Hoodoo and Conjure Altar Tools
From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers
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Many professional root doctors set aside a dedicated space where they can work at crafting goods and spiritual supplies for clients. Some also maintain a workspace where they perform candle spells for clients or offer altar work and prayers on their behalf. Some conjure doctors also establish dedicated religious and spiritual altars for the veneration of deities, saints and ancestors. Travel altars, fitted into wooden boxes, are also a long-held part of the hoodoo tradition, and may be brought to a location by the root worker who arrives to perform a hands-on personal or location cleansing spell.
Home practitioners and reading clients may also wish to create an altar. If you want help with such a project, your rootworker can provide magical coaching and spiritual advice on how to craft a workable and beautiful home altar.
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Altar Surfaces
For more information, see: Altar Work and Prayers
From a kitchen table or night stand to a marble slab or a concrete patio, any flat place can be used as an altar. The word altar comes from the Latin for "high up," but not all altars are at table-top level. Some may be placed directly on the ground or on a low platform on the floor, while others may be hidden in plain sight by being installed on a book shelf, atop an upright piano, set on a wndow sill, on a fireplace mantel, inside a storage cupboard, or concealed in the form of a vanity table in an unused guest bedroom. Some altars are permanent, but many are temporary, such as the employment of a folding card table for use when working on a special petition for a client. A worker's house may have one general altar or several, depending on the amount of space to be given over to spiritual work. If there are two altars, one may be used for spells of attraction or blessing and the other for spells of dismissal or cursing. If a number of spirits are venerated in the home, there may be separate altars or niches for personal ancestors or religious entities. No matter how many altars a root doctor has, or where they are placed, if the work is to include the burning of candles, lamps, or incense, the surface is often made of metal or stone, and if it is made of wood or is covered with an altar cloth, heat-proof containers should be used for any item that holds flame.
Altar Decor
Decorating an altar is an act of personal belief and aesthetics, and a practitioner's religious customs may influence the altar's appearance. Some religions forbid the use of graven images of deities but permit the placement of stationary or moving candles, working tools; images of nature; photos of clients, |ancestors, or family members; and symbolic items such as stones, keys, or food offerings. Other religions encourage the use of statues, printed images, and remembrances of deities, saints, and spirits on the altar. Altars may also be decorated with vases of seasonal fresh flowers, dried or silk flowers, and natural found objects such as shells, crystals, fossils, feathers, bones, or horns. Clearing away old food and flower offerings and refreshing the altar with new offerings is part of the daily or weekly routine of maintaining an altar.
Holders and Containers
Plates, bowls, and other containers may be made of clay, wood, or glass, but any object that holds fire should be made of oven-proof glass, heavy white chinaware, metal, or stone. Typical metal altar-ware includes buckets, steam-table trays, bread pans, brass plates or bowls, and cookie sheets. A home fire extinguisher nearby is also recommended. Optional tools of this type include metal candle stands and holders, and a menorah for setting multiple candles in a run. There are also special burners, braziers, and ash-catchers for incense. Vases and bowls for floral offerings are also important. It is the custom in many parts of the world for all types of holders to be supplied in matching pairs, to establish symmetry on the altar.
Spiritual Supplies
Beneath the altar, or in a cabinet to one side, the root doctor keeps a cupboard of necessary spiritual supplies which are employed when casting spells. A full supply cupboard generally contains an assortment of anointing oils, roots and herbs, incense and charcoal briquets, sachet powders, perfumes, and colognes. These are used to dress candles and petition papers on the altar, to prepare floor washes and spiritual baths, and also to craft magical items such as mojo bags, dolls, and bottle and jar spells.
Craft Supplies
Small tools are often kept in a drawer or box beneath the altar surface so that they do not clutter the work space unnecessarily. These items may include a candle snuffer, an incense cone-shaper, pins, needles, nails, an awl, a screw-driver, skewers, a knife, scissors, pinking shears, kitchen tongs, matches, lighters, paper, pencils, pens, ink, and glue. Because conjure is a domestic form of magic, these craft supplies may or may not be specially prayed over or consecrated, although, for the sake of convenience, they are often specially favoured duplicates of the owner's regular household craft tools. Larger magical projects, such as sewing dolls or mojo bags, burying items in the garden, or preparing magic spells in food, are performed using typical household tools such as a sewing machine, a trowel or shovel, or the kitchen stove and cookware, and these are rarely, if ever, specially consecrated or dedicated to spiritual work.
Scriptures and Spell Books
Quite a few conjure workers have a drawer or hidden space under their altar where they keep reference materials, such as books on divination\, grimoires or books of spells, books of wisdom teachings, horoscope blanks, and copies of the Mosaic and Solomonic seals. It is common to have a Bible or a Book of Psalms open on the altar during times of prayer, and the entire Book of Psalms is online here. It is the custom to consult books of scripture for divination by means of bibliomancy or when making petitions, but when actually writing out a prayer or a command, most root doctors hand-copy the selected text, adding names and special requests as desired. Very few practitioners will take a shortcut by printing out copies of online scriptures or making photocopies of physical books, because by adding the personalization that comes from hand-lettering a clean copy of an ancient text and including specific names and special needs, additional focus and clarity of spiritutual intention is embedded in the written work.
Cleaning Supplies
Altar cloths, spell containers, and surfaces should be cleaned on a regular basis. Cleaning materials for laundering cloths and for removing wax and soot from altars, walls, and ceilings include a variety of spiritual laundry products, washes, and waters. Some of these supplies, such as Chinese Wash and Florida Water, may be stored under the altar, but it is just as common for practitioners to keep them with other household cleaning supplies in the kitchen or bathroom, because they may find use in other areas of the home.
Credits
This page is brought to you by the AIRR Tech Team:
- Author: catherine yronwode
- Contributors: Miss Michaele, Papa Newt, nagasivayronwode
- Images: Dr. E., Prof. C.D. Porterfield, Mother Mystic, Madame Pamita, and Unknown Photographers
See Also
- Spiritual Supplies
- Hoodoo and Conjure Oils
- Hoodoo Roots and Herbs
- Hoodoo and Conjure Incense
- Hoodoo and Conjure Sachet Powders
- Hoodoo and Conjure Bath Products
- Hoodoo Washes and Waters
- Hoodoo Perfumes and Colognes
- Hoodoo Health Care and Beauty Products
- Hoodoo Candles and Lamps
- Hoodoo Amulets and Talismans
- Hoodoo and Conjure Altar Tools
