Cat’s Rants: Confessions of an Occult Mastermind

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

Hello Occulties,

Thank you, first of all, goes out to everyone who participated in the contest! 🙂 The winner has been chosen, and though a few persons thought I would announce them by name, I will just say “Congratulations, D!” And since the person who won does know who they are….that’s all the information you are getting. 😉

As I did get A LOT of questions, I will try to post as many as possible here and in the next entry…however, your entry may not appear, as I can’t post all of them. 😦

The winning question IS:

Q. I’ve heard that psychics can “see” the future, but a caster can “change” the future. How do casters “manipulate energy” to change the future?

A: Although I am sure there are several answers to this very well-stated question, this is my 2 cents.

Everyone has an etheric body (aura,) as well as a soul, and is animated by electricity. Right now you have an electric charge making your brain work…this is medically proven. The earth and the universe are similarly energetically charged. A spellcaster simply draws the energy from the universe or earth (or from an item or just from their own energy reserve,) into them and manipulates it by their own mental will. Now, the aura can be changed with focus of the mind (will,) if you wish to make it appear different, despite the fact that we all have auras which display our status by default (if you are not focusing to change its appearance,) and its my opinion that the electric/energy charge which keeps YOU (or anyone) alive and your aura on you, is also what we use to attract, manipulate, and send energy to impact the present or future. Its not really something that is easily explained with out having experienced it… I guess if you asked me how I did something, I’d just say I pulled the energy into me and then shot it back out when I had instructed it to do what I wanted. I also work up energy, and put it into things like candles and mojo sacks and powders…

If you wanted to try this, best I can tell you how is to take any mundane object, and sit with it in both hands and start thinking strongly about ANYTHING. Try to feel the energy come out of your hands and into the object…you will notice it starts to feel full… A friend of mine showed me a trick where he charged a shoe of mine with energy in this way…and when the shoes began to wear out, the one he charged was still looking a lot better than its mate. 😉 So…you should try to manipulate energy on your own and you will soon find it is sort of like talking…you can explain medically how you talk, but it is hard to explain exactly how it feels or how you know what words are coming out, etc, to someone who had never experienced themselves talking. Moving energy is very natural and normal when you are accustomed to it.

One exercise I learned some time ago (like 15+ years ago, lol,) was to take both your hands and gradually move them together, palm to palm, trying to sense the energy between them. When you get to about 1-2 inches of distance between both palms, you may notice a slight “change,” as if you can sense there being energy between them. This is similar say, as to when someone is standing behind you. Even if the have crept soundlessly, (and with no smell or other feature to alert you,) you will be aware of this presence. This is your energy sensing their energy.

Again, if you can become accustomed to SENSING energy (yours and the energy of other beings or items,) you will soon be able to manipulate it by force of will and use of concentration. Once you can manipulate the energy and will it, then you (or anyone) can influence the future…

Phew… I hope I answered that, but if it didn’t make sense or it wasn’t thorough enough, please tell me…that was a lot to write! 🙂

Q. Do you ever experience any unusual occurances when you are casting spells? Anything that freaked you out, made you laugh.. scared the heck out of you?

A: Not so much as one might think, but there have been some instances, I guess…

One of the more interesting things I had happened to me (and a client fave as far as stories go,) was that I was spellcasting on a particularly difficult reconcilation issue of my own. The spell in question was something where I needed to cast for approximately 24 or so hours, and this was “at the end” where I had some spellcandles burning on a plate – and a stoneware/mock porcelain plate which, if you read the rest of the story, is why Miss Cat tells you to use metal plates in your spells now, lol. I had the 2nd set in there (I had to use 2 sets to keep the spell candles going for 24 or so hours,) and these candles were burnt into a puddle, but still with pretty big wicks. I can’t honestly remember why I was near the spellcandles, other than that I was living in an apartment and burning the spell candles in the kitchen…so I was probably getting food or something. The next thing I know I hear this loud CRACK and an explosion noise…as something goes whizzing by me. I flopped a belly flop right on my floor. When I realized no more “gunshots” (which is what it sounded like,) were coming my way, I got up (about 10 seconds.) I look around… I had managed to explode the spellcandles’ plate, wax had gone flying, and (hooray for a kitchenette,) part of the plate blew up my TV…or at least had given it a pretty solid crack and it was useless…blown up is an exaggeration with the TV. 😉

Needless to say, in that instance the explosion was a positive sign – it “blew up,” the target’s resistance, and he returned to me. 🙂

Since several of my stories are more about how I learned fire safety the hard way, even though always concientous thereof, lol…and that’s nothing to do with the question being asked (though many of them are the funnier stories,) I’ll leave you with that one…it is a favorite. 🙂

Q: If you cast a love spell during a new moon or full moon will the spell have a stronger outcome – and being as it was cast on the full or new moon will the spells energy feel or manifest stronger on or around the dates of the next new or full moon?

A:It depends.

I don’t use Wiccan spellwork, or really European spellwork, so with me, it doesn’t often matter what the moon is doing. :S I am actually more concerned with what the sun is doing (solar-based tradition,) than the moon because I use African-based spellwork which is less dependant on lunar-based correspondences. In European-based spellwork, their spells are more lunar-based. A major misconception propegated by the pop-Wicca movement is that ALL spells require some sort of lunar-based correspondence…its not true. 😉

However, if you are using lunar influences, or using a spellwork dependant on said influence, this would depend on the aim of the love-spell. If it is a spell to initiate a new relationship or bring someone back you would want to use moon when it is in the 1st quarter (I hope I have my moon cycles right in re. to that number,) to the 2nd quarter, meaning from new to half-full. If you were using the moon to your advantage in re. to keeping something with you or keeping an influence strong, the 3rd quarter (half full to full,) is the best to use for this type of spell work. 1st and 2nd quarters are used to bring something to you. As the moon begins to wane, the 3rd quarter is best for reducing the influence of something or weakening its influence, and cursing, and then 4th quarter (Half full to new or “black”) is best for destroying something, banishing it, etc. Often in lunar based trads, it is apt to manifest within one moon cycle or so, IMHO…though some report that negative work (3-4 quarters,) tends to manifest on the new moon, and pos work (1-2 quarters,) tends to manifest on the full. This is not my experience.

I do not recommend casting a love spell on a new moon. I was always told in lunar based trads to never cast a love spell on the day before, the day of, or the day after the new moon, and to never cast a spell to bring anything to you during those days either. 😉 I would say actually, though, the day AFTER the new moon is the day to cast…

In regards to the full? I don’t honestly think it is helpful to use the full moon because you are using the “growth” of the moon to bring growth to your spell. I did once read that you should also not use the day before, day of, or day after full, to bring something to you… but… I’d say, you are using the growth of the planet (satellite, whatever,) to bring something to you, so to use the full moon simply would not be as effective as using the day AFTER the new moon to bring that thing to you. For example, when I use solar energies, I often start at dawn, and use the power of the rising sun to aid my spellcraft…plus that happens every day, so its really convenient, lol. 😉

Q: How important is timing of menstrual cycles (for the petioner or target) when beginning reconcilliation work? I have heard that if a new cycle has started (ie the person has already had a period since the breakup) it is much harder to get results. What are your thoughts?

A: As this was a recent topic of a well-known radio broadcast starring two well-known rootworkers, I forsee my a** being handed to me for saying this… 😉 BUT, I beg to differ, and I disagree with the idea that reconcilation magic/k is always or often easier before the female has had her next menstrual cycle as in before the menses and after the last time of intercourse. Now let me explain (already seeing the “Oh no you didn’t’s” in the back, hee hee.)

The obvious thing here to start with is that menopausal women and gay men also have love affairs that do break up and may need to be reconciled. Last I checked, neither menopausal women nor homosexual gentleman have a menstrual cycle, aka a period. If you ladies past your time of menstruating are bleeding vaginally, this is either endometriosis (runs in my family, too, and you have my sympathies,) or another serious medical problem…and if you gay gents are having periods…well, where you got a uterus is beyond me…and also transgendered persons? They feel love…last I checked transgendered people are also without a period…So…where do they fit in? Well, I’m getting to that. 😉

As best I can deduce, this is where this idea came in… If the woman had sex with her man (hetero relations right now, sorry my audience members who are ladies that like ladies, we’re gettin’ to you too,) the day her period had ended, and he ejaculated within her, we can assume that if the man in question walked out the door (and broke it off,) the moment he put his pants on, that his semen is still within her vaginal passage and will be for a few more days.

Now, many years ago, before we understood this completely, we probably believed that the semen absorbed into the uterine lining, even if it did not travel into the fallopian tubes to await the ripened ova (egg) of the female. We now know that the cervix, which is at the end of the vaginal passage and is the “Door to the uterus” is covered with a mucus plug. This plug ensures none of the sperm enters into the reproductive organs (uterus into fallopian tubes,) to fertilize an egg. If the mucus plug covering the opening of the cervix does not in any way thin as it does around ovulation, the spermatozoa will die within the vagina in a few days, and will be expelled by the natural cervical secretions (sometimes called vaginal secretions,) which are the female reproductive organ’s natural method of cleaning itself. They will then no longer be present in the vagina or within any part of the female’s body. Now, if the female is ovulating, the sperm may find enterance into the uterine cavity. Assuming our female is using birth control, or that her egg is not viable for fertilization, even now, the spermatozoa will fail in their duty to fertilize the egg, and will be expelled by the vagina, most likely before menstruation. So the idea that “part of the man,” is within the womb or vagina after a certain amount of days (assuming there is birth control of some form, a pill, etc,) is false. The sperm die and are expelled. If they were not, they would easily die within the reproductive cavity and probably cause horrible infection. Thankfully our Creator saw fit to make the vagina a self-cleaning device, thus why you have moistness and secretions in your vagina even if not sexually aroused.

Okay, *hands some barf bags out to the sensitive,* now that we’ve covered semen in vaginas 101, let’s go back to what I was saying about how people used to believe that the semen remained in the vagina and absorbed into the uterine lining. Since it was known that the egg implanted itself into the uterus and then a baby was born, it would only seem fit that sperm would do so as well (though they do not.) Further, as many ladies know, a baby is made prior to you “missing your period,” so obviously in the days before all of the nifty contraceptives we use now, there was a chance the man had fertilized an egg, therefore leaving some part of him within you.

This meant, when we erronously believed this, that the gent was “in you,” and therefore easier to do work on.

A similar concept is the feeding of menses to your man to keep him tied to you. However, this means the gentleman is “eating” part of you, and therefore IS absorbing you through the process of digestion. He is not expelling you (well, all of you, some is becoming part of his body thanks to digestion,) like he would a suppository.

Further, there are several fertile lesbians and are we to say that their sexual aides or their saliva or finger sweat (sorry, being graphic,) in some way is absorbed vaginally like semen? I mean, they have periods…so what do they do about ejaculate? Nothing – there is no semen in that vagina, my friends.

What would be MORE appropriate to say is that working reconciliation spellwork on someone is best done within the first mooncycle after you break up because THAT is when they are MOST LIKELY to change their mind on their own anyhow…. I mean, with lesbians, gay men, non-menstruating females and the transgendered people why is it that fertile ladies and hetero men would have to adhere to this? Certainly non-menstruating women are as important to their partners as menstruating ones, are they not?

I say, if you were about to have your period, and he left you, don’t even worry about this. I can think of one of my own personal cases of reconcilation where we were BOTH so cheesed off that reconciling him wouldn’t have worked for 4 months AT LEAST after we broke it off. The idea is to do it as fast as you can to try to influence the person when their feelings are still somewhat indecisive. As for the period thing… I dismiss it as archaic… To me, spellwork is really just an unexplainable science in many ways, and science has disproved that we absorb the ejaculate into our vaginas/uteruses/fallopian tubes, and has proved we expel said ejaculate unless an egg is fertilized.

So, IMHO, do the reconcilation spell as fast as you can – this is the idea, and the right one. Go after the target when you can have that person still be “tender” from the break and more apt to change your mind. Disregard the period stuff… I’m living proof that semen can live a very long time in a vagina (thank my mom for telling me this, but apparently my dad had relations with her 5-6 days or something prior to ovulation,) but that doesn’t mean semen is creeping about in there for 3 or 4 weeks. 😉

Alrighty, more question’s a coming…this was a lot for me to get done today. 😉 I expect to have the 2nd part of this article done no later than Oct 8!

Best,

~Cat