We've Moved!

Just in case you missed it--the NEW website and blog have both moved. Bookmark us so you have all of the Milagro Roots goodness at your fingertips.
The old store is also no longer functioning, but at the new site you can order:

custom 100% beeswax vigil candles
mojo hands
archangel michael packets
floor wash
high john the conqueror roots
intuitive counseling sessions
and root magic rituals

See you in the new neighborhood!
xoxo

Dia de los Muertos 2011

A little more on Dia de los Muertos which was officially celebrated last night. My husband attended a lecture where he learned (and reminded me) that the 4 elements must be represented on the traditional altar for day of the dead. Those elements are: earth, air, fire and water. Earth is represented by the flowers and sometimes corn and the special bread-pan de muerto. Air is represented by the paper cut-out flags-in San Antonio we call them Fiesta flags-that are draped around the altar. Fire is of course represented by candles and now water is often represented by the spirits placed on the altar to honor the people who loved them. (On our home altar this year we served beer, tequila, and whisky.)

My husband also learned that according to traditional wisdom the single sense that the dead have left to them is the sense of smell. This is why flowers-specifically marigolds are so abundant--many altars actually have small pathways lined with marigolds leading up to the altar proper so that the ancestors may be guided by scent.

We the mortals touch the metals, 

the wind, the ocean shores, the stones, 

knowing they will go on, inert or burning, 

and I was discovering, naming all the these things: 

it was my destiny to love and say goodbye.”--Pablo Neruda

Dead Can Dance

Happy All Hallows, Blessed Samhain, and Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

If all goes according to plan this will be the LAST post I make on this blog as a brand new website and blog are launching on THURSDAY!  MONDAY  On top of the usual load of candles, ritual work, and intuitive consultations, I have been busy, busy, busy getting the website up to snuff! I can't wait until you all check it out!

Couple of quick notes for those who don't follow Twitter~

Momma Hen's floor wash--this stuff is selling like hot cakes. Once its gone, its gone so get some pronto!

Question & Action Video Series-is a new monthly series that will be posted at the blog at in my newsletter. I answer questions on divination, conjure, magic, and provide workable and immediate actions to put advice into ACTION. So, have a burning question? Go ahead and shoot me an email.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on some images of our day of the dead altar!

"Death borders upon our birth, and our cradle stands in the grave."-Joseph Hall

"I had seen birth and death but had thought they were different."--T.S. Eliot

"Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them."--George Eliot

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!

Happy Birthday-and a gift for each of you!

photo by cursedthing

Its my birthday today and I want to take a little bit of time to reflect on birthdays, the rituals that surround them and what they might really be about. I have a friend who simply adores her birthday and is always excited when it comes along (me too, I love birthdays!) and then I have a friend who is like, "what's the big deal? Its not like I personally did anything of merit on this day-why am I getting gifts." Having had the pleasure of giving birth and being in labor for over 36 hours earlier this year, I hear what he is saying, and yet it cannot be denied that birthdays feel important in some way.

So why do they feel important? What's the big deal about getting one year older? Other than the obvious-cake and ice cream-yum! I started thinking about this and recollected my feelings prior to Jasper's arrival. The entire time I was pregnant and especially when giving birth it was apparent to me that I was on someone else's time schedule and that another person's will (namely Jasper) was involved in this situation. I wasn't going to into labor until Jasper was ready--the kid even overcame pitocin, and I was not going to give birth until he was ready to drop (at the last possible moment). This experience led me to conclude something I had always suspected but now feel that I got to witness first hand--we choose to be here. On this earth, in this time, right now. Its a choice, incarnation, maybe its a choice influenced by law or by Divine Will, but there is still choice involved in the process.

So that is what I celebrate when I celebrate my birthday. I celebrate the joys and pain and heartbreak and ecstasy of another year on the planet, of 365 days full of sun, moon, stars, and all the big and little dramas that make up a life, specifically my life. Choosing to be flesh and blood, choosing to participate in the highs and lows of humanity takes spirit and courage in my book. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I also believe (of course I do) that we are part of a greater whole. There is more to our lives and our purpose here than we may suspect--especially at our most difficult and most delight-full times.

Its a tradition for me to do something nice for the people that rock my world on my birthday--my little way of giving back, of saying thanks for being a light in my life. All of my clients, anyone who is reading this blog, is someone who falls into that category and so my birthday gift to you is a lovely discount on the most time and spiritually intensive intuitive session that I offer-an Ancestor Reading. It feels right and appropriate to me to offer this up on my birthday-for along with choice I believe that we do carry the messages, hopes, dreams, fears, and potentials of those who have gone before us. I feel honored to stand in witness and partnership with every individual who comes to be for an Ancestor Reading-it can be a life-altering experience. So! My gift to each of you is 10% off Ancestor Readings for the month of October. These sessions never go on sale so get it while its hot! And feel free to celebrate a little bit today--its my day and I say-rock on!

Signs, Signals, Omens, and Portents

photo by D. Sharon Pruitt

In certain almost supernatural states of the soul, the profundity of life reveals itself entirely in the spectacle, however ordinary it may be, before one's eyes. It becomes its symbol.--Charles Baudelaire

I am knee-deep in designing an e-course on reading and interpreting symbols, signs, omens, and portents. If you have a burning question about any of the above send 'em on over.

Mamma Hen at it again+new freebie!

Couple of quick announcements before you all check out for the weekend: If you have funk in your space then clean it up already! The first step to clearing out the bad vibes and ushering in good juju is to physically and spiritually clean the space in which you live and love.  Momma Hen has made some truly awesome floor wash! The 16 oz bottles are chock full of organic cleansers and spiritually cleansing and blessing herbs from momma hen's very own garden. You can buy the floor wash here or at our Etsy store. And, there is a new freebie page up at Milagro Roots-a handy reference guide for some commonly seen symbols and what they represent.