Hoodoo To Do

Before I start discussing, let me differentiate the difference between hoodoo and Voodoo. Voodoo is the religion, hoodoo is a magical tradition. I hope that will clear up the confusion.

So far, hoodoo is doing me some good. There's one thing I observed why this African-American folk magic tradition is working so well for me. I notice that every time I make a mojo bag, I get in a trance-like state chaotes and other occultists call gnosis. Gnosis is one important key in magical practice that can make or break the spell. In my mind, I know that I'm not merely mixing herbs and spices. Luckily, I have no problem getting into a sorcerous mood and convincing myself that I'm working magic. When I make the mojo bags, everything else around me seems to cease to be. It's just me and the hoodoo work.

The same goes for I use novenas and recite the Psalms. Unfortunately, I had to stop due to some strange and awkward experience. Luckily, thanks to my chaos magic practice, I was able to infuse the energies of the Psalms with the energies of my own invocations to my patron god Sobek. So far, things are going well with the Sobekian spells I now recite.

So this is my latest update in my hoodoo practice and experimentation. So far, my specialties are mojo bags and (stopped for now) Psalms magic. The next thing you know, I'd be creating zombies. Mwahahahahaha!!!

I CAN HAS VOODOO DOLL?

The Hoodoo I Do

Last week, while browsing through amazon.com, I came across The Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook by Denise Alvarado. As a harmonica player who kept on encountering references to Hoodoo in blues songs, I've decided to give it a go. After all, I'm a chaote and it's about time I experiment with something new. Frater UD mentioned in High Magic II that the African and Caribbean magical traditions have a reputation of being very potent.

Last Saturday, I borrowed a copy of the aforementioned book from a friend. For a good start, I've decided to work with a Catholic house blessing prayer and a portion of the Psalms. I know that some of you think I have sold out and turn Catholic again but listen to me. Hoodoo has been heavily influenced by Catholicism when the white masters forced it upon the African slaves to quell their ancient spiritual practices. The forced conversion failed to yield the result the slavemasters were aiming for. Instead, Catholic beliefs has been syncretized with African spiritual concepts thus born the religion Voodoo and its magical trad Hoodoo. In Hoodoo, God is the ultimate magician and the Bible is a mighty spellbook/talisman hence I'm not using Christian beliefs as a Catholic. I'm using Christian beliefs as a Hoodooist. If I can't make hoodoo work just because it has smacks of Christianity then I fail as a chaos magician.

So anyway, a few hours after I recited the house prayer and the Psalm for bringing fortune into the home, I found a dying cockroach on top of my altar. It was rare for me to see a dying cockroach in my ancestral house. The next morning upon waking up, I saw another dying roach near my altar. From that moment, I knew it was no mere coincidence. Even up to now, I'm experimenting with Hoodoo more often. I prayed to the Seven African Powers and even made my first mojo bags. Lets see what happens in the next few weeks. Lets just hope that Papa Legba isn't trolling me.

Glossary:

Hoodoo: African-American folk magic tradition

Voodoo: A syncretic religion involving Catholicism and African concepts and practices

mojo bag: a talisman in Hoodoo described as a "spell in a bag".

Papa Legba: A loa or Voodoo spirit who guards the gateway between the normal world and the world of Voodoo spirits.

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Lug the God of All Skills

I find myself always focused on Egyptian deities so, for a refreshing change, I'm going to talk about an ancient European god who recently caught my attention. Lug (pronounced as "loo") is a heroic polymath god in Celtic mythology and the leader of the Tuatha De Danann, the gods of light and goodness. Lug was also artist, wise man, sorcerer, musician, warrior and blacksmith all rolled into one. He and his forces fought against the Formarians. a race of evil giants led by Balor of The Evil Eye.



"Wait! Stop! I think I think my contact lens fell off."

Balor of The Evil Eye was the grandfather of Lug. He was given that name because of his malevolent gaze that can destroy armies. It as prophesied that Balor's own grandson will kill him so he imprisoned his only daughter in a cave. However, she was seduced and she bore triplets. Balor had the triplets drowned but one of them survived and his name was Lug. Lug was rescued and raised by the smith god Goibhnu. The god, taught in all arts, crafts and skills, grew into a handsome and brilliant man. In the epic battle of good versus evil, Lug finally killed his grandfather Balor by piercing his eye with a sling stone. Afterwards, the Tuatha De Danann ruled Ireland for many centuries. However, after many centuries, the old Celtic gods were forced to live underground after a crushing defeat by the ancestors of the Gaels. As ages gone by, the all-skill god Lug became a fairy craftsman known as Lugh-chromain ("low-stooping Lug"), better known as the folkloric leprechaun.




Man he really let go.


sources:
Gods and Goddesses: A Treasury of Deities and Tales from World Mythology (Macmillan Books)
Wikipedia

Brujo Fantastico

Back in the last night of the UP Fair 2011, I came across some people selling old books along the sidewalk in the campus. To my delight, I've found a copy of Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1974 edition) among the books and it only costs 100 pesos. It's an account of the anthropologist Carlos Castaneda time as an apprentice under the Yaqui Indian brujo (sorcerer) Don Juan way back in the early 1960's. After a harrowing experience, Castaneda ceased his training, wrote a book about it and went back to continue his apprenticeship under Don Juan. It is a tale of sorcery, shamanic journeys and peyote.

I said "peyote". You know, the hallucinogenic plant.

Yeah sure it was heavily debated whether Carlos made the whole thing up or not but that book started the shamanism craze back in the 60's. In fact, anything mystical was a huge thing back in the 60's. Heck, Marvel Comics' Doctor Strange was created in the 60's.

"By the Hoary Hosts of Hallucinogens!"

Whether or not the experiences of Carlos Castaneda were fabricated, it matters not to me. Nothing is true, everything is permitted. If it works for me, yippee-kay yay. However, I don't need the use of hallucinogenic plants thanks to the use of certain trance-inducing techniques. Another thing that intrigued me was the use of lizards for information-gathering. The parts about sewing up their eyes and mouths sounds very iffy though.

"P-pardon me?"

I could just create a lizard-based servitor just for that purpose. Another thing that interests me is Carlos' transformation into a crow. In astral form of course.

For the last time I'm not Heath Ledger.

The Teachings of Don Juan may be very controversial and hardly useful in magical instructions but it inspires me. The Little Prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's book of the same name said "What is essential is invisible to the naked eye." The Teachings of Don Juan may be hardly of use to many but I see the essential in it.

How Liko become Kaotiko

"Kuya Lico, how did you get into chaos magic?" asked the ever inquisitive imaginary children around me.

"Alright fine you brats. Just leave me alone after I tell you this tale of mine" said I.

It was a long, long time ago perhaps back in 1998, I was surfing the internet for more information on magick. Then, I came across information about chaos magic. The first website was dedicated to the use of the Lovecraftian mythos in chaos magic. Unfortunately, I was such a friggin' noob back then and I mistook chaos magic as the invocation of dark deities and unholy forces. Derp derp derp. I sticked to psychism and Bardon Hermetics, totally avoiding the "soul-sucking evil" that is chaos magic.

Behold the horrifying visage of Cthulhu!

Several years later in 2005, I yearned to do something different. My magic got stagnant and I wanted to create my own rituals. The esoteric dogma of the White Brotherhood became unsatisfactory for me.

No, not that White Brotherhood.

... close enough

I researched on chaos magic and this time I looked deeper. In Occultforums.org, I became a regular poster in the Chaos Magic section while at the same time studied Phil Hine's Oven-Ready Chaos. Wow, it was not what I thought it was. Chaos magic is freestyle sorcery! Nothing is real and anything is permitted! Anything can be magic as long as it works for you. TYPING IN ALL CAPS MAKES IT TRUE!!! Anyway, I gave it a go and created my first servitor for attracting money.

Fo shizzle mah pizzle!

Surprise, surprise, the Occultforumers enjoyed my creation and swore it worked for them. I created another one. This time for healing.

Winmay the Nurse Pixie

Again, I got positive feedback. It turns out that I have a knack for servitor creation. I wasn't so surprised because I'm a comic book creator. I'm used to creating characters for my comics and creating servitors comes naturally for me. Thus, I realized that I am a capable chaos mage.

And that's where babies come from uh I mean that's how I got into chaos magic. Happy? Entertained? Great now go away.

Less of A Chaote, More of A Sorcerer

These days, I feel more like a Sorcerer than a Chaote. I could've used the term "wizard" but it's a broad term for anyone with a high degree of proficiency in uncommon skills. example: Johnny is a wizard at flash animation. Besides, "sorcerer" brings up images of the type of magicians you see in roleplaying games and tales of high fantasy. Also, it's fun to say the word "sorcerer" in a manner like we're in Middle-Earth. Come on, say it with me. Sorcerer.

They call me... Tim.

What's that you ask? Chaote? It's a short term for "chaos magician". It's rather difficult to define what chaos magic is. You could say that chaos magic is a tradition that is not a tradition. It is a system yet it's not a system. To describe chaos magic makes it less like chaos magic. However, a lot of chaotes can (or could) agree that it's an approach that is extremely practical and pragmatic. Whatever that works, stick to it. Chaotes have no use for namby-pamby dogma (unless dogma is part of the chaote's chosen paradigm) and ancient rituals too complex or too tedious to perform. Chaos magic is anything-goes-magic as long as it works.


Now why did I say that I'm becoming less of a Chaote and more of a sorcerer? You see, chaotes, especially the more hardcore ones, often shift paradigms depending on the situation. For a chaote, belief is a tool. Belief can either make you or break you. Unless it's part of the chaote's paradigm of the day, dogma is a no-no. Dogma can be an ugly thing for a chaote. A really hardcore chaote would go "like, ew! gross!" at the very mention of the word "dogma" as if it's a dirty word. However, I'm beginning to see the value in the use of dogma. I'm not talking about the dogma religious institutions often spout. I'm not talking about archaic doctrines that set us back thousands of years and hinder progress in society. No, I'm talking about what I would like to term constructive dogma. I realized that dogma, when used right, can be productive. You could say that the use of constructive dogma is part of my current paradigm.

Another is reason why I'm becoming less of a Chaote is because I don't shift paradigms often like back then. Too much hassle and it's becoming cumbersome. I'll just stick to my own concept of my personal universe with me as its center. Whatever works, I'll accept it and put it into my personal cosmology. Animal-headed deities from a civilization of long ago? I can accept them. Hot-blooded anime characters? Alrighty then. Magical flying pig from another world? As long as the winged oinker brings me cash, sure why not? Jejemons? No thank you. See? This is constructive dogma at work. To ensure the growth and survivability of my magic, I have to be dogmatic to some degree in order to filter out stuff I feel that I don't need.

Row row row fight the boobies!

In some way, yes I'm still a Chaote but not the hardcore kind. I'm just applying constructive dogma to sort out myself and my sorcery. In fact, I've already chosen a patron deity to add some "order" and He's okay with me invoking other gods even outside His mythos. I'm an extremely eclectic sorcerer with a hint of order. That ain't so bad.

Also, chimichanga!