SPIRITUAL INFORMATION: July 2017

Moon Phases in Hoodoo Magic (Revised)~~~~

[I’ve posted this once before but removed it to re-edit it and am now re-posting it again]

“Dear Ms. Q,

Are the phases of the moon important in doing a spell? ---- It’s cloudy where I am I can’t see the moon to know what phase it’s in?----How do I tell what phase the moon is in?----I get confused in looking at these websites on the moon, do you know what phase the moon is in?”

Yes Dear Readers I do get questions like that.

For the last three questions the answer really is very simple and I’ll get to that towards the end of this post.

But let’s deal with the first question “are the phases of the moon important in doing a spell?” Well if one is just Hoodooing someone, that is you’re going to secretly sprinkle on their path or somehow on them some goofer dust, or you’re combining waters for a peaceful home, the moon phase it not all that important. Even making a poppet of someone to curse them or to protect them or yourself, the moon phase is not that important, it does depend upon one’s own will and personal energy. Or if you have to quickly do an uncrossing bath, the phase of the moon is not important as it is getting it done.

But a lot of, and I’m going to say it, in Southern or American style conjure or Hoodoo work or even a lot of folk magic, a basic moon phase can be important. That’s because the moon is seen in every country, it does have an effect on us.

Some folks say that to do hoodoo or conjure magic you don't need to know the phase of the moon and I'd say that is true for the more advance magical practitioners, that the use of Moon Phases are a European tradition, and I won't say No either, but I also say "If it works, then use it."

My Daddy use to say it’s easier to swim with the tide than against it. And in a way it’s more practical in doing spell work by using or harnessing the Moon’s energy.

Now a lot of web sites talk about the moon and it’s phases and throw in a lot of other stuff, such as the days and hours and well a lot of other gobbley-gook, and that part in a way is also correct, but only if you are doing what some people call High Magick or High Hermetic Magic as talked about by Dr. Dee and Levi, in which you have to trace in your circle the tetragrammaton or trace the invoking pentacle of Solomon or something else. Which is Fine if you’re doing High Magic or Hermetic Magic, and it doesn’t hurt to at least know about these things.

But in Folk Magic well, as my Granny use to say “Bread is bread, you mix your flour, yeast and water and bake it the same way but if you don’t knead it right or allow it to rise you get nothing” and that is what Folk Magic is. But to get that Loaf of Bread to rise, well then it does help to pay attention to the Moon phases. Old time Farmers and Fishermen use to---I know my Daddy did and when the Moon and tides were right we’d catch a mess of fish and share it.

So what are the phases of the Moon?

That’s simple:

We start with the New Moon this is when you can barely see it, think of the tiniest sliver crescent shape of the moon.

Next comes the Waxing Crescent Moon this is where the moon appears to show its old fashion face like this ) but more so, the word “waxing” means to grow bigger.

Then the Waxing First Quarter Moon this is where the moon is half full. Some people call it a Gibbous moon phase, but let’s not get complicated, the moon is half full. Some people say that in the Gibbous phase it looks pregnant and that would be a good description.

Finally we have the Full Moon, this is the Moon at its fullest and it stays that way for about 3 days (nights) before it starts getting smaller or to use the correct phrase “waning” it takes about 14 days from New Moon to Full Moon and then the process begins to reverse itself and takes about 14 days from full to New (or Dark moon). Which is why some people get fussy about what they refer to as 13 lunar months in a solar calendar year, which is another topic entirely.

So the next phase is the waning Gibbous moon or Waning Half Moon, it looks pregnant but in reverse.

Next is the waning crescent Moon, this is the crescent but again in reverse and looks like a finger nail

The final phase is back to The New Moon but some folks call this the Dark Moon when the moon is not seen at all for about 3 days, the use of the term Dark Moon has gained in popularity pushing the phrase New Moon to the tiny, tiny sliver as being the New Moon. Personally I prefer the idea or concept of when the Moon is not seen at all as being the Dark Moon.

So then what type of magic does one do at each phase? Well really the simple way is to think in terms of the Farmers, if you want something to grow, plant your seed on the New Moon, to have it come up to you.

But if you want to get rid of something then do it after the Full Moon when the moon is getting smaller so it goes away from you. Attract---Repel or New to Full----Full to New.

But I know some of you will want things to be more specific so I’ll break it down.

NEW MOON (thin sliver crescent) to increase, expand, attract, to bring to you something that you need. This is a time to do workings that are constructive and positive, the beginning of new things, to bring into yourself positive thoughts, creativity, improvements on whatever aspect you want in life or on yourself. For many this is a good time to do positive spell workings.

WAXING HALF MOON--- You are still in the beginning phase so even if you didn’t start on the New Moon this is still a good period to start things, and if you have started a spell and your candle work has burnt out quickly, start another to build upon the work you’ve started. You are still working to attract things to you, a job, a friend or lover, even lost objects or looking for a new place to live. This is a perfect period of time to keep that attraction energy going.

WAXING GIBBOUS MOON (a fatter Half moon)—By now it’s been 7 days or a little more, the candles have burnt out, but you still have to keep that energy going, this is not a time to give up or get lazy or to get distracted, so relight those candles, renew your positive spell work to keep it going. In a way it’s like catching your breath and flexing those magic muscles.

FULL MOON----- Many people will only do workings at either the New or Full Moons considering them to be all powerful, each time the moon, either light or dark is caught between the energies of the sun and the earth and even more so doing a lunar eclipse. But the Full Moon with the reflective rays of the sun, is thought to be with its lunar energies at its highest peak, going into all levels of magic, either positive or negative, attracting or banishing, constructive or destructive. Many spells are thought to be done best during the Full Moon, it is magic time at its most powerful and should not be wasted but used to do workings in those areas of your life that are vitally important. Some people will use this time for bi-weekly divination to see if they are on track with whatever it is that is important or to conduct séances to contact one’s ancestors or departed loved ones, others will use this time, if they have nothing major going or needs working, to meditate and re-charge their personal internal batteries and realign their chakra’s. But this is not the time to waste on some podunk annoyance, this is a time to be used and used wisely.

Some of my practioner friends will use this time to make fresh oils or incense or even to gather herbs from their garden during the Full Moon and utilize the Full Moon energy to energize them.

Some folks I know will not go out on evenings or even days of the full moon, except to work, because it seems that bizarre or irrational behavior seems to be worse during the Full Moon, at least that is the perception among police and hospital workers.

Myself having worked in a service industry can testify to that and I always had to make sure my protections and shields were in place and I still do.

The Full Moon will last for three days, but I’ve found that on the 3^rd day of the Full Moon, that is a good time to start banishing rituals, and during the next 3 waning phases of the Moon use that time to get rid of what you don’t want.

WANING MOON--- I am not going to go into the Gibbous and Half Moon phases, because during the Waning period this is a good time for banishing’s, clearing out any negative energy, and doing rituals for closures, doing any of that during the Waning period is good.

Just remember this is when the moon is getting smaller, to send away that which you don’t want, to banish any negativity out of your life, sometimes it’s an outlook on life or an indebtedness, because just as you want to bring money into your life to pay bills during the waxing moon phase, you can use the waning moon phase to banish debts, it’s all in how you think upon things and phrase it. This is also a good time to do a bit of spiritual house cleaning, to banish any negativity that might be hanging around, by doing that you prevent any negativity from building up and overloading any space, either at home or work or just around your property. Just as one is washing dishes, it’s a good time to spiritually clean what you use in doing the “work”.

I’ve known some folks to do rituals after someone has died, to spiritually speak to the deceased and say how sorry they are gone from them, this helps sometimes to bring a form of closure, other folks (and I’ve done it myself) do rituals to spiritually and emotionally end relationships and free themselves from any emotional entrapment. And this can be on any level you just have to think on what it is you want out and away from your life. So if it is something more major then this is a good time to start a major banishing.

Anytime during the Waning Moon is good to do rituals to remove road blocks, but when you reach the half way point of the Waning Moon, do not give up on doing any banishing work, just as when the moon is waxing we might get lazy during the mid-points, that can also happen during the Waning Moon so do not give up and get your 2^nd breath, light a 2^nd set of candles to help you with that banishing work.

Continue this type of work all the way down to the Waning Crescent Moon, during this phase is a great time to give one last kick out the door of anything that has been plaguing you be it an ex or cheating boyfriend, discovering who has not been on your side, anything that has been frustrating, an annoyance or of concern, anything that is not moving forward, or hopeless now is a good time to bring it to an end in a kind and quiet way.

DARK MOON-----Folks say that it is not good to do workings during the Dark Moon that its best to rest and re-charge one’s energies, have a 3 day spa day magically speaking. But others have found this to be a very powerful time to do “destructive magic”. Now destructive doesn’t necessarily mean hurting someone, or something, but this is a good time to do any hexing, cursing and if something has come up then this is the time to do a really powerful banishing work. This is a perfect time to get rid of addictions, rituals to remove diseases, or banish negative unwanted entities or persons. Some people will use this time for deep meditation to try and see if they are developing unwarranted negative emotions that could damage their soul and spirit and will try to come to a revelation as to why.

This is not to be used lightly it can be very powerful.

Personally I prefer to take a little spiritual vacation and just rest and re-charge the old batteries, because doing magical work constantly can drain one’s energy

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT PHASE THE MOON IS IN?

Well the easiest way is to look out your window or step outside and look at the moon to see what phase it’s in, but if you’re in an area where it’s been raining a lot, or very cloudy then the best thing is a calendar that has the Moon Phases on it.

Years ago Folks would get calendars (free ones) from the local grocery store since it would include the store’s name and phone number, which was good if you wanted to call the store and have them deliver stuff to you, those calendars would include the phases of the Moon for people who grew their own vegetables and went fishing but the days of the corner grocery store is gone and I have yet to find a calendar that includes moon phases.

However you can purchase an Astrological Calendar from Llewellyn Worldwide Publications their URL is www.llewellyn.com/ and they are currently selling their 2017 calendars and Almanac’s, another publication is The Old Farmer’s Almanac, they’ve been in business for 225 years, so they must be doing something right, you can go to their web site www.almanac.com/ and click the button for calendar, and you will get an accurate moon calendar.

Now if you live outside the United States or outside of North and South America then you’re going to want to order a calendar from Llewellyn Publications, that way you have a quick reference guide.

Now some old timers and some of the ladies of Granny’s group use to say, and I have to agree with them, they said that if you're doing something right away look and see what time the clock says. Now I'll explain that.

Let's go to a quote from the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"

"Okay. Now you know how dead time works. Dead time lasts for one hour--from an half hour before midnight to half an hour after midnight. The half hour before midnight is for doin' good. The half hour after midnight is for doin' evil." From Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, Hardcover Ed. ©1994, page 247

O.K. so what does looking at the hands of a clock mean? Well the old-timers believed that the rising or falling of the hands of a clock helped with doing conjure.

Carolina Dean of Carolina Conjure broke it down this way along with the Moon phases and days of the week to do spell work check out his link: http://www.carolinaconjure.com/timing-spells.html/

Dead-Time as described in the book is an idea found in the Hoodoo Tradition of African-American Folk-Magic, but I never heard it referred to that way, at least not by Mrs. Washington. The Author made the mistake believing that Voodoo and Hoodoo are the same or interchangeable (which they are not),

Cat Yronwode of Lucky Mojo writes:

"One well-known Root Doctor from Birmingham, AL used to say that if you want to draw or attract you should perform a spell at any time day or night, when the clock hands are rising. Conversely, spells used to repel can be performed at any time day or night when both clock hands are falling. Avoid times when one hand is rising and the other is falling as this confuses the vibrations of the work."

This idea is very different from European High Magic or Hermetic Magic in which many magickal practitioners observe the Planetary Hours as method that assigns astrological energies to the Hours of the Day and Night. So the High Magic practitioner had to find the correct time to cast a spell. Which meant you had to know your astronomy and astrology, something that only those with expensive learning i.e. education would have had, but which the ordinary witch would not know of except for the moon phases.

Now a witch might know of the morning star and evening star which was the planet Venus and sometimes Mars, and also would watch for certain constellation formations in the sky to see if it’s the right time to do something, the most common one if the sky is clear and the sky is not “whited out” by city lights, Now a days if you’re lucky you might be able to see the constellation of Orion which heralds the changes of the seasons.

But for Hoodoo or conjure work the image is clear, when both clock hands are rising, cast spells of a positive or uplifting nature; when both clock hands are falling, cast spells that are meant to cast off evil and keep enemies down. But you must not perform magic when one clock hand is rising and another is falling. For Example: if the time is 10:40 the hands are rising, if the time is 2: 15 the hands are falling, if it’s 5:45 do not do any magic because the hands are doing both.

Now this will help if you need to do a spell quickly and the moon phase is not right for what you want. But remember if doing an uncrossing bath or an egg cleansing spell it does not matter what the moon phase is but you can base it on the hands of the clock if you want.

Lara of BlackCat Root Shack on Ebay http://www.ebay.com/gds/The-Schedule-of-Timing-in-Hoodoo-/10000000012027514/g.html came up with her own timing of Hoodoo work, unfortunately she is no longer selling on Ebay and I’ve not been able to see what she had to offer either as products or more information. But since she is Jewish she found a way to do it according to her experience and since Ebay may eventually eliminate her site I’m posting her text completely here:

The Schedule of Timing in Hoodoo

“There are three primary timing considerations for Hoodoo. I list them in order of my personal preference. Other rootworkers may operate under other preferences. Feel free to choose the preference that works best for you.

By Day of the Week

I prefer to do my spell casting by the day of the week as per the following chart.

Sunday: Success; Achievement; Goals; Purification

Monday: Emotional Healing; Nurturing; Calming; Fertility

Tuesday: Protection; Conflict; War

Wednesday: Communications; Speed, Reversing Spells, Artistic; Creativity; Road Opener

Thursday: Healing; Protection; Money

Friday: Love, and Drawing (often money drawing - because Venus is associated with the color green, and Friday was and is associated with payday)

Saturday: Crossing, Cursing, Debauchery

Please note that as a Jew, I often do my blessing and healing work on Friday Night after sundown as part of my Sabbath ritual.

Time of Day

You can also time your work based on the hands of the clock. For drawing work, such as drawing love, money, success, luck, healing, blessing, etc, you would do the work when the hands of the clock are rising. For removal or cursing work such as uncrossing, hot foot, cast off evil, break up, etc, you would do the work when the hands of the clock are falling.

Rising: Both hands are between the 6 and the 12. Example: 6:30, 9:45, 11:55, etc

Falling: Both hands are between the 12 and the 6. Example: 12:15, 3:25, 5:10, etc

Time of the Moon

As is traditional in Wiccan practice and many rootwork practices you can time your work based on the time of the moon. By the waning moon you would schedule cursing or removal work. By the waxing moon you would schedule drawing or attracting work.

The waning moon lessens or removes conditions and the waxing moon increases or draws conditions

Other Considerations

There are other considerations for time that are not as commonly used, but when combined together can offer a powerful foundation for your work.

Astrological Timing – When the hour of the planet is in the day of the planet, such as the Hour of Jupiter on Thursday, the Day of Jupiter. Best still if the time coincides with the correct rising or falling of the hands.

Day of the Year – Valentines Day, Spring Equinox, New Moon, Full Moon, anniversary of a marriage, divorce or birth, on the Wiccan Sabbats, on a Christian or Jewish Holiday, etc.

There are of course many more methods to this. I hope this gives you an overview of when you should do your own spell casting. For my personal practice, I have tried most variations of these, and have found that working by the day to be more then suitable for my needs and the needs of my clients.”

O.K. have I now completely confused you? I hope not. But let me simplify it or confuse you further.

Granny Tacket on her website “Hoodoo Hill” posted this really easy to follow suggestions on what moon phase to do what kind of spell or ritual and that should help you.

Here it is

Lunar Phases for Spell Workings:

Abundance: Waxing to Full Moon

Addictions (to end): Waning Moon

Acquisitions: New, Waxing and Full Moons

Artistic Creativity: Waxing to Full Moon

Bad Habits (to break): Waning to Dark Moon

Bad Luck (to send): New to Waxing Moon

Bad Luck (to reverse): Waning to Dark Moon

Banishing: Waning to Dark Moon

Beauty: Full Moon

Beginnings: Full Moon

Bindings: Waning Moons

Blessings: Full Moon

Career Moves: Waxing Moon

Communication: Full Moon

Curses: Dark, New and Waxing Moons

Curses (to break): Waning to Dark Moon

Dedications: Full Moon

Divinations: New, Waxing and Full Moons

Employment: Waxing to Full Moon

Energy Raising: Dark, New and Waxing Moons

Exorcisms: Waning to Dark Moon

Fear (overcoming): Waning Moon

Fertility Rites: Waxing and Full Moons

Forgiveness: New Moon

Freedom: Waning Moon

Friendships: Waxing Moon

Garden Planting Spells: Waxing Moon

Goals (to reach): Waxing to Full Moon

Good Luck: Waxing Moon

Growth: Waxing Moon

Harmony: Waxing Moon

Happiness: Waxing to Full Moon

Healings (improve health): Waxing Moon

Healings (remove illness): Waning Moon

Hexing: Waxing Moon

Hex breaking: Waning Moon

House Blessings: Full Moon

Initiations: Full Moon

Inspiration: Full Mon

Journey: Waxing Moon

Judgments: Waxing to Full Moon

Legal Matters (favorable): Waxing to Full Moon

Legal Matters (to remove): Waning to Dark Moon

Love Spells: Waxing to Full Moon

Love Spells (to reverse): Waning Moon

Lunar Goddess Rites: Full Moon

Money (increase): Waxing Moon

Money (debt release): Waning to Dark Moon

Negativity (remove): Waning to Dark Moon

Nightmares (remove): Dark Moon

Omens: Full Moon

Peace: Waning Moon

Power: Waxing to Full Moon

Property (to buy): Waxing Moon

Property (to sell): Waning Moon

Prophetic Dreaming: Dark, New and Full Moons

Protection: Waxing Moon

Psychic Powers (to strengthen): Dark and Full Moons

Relationships (to improve): Waxing to Full Moon

Relationships (to separate): Waning to Dark Moons

Removing: Waning to Dark Moon

Quests: New Moon

Sexuality: Waxing to Full Moon

Shapeshifting: Dark and Full Moons

Spirit Communication: Full Moon

Strength: Waxing Moon

Teaching: Waxing to Full Moon

Transformations: Dark and Full Moons

Travel: Waxing Moon

Weather Magick (to bring): New, Waxing to Full Moons

Weather Magick (to reduce/remove): Waning Moon

Weight (to gain): Waxing Moon

Weight (to lose): Waning Moon

Wisdom: New, Waxing to Full Moons

Wish Magick: Waxing to Full Moons

I think she got it from ~A Witch's Craft, Volume 2: A Witch's Book of Correspondences

Just remember Waxing means to get bigger and to bring in what you need, Waning means to get smaller or banish what you don’t need.

O.K. I know you’re going to want to know how do I time my spell workings.

Well from what I learned from my Granny and her friends it was a combination of a lot of different things that I found over time that worked best for me. In time as each one of you work on your spells or “workings” you’ll find what phase of the Moon, what day of the week, what time of the day (or night) will work best for you.

It is after all by trial and error, but remember what my Daddy said “Swim with the Tide, go with it” so if it works, it works.

I hope this has been of some help to everyone.

Bright Blessings,

Ms. Q

SPIRITUAL INFORMATION

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Physical Therapy and exhaustion and taking a break~~~

Friday, July 21, 2017

A Question~~~~~

Moon Phases in Hoodoo Magic (Revised)~~~~