1998

HOODOO ELEMENTS

Graveyard dirt: must leave an offering at the disturbed grave, coins or liquor. Mercury dime if possible —Mercury a psychopomp. Soldier’s grave favored.

Goofer Dust: graveyard dirt, sulfur, salt. Anvil dust (power of blacksmith).

Four-leaf clover: from Celtic tradition that clover was a charm against evil spirits. First three leaves bring hope, faith, love. Fourth brings luck. Four-leaf clover also a quincunx.

Rattlesnake skin, rattle, or rattlesnake salt: chopped-up whole snake put in jar of salt, left for a period of time. Dried snake parts discarded, remaining salt has magical potency.

Coins: Mercury dime because of mythical associations. Mercury considered first metal in alchemy. Messenger god —ie, go-between, mediator. In voodoo, see Legba. Mercury also god of magicians, derived from Hermes. (Hermes Trimegistus, hermetic) Statues of Mercury and Hermes set at crossroads.

Fluids: blood, menstrual fluid, urine, saliva, semen.

Hair: self if protective charm, intended focus if love or hex spell

John the Conqueror root —form of morning glory, represents power of mythical African trickster sold into slavery.

Rabbit’s foot: left hind especially. Rabbit should be taken in a cemetery if possible. Lucky because of association with hare as witches’ familiar?

Conjure bag, mojo hand, nation sack. Color of fabric, contents of bat create different effects. Love, power, sex, luck.

Crossing marks laid down in chalk, salt, crossroads dirt. Formula varies, but marks usually laid down in cross pattern —quincunx— with a circle around it. Wavy lines symbolically representing snakes also used. Patterns of small stones or crossing powder. Bad luck for the person the charm is intended for —sometimes also for whoever else crosses it.

Leftover elements should be discarded at a crossroad if possible.

Hebrew/Arab: khamsa —“hand of Fatima” or “hand of Miriam.” Arabic word means “five.”

Amulet, fro Arabic hamala —“to carry”— related to Arabic tilasm, from Greek telesma or talen, where “talisman” comes from. Root has to do with initiation and mystery. Contained gems, often turquoise in Arabic countries. Also contained everything else from hair to a baby’s caul. Herbs, animal parts, coins, acorns, bamboo, bells, animal figurines, religious symbols, runes, crickets, drawings. Tattoos sometimes substituted. Turkish nazar.

Marco Polo: “In an attempt of Kublai Khan to make a conquest on the island of Zipangu, a jealousy arose between the two commanders of the expedition, which led to an order for putting the whole garrison to the sword. In obedience to this order, the heads of all were cut off excepting of eight persons, who by the efficacy of a diabolical charm, consisting of a jewel or amulet introduced into the right arm, between the skin and the flesh, were rendered secure from the effects of iron, either to kill or wound. Upon this discovery being made, they were beaten with a heavy wooden club, and presently died.”

Amber prevents illness

Coral protects from evil

Opals increase magical strength

Sapphire is good fortune

Pearls for romance

Egyptian amulets: serapis protects against dangers from earth; canopus from water; a hawk, from air; a snake from fire.

Levi: “The Pentagram must be always engraved on one side of the talisman, with a circle for the Sun, a crescent for the Moon, a winged caduceus for Mercury, a sword for Mars, a G for Venus, a crown for Jupiter, and a scythe for Saturn. The other side of the talisman should bear the sign of Solomon, that is, the six-pointed star formed by two interlaced triangles; in the centre there should be placed a human figure for the sun talismans, a cup for those of the Moon, a dog’s head for those of Jupiter, a lion’s for those of Mars, a dove’s for those of Venus, a bull’s or goat’s for those of Saturn. The names of the seven angels should be added either in Hebrew, Arabic, or magic characters similar to those of the alphabets of Trimethius. The two triangles of Solomon may be replaced by the double cross of Ezekiel’s wheels, this being found on a great number of ancient pentacles. All objects of this nature, whether in metals or in precious stones, should be carefully wrapped in silk satchels of a colour analogous to the spirit of the planet, perfumed with the perfumes of the corresponding day, and preserved from all impure looks and touches.”

Seal of Solomon. Used to bind demons.

The Fool, the Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, The World.

Tarot as story. The Fool (whoever is asking for the reading) must learn certain lessons. Order and connections between the other cards tell the Fool’s story.

Banshee. Bean sidhe. Sometimes they are dressed in white, sometimes in a winding sheet or burial gown. They wail, they scream, sometimes they sing to signal that death approaches for some member of the household where they are heard. Usually they come in one of three forms, which correspond to the three stages of womanhood (and maybe have something to do with the age of the person whose death is being signaled). A banshee is either a beautiful young woman, a matron, or a corpselike hag. As a hag, she has a link, way back, with notorious English hag figures such as Black Annis, a one-eyed crone, physically strong and with the features of a demon: long teeth, iron claws, and a blue face. She was said to hide in a giant oak that was the sole survivor of the primeval forest. Like many hag figures, she was a cannibal who preferred children, which she ate after laying them alive. Their skins hung in a cave beneath the tree. (Link here to the Greek, Lamia, a demonic/monstrous figure, often half-serpent, who eats children.)

Baba Yaga, from Russian lore, is another example. Living deep in the forest, in a magical hut that moved around on chicken legs, she often ate children, but unlike Black Annis, Baba Yaga could be an important source of magical help for a hero or questing child. If you asked her the right kind of question, or caught her in the right mood, she might help you on your errand instead of making a meal of you.

The banshee often appeared crying as she washed bloody clothes by a river —usually the clothes of someone about to die. Also, she can appear as a crow, rabbit, or weasel.

Born on Halloween, said to convey gift of speaking to the dead

1424 Wladislaus III

1632 Jan Vermeer (possibly baptism)

1705 Clement XIV

1795 John Keats

1835 Adolf von Bayer

1887 Chiang Kai-Shek

1892 Alexander Alekhine

1896 Ethel Waters

1902 Abraham Wald

1912 Dale Evans

1918 Ian Stevenson

1922 Norodom Sihanouk

1930 Michael Collins

1931 Dan Rather

1950 Jane Pauley

Died on Halloween

1448 John VIII Palaeologus

1723 Cosimo de Medici

1883 Swami Dayananda Saraswati

1926 Harry Houdini

1984 Indira Ghandi

1987 Joseph Campbell

Events

1517 Luther nails up 95 theses

1982 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes published

1941 Mount Rushmore completed

Conan Doyle —History of Spiritualism, 1926. Eusapia. Palladino, Mina Crandon. Frauds.

Unsolved Serial Murders

1884-85 Austin, Texas —servant girls

1888 Jack the Ripper —probably springheel

1918-19 Axeman of New Orleans — claimed to be a demon, in letters

1935-38 Cleveland Torso killed (possibly activ 20s-50s)

1946 Texarkana, Phantom Killer

1968-84 Capital City murders, Madison, WI

1968-69 Zodica killer, California —possibly active 1963-71

1971-76 Alphabet killer, upstate NY

1976-86 Coastal California —linked to East Area Rapist in Oakland?

1979-86 Night Stalker, Califoria

1980s Southside Slayer, Los Angeles

1982 Green River Killer

Ciudad Juarez —hundreds (?) of young women