Questions You’ve Asked Me – Contest Edition! Part two of two. :)

Hi Everyone,

Aw geez, this was stuck in “Drafts,” for the last week…sorry about that – d’oh!

Anyhoo, since I am a bit tardy on writing this lengthy part 2 of 2 on the contest edition of Questions You’ve asked me, allow me to get into part 2 immediately. 😉

Q: What would you say is the best book for a novice rootworker?

A: I’m conflicted here, because I have 2 favorites, but as for books in print I’d say either A Century of Spells by Draja Mickaharic, or Cat Yronwode’s Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic.

I’m fond of many of Mickaharic’s writings, especially those published through XLibris publishing house, rather than Samuel Weiser publishing house…however Century of Spells IS published through Weiser, so be prepared to vomit at the “karma warnings,” and the XLibris titles do contain some sexist crap… Either way, Mickaharic is a formidable spellcaster, but he IS about a million and three years old, so he is also apt to be sexist as are most men his age. 😉

As for Yronwode’s Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic, this title is a popular one for beginners and contains a great deal of information to help the novice rootworker become an intermediate rootworker. 😉

Q: Why do curses often manifest faster than love spells?

A: Although this is by no means a complete explanation, it should be thorough enough for all of you (without being too long, hehe.) 🙂

The person asking this question was asking me it more along the lines of “reconciliation” spellwork or let’s just say love spells cast on a particular target. In these love spell cases, where we work on a particular person, there is a new set of problems that is not found in say a general attraction (no particular target) spell. For example, in a reconcilation spell, we are dealing with the motives, personality conflicts, egos, etc of two different people. Let’s say, for our example, I have broken up with a man who loves me VERY VERY MUCH still, and is still quite attracted to me, and even does have a strong urge to return… But he also has a very firm belief in never dating an ex twice. 😛 So…that will need to be overcome – and its a common enough issue and often is overcome – but not an issue which would arise in a spellcasting case where I’d never dated someone (obviously.) 😉 OR… Let’s say, I am dating one gentleman, and feel attracted to his closest friend, so, being a hootchie in my example (LOL,) I am gonna do DIRECT love spells on my boyfriend’s best friend to bring him to me… Now, my target could be overcome with love for me, want nothing more to than to be with me, and yet he will be apt to resist these urges, as he also loves his friend a great deal and doesn’t want to ruin their friendship over a girl.

Love spells are slower to manifest because we are often resistant to the urges they put in us. The more determined the target is to resist the urge to be with the petioner, the harder it is to make the spell manifest. For example, in cases where there was no prior romantic relationship between both parties, there may be other conflicts to making your target love you. Perhaps the target is straight and you are gay (or vice versa,) perhaps the target is already involved with someone they love very much, perhaps the target is very adverse to something you strongly believe in (say, religious beliefs, etc.) Since love is an emotional thing, since it needs to be nurtured regularly to live on, and since it involves the motives and desires of AT LEAST 2 people (your family, friends, and loved ones influence your decisions with romantic love a great deal, so they are, to a lesser extent, involved, so in a way, it involves the motives and desires of more than just 2, lol,) it is not an easy thing to keep working with or without spellwork. 😉

Now….when it comes to a curse, there are some factors which need to be conceeded. For example, in my experience, it is human nature to succumb to negativity. Sorry, to be Mary Sunshine and put that out there, lol, but normally when most people have a bad day…and then a string of bad days…and then several more, just like Ortex sinking into the swamps of sadness, so does the human spirit often break down and become deppressed. Deppression often leads to physiological problems as well as psychological, and the immune system is oft compromised…weakening the aura….and allowing the curse energy to embed itself even stronger. >:) So, IMHO, the psychological reason curses manifest faster is that people are more willing to succumb to their influence being naturally predisposed to negative behavior, and accpeting of negative happenings, whereas, we are often taught to constantly question love and hold back on our expressing of love.

Now in the non-psychological aspect of things, energetically, black energy is a very destructive and will literally “chew” through many other energies. Its basic use is destruction…even when used for positive purposes.

Again, by all means, this is not even the tip of the ice berg, but may help. 😉

Q: Where do we draw our energy from when casting a spell – ourselves, the universe, other?

A: I’d say we draw our energy from all 3 sources.

I feel energy transference is like building a muscle…and having adrenaline. Say you had a toddler stuck under a car. Well, most people can’t pick up a big ’79 Caddy – and say its a ’79 Cadillac, but if that’s your kid, I’ll bet you the adrenaline will make it so you pick up that caddy with one hand and get the baby with the other…in fact this show of strength (with little 100lb ladies,) has happened on more than one occaision. So…if you are “freaked out,” when doing a spell, you can exert more spell energy, too…but you will probably feel drained afterwards.

If you “work out” your ability to transfer and will energy through exercises and meditation, you will be stronger. It is a lot like..well, I just went back to working out myself after slacking on it for months, and my 10lb weight isn’t as easy as it used to be…that’s a good comparison for energy. If you don’t exercise your ability to will and transfer energy, it will be more difficult for you to weild.

It is often your own energy you are willing if you were not taught to draw from the earth or the universe, and this can lead to excessively draining yourself. When I “draw energy,” I “root” my feet, and draw up from the earth, into my body, and then out. You will still use some of your own energy, but you won’t be totally drained… Plus, keep in mind, if you cry a lot, are depressed, are angry, or even wildly in love…you are using your energy at a high rate. Its not a limited source in the sense that you will “blow out” the energy making part of you because you used too much. I’m going to be 30 this year and I was told my ID was “bullsh*t” the other day, and someone wouldn’t sell me liquor because I looked too young (that made my day, too.) Not bad for someone who’s been smoking for half her life and gets 4 hours of sleep a nite, eh? So obviously my use of energy has had no physical effect and I’ve been doing this since before I even went through puberty…maybe 6 or so is when i discovered willfully using energy…it might go farther back with me. If I was really draining my energy, I’d look older. Think of what someone looks like after a heart attack…these people are actually very psychically drained and their auras are weak…so this is a good representation of people who have “been drained.”

To “work your energy,” try moving colors while meditating. To do this, sit or lie down, and bring yourself into medative mind (lucid mind, body totally relaxed,) and now envision sending energy from your right hand (or left if you write with it,) into your left (or right if you are left handed.) Feel the energy return into your body, so you are only cycling it. Now, see it as all the colors, let it slowly change as you get accustomed to each… I say use spectral colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet,) to get a feeling for these type of energies… Just cycling them will actually build your inner energy.

To draw energy, envision roots going from your base into the earth (this is how to draw out of the earth,) and/or a funnel coming from your crown region upwards towards the sky to draw from the universe. There is an unlimited supply to use. 🙂 You, as a human, have plenty of energy in you, but you might as well use the bounty of energy outside you and act as a transmitter.

Q: Do you have a general rule of thumb to use when making spell substitutions?

A: Eh…that would be a difficult one to answer, and not be MORE confusing in doing so, lol, but I will try. I would recommend NOT making spell substitutions unless you are well into an intermediate level of spellcasting and had an advanced level of knowledge regarding the correspondences of herbs, stones, metals, etc.

For example…there are herbs I might use in a love spell which are more “sexual,” type herbs, but if I was trying to use them in say, a reconcilation spell, this wouldn’t be appropriate, whereas it probably IS appropriate in a “love-attraction,” type of spell… Since I am advanced and I don’t need to look up “what herb does what,” and in what way, I would know not to use this herb in a reconcilation spell… However, a beginner to spellwork would just think it was OK to look this up, and they might see it is useful in “love spells,” without any real information besides this…so, they would be erronously substituting, say lemongrass (sexual,) for balm of gilead (healing, especially in love reconciliation,) which… I can’t begin to tell you how effed up that is…it wouldn’t even work – believe me, I’ve wanted nothing to do with an ex except the “fun stuff,” lol, but putting tape over their mouth and having my way with them wasn’t an option…so why would I use an herb to encourage lust/passion in someone who probably already has that urge for me, when I want them to ROMANTICALLY reconcile…not just do the friends with benefits thing, lol. 😉 Also, avoid online “grimoires” as many of them are Wiccan…Wiccan correspondences and Hoodoo correspondences are not often the same, and they are not interchangeable platforms of spellwork. Speaking of Balm of Gilead, for example…someone once asked me if they should use bay or something in its place as it must be “to protect” because they saw this on a Wiccan site…again, no, balm of gilead is a herb which is best used in healing, especially with heartbreak. 😉

There often is a sub, but if it was on my blog where you needed a substitution item, I’d recommend you ask me… There is a wealth of horrid misinformation online, and short of you asking a rootworker (a REAL rootworker,) you will probably not get the information right and you will not get a substitution which will work.

Also, if you need a substitute for an oil/incense/powder, you will need to start getting advanced with how each of these oils work. I know, but I’ve been doing this a long time…with that, obviously the label gives a good idea of the effect. If you wanted a MAN’S attention, you aren’t going to use Follow Me Girl, right? Right… 😉 BUT “Come to me,” tends to be more sexual than say, “Love Me,” oil…so you could use either, but if you wanted a more romantic rather than passion/sex type of love, you would be better served using “Love Me.” There are several similar “conditions” (the term for an oil/incense/powder’s ability,) but they are not the same. Whereas one person might desire a sexy situation, another might want a more romantic situation…if one person wants to return a lover, they might want to just RECONCILE, or they might want to draw the person to the while reconciling them… Reconcilation is to RECONCILE, and Return to Me is to draw the person to you while reconciling…

The short answer is DO NOT SUBSTITUTE unless you have to until you are pretty advanced in spellcasting. Often people want to substitute because they are too cheap or to laxidaisical to find an ingredient. In my early days, the internet didn’t exist, and I actually had to go to great lengths to find ANYTHING. I had to bulk purchase black candles around this time of year because they were only available in October. These days, you can locate almost any herb, you can get genuine recipie oils/powders/incenses from the right supply houses, and…well, there are limited excuses for not getting a certain ingredient…the only one I can think of is if someone is attacking you through spellwork (ie your life is in danger,) and you have limited time to fix the problem (like days,) before you are literally killed by a master rootworker.

Spellcasting is an art…if and when you get practiced enough, you won’t need my blog (you will know enough spells by then, and you will also be able to create spells,) and you will know what is a good sub for what…but until then, I really don’t recommend it.

Phew, kids, I’m tired…that was a lot to get out.

To those of you not spotlighted in the QYAM contest, please know I’ve saved your Q’s and they are apt to go into the next installments of Questions You Asked Me.

Thanks everyone for participating!

~Cat