#Brujeria

[texaschainsawmascara]

me n one of the tumblr girlies

2girls1bottl3

& yes we know, don’t pour salt outdoors

[brujadepinarrio]

What makes a practice a closed practice? I have seen people say “this is a closed practice” or “doing this is a closed practice” but I never understood it once, what does a practice being closed mean and how does a practice become closed?

a closed practice refers to a spiritual or cultural tradition restricted to a specific group of people, often tied to ancestry, heritage, or initiation. These practices are protected to preserve their sacredness and cultural identity, and participation is typically limited to those within the originating group or who have received formal permission or training.

What makes a practice labeled as a closed practice?

1) Cultural and Historical Significance: The practice is integral to the identity of a specific cultural group, often stemming from a history of colonization or marginalization.

2) Sacred Knowledge: These practices include teachings, rituals, or symbols considered sacred and guarded against misuse or misrepresentation.

3) Initiation or Ancestral Connection: Some practices require a direct cultural connection, ancestral ties, or formal initiation from someone within the tradition. (This can be founded in a lot of African diaspora religions and African traditional religions, as well with many rites of Hinduism & Buddhism)

4) Protection from Cultural Appropriation: Many closed practices have been historically exploited or commodified by outsiders, leading to their communities enforcing strict boundaries.

Examples of Closed Practices:

1) Santería (Regla de Ocha): A syncretic Afro-Caribbean religion originating in Cuba. Participation requires formal initiation, and the practice is deeply tied to the descendants of enslaved Africans and their connection to the Orishas, many people are also born into this practice and taught within it, so it’s basically initiation

2) Palo Monte (Palo Mayombe): An Afro-Cuban spiritual tradition with Bantu roots. It involves working with spirits(mpungus), sacred cauldrons (ngangas), and ancestral veneration(nfumbes also called nfumbis). Only those initiated into the practice can properly perform its rituals.

3) Curanderismo Rituals (Specific Forms): While some elements of Curanderismo (a Latin American healing tradition) are open, certain rituals—such as those tied to family lineages or Indigenous practices—are closed and not meant to be shared or practiced outside of the culture.

4) Mesoamerican Indigenous practices: A sacred sweat lodge ritual originating with Indigenous peoples like the Nahua and Maya. It’s intended for spiritual and physical cleansing and requires knowledge of traditional protocols.

5) Hoodoo: A syncretic African American spiritual tradition with roots in African, Indigenous, and European practices. Its rituals, especially those involving ancestral veneration and spiritual guidance, are deeply personal and should be approached with respect and understanding of their origins.

6) Brujería(no not in as the Spanish word but the folk magic of Latin America) A Latin American spiritual tradition that incorporates witchcraft, healing, and ancestral worship. Participation in Brujería often requires Latin American heritage, particularly in practices tied to familial and cultural heritage since most of it is passed down

7) Candomblé: A syncretic Afro-Brazilian religion with roots in Yoruba, Fon, and Bantu traditions. Like Santería, it requires formal initiation to participate in rituals and interact with the Orishas.

8) Amazigh Practices: Spiritual traditions of the Amazigh people in North Africa, particularly in regions of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. These practices involve sacred rituals, herbal healing, and ancestral worship, often passed down through generations and typically reserved for those with a direct cultural connection.

Why Are These Practices Closed?(not limited)

1) They serve as a means of preserving cultural identity and resilience, especially in the face of colonization and erasure.

2) Misuse or commodification by outsiders often distorts their meaning, disrespects their sacredness, and exploits the communities they come from.

Respecting closed practices involves honoring the boundaries set by the communities that hold them sacred and engaging only when invited or trained by members of the tradition.

[adobealmanac]

The magic of scissors ✂️

There are many often negative superstitions surrounding scissors, from the Indigenous idea that using scissors during a wedding will cause the groom to become impotent to the notion that breaking a pair of scissors is a bad omen of arguments and distress in the home. However, in colonial New Mexico there was a vastly different notion, that being that scissors can be a positive and protective amulet.

In brujeria and curanderismo, scissors, specifically made of iron, are seen as deeply protective objects. While often said to be protective against witchcraft, modern pagans are welcome to use them as a general protective tool. Typically open scissors are used to protect against malevolent entities and fairies, however they may be used while closed too. Cutting the cord in a cord cutting ritual with iron scissors may aid in cutting off a psychic vampire.

Some superstitions from here include cutting spider webs with iron scissors to prevent the witches in the form of guajalote (the turkey) from sucking the blood of your children. It is also common to see a pair of open or closed scissors hung above the entryway to prevent evil from entering the home. This tradition is one of my favorites, as the scissors always feel so powerful and protecting whenever I walk beneath them. They may also be placed under the bed to prevent bad dreams.

New Mexico is an interesting place for folklore such as this to exist, as we tend to be very isolated from other cultures other than our Indigenous neighbors, which causes many of our own traditions to persevere for quite some time, along with our cultures blending with that of the natives who belong to this place. While in recent times it has become easier to travel here, it is still a relatively unpopulous place, with roughly 2.1 million inhabitants spread out over 121,280 square miles. With such space and isolation comes many tales.. such as that of the chupacabra, el coco, thunderbirds, and skinw**kers. If you choose to wander into our land, do, proceed with caution. That being said, we do have some phenomenal natural wonders such as white sands and cool festivals such as the balloon fiesta in ABQ. It's worth the trek, but be prepared and be safe.

[southernmermaidsgrotto]

There's levels to ancestral connection, and you shouldn't skip any of them.

Take this as your reminder to first of all, spend time with your spirits, without expecting anything in return. Heavy on that last part. You don't make and maintain a genuine connection with someone just by showing up to their doorstep every time you need something from them. Treat them as people because they are. Your people. You should care for them as much as they care for you.

Be it ancestors (specifically direct blood lineage or adoptive family, any deceased human relative) or ancestral spirits (in general, that is, all ancestral allies and hereditary connections not just your ancestors). Just make time to hang out. Walk up to their space, a cup of your favorite drink in hand, give them their preferred drink and just chat. Don't ask anything in return. If you have an altar for them, do that. But it can be just going to visit their graves and giving libations and flowers, and telling them how your life's going, sharing memories together, remembrance, or just to listen. It can also be going to the beach or a river, and same thing, pour a drink and talk to them, and listen back. It can be your plant allies, while you're watering them, or putting eggshells or honey or sugar water or other good nutrients and fertilizers on their soil. It can be visiting your ancestors in dreams, and spending time with them there. There's so many ways to do this.

The second level to this is letting them sit in your body too. Listen. Become familiar with how they make you feel. With the signs of their arrival and presence. With the signs they communicate with and what they mean to you. With how they let you know they have a message, or that they're in for a visit. And let them in. Dance to your grandma's favorite beats. Sing your grandpa's favorite songs. Make a family recipe and share a meal with them, enjoy it for them and with them.

Ancestral reverence isn't just the big rituals and they're not the most important aspect of it, it is the everyday coexistence, in your little but constant everyday ways.

Do as you do but also as they did. You're an extension of them and they're an extension of you. They not only walk with you, you carry them within you.

Honor that.

[devotedtodeath13]

I love you Santi ❤️

[trippiwonder]

Plants of Santa Muerte

A

Agave: Self confidence, Love-Magic.

Aloe Vera: Protection(especially for children & pregnant women), self love, inner beauty.

Apple: Knowledge, wisdom, necromancy, healing psychosomatic ailments.

Apricot: Love-Magick (especially for gender-variant people). Wisdom spells (especially focused on one's own self or your masculine side if you're a woman, or feminine side if you're a man.

Avocado: Love and lust spells(attracting men), erotic beauty, increase male virility.

B

Beans: Friendship-Magick.

Belladonna: Lust(enhancing one's seductiveness), protection(cord-cutter), connect to other dimensions and realms of consciousness.

Berry: Raspberries are used in female fertility spells (Raspberries are used to create). Black berries are used in protection and healing psychological trauma (Blackberries are used to destroy).

Burdock: Protection(keeping harm and danger away), attraction (people, places, things).

C

Cactus: Protection(guard against those who wish to do harm), Chastity spells (ward off unwanted sexual advances/aggression).

Cherry: Love-Magick (lust to love).

Chili Peppers: Chastity spells, Protection(cooling/calming).

Chocolate: Luxury, prosperity, erotic love. Dark chocolate is preferred.

Chrysanthemum: Necromancy, communing with the dead.

Cilantro: Self-acceptance, self-love, stopping/preventing bullying(giving victim courage to stop being victimized), Maintain grace during stress.

Cinnamon: Money-Magick(expand prosperity), Lust-Magick(add sensuality to relationship).

Coca Leaves: Offering to spirits, tool of divination, aid to energize mind during meditation.

Coffee Beans: Break addictions, Breaking self illusions.

D

Dandelion: Self-confidence to be stand out of the crowd, Detoxify negative thinking.

H

Honeysuckle: Expedite spell speed.

Hyacinth: Gay male love-magick(help with coming out of the closet or accepting one's own homosexuality).

J

Jasmine: Dream work(prophetic dreams). magnifies emotions in spell work like love or lust.

L

Lemon: Cleansing, Healing-Magick.

Licorice: Hexes , harmful magick, combat addictions, promote longevity.

Lily: Break love spells, ease transitional pain of loss(friends, breakups, divorce, death).

Lime: Cleansing spiritual ailments, love magick(zest/strengthen relationships).

M

Marijuana: Protection(from law and harm), Money-Magick.

N

Nettle: Protection-Magick(to get a handle on what is causing harm). In Healing-Magick(get a hold on ailments(arthritis)).

O

Orange: Cleansing the mind of harmful thoughts and emotions, and countering sorrow and depression in it's physical association.

P

Palo Santo: Healing-Magick(unknown ailment), Protection-Magick(block all harm spiritual/physical/emotional).

Pau d'Arco: Healing-Magick(critical condition), Undo/abort magick spells that gone wrong.

Peach: Gay male love magick.

Peppermint: Memorization (students/lawyers), quell arguments, spats among friends/lovers/coworkers.

Plum: Healing magick(over-come blockages).

Pomegranate: Healing-Magick(blood and feminine ailments), Increase fertility, prosperity, empowers women.

R

Rose: Red(Erotic Love), Pink(romantic love), White(pure platonic love between friends/family/self-love), Yellow(love of life).

T

Tobacco: Communing with the Divine, empowers men.

V

Vanilla: Lust-Magick(foreplay, oral, fetishes).

W

Wine: Divination, development of psychic abilities.

Y

Yerba Mate: Protection-Magick(standing ground), mental clarity, self-confidence.

[justapinkfairy]

[spoiledbratblog]

[texaschainsawmascara]

[brujadepinarrio]

🌺 Medicinal & Spiritual Properties Of Hibiscus🌺

Hibiscus is a large genus of flowering shrubs and trees in the mallow family, Malvaceae. Native to tropical and subtropical regions,Hibiscus is native to many parts of the world including Africa, Asia, and the islands of the Pacific

Medicinal Properties: Hibiscus is high in antioxidants and offers many potential benefits. In particular, it may help promote weight loss, reduce the growth of bacteria and cancer cells, and support the health of the heart and liver, it also helps with lowering blood pressure

Spiritual Properties: hibiscus is also very great with Love Rituals and Love Magic in general, it’s great for increasing relationships love and as well grateful for lust, it’s also great for very strong protection, and it is associated with Venus, making it great for feminine energies

How to utilize it: you can make a beverage out of it

Ingredients:

1/4 cup dried hibiscus flowers

4 cups of filtered water

Sweetener of your choice such as sugar,honey, or agave syrup (optional)

Fresh mint leaves and raspberries for garnish(optional)

Instructions:

1) Combine Ingredients: Place the dried hibiscus flowers in a 1-quart jar or medium-sized pitcher.

2) Add Water: Pour the filtered water over the hibiscus flowers. Stir to ensure the flowers are fully submerged.

3) Steep: Cover the jar or pitcher and refrigerate. Allow the mixture to steep until it turns a bright red color, which typically takes at least 20 minutes. For a more robust flavor and deeper color, you can let it steep overnight.

4) Strain: Once the tea has reached your desired strength, strain it into another container to remove the hibiscus flowers.

5) Sweeten (Optional): If you prefer a sweeter tea, add your chosen sweetener to taste, stirring until fully dissolved.

6) Serve: Pour the tea into glasses filled with ice. Garnish with fresh mint leaves and raspberries if desired.

Variations:

Fizzy Hibiscus Tea: For a sparkling version, mix the concentrated hibiscus tea with sparkling water. Adding a squeeze of lime juice can provide a refreshing citrus note.

Spiced Hibiscus Tea: Before refrigerating the tea to steep, consider adding a cinnamon stick to the mixture. The warm spice complements the tartness of the hibiscus beautifully.

Hot Hibiscus Tea: If you prefer a warm beverage, place 1 tablespoon of dried hibiscus flowers in a tea infuser. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over the infuser in a mug and let it steep for about 5 minutes. Remove the infuser and sweeten the tea with honey and a bit of lemon juice to taste.

Same as well with ritualism, dress a candle with it, put it in a spell jar for divination or love magic as hibiscus is great for divination as well, make a oil out of it and dress a candle with it to promote love and lust (ofc watch out for the fire hazard and practice fire safety!)

Until next time✨🌺🦩

[adobealmanac]

Consecration and protection of the home

During the fall and winter, often at campfires or near the fireplace, stories of the paranormal and the unexplained are shared. These stories often center around the places that are closest to us, such as a family home, a favorite campsite, or a commonly traveled dirt road. Many people are hesitant to speak of these events, however, they often feel safe or encouraged to share them over a late-night cup of hot cocoa and s'mores.

Scary stories often get me jittery, and one thing that provides me comfort is protecting the home from stirred-up spirits and negative energies. Creating the home into a refuge is vital to the spiritual health of the home overall. While there are many ways and traditions regarding protecting the home, I will share two methods that I find the most useful.

Method 1 - Salt and Pepper Protection Ritual

Begin by cleansing your home with the method of your choosing. My go-to for this method is mopping the floors with a cleaner like pine-sol as it cleanses the entirety of the floors, which is important for this method.

Then, open all of the exterior doors. Using a broom sweep outwards over all of the thresholds. As you do this, command any unwanted energies to leave by repeating "I command ALL energies that do not serve me, that do not have good intentions, and that take away from the spirit of this home to LEAVE. You are NO LONGER welcome HERE. As I sweep, you EXIT."

Once that is done, it is time to prepare your herbs and ingredients. I use table salt mixed with rosemary, ceremonial tobacco, sun-charged beer, whiskey, or gin, and whole peppercorns. If you do not have authentic ceremonial tobacco, use the alcohol in its place. I was gifted my tobacco by a dear friend and mentor of mine who comes from that practice and cultural background. If you want to use tobacco as I do, I suggest you seek out a mentor yourself to learn about the practice. Once you have these items prepared and at hand, you may move on to the next step.

Begin by going to the exterior of your home. Using your charged alcohol, begin to offer it to the earth. If you have tobacco, offer that to the earth as you were taught to. I always give thanks to the wonderful space I occupy and am a steward of, and acknowledge that this land is older than I am and that it is my elder. I complete my offering by kneeling and touching my forehead to the earth, being sure to give profound thanks.

Now, locate the four primary external corners of your home. If your space has more than four sides or is oddly shaped, form a square around the space that wholly encompasses it. This may be represented as the fence around your property, or the outside corners of your apartment building. Beginning at the northernmost corner, pour a small mound of the salt mixture into a small dish in front of the corner, and say "As this salt is placed here today, it marks the beginning of its service to this home. It will fortify, protect, and create sanctuary here. It will blow away with the wind once its protective powers are used up." Then, soak the mound of salt in the alcohol. Repeat the above steps for the remaining three corners, going to the east, then the south, and conclude to the west.

Now, enter your home. Locate every external corner of your home and place four whole peppercorns at the base of each one. Try to tuck them in as best as you can so they are unintrusive and remain mostly undisturbed. Wet each pile with your charged alcohol and ask the pepper for its protection.

Once the above steps are complete, store the remaining alcohol and periodically pour it onto the peppercorns and salt to recharge them. If you see that the dishes of salt are low, refill them with the salt mixture.

Method 2 - Miraculous Soil Protection Ritual

This protection typically requires the 'holy' dirt from Chimayo. If this is inaccessible for you, you may be able to request some to be sent to you by the church. If you prefer not to I will teach you to make your own substitute.

To make a suitable substitute first you must locate some seemingly dry or infertile land such as cracked dirt from a drought. Now, look for signs of life in the dirt. Look for a small plant that is somehow defying the odds, or miraculously continuing to thrive in such harsh environments. Once you find a spot of soil with life, collect a cup full and leave the rest for the earth. Thank it by offering it water. Water the plant and tend to it; help it succeed at life. Then pray over a handful of table salt the following prayer:

Being of the earth. In the name of the ineffable God, and by the power of the tetragrammaton, be you consecrated in the service of the most high. Imbew this salt with the powers to protect this house and everything and everyone in it from all evil. Ometeo.

Once complete, wet the salt with distilled water and mix it into the cup of dirt. Allow it to thoroughly dry before use.

Once you acquire or make holy dirt, head to the front of your home with a small dish filled with the dirt. Begin to sprinkle it along the threshold of your door and ask for protection. State that no negativity may pass the sacred soil.

Then, sprinkle the dirt around the perimeter of the front facade of your house. Do not use too much. You should not be able to physically see the dirt. Then place the dirt on top of any plants near your front door. If there are none, consider planting a chile pepper bush for protection. Rosemary is another good option, along with juniper.

Now, repeat the above steps for any walls containing an external door. If there are none place the dirt at each corner. If there is another wall, do not place it at the corners, as it is not needed.

Once completed, pour a glass of water out from the inside of each external door while standing within it. As you do this say "As I pour this water it washes away all remaining evil. It may no longer reside here."

Protecting the home is a vital step to protecting those who reside within it. These methods are my two personal go-to methods for every home I inhabit, and I hope that you find use in these methods. Be sure to execute physical safety too, as that is equally if not more important than spiritual safety. Be sure to continue to regularly cleanse your home too, as you do not want negativity to fester within the home itself.

[yourlocalnymph]

Is there any groupchat or community about witchcraft here?

[sir-illmatic]

The time is NOW. 🪄🌿🥔🌾🃏🫗👻🙏🏾💨💭💀✊🏾

[justapinkfairy]

[magicaguajiro]

Caribbean Folk Saints and Mighty Dead: A Precursor

We all have family members who take on an almost Mythic quality after they pass on. They may have been a character in life, or a perhaps a spiritual practitioner. Maybe they were known for their generosity, or lack of it, or their strength or brilliance. Nonetheless, it is someone who, even in death, still makes an impact. In personal practices, we may work with these ancestors for guidance and healing, but what happens when their influence spreads past your family, into the local community or even entire country? This and many other strange circumstances often explain the origin and powers of Folk Saints and Elevated Dead. I will be going into the various Folk Saints and Deified Ancestors of the Caribbean, (including Florida), but before I can do that I need to explain where these spirits come from, and why they are so potent in our everyday lives.

What are Folk Saints and Mighty Dead?

Folk Saints and Mighty Dead are spirits of dead people who were either elevated in life, or became elevated after death. Their elevation often is then connected to their ability to grant various petitions made to them. Some of the Folk Saints I will be talking about were used to disguise other figures who were outlawed by the Colonial government at the time, while others are various figures of marginalized communities who gained sorcerous or otherworldly reputations after death.

Cuba and Florida are Lands of diaspora and syncretism. Many different traditions abound and each tradition has multiple lineages, so the classification of spirits differs depending on the worldview of the person explaining. Some practitioners work within a framework of Catholicism, some use elements and some flat-out reject Catholicism completely for decolonization purposes. For this reason, I have differentiated Folk Saints from the Mighty Dead.

Folk Saints will include those spirits who are worked with in a Catholic context, but are usually not canonized or not at first. On the other hand, the Mighty Dead will include spirits who are venerated amongst Indigenous and African traditions in Cuba as well as the surrounding areas, as to not group them under a title created by Colonizers. If you are Cuban or Caribbean, these Folk Saints and Mighty Dead offer power at a closer degree because they are more proximal to your Spirit Court, and may even already have bonds with them.

It is important to note, spirits like Orisha and Cemí have very specific protocols, manners and taboos when approaching them, so this is best done with the help of a priest, such as Oloricha or Babalawo, or a Taíno Behike. These are not energies you simply feel drawn to and work with. Orisha and Cemi are in some cases Deified Ancestors and others Personified Forces of Nature, among other things. This varies from the Ancestors and Spirits I will be discussing in this series.

Benefits of Working with The Mighty Dead

Folk Saints and Ancestors give us a closer connection to the divine through their proximity to the Divine and their individual virtues and personalities. As with all spirit relationships, you will get out what you put in.

Folk Saints who are related to the Land you live on, such as Uncle Monday or Bessie Graham for us Floridians, can help to deepen your connection with the local community. They can help you to further your relationship with the Earth and introduce you to other Land spirits.

Spirits related to your Ancestry can help to work through generational issues. Some ancestral spirits, like José Martí or Guamá for us Cubans, are related to ideas of War, Rebellion, and overcoming oppression. These spirits can be worked with for the same pursuits of defeating oppressors in the modern day. Each spirit has a story and is multi-faceted, so it really depends on what your connection is to the Spirit and what you are capable of offering them.

How to Work with Deified Dead

Working with these spirits is individual to each spirit, based on what their heritage is, as well as their personal tastes. When starting out, it’s best to keep things simple. Instead of going and creating an entire altar dedicated to a spirit, begin by praying about it at your Bóveda or ancestral altar. Here, you may find that a spirit is not compatible with your current situation, or doesn’t want to work with you ever! Should the omens be good, however, and you may begin establishing a connection to that spirit Research and talking to other devotees can give you great insight into what a relationship with that Spirit can look like.

My formula for reaching out to these spirits is always different, but I follow basic principles. I always begin with a representation of the spirit, a small offering and a candle. The representation can be anything, from a statue to a printed picture or even just their name on some paper. The offering is in most cases water until the spirit makes other wants known to me, but when a spirit doesn’t take water I offer food or tobacco instead. The candle is something I was taught helps to enhance spirit communication, carrying messages between the worlds. It is helpful to research about whoever you are attempting to communicate with, and if possible you should speak to other practitioners who work with the same Spirit. Often times, this is someone-you-know’s father or grandmother. From here, you should sit with whatever entity you are contacting, allowing yourself to experience a personal relationship with them. I will share individual experiences of what each spirit has been like in practice for me, or people I know, but for beginning this is a good basic way to start out.

I look forward to sharing more about these incredible figures who influence my favorite corner of the world to this day.

Paz y Progreso 🕯️