyote got worried and tried to think of something else that might change the horned toad's mind.

"I'm going to run very fast and make you fall out of my throat," he said. But just as he started to run Horned Toad finished cutting his throat.

When he fell dead. Horned Toad crawled out of Coyote's mouth.

He stood there looking at poor Coyote, lying dead.

"I warned you not to bother my corn," he said. And he went about caring for his cornfield.

Adapted from Coyote Stories of the Navajo People, Navajo Curriculum Center Press, 1974 School Board, Inc. Rough Rock Arizona.

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Copyright 2013 Denise Alvarado, All rights reserved worldwide.

Full Moon Conjure

Conjure for the full moon:

If you plant flowers during the full moon, expect magnificent blossoms and double the usual quantity.

Get some High John de Conker on a full moon and put in a red flannel bag. Hang it on the head of your bed for peace in the home.

To cross a person, take a pair of their shoes and bury them across each other at a crossroads, deep enough so they cannot be dug up by an animal or washed up in the rain. This must be done during a full moon.

To keep a partner interested in you, take some sandalwood ships, lemon verbena, and a lock of their hair and put it in a little medicine bottle with a screw on top. Pour a little Jockey Club perfume on everything and close it up. Be sure to do this during a full moon. Carry it with you and it is said the person will be unable to leave your side.

Bird Omens

Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird? ~ David Attenborough

Bird Omens from Folklore form Adams County Illinois by Harry Middleton Hyatt

549. Birds eating a great amount of food in the morning mean rain.
550. Birds always oil their feathers just before a rain.
551. When you see a multitude of small birds dusting themselves, they are preparing for a storm within three days.
552. If birds sing during a rain, the weather will soon brighten.
553. Caged birds singing in the morning before they are uncovered are a presage of a bright day.
554. A bird that flies back and forth in its cage is forecasting a storm.
555. Clear weather is foretold when birds venture far out over the water; stormy weather, when birds remain near the shore.
556. The flight of birds in a southerly direction, no matter how short the distance, is a signal for falling weather.
557. Mating among birds in August tells of a late winter.
558. If birds depart for the South during early September, the winter will be long and cold.
559. The call of a spring bird late in winter is a token of colder weather.
560. Spring is ushered in by the first blackbird.
561. Blackbirds flocking together always announce a change of weather: in summer, a rain; in winter, a snow.
562. Before a snow you will always see a large flock of blackbirds on the ground.
563. As soon as blackbirds gather in a cornfield, you may make ready for winter.
564. One harbinger of spring is the first appearance of a bluebird.
565. On hearing the first bluebird of the season, expect a rain soon.
566. If you see a bluebird, it denotes good weather next day.
567. A bluebird near your house in the morning brings a rain before night.
568. Blue jays just before a storm become excited and cry repeatedly.
569. The male blue jay is supposed to have a peculiar but indescribable note which it uses only preceding a storm.
570. As a herald of spring, wait for the first buzzard.
571. If a turkey buzzard is sailing through the air, the weather will turn warmer.
572. A buzzard in flight is always a sign of rain.

Photograph Copyright 2013 Denise Alvarado, All rights reserved worldwide.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Kitchen Hoodoo

There are many, many items that can be found in your local grocery store that you can use for your magickal workings. This is especially useful during the winter months when wildcrafting is not possible or practical, as well as throughout the year when you need something in a pinch.

If you are just starting out, an good way to build up your inventory of herbs and supplies is to take a list with you each time you go to the grocery store and purchase a couple of items off of the list. This way, it won’t break the bank and your supply will steadily grow.

Following is a list of some things you can get at your local grocery store that can be used in rootwork.

The uses listed next to the various items are by no means exhaustive. Refer to the tables in Chapter 5

of the Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook for more ideas.

1. ALUM – Enhances talismans and amulets, power booster

2. ALLSPICE - An ingredient for all good luck charms, gambling mojos and money gris gris; is said to increase business and prosperity.

3. AMMONIA - Used in cleansing baths and floor washes. Only a tablespoon or so is needed as too much ammonia can have the opposite effect.

4. BASIL – Love, protection, happiness, peace, money.

5. BAY LEAVES – Protection, health, success, wisdom, repels evil.

6. BLACK PEPPER – Revenge, cause pain in enemies, prevents unwanted people from visiting your home when sprinkled outside the front door.

7. CANDLES – You can find plain household candles to fragrance candles and 7 day glass encased saints candles to use in any number of works.

8. CAYENNE PEPPER – Hot foot, drive away ingredient; also used to heat things up and speed up works.

9. CINNAMON – A staple in all love and money drawing spells, sweeps and baths; heats things up.

10. CLOVES – Used in money drawing and friend drawing oils and spells

COW TONGUE – Stop gossip spells; the main ingredient in the infamous cow tongue spell where the tongue is slit longwise down to the bottom but not all the way through, special herbs and a name paper is placed inside and the tongue is either sewn shut or pinned closed with numerous straight pins and needles.

12. FLOWERS – Common offering to the spirits and saints; usually placed on altars. Different flowers have different qualities.

13. HONEY – Used in sweetener spells and works when you want to someone to speak nicely of you, or used in love spells. A popular honey jar spell consists of placing a name paper inside a jar of honey and burning a red candle on top of the jar.

14 KOSHER SALT – Said to be a good substitute for blessed salt and used in floor sprinkles and cleansing baths.

15 MASON JARS – Great for storing roots herbs, and mixtures, perfect for jar spells of all kinds.

16 MINT - Believed to be good for protection, repelling enemies, uncrossing, increasing money and finances. Add to mojo bags or fix green candles with the powdered herb.

17 NUTMEG – Believed to bring good luck and fortune to those who play games of chance. The famous fixed nutmeg consisted of boring a hole in the nutmeg and filling with liquid mercury. A more current version fills the hole with some sort of money drawing herb and is then sealed with wax. The nutmeg is anointed with Fast Luck oil and then wrapped in a dollar bill. The whole thing is then tied with red string and kept as a fast luck amulet.

18 OREGANO - Reported to keep away the law and any meddling, troublesome people.

19 PAPER BAGS – Excellent for drying herbs and disposing of spell remains. Simply place fresh herbs into a paper bag and close. Leave for a few days and the herb will be dried and ready for use or storage.

20 PARRAFIN – making jack balls. Herbs are mixed in with melted paraffin and rolled into a ball. The ball is then wrapped tightly with red string and tied off. A long piece of string is left so that it can be used as a pendulum. Rootworkers have been known to name their jack balls as they believe they come to life.

21 POPPY SEED - Used for court case spells to cause confusion and make others “act a fool” in important decisions.

22 PUMPKINS – Hollowed out and used for container spells.

23 ROSEMARY – Said to empower women, provide protection; bring luck in family matters.

24 SALT - Used in cleansings and protection floor sweeps and baths.

25 SWEETENERS – White, brown, confectioner’s sugar, honey, Karo syrup, maple syrup, molasses and all other sweeteners like are used to sweeten people to your cause, be it love, a promotion, or quelling conflicts and unpleasant disagreements. Some old timers would use light and white sweeteners when working with White folks and brown sweeteners when working with people of color.

26 THYME – For peace of mind; used to increase and protect money.

27 VINEGAR – Used to sour things, used in bottle and container spells.

Excerpt from the course Foundations in Southern Rootwork 1 offered by Crossroads University.

Copyright 2013 Denise Alvarado All rights reserved worldwide.