Is Change Near?

I won't go into details, but it appears as if I might begin my journey far earlier then I wanted, due to certain circumstances. I have no supplies as I did in the old days, and will begin assembling a new hobo bag at once.

It seems the strands of fate are twisting in the shadows, and my eyes cannot pierce their veil quite yet. I shall spirit journey and consult my Totem Animals, and perhaps I shall have a "view from above" on the whole situation.

Time of Medicine and Mojo Draws Near

I have begun to figure out exactly what will go into my Mojo Medicine Bag, and I must say, as I read each ingredient I almost feel the power of the items coursing through my body. Soon my powers will increase even further, and I will be able to help more people then ever before. I have asked the spirits, and they applaud me for my use of Hoodoo. It gives me great comfort and joy to know this.

I have begun debating what to do next after my Mojo Medicine Bag. Some friends would like me to craft similar items for them, and of course I cannot turn them down. But what will my first act of Hoodoo "rootwork" be. I have toyed with the idea of putting a jinx on the local police, and Hoodoo is quite capable when it comes to dispelling the law. Look no further then Lucky Mojo to provide the evidence:

A highly unusual, but obviously authentic spell using Goofer Dust was brought to my attention in April 1998 by Carol Barber, who wrote about what seems to be a very old recipe for a mojo hand:

"[Here's] something I've been trying to figure out [...] Someone was looking for a spell to help a friend get out of jail. This person received a spell that I'm not quite sure what to make of [...] It called for a "guffa bag" to be made from yellow silk, in which is placed a yellow feather, a sprinkling of powder (not defined as to what type), and a shiny new penny. It was then to be tied closed with a yellow ribbon."

The word "guffa" in this mojo bag recipe stumped me at first because in my mind i pronounced it with a short "u" (as in "guff") but in discussing it in usenet, William S. Aronstein set me straight by asking if "guffa" was not the same as "goofer," and then the composition of the bag fell into place:

Here is a brief analysis of the ingredients of the Goofer Dust mojo:

YELLOW SILK
Yellow silk tends to be associated with charms for wealth (yellow stands for golden coins) and, in older times, for court cases, especially when paying a fine was necessary. Yellow silk is the 2nd most common cloth used in making conjure bags (after red flannel). Its use dates back to the 19th century or earlier when yellow Chinese silk was very popular for ladies' fancy dresses and undergarments and seamstresses had lots of scraps of yellow silk and silk ribbon ready to hand.

YELLOW FEATHER
The inclusion of a feather in a mojo hand is very common, a practice that has roots in both African (Congo) and Native American custom. By the 1900s, the colour-coding of dyed chicken feathers included in such hands had been brought into line with the Western Esoteric Tradition of magical colour symbolism, as modified in America. In this system, yellow usually stands for gold and wealth.

SHINY NEW PENNY
Coins are often found in African-American conjure bags and they appear in many Congolese magic bags as well. The American coin most often encountered in mojo hands is the silver dime, followed by the nickel and then the penny, always specified as "shiny new." A silver dime cannot be placed in contact with Goofer Dust, however, for the sulphur will discolour it. The symbolism of coins is obvious -- acquisition and mastery of money -- but because this is a "get out of jail" bag, the coin may symbolize paying a fine, bribing an official or, more likely, the penny may stand for a "copper" that is, a cop or policeman. (Copper pennies often appear in Law Keep Away spells.)

POWDER
The name of the bag identifies the mysterious unspecified powder it should contain. It's a Goofer Bag, so the powder must of necessity be Goofer Dust. The inclusion of a powder is another pointer to the 19th century origin of this magical recipe, for although sachet powders are very popular in hoodoo work, they have become less and less common ingredients in conjure hands in the years since WW II. Goofer Dust is usually a fine yellowish-grey, so the colour makes it all of a coherent piece with the yellow silk, yellow feather, and yellow ribbon. Since it is there to mess up someone's life and the bag includes a penny, the implication is that a "copper" will suffer if the bearer is jailed. Alternatively, if the graveyard dirt that went into the bag came from the grave of a police officer, the criminal may actually asking for his spirit's protection from the harrassments of the law.

This old-fashioned Goofer Bag does not contain the elements one would expect to find in a "court case" mojo hand intended to influence a trial or parole hearing. (Those items would likely include Chewing John root (a.k.a. Court Case root or Little John to Chew), poppy seeds (confusion to an enemy), white mustard seeds (faith in deliverance), oregano (keeping the law away), and so forth.) Rather, this bag is intended to protect against arrest, get a fine or bribe paid, or destroy any policeman who interferes with the activities of the bearer. Only a real criminal would carry a Goofer Bag like this. It is not an innocent victim's petition for legal aid; it is a law-breaker's bag, meant to put the jinx on the cops.

Discard Your Dream Dictionaries!

Every day as I browse the bookshelves I see them. The desperate, the confused, the lost desperately seeking answers anyone can give them. They buy self-help books, cheap new age texts telling them everything is alright, but worst of all, they buy dream dictionaries.

Let us pause and consider what a dream is. According to the shamanistic perspective the dreamworld IS the spirit world, and every dream carries an important message. These messages are hidden among symbolism that will be recognizable to the dreamer. How then can an author create a "all-purpose" dream dictionary? Do we all interpret symbols in the same way?

To allow someone to discard the individual meaning of your dream and replace with an over-generalized symbol relevant only to the author is nothing short of imperialism, perhaps even spiritual rape. Your dreams should be one of your most sacred possessions, for it is through them most of us experiance the spirit world, and through them we can find guidance, meaning, and answers to our most dire questions.

Dr. Francis Crick, the man who discovered DNA, didn't do it be studying or running tests. He claims that one night he dreamed of molecules and proteins combining into a strange shape he had never seen before. When he awoke, he jotted the symbol down, and today we know it as the "spiral ladder" of DNA.

But let us return to the individul symbolism of dreams. What does Bat symbolize to you? Perhaps fear, or darkness, death, maybe even evil. What is Bat to me? The cave is seen as the entrance to the spirit world in Shamanism, making Bat a guardian of the spirit world, the teacher of the mysteries of the unknown. Bat helps to move through the necessary shedding of the old and embracing of the new, to confront the "little" deaths of change, transition, and transformation, along with guiding the souls of the dead to the afterlife. One special guidance tool it symbolically offers is sonar navigation. Like Dolphin, Bat uses echolocation to guide it, so if we study and attune to Bat, we can learn to swoop with grace through transformation and rebirth, trusting that our own inner guidance and intuition will help us find our way.

This is not to say that only one person can decipher a dream, on the contrary, as long as you explain any details that might contribute to the dream, nearly anyone can help. If I know you, I know your dreams. So please, rather then continue to send these scam artists money, consult with friends, family, or the spirits themselves on the meaning of your dream. If you are still confused, email me, and perhaps I can help you understand the message of your dream.

Fort more on Bat, my power animal, ramble onward.

The Five Directions of the Medicine Wheel

The Five Directions of the Medicine Wheel
(The Five Principles of Shamanism)

Everything is Alive.
Everything has its own spirit or energetic signature. From this principle we learn to observe and pay attention to everything around us. We strive to see things as they are and learn their true nature. To explore the experience of energetic observation we practice the shaman’s art of vision-shifting.

Everything is Conscious.
Everything has its own form of conscious awareness. From this principle we learn to be present and to enter into true dialogue with the unseen forces around us. We actively engage spirit and energetic forms. To alter our consciousness and attune to spirit we practice the shamanic art of journeying.

Everything is Dynamic.
It is the nature of things to move, change and transform. The shaman knows that where there is movement, there is health. Where energy cannot move there is illness. From this principle we learn to be flexible. We learn to sense the movement of energy and when it is blocked. We adapt the shamanic practice of shape-shifting to learn to move energies not by mastering them but by merging with them.

Everything is Connected.
Everything exists in relationship to everything else. From this principle we learn to be respectful and we come to understand sacred reciprocity and the healing power of relationship. To restore balance and harmony to our relationships we practice ceremony and ritual.

Everything Responds.
The universe responds to our most sacred intentions. From this principle we learn to be clear and to engage the world with embodied prayer. We serve the unseen world by bringing beauty into the seen world. Bridging the waking and dreaming worlds is the art of dream-weaving.

For more information of the Medicine Wheel, and how you can use it, wander onward.

Thank You Brothers! Thank You Mother!

It had been a long time since I had gone on a Spirit Journey, and I had feared I had lost contact with the Spirit World. Earlier in the week, Brother Bat had made it clear I had drifted away, and that I would have to win my trust back. So, I lit my candles and asked my Spirit Warrior, Xeizer, if he might help me reach the entrance to my Spirit Cave. He agreed, and picked me up in his gigantic hand, carrying me as he strided through the jungle. Finally we reached the cave, and I felt Brother Bat, my power animal, flying around my head.

I greeted him, and he returned the greeting, glad to see me back. I told him I was sorry for my absence, and that I wished to re-learn what had been lost. He agreed, taking my through the cave and down into the lower tunnels. There greeted the other Spirit Animals. Bear was not to happy to see me, and Lizard was his usual dreamy self. I sat upon a rock, in front of a creek, and focused on my spirit body.

I noticed a strange blockage in my fourth tunnel of power, the one located in the middle of my chest. It was hard to breathe, and I asked Brother Bat for help in figuring out the problem. I peered inside, and saw a large elephant leaning against the tunnel walls, acting as if it was drunk. Almost immediately I seemed to sense just what it was: there had been an emotional "elephant in the room" I had been avoiding for a long time, and now it seemed it had come back to haunt me.

I explained to the elephant that the problem was being addressed, and that I accepted whatever outcome I was given. It seemed happy about this and promptly left, allowing the tunnel to shrink back to size. I asked Brother Bat to create stalagmites and stalactites within the tunnel to defend against intruders, and he agreed.

I had been sick for quite awhile, and since I already had had success, I decided to cure it through Shamanism. I asked Brother Bat to sweep through my body, snatching the flu virus like insects and devouring them. He agreed, and I instantly felt as if my inside had more space. I decided to continue and sought the Sun's help with my stuffy nose. Again, he was all to happy to comply, and I felt heat and light radiate from my spirit body, giving me a huge boost of energy, making me smile, and causing the snot in my stuffy nose to simply disappear. Finally I extended my spirit body into a long tail and traveled downward, towards the core of Mother Earth. I was in a hurry to draw power from here, and I accidentally began drawing power from the rocks just above the core. I felt my body become slower, and my insides felt as if there were becoming stronger, but slower.

I excused myself, thanking Rock for its help, but continuing to the core. mother Earth was happy to see me, and when I drew her power into me, it was as if my insides were somehow being repaired. I felt as if my skin was becoming stronger, my mind lighter, and my inner peace restored.

I returned to this world, offering thanks to all the spirits who had helped me feel whole again.

(About the picture, from National Geographic: A painting in Gua Tewet records a shaman's trek into the spirit world, Chazine says. The lizard in the center represents the shaman. The jagged line under the lizard-a sort of stairway-stands for the shaman's difficult path. The smooth lines on the right symbolize the successful completion of the journey, when the shaman attains an altered state of consciousness that affects all parts of his body and allows him to communicate with spirits. The hand stencils themselves evoke traditional healing rituals in which a shaman lays his hands on a sick person, then sprays medicine from his mouth onto the patient to cure him.)