#Rootwork questions

[conjuremanj]

Using Spanish Moss For Money.

In a earlier post I talked about Spanish Moss and how it grows in the south, how it can be used and other info. (Links at the bottom)

In this post Im giving you some workings using that moss that you won't find in any so-called hoodoo books. These are real workings handed down and used in the south by root workers in the hoodoo tradition/ religion.

What's A Money Bowl? It's a bowl of items that is created and used to draw in money to help get that little extra change you need for what ever reason.

Simple but effective Money Bowl 👇

First get you a bowl and put in some fenugreek . To draw in money and add a few coins or bills if you like to put in it. Last burn a green candle over it. Once it's burns down place that bowl in your kitchen or on a table by the door. and that will bring money into you home.

Now what happens if you already made a good money bowl and you need just a bit more for something like a gap in your budget that needs to be filled. 👇

First Working: If you add some moss into your fenugreek bowl by making a little hold in the center of the fenugreek and putting in the moss to fill that hole, now you will start see money coming to you to help fill in the hold in your budget, for that extra money.

(How does that work, if there's a hold in your budget and Moss draws in, then putting a hold in your bowl to represent the hold in your wallet and your filling it with Moss to draw in that extra money)

Second Working: If you need money fast and there is someone that owes you money here's how to get it. (and it can work for court)

Take a strip of paper and write down the person who owes you money, Put it into a ball of Spanish Moss and nail it above your front door and that person will be compelled to give it to you.

(Why? Because Moss is also used to put out not just draw in but in this case having the person's name surrounded by moss will have your boss mind on money, having it in your house bring it to you)

Now if you want a little more control on that person you can add a little controlling oil to the Spanish moss. (Just a little)

2. Now if you don't have anyone who owes you money just add money drawing oil to the ball. Pray the 23rd psalm and Isaiah 55:11 then place it above your front door. Open the door and say "Money Flows In To Me Rapidly". (Take your time because I want you to Invision that money coming to you)

Now Read And Understand This One: We all want that money to keep coming in right and there are many ways to draw it in but what happens afterwards? This is something that a book don't teach.

How do we keep that money staying in and not going out the door once we have it, so we don't have to doing the working again.👇

Third Working:

Take your Moss and make a ball add in ether some finger nail and toe nail clippings and put it into the moss ball and put it above your back door. This will help keep your money from going out.

2. You can also do both the front door working and this back door working one together, (If you don't have a back door just put it in the back of the home somewhere)

3. Another way to compell is to make a clay doll and take some moss and pook it in the clay doll. Write the person's name on paper and pin it to the clay doll. (This will compell them to give you their money)

(This works good if let's say you need extra hours to make some extra money, do this to your boss for those extra hours, Or if you are in court add the person's name who makes that decision on the money you'll get it)

Is will help bring money in.

Forth Working/Baths: Some old school workers would use Moss like this.👇

For this you can add a few pinches of moss to your bath and read the 23rd psalm and Isaiah 55:11. (Can also add a few drops of money drawing oil in your bath with it)

This helps bring you money.

2. You can wash the bottom of your feet with moss and it will lead you to money .

NOW I want you to remember something if you add anything like cinnamon to these working to help or try to speed things up. That person may only give you some of the money you asked for because you never gave them enough time to get all of it.

Links Below:

My Earlier Post On Spanish Moss.

https://www.tumblr.com/conjuremanj/738505086681153536/the-souls-of-the-spanish-moss?source=share

War Water. That Moss can be added too.

https://www.tumblr.com/conjuremanj/724019926522789888/war-water?source=share

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Hii ik saw me many times but i love your blog so much about hobie and Miguel i have questions have any hc hobie being west African hc of that been there since watched movie i cannot get it out

I AM GOING TO SCREAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM AT THIS BECAUSE YES YES I CAN

(also sorry if this is kinda Yoruba centric!! cause that's the area I know the best - for reference I myself am Bajan/Quechua (West Indies - Barbados / Indigenous Peruvian))

West African!Hobie Headcanons:

And because I'll never get a chance to talk about this again I'm gonna start off with the one I love most and the one people know most about (and that is demonized - literally - the most)

Hobie and Vodou (aka VooDoo):

Yeah, I said it. Hobie can work. He got juju. He rootworks. He conjures. Whatever iteration, whatever title - if Hobie followed any religion it would either be Buddhism, which some argue that some sects can double as a moral philosophy,

-If he'd respect any religion. It'd be a Traditional African one and I'm putting money on Vodou.

[And heads up, I am not an initiate of Vodou, but I do actively practice African Traditional Spirituality (HooDoo/Rootworking) and Ancestral Worship. So take from that what you will.]

First of all - how punk would that be??? A West African religion demonized by the western world for centuries from Africa to Haiti to Louisiana - that praised ancestral worship and community first???

YES PLEASE. Some people might not really understand all of this but:

First things first, yes, he speaks Yoruba and if you call it 'Speaking African' he's going to flay you alive.

Like????? Hobie sweet talking in Yoruba??? I'll throw my self on the floor right now!!

Hobie practicing ancestor worship - and thanking all the oppressed people who gave their lives and suffered daily so he can live his life?

He'd have an altar in his house, a small one he keeps out of sight, even to Gwen.

Leaves offerings and bits of his meal on the altar. Cause he was once food insecure, but now that things are a little better, he can do that

Like even if he practiced a form of HooDoo or another sect that derives from Traditional African Spirituality (that doesn't involve initiation)

He'd want to give back to his ancestors, learn how to use natural herbs and work them, learning how to make powders, doing floor washes, sweeping a certain way

And having all of these routines related to his African spirituality that are so subtle but he thinks about always

Prays to his ancestors to give him strength when he's struggling with being Spiderpunk

BUT IMAGINE IF HE WAS INTITATED THO ????

Hobie in all white during ceremony???????

HOBIE BEING A CHILD OF SHANGO??????????

NAH THEY AINT READY FOR IT

But even so -whatever Orisha got that boy head be putting in WORK.

And you know he keeps his beads on forever and always even under the suit!!!!

And the style!!! Hobie AfroPunk?!!!

I don't know if they have this elsewhere, but in NYC there's a music festival called AfroPunk - and it's full of black artists, and black people come out in these amazing outfits - and the goal is to incorporate as much African influence as possible

HOBIE WOULD EAT THIS UP.

The inside of his vest being lined with African textile!!

He takes it off in front of you and you see that little pop of that of classic orange-gold color

You just know he's wit it!!!

And the BEADS

(He should wear beads he's royalty compared to the raggedys at HQ)

[Cough] red and white shango beads [Cough]

Imagine Hobie giving his girlfriend a coral bead bracelet too AWWW

And telling them the significance??!!

He loves a woman in a headwrap. GELE ESPECIALLY but any type

And if you wear waistbeads UMMMMMMMM

As soon as he sees it peeking from under your shirt - IT'S GAME OVER

He's gonna wanna test if they working how they supposed to IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW.

AND The FOOD!

First of all - Hobie hates that British manners shit.

Was raised eating with his hands and loves it

He hates old white people who wanna stare cause he eats with his hands

He loves goat. Not me projecting he LOVES goat.

He really appreciates rice based dishes because they can fill you up - and you can't just buy them anywhere

Prefers Waakye to Jollof Rice but still loves Jollof

With FUCK UP some Fufu if he can get it

I say he eats standing up so he's just there at his kitchen counter eating Fufu and the most random shit in his fridge???

Like he'll be eating left over KFC with fufu - like what are you doing??? Thats - not a meal bro

He loves Okra (ew nasty ass) and he'll eat it all the time.

Especially fried okra but okra soup is cool too he's fine with that

His fried plantains go INSANE. They go SO HARD. They're to die for

He always picks the sweetest ones and it cooks them till they're all caramelized and shit YUMMMMM

(can you tell I like my plaintains sweet and soft cause I DO)

Extra Headcanons

He was not playing that when Gwen first came over - as soon as she stepped on the houseboat with shoes he was like "Girl-"

The first time Peter B. heard him speaking Yoruba he went "Wow, Hobie, Your Nigerian is great!"

Hobie, who already hates Peter B, looked at him like he was the dumbest mfer on earth like

'Right, and you speak American, right? Fucking bellend. I hate you. 'Nigerian'. It's Yoruba.'

(He's only saying that cause he hates Peter personally and wants him to have a bad day)

Meanwhile Gwen was nice enough to just ask "What language is that?" (The correct way to do it, do not assume language names like Peter)

First time he went over to Peter B.'s place (on Gwen's insistence), Mary-Jane accidentally swept over his feet before setting her purse on the floor

and in the moment he knew he had to leave.

He's a streetkid, but since he's in the neighborhood so much he has like 45 different women he calls auntie - and they make sure he has good food to eat because 'you are so skinny! you need to eat more.'

He does that auntie shit where you're walking with him and you see someone you know and now they're in a long ass conversation

Or when he says 'goodbye' then stands by the door having a conversation and you're standing there in your coat like....'fam are we out or not cause i can sit back down'.

He always goes to meet the elders of whatever house he's in to introduce himself, very respectful of black elders and enjoys helping old the older black folk in his neighborhood.

He enjoys giving them respect and hearing their stories, helping around the house. Plus he gets great food out of it

ANNDD That's all of them I think!! Sorry if any of these were off the mark - a lot of these are from personal things I know about West Africa and things learned through Spirituality. I hope I got everything okay!

Thanks for this by the way I LOVE Hobie and culture you know he'd be SO proud!!

[If you've read this far - maybe take some time out to learn a bit about African religions - they're beautiful practices (open to black people - we're worshipping black ancestors) - but you can still learn about them and understand how modern culture often demonizes these types of religions. If anything, I hope you learned a little from this! Hoodoo, Vodun (VooDoo), and Santeria (Latino witchcraft) are not scary, dark practices!] And because I spoke about spirituality, imma put this here cause DO not be playing yknowwhatimean

🧿

[youngerdrgrey]

Teen's Little Inquiries // agatha all along (mcu), coven fic

about: Teen missed the initial bonding night with the coven, but he uses his recovery time to get to know the other witches. First up, he asks Jen how she came to know Agatha. Was it through her midwife work or the centuries of rumors about the witch killer? + read on ao3

notes: Jen’s up first, and I may do the others. I love our coven a lot. Want to see everybody bonding and speculating and having a good time. Naturally, Agatha's the subject of conversation, but so are the lives of our beloved witches.

This includes a pre-canon flashback that alludes to infant/child death; it's at the end of the chapter.

⋆ ⁺₊ ✧

Jennifer Kale doesn’t normally doubt herself. She’d had centuries of practice as a rootworker (and, yes, a witch) before she’d been bound. She trusts and believes in her abilities to heal those around her.

It’s just been a long time since she’s been entrusted with the life of someone as innocent as Teen. In fact, it’s good medical practice to follow up on a patient. She’s practically required to check on Teen the morning after his near death experience.

He smiles at her with more life than any of them have seen. A literal bed of flowers rests beneath him, and Jen’s eyebrows furrow before she can help it.

“Did Rio do that?” Jen asks.

Teen glances down at the flowers with a beaming grin. “She wasn’t lying when she said she was the green witch. Her power’s amazing, isn’t it?”

Jen nods around the envy in her chest. The Road has enough residual magic that she’s been able to feel that hum beneath her skin again. She’ll have power of her own soon enough. She doesn’t need to be envious of Agatha Harkness’ ex-girlfriend.

Jen sits down on a stump near his bed. She scans Teen’s body for any signs of jaundice or pain.

“How’s your wound? Let me see it,” she says.

He lifts his repaired jumper easily. The wound’s stitched back together pretty well. No sign of infection.

“It might scar,” Teen says. “But at least I’ll have a cool souvenir from The Road. Better than a t-shirt.”

“Rio may be able to heal it farther,” Jen tells him. “If she’s as good as she wants us to believe, she should have other healing properties.”

Teen cuts his eyes down The Road where Rio’s twirling a flower in a bed of dirt. She doesn’t look as terrifying like this. Contemplative maybe, as she sits in the quiet of the trees under the endless moon.

Still, Teen shakes his head.

“I’d rather not ask her too many questions.”

Jen’s got a few questions for the other witch. Like what Rio meant when she referred to them as ‘her bodies?’ Is she more than just an ex-girlfriend? Is she Agatha’s ex-partner in witch crime?

“There were rumors once,” Jen finds herself saying. “About the witch killer playing house with someone as twisted as she was. I always thought they were just, well, era typical homophobia.”

Teen nods. “How long ago was that?”

Jen can’t quite remember. “A lot of time blurs together after your first few centuries.”

“Right, of course. I can’t wait to get there,” Teen says. His enthusiasm is a little inspiring. Then his eyes narrow just a smidge. “How, uh, long have you known Agatha?”

Jen shrugs. “Everyone knows the witch killer. It’s hard not to hear about her.”

“Yeah, I heard plenty when I started researching, but the way you two go back and forth, it seems personal.” He stares expectantly at Jen. “Like you really knew each other once.”

Jen doesn’t know what to say to that. She can spread rumors easily enough. Warn the kid from getting close to someone who has a reputation for killing as easily as she breathes. But getting into the heart of how Jen knows Agatha feels like crossing a line somehow.

Teen clears his throat. “During the trial, she mentioned keeping you alive because your work was important. So, did you… know each other… through your work?”

His eyes are so earnest. Hesitantly so, since everyone has shot down his questions more than he’d like.

Jen hasn’t been around teenagers in a long time. The ones that come to her shop aren’t trying to get to know her. They want free products in exchange for TikToks and to know if they can counteract aging that hasn’t even happened yet. For all his goth aesthetic, this teen doesn’t even try to cover how much he yearns for knowledge. How much he cares about this makeshift coven and this journey that he coerced them all into.

“Why are you here, Teen?” Jen asks him.

His eyes flash before he blinks away his panic. He chuckles in a mask of that teenage awe.

“The Road is, like, the ultimate witch adventure. It’ll tell me everything I need to know.”

“About your sigil,” Jen surmises.

“About everything,�� he whispers. His eyes drop down to the ground around them.

Jen’s spent long enough feeling like an intruder in her own life and body. She can recognize the emotion on someone else. She sets her hand on his shoulder.

“You’ll get your answers if you make it to the end. I don’t know if you’re asking the right questions though,” she tells him. “But yes, Agatha and I did cross paths, through my work. If you want to know more, you’ll have to ask her yourself.”

Teen scoffs under his breath.

“You try getting anything out of her.”

Jen can’t help but grin. “Oh, I have. That’s how I got a different scar.”

Teen looks at her, confused.

Jen waves him off. “Right, you missed the story circle last night. We’ll have others, don’t worry. Get some rest, alright? Answers can wait until you’re ready.”

“What if…” His sentence trails as his fingers brush along his lips. “How will I know when I’m ready?”

He won’t, but that’s not the kind of answer he needs right now.

Jen summons every bit of measured guidance in her, and she lies. “You’ll just know.” Then she leaves before he can ask her anything else.

.

.

Over a century ago, there was a particularly painful birth where Jen knew that the child wouldn’t make it. She coached the mother through, and once the baby was cradled in the woman’s arms, Jen told the mother to make the most of what time she had.

As soft cries from mother and child filled the cabin, Jen stepped outside to give them privacy. The door barely closed before she spotted someone, propped against the trees. Agatha Harkness.

Jen stiffened. She didn’t raise her voice, so as not to trouble her patient inside. Her words carried over well enough.

“You’re not welcome here, witch killer. She’s been through enough.”

Agatha didn’t scoff dismissively. Didn’t brandish her magic or assert her power. If anything, she sounded wary as she replied.

“I’m not here for either of you,” Agatha said.

Jen didn’t know what to make of it, but Agatha’s eyes skirted across the landscape without seeing anything. There was something else she was after then.

A realization chilled its way down Jen’s spine. “You seek Death.”

Agatha’s lips twitched. The first true sign that Jen was onto something.

“We have unfinished business,” Agatha said.

Jen frowned. “You should know better than to intervene.”

“Unclench, High Priestess. I couldn’t intervene if I tried. Now do us both a favor and head back inside. You’re not welcome here.”

Jen heard the threat at the tail end. A grave promise that Agatha would have to hurt Jen if this meeting was interrupted. It was more warning than most witches got.

Jen turned back into the cabin.

The mother had started sobbing. The grief grew heavier in the air by the moment. Jen couldn’t help but notice a few flowers on the water that hadn’t been there before.

.

.

a/n: what's up? what do you think Agatha wanted at that house? who do you think will check on Teen next? how'd you like Jen's POV?

[majokkid]

I never liked the term ‘pop culture magic’.

As someone who grew up during the dot com boom, I used what I could to stitch together an understanding and practice of magic and that often included fantasy media. Even after my family switched from dial-up, our computer and television use was heavily monitored and scrutinized until we were in high school and college so I relied heavily on what books, games, and comics I could get my hands on. More often than not, fantasy books and comics were met with less questioning than texts on magic and the occult. This is not to say my parents were not trying to be understanding of my interests but they definitely voiced their opinion that my imagination was too active for my own good and they feared I would slip into delusions of fantasy. Even my friends became disinterested with what explorations of magic we were able to have and I was left to keep my thoughts and questions to myself while I found what esoteric wisdom I could by attending shul and talking with my rabbi.

When I moved cross-country for college, I felt free to finally try to tap into what magical community I could. I was lucky enough to stumble upon an occult bookstore where not only I was able to start having all sorts of conversations with lots of different practitioners, I also found my incredible partner. But even in this web of magical experiences I found myself in—working with chaos magick, folks from Thelemic and ceremonial magick backgrounds, traditional witchcraft, Zen Buddhism, and even Haitian Voudu initiates and rootworkers—there seemed to be a universal disdain for pop culture-inspired magics. (It didn’t help that one of the bookstore regulars, who is admittedly a powerful magician, was an avid pop-culture magician and otaku who lacked social maturity and consistently needed to be reminded not to dominate discussion circles with tales of his astral adventures with Goku and Bigfoot.) Everything and everyone was telling me, whether subtly or directly, that pop culture magic was inauthentic and, at worst, cringey and as a feminine-passing person, I felt like I needed to work extra hard to be seen as a legitimate magician amongst studied practitioners even though I could not shake the urge to explore more of what compelled me to study magic in the first place.

This is all to say that it took a lot of time and internal work to get to a place where I felt comfortable enough to talk about my mahō shōjo practice, start to share it with my peers, and even use the tag ‘pop culture magic’ for visibility. There are reasons why this kind of media is so compelling and it is a joy to explore the feelings and techniques it offers especially in the context of a broader magical discussion. There is absolutely no reason to purport that powerful magic cannot also be soft, girly, or dreamy. And while it makes me a little sad to see people engaging with these ideas continue to put down pop culture magics as somehow watered down or less-than other approaches, I think I understand why they do.

[nyxshadowhawk]

Hi, weird question maybe, I'm just some guy who stumbled on your quora answers and figured you're pretty knowledgeable. I'm Italian and I'm wondering if you knew of any forms of magic that could be compared to what in Italy is referred to as 'low ceremonial magic', usually practiced by farmers / poor people. I'm looking for similar traditions in other parts of the world because I'm trying to figure out what kind of magic is most practiced by low income people historically. Thanks a lot

Great question! I'm still in the process of learning about "low magic" or "folk magic." I usually call it folk magic, to distinguish it from ceremonial magic, although the lines between the two are pretty thin and there's significant overlap. (The difference seems to be mainly a class distinction.) If you want to research it, I recommend using "folk magic" as your keyword.

My own country, the United States, has several robust traditions of folk magic that tend to go unnoticed by people who aren't in contact with them. Appalachian Magic is one of the big ones, and Southern Conjure is another one of the big ones. New England has its own variant of English "cunning." Hoodoo and Rootwork are both African diasporic traditions, based in Vodou and practiced mainly in the South. There's also "Pow-Wow," which is mainly Pensylvannia Dutch, Curanderismo and Brujeria (Hispanic), various magical traditions that stem from indigenous religions, and the extremely popular New Age variant of folk magic (which is apparently called "manifesting"). I'm not intimately familiar with all of these systems, but I highly recommend reading New World Witchery by Cory Thomas Hutcheson for a primer on North American folk magic.

The one I know the most about is English "cunning." I just did a project for which I translated part of Bald's Leechbook, a medieval book of herbal remedies written in Old English that was intermixed with some folk spells. I've observed that folk magic tends to be very Catholic, or Catholic-syncretic, because Catholicism has a lot of folk-magic stuff built right into it (like saints' medallions and votive offerings) that were intentionally rooted out of Protestantism. But hey, new folk traditions are always popping up all the time. Tarot cards are only about two hundred years old, but they're a valid and effective divination method, and you can find them in any mainstream bookstore these days.

Finally, I feel the need to say that folk magic is very dark. There's a common idea, mainly in New Age and neopagan circles, that your spells will rebound on you if they're unethical. This has no historical grounding. Curses, forceful love spells, bindings, and other baneful spells are really common. Frequently, magic was the only source of power or agency for people with no other options. Sanitizing folk magic does it a disservice. That doesn't mean that you have to practice baneful magic, only that you should understand why it exists and respect it.

[bbbbbbrilliantly]

Smgdh... black ppl love saying they can't believein or trust in a God or religion that allowed their people to to abused and enslaved, but never have or question black/african religions and spirituality. Like, where were all the other religions, gods, voodoo, rootwork, aligned chakras, Buddha, third eyes, my ancestors ancestors, and the freaking universe etc when these atrocities was going on??! Seems to me, a lot of my people love to quote and regurgitate what others have said instead of reading, studying, and searching God for themselves(that's if you really want to. I get there are other beliefs). We haven't been enslaved for a good while. A lot of our own problems, issues, crime, mentality and thinking is due to our own stupidity and ignorance now days. I have it way better now than my ancestors, my parents, and grandparents etc ever did! My granny would have love to have the options, choices, opportunities, and decisions I have now and for a while as a black woman.

To each its own though. My faith, their prayers, advice and encouragement have sustained me and continue to. No! My life isn't perfect, and I've had plenty of struggles. Struggles that white people for the most part haven't been behind or had a part in. Yes, I've experienced prejudice and racism which is sin. In life, there's going to be good and bad/evil unfortunately. Life goes on, and how you go about it is up to you.

If you want to believe there’s a random man in the sky controlling your life then that’s your right. Stay delusional but stop getting upset at others who refuse to participate.

You were indoctrinated into christianity at a young age so it’s you who’s regurgitating.

You’d rather avoid experiencing any cognitive dissonance by doing mental gymnastics to convince yourself that the white saviors your oppressors thrust upon you are real. You go on the defensive and avoid critical thinking.

It has got to be such a deep deep sickness to believe that the god you were forcibly introduced to means you any type of good.

I hope you get well soon. 🙃

[maangajuice]

𓏲.ೃ࿔❀˙˖ ｡

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

mango [they/them]! twenty. oc/fan artist. writer. please feel free to leave comments, send me questions, likes, and reblogs-- all are very appreciated ! ✩°

my ocs: jordan [tba] akuji [tba]

find my work under #maangajuice! all my work is mine-- reposting is okay ONLY with proper credit! minors do not interact- feel free to follow my art account @mangajuuice on insta! ⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹ current fandoms: ✩° bleach ✩° jujutsu kaisen ✩° chainsawman ✩° blue exorcist

𓏲.ೃ࿔❀˙˖ ｡

extras:

✩° rootworker

✩° cancer sun, cancer moon, cancer rising (yes, i'm psychic)

✩° want a tarot reading? feel free to message me to book one!

✩° full time student so replies to asks might be a bit slower!

will be updating soon..

[southernmermaidsgrotto]

Send some asks !!!

I'm in the mood for answering questions so feel free to drop in the askbox anything related to hoodoo and black magic, rootwork/herbalism, curanderismo and brujería and magic in general!

[collectivecartomancy]

Dandelion & Diabetes

Hey Everybody! Here’s my final for Rootwork Herbals People’s Medicine School.

Once it’s accepted, I’ll be a real, live community herbalist and I’m so excited! 🥹 🥹 🥹

Please feel free to put any questions or concerns in the comments, or email me directly at cyreejarelle@collectivecartomancy.com.

Thanks for bearing witness to this wonderful experience :)

As ever, wishing you well,

Cyree Jarelle

Dandelion/Taraxacum officinale: Overview

Dandelion is a perennial flowering herb that grows from a long taproot.

Its name has been associated with the Persian tark hashgun, which means wild endive.

Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs, suggests an origin in the Greek taraxos is more likely. Taraxos is a Greek word for "disorder" and as Rodale's writes, akos means remedy.

This is the relationship that humans have kept with Dandelion. It's abundant, nigh unkillable, and easy to identify. The designation officinale refers to Dandelion's inclusion in early apothecaries. Its earliest written virtues are in the Tang Bencao, written during the Tang dynasty.

Dandelion has a history in Europe and the United States, where it's used to treat diseases of the liver and GI tract.

Dandelion is a bitter stimulant with diuretic and laxative properties.

Unlike other diuretics, dandelion does its work without depleting potassium in the body. This is due to the potassium richness of dandelion itself.

Type 2 Diabetes & Dandelion

Diabetes is an endocrine disorder. It primarily affects the pancreas, an organ in the digestive system found in the upper abdomen. The pancreas produces the hormones to control blood sugar, including insulin, glucagon, peptides, and somatostatin. It also makes enzymes essential to the digestion of food.

Diabetes has many risk factors and symptoms, but all types of diabetes involve insulin.

Type 2 Diabetes is characterized by the pancreas no longer making enough insulin to process sugar in one's diet. This can cause disruptions throughout the body, with notable impacts on the heart, liver, and eyes.

Wirngo et. al published "The Physiological Effects of Dandelion (Taraxacum Officinale) in Type 2 Diabetes" in 2016. There they attribute Dandelion's anti-diabetic properties to its "bioactive chemical components." These include "chicoric acid, taraxasterol (TS), chlorogenic acid, and sesquiterpene lactones," they write.

Wirngo et. al. assert that herbal medicine and other traditional medicines have "demonstrated potential to alleviate diabetic symptoms, enable recovery, and improve health." Dandelion does this by fighting inflammation, which can harm tissues throughout the body.

Dandelion's bitter taste is due to "sesquiterpene lactones." These include "taraxacolide, dihydro-lactucin, ixerin D, taraxinic acids, phenyl propanoids, and ainslioside." These constituents have have anti-inflammatory properties. Dandelion's foundational action as a bitter facilitates proper digestion.

Dandelion is so rich with CGA that it is a viable alternative to proprietary antioxidants. CGA itself is anti-diabetic, and it's best in it's natural form according to Wirngo. It also contains high levels of CRA, which combined with other inulin rich herbs such as Burdock Root and Chicory, helps people metabolize fats better.

When we metabolize fats better, it can decrease our cholesterol. CRA can also make us produce more bile, which breaks down fat and helps flush waste from our livers. CRA is also a strong anti-diabetic.

Bile breaks fat down into fatty acids. Fatty acids provide our bodies with a source of energy. Their presence also impacts the body's response to hormones, including insulin.

In fact, the way our bodies work with fatty acids can be very important for individuals with diabetes. This is because many people with type 2 diabetes have insulin resistance. Their bodies may not be able to store fatty acid as easily.

As a result, these fatty acids may deposit in the liver. This can cause Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease, which allopathic doctors cannot treat well. They generally just tell patients to lose weight and lower their cholesterol. (Ask me how I know lol.)

According to Sears and Perry, "90 % of obese type-2 diabetic patients have NAFLD." Even people without diabetes are likely to have NAFLD though, due to poor nutritional options in the United States. They go on to note that researchers expect 50% of Americans to have NAFLD by 2030.

Dandelion is a beautiful medicine for people in this position because it supports the liver and helps lower cholesterol. It does this while also stimulating the metabolism, and aiding digestion. It's highly anti-oxidant and anti-carcinogenic. Dandelion root is also among the vegetables highest in beta-carotene. Beta-carotene becomes Vitamin A in the body.

Vitamin A improves eye function, helps the immune system and keeps our skin healthy. This is essential for people with diabetes, because they are prone to complications with all three, many of them serious.

Dandelion has the potential to ease symptoms of diabetes at low cost.

Specifically, it can lower the cholesterol, which is a major risk factor for the heart and liver complications of type 2 diabetes. This is essential because 80% of people with diabetes live in countries without high incomes.

As Chen et. al report in their article "Income-related inequalities in diagnosed diabetes prevalence among US adults, 2001−2018" the " burden of diabetes falls disproportionately on low-income populations."

In the United States, the people experiencing the strongest correlation between poverty and diabetes are Black and Latina women between the ages of 45-65.

These are the people who have the most to gain from dandelion medicine. It's free in most cases, can be cultivated even in small spaces, and it's cheap. It's identifiable even by children, and abundant nearly everywhere.

Dandelion reduces blood sugar through its caffeic, chicoric, and chlorogenic acid components. It also "effects glucose uptake directly and indirectly" through its "alkaloids, glycosides, amino acids, terpenoids, inorganic ions, steroids, carbohydrates, and galactomannan gum" components.

Importantly, Dandelion has extremely low toxicity.

Dandelion Vinegar

Many diabetics avoid alcohol. If you're not into alcohol, try this vinegar!

Ingredients:

- Fresh dandelion tops

- Fresh dandelion leaves

- Dried dandelion roots

- Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother, if you can get your hands on some)

Directions

1. Clean a glass jar of your choice

2. Sterilize the jar with boiling water.

3. Let the jar dry

4. Wash your fresh ingredients so that they are completely free of dirt and bugs.

5. Grind all ingredients down as fine as you can using a clean coffee grinder, clean blender, or a mortar and pestle.

6. Fill cleaned and sterilized jar up halfway with Dandelion parts.

7. Cover Dandelion parts with vinegar, then fill jar up to 1/2-3/4inch from the top with vinegar.

8. Stir and release any air bubbles

9. Top with a plastic cap. If you have no plastic caps, use parchment paper between the metal of the jar top and the rim of the glass jar.

Works Cited

The Role and Anatomy of the Pancreas. Animated Pancreas Patient. Youtube. September 6, 2013. Accessed January 26, 2024. 

Article Source: Income-related inequalities in diagnosed diabetes prevalence among US adults, 2001−2018

Chen Y, Zhou X, Bullard KM, Zhang P, Imperatore G, et al. (2023) Income-related inequalities in diagnosed diabetes prevalence among US adults, 2001−2018. PLOS ONE 18(4): e0283450. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283450

Choi UK, Lee OH, Yim JH, Cho CW, Rhee YK, Lim SI, Kim YC. Hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects of dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) root and leaf on cholesterol-fed rabbits. Int J Mol Sci. 2010 Jan 6;11(1):67-78. doi: 10.3390/ijms11010067. PMID: 20162002; PMCID: PMC2820990.

Fan M, Zhang X, Song H, Zhang Y. Dandelion (Taraxacum Genus): A Review of Chemical Constituents and Pharmacological Effects. Molecules. 2023 Jun 27;28(13):5022. doi: 10.3390/molecules28135022. PMID: 37446683; PMCID: PMC10343869.

Gamboa-Gómez CI, Rocha-Guzmán NE, Gallegos-Infante JA, Moreno-Jiménez MR, Vázquez-Cabral BD, González-Laredo RF. Plants with potential use on obesity and its complications. EXCLI J. 2015 Jul 9;14:809-31. doi: 10.17179/excli2015-186. PMID: 26869866; PMCID: PMC4746997.

Kania-Dobrowolska M, Baraniak J. Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale L.) as a Source of Biologically Active Compounds Supporting the Therapy of Co-Existing Diseases in Metabolic Syndrome. Foods. 2022 Sep 15;11(18):2858. doi: 10.3390/foods11182858. PMID: 36140985; PMCID: PMC9498421.

Li J, Luo J, Chai Y, Guo Y, Tianzhi Y, Bao Y. Hypoglycemic effect of Taraxacum officinale root extract and its synergism with Radix Astragali extract. Food Sci Nutr. 2021 Feb 26;9(4):2075-2085. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.2176. PMID: 33841825; PMCID: PMC8020951.

Li Y, Chen Y, Sun-Waterhouse D. The potential of dandelion in the fight against gastrointestinal diseases: A review. J Ethnopharmacol. 2022 Jul 15;293:115272. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2022.115272. Epub 2022 Apr 8. PMID: 35405251.

Pfingstgraf IO, Taulescu M, Pop RM, Orăsan R, Vlase L, Uifalean A, Todea D, Alexescu T, Toma C, Pârvu AE. Protective Effects of Taraxacum officinale L. (Dandelion) Root Extract in Experimental Acute on Chronic Liver Failure. Antioxidants (Basel). 2021 Mar 24;10(4):504. doi: 10.3390/antiox10040504. PMID: 33804908; PMCID: PMC8063808.

Sears B, Perry M. The role of fatty acids in insulin resistance. Lipids Health Dis. 2015 Sep 29;14:121. doi: 10.1186/s12944-015-0123-1. PMID: 26415887; PMCID: PMC4587882.

Seo SW, Koo HN, An HJ, Kwon KB, Lim BC, Seo EA, Ryu DG, Moon G, Kim HY, Kim HM, Hong SH. Taraxacum officinale protects against cholecystokinin-induced acute pancreatitis in rats. World J Gastroenterol. 2005 Jan 28;11(4):597-9. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i4.597. PMID: 15641154; PMCID: PMC4250819.

Suo C, Polanski K, Dann E, Lindeboom RGH, Vilarrasa-Blasi R, Vento-Tormo R, Haniffa M, Meyer KB, Dratva LM, Tuong ZK, Clatworthy MR, Teichmann SA. Dandelion uses the single-cell adaptive immune receptor repertoire to explore lymphocyte developmental origins. Nat Biotechnol. 2024 Jan;42(1):40-51. doi: 10.1038/s41587-023-01734-7. Epub 2023 Apr 13. PMID: 37055623; PMCID: PMC10791579.

Wirngo FE, Lambert MN, Jeppesen PB. The Physiological Effects of Dandelion (Taraxacum Officinale) in Type 2 Diabetes. Rev Diabet Stud. 2016 Summer-Fall;13(2-3):113-131. doi: 10.1900/RDS.2016.13.113. Epub 2016 Aug 10. PMID: 28012278; PMCID: PMC5553762.

[skullcfusher]

Idk if anyone's asked this but who's your favorite creeps and what's your favorite interpretation of them?

AHHH OH MY GOD BANGER QUESTION omg okay so my favs are Toby(he's my number one ever.), Kate, and EJ :3 I love Nina and Nat too but I think about them slightly less... I also love Tim and Brian... They are funny... MY FAV INTERPRETATION OF THE CREEPS IS @ crushedsweets AU, THEY DO EVERYTHING RIGHT OH MY GOD.. but I also love like... Everyone's... Like @ yasmimkilleruwu @ rootworks.. those r artists off the top of my head... And there's even more accounts that post writings and shit oh my god I just love like all of them??? They could go against my head canon completely (as long as it's not harmful) and I'd be like "YEAS FUCK YEAHHH this is literally true..." Like I love seeing everything Soo much.. I obviously have fav tropes n shit but I will eat anything... I love it so much plz guys send me cool headcanons and tag me in art I'm so hungry for it...

[conjuremanj]

Hoodoo Lemon House Cleansing.

This working involves using lemons. Now why lemon's? Because lemon's is a good cleanser. It's such a good cleanser that there a lot of house cleaning products with lemon.

This cleansing is for someone who feels like when there in there Apt/House it just done feel like home. Like you don't belong. Then this will help.

Get a bag of lemon's and cut them in half. Put one half of a lemon in a corner of each room. Then sprinkle some holy water through-out the house. Last take two white candles put one in the by the front door and one by the back door and light both.

Also checkout my post on floor cleansing.

[miniaturemoonheart]

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AMERICAN GINSENG, RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

Ginseng, Hoodoo, and the Magic of Upholding African American Earth-Based Traditions

February 24, 2021 | Asia Smith | Comments

Ginseng roots on a woven basket platter on a black backdrop.

Photo by whaltns17, Pixabay

Ginseng has been used in my family for generations, but I still had many questions about the botanical. Where did it come from? Is it rooted in any African American traditions? For many African Americans, ginseng is a vital root, one that spans generations, yet historical evidence of its use is sparse.

As an intern with the American Ginseng project, I started “digging” into ginseng. I began my research by examining the narratives of enslaved people. The Works Progress Administration’s Slave Narratives, collected between 1936 and 1938, contain more than 2,300 primary source accounts, including photographs and interviews with formerly enslaved people from fifteen states. Sifting through the records and filtering for any mention of ginseng, I discovered that, particularly in Western Appalachia, ginseng roots were a means by which enslaved or formerly enslaved people earned extra income. They would “dig seng” and sell the roots at local market centers. They also used ginseng for its medicinal properties. For instance, they treated fevers by wrapping the afflicted person in ginseng leaves to help alleviate pain.

One of the strongest connections between ginseng and Black Americans is Hoodoo, which combines preexisting African religions and spiritual practices with Southern African American culture. Hoodoo was created out of necessity by enslaved African people during the Transatlantic Slave Trade period. There are documented accounts of enslaved people using Hoodoo to rebel against their captors in the eighteenth century. During a 1712 uprising in New York, a freeman and Hoodoo practitioner by the name of Peter Doctor aided enslaved people in burning down the township. He concocted a “magical powder” and applied it to the clothing of his comrades to protect them.

Today, Hoodoo is carried forward through the active practices of African American people throughout the United States. Using various herbs and roots, Hoodoo practitioners formulate special understandings of each element in their practice. According to author and Hoodoo practitioner Stephanie Rose Bird, “In Hoodoo, there is a feeling that herbs and roots are alive and need tending throughout the day.”

Because many ginseng roots resemble a walking man, Hoodoo attributes vitality and strength to the root. For instance, Hoodoo believes that ginseng increases sexual prowess, specifically in men. Perhaps a related belief is that ginseng may bring good luck. According to The Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells, a guide to the magical ginseng is a “Wonder of the World Root” that will grant a wish etched onto a root that is then placed under running water.

Black and white illustration of a cloth pouch.

Ginseng may also play an integral role in the use of Mojo Bags by Hoodoo practitioners. Bird explains that each bag is a collection of power, and that the strategic placement of disparate elements will magnify the bag’s power. For example, Hoodoo—Conjuration—Witchcraft—Rootwork contains a spell, “Adam-and-Eve,” which may get someone “under control.” It calls for one ginseng root, one Adam root, and one Eve root. Adam and Eve roots come from a species of orchid known as Aplectrum hyemale, which is found in parts of the Eastern United States.

The Eve root has a round shape while the Adam root is thinner and longer. After gathering your materials, you must “mash” them together to produce a powder. Place the powder on a hot stovetop, then add flour to the powder and “scorch” the mixture. After that, place it in a bag made from any material, and dust the mixture around the house for nine days. This is one of many existing Hoodoo spells that use ginseng and that illustrate how Hoodoo is a highly individualized practice to help people navigate their daily lives.

Bird has written two books explicitly on Hoodoo. Based in Illinois, she is one of many Black women who actively use Hoodoo as a way of life, often by resourcefully making use of what is readily available. “I am a Hoodoo,” she explains. “I have been studying and practicing Hoodoo since 1999. I hope to inspire others, particularly people of color, to engage with Hoodoo through my writing, retreat work, and workshops. Hoodoo is an important collection of magickal and spiritual folk practices, especially for me as a Black woman, in the otherwise quite white world of earth spirituality.” Undoubtedly, Bird’s work speaks to the necessity of carrying on Black earth-based traditions and practices.

Profile of a woman outside, standing against a background of foliage.

As a solitary practitioner with her own garden, Bird does not use ginseng as often as other roots, but she thoroughly appreciates ginseng’s role in Hoodoo. “I understand ginseng as an age-old cure-all and have employed it to build and restore physical and spiritual energy for myself and others. I enjoy its warming ability, and through its soul-warming heat, it opens us up to the possibilities of love and self-healing.”

Moreover, Bird believes that Hoodoo provides tangible approaches to “everyday concerns,” such as “finding love and keeping it close, finding and then spiritually cleansing or maintaining an appropriate home, getting a good job and dealing with the boss, office, and coworkers, court cases and other legal matters, holistic health, and wellness, and much more.” She believes Hoodoo’s “wisdom and proactive approach” are “distinctly African American and harken back to the Motherland. This aspect of Hoodoo is uplifting, freeing, and empowering.”

Where does Bird see Hoodoo in the future?

“I hope the current interest in Hoodoo isn’t a passing fad. I hope people will be open to modern and contemporary twenty-first-century adaptations to rootwork, spells, and rites, to keep it a lively part of the ever-evolving spiritual conversation.”

You can learn more about Stephanie Rose Bird’s work by visiting SRB Botanica and reading her published works, which include 365 Days of Hoodoo: Daily Rootwork, Mojo and Conjuration (2018); A Healing Grove: African Tree Remedies and Rituals for the Body and Spirit (2009); Four Seasons of Mojo: An Herbal Guide to Natural Living (2006); and Sticks, Stones, Roots, and Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo and Conjuring with Herbs (2004).

Asia Smith is a sociology and anthropology student with a focus in foodways at Kalamazoo College and a former intern at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

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[flamingkorybante]

Announcing: AMA with Rocket and Alder of the Agdistine Order! - Saturday June 17th, from 5-7 pm ET

Hello all! Saturday June 17th, from 5-7 pm ET, we will have an AMA with Rocket and Alder of the Agdistine Order.

Description of the Agdistine Order:

The Agdistine Order is a liberatory spiritual project working to build a transcendent mystery tradition that meets the needs of modern transgender and gender nonconforming practitioners. It honors the Anatolian mythological figure of Agdistis, a nonbinary Earth daemon with a powerful appetite for pleasure, and strives to provide practitioners with tools for transformation of trauma, shame, and dysphoria as well as a shared focus for ancestral veneration. This is accomplished through a mix of ekstasis and enthousiasmos, using both ancient and modern techniques. The Order is a work in progress, with particular attention on crafting effective rituals, while also not forming the bad kind of cult. The dramatis personae of The Order include Dionysos, Cybele, and Attis, all of whom had mystery cults in antiquity, but far as we know, Agdistis has never before had a mystery cult of their own. You don't have to be trans to venerate Agdistis but we make no guarantee that you won't be trans when they finish with you. If you'd like to do the reading before the AMA and come with questions, you can find the essay, "The Passion of Agdistis: Gender Transgression, Sexual Trauma, Time Travel, and Ritualized Madness in Greco-Anatolian Revival Cultus," first published in "Queer Magic: Power Beyond Boundaries" in 2018. The piece includes very frank discussions of transphobia, transmisogyny, violence, and sexual assault, so please take care while reading.

Some info about Rocket and Alder:

Rocket is a cultist and mage of the Agdistine Order and the founder of the Anarcho-Surrealist Wizard Brigade, fully dedicated to 1) Cybele Magna Mater, and 2) being the weirdest pervert in the mystic groupchat and the weirdest mystic in the pervert groupchat. On the clock, Rocket can be found destroying the institution of marriage and teaching at law schools, and the rest of the time, they write poetry compulsively, glue rhinestones to things, organize with other leftist weirdo Jews, and push the flesh to its limit for art, magic, and pleasure. Rocket’s writing can be found in the Queer Magic Anthology, Nerve Endings: The New Trans Erotic, the Texas Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Advocate, and the Brill journal of Religion and the Arts, and Rocket can be found on Tumblr at @ flamingkorybante and in meatspace on a trans commune on unceded Lenape land. Alder Knight was raised as an animist and got into witchcraft in 1998. They began their work with Dionysos in 2012. As neither a classicist nor a reconstructionist, they rely heavily on divination, personal connection with the divine, and trial and error in their Dionysian practice. They are an herbalist and a rootworker, with a focus on local plants and a light touch, and they prioritize using their skills and resources to seek out healing, community resilience, collective liberation, and the ecstatic. A mystical experience in 2014 propelled them into intensive work with the transgender dead, which culminated in the annual Transgender Rite of Ancestor Elevation, @ trans-rite on Tumblr. Similarly, a mystical experience in 2015 planted the seeds of what would become The Agdistine Order. Their day job is in clean energy and climate education, and they live with Rocket and others at the all-trans intentional community they co-founded in 2018 on unceded Lenape land. You can find them on Tumblr at @ thegodwhocums.

Looking forward to this AMA! Mark your calendars!

[etherealyoni]

$20 personal readings are available ALL DAY LONG! DM me ‘👑’ if you’re interested! This reading will come with a general + two questions of your choice. Check in to see what messages are waiting for you 🔮

#ancestors #reiki #femmefatale #reikihealing #rootworkersofinstagram #rootworker #oils #blackgirlmagic #reikimaster #blackbrujasofinstagram #divination #tarot #melanin #healing #darkfeminine #blackspirituality #africanspirituality #divinebrujita #thesacralempress #reiki #healing #generationalcurses #tarot #horoscopes #gemini #capricorn #taurus #scorpio #aries

[conjurinmama]

Listening to SaRoc (her song The Who?)

And I don’t understand how she hasn’t blown up more?! Especially in the ATR/Hoodoo/blitch community! I find so many of her songs are good for spells, all her clever references, and her pro black, pro black woman, seriously has me baffled; why is she so unheard of?