A number of you have noticed that in doing magic I give passages from the Psalms in the Bible to say, well one of my readers posted this question to me.
“Hi Ms. Q
Speaking about using
the Bible. Can you do a post or an article about the Bible? Since some of the
post you posted have Psalms which is in the Bible.
Thank you. Danny”
Well Danny I am going to do my best to answer your question,
but please remember that my answer is based on my experiences and how I was
taught and it is about how the Bible is important in Folk Magic.
Sara August wrote this a few years ago :
“The beauty of folk
magic is that it is practical magic. Don’t have an obscure magical herb for a
spell? No worries, find something already in your pantry or yard instead. Don’t
have a special anointing oil for your candle spell? No worries, use olive oil. Lacking a specific incense for a ritual? You
guessed it… there’s something in your kitchen cupboard to burn in its place…..”
I would take it a step further, you don’t have a Grimoire? a book of shadows? A book with workable chants
to increase the power of your spell work?
No worries, just grab the Bible either the Rheims-Douay or old style 1611
King James, you will find incantations and phases that are inspired and truly focus
on what you want, and if you say it forcefully enough in cadence (like as if
you were speaking Klingon) you will feel a trembling throughout your entire body,
because there is something in the cadence of the Psalms especially, that seem
to elevate a person.
The only other thing that comes close is singing Chant, Gothic church chant without vibrato as one voice trying to meld your voice as
one single tone or whole, becoming an instrument and in doing that your body
vibrates and you feel lifted. I’ve done
that and felt an energy that went from the bottoms of my feet through the top
of my head. These men and women of the Bible were divinely
inspired in their prayers. Their statements
and pronouncements still hold true today in the 21st century.
The Bible is one if not Thee the most powerful and magical
works around. I’ve had fundamentalist Christians
try and tell me that using magic is wrong but they have no idea what a powerful
Grimoire they have in their hands, but I fear that many mis-use it. The magic
is simple to do and it’s like breathing fresh air especially to those who feel
overwhelmed by the complex rituals of high Ceremonial magic and Wicca. And we should take into account not everyone
that does magic wants to work with Pagan deities.
Granny and her ladies were pretty basic in many ways, they
could care less so long as the job got done.
And they were pretty formidable in their own way.
I mean if you wanted a “Road Opener” or a “Block Buster” deity
to call in who but Jesus could do that,
he who had the stone rolled away from his tomb, well I’d say that was and is a “block
buster”.
I remember one Sunday morning after church (we are
Catholic) a newly ordained priest gave
the sermon and he seemed quiet inspired, afterwards, as we were leaving the
young priest was out front shaking folks hands and well-wishing, he heard about Granny, and a few of her
ladies were with her, she said that his sermon was very good, they talked for a minute and then he made an
odd remark about Mary’s place in the Catholic church, I’m not sure what it was he said but my
Grandmother, old and bent over, suddenly straighten her spine, she looked 30
years younger and looked that young priest right in the eye and said “If Mary
had said ‘No’ you would not have a job!”
I swear it seemed like fire shot
out of Granny’s eyes when she said that.
Then we walked away to the car, some 10 years later that
young priest showed up at Granny’s house, the starch had been taken out of him,
I let him in and he went directly to the Kitchen where my Granny was sitting
and got down on his knees and begged her forgiveness. He had been sent to one of the poorest
parishes in New Mexico and there he saw faith and he saw folk magic and he
finally understood.
Now some folks call Folk Magic as Granny Magic, Hoodoo and
in some cases Voodoo (which is not correct).
So where did the use of the Bible come into play in Folk Magic especially
in the U.S. well a good part of it we can thank the Germans, it was brought
over to the Pennsylvania area by German Christians who believed that humans
were co-creator of the world along with god. Later on it got combined with
Native American elements and herb lore and also it combined with African
Folklore from the slaves that combined Catholic saints and their attributes
with their own gods.
So it was an amalgam of different types of worship, Catholic
predominate New Orleans and Louisiana in the early years when it was controlled
by the Spanish and then the French brought a lot of knowledge in magical
workings along with the slaves and their blending of their magical works.
But the passages of the Bible as preached by traveling
preachers and missionaries had powerful images for folks, combine the chanting of the verses from the
bible along with the use of candles to help focus and certain scents to help
channel the energies developed into a formula and those that were observant
realized that certain combinations of colors, chants (psalms), incense, and oils
even crystals would create a resonance and harness the natural energy within a
person to be properly directed. But
they also knew it took internal strength to make it succeed.
As I said Hoodoo, folk magic, uses the scripture like the
psalms as a form of incantation much like those in Ceremonial Magic and Wicca
write their own incantations, but the men and women of the Bible really knew
how to put the “punch” on things.
For example if I was working on a hoodoo or Folk Magic spell for justice, I’d be looking at passages
in the psalms to get to “the meat of the situation” so if I were to do it then the lines from Psalms
129 and 130 would work even as a curse if I really wanted to “kick butt” . Here’s
a bit from Psalm 129:
“Many a time have they
afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.
Let them all be
confounded and turned back…
Let them be as the
grass upon the rooftops, which withereth before it groweth up.”
Can you imagine if this was used as a curse? With a lot of power behind it?
You have to remember the Bible is not all forgiveness and
love, even Jesus had a temper when he chased the money changers out of the
temple. And in other passages it gets
stronger.
So why do Bible passages work?
Here are some social reasons why the words from the Bible
have power :
A lot of it has to do with the social power that our society
has conferred upon biblical language, especially in its older forms – the
language from the recent modern versions
of the Bible are watered down without the punch that one needs.
Those of us with Christian backgrounds, the Bible is seen as
an ‘anchor’ – a strong association that we have developed with something sacred.
I remember hearing the passages said in church in ritual and its words are
literally associated with sacred power.
One thing that cannot be denied is that there’s also the
symbolic value of the psalms and other
passages whose themes are about the concept that one is working on, for example
justice. Say the verses enough times, and they become kind of a mantra – an overall concept, not
individual words.
And finally the most
obvious of course, is that hoodoo practitioners say that the biblical words
themselves have a sacred power inherent in them. That cannot be denied.
Take for example “The Lord’s Prayer” especially put to music
and one’s soul is transformed, and who
does not cry when their hear the words “Ave Maria” in song and feel the ache
within one’s being. There is POWER
there. And it works.
When someone does the sign of the cross they are not only
invoking the Father, Son and Holy Spirit they are also saying “Defend me from
evils present, past, and to come, inward and outward”.
Midnight Hoodoo I think expresses it best in this quote:
“Make no mistake,
there are many people out there who want to remove the Bible from conjure work,
due to their own belief systems or the fact that they have none. The same
people usually want to remove any reference to God, the angels and the saints
too.
If you take these
elements out of conjure, you are left with a neo-pagan magical system that has
no resemblance to genuine hoodoo. God, the Bible, the angels and the saints are
all an integral and vital element of conjure. Put simply, you can’t claim to be
a conjure worker if your work excludes them. You could, at a stretch, claim to
be working magic, but definitely not conjure.
As far as the Holy
Bible is concerned, there were, and still are, many workers who use it as the
only conjure book they need. For example, Wikipedia, in its Hoodoo entry,
states:
“In hoodoo, “All hold that the Bible is the great conjure
book in the world.” It has many functions for the practitioner, not the least
of which is a source of spells. This is particularly evident given the
importance of the book Secrets of the Psalms in hoodoo culture. This book
provides instruction for using psalms for things such as safe travel, headache,
and marital relations. The Bible, however, is not just a source of spells but
is itself a conjuring talisman. It can be taken “to the crossroads,” carried
for protection, or even left open at specific pages while facing specific
directions.”
I work extensively
with the Psalms, and I use “Secrets of the Psalms” as my reference, together
with the Holy Bible. There are many other good books available on working
conjure with the Psalms…… I have found the Psalms to be very effective as a
magical tool, and when coupled with candle burning their effectiveness is
further increased.
For example, a simple
ritual for protection involves burning a white candle while reciting Psalm 23
(‘The Lord is my Shepherd’) three times in your own name or in someone else’s.
Additionally, there is
very little monetary cost associated with Psalm work, which given the state of
the world economy, is an important consideration. All you need is a Bible, a
white candle and some blessed olive oil.”
And Midnight Hoodoo is correct in their assessment.
We have to remember since the late 18th through
the 19th and early 20th century there has been a Christian influence
in hoodoo thought. This is particularly evident in the idea of the relation to
God's providence and his role in retributive justice. For example, though there
are strong ideas of good versus evil, for example cursing someone to cause
their death might not be considered a malignant act.
As one old time practitioner explained it to Henry Hyatt as
follows:
"[In]
Hoodooism, anythin' da' chew do is de plan of God undastan', God have somepin
to do wit evah' thin' you do if it's good or bad, He's got somepin to do wit it
... jis what's fo' you, you'll git it."
(cleared up vernacular) "([In] Hoodooism, anything that
you do is the plan of God, understand? God has something to do with everything
that you do whether it's good or bad, he's got something to do with it...
You'll get what's coming to you)"
Not only is God's providence a factor in hoodoo practice,
but hoodoo thought understands God as the archetypal hoodoo doctor. Zora Hurston stated, "The way we tell it, hoodoo started way back
there before everything. Six days of magic spells and mighty words and the
world with its elements above and below was made." And from this perspective, biblical figures
are often recast as hoodoo doctors and the Bible becomes a source of conjugational
spells and is, itself, used as a protective talisman.
With that understanding so O.K. now you are thinking of
buying a Bible the question is then which one do you want to get? There really are only two, but for many
people the old translation of the Douay-Rheims Version (Catholic) is considered
to be far more accurate by 83% , but some folks from a Protestant background
would prefer the King James Version which has less books of the bible, but if
you decide to get the King James, then get the one that was directly translated
in 1611 and not the more recent watered down versions, either KJV or DRV you want it with the power of the original
wording.
I have both but I do prefer the Douay-Rheims as it is more
accurate, but read both and see which wording seems to work the best for you.
I hope Danny that answers your question.
Bright Blessings,
Ms. Q
