Pretty, Pretty, Petition

photo by gnuckx

"Action is eloquence."--William Shakespeare

I will be off line for most of the day working on a couple of BIG projects (all will be revealed in due time) However, I leave you with a pretty image, a great quote and instructions on making your very own magical petition papers.

Magical petitions are one of the oldest forms of magical work--they are featured in the Holy Bible and the Tanakh. The idea of applying pen to paper to manifest magical intention has a simple elegance to it that makes many people feel like more is needed for a true ritual or spell to occur. While roots, herbs, oils, incenses, and brews are all delightful additions to ritual work, a well crafted petition can absolutely serve as the working's solid foundation. So how do you do it? Below I give you 3 forms of petitions commonly used in Conjure and Hoodoo. The first-a petition for dominance:

This is the petition that you use when you need someone to do it your way, see things from your perspective, pay attention to you, listen to you, or in some way, shape or form, be influenced by you:

--get a piece of paper the size of a post-it note and write your target's full name on it 3 times in pencil.
--turn the paper clockwise 90 degrees so that you now read the name up and down instead of left to right.
--write your name on top of the target's name in permanent ink. I recommend the color red for issues dealing with straight up power and/or love and romance, blue for healing or peace, brown for legal issues, purple for success and mastery and green for financial matters.
--embellish your petition with designs and symbols that are relevant to your case. If you want someone to shut up you might draw a mouth with an X on it. If you are making the petition for someone who owes you money you might draw dollar bills or money bags.
--anoint the petition with oil in a 5 spot pattern-4 corners and center.
--if the petition has been made to draw something or someone closer to you then fold it towards you, turn it 90 degrees clockwise and fold it again. If it has been crafted to get rid of someone then fold it away from yourself.

Next we have the type of petition that is commonly used in ritual work involving magical containers like honey jars:

--get a piece of paper the size of a post-it note and write your target's full name on it 3 times in pencil.
--turn the paper clockwise 90 degrees so that you now read the name up and down instead of left to right.
--write your name on top of the target's name in permanent ink. For honey jars the most common colors used are red, blue, purple, brown, and green.
--the tricky part: you must inscribe a circle around the names you have written WITHOUT raising your pen. So choose a prayer, command, or mantra that is short and sweet and easy to write. For a love drawing honey jar the command to: love me, come to me, want me-is perfectly acceptable.
--anoint your petition in a 5 spot pattern
--embellish your petition with images and symbols appropriate to the case.

And finally, a Break Apart or Separation petition:

--if you have a picture of the couple you want to break up then use that--if not get a single piece of paper the size of a post-it note and with a pencil make a line down the middle of the paper so that its divided into 2 columns. Write the full name of one half of the couple over their picture or in one column and write the other person's name over their picture or in their column. Whether you are using a picture or a plain piece of paper you should have 2 columns with a name in each written 3 times.
--cross each name with red ink and your petition that they break up and separate.
--anoint the paper or picture with break up oil
--tear the paper in half-symbolizing the rent in the fabric of their relationship

A note on personal concerns in petitions: when I use personal concerns I like to fold them within the petition. There are different schools of thought on this but I like the have my target being influenced at every possible level-that begins with my written prayers or commands. As I wrote earlier, petitions have been worked with forever-so there is no one way. These are three traditional ways I was taught and it is my hope that they will be of use to you!