Fixing A Hand: Making Mojo Bags
Probably the best-known bit of work when it comes to hoodoo, the making of a mojo bag is probably the best known. This little art is also referred to as "fixing a hand," and the resultant bags themselves are sometimes called a "toby."
The Bag
In Appalachian and most of Southern hoodoo, the bag itself is made of flannel, usually in a color appropriate to the toby's purpose. There is an extra little bit, though - it's not supposed to be made from new flannel.
Traditionally, it should always be cut from something that the one making the hand has used, or from something the one it is being made for has used, although those are the ideals. If you just don't have anything like that, hit up Goodwill and get all their flannel - used by someone else is better than brand new. If all else fails, cut yourself a square of flannel and carry around as a handkerchief for a while.
Some traditions use leather bags, but these traditions tend to be more obeah than hoodoo, at least according to cat yronwode.
Ingredients
Traditionally, a minimum of three ingredients go into a toby. Generally, these are animal, mineral and herbal ingredients appropriate to the work the mojo bag is intended for, but these are not the only things.
Exactly what these three items are may vary from hoodoo to hoodoo. Nearly every root worker will put in a Personal Concern of some kind for the person the bag is intended for. Others may use parchment papers with words or sigils on them, or even mixtures of herbs (counting the whole mixture as a single ingredient, no matter how many herbs are in it).
Some root doctors will put a "signature" token in it. cat yronwode mentions some of these items she's encountered in her studies, from a shiny new penny to a specific mixture of herbs he considered his signature in magic. My own grandmother always used to add an alligator tooth to the ones she made, to "give it bite."
If a mojo bag needs to be particularly powerful, a whole High John the Conquerer root might be added as one of the ingredients. I like to call High John the "mandrake of hoodoo" - it's the quintessential root doctor's root, and all of them are spoken to and treated as though they were alive and had personalities. (Of course, in my own rootworking experience, they sort of are.) High John is the messianic figure of hoodoo folklore, the root-man who taught the slaves new songs and new magic for a new world, so that only their bodies had to be shackled, and not their spirits.
Some rootworkers use more than three ingredients, though tradition dictates it's usually an odd number. Five and nine are usually the other choices, as more than nine starts to get unwieldy.
Fixing the Hand
It isn't enough to simply cram these ingredients in your bag and call it good. Each conjureman or -woman has his or her own ritual for doing this, and it's best if you figure out your own. It is usually accompanied by prayer and/or a recitation of the Psalms, while you add the ingredients.
Also, talk to your toby as you make it. You might even name it, if you're so inclined. Compliment it, tell it what lovely things you're adding and why. If you've got a piece of High John in there, make that the first thing you add, and then speak to John as you do it - he's becoming the whole toby, rather than just an ingredient in it.
Once you're done adding the ingredients, sew up the end of it, making sure to seal it up tight; you can also add a cord to it if you intend it to be worn. Then, when that's done, pass it through incense smoke and sprinkle it with a bit of salt water to clean it, then pass it over (but not through!) a candle flame, to "start the mojo cookin'."
Breathing the Hand
Once your toby is fixed, it's time to give it the breath of life. Some rootworkers recite the Scripture where God breathes life into Adam, but that's not strictly necessary.
Hold it in your left hand, and call out to it to wake up three times. If you named it, call it by that name. If you placed High John in it, call out to John to wake up. If it has no other name, then just call it "Toby." Tell it it's time to wake up, that he's got work to do.
Then, pat it three times, really quickly, like you're nudging someone to wake up.
Finally, fill your lungs with air and make a quick exhalation on it with pursed lips. It should sound almost like you're saying the word "Too." Do this quick breath on it three times, to breathe some life into it.
Once you've done this, greet your toby, and welcome him to life.
Dressing the Hand
Once you've properly breathed life into your toby, it's time to dress him. Take some proper condition oil appropriate to the purpose that your mojo bag will fulfill, and dress it, dropping an odd number of drops over its surface. If you prefer, you can feed your toby other things: a few drops of good alcohol (like whiskey or rum), a perfume (like Hoyt's Cologne or Florida Water) or sexual fluids (in the case of attraction and/or love hands).
Once a week or so, re-dress your hand. At this point, you are literally feeding your toby, which is alive (at the very least in a magical and spiritual sense). Like anyone else, if you want him to keep working, you're going to have to keep feeding him.
Keep It Hidden!
Keep your toby safe and hidden. He's shy, and prefers to work in quiet, without anyone knowing he's there, so make sure to keep him safely hidden on your person (a pocket will do, but other places may be appropriate, such as undergarments for sex or love work).
If someone notices him, change the subject, or distract them. Whatever you have to do - tell them he's just a "perfume sachet" or something like that. Don't show him to people, either - if you don't respect your toby's privacy, he's not going to want to work for you. Whatever you do, don't let someone else touch your toby. That's called "killing a hand," and for a good reason: it'll kill it outright.
When All Is Done
The toby's magic doesn't often run out, as it were - it'll keep working as long as you need him, and as long as you keep feeding him properly. But, once he's looking a little rough for wear, or when he's no longer needed, it's time to dispose of him properly and respectfully.
Burying is pretty much ideal. Hoodoo disposes of a lot of its used up spell materials by burying at a crossroads. It allows the final lingering mojo in the materials to disperse along the crossroads, scattering it. (As an aside, the only crossroads used in hoodoo are the four-way crossroads.) There are other burials that are appropriate, such as burying materials that you used to work a beneficial trick on you or your home on your property somewhere, preferrably dividing it up into four parts, and burying them at the four corners, with your home in the center of the four (like the pips for the 5 on a standard die). Casting the materials into running water is also a good approach, for the same reason as the crossroads - it scatters the mojo, dispersing it.
A toby sometimes gets a more specialized burial, though, one that is accompanied with proper thanks and libations, as though it were a little person who'd died, and was now being sent off properly. I read somewhere once that the family of a particularly well-known rootworker had a chunk of their property set aside for use as a toby graveyard, including a little fence around it and some cheap statuary in it! :D
As far as reusing certain ingredients, yes you can. Stones other than lodestones, animal parts and roots (but not other herbs) can be reused. You'll have to cleanse them, though, by sprinkling a little salt on them and letting the salt fall into running water or at a crossroads, and then cense them afterwards. But here's the important bit: do not ever use them for another purpose other than the one they were originally put to. PARTICULARLY if it's a High John root - once John sets his mind to a particular task, he can do it over and over for you, but that's all he's going to do.
Conclusion
Well, that's about it. cat yronwode's page on mojo hands is quite good, containing a bunch of history and (best of all) a variety of sample mojo hands, and the ingredients for making them!
The Bag
In Appalachian and most of Southern hoodoo, the bag itself is made of flannel, usually in a color appropriate to the toby's purpose. There is an extra little bit, though - it's not supposed to be made from new flannel.
Traditionally, it should always be cut from something that the one making the hand has used, or from something the one it is being made for has used, although those are the ideals. If you just don't have anything like that, hit up Goodwill and get all their flannel - used by someone else is better than brand new. If all else fails, cut yourself a square of flannel and carry around as a handkerchief for a while.
Some traditions use leather bags, but these traditions tend to be more obeah than hoodoo, at least according to cat yronwode.
Ingredients
Traditionally, a minimum of three ingredients go into a toby. Generally, these are animal, mineral and herbal ingredients appropriate to the work the mojo bag is intended for, but these are not the only things.
Exactly what these three items are may vary from hoodoo to hoodoo. Nearly every root worker will put in a Personal Concern of some kind for the person the bag is intended for. Others may use parchment papers with words or sigils on them, or even mixtures of herbs (counting the whole mixture as a single ingredient, no matter how many herbs are in it).
Some root doctors will put a "signature" token in it. cat yronwode mentions some of these items she's encountered in her studies, from a shiny new penny to a specific mixture of herbs he considered his signature in magic. My own grandmother always used to add an alligator tooth to the ones she made, to "give it bite."
If a mojo bag needs to be particularly powerful, a whole High John the Conquerer root might be added as one of the ingredients. I like to call High John the "mandrake of hoodoo" - it's the quintessential root doctor's root, and all of them are spoken to and treated as though they were alive and had personalities. (Of course, in my own rootworking experience, they sort of are.) High John is the messianic figure of hoodoo folklore, the root-man who taught the slaves new songs and new magic for a new world, so that only their bodies had to be shackled, and not their spirits.
Some rootworkers use more than three ingredients, though tradition dictates it's usually an odd number. Five and nine are usually the other choices, as more than nine starts to get unwieldy.
Fixing the Hand
It isn't enough to simply cram these ingredients in your bag and call it good. Each conjureman or -woman has his or her own ritual for doing this, and it's best if you figure out your own. It is usually accompanied by prayer and/or a recitation of the Psalms, while you add the ingredients.
Also, talk to your toby as you make it. You might even name it, if you're so inclined. Compliment it, tell it what lovely things you're adding and why. If you've got a piece of High John in there, make that the first thing you add, and then speak to John as you do it - he's becoming the whole toby, rather than just an ingredient in it.
Once you're done adding the ingredients, sew up the end of it, making sure to seal it up tight; you can also add a cord to it if you intend it to be worn. Then, when that's done, pass it through incense smoke and sprinkle it with a bit of salt water to clean it, then pass it over (but not through!) a candle flame, to "start the mojo cookin'."
Breathing the Hand
Once your toby is fixed, it's time to give it the breath of life. Some rootworkers recite the Scripture where God breathes life into Adam, but that's not strictly necessary.
Hold it in your left hand, and call out to it to wake up three times. If you named it, call it by that name. If you placed High John in it, call out to John to wake up. If it has no other name, then just call it "Toby." Tell it it's time to wake up, that he's got work to do.
Then, pat it three times, really quickly, like you're nudging someone to wake up.
Finally, fill your lungs with air and make a quick exhalation on it with pursed lips. It should sound almost like you're saying the word "Too." Do this quick breath on it three times, to breathe some life into it.
Once you've done this, greet your toby, and welcome him to life.
Dressing the Hand
Once you've properly breathed life into your toby, it's time to dress him. Take some proper condition oil appropriate to the purpose that your mojo bag will fulfill, and dress it, dropping an odd number of drops over its surface. If you prefer, you can feed your toby other things: a few drops of good alcohol (like whiskey or rum), a perfume (like Hoyt's Cologne or Florida Water) or sexual fluids (in the case of attraction and/or love hands).
Once a week or so, re-dress your hand. At this point, you are literally feeding your toby, which is alive (at the very least in a magical and spiritual sense). Like anyone else, if you want him to keep working, you're going to have to keep feeding him.
Keep It Hidden!
Keep your toby safe and hidden. He's shy, and prefers to work in quiet, without anyone knowing he's there, so make sure to keep him safely hidden on your person (a pocket will do, but other places may be appropriate, such as undergarments for sex or love work).
If someone notices him, change the subject, or distract them. Whatever you have to do - tell them he's just a "perfume sachet" or something like that. Don't show him to people, either - if you don't respect your toby's privacy, he's not going to want to work for you. Whatever you do, don't let someone else touch your toby. That's called "killing a hand," and for a good reason: it'll kill it outright.
When All Is Done
The toby's magic doesn't often run out, as it were - it'll keep working as long as you need him, and as long as you keep feeding him properly. But, once he's looking a little rough for wear, or when he's no longer needed, it's time to dispose of him properly and respectfully.
Burying is pretty much ideal. Hoodoo disposes of a lot of its used up spell materials by burying at a crossroads. It allows the final lingering mojo in the materials to disperse along the crossroads, scattering it. (As an aside, the only crossroads used in hoodoo are the four-way crossroads.) There are other burials that are appropriate, such as burying materials that you used to work a beneficial trick on you or your home on your property somewhere, preferrably dividing it up into four parts, and burying them at the four corners, with your home in the center of the four (like the pips for the 5 on a standard die). Casting the materials into running water is also a good approach, for the same reason as the crossroads - it scatters the mojo, dispersing it.
A toby sometimes gets a more specialized burial, though, one that is accompanied with proper thanks and libations, as though it were a little person who'd died, and was now being sent off properly. I read somewhere once that the family of a particularly well-known rootworker had a chunk of their property set aside for use as a toby graveyard, including a little fence around it and some cheap statuary in it! :D
As far as reusing certain ingredients, yes you can. Stones other than lodestones, animal parts and roots (but not other herbs) can be reused. You'll have to cleanse them, though, by sprinkling a little salt on them and letting the salt fall into running water or at a crossroads, and then cense them afterwards. But here's the important bit: do not ever use them for another purpose other than the one they were originally put to. PARTICULARLY if it's a High John root - once John sets his mind to a particular task, he can do it over and over for you, but that's all he's going to do.
Conclusion
Well, that's about it. cat yronwode's page on mojo hands is quite good, containing a bunch of history and (best of all) a variety of sample mojo hands, and the ingredients for making them!
Views: 632
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Makoons on -
Oak,
Is it possible/in good practice to make mojo bags for others people? -
-
Permalink Reply by Oakthorne on
-
Oh, absolutely. Generally speaking, when including a Personal Concern, you include something of theirs. Then, once you've awakened it, you hand it over to that person, with instructions on Dressing it and keeping it hidden.
Makoons said:Oak,
Is it possible/in good practice to make mojo bags for others people? -
-
Permalink Reply by Makoons on
-
What about something I've heard of called a "curse bag"? Now I've never done anything like it or have ever known anyone who has, but I've seen it in some television shows and movies (*is embarassed*). Does something like that exist?
-
-
Permalink Reply by Oakthorne on
-
Sure does. You can use a mojo bag - like most hoodoo techniques - for blessing, or for crossing.
When used for crossing, the Personal Concern you want to put in the bag would be that of the person you're hexing. You would then plant it in their home or some other place they frequent associated with your intent (their job if you want them fired, etc).
Honestly, cursing with a mojo bag is probably one of the least-effective methods of crossing in hoodoo. There are way easier and more reliable methods of working a trick against someone, like foot powder crossings.
Makoons said:What about something I've heard of called a "curse bag"? Now I've never done anything like it or have ever known anyone who has, but I've seen it in some television shows and movies (*is embarassed*). Does something like that exist? -
-
Permalink Reply by Makoons on
-
Now don't think me morbid but I'd love to learn more about foot powder. I'm not looking to curse anyone, just curious :)
-
-
Permalink Reply by Oakthorne on
-
Cool. I'll touch base on foot-track magics, and laying tricks with them here this week sometime.
Makoons said:Now don't think me morbid but I'd love to learn more about foot powder. I'm not looking to curse anyone, just curious
-
-
Permalink Reply by Makoons on
-
Ooo so I have another question. you suggested that the Hand be fed with a specific oil and I noticed on the link you gave there were oils called "Love Me Oil" and so on. Do you buys those somewhere? Can you make them on your own? How?
-
-
Permalink Reply by Oakthorne on
-
I get all of my oils from LuckyMojo.com - cat yronwode's site. She and her rootworker employees (all trained by her) blend their oils using the herbs that they grow, according to traditional hoodoo recipes. They're pretty inexpensive, and of very high quality - I know this sounds like an advert, but they're of the best quality, honestly.
As far as making them goes, there are recipes here and there, but honestly there's so much crap out there that it's not even funny. One of the big elements of traditional hoodoo training is the passing on of these recipes, and it's probably the biggest part of my studies at current.
cat yronwode offers a correspondence course in making these oils, but only to proven customers she's interviewed. My suggestion would be to buy the oils, powders and the like. Use them to practice these techniques with first. Figure out if this is something you want to get into long-term, and then take a look at the course. I myself am just getting ready to see about enrolling in the correspondence course currently. :)
Makoons said:Ooo so I have another question. you suggested that the Hand be fed with a specific oil and I noticed on the link you gave there were oils called "Love Me Oil" and so on. Do you buys those somewhere? Can you make them on your own? How? -
-
Permalink Reply by Grayson on -
Nice one Oak, A quick question from a Welsh witch, who will find certain roots etc hard to find without mail order. What do we do with the bag once the magic is done, either a result or someone has killed it? Can the contents be salvaged and re-used? I make witch bags a lot as part of magic workings, I find them a useful way of creating a "portable" bit of magic to give to people, a talisman kinda thing. When they are done I tell people to burn it, dig a hole and cover it and forget it, or throw it in the sea. But what of the Toby? (",)
-
-
Permalink Reply by Oakthorne on
-
Awesome question, Gray. I totally forgot to include this material, which is necessary.
The toby's magic doesn't often run out, as it were - it'll keep working as long as you need him, and as long as you keep feeding him properly. But, once he's looking a little rough for wear, or when he's no longer needed, it's time to dispose of him properly and respectfully.
Burying is pretty much ideal. Hoodoo disposes of a lot of its used up spell materials by burying at a crossroads. It allows the final lingering mojo in the materials to disperse along the crossroads, scattering it. (As an aside, the only crossroads used in hoodoo are the four-way crossroads.) There are other burials that are appropriate, such as burying materials that you used to work a beneficial trick on you or your home on your property somewhere, preferrably dividing it up into four parts, and burying them at the four corners, with your home in the center of the four (like the pips for the 5 on a standard die). Casting the materials into running water is also a good approach, for the same reason as the crossroads - it scatters the mojo, dispersing it.
A toby sometimes gets a more specialized burial, though, one that is accompanied with proper thanks and libations, as though it were a little person who'd died, and was now being sent off properly. I read somewhere once that the family of a particularly well-known rootworker had a chunk of their property set aside for use as a toby graveyard, including a little fence around it and some cheap statuary in it! :D
As far as reusing certain ingredients, yes you can. Stones other than lodestones, animal parts and roots (but not other herbs) can be reused. You'll have to cleanse them, though, by sprinkling a little salt on them and letting the salt fall into running water or at a crossroads, and then cense them afterwards. But here's the important bit: do not ever use them for another purpose other than the one they were originally put to. PARTICULARLY if it's a High John root - once John sets his mind to a particular task, he can do it over and over for you, but that's all he's going to do.
Grayson said:Nice one Oak, A quick question from a Welsh witch, who will find certain roots etc hard to find without mail order. What do we do with the bag once the magic is done, either a result or someone has killed it? Can the contents be salvaged and re-used? I make witch bags a lot as part of magic workings, I find them a useful way of creating a "portable" bit of magic to give to people, a talisman kinda thing. When they are done I tell people to burn it, dig a hole and cover it and forget it, or throw it in the sea. But what of the Toby? (",) -
-
Permalink Reply by Makoons on
-
So I have a question about the "life-span" of a Toby.
I'm getting married in 6 months and have seen some oils and powders to help have a good marriage. I was thinking of making a Toby for that at some point before or after the wedding...but I don't think there'd come a time where I wouldn't need the Toby! Should it only be made in times of martial woes? And if I do decide to make one for a good marriage do I have to keep feeding it for the duration or is there a time when maybe I should put it to rest?
Perhaps I shouldn't open that can of worms at all!
thanks! -
-
Permalink Reply by Oakthorne on
-
Hee. No, this is a cool question.
Make him and give him life on your wedding day (that is, make him before hand, and just slip off to the bathroom after you've taken your vows to give him his first breath, his name and his first dressing). Then, keep him alive as long as you like.
Remember - he's not your marriage. He's a magical helper that is going to be working tirelessly to make things better and smoother, so if the time goes to let him go, that's no problem. :) You can always make another one.
In fact, if you ever get to the point where it's time to let him go (whether because it feels like he's out of mojo, is getting too tattered to carry around, or that sort of thing), make up another one before you do. That way, there'll be a short while that they "overlap," so there's no "downtime" inbetween them. :)
Makoons said:So I have a question about the "life-span" of a Toby.
I'm getting married in 6 months and have seen some oils and powders to help have a good marriage. I was thinking of making a Toby for that at some point before or after the wedding...but I don't think there'd come a time where I wouldn't need the Toby! Should it only be made in times of martial woes? And if I do decide to make one for a good marriage do I have to keep feeding it for the duration or is there a time when maybe I should put it to rest?
Perhaps I shouldn't open that can of worms at all!
thanks! -
© 2013 Created by Sangraal.
