Peace be with you my friends! I hope you are enjoying the month of November and have some fun and relaxing plans for this upcoming holiday season. The other night, I was in the home of some friends and I decided to make a Voodoo oil lamp, a particular service that I had not performed in quite some time. Today, in most Afro-Caribbean magical practices, candles are commonly used to invoke saints and spirits. This however has not always been the case.
Spiritual oil lamps may be made to invoke any saint or spirit for any purpose.
Traditionally, practitioners of Voodoo and Santeria would make oil lamps from wicks suspended in oil held inside small ceramic basins, metal cauldrons, hollowed out coconuts and pumpkins. Different herbs and other ingredients were also added depending of which saint of spirit was being invoked and the purpose of the oil lamp.
This particular spiritual oil lamp was made to invoke the help of Ochun, Our Lady of Charity, to bring luck and financial blessings. We also made a small offering to Ochun of rum sweetened with honey to thank her for her help. I can’t speak for the other people, but in my case I have already begun to see Ochun’s powerful energy manifest. I would like to share with you the instructions for making this particular oil lamp. Spiritual oil lamps may be made to invoke any saint or spirit for any purpose, this is just one example.
Ochun’s Money Drawing Oil Lamp
You will need:
A small hollowed out pumpkin
A cotton wick
Sunflower or Olive Oil
Dried of Fresh Ginger
Parsley
Mustard Seeds
Basil
Cinnamon
The seven of diamonds from a deck of playing card
An image of Our Lady of Charity
Place the ginger, basil, mustard seeds and cinnamon inside the hollowed out pumpkin and fill with abundant oil and float the wick on top using the playing card to hold it in place.
Place the lamp in front of the image of Our Lady of Charity, the Catholic manifestation of Ochun, and light the wick. Pray in your own words and ask that money, good luck and success flow into your life. Let the lamp burn for at least seven hours or until all of the oil has been consumed. After this you may dispose of the lamp.
If you decide to try the spell, please share your experience with me or if you are interested in hiring me to make an oil lamp on your behalf, please send me an e-mail. I hope you have enjoyed learning about this particular service and until next time may your lives be filled with peace, love and abundant blessings.
Halloween and All Saints Day
Peace be with you my friends! I am so happy to report that I had the most wonderful Halloween and All Saints’ Day. I am extremely wiped out after all the celebrating and spiritual work that comes along with this time of year, so please excuse the brevity of this post.
Photos from the festivities!
I just wanted to take a few moments to share these photos of the Halloween and All Saints Day festivities from this most wonderful time of year. I spent Halloween night in a rural village with some friends. One of whom officiated over a traditional Wiccan calling of the corners ceremony. Later in the evening, we visited the local cemetery where we decorated the graves of his grandparents with flowers and candles, as is the tradition in this part of the world.
I also preformed many different services for myself and different people, cooked traditional foods, carved jack o’ lanterns and participated in so many other activities. It will be another week until I am fully rested. I just wanted to take this time to share a few photos and wish you, peace, joy and the sweetest of blessings!
Rice Charm for Money: A Prosperity Ritual
Peace be with you my friends! I am extremely busy with my yearly fall activities and am planning a massive ritual for All Souls' and All Saints' starting on the 31st. I just wanted to take this time to share a prosperity ritual that I have used a recommended for many years, the rice charm for money. It has been posted on my website for over two years, but in case you've missed it, here it is!
You may use this charm continuously.
This an old Southern Hoodoo charm for drawing wealth that my friend Glenda taught me in the late 90’s when we worked together in a restaurant. One evening we were washing and preparing rice to serve with gumbo and shrimp Creole, and she spontaneously told me of this old custom from the American South meant to bring wealth and success. Interestingly, rice is also a symbol of wealth and prosperity in many Asian and Middle Eastern cultures with its many grains symbolizing abundance. In Iran, there is a saying that grains of rice are beads of sweat fallen from the brow of Allah himself. I have used Glenda’s rice charm and recommended it to others ever since.
Rice Charm for Money
You will need:
A tea cup
Uncooked Rice
Coins of all denominations
First, take the tea cup and place a layer of rice on the bottom and then add a few coins and cover them with more rice. Continue the process until the tea cup if filled to the top and then place it either by your front door or on your spiritual altar. You may also choose to keep it in your place of business to attract customers and increase profits. It’s as simple as that!
The idea behind this powerful charm is that rice is a symbol of abundance and wealth and that as the humidity in the air swells the rice, so will your income grow! Also, if you would like to attract love as well as money, you can dye the rice with red food coloring before placing it in the tea cup with the coins. You may use this charm continuously, but it is advisable to change the rice once a year.
You may also wish to burn a green or gold candle next to the rice cup from time to time to give the charm an added kick.
Mid Autumn Moon Festival
Peace be with you my friends! For the next month, I am going to be extremely busy, and that is totally fine. Any spiritual worker will tell you that late September through early November is the busiest time of year. In Voodoo, this culminates in Fete Ghede, which begins the evening of October 31 and ends on November 2nd and is a time to honor our ancestors and all the dead in a much deeper and meaningful way than we do at other times of the year.
The lunar festival occurs on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month.
Autumn is a wonderful time of year during which the earth gives us the fruits it has been growing since spring and the veil between our world and the spirit world is at its thinnest. It’s even been called “The Season of the Witch.” Throughout time and in numerous cultures, there have been and continue to be holidays and festivals that recognize the many blessings of this time of year. One such holiday comes from China and is known as the mid-Autumn moon festival.
The lunar festival occurs on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, which coincides with the with the September or October full moon in the western calendar. This year, the holiday falls on the 30th of September. Throughout China, there is a three day period of celebration in which people return to their hometowns to spend time with their families and clean and decorate with flowers the tombs of their ancestors. This custom is observed even more closely is Korea where the holiday is known as Chusoek. I had the privilege of being in Korea one year for Chusoek and was deeply moved by the way people took time from their hectic schedules to enjoy a time of feasting and celebration with their families and to remember their ancestors. Even today in rural parts of China, Korea and Vietnam people make food offerings to their ancestors on this day to esnure they have a happy afterlife and to ask their blessing for the upcoming year. This is very similar to our observance of Fete Ghede in Voodoo and to the Roman Catholic observance of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days.
As the name would indicate, another important element to this holiday is the moon. As any spiritual worker will tell you, the phase of the moon is extremely important when working magick so I am quite surprised that in Voodoo, Wicca and other magical religious traditions there is a no holiday that commemorates the moon as an entity. I am delighted that this does exist in Asian cultures. On the mid autumn lunar festival, many people host outdoor parties food is placed on a table and touched by moonbeams before being eaten. Moon cakes, small dense pastries made of flaky pastry filled with nuts, fruits, and all kinds of sweet pastes, are eaten as well during this time and are thought to bring good luck.
There is also a legend about a reclusive Goddess from ancient times named Chang’e who lives on the moon. Curiously, Chang’e is not herself the goddess of the moon, but rather the goddess of immortality who just happens to make her home on the moon. I have decided that this coming Sunday on the night of the full moon I’m going to sit on my balcony in the moonlight and soak up as much positive strengthening energy as I can. I simply can’t resist taking in the powerful energy that abounds on that night and this time of year in general.
Thank you again for taking the time to check out my blog. May the mid-autumn moon light fill you with peace, luck and happiness!
One of the many magical uses for Pumpkins!
Peace be with you my friends! We are once again entering Fall, the most magical of seasons! I've discussed in the past several magical uses for pumpkins from various cultures around the world. Today I'd like to share a money and prosperity spell that comes from the Caribbean. Next time you are at the market out at an rural farm stand, pick up a pumpkin and give it a try!
A money and prosperity spell using pumpkins.
The pumpkin is a highly magical gourd! There are many magical uses for pumpkins as it represents abundance, prosperity and luck. In Santeria, it is sacred to Ochun, the Yoruba Orisha of love and money and is commonly used in many services done under her patronage. I have seen the power contained within these blessed fruits and I find it no coincidence that cultures throughout the world as far apart as the Balkans, West Africa, China and the Caribbean attribute magical properties to them. This following spell is common to both Obeah and Santeria, two beautiful Afro-Caribbean religions. It is a simple service to invoke aid of Ochun who is closely associated with Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba. This simple ritual can confer wealth, attract good luck and even bring about love and marriage as a side benefit.
You will need:
A small sugar pumpkin or Caribbean yellow pumpkin
Holy Water
Honey
5 Shiny Pennies
Paper Bag from the Grocery Store
First remove the top from the pumpkin and scoop out the insides as if you were carving a jack-o-lantern.
Next, cut a square of brown paper from the grocery store bag and write you wishes, desires and petitions on it.
Place the paper inside the pumpkin.
Next toss in the 5 pennies and drizzle honey inside as well.
Lastly, sprinkle five drops of Holy Water into the pumpkin and replace the top. Take the pumpkin to a river and toss it in. Then wait for Ochun to work her sweet magic in your life! Thanks for reading my blog and learning about one of the many magical uses for pumpkins!
