As I Said, The Week Wasn’t Finished Yet

As you might know from one of this week’s posts, I had a ouija séance scheduled for last Thursday with my brother and my witchy friend, who is here for a few days only. Considering all the extra work we had made this week, I was really looking forward to it – I don’t consider ouija as part of our spiritual path, and honestly we don’t take it too seriously, so it is very much like our Scrabble night :).

After lunch, we took the new ouija out and started the séance – after a few very frustrating starts, my witchy friend and I started feeling really tired and sleepy, something really rare as I usually find séances really energizing, to the point where time flies and you don’t realize it’s been five hours since you started the seance. So, we made a break for coffee and my friend asked us to make a rune reading for her – she had already told me that she had been having really weird dreams, and that she had been feeling really nervous and prone to feel angry without any reason, moods that don’t fit her super kind Pisces self.

We thought it would be a good idea to make the rune reading and then go back to the seance; even though the runes are part of Fernando’s path, we are making the readings together as he gains experience and fluidity. I won’t explain the details of her reading of course, but it involved the finding of an espíritu obsesionado (obsessed spirit), whom is an entity from the world of the dead that gets attached to a living human being and lives off its energy like a parasite, slowly driving people to all kinds of illnesses and even death if the spirit is not identified and dettached from his/her victim. The reasons why a spirit infects a person are many, too many to be explained here, and there are many different ways to get rid of him, that depends on how and why said spirit is feeding from the living human.

So, we had to make my friend an immediate ritual, to make sure the Spirit is driven to a place of rest by Oya, as in this particular case the Spirit was not sent through a spell, and his presence signed towards karmic debts from our friend’s father. Also, it was my brother’s first ritual – he did not disappoint me and was completely respectful and helpful all the way, and after the ritual expressed his desire to start his own spiritual path under the Orishas’ protection, which made me even happier, as he’s been a little lost the past year and definitely could use a bit of help.

We had no time to continue the seance afterwards as it was really late and we were all exhausted and hungry, and I’m sure you know the huge mess a ritual can make – everything must be cleaned and rearranged as it would be really disrespectful not to do it. Yesterday, we prepared protective necklaces for her and made offerings to Eleggua for his endless help and generosity.

As you can imagine, I am exhausted. On top of all we’ve been doing here, there were vigil candles, and spells, and readings, and orders for the shop. I will be taking a little break from blogging this week – our house needs some extra care, the shop needs some care, and of course we need some extra care :). As promised, the Newsletter will be released on August 1 – remember to sign up (click the image on the sidebar) if you haven’t!

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A Long Week (And It’s Not Finished Yet)

Hoping this gives you some food for thought :) :

This has been a testing week, to say the least. Someone we really love has been going through hell and needed immediate spiritual guidance to get his life back on track, so we have been working as full-time guardian angels this week, taking him before Eleggua for a good cleansing as he had been seriously hoodooed, then taking him to the beach to receive Yemaya’s blessing, then to the cemetery to meet Oya and the Spirits, and still next week we will take him to the forest to commune with Oggum and our Guanche ancestors. All of that while keeping the shop and consultants attended – that means we’ve been working double each and every single day. But, that’s the work of the healer! There are no holidays, and when someone is broken to his very core and has lost everything, you simply can’t look other way and pretend it’s not happening. And, in case you were wondering, we are not getting a cent from him; we were asked to do this for free by Eleggua himself, and what Eleggua asks for, Eleggua gets.

Our friend is someone with a very special light, with the potential of a healer, and that kind of people is always an easy prey for people with no scruples when it comes to Magick. People tend to think that those who practise negative magick are really wealthy and have no enemies because they infuse fear unto people – but the truth is that they are always struggling to survive, preying over other people’s money like vultures, always unhappy and needing more, and more. And to be honest, that kind of people do not scare me one bit. I’m not as good as to feel mercy for them, but on the other they do not scare me at all; I am so sure that Eleggua and all the other Orishas will not allow any harm to come to us, that simply there is no room for any worry.

The best part of it, certainly, has been having the chance to see my beloved Yemanya and Oya. We took offerings for both of them, gathered some graveyard dirt and took lots of beautiful pictures – which we won’t show to protect our friend’s privacy, and our sacred places’ privacy too. Although very tired, we are renewed and relaxed. I was born in a small town beside the sea, and my grandma’s house was 20 steps away from the sand, so the beach is a second home to me.

Last night, Fernando said that, at the cemetery, he felt the urge to start fixing all the broken crosses and abandoned graves – something we couldn’t do because there were people around and we didn’t want them calling the cops (hehe), but that made me so proud of him! We will come back tomorrow with our witchy friend, carrying flowers and candy for the dead, who asked for them very clearly while we were there.

Our friend found a domino piece in the graveyard, a message from Shango, telling him that everything will be ok. If you didn’t know, dominoes are sacred in Santeria, and when I read him the meaning of the piece he found – which fitted his situation and needs perfectly – he started crying.

Here are the lessons this week has given to us, and that I am sharing with you:

- First, the sad lessons – first, that there are people out there who simply care about nothing but getting their way, even if it means destroying others in the way; second, that the belief that you are safe from negative magick if you don’t believe in it, is nothing but ignorance.

Now, the happier lessons:
- The Orishas are nothing but LOVE. No matter how much you have done wrong, how much you have lost, how badly you have behaved, the Orishas will accept you and care for you if your commitment to change is pure and strong.

- Once you have received the Orishas’ blessings, it is your duty to show others that it is possible to find protection and growth in them. If something has saved you, it may save others. Of course, this does not include proselytism! Faith should never be forced onto people, or it will never be faith at all.

- The Orishas speak loud and clear, if you are there to listen. There is no such thing as blind faith in Santeria, because there is no need at all to be blind. True faith comes from understanding, feeling and witnessing the connection at all levels, and not from theoretical ideas that must be accepted without questioning.

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New Spirit Board

My witchy friend is coming this week for a short visit, and there are few things we enjoy more than a good ouija seance, so I made this new spirit board using a wood piece Fernando found. It was painted and dyed with acrylics and oiled with protection oil, the same one we use for our Orisha charms, both for preserving the wood and for its magickal properties. Well, and now it’s the best smelling ouija in the world hehe.

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Nothing Goes To Waste

Every time we post about offerings, we get asked what do we do with all the food we offer. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you already know we hate waste in all its forms and thus recycle, reuse and recycle really madly. When we offer food, either us or our pets eat most of it, and whatever is not eatable or safe for us, like drinks, is given to Exu Okkada, the Exu that lives in the trash. In this post, I want to show you two example of recycled offerings.

Example 1 – Do you remember this offering from last week?

It was made of cookies, nuts, honey and an apple. Well, we kept it in the fridge for a couple of days, and last Friday, while preparing the rune consecration ritual, I passed everything through the food blender, added birdseed, one egg and a small cup of flour and spread it on a tray covered with waxed paper. Since we were going to bake a beer bread for the ritual, we placed the mix in the oven too and got a full tray of bird cookies + two meals cooked with the energy of one, since they used the same oven time. Nothing went to waste, and lots of energy was saved. Some of these cookies we will give to our budgies, and most of them will be given to the wildlife of Las Mercedes mountains when we go next week, since food is really scarce during the summer here. Birds, lizards and mice will be very happy, and that will make the mountain happy :).

Example 2 – again for the rune consecration ritual, I made mulled cider. To spice the cider, I used cardamom, cinnamon, lemon and orange rind, one apple, muscatel raisins, honey, powdered ginger and nutmeg.

Once the cider was ready, I really didn’t want to throw all this amazing-smelling goodness away, so what did I make with it? Using again the food blender, I pureed everything and made a super fragrant base for incense pellets! On Saturday, we added the powdered herbs and perfume oils (sorry, that part is secret!) and they are now drying and have already passed their first test, with fantastic results!
As soon as they have dried a bit more so they keep they shape properly during shipping, they will be put for sale. Since the latest batch, The Wanderer, has a masculine, woodsy scent, we made this new batch with more sensual, feminine scents – perfect for you, Freya worshippers!

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Rune Consecration Ritual – Pictures

Yesterday we consecrated Fernando’s new runes. The images of the ritual itself are private and we won’t show them, but here are quite a few pics of the altars and offerings we made to inspire you :).

Odin’s altar, with the runes in front of him, resting over vintage furs that were a gift from a friend and adorned with one of the huge cups we found in the trash ( you can see them here).

On the right side, the phallus Fernando carved for Frey, sitting on a brass bowl we also made using discarded components from several lamps.

Eleggua, of course, got a beautiful carnation bouquet and a very special candle, which is actually a gift from a customer – I know I have said it a million times, but The Hoodoo Shop’s customers are simply AWESOME!



The offerings – beer bread (with ham, cheese, olives and herbs), stuffed dates, serrano ham paté, fruits, olives, goat cheese, mulled cider, wine, beer, flowers.

Update for today:The Marie Laveau prints have been listed!

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Update: Charms Listed!

All the charms made last weekend have been listed!

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Picture Post: Handmade Runes, Gypsy Bottles And Pheasants

Fernando’s runes are finished and ready for their consecration, which will happen on Friday during our weekly devotions. He will make himself a wooden carved set, but since that will take time, we created this set using polymer clay, and mixing the clay with powdered woods, earths, and other witchy secrets. I made the carving and the ornamentation, and I still want to make a mat for throwing them, but I’m not sure I will have time for that before Friday.

As you know, we’ve been working on the roof garden – this huge bottle has been buried among pots for two years there, and on monday she clearly asked for a cleaning so we brought her downstairs for a beauty treatment. It represents a gypsy woman carrying a tray with grapes in her head – it is so beautiful that now I’m thinking it will become part of my altar! For now, it will hold the wine on Friday’s ritual.

So far, the highlight of the week was receiving this gorgeous pheasant skin, preserved to perfection by my beloved Mrs. Graveyard Dirt!!! There are no wild pheasants here, so this will be part of my most loved treasures; I am looking for a way to use it without altering it, either as a wall hanging or as part of a super baroque headdress. Given our bushy, deserted landscape, you can’t see this type of feathers here; I’ve been stroking them and loving them like, well, five times a day! My dear Mrs. Graveyard Dirt, I can’t thank you enough!!!

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Saint Michael Prints Listed!

Quick Update #1 – 4×6 prints of my Saint Michael painting have arrived and are already listed at the shop!
Quick Update #2 – we have created a profile on Google+ – if you want to add us to your circles, you can find it HERE.

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A Crafty Weekend

With week after week filled with readings and spellwork, the weekend arrives filled with a need to craft, paint, crochet and anything crafty. On Saturday, most of the day was devoted to crafting a new batch of charms using part of the bones we found on a recent trip to Anaga, rabbit feet (and a tail) preserved by Fernando last year, python snake skin from a friend and corn husk braids that have also been waiting for a year on the altar box. I hope to have them all listed this week.



Fernando is making himself a new batch of runes in polymer clay (more on that soon), so I made him a crocheted sachet to keep them, using hand spun wool (and some commercial yarn since it was not enough) we made during the Beltane celebrations this year. Since it was made really quickly, I started working on more sachets, using handspun and commercial yarn as well. Pretty and really sturdy, as I’m sure Fernando will fill it to the brim with findings to make the new runes feel at home :). Here’s the whole weekend’s work, made in small batches of time here and there.

It’s Sunday night here – time for enjoying the last bit of the weekend after spending all the afternoon in the roof garden, tending the herbs and working on a new garden altar under the burning sun; maybe some sewing, or drawing, or reading, or all of them… and that’s how two Witches recharge their batteries.

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Offerings (Yes, More)

Below, offerings made this morning at our favourite spot in the forest. Apples, honey, milk, rum, a gofio ball filled with nuts and raisins, olives, and egg and a cigar. Bon appetit, Osain and Frey!


As you can see, we always remove all the containers before burying the offering. All liquids are poured over the solid food. As Fernando was covering the offering with the fragrant earth, a sudden wind started bringing a gorgeous, refreshing mist over us.

As a second offering, we gathered three bags of TRASH THAT PEOPLE HAD LEFT THERE, while cursing all the time. I hate humanity sometimes.

Now, off to post today’s orders and enjoy a good cup of coffee and some witchy reading at our regular Tea Bar. See you on Monday Witchies!

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