6 May 2018
 
Perhaps you have heard of Personal Concerns. It’s that little bit of extra something added to a spell or working to “aim” the direction of the work. For example, if I were to make a mojo bag for you, something to bring you love or luck or money, we would want to aim that magic towards you. We would want the luck, money or love to come to you, not somebody standing next to you. So, we would add a little of you to the bag. Something that carries your DNA is the way I tell it. So, a little bit of your blood, sweat, tears, finger nail clippings, foot scrapings, spit etc.…
Rootworker Carolina Dean defines Personal Concerns as: “A term used to describe anything that is associated with a person’s physical body either having once been a part of it or having intimate contact to the body. Examples of personal concerns include blood, semen, hair, clothing, one’s signature, photograph, etc…”
Now this adding of personal concerns is not used in every working. But, I would not make a mojo bag or a doll baby without it. You can also add personal concerns to candles, petition papers and even honey jars or sour jars.
Which brings us to…
Photographs and signatures. I was taught that a Hoodoo Practitioner or Root Doctor should never allow another to have their photograph or an example of handwriting, in particular, their signature.
The reason behind this is, these items are extensions of you. They are unique to you. No one else signs their name like you, or has your handwriting. No one else looks like you (unless of course you are a multiple; twin, triplet etc.) So, if I wanted to make a sour jar to work magic to make you confused or troubled or to have your relationships or business sour, chances are good I couldn’t just ask you for some spit. I would need to get a personal concern from you to aim the magic so, what’s a witch to do? Well, it is probably fairly easy for me to get your handwriting or a picture of you (especially in this age of Facebook.) Then I could add this “personal concern” to the sour jar.
It took me five years for my teacher, Ms. B., to trust me enough to allow me to take her picture. I try not to let my photo be taken. I don’t know that there is anyone who would want to do “hard work” (a phrase meaning malevolent or malicious magic) aimed at me. But you never know. There are days when I think about bottling my husband. No, I am not really worried about someone working magic against me, but why take chances, I could have pissed someone off. I follow this “no photo” rule more out of respect for my teacher and the old ways.
However, I have been thinking about that more and more. Should I hold to the old ways or does that make me “stuck?”
At 62, I kind of feel I can forge my own path, but I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water.
What do you think, should magic workers allow their photos to be taken? How can one produce helpful videos if you can’t allow your face on camera? Would you hold to the old ways even though it gets in the way of your Social Media?
Let me know what your thoughts are on the matter. 

I introduced the apprentices through an earlier blog post, but forgot to tell you about myself. So, let me introduce myself. I was born in California due to my father being in the Air Force and getting stationed there after World War II. My family was a pretty typical 50s, Leave it to Beaver type family. We were a middle-class family living in suburbia, two kids, one dog, a station wagon and Catholic. The only thing that seemed a little different was my mother worked and I had an African-American woman named Eadie (from Alabama) as my nanny. She raised me from the age of 0 till I was 7 years old. I loved her dearly.
As an adult looking back, I know that we actually did some stuff that most folks would not have considered typical. There were of course the usual Southern traditions like eating black eyed peas and collard greens for New Years luck, but there were other things.
I can remember my mother looking out onto the back porch and observing the rocking chair moving would announce, “Grandma’s visiting.” All the grown-ups had a firmly held belief in ghosts, they were just a part of the day to day. Sometimes my grandmother would talk to them like they were sitting beside her, or she might put a plate or a glass of water for them at the table, and NO she wasn’t “touched.”
The children were taught all the “superstitions.” Things like throwing salt over your left shoulder if you had spilt it. Not stepping on cracks least you break your mother’s back, not walking under a ladder, or opening an umbrella indoors. I found out later in life that some of the things I learned while growing up were not part of everybody’s childhood. Did you ever hear, “purse on the floor, money out the door” or were you taught how to make doll babies or mojo bags? How about a belief in prophetic dreams? Oh, and we (my sister and I) were taken to see palm readers, numerologists, and mediums on a regular basis.
By the time I was 16 and attending an all-girls Catholic high school, I was firmly entrenched in Witchcraft and what Grandma called “The Work.” I also felt called to serve the church and so tried to join the sisterhood. That last part didn’t take.
I continued to practice the Craft/Hoodoo until I was 25. At that time, I married the wrong man. I forgot who I was.
It wasn’t until years after my divorce that I began to remember, I began to grow and blossom. I made magic a part of my life once again. When I was in my 40s I had an overwhelming feeling that I needed to join a coven. It wasn’t my idea. In fact, I resisted. I didn’t need a coven, a bunch of witches to tell me what to do. Ever had the Gods whop you upside the head? Yap, I got whopped good. So I found a group and two years later got kicked out of that group. So I found another, and then another till I found a teacher that was right for me. Her name was Valerie and just like Eadie she hailed from Alabama.
Five years went by like the blink of an eye, and I found myself a Third Degree Gardnarian High Priestess with two large circles under me. Once again, I began to practice the old ways my family had instilled in me, now recognizing it as Hoodoo/Conjure.
That was more than 20 years ago. Seems like it was yesterday. The older I get the faster time seems to move.
My business, CajunConjure.com, began as a fun thing for me and a couple of friends to do for a local Pagan Festival. I had made “potions” and “curios” for myself and my friends for years so I just threw together what ever I could in two weeks, got a business license and a resale license and had a booth. Whew! What was I thinking? You know what? People liked my stuff, it worked and so I did it again, then again, and before I knew it, I had a website.
So today I am a crazy old crone who believes I can do just about anything I put my mind to. I live my craft and speak to dead people, and to the living, all over the country. As I write this, I am sitting in St. Martinville, Louisiana where my mother’s family settled when they came to this continent in the 1700s. Last week I taught classes in New Orleans. I love my life. There have been some pretty bad bumps and potholes along this road, but I learned so much from the journey. 

30 April 2018
Please Don’t Look In My Freezer
Ok, I confess, my freezer can be a scary place. Not because of the reason you think. Yes, you might find some unusual “meat” in there, but nothing that would hurt you in the “I might poison you” way. 
If I were going to poison someone it would be in a so-much-more subtle way. Not, “Here, try my rattlesnake and possum stew.”
Yes, there has been a cat, a snake, a couple of birds, a possum, a rat or two and various other creatures in my freezer, but it is a scary place because most of the time I find it like this.




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You see, it is a very old freezer and the door doesn’t always shut properly. On this occasion an electrical cord got stuck in between the door and the frame of the freezer. I have lost everything that was in there, including the rattlesnake, and those are not as easy to come by as one might think. But thankfully, rattlesnake season is just about to start here so I might be able to get another.
The cat, possum, skunk, birds, rat and raccoon had already been removed and are in the bone cleaning stage.
I don’t think the rest of the stuff I lost amounts to much, some diet dinners, some pie shells, some frozen fruit for smoothies and a couple of cans of frozen orange juice.
This is today’s picture. I will know soon enough if there was anything I will lament over. 

​Luckily I have a freezer drawer at the bottom of my “in house” refrigerator. Most of all the meat that I use to cook with on a daily basis was housed there. Along with the mandatory ice cream.  However, that freezer has its problems too. What is it with Witches and electronics? Try explaining to the repair man that comes out and “fixes” my freezer on an almost monthly basis that if it runs on electricity it does not fare well in my home.
Computers, televisions, freezers, stoves and ovens…the list goes on. For some reason these things will work just fine for other people, but I have a running frustration with all things electrical. For example, I will pick up the T. V. remote to watch or record a show and get an error message or it just plain won’t work. I’ll call my husband to come figure it out, and he picks up the remote, clicks it and it works just fine. This kind of thing is a daily occurrence.
So while fetching something out of my freezer might be scary, I assure you the most frightening thing you will find is not the snake. ​

Hi there, this is Ash. Apprenticeship can be a real adventure. I don’t think I knew what I was getting into when I asked Hexeba to take me on. That was two years ago! Hard to believe it’s been two years. We will be celebrating this milestone in June for sure. Since I am the Apprentice who has been with Hexeba the longest I get the pleasure today (and often I hope) of telling tales on Hexeba and what goes on at the Apothecary. Today I am going to give you a little peep into what goes on behind the scenes.
Hexeba has a freezer in her garage the size of a refrigerator. In other words a full size upright freezer. Going into Hexeba’s freezer is always a gamble. Sure sometimes it can be relatively safe, where you find the usual stuff like frozen soup, veggies, chicken breasts excreta; but sometimes….well, sometimes there is a dead cat inside.
To be fair, she did warn me before I ever went into her freezer. Over the last two years, besides the dead cat, there has been a dead snake and the occasional road kill. I would not be at all surprised to find a bird, or a raccoon, a possum or even a rabbit. We have used body parts from all of those critters at one time or another. That’s one of the fun things about Hoodoo, you never know what you might need or use in a recipe, even animal bits. Hexeba’s house is full of all sorts of critter parts. Not in a creepy way. She has a couple of alligator heads. She calls one of the Gus and the other Gwen (short for Gwendolynn,) they are charmed to protect her home. Lately, since we have started to produce Chicken Feet for the store, she has been talking about making a hanging protection charm of some of them. One of the other apprentices even keeps an eye out for road kill for her. I just try to be wary of the freezer and any “meat” she pulls out of there, cause it might not be for dinner. 

​I probably don’t have to tell you that food is very important in the South. In Louisiana they have raised food to an art form. It has always been that way – at least for my people – the Cajuns.
George Rodrigue, the guy who became famous for painting a blue dog, created several paintings of the Cajun people.
The one I am sharing here was based on a photograph taken of several of my family members. This picture, and others Rodrigue created, depicts a social custom practiced in South West Louisiana (especially in the New Iberia area) the Aioli Dinner. The Aioli Dinner was a social gathering which met at a different plantation home each month, these groups were also known as Creole Gourmet Societies. The term Aioli refers to a garlic-butter sauce, and in the 1800s the term Creole, as it was used by the people of Louisiana, referred to someone who was born in Louisiana but whose parents were European (usually French or Spanish). Much as the term “Chicano” indicates a person who was born in the United States but whose parents were from Mexico.
​
 During this event the men sat at the table, each with his own bottle of wine, partaking of the wonderful food that the women had prepared and the boys served. Aioli Dinners would last for about six hours. These clubs were very popular between 1890 and 1920. The meals would be lavish amounts of food, but not the Cajun cuisine of today. In fact the gentlemen at the table and the women serving them would not have called themselves Cajun. They were French, and their cuisine was Creole. This was the cuisine of the French “high society” living in Louisiana.
To me it is of little wonder that the Cajun people would combine cooking, eating, medicine and magic.
There are many workings used in Hoodoo/Conjure that involve food or cooking. Stop me if you’ve heard this one…
If you are a single man… never eat marinara sauce prepared by a single woman. It is possible for her to “bewitch” you by adding her menstrual blood to the sauce.
Of course most everyone in the South knows you eat black eyed peas on New Years day for health, wealth and good luck in the New Year.
Since many foods are natural plant items (ie: strawberries, potatoes, herbs) it goes to follow that you could use particular foods in a spell that you eat. For example, most everyone is familiar with the idea of food as an aphrodisiac. Oysters are supposed to raise your libido. Bananas and cucumbers look like an erect phallus. (So this could be considered to fall under the Doctrine of Signatures, where something is believed to work on the part of the body it resembles.)
So, in my mind it is not a huge leap for spells/workings to be placed into food and then served up to your target.
If you wish to use this kind of magical workings you not only have to become a decent cook but you also need to understand which ingredients do what.
Here is a short list of some of the food ingredients you might use and what they are used for.
Sugar/Honey -  to sweeten people up
Cinnamon – for money and for success in business
Nutmeg – for money in business
Cloves – to stop gossip, for luck, for friendship
Catnip – for flirtation
Vanilla – for love and romance, makes one more loving
Salt – protection
Grapefruit – Heal a relationship
Rice – attracts wealth and prosperity
Baking Soda – to increase your power
Garlic – protection
Pepper – protection or to send someone away
I hope this has given you an interesting way of looking at the foods you prepare. Share with me any recipe ideas you might have in the comments. I would be interested in where you take this. 

Often I get asked, “Are Conjure and Hoodoo the same?”
Well, Yes and No.
Hoodoo is primarily found in the Southern United States. You will find Hoodoo primarily in Louisiana, but it can also be found in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and to a degree in Texas, Florida and Arkansas.  Folks who practice it might not call it Hoodoo but it is the folk magic practice that in the South is often interwoven with the Catholic Religion. Conjure seems to be practiced mainly by Protestants, throughout the Appalachians and down the Southern part of the Eastern Seaboard.  But for a very long time now those that practiced what we call Hoodoo, and those that practiced what we call Conjure shared information and even married into each other’s families. People are not stationary. They move, they cross state lines and so did this magical practice. During World War II many folks were uprooted from their homes and found themselves stationed at far away bases. My own family moved from Louisiana to California because the Air Force said they had to. Many years later some of them relocated to Florida. So there are no clear cut differences between these two practices, Hoodoo and Conjure, except maybe in the working of Spirits and Saints.
In Conjure you might work with ancestor spirits, asking your Granny for help in finding the right man to be your husband, or to help you make ends meet. Most of us had loving Grannies who would of course help you. (Don’t ask your evil Granny for help…she didn’t get nicer just because she died.) You might also appeal to the Spirit of Black Hawk for protection (a common occurrence in Conjure.) Calling on Black Hawk’s aid originated in the Spiritualist Movement. Others might call on Angels or personal spirit guides.
However, in addition to calling on ancestor spirits or others from the realm of the dead, Hoodoo Rootworkers might also call on the Saints, asking them through prayer to help. For the purposes of this post I am stressing the difference of Hoodoo work with Saints as well as other spirits, versus the practice of the more Protestant Conjure Doctors where Saints are acknowledge but rarely worked with or prayed to.
Now remember it is not a clear line that separates the two. There is a lot of overlap, a lot of mixing.
Nowadays there is also a further confusion of the two practices. Not only have ideas and works been shared to the point of almost no difference between the two traditions, but since Hoodoo/Conjure is a magical practice and not a religion, we find many whose beliefs are neither Protestant nor Catholic.
While it is not the way Hoodoo/Conjure was practiced in “days of old,” you will now often find Wiccans practicing Conjure or Atheists using Hoodoo as their magical practice. While I think this is just fine there is a part (a fairly significant and powerful part) of the magical system that will be lost.  
Many who have turned from “The Church” or from Abrahamic religions have a knee jerk reaction to the idea of working with the Bible as a spell book, or praying to a Saint, or making an altar to Moses or Jesus. I completely understand. I was raised Catholic and even though I left that church long ago there is a part of me that still resonates with it. I have learned not to throw the baby out with the bath water. I have found that I can accept the Saints and even Jesus as “enlightened beings.” I don’t need to worship them to recognize their usefulness in spell work. Furthermore, if read with the right mindset the Bible is the most awesome spell book.
Well, I have kind of gone off on a tangent. 

We’ve already talked about one of the major don’ts in Hoodoo in the blog post from March 12th called, “And Remember Kids -  Don’t Eat the Hoodoo.”
But let’s take a look at some of the other do’s and don’ts.
Invariably when I teach a class on Hoodoo I have somebody, sometimes several somebodies, bring up “The Rede” or “The Three Fold Law.” I have to remind them that this is Hoodoo not Wicca. Hoodoo does have a moral compass, however… is the work justified. I tell folks don’t kill a butterfly with a cannon. In other words if your neighbor’s dog keeps digging in your yard you wouldn’t (or at least probably shouldn’t) cause your neighbor to suffer a horrible wasting away disease that ends with a horrendous death! That’s not justified. You might jinx them to move away or for her garden to never produce flower or fruit till the dog stops digging. (Meanwhile you should not neglect the mundane work and…oh I don’t know – talk to her!) Or maybe you’ll put up some “keep away” wards to encourage the dog to stay in his own yard. So this Hoodoo Don’t can probably be summed up by…Be sure the work is justified and don’t shoot a butterfly with a cannon.
Another don’t would be: Don’t confuse European Herbalism with Hoodoo. Hoodoo will sometimes use botanicals for the same medicinal properties as European Herbalism. However, Rootwork/Hoodoo deals more with the human condition (heartbreak, legal battles, bothersome neighbors, runaway husbands, financial difficulties etc.) whereas European Herbalism is more focused on health (which herb to use for which ailment ie: ginger or peppermint for tummy aches, eyebright for sties, white willow bark for headaches, etc.) There is some overlap, Rootwork would often work on physical ailments and herbalism worked right alongside European Folk Magic or Witchcraft. The lines often blur and information has been shared in the distant past as it is today.
But don’t confuse them and create an amalgamation, they are two different schools of study with some shared commonalities.
Don’t be fooled by those who tell you (or imply,) “you can just make it up,” “intuition will guide you” or some other bull larky. Rootwork is a practice that has been around for hundreds of years, based on practices much older than that, and the recipes and rituals are a learned practice. The only way to truly learn is from a teacher. One on one. Oh I know there are books and you can learn a lot from books, if the writer truly knows the subject. There are authors who do a little reading and then re-write a bunch of recipes and history and voilá they are experts. Then there is Pinterest. You just know that those are the real recipes, right? Kind of doubt it. Of course you can learn a lot from buying the products. Far be it from me to tell you not to buy ready-made products, hell, I make products. But you are only getting part of the picture if you are buying the products to learn Hoodoo. But if your goal is just to do the work and you’re not worried about learning Hoodoo, then by all means buy the ready-made products, after all that is the way it was in days of old. There has always been those who learned these ways and those who came to the Rootworker for help with their problems. It works, why mess with it now?
But if you are trying to learn Hoodoo then you cannot rely on books, or intuition, or European Herbalism knowledge, or guessing what’s in the bottle. Rootwork has been and always will be partially hidden in the shadows and the swamps. The recipes of the various practitioners are carefully guarded secrets.
That leads me to another don’t…Don’t ask me, “What in it?” It is considered just rude, like asking Colonel Sanders of KFC for his secret recipe. My recipes took years of work and research. Some of them were handed down to me or other members of my family. I’ve spent many years working with teachers down in Louisiana, and still work with them every year; and you just want me to tell you how to make it…excuse me???
If you are checking to be sure you won’t breakout in hives then ask it differently; maybe something like, “I’m severely allergic to lemon grass…can I use your Van Van Oil?”  (NO)
Ok, I have a kind of weird Hoodoo – Do. While you are learning buy a wide variety of the ready- made products out there. While you cannot fully learn Hoodoo this way, it is a good way to introduce you to the knowledge of what is real and what is just a money making con. It shows you just how much crap is out there. Buy from many companies or vendors. Buy from the semi-tacky tourist shops in New Orleans, buy from the real Voodoo practitioners, buy from the botanicas, buy from the online stores, buy buy buy and compare. What is their mojo bag or gris gris bag made of? What’s inside? What should be inside? What would you expect to see? Are their oils made with herbs and minerals, roots and flowers? Or are they just perfumed oil? Are there dyes or synthetic products added? Should there be? How do you think the rootworkers of say 1870 made their products? Find out how that changed in the 1930s and why. So for me another “DO” would be to educate yourself.  Take classes, read, go to conferences, join Rootworker or Hoodoo or Conjure Facebook groups, but remember there are a lot of folks out there who take a class or two, maybe read a book or two and pass themselves off as experts. I guess my last don’t is…Don’t be one of them. Till next time…Remember Kids, Don’t Eat The Hoodoo. 

I sell my Hoodoo product line in a few select stores. One day I was in a store taking inventory, when I glaced up and saw a woman at the other end of the store with one of my washes in her hand. I knew what was coming. Suddenly I was in one of those slow motion sceens where as she is unscrewing the top off the bottle I am reaching out toward her and trying to stop her as I called out to her, "Nooooooo!"
Too late. She opened the container and took a big whif and she got a snout full of ammonia. 
For some reason folks think they should open bottles and jars and sniff. I do it myself. I blame the purfume industry.
People, this ain't aromatherepy! 
Many Hoodoo/Conjure concoctions have unpleasent or pungent smells. Some have nice smells and some have little or no scent. I tell everyone, "When a recipe comes out smelling nice, it's a happy accident." You have to understand; the herbs, roots, and the bases that are put into a recipe are chosen for their magical properties, for what they will do, and because they work. Not because they smell good together. Aromatherepy and purfumery are exactly the opposite, in the purfume and essential oils industries the oils and scents are chosen so that they will please the nose. 
​Washes and Waters might be made with ammonia, Pine-sol, swamp water, or even urine (no products in my line are made from urine, but some may instruct you to add you own.) Some will contain perfumed oils or waters and smell guite nice. Some will smell of vinegar or camphor (which smells like Vicks Vapor Rub​™). But if you are new to Hoodoo you might not know, by the name of the product, which are going to smell nice and which will be pungent.
A rule of thumb to follow, which usually works, is: if the product is used in “enemy work” or to hex, lay a trick, jinx, cross or otherwise involve a form of “hard work” or baneful magic, it will usually be pungent, stink to high heaven, or in general be unpleasant.
If the product is meant to work on a love condition or is meant to bring luck, happiness, or peace it will usually smell nice or neutral.
The name on the product will sometimes give you an idea if the product is going to smell nice or nasty. Products with traditional names like, “Come here” or “Follow Me Boy” or Kiss Me Quick” are used for love and will either smell nice or not at all.  Products with name like “War Water” “Crossing” or “Cut and Clear” might smell horrible or pungent.
However, there are many products with traditional names that may not clearly tell you what type of scent you might encounter.  For example: Florida Water. Many folks unfamiliar with this product may assume it is names for the state of Florida. But both the state’s name and the product’s name allude to the Spanish word for floral or flowers, and Florida Water smells like a floral cologne.
Hot Foot Powder or Hot Foot Oil does not advertise the fact that they have a variety of peppers in them. Boss Fix is another example of a product that makes it tough to guess if you will have a pleasant olfactory experience or not.
There are many more products that serve a wide variety of conditions and have a wide variety of scents ranging from non-existent to, “Oh My God.”
The main point is that the scent is the result of using the ingredients to meet the needs of the condition be it love, revenge, peace, protection or whatever; and it is not always going to be sweet or pretty. Do you want it to smell good or do you want it to work? Life isn’t always sweet or pretty and this ain’t aromatherapy!

In the four years since I started Cajun Conjure I have had the pleasure of working with several amazing apprentices. Some have been with me for a year or more, some stayed for only a few months before life got in the way. Others come and go as work and school allow. One has moved away, and another arrived to take her place. They have all been wonderful blessings in my life. They keep me on my toes, they make me laugh, they keep me in line and usually on-time.
This once a month blog post dubbed "Apprentice Corner" is so you can see what goes on behind the scenes. These are their words and they have promised to tell tales. So let me introduce you to...
Tina, Charlie, G.G., Ash, I'vee (pronounced Ivy), Lexa, and  Danielle.

Tina: "I met Hexeba a few years ago through Pagan Night Out. I was searching for a Wiccan/Spiritual Teacher. I was looking for guidance and wanted to join a group of like minded people. I was excited for our first meeting and I just loved her when I met her. I joined her eclectic circle, and when the opportunity presented itself, I became her apprentice. We've had a fun if not sometimes turbulent (what happens when two strong women are together???) relationship and I adore her. She has been a wonderful teacher and fabulous friend."
Charlie: "I'm Charlie. I met Hexeba at Pagan Pride a few years ago after some unsuccessful searching for a group on WitchVox and MeetUp. I was interested in learning more about the Plant People and how to work with them. Being a student was an enriching experience in a season of learning for me."
G.G.: "I was at our local metaphysical store one night when Hexeba came in. As she was putting up product I was told who she was and what she did and what her product was about. I was intrigued. "Come on I'll introduce you," I was told. I shit a brick as I thought to myself, "Dude she looks scary and can probably turn me into a toad and throw me to the alligators."
I was introduced, we talked and she told me she had a class coming up that Friday. She seemed a tad less scary and I was like, "Eh why not."
Two days later I was at my first class. Five minutes later I was completely sucked in. Brought me back to my roots, similar and yet different. By the end of the class I knew this was were I needed to be and I was laughing at myself for thinking she was as scary as I thought she was. 
It has been downhill since my first class. Since that first meeting I have been to all of her classes (Hoodoo, Wicca 101, Coffee and Conjure and at Pagan Pride and Pantheacon).  I have learned so much about Hoodoo and Wicca and the various uses of her products, laughed at crazy stories and enjoyed the sense of belonging. 
I was fortunate to be able to help Hexeba and become an apprentice during a rough patch in my life. I have cherished the time I have spent with her and the other apprentices. I have learned and laughed more and have even enjoyed being 'crafty'. Time spent with her has allowed me to see my path more clearly. 
I do believe that people come into our lives for a reason. Words can not express how grateful I am to have the 'boss' in my life. Hexeba has been a rare gift in my life. She has gone from a super scary witch that may throw me to the gators to the funniest, most loving person that I am ever so grateful to call my friend. 
I look forward to more busy days, laughs and learning.... On another note.. I am a sarcastic pain in the ass, she may still turn me into a toad and throw me to the gators. Lol"
Ash: "Hello. I'm Ash. I've been Hexeba's apprentice for about a year and a half. We met almost two years ago at a local festival. I attended a class of hers and asked her how I could become an apprentice shortly thereafter. I have smelled and tasted some rather "wonderful" things since then. I've thoroughly enjoyed learning from Hexeba. I'm looking forward to sharing some of our great stories with all of you. "
I'vee: "I finally decided to open and be myself, so late 2017, I went to a Book of Shadows Scrapbooking Class with Hexeba. She told me something that I needed to hear, "You're a witch, so do something about it." (insert: Hi this is Hexeba...just a clarification...I often tell folks that if something is not right in their lives they have the power to change it...however, it often comes out of my mouth, "You're a Witch, damn it, fix it." ...back to I'vee's story...) A month following that date, I asked to help with Cajun Conjure and so now I help where I can and I've learned the need of aprons."
Danielle: "Hi my name is Danielle and I have known Hexaba for close to 3 years now. I met her at a community get together and she’s been my Witch Mom ever since. At first I began studying with her but when she began transitioning into her Cajun Conjur business I spent most of my time working in her witch room stuffing doll babies and hot gluing juju dolls. I have since taken a break from apprenticing because life and grad school took up most of my time but have always been happy to help Hexaba when she’s in need. I have loved watching the evolution and expansion of Cajun Conjure over the last few years and am excited to see where it leads to next! Hope to see you at the next fair! "
Lexa: "My name is Lexa and I worked with Hexeba for a little under a year about two years ago. I so clearly remember the first time I saw her speak, I was terrified of her. Her class was on Village Witchery and I went into it thinking it would be a relaxed class, and I imagine for everyone else it was, but I knew I wanted to work with her and I was so scared to even talk to her I don’t think I absorbed half of what she said. It took me a whole year to get the courage to ask her if I could work with her. It came out as me, a 6-foot-tall red headed giant, just walking up to her and perhaps a touch too loud announcing “I WANT TO WORK WITH YOU” and she took a moment, looked up at me and said, “yeah sure e-mail me”.  I had no idea that my religious practices, life and sense of self would be changed so drastically from that moment. I ground down bricks, organized shelves, laughed till I cried and learned magic that connected me to my blood in ways I never expected (practicing hoodoo as someone of Cajun blood but not raised in it), and I was right Hexeba is terrifying, but also funny, warm and the best teacher I’ve ever had the privilege of working with."
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You would think that this goes without saying. However, just the other day I saw a post on Pinterest telling folks how to make Four Thieves Vinegar. Several of them in fact. Most of them told folks to add it to their salads and that that would help them stay healthy.
I cringed.
Hoodoo/Conjure products are not aromatherapy, nor are they salad dressing! Many of the products can be harmful if ingested. And Conjure is what has kept the tradition of Four Thieves Vinegar alive. Rootworkers have used it for generations and continue to make and use it.
Now for those of you who do not know the background of Four Thieves Vinegar, let me explain.
According to tradition, Four Thieves Vinegar was developed by Four Thieves during the Bubonic plague (also known as the Black Death, peaking in Europe around 1346-1353 and continued into the 19th century.) The stories vary, some say the Thieves were ordered by the courts to remove the bodies of the dead as their sentence. Some say that the Thieves were robbing the bodies prior to burial. Many of the stories come out of France, some out of Italy, but whichever story you hear the outcome is the same…somehow the Thieves were immune to the plague. Inquiring minds wanted to know WHY. The Thieves traded their secret to long life for their freedom. Their secret? The concoction of Vinegar they made up. And so the recipe for this Vinegar was passed down.
Now as many of you probably know, Vinegar is used today as a “green” alternative to toxic household cleaners. Why? Because Vinegar can kill germs. According to davidsuzuki.org, “…you can tackle household bacteria like salmonella, E. coli and other “gram-negative” bacteria with vinegar. Gram-negative bacteria can cause infections including pneumonia, bloodstream infections, wound or surgical site infections, and meningitis.”
In Housekeeping in Old Virginia, published in 1879, the recipe for Thieves Vinegar includes (among other things) tansy, rue, mint and CAMPHOR.
My own recipe, which I got from the ledger book belonging to my great-great-great grandfather, also includes camphor and rue.
According to WebMD…” Camphor is UNSAFE when taken by mouth by adults. Ingesting camphor can cause severe side effects, including death.”
And (according to Wikipedia) “Rue extracts are mutagenic and hepatotoxic. Large doses can cause violent gastric pain, vomiting, systemic complications, and death. Exposure to common rue, or herbal preparations derived from it, can cause severe phytophotodermatitis which results in burn-like blisters on the skin.”
Now, let’s be clear. The recipes on Pinterest for Four Thieves Vinegar are little more than Italian salad dressing. They contain Garlic, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Lavender, Mint and of course Apple Cider Vinegar, or variations on that theme. They are safe to eat and because they contain Rosemary, Garlic and Sage, they will help you stay healthy. Eat it every day. Eat it twice a day.
If you add Wormwood you can dilute it with water and spray it on your body to work as an insect repellent. (But don’t add Rue) You’ll smell a bit like a good salad but that’s a small price to pay. Some of the Pinterest recipes call for Wormwood but I recommend you do not ingest it because it can become deadly at high doses.
The oil(s) called Four Thieves contain variations on a recipe that might contain clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus and rosemary essential oils. It might contain Tea Tree oil. To be fair some of these oils might have antiseptic properties but they are mostly used as aromatherapy. Conjure is not Aromatherapy and while the Hoodoo/Conjure version of Four Thieves Vinegar may not smell pretty…it works. It works medicinally to sanitize and magically to banish, protect and heal.
The soaps contain variations or combinations of olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, castor oil, shea butter, palm kernel oil, and essential oils of clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus and rosemary. Smells good, but you rinse it off, and it will not do what Four Thieves Vinegar is intended to do in Hoodoo because, well because, you rinse it off.
If made right, Four Thieves Vinegar can be an antiviral, antibiotic, anti-parasitic, antifungal and even an antiseptic (and by “right” I mean it contains the proper herbs and other ingredients to be effective in the above areas.)
Rosemary is an antiseptic; Wormwood is an antiseptic and an antiparasitic  (do not use internally;) Sage is antibacterial, and antifungal; Garlic is antimicrobial, antibiotic and antifungal. So you can see that a simplified version of Four Thieves Vinegar would help to keep you well.
If you use Four Thieves Vinegar (the ones with rue) to clean your home, or to disinfect the “sick room” be sure to wear gloves while applying it (or wash your hands after, not because it is toxic but because when you go into the sun it could cause your skin to redden or blister.) You should also dilute it with more vinegar. Most true conjure recipes will include rue and camphor (at least that is how I was taught.) Most practitioners will not share their recipes (so consequently do not list their ingredients) which has led some practitioners to shy away from these potent ingredients because they are worried that folks will think they are the Pinterest version and eat it….So remember kids, to be safe, DON’T EAT THE HOODOO!