April community honey jar services start tonight

Community honey jar services for prosperity/success and love/relationships start tonight. There are pay-what-you-can options for the prosperity/success jar.

Participants are invited to a private Discord server where I’ll post photos and answer questions, and they get access to my client calendar, as well, with details about the work and any upcoming events they might want to take advantage of.

Community altar work services focus on a particular goal or area and have a limited number of “seats” for each working. They are a great compromise between big workings open to any number of folks (inexpensive but with little customization available) and hiring a worker to do 100% custom, private services just for you (completely tailored to you but often considerably more expensive since the costs of time and materia magica are not being shared by more than one person).

Learn more or book now at Seraphin Station.

Saints Clare and Philomena Candle Services and Novenas Begin Tonight

*While I normally ask that clients book one service per order and check out for separate services separately, in this case, since Saints Clare and Philomena are so closely associated in some traditions, I’m offering a bundled discount if you book both services together. To get the discount, you have to check out with both services at the same time.

Saint Clare Candle Service & Novena – Clarity, Wisdom, Insight, Clairvoyance

Have lights set and worked on my St. Clare altar in a nine-day community altar work service beginning the night of August 11th, the feast day of St. Clare of Assisi. There is some wiggle room and you can join up after the work starts as long as you see that there are still spots left and it doesn’t say “sold out.”

I will begin a nine-day novena and chaplet recitation to St. Clare on this same day, focused on petitioning her intercession for your stated intention, which will be included daily in my novena and chaplet work for the duration of the nine days along with appropriate offerings.

St. Clare is the patron saint of television, goldsmiths, and eye diseases. In folk Catholic practice, she is also petitioned for clear vision, literally and figuratively. Her devotees call on her when they need insight into a situation affecting their lives or guidance on how to make a difficult decision. Spiritual workers and diviners also call on her for aid in developing their clairvoyance.

In some houses and temples of vodou, St. Clare is served as the lwa Klemezin Klemay, who aids her devotees by helping clear away bad luck and negativity, and who is known to grant clear insight and the gift of dreaming true. I do serve Klemezin and have for many years, so I will accept petitions related to service of this lwa.

Learn more or book your spot at Seraphin Station.

Saint Philomena Candle Service & Novena – Lost Causes, Mental Illness, Health, Committed Love, Better Business

Have lights set and worked on my St. Philomena altar in a nine-day community altar work service beginning the night of August 11th, her feast day. There is some wiggle room and you can join up after the work starts as long as you see that there are still spots left and it doesn’t say “sold out.”

I will begin a nine-day novena and chaplet recitation to St. Philomena on this same day, focused on petitioning her intercession for your stated intention, which will be included daily in my novena and chaplet work for the duration of the nine days along with appropriate offerings.

Known as the Wonder Worker, she’s invoked by devotees for all kinds of things when other measures have failed and it seems pretty much hopeless. Some call her the patron saint of the impossible. In that respect she’s become something of a companion saint to St. Jude in contemporary folk practice.

Those who have formed a relationship with her have sought and received her help with everything from the conversion of unbelievers to fertility problems, healthy pregnancy and delivery, cure of mental illness, attraction of a spouse, and the sale of real estate. She’s said to have effected miraculous cures of injuries and illnesses ranging from heart defects to cancer. But officially, she’s the patron of babies and children and is considered the patroness of the living rosary. Padre Pio called her the Princess of Heaven.

In some houses and temples of vodou, St. Philomena is served as the helpful and pleasant lwa Filomez. She helps those who make their livings as market sellers, removes negativity and evil from the surroundings, grants the ability to have prophetic dreams, and aids her devotees seeking love. Some consider her related to Erzulie Freda, while others do not, but while the two lwa might appear to have a good bit in common, Filomez is not as demanding or haughty as Freda and doesn’t have to be handled quite as “carefully.” I do serve Filomez and have for many years, so I will accept petitions related to service of this lwa.

Learn more or book your spot at Sera phin Station.

June Community Spiritual Services; Bonus Rewards Points

Community Honey Jars

June community honey jars begin Monday, June 14th. There’s one for love/relationships and one for prosperity/income (which is Pay What You Can). I’ve set it up where you can book through Etsy, too, through the process is a bit clumsier and less straightforward there, sorry to say.

Planetary Work

Mercury Retrograde remediation and the Lucky Stars Sweet Jar for Jupiter in Pisces both have “rolling enrollment,” meaning you can join in at any time during the transit as long as you see spots still open, as I’ll be working some aspect or phase of these continuously.

St. Anthony of Padua 9-Day Service

St. Anthony’s feast day is June 13th, on which night I’ll commence a nine-day vigil, novena and chaplet service.

I’m not sure there’s anything St. Anthony has never been petitioned for by a devotee, but I imagine most petitions are still for finding lost things, up to and including lost people, which by extension results in his being tapped to return a wayward lover or reconcile a couple after a rough patch. He can deal with less literal stuff, too, e.g. if you feel like you’ve lost the plot or you cannot locate any more fucks to give.

Learn more about St. Anthony, including how he’s increasingly petitioned for love-drawing work these days, at my St. Anthony guide at Big Lucky Hoodoo. Or learn more about the service and book your spot now at SeraphinStation.com.

Also available: 3X bonus rewards points through midnight Central time on Friday, June 11th. The rewards program is free to join and pretty simple to use – read more here.

on love binding spells (just gonna leave this here)

Just stumbled upon The AfroMystic’s article “4 Reasons Why ‘Binding’ a Lover to Yourself is Not Smart.” I’m glad she wrote this. Now I don’t have to. But it needs to be said. Out loud. Regularly.

Now I know not everybody sees eye-to-eye on all the finer points and nuances of potential situations where things like Binding and Intranquility and such get brought up a lot. I don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye with all of my colleagues about every single nuance of this stuff and vice versa. And I absolutely allow that not everybody from every culture, society, or country has the same autonomy, access to resources, and legal status as everybody else (and she touches on this issue as well in her article).

But if you’re a rootworker in the 2000s here, or even if you’ve just been hanging around in rootwork circles long enough, you know exactly the kind of thing she’s talking about ’cause you’ve seen it yourself. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard some version of these:

“Met him last month, want to do binding spell.”
“Takes advantage of me and never spends time with me, want to do binding spell.”
“Regularly sticks his dick in the crazy, comes home, lies about it, and gave me an STD. Want to do binding spell.”

And people get *shirty* (i.e. super offended) when you suggest they should maybe consider this spell instead:

Now don’t anybody get defensive and don’t anybody dismiss this outright. If you are considering love binding work, read this as neutrally as you can, and just check and make sure none of this applies to you. Maybe it doesn’t. If the shoe doesn’t fit, etc., never mind.

But probably 90% of the folks who’ve brought up love binding work to me in the last few decades could have stood to ask themselves these questions. Just give it a read, that’s all I’m saying!

valentine’s day sale + drawing for prizes + stuff that’s back in stock

Current Coupon Codes:

From now until midnight, Jan 28 (Central time), use code valentineclock30 to get 30% off any item in the Love & Lust collection (includes mojos and customizabel items like container candles and pakets).
From Jan 29 until midnight Feb 4, code valentineclock25 gets 25% off in that category.
From Feb 5 until midnight Feb 14, code valentineclock20 gets 20% off in that category.

All customers checking out using one of these codes will be entered into a drawing for a Valetine’s Day prize, a spell kit or a gift “basket” (in quotes because it may be more like a decorative box or bag). No need to type anything else or add any other codes – I will draw randomly from the orders placed that use the coupons. One order equals one entry, so if you place more than one order, you have more than one entry – just as long as at least one item in your cart comes from the Love & Lust category.

One winner will receive a catfish spur spell kit, including a bottle of ink, instructions, and a real catfish bone “spur” that is used as a quill pen in an old fashioned Gulf Coast style working. It’s a sort of “come to me/love me” type of working, to keep your beloved’s mind on you.

Another winner will receive a “come back/return to me” mojo/paket kit – it’s a mojo-shaped/sized thing, but it’s sealed permanently during its creation, which takes several days and involves multiple steps. You get all the ingredients, including the slightly unusual cloth required for the working, and complete instructions on how to work the spell. It’s suitable if you want somebody to come back, but it’s also suitable even if there was no breakup and you just want somebody to come around me and keep thoughts of home (and of you) in their hearts and minds.

There will be at least one gift box/basket awarded. I will consult with the winner to assemble the types of formulas s/he prefers, and while I can’t guarantee it will contain exactly one half-ounce bottle of whatever and three soaps (it just depends on what formulas the winner prefers), it will include an assortment of stuff that fills up the box or bag and then some. The prize will include a candle of some sort, either fixed commercial or hand-poured, that will obviously be too big for the box, bag, or basket.

The “first prize” winner can choose first. The “second prize” winner can choose next. And the “third prize” winner can choose third. If there are only spell kits left and you don’t want the spell kit, that’s ok, – you can have another gift basket instead if there isn’t anybody special in your life just yet. You don’t have to take a kit you can’t use, in other words. But i thought I’d offer a chance to win some one of a kind or custom-made things that you can’t purchase as regular inventory in honor of Valentines’ Day.

Back in Stock:

Three Kings formulas (with the 2015 batch)
Black Cat Bones (leg bones, can be fixed and “stuffed”)
Oakmoss & Bergamot soap

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Read the FAQ here, including instructions on how to use coupon codes if you need them.
Read the latest status updates, including matters affecting shipping, communication, etc. here.

New and Restocked: Handcrafted Hoodoo Soaps

Handcrafted bar soaps now available:

Coffee at Midnight
Money Luck
Rue & Mint Uncrossing & Protection
Lemongrass Sage Uncrossing & Reversing
Love Drawing
Gold Rush
Three Kings

If you know me, you know I’m not a roses and jasmine type of person. So none of these soaps are made with any scent I would not personally wear. The sweetest are probably the Gold Rush and the Love Drawing; the former is a bright citrusy burst and the latter a blend of woods and citruses with the very faintest of floral topnotes. There’s nothing super-feminine or girly here, and while the Love bars are pink, they don’t smell pink 🙂 Anybody of any age or gender can use any of these.

Don’t forget about the coupon codes good through the end of the month!

bar soaps lg crop coffee soap crop new soap crop

rue mint crop

New Formulas

Four new oils available on ebay, (which you guys helped me name! I have the greatest readers!)

Coffee at Midnight – the chocolate/vanilla/sex appeal formula I wrote about a few entries ago.

Chrysalis – the love/attraction/healing blend I wrote about in the same entry.

Damiana – this has other stuff in it besides damiana, but that's the centerpiece of the formula. Damiana is the classic aphrodisiac, and this oil is formulated to heat things up. A unisex blend, its scent is a bit sweet and a bit spicy, and it has a slight hint of the pungent green herbal aroma of an after-dinner aperitif from one of those French cabarets in the late 1800s. Containing rare and precious absinthe essential oil, it is designed to loosen inhibitions and inspire creativity 🙂

Passion – another tea-inspired blend, this is a love-drawing formula, but it works in more than one "direction" – much like the Chrysalis blend, it's designed for clients who need a new lease on life, not just their love lives (though it is made to work for that too). If you're in a rut, need to get out more, but can't quite work up the optimism to get out there, this is a good place to start. I generally "prescribe" a tea+bath ritual for clients in this situation – a spiritual bath for the outside and a cup of tea for the inside. So I've made this formula for those who want to dress a candle or mojo bag (or clothing, or curtains, or whatever) as part of their work towards reorienting their love lives – and this works by helping to reorient their lives so there is room for love and passion. And this starts with self-love, optimism, and a passion for life. It's not a one-candle sort of thing – it's a makeover. But this is a good start. Passion is a bright, slightly citrusy blend with notes of fruit and just a tiny hint of spice; this unisex blend can be used if you're looking for a new relationship, but it can also be used if you're leaving behind an old one and want to get your spirits back up – even if you're not ready to start dating yet. It's all about you and the passion in your life – for life.

new art shrines and altar pieces

Click the lj cut to see more pics of Gabriel, St. Expedite, OL of Czestochowa, and a non-denominational Love shrine.
New items at ebay and at bonanza.

see more pictures

New items at ebay and bonanza – jewelry and Sanguis Veneris

Somebody wrote me asking for a goat horn, and I said I’d order one from my "animal bits" supplier. I also said I was not likely to recall who asked me for it. Sure enough, I forgot. But I have a polished, hollow goat horn up on ebay for you. ETA: they found it and got it!

Santisima Muerte altar spell bottle, FIXED, customized, and chock full of herbs, roots, curios, etc. Perfect for a spell of the Intranquil Spirit variety.

St. Expedite rosary bracelet with customizable spell pendant

Custom love-drawing mojo rosary bracelet – non-denominational, but Erzulie Freda approved, and can be customized for her

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Limited edition Sanguis Veneris oil and powder.

If you read my older post about Sanguis Veneris, you know it’s a medieval love and healing formula, and I wanted to give it a go even though it’s European and I no longer work too much in European herb-lore, because it has uses in conjure as well and because the astrological event for its creation happened to be coming up. So I went ahead and took this astrological opportunity to make up a batch of Sanguis Veneris oil (HIGHLY concentrated, quite thick and full of powdered resins and herbs, so dilute, dilute, dilute) and powder (pure, 100% powdered herbs and resins, NO base or filler or mineral ingredients). The oil can be worn (see caveats below), used to dress candles, mojos, objects, etc, just like any condition oil. The powder can be burned as incense on a charcoal block, added to mojos, added to a base oil to make your own oil, etc. Caution: MAY STAIN SKIN if a lot is used, WILL STAIN FABRIC etc so handle with care, especially in concentrated amounts.

This formula does NOT contain human blood, just plant matter and essential oils. It was made in a ritual context under the appropriate astrological conditions and set under the light of the full moon. (My initial formal hands-on training in herblore was in European traditions, so I do know how to do this stuff even though I work primarily in African-American herblore, and I spent nearly two decades as an initiate in a couple of formal hermetic, ceremonial magic, wand-waving and robe-wearing and qabala-using traditions and do know my astrology, sigils, grimoires, K and C of the HGA etc as well, so I broke out some of the old altar implements for this one). It does not contain anything that is not theoretically safe for use on skin, and I tested it on myself before listing it, but as with ANY ritual oil, you might want to dilute it and do a spot test before wearing it, and you wouldn’t use it as a perfume but rather as a ritual anointing oil.

It *may* stain your skin – there is no way to avoid that given the ingredients – but if used in small enough quantities and away from white clothing, you might be alright. You might not want to dab it behind your ears, of course, but you could use it similarly to body paint and paint symbols or sigils on yourself, or dab it at appropriate spots (at the heart and right above the pubic bone below your navel would be good places) or, if your lover is adventurous, on him or her. However, please note that it is not edible and would taste absolutely horrible, and should not be used as a personal lubricant nor on any areas where you want someone’s mouth to go.) You can also use it to paint your lover’s name on the soles of your feet to put a little "commanding" action into your love workings. (You can use a toothpick if you don’t have a paintbrush that’s that small). I tried the foot-painting trick and it did not stain the bottom of my foot, and I dabbed a bit on my wrists and it did not stain my skin, but I can’t promise that it won’t stain you.

If you wanted to dilute this in a carrier oil I would try about half a dropper per half ounce of oil. At that level it may still stain clothing (when I say it may stain, I don’t mean it won’t ever wash off with soap and water, but it may take a few washings to fade completely if you use it undiluted, or it may not wash completely out of whites). You could also just add a few drops to a carrier oil for a lighter blend, and/or add a few drops to another type of love or lust condition oil, or to a bath salt base or incense powder base. The scent is very lightly sweet. If you dilute it you may not smell anything, so it becomes a matter of personal preference. Just because you can’t smell it doesn’t mean it’s not working though.

If you prefer, you could add a drop or two to your favorite ritual or anointing oil if you use such on your skin (please note my usual caveats about my own oils – they are generally not designed for use on skin unless the listing specifically says so, and will nearly always need to be diluted to proper skin-safe levels if you decide to wear them).

This thick mixture makes a fabulous candle dressing and the powder makes a fascinating, unusual incense. You can certainly add a pinch of it to a less expensive incense blend to stretch it out (and I would advise it – uncut, this can be almost too thick and heady, and it does have a slightly bitter undertone and lots of resins in it). A little of this goes a long, long way. You could also dress your candle with another condition oil or plain olive oil and sprinkle the powder on the candle, or roll your candle in it.

This blend would be especially appropriate when you’re trying to draw a lover with the means and desire to give you lots of gifts, attention, money etc, or to get your current lover to loosen up on the purse strings a little bit. It’s also appropriate for situations where you are concerned that people NOT gossip or spread rumors about your relationship, if for any reason you need to keep it under wraps, so in that particular area it has a protective quality (though it can’t be expected to totally hide crimes or affairs all on its own!). If people are gossiping about you because they are jealous of your looks or love life, this can help with that sort of thing. Finally, it can be used in spellwork to cool off hot tempers in a relationship and put the love back in the center – it’s not a reconciliation oil exactly, it won’t just heal up all difficulties and it wouldn’t work alone to return a lost lover, but it can turn the volume down on the anger and turn the volume up on the love and remembering why you got together in the first place.

From a hoodoo perspective, the ingredients in this blend are healing, relaxing, protective (especially from those telling lies), good for sensual love, and good for money-protection and money-drawing. So this isn’t a "true sweet romance" love formula, and it’s not a "Fiery Love" blend, but it definitely has sexual/sensual overtones, and within a certain sphere, it’s definitely a multi-purpose oil.

Limited edition – once it’s gone, it’s gone, at least until the next appropriate astrological event comes around.

Finally, remember that everything you see at ebay can also be had at bonanza, often at a discount (chicken, turkey, and alligator feet excluded).

sanguis veneris, alkanet, fistulae, medieval medicine, and an upcoming astrological opportunity

In an otherwise fairly unappetizing medieval manuscript (though of great interest to historians of medicine), I ran across a description of an herbal remedy called Sanguis Veneris, literally “the blood of Venus.” This is a work largely dedicated to methods for treating what was a usually untreatable and very, er, delicate problem that I won’t go into here (if you must know and have some rudimentary Latin, it’s called Practica de Fistula in ano, and if you don’t have some rudimentary Latin and are not currently eating dinner, you can see an illustrated page from an actual manuscript version of this widely-copied work that will show you, in a nutshell, what sort of surgery this was. Don’t say I didn’t warn you). Surgery for this condition was generally fatal in the 14th century, but the untreated condition was often fatal too. But one John of Arderne not only treated it, but apparently treated it with some success and wrote a book on his methods.

In the interest of time, I’ll quote from an edition of a 15th century Middle English translation of his Latin work instead of trying to translate the Latin, which I won’t do all that well in a few minutes. All quotations and page numbers are from Treatises of Fistula in Ano, D’Arcy Power, ed., London, Early English Text Society, 1910.

Sanguis Veneris was one of a few different preparations that could be used several days after surgery to clean and dry the wound. It was so-called because of its redness and sweetness, and was known (says our author) to ladies by the French name “sank damours or sank de pucels” (p. 89) [blood of love, or blood of ladies/young women/whores depending on context]. There is a sense here that it is well-known among women and perhaps sought out by women, but all that isn’t spelled out here. There were two different ways to make it, depending on what you had access to and how much your patient could pay. One was to combine an ounce of powdered alkanet with a quart of oil, blended or boiled together (either way). It’s to be kept in an earthen or pewter pot. Because its properties are cold and dry, it’s good for drying up many kinds of wounds or ulcers and preventing infection (I’m rather freely paraphrasing here). Blended with vinegar and applied to the head, it’s good for headache (still p. 89).

The second way to make it goes something like this: take blood from a virgin (or, if one cannot be found, of a damsel of about 18 or 19 years old who was never with child). The blood is to be drawn during the full moon, when the moon is in Virgo and the sun is in Pisces.[1] To this blood, add equal parts “aloes cicotrine,” myrrh, and dragon’s blood; then add powdered alkanet in an amount equal to the aloes+myrrh+dragon’s blood combo. Muddle all this together to make a paste, and then dry it in the sun, storing it for your use.

To use it, take a chunk of it, powder it, and seethe it in olive oil, one ounce per two pounds of oil, or “a quart of a galon,or more if it be nede” (p. 90). Boil it together until the oil is red. When it’s red, pull it off the fire, and the resulting mixture is what is applied for medicinal purposes to cool, dry, disinfect, and heal.

N.B. This is medieval medicine, which most medievalists are grateful not to be subjected to, and I am not an herbalist, and there are probably a hundred good reasons not to go mucking about trying to recreate these formulae for use on open wounds, not least of which is the fact that not everybody agrees as to which regionally-available (or available-by-import) plants are being referred to in texts like this. In short: DO NOT MAKE A BATCH OF THIS STUFF AND PUT IT ON AN OPEN WOUND. If you are even *thinking* of trying this based on a blog post you find on the internet, please go above and click on the link to the illustrated manuscript page for a vivid reminder of how different, and how much more unpleasant, medicine was in the middle ages. However, by medieval principles of sympathetic magic, the doctrine of signatures, and humoural theory, you could certainly make a case for using such a mixture as a spiritual or magical oil as part of spell or altar work to effect healing of conditions brought upon by an excess of heat and moisture (fever, for instance, maybe gout, other types of “hot, wet” illnesses). If the subtext I perceive here is really meant to be here, this could also be used in any type of working to draw love, incite lust, and gain romantic attention.

After surgery, flesh could be regenerated and scarring induced by using various preparations, including myrrh, aloes, dragon’s blood, Arabian gum, something called sarcocolla, pomegranate bark, and/or flour, mixed with egg-white and sanguis veneris or mel rosat. Mel rosat is made by mixing honey and the juice from red rose petals, and is smeared onto cloth and laid on the wound. (84-87 and passim)

[1] I am not advising anyone to go around poking 18-year-olds with lancets, but just for the sake of interest, this Friday, Feb 18, 2011, you will have a full moon with the Sun in Pisces and the Moon in Virgo. Where I live, the moon is officially full on the 18th, the Moon enters Virgo at 4:40 am, and the Sun enters Pisces at 7:26 pm, so you would have to make your Sanguis Veneris after 7:26 pm EST and, I think, ideally before 3-ish a.m. on the 19th. Now, if you’re a client or customer of mine, you may have written me before with questions about moon phases and astrological signs in your rootwork and had me give you short and even dismissive answers – if the astrology suits your needs, feel free to time your work this way, but in general, I make the timing fit my needs rather than holding off on my work to wait on some moon phase or conjunction, and I rarely advise clients to wait around for the moon if their work really needs doing. The exception would be the preparation of some kind of ultra-special, preplanned talisman, amulet, or formula that you can only make every once in a while – like my Three Kings Oil which I make annually at the Feast of the Epiphany, or a gambling luck charm made on 7/7/2007, or some complicated astrological talisman designed to get success flowing in your life, which has to be done at a certain time of the year or even during a rarer astrological event, for which you have planned in advance as something “beyond the scope of day-to-day conjure remedies.” But I offer this as a curiosity for those of you interested in reading such things, and mention the upcoming perfect timing for those who like to make their own preparations.