Junk Oracle

While not a bone set, the Junk Oracle is a great example of the types of things that can be added to a bone set for little or no money. Each set comes with 21 small items and a set of collage playing cards that have instructions and the meanings. The pieces are the type of things you find in a junk box or drawer – a robot eraser, a screw, charms, a magnifying glass, a button and a fuzzy chick are some of the items included in my set. There is also a bag to store and carry them, a small piece of cloth that can be used as a reading surface, and an instruction sheet. Each set is different.

Junk Oracle Pieces and instruction sheet

Bag and cards with piece meanings

Cloth and meaning card front and back

I hope it sparks your imagination and gives you some ideas for your own bone set. You can order the Junk Oracle here.

On another note, the Hoodoo Heritage Festival is over. I had a blast throughout and I learned some cool new meanings for some of my bones during my workshop. The folks who attended were sharp, and came up with some wonderful meanings that I never would have thought of in a million years.

“To teach is to learn twice.” Joseph Joubert

Showing the Junk Oracle at the Hoodoo Heritage Festival 2014

Happy Bone Reading!

I wrote a book!

I have been writing all of my life – whether papers for school, reports for work, reviews for my web site, or writing in a journal. I have always written. I wrote my first book in the fourth grade. I wrote it and my mom typed the pages for me. I also illustrated it. I actually wrote two books that year, but I can only find one right now. The other book was about ghosts (I was a strange fourth grader).

My first book.

It was also lavishly illustrated.

So it is a bit surprising to me that it took me so long to write an adult book. I always thought I would write a tarot book. But there are literally hundreds of books on tarot and most of them already cover the things that I would have written, so I never wrote one. Instead I wrote a book on bone reading. I wasn’t especially thinking about writing a book. I had written a 16 page booklet as a take home for my bone reading students. The idea was that by having the booklet with all of the key points written down, the student could give their full attention to the hands on portion of the class. Of course they were free to write notes in the booklet if they wanted to – I even left blank pages at the back for them to do so. But they didn’t have to.

Long story short I used that booklet as a starting point for my book. I asked myself what “I” would want in a book on bone reading and that is what I wrote. I have been the fortunate recipient of knowledge from several excellent bone readers who graciously shared their knowledge and experience with me. But my reading style is not exactly like any of theirs. My set is different from theirs, my assigned meanings are mostly different and my interpretations are influenced by my life experiences. Because bone reading is such an personal and intimate form of divination there are likewise some limitations as to what I can teach my reader. There is no “standard” set of bones that I can teach to. I have no idea what the people who purchase this book are going to have in their bone sets. Even if they order a set from one of the vendors selling them like Lucky Mojo, Dr. E’s Conjure Doctor site, or The Mystic Dream, they will be getting a set that consists of the pieces that were available to the vendor at the time. Availability changes constantly. Most people then add several pieces of their own to the set they bought. For the same reason I cannot teach my reader what the pieces in their set mean. I came to the conclusion that all I could do is show how I read the bones using one of my bone sets with the meanings that I use. That way the reader can get some ideas that they can use to develop their own bone reading technique. That is the way that I was taught as well.

The first half of the book gives some basic information – what bone reading is, where to get a set, what to do with the set to get it ready to read, etc. The second half of the book provides illustrations of and explanations of how I interpreted actual readings. With the permission of the clients that I read for I photographed their reading, turned the photos into illustrations so that they would be easier to see, and explained how I interpreted the bones in each reading. The interpretations in the book are not necessarily the interpretations that the client heard. When reading I let myself be guided by spirit and I am interacting with the client. Since I did not record the readings I can not convey what I said during the actual reading. But I can explain what the various configurations of pieces “could” mean looking at them after the fact. Here is an example:

This is the full throw:

And here is an illustration of a section of the reading. This particular section was closely clumped together with some pieces covering others so the pieces are numbered and described for ease of identification. The next page gives the interpretations. However, most of the illustrations contain far fewer pieces so they are not numbered – a few pieces are shown followed immediately by the interpretation.

The interpretations given are based on the suggested meanings given earlier in the book. Now you may look at that same section and come up with an interpretation that is totally different and that is OK. My goal is not to have you adopt my meanings and interpret the way I interpret. My goal is to show you one possible interpretation in order to show you the mechanics of the way I read. I am hopeful that once you see and understand the mechanics you will be able to adapt them to develop your own personal style of reading. Likewise the meanings. My meanings are not the “correct” meanings. They are just the meanings that I use, and even I change them dependent on the situation. But to show you the mechanics we have to have a common language. If you like the meanings in the book please feel free to use them. If you don’t please feel free to reject them. It’s all good.

There are four readings in the book. There are also descriptions of how to do specialized readings of various types. You can see the whole Table of Contents here.

My wish for you if you purchase the book is that you will find it helpful in developing or enhancing your bone reading technique. Learning to read the bones can be frustrating at times. But I hope that you will stick it out because it is one of the best divination systems available in my opinion.

The book will be available on May 4th, 2014 from Lucky Mojo. Sunday attendees at the Hoodoo Heritage Festival will get a free copy and a goody bag from me, as well as swag from all of the workshops they attend that day. It will also be available from Amazon at some future date. if you are attending the festival and want a reading please sign up here. Spaces are filling fast!

Happy Bone Reading!

Hoodoo Heritage Festival – May 3rd and 4th, 2014

The Hoodoo Heritage Festival 2014 is happening the first weekend in May (May 3rd and 4th). This year is really going to be special because you will be able to attend all of the workshops on a given day for one price for the entire day. If you attend both days you get a discount. The workshops are always excellent. Many are “hands on” and all of them have free goodies. There will be 5 new books — 4 complete 96-page books, plus a special 96-page advance preview edition of a much longer book to released later in the year. Those who get the preview edition will be mailed the full version of the book when it is released in June for the same low price – free! Attendees will get the books released for the day they attend. Attend both days and get all 5! I am still using last year’s one free book – The Black Folder.

The festival starts on Saturday with a Quimbanda Opening Ceremony for Exu by Conjureman Ali, an initiated TaTa (priest) from The House of Quimbanda. Wildcrafting for Herbal Magic is next and it will be a don’t miss event. Miss Cat is an acknowledged expert on the subject and the grounds around the church have many different herbs and plants useful for Hoodoo. This will be a hands-on, walk around the grounds event, not just a lecture. I can assure you that this workshop will enhance your knowledge of herbs.

Bathing and Cleansing Spells will expand your knowledge of this fundamental subject and the free book by Aura LaForest looks likely become one of my “go to” books on Hoodoo. The three presenters for this workshop come from varied backgrounds so you will be getting a well-rounded presentation on the subject with demonstrations. There will be a Panel Discussion on Favorite Money Spells, and let’s face it, who is not interested in learning ways to bring in more money? Six experienced workers will be on this panel bringing a wide breadth of knowledge.

As a long time Tarot fan I am especially looking forward to Using Tarot, Lenormand, and Playing Cards in Rootwork by Madame Nadia. Many readers use cards of some type as their primary divination tool. This workshop will not be about reading in general, instead it will focus on and demonstrate how to use cartomancy as a diagnostic tool in working for your client. Saturday’s last workshop will be Dr. Johannes’ Introduction to Swedish Trolldom. Swedish Folkmagic is a fascinating subject, but little information has been available outside of academia. Dr. Johannes’ new book contains a wealth of information on this topic from an actual practitioner and all attendees will receive a preview copy of the book at the festival followed by a full copy of the finished book when it is published in June. The full book will have more than 600 spells to ease childbirth, restore destroyed conditions, break curses, remove the evil eye, staunch blood, awaken love, enhance sex, reunite lovers, ensure fidelity, bring about marriage, break up a couple, kill love, bind sexuality, grant protection from love spells, create friendship, invoke helpful spirits, get hunting and fishing luck, attract and draw money, protect money, bring gambling luck, get money or goods back from thieves, protect against theft, ward off physical injury, turn back hostile trolldom, guard against evil eyes and evil tongues, shield from hag riding, set boundaries against hostile spirits, travel safely, prevail in court, win debates, excel in competitions, steal another’s courage, curse enemies, get revenge, put disease on people and livestock, and kill those who deserve it. The book will be mailed to everyone who attends this day.

Sunday starts with a Spiritual Candle Service by Apollo Dark to open your roads and clear obstacles from your path. The service will be followed by a workshop on Conjuring Love, Passion and Glamour by Madame Nadia and Madame Parmita. This workshop will talk about how to use Hoodoo to find love, and how to keep it once you do. My workshop is next. You will be getting a free copy of my book Bones, Shells, and Curios: A Contemporary Method of Casting the Bones, some goodies for your bone set and a demonstration of my reading method. Bible Magic: Blessing and Cursing with Holy Scripture is next with Miss Michaele and Dr. Charles Porterfield. Both are well versed in scripture and this promises to be a great workshop covering everything from blessings and using the Bible for divination, to curses. Their new book will debut here as well and attendees of this workshop will all be getting a free copy.

Conjureman Ali will be presenting a workshop on Defending Yourself from the Dark Arts. He has subtitled this workshop “Hoodoo Kung-Fu,” or “Conjure Kick-assery!” If you have ever listened to him on the weekly radio show you know it will full of hard-core information. This is information that every spiritual worker needs to know and I am sure that I will get some powerful new tools for my toolbox in this workshop. This will be followed by The Vacant Chair: Remembering Dr. E. and Rev. Rukiah Shamon. Both of these outstanding workers have joined the ancestors since the last festival. Attendees who wish to do so will be able to write memories into memory books for their families.

Of course there will be a free buffet lunch each day for all attendees and the food is always excellent and plentiful. There will be 20 minute reading slots available in between the workshops and many readers will be scheduling longer readings after the workshops end for the day. Here is your chance to get a reading from some of the best readers out there, some of whom have a long waiting list to get a reading through their websites.

I look forward to this festival even when I am not presenting because I get to hang out with old friends, as well as meet in person people whom I have only heard or read about. This is all in addition to greatly expanding my knowledge of Hoodoo, Rootwork and Divination. I love being able to exchange tips and techniques with other workers. There are a lot of books available on Hoodoo, and the festival will be the occasion for releasing several new books on the topic. But no matter how good the book is, seeing things demonstrated hands on and being able to ask questions is irreplaceable. I can think of any number of things that I have read that I did not really “get” until I actually saw them being done. This is your chance to see actual practices demonstrated by real workers, to ask questions, and to exchange information with other workers. No matter what your experience level, whether you are new to Hoodoo or an experienced professional, you will learn techniques that you can apply to your professional practice if you have one, or to your personal life. This is not to be missed. I hope to see you there! Get more information here: http://missionaryindependent.org/hoodoo-heritage-festival-workshops.html

Happy Bone Reading!