Although most "Southern Style" conjure bags are made of red flannel, some root doctors favour the colour-symbolism employed in hoodoo style candle-burning magic and thus use green flannel for a money mojo, white flannel for a baby-blessing mojo, red flannel for a love mojo, pale blue flannel for a peaceful home mojo, and so forth. Leather bags are also seen, but far less frequently than flannel; they are associated with West Indian obeah, another form of folk magic closely related to African-American hoodoo.
And what is contained in the mojo hand? Well, that varies a lot, based on what the wearer hopes to accomplish by carrying the amulet and what the maker finds effective or customary to use in preparing it.
A mojo carried for love-drawing will contain different ingredients than one for gambling luck or magical protection.
The objects most commonly found in mojo bags are roots and herbs, minerals, petition papers, name papers, plus a variety of animal parts such as hair, fingernails, bones, or dyed feathers -- green for money, red for love, orange for change or warning, blue for spiritual peace -- rattlesnake rattles, dried frogs, swallow hearts, and bat wings. (Modern urban practitioners may substitute a toy plastic bat for the latter). Coins, metal lucky charms, crystals, good luck tokens, and carved stone amulets may also be added for extra power or for their symbolic value.
Generally there are at least three items in a mojo hand. Some root doctors try to ensure that the total number of ingredients comes to an odd number -- usually 3, 7, or 9, but sometimes 5, 11, or 13. On the other hand, just as many root doctors don't bother counting the items at all; they just compile the traditional items they like to work with, according to the situations, conditions, and needs of their clients.
Some conjure workers who do like to count out 3 ingredients will make sure each item is singular and distinct -- say, one root, one personal item, and one mineral. To other, equally proficient workers, the count of 3 may include one personal item, one petition paper, and two paired minerals counted as one; or one animal curio, one petition paper, and half a handful of mixed herbs and seeds, in which case, no matter how many varieties there are in the mixture, the mix itself is counted as one item.
Some root doctors are known for their use of favourite or "trade mark" ingredients -- one man i knew, for instance, put tobacco snuff in every bag he made; another was famed for his "Good Luck Herb Mixture" and used it in almost every bag i bought from him, as well as selling it in the form of incense and baths; a third man was known to me for his consistent and otherwise unexplained inclusion of a coin -- usually a modern penny -- in every bag he made. But the use of such "trademarks" is not too common, in my experience; most makers vary the contents of their bags quite a bit, depending on the case at hand.
Some root workers top off their mojo bags with parchments upon which are printed medieval European seals and sigils of talismanic import, particularly the seals from the Greater Key of Solomon and The 6th and 7th Books of Moses, both of which are sold as sets of seals printed on parchment paper, and are used without reference to the rituals given in the texts of the books.
These last items surprise many Caucasians, who are unaware that a strong vein of Germanic folklore runs through traditional African-American hoodoo. Still, however strange it may seem to cultural anthropologists in search of "African survivals" in hoodoo practice, it is a fact that John George Hohman's "Pow-Wows or the Long Lost Friend" -- first published in America in 1820 and translated into English in 1856 -- has long been a staple source of inspiration for conjure-workers in both the African-American and European-American Appalachian traditions, and many a black hoodoo practitioner can cite chapter and verse of "Albertus Magnus," "The Black Pullet," "Secrets of the Psalms," "The 6th and 7th Books of Moses," "8th, 9th, and 10th Books of Moses," and other occult books of European origin.
Once prepared or "fixed," the mojo is "dressed" or "fed" with a liquid of some kind. The most common liquids used to feed a hand are alcohol, such as whiskey; a perfume, such as Hoyt's Cologne or Florida Water; bodily fluids, such as spit or urine (or sexual fluids for a love-drawing hand); or with a specially-prepared condition oil. The bag is not generally soaked through, but simply dabbed with the liquid, although some old-time poker players i knew during in my youth, during the 1960s, used to say that to get a gambling hand to really work for you, you had to have your lover pee all over it out in the alley between rounds of play.
Why is the mojo fed to keep it working? Because it is alive with spirit.
One major difference between typical European-style magical talismans and a mojo is that it is almost universally claimed and believed by practitioners of conjure that the mojo is alive, is inhabited by a spirit, and/or contains a fragment of the spirit of the owner. Few, if any, European magicians say that sort of thing about their religious or astrological talismans. Yes, astrological talismans are embued with, or reflective of, the energy of a planet or a fixed star, or a moment of transient vibration between two or more such planets or stars -- but they are not alive, kept fed, and cossetted the way a mojo is -- and for good reason.
A secondary difference between mojos and European talismans is that mojo hands are customarily fed with scented liquids that are themselves derived from various magical herbal ingredients -- herbal conjure oils, magical herbal-floral colognes, and even liquors such as whiskey ("water of life") in which herbs have been soaked. This is nature magic, the use of this earth's spiritual interweb of magically active beings, in which persons, animals, plants, and minerals are bound together in social patterns on an invisible plane.
Keeping the mojo from being seen is important because if another person touches it, the luck may be lost. This is sometimes called "killing the hand." The proscription against touching is far stronger in the case of the woman's nation sack
than it is in any other kind of mojo.
A song lyric that describes the mojo touching taboo occurs in "Take Your Hands Off My Mojo,"
recorded in New York on February 17, 1932 by Leola B. Wilson and Wesley Wilson (a husband and wife duo also known as Coot Grant and Kid Wesley Wilson, Kid and Coot, and, singly, as Leola B. Pettigraw and Socks Wilson). This hokum blues number was a follow-up to the couple's double-entendre dance-hit "Get Off With Me," which explains the reference in the first line. It is sung in alternating line form, with a spoken introduction. (Thanks to Frank Sandoval for the recording date and to Bob Dunn for the picture.):
The Elvis Version:
I GOT MY MOJO WORKING
by Preston Foster
Recorded by Ann Cole, Muddy Waters, et al
I got my mojo workin' but it just don't work on you
I got my mojo workin' but it just don't work on you
I wanna love you so bad, child, but i don't know what to do
I'm going down to Louisiana, gonna get me a mojo hand
Going down to Louisiana, gonna get me a mojo hand.
Gonna have all you women under my command.
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin', but it just don't work on you!
I got a Gypsy woman giving me advice.
I got a Gypsy woman giving me advice.
I got a whole lot of tricks keeping our love on ice
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin', but it just don't work on you!
Source
And what is contained in the mojo hand? Well, that varies a lot, based on what the wearer hopes to accomplish by carrying the amulet and what the maker finds effective or customary to use in preparing it.
A mojo carried for love-drawing will contain different ingredients than one for gambling luck or magical protection.
The objects most commonly found in mojo bags are roots and herbs, minerals, petition papers, name papers, plus a variety of animal parts such as hair, fingernails, bones, or dyed feathers -- green for money, red for love, orange for change or warning, blue for spiritual peace -- rattlesnake rattles, dried frogs, swallow hearts, and bat wings. (Modern urban practitioners may substitute a toy plastic bat for the latter). Coins, metal lucky charms, crystals, good luck tokens, and carved stone amulets may also be added for extra power or for their symbolic value.
Generally there are at least three items in a mojo hand. Some root doctors try to ensure that the total number of ingredients comes to an odd number -- usually 3, 7, or 9, but sometimes 5, 11, or 13. On the other hand, just as many root doctors don't bother counting the items at all; they just compile the traditional items they like to work with, according to the situations, conditions, and needs of their clients.
Some conjure workers who do like to count out 3 ingredients will make sure each item is singular and distinct -- say, one root, one personal item, and one mineral. To other, equally proficient workers, the count of 3 may include one personal item, one petition paper, and two paired minerals counted as one; or one animal curio, one petition paper, and half a handful of mixed herbs and seeds, in which case, no matter how many varieties there are in the mixture, the mix itself is counted as one item.
Some root doctors are known for their use of favourite or "trade mark" ingredients -- one man i knew, for instance, put tobacco snuff in every bag he made; another was famed for his "Good Luck Herb Mixture" and used it in almost every bag i bought from him, as well as selling it in the form of incense and baths; a third man was known to me for his consistent and otherwise unexplained inclusion of a coin -- usually a modern penny -- in every bag he made. But the use of such "trademarks" is not too common, in my experience; most makers vary the contents of their bags quite a bit, depending on the case at hand.
Some root workers top off their mojo bags with parchments upon which are printed medieval European seals and sigils of talismanic import, particularly the seals from the Greater Key of Solomon and The 6th and 7th Books of Moses, both of which are sold as sets of seals printed on parchment paper, and are used without reference to the rituals given in the texts of the books.
These last items surprise many Caucasians, who are unaware that a strong vein of Germanic folklore runs through traditional African-American hoodoo. Still, however strange it may seem to cultural anthropologists in search of "African survivals" in hoodoo practice, it is a fact that John George Hohman's "Pow-Wows or the Long Lost Friend" -- first published in America in 1820 and translated into English in 1856 -- has long been a staple source of inspiration for conjure-workers in both the African-American and European-American Appalachian traditions, and many a black hoodoo practitioner can cite chapter and verse of "Albertus Magnus," "The Black Pullet," "Secrets of the Psalms," "The 6th and 7th Books of Moses," "8th, 9th, and 10th Books of Moses," and other occult books of European origin.
FIXING AND FEEDING THE MOJO HAND
Fixing the mojo is not merely a matter of dumping a bunch of items into the bag. It involves a ritual -- which will vary from maker to maker -- of filling the bag and then awakening it to life. It may also be "smoked" in incense fumes or the smoke from a candle, or breathed upon to bring it to life. Prayers may be said, and other methods may be used to accomplish this essential step.Once prepared or "fixed," the mojo is "dressed" or "fed" with a liquid of some kind. The most common liquids used to feed a hand are alcohol, such as whiskey; a perfume, such as Hoyt's Cologne or Florida Water; bodily fluids, such as spit or urine (or sexual fluids for a love-drawing hand); or with a specially-prepared condition oil. The bag is not generally soaked through, but simply dabbed with the liquid, although some old-time poker players i knew during in my youth, during the 1960s, used to say that to get a gambling hand to really work for you, you had to have your lover pee all over it out in the alley between rounds of play.
Why is the mojo fed to keep it working? Because it is alive with spirit.
One major difference between typical European-style magical talismans and a mojo is that it is almost universally claimed and believed by practitioners of conjure that the mojo is alive, is inhabited by a spirit, and/or contains a fragment of the spirit of the owner. Few, if any, European magicians say that sort of thing about their religious or astrological talismans. Yes, astrological talismans are embued with, or reflective of, the energy of a planet or a fixed star, or a moment of transient vibration between two or more such planets or stars -- but they are not alive, kept fed, and cossetted the way a mojo is -- and for good reason.
A secondary difference between mojos and European talismans is that mojo hands are customarily fed with scented liquids that are themselves derived from various magical herbal ingredients -- herbal conjure oils, magical herbal-floral colognes, and even liquors such as whiskey ("water of life") in which herbs have been soaked. This is nature magic, the use of this earth's spiritual interweb of magically active beings, in which persons, animals, plants, and minerals are bound together in social patterns on an invisible plane.
KEEPING THE MOJO HID
Mojos made for an individual are usually carried on the person, always out of sight. They are very rarely worn on a string around the neck, fairly commonly pinned inside a woman's brassiere, and much more commonly pinned to the clothes below the waist or caried in a pants pocket. Those who make conjure bags to carry as love spells sometimes specify that the mojo be worn next to the skin. Mojos intended to purify or protect a location are generally placed near the door, hidden in such a way that they cannot be seen by strangers. Keeping the mojo from being seen is important because if another person touches it, the luck may be lost. This is sometimes called "killing the hand." The proscription against touching is far stronger in the case of the woman's nation sack
than it is in any other kind of mojo.
A song lyric that describes the mojo touching taboo occurs in "Take Your Hands Off My Mojo,"
recorded in New York on February 17, 1932 by Leola B. Wilson and Wesley Wilson (a husband and wife duo also known as Coot Grant and Kid Wesley Wilson, Kid and Coot, and, singly, as Leola B. Pettigraw and Socks Wilson). This hokum blues number was a follow-up to the couple's double-entendre dance-hit "Get Off With Me," which explains the reference in the first line. It is sung in alternating line form, with a spoken introduction. (Thanks to Frank Sandoval for the recording date and to Bob Dunn for the picture.):
The Elvis Version:
I GOT MY MOJO WORKING
by Preston Foster
Recorded by Ann Cole, Muddy Waters, et al
I got my mojo workin' but it just don't work on you
I got my mojo workin' but it just don't work on you
I wanna love you so bad, child, but i don't know what to do
I'm going down to Louisiana, gonna get me a mojo hand
Going down to Louisiana, gonna get me a mojo hand.
Gonna have all you women under my command.
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin', but it just don't work on you!
I got a Gypsy woman giving me advice.
I got a Gypsy woman giving me advice.
I got a whole lot of tricks keeping our love on ice
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin'!
(Got my mojo workin'!)
Got my mojo workin', but it just don't work on you!
Source
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