A Hoodoo Staple!
A mojo bag or sometimes referred to a gris gris bag is a prayer bag filled with herbs, roots, curios, personal items, petitions, and fed with oils, spiritual waters, bodily fluids, or whiskey. A mojo bag is alive with hot energy, Spirit, or purpose. It is very alive with magickal power and should be treated as such. It should be kept as though it were a live pet, tending to it daily, keeping it safe, talk to it, hold it close to the body, bond with the bag and it’s spirit. We do this to our plants in our gardens or in the homes, it is said that if you talk to your plants, it keeps their spirit happy and alive. This true for a mojo bag as well. Some people see that it is similar to a wanga packet, west african spirit bags, or a native medicine bag. In hoodoo, mojo bags usually have an odd number of ingredients in it that relate to the purpose of the bag and it is worn in contact with the carrier’s skin so it is kept out of prying eyes or from being touched so it does not lose its potency and become in essence, tainted. Once it is filled with the petitioner’s choice of ingredients, breathed into, and tied, some people will attach small curios or charms to the outside of the bag, then it is smoked with incense or prayed over. It is then fed with a cologne, whiskey, hoodoo oils, or bodily fluids. Feeding the mojo is also sometimes called dressing the mojo. It is kept activated, hot, energized, and alive by feeding it regularly, either daily or weekly, and eventually maybe just once a month. There are so many traditional ways to create and keep a mojo.
There are also a variety of reasons to make a mojo bag. To draw a new lover, you could sew a small red flannel bag with a draw string and add some love drawing herbs. When I add herbs, roots, or curios to a mojo, jar spell, or candle I tell each ingredient what it is being asked of specific to my intention of the goal to be accomplished. This is me communicating with the spirit of that plant or energy. It also helps me to really keep focused on what I am working and not have doubt or a wandering mind to something else that might be going on that day. Ok, moving on, next you could add a sigil for love from the Book of Moses, your petition paper, and a clip of your hair. Next, use your breath to breathe life into it. I will speak my intention into the bag telling the bag what purpose I am charging it for. Then, tie the bag closed making a small neck, so nothing falls out of it. Pray a love chant or prayer over the bag, or speak something from your heart. Burn some love drawing herbs as incense on charcoal disc, or resin incense like copal or frankincense, and run the bag through the smoke of the incense. Feed the bag with your sexual fluid and/or some hoodoo love oils. Carry the bag in your bra or someplace out of sight and close to your skin. Other places to keep mojo bags are in your undergarments dresser drawer, between your mattress, at the front door, in your purse, or kept on an altar out of sight. Follow your instinct, your gut, allow spirit and intuition to guide you through this.