THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
	a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.

To: alt.lucky.w,alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic,alt.magick.tyagi
From: catherine yronwode 
Subject: Re: Clients and Goofer Dust
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 09:01:48 GMT

blackman99 (siva) wrote:
> 
> Lilly :
>
> #  blackman99 wrote:
> 
> # >  Lilly :
> 
> # You don't have any clients?
> 
> no, silly. we don't do work for people. we refer conjure out
> to those we trust, but don't have clients in that sense. 

Siva is correct with respect to himself, but not with
respect to me. I do not cast spells for clients for a fee,
nor do any of the employees or partners in Lucky Mojo --
however, we do dress candles for customers, a service
generally performed for clients, and we do so without cost. 

We dress glass-encased candles that people purchase at no
added fee -- the candles can be requested dressed or not at
the same price -- and we also set lights for customers and
non-customers for free on the 5 altars in the shop. You do
not need to purchase a candle to have it dressed and burned
in the shop for you. 

The service of setting lights for clients is particularly
sought by those who wish for court case outcomes in their
favour (the candle is lit on the court date), for love work,
for healing, and for career success (the candle is lit on
job interview days). You need only phone us to get a light
set for you in the shop -- but we prefer if you make your
request by snail-mail and enclose a photo of yourself, or by
email with an attached image we can print out, because we
like to put the picture on the altar next to your  candle. 

> sri catyananda and I make time to do consultations at our whim,
> others may do it on the phone for people who call, for free
> as we see a desire to do it. 

Siva's statement to the contrary, i do not "make time to do
consultations at my whim." Rather, i make time by a very
strict schedule. 

I give one free consultation on the subject of magic per
day, by appointment at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. (If it were
left to my "whim," i would be giving consultations at random
times, and i long ago stopped doing that, because so many
people call me.) 

Anyone can call the shop at 707-887-1521 and get an
appointment for a consultation with me on the next available
date. I am generally booked one to three weeks in advance. 

The consultation is not a psychic reading. I do not consider
the people who call for consultations to be my "clients" any
more than the folks whose queries i reply to in usenet or
through my correspondence course. They just get longer and
more detailed replies, that's all. Over time, some of them
become virtual friends, as they call often. 

During a consultation with me you can describe a personal
situation and ask what magic spells or prayers i recommend
you do to obtain the result you want, ask for my help
identifying amulets or talismans you may have found, get my
candid assessment of any root worker or psychic reader whose
name and methods are personally known to me (no gossip, just
my own direct knowledge), request a list of book
recommendations and URLs on any of a number of magical and
occult topics, ask me to identify herbs by common name
and/or make a list for you of magical herbs that can be
substituted one for another, inquire about the meaning of
blues lyrics that refer to hoodoo, have me explain
unfamiliar terms or concepts you have encountered in books
of magic spells -- or whatever you want to ask me. 

Consultations vary in length from 10 minutes to one hour,
depending on the topic and how deeply we get into the
conversation. During the consultation i will emphatically
NOT try to get you to order products from my shop -- and in
fact i will not even TAKE an order for merchandise. If you
wish to order, you can ask to speak to one of the other
workers here after we are through, or you can call back
later. 

> > > > Goofer goofer goofer... kind of has a ring, don't it?  ):]
> > >
> > > kufwa. killing.
> >
> > Not nearly the same.

Actually, Lilly, goofering and killing are quite nearly the
same, as Siva tried to make clear. The English word goofer
is derived from the Kikongo word kufwa, which means to kill.
It is a word that entered the English language via the
speech of African slaves. 

To goofer is the verb form. Literally it means to kill, but
idiomatically it means to put a particular kind of curse on
someone, one involving getting them in contact with goofer
dust -- or goofering them. 

Goofer dust is a combination of graveyard dirt (a.k.a.
corpse powder) and other ingredients, most often red
(cayenne) pepper, sulphur powder, and snake skins or snake
sheds. Goofer dust can be used in hoodoo to bring bad luck
or death to enemies or to control people, as in spells where
you goofer someone to force them to love you. It is
generally said that a person who is goofered with a death
spell will pine away or "molt away" slowly, thus acting
goofy until they die -- that is, "killed" but not yet aware
of the fact. 

The idea that the word goofy means something humourous is an
example of white people not understanding a term from a
foreign language and giving it a new meaning. This has
happened with a number of African words -- mojo, juke, and
mumbo jumbo come to mind as further examples. 

Read more about goofer dust here:
     http://www.luckymojo.com/gooferdust.html

cat yronwode 

Hoodoo in Theory and Practice -- http://www.luckymojo.com/hoodoo.html