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Charms, Spells, and Formulas
By using the simple materials available in nature, you can bring about the necessary changes to greatly benefit your life and that of your friends. You are given detailed instructions for making and using the "gris-gris"(charm) bags only casually or mysteriously mentioned by other writers. Malbrough not only shows how to make gris-gris bags for health, money, luck, love and protection from evil and harm, but he also explains how these charms work. He also takes you into the world of doll magick to gain love, success, or prosperity.
171 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
43 people are currently reading
616 people want to read
About the author
Ray T. Malbrough
5 books14 followersRay T. Malbrough was born in New Orleans and was raised in the "Pays des Cajuns" Region of southeastern Louisiana. He learned the basics of hoodoo in his early teens with the permission and encouragement of his mother. At age 19, he started working in a New Orleans tearoom as a reader/advisor, and has since earned a good reputation as a Hoodoo worker all over the region surrounding his hometown of Houma. He is a 1982 graduate of the Seax-Wica Seminary founded and directed by Dr. Raymond Buckland. The author is active in the parapsychology Association in Thibodeaux, Louisiana. Today, Ray is a full time reader/advisor and hoodoo worker in his home in Houma.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 4, 2022
CHARMS, SPELLS, & FORMULAS was written by a HooDoo practitioner from Louisiane. This is a book of magick (the old English spelling of the word) is for those wishing to practice white magic, which is for the benefit of mankind. The author claims that those who use magick are not necessarily a witch because it is a practice. He says that a 'magician' uses magick while a witch is a religion such as wicca today.
Written as a manual for a beginner, the topics covered are the steps taken and the materials used to make your own charms, dolls, spells, incense, anointing oils, sprinkling powders, washes and candle selections, although some items one would probably buy from a shop specializing in such materials. The ability to concentrate while repeating the spells is also necessary and he suggests how to improve on this.
The following is an example of a ritual, and no, it isn't done in the nude. Say you want to make a charm. What you will make is what he refers to as a gris-gris (pronounced 'gree-gree') bag. You start with a red flannel bag with a drawstring. Certain items are put into it. This varies according to what kind of spell it is, but the number of items is an odd number and no more than thirteen. The bag is laid on your altar, which has the specified candles, flowers, incense, salt, and Holy Water. The candles are lit in a certain order and all the while you are doing these steps you are chanting certain words, which almost sound like they were taken from a Hallmark card. I mean, they just state your desire in rhymes. Once you're finished you extinguish the candles in order and give the charm to whomever it is for. Oh, I almost forgot, you may need to have performed the ritual specified months and during certain phases of the moon.
Included is a chapter for those of the Catholic faith that mixes rituals with the reading of passages from the Bible. These rituals are directed to various saints in a request for help or to intercede with God for you.
Some spells and charms seem harmless enough, but one would probably backfire if you were caught doing it. The folk spell to make a man love you is for a woman to mix some of her menstrual blood in his food. Yuk!
In closing the author offers advice on how one should live to be liked and respected in the community rather than hated and feared.
Do these things work? I don't know. But as for me, a couple of things come to mind. If one denies the workings of the Holy Ghost, why would one try to connect with nature to reach a 'higher plane?' The Lord told Moses that the eating of blood was forbidden. Also, the Lord told his chosen people to worship Him only and no other gods, and that witches and sorcerers, among others, should be put to death. Maybe one should consider why that is?
Written as a manual for a beginner, the topics covered are the steps taken and the materials used to make your own charms, dolls, spells, incense, anointing oils, sprinkling powders, washes and candle selections, although some items one would probably buy from a shop specializing in such materials. The ability to concentrate while repeating the spells is also necessary and he suggests how to improve on this.
The following is an example of a ritual, and no, it isn't done in the nude. Say you want to make a charm. What you will make is what he refers to as a gris-gris (pronounced 'gree-gree') bag. You start with a red flannel bag with a drawstring. Certain items are put into it. This varies according to what kind of spell it is, but the number of items is an odd number and no more than thirteen. The bag is laid on your altar, which has the specified candles, flowers, incense, salt, and Holy Water. The candles are lit in a certain order and all the while you are doing these steps you are chanting certain words, which almost sound like they were taken from a Hallmark card. I mean, they just state your desire in rhymes. Once you're finished you extinguish the candles in order and give the charm to whomever it is for. Oh, I almost forgot, you may need to have performed the ritual specified months and during certain phases of the moon.
Included is a chapter for those of the Catholic faith that mixes rituals with the reading of passages from the Bible. These rituals are directed to various saints in a request for help or to intercede with God for you.
Some spells and charms seem harmless enough, but one would probably backfire if you were caught doing it. The folk spell to make a man love you is for a woman to mix some of her menstrual blood in his food. Yuk!
In closing the author offers advice on how one should live to be liked and respected in the community rather than hated and feared.
Do these things work? I don't know. But as for me, a couple of things come to mind. If one denies the workings of the Holy Ghost, why would one try to connect with nature to reach a 'higher plane?' The Lord told Moses that the eating of blood was forbidden. Also, the Lord told his chosen people to worship Him only and no other gods, and that witches and sorcerers, among others, should be put to death. Maybe one should consider why that is?
November 27, 2016
There are a lot of books that I read these days that I know that I will never return to again. But this book might be useful for later on, and I'm more willing to keep it. I think this book should not be advertised as a “Hoodoo book,” it should be advertised as a book about the author's blending of folk magic, Hoodoo, and neo-wicca. There are many things in this book which reminds me of Hoodoo (from the types of spells presented here to listening to plants to the herbs being used to how you use the various oils and more). But it has too much of the neo-wiccan influences in it for me to call it purely a Hoodoo manuscript.
It is the biggest drawback of this book that author customized Hoodoo for a neo-pagan/neo-wiccan mind set, rather than just documenting Hoodoo as it is. In fact, it's almost like the author did it just to get your foot in the door because as soon as it gets into the later chapters, all the neo-wiccan/neo-pagan influence seems to evaporate. We get the classic conversation about Saints and their place in Hoodoo and in some cases Vodun as de facto – hidden representations for different African spirits and deities. Likewise the general use of different types of magic that includes Catholic chants and prayers, angels, pslamic magic, and other aspects of this type. I know a lot of neo-pagans and neo-wiccans don't want to see Christianity in their occultism. But it is important to note that Christianity has it's hand in many different occult practices and folk magic practices.
Much of the beginning of the book, as I said, dedicated to the neo-wiccan/neo-pagan audience, and that really is shone in the beginning chapter “What is Magick?” The use of that spelling is directly linked to a quote by Aleister Crowley, which is extremely common in a lot of new age books. Here's the deal though, Crowley has no business being in a Hoodoo book for a couple of reasons. The first is because he doesn't recognize any magic that has no divine influence in it as real, which some of the magic presented in Hoodoo lacks a definite or specific divine influence. Likewise he was a huge racist, and I doubt he would want to be associated with a magical practice that originated out of the Slave Trade. There's an implication because he is in the introduction that Crowley some how created Hoodoo, which is beyond belief. It is extremely inappropriate on so many levels to have him in this introduction to Hoodoo.
Moving away from that - one good thing that this book does, is it specifically addresses the fact witches are not the only people who practice magick/magic. In my opinion that is something that a lot of witches today need to be reminded of because spellwork tends to dip so far into witchcraft that these other practices get left out of the conversation when it comes to what makes a spell a spell. Unfortunately, the author makes it clear that a witch is someone who practices the “Old Religion” aka Wicca. That is incorrect because a witch can practice many different things and is not limited to wicca.
In making this book more geared toward the neo-pagan and neo-wiccan audiences, some of the descriptions of how the spells or charms work, is through that lense. For example, the gris-gris bag is described more like a talisman than a spirit house, which is what I am familiar with it being. The weekly feeding of the bag with oil and other items, is explained something along the lines of a psychological thing or faith thing or “universal mind” thought based thing, rather than an animistic force that needs to be kept up and maintained.
Likewise, the neo-wiccan/neo-pagan-izing of the spells can be seen in some of the chanting in this book. It specifically rhymes, which is something that I see in spells related to a neo-wiccan or neo-pagan fashion and not something I see in folk magic. When you start digging into some of the other rituals, such as the ones that have Catholic bases, the rhyming stops immediately. Let's be clear here, the rhyming schemes are not complex nor do they change. They are only the < A A B B> rhyming scheme, which is very much a marker of many types of neo-wiccan or neo-pagan spells. And sometimes, the rhyme doesn't make much sense and forces the language to fit that rhyming scheme. I'll give an example of this rhyming scheme < A A B B> below:
“Protection comes to you this day,
this crossed condition no longer has sway.
Returning this negativity
to the one who has crossed thee.” (p. 82)
I do want to get into some of the other problematic elements contained within the context of the book itself. This author does what every author seems to do in the New Age section. They cite some “ancient people” in order to give legitimacy to their practice. There's almost no sourcing for any of the material in here which gets talked about, even to the point of lumping all Celtic cultures together as “Ancient Celts.” Likewise lumping “American Indians” all together and saying they all have peace pipes while describing incense. It is particularly annoying that the author does not even try to source things out of the Slave Trade, or completely ignores it in their description of what's going on with the magic. Instead of trying to legitimatize the practice through these mysterious people, the author should be looking at the origins of Hoodoo as something that came particularly from African slaves. The only conversation we get about that is in relationship to the Saints as representations of African spirits and deities. In my opinion, this obscuring where Hoodoo comes from, seems a bit... a bit suspicious, especially because – if the goodreads author picture is correct – the author is a white man. Especially when there is use of slurs for Rromani people in this book, which makes me that much more suspicious of the author.
Secondly, there is a definitely an underlying problem of heterosexual normativity and binary gender normativity. The author frequently uses “his/her” for pronouns, which to be frank, if we can get everyone to stop saying that it would be a blessing. Likewise it is /implied/ that all women menstruate and are only interested in men because yet again we have another book talking about feeding menses to people unaware of what they are eating. To top the cake, the wedding spell is definitely for a heterosexual couple as well.
Finally, I do have some thoughts about one particular spell in this book – and it's the Domestic Violence spell. Domestic Violence often comes with Spousal abuse, and frankly this spell is more about trying to “get everyone to get along” as if the Dome tic Violence is equally distributed amongst the partners. That's not the case. Domestic Violence and Spousal abuse are specifically about power. It is not done equally because the abuser is specifically trying to dominate and domineer over their partner(s). Saying the victim is doing the exact same thing to the abuser is what the abuser likes to pretend is happening. That it is just a normal argument between parties, when really it's just abuse. I cannot sit back and normalize Domestic Violence and Spousal Abuse. It is not normal, it is not okay. It is frankly not okay to bind the victim from fighting back or resisting, which is what happens in this spell by binding the victim's will and ability to fight. Domestic Violence and Spousal abuse often bleeds into Child Abuse as well. Something which again, the spell tries to normalize that it's happening “equally” and needs to be peacefully resolved, or “calmed down.” The suppression aspect of this spell makes me super uncomfortable and frankly, it is very damaging. I just needed to be explicitly clear that it was not okay to have that in this book the way it is presented.
In summary, this book is very much a unique blend of folk magic, hoodoo, neo-wiccan/neo-pagan magic that is specific to the author. Unfortunately, it has many problems that can't be ignored because of the content of the book and the way it has been presented. I wish this book had been more willing to be just a Hoodoo manuscript, I also wish that this book had some better elements.
It is the biggest drawback of this book that author customized Hoodoo for a neo-pagan/neo-wiccan mind set, rather than just documenting Hoodoo as it is. In fact, it's almost like the author did it just to get your foot in the door because as soon as it gets into the later chapters, all the neo-wiccan/neo-pagan influence seems to evaporate. We get the classic conversation about Saints and their place in Hoodoo and in some cases Vodun as de facto – hidden representations for different African spirits and deities. Likewise the general use of different types of magic that includes Catholic chants and prayers, angels, pslamic magic, and other aspects of this type. I know a lot of neo-pagans and neo-wiccans don't want to see Christianity in their occultism. But it is important to note that Christianity has it's hand in many different occult practices and folk magic practices.
Much of the beginning of the book, as I said, dedicated to the neo-wiccan/neo-pagan audience, and that really is shone in the beginning chapter “What is Magick?” The use of that spelling is directly linked to a quote by Aleister Crowley, which is extremely common in a lot of new age books. Here's the deal though, Crowley has no business being in a Hoodoo book for a couple of reasons. The first is because he doesn't recognize any magic that has no divine influence in it as real, which some of the magic presented in Hoodoo lacks a definite or specific divine influence. Likewise he was a huge racist, and I doubt he would want to be associated with a magical practice that originated out of the Slave Trade. There's an implication because he is in the introduction that Crowley some how created Hoodoo, which is beyond belief. It is extremely inappropriate on so many levels to have him in this introduction to Hoodoo.
Moving away from that - one good thing that this book does, is it specifically addresses the fact witches are not the only people who practice magick/magic. In my opinion that is something that a lot of witches today need to be reminded of because spellwork tends to dip so far into witchcraft that these other practices get left out of the conversation when it comes to what makes a spell a spell. Unfortunately, the author makes it clear that a witch is someone who practices the “Old Religion” aka Wicca. That is incorrect because a witch can practice many different things and is not limited to wicca.
In making this book more geared toward the neo-pagan and neo-wiccan audiences, some of the descriptions of how the spells or charms work, is through that lense. For example, the gris-gris bag is described more like a talisman than a spirit house, which is what I am familiar with it being. The weekly feeding of the bag with oil and other items, is explained something along the lines of a psychological thing or faith thing or “universal mind” thought based thing, rather than an animistic force that needs to be kept up and maintained.
Likewise, the neo-wiccan/neo-pagan-izing of the spells can be seen in some of the chanting in this book. It specifically rhymes, which is something that I see in spells related to a neo-wiccan or neo-pagan fashion and not something I see in folk magic. When you start digging into some of the other rituals, such as the ones that have Catholic bases, the rhyming stops immediately. Let's be clear here, the rhyming schemes are not complex nor do they change. They are only the < A A B B> rhyming scheme, which is very much a marker of many types of neo-wiccan or neo-pagan spells. And sometimes, the rhyme doesn't make much sense and forces the language to fit that rhyming scheme. I'll give an example of this rhyming scheme < A A B B> below:
“Protection comes to you this day,
this crossed condition no longer has sway.
Returning this negativity
to the one who has crossed thee.” (p. 82)
I do want to get into some of the other problematic elements contained within the context of the book itself. This author does what every author seems to do in the New Age section. They cite some “ancient people” in order to give legitimacy to their practice. There's almost no sourcing for any of the material in here which gets talked about, even to the point of lumping all Celtic cultures together as “Ancient Celts.” Likewise lumping “American Indians” all together and saying they all have peace pipes while describing incense. It is particularly annoying that the author does not even try to source things out of the Slave Trade, or completely ignores it in their description of what's going on with the magic. Instead of trying to legitimatize the practice through these mysterious people, the author should be looking at the origins of Hoodoo as something that came particularly from African slaves. The only conversation we get about that is in relationship to the Saints as representations of African spirits and deities. In my opinion, this obscuring where Hoodoo comes from, seems a bit... a bit suspicious, especially because – if the goodreads author picture is correct – the author is a white man. Especially when there is use of slurs for Rromani people in this book, which makes me that much more suspicious of the author.
Secondly, there is a definitely an underlying problem of heterosexual normativity and binary gender normativity. The author frequently uses “his/her” for pronouns, which to be frank, if we can get everyone to stop saying that it would be a blessing. Likewise it is /implied/ that all women menstruate and are only interested in men because yet again we have another book talking about feeding menses to people unaware of what they are eating. To top the cake, the wedding spell is definitely for a heterosexual couple as well.
Finally, I do have some thoughts about one particular spell in this book – and it's the Domestic Violence spell. Domestic Violence often comes with Spousal abuse, and frankly this spell is more about trying to “get everyone to get along” as if the Dome tic Violence is equally distributed amongst the partners. That's not the case. Domestic Violence and Spousal abuse are specifically about power. It is not done equally because the abuser is specifically trying to dominate and domineer over their partner(s). Saying the victim is doing the exact same thing to the abuser is what the abuser likes to pretend is happening. That it is just a normal argument between parties, when really it's just abuse. I cannot sit back and normalize Domestic Violence and Spousal Abuse. It is not normal, it is not okay. It is frankly not okay to bind the victim from fighting back or resisting, which is what happens in this spell by binding the victim's will and ability to fight. Domestic Violence and Spousal abuse often bleeds into Child Abuse as well. Something which again, the spell tries to normalize that it's happening “equally” and needs to be peacefully resolved, or “calmed down.” The suppression aspect of this spell makes me super uncomfortable and frankly, it is very damaging. I just needed to be explicitly clear that it was not okay to have that in this book the way it is presented.
In summary, this book is very much a unique blend of folk magic, hoodoo, neo-wiccan/neo-pagan magic that is specific to the author. Unfortunately, it has many problems that can't be ignored because of the content of the book and the way it has been presented. I wish this book had been more willing to be just a Hoodoo manuscript, I also wish that this book had some better elements.
April 28, 2018
A really good book for introducing you to using dolls, charm bags and herbs in your magic. Obviously very focused on Louisiana hoodoo, which isn't my tradition, but the author is aware of this and writes about techniques that any practitioner could use without being culturally appropriative, e.g. making anointing oils, making 'charm bags' instead of traditional gris-gris bags.
While most of the formulas do use plants and herbs that aren't widely used where I am, or in my tradition, I will be adapting some of the recipes for my own use. For this reason a table of substitutions would have been handy, but there isn't one, so I'm using the herbs listed by use in Cunninghams 'Incenses, oils and brews'.
There's also a section at the end of the books for saints prayers and things which I won't be using, but it's not a massive part of the book and so it's still well worth reading if you work with dolls, charms or herbs in any way.
While most of the formulas do use plants and herbs that aren't widely used where I am, or in my tradition, I will be adapting some of the recipes for my own use. For this reason a table of substitutions would have been handy, but there isn't one, so I'm using the herbs listed by use in Cunninghams 'Incenses, oils and brews'.
There's also a section at the end of the books for saints prayers and things which I won't be using, but it's not a massive part of the book and so it's still well worth reading if you work with dolls, charms or herbs in any way.
July 1, 2025
I didn't like this book. I think the author missed a great opportunity to weave history with his ritual explanations.
See more at my blog. I can't express it all in this little box. Feel free to drop me a message and share your reviews there too!
See more at my blog. I can't express it all in this little box. Feel free to drop me a message and share your reviews there too!
December 28, 2024
Very helpful and I learned a lot!
February 12, 2017
I am a witch, a pagan through and through and I love learning about various magickal systems from around the world. I have a deep and profound respect for Hoodoo/Voodoo/Vodun. Originally published in 1986, I have the 24th printing from 2000 and have found this book incredibly powerful and useful during the last 17 years. It is one of my favorite go to books. There is so much covered in this book, it is a definite asset to any magickal library.
April 19, 2013
Being that I am not a practitioner, I cannot not say in the scheme of things how accurate and factual this book. I will say that the author really breaks everything down for you step by step. I feel as though I could become a practitioner within a much shorter time with this book. The author is very helpful with sources to get some of the ingredients because a novice would have no clue. I also liked that he repeatedly tells the reader that you must practice for the good of the community and that bad will only bring bad to you. He even takes time in the conclusion to offer advice on how to dress and carry yourself. It gave me the feel that this is a respectable man and is only trying to pass on his wisdom. I would highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to make gris gris bags or making lucky charms/casting spells. While I enjoyed the book, I do not think I will be practicing any time soon.
October 26, 2014
I'd like to start out with, I am not a practitioner of hoodoo/voodoo/rootwork. As a practitioner of witchcraft, this book has a LOT of good information.
A few things differ, culture-wise, but it is mostly a very useable and well-written book. You will have differences in modern magical paths- for instance, this book lists black candles as being used for negative spells, where as most witches see black candles as absorbers of negativity. Where a hoodoo practitioner will use a black candle to cause something negative to happen, a witch might use a black candle to stop something negative.
Other than cultural differences (which should be obvious, but are also good to point out for those who don't know otherwise), this book is full of very appropriate information. I proudly count it in my magical library. :)
A few things differ, culture-wise, but it is mostly a very useable and well-written book. You will have differences in modern magical paths- for instance, this book lists black candles as being used for negative spells, where as most witches see black candles as absorbers of negativity. Where a hoodoo practitioner will use a black candle to cause something negative to happen, a witch might use a black candle to stop something negative.
Other than cultural differences (which should be obvious, but are also good to point out for those who don't know otherwise), this book is full of very appropriate information. I proudly count it in my magical library. :)
June 9, 2011
This book contains the spells and rituals associated with the author's own brand of Hoodoo (a term which refers to a set of magickal practices originating in Africa that has absorbed some beliefs and practices from other cultures such as Native American spirituality and European Ceremonial Magick.) Marlborough's Hoodoo combines elements of African-American Folk Magic, Wicca, and New Orleans Voodoo into a unique magickal system that may have some appeal to eclectic practitioners.
In addition to the spells, the author touches upon magickal correspondences and provides several formulas for incenses, baths, and magickal oils.
In addition to the spells, the author touches upon magickal correspondences and provides several formulas for incenses, baths, and magickal oils.
June 5, 2016
I bought this book years ago while on vacation in New Orleans. We did a voodoo tour and I thought this book would be interesting. My favorite part of voodoo is that it is believed that you should only do good spells, bad spells cast back on those that do them, which is true for most things in life. There really is no plot to this book, just some background on how spells, gris gris bags, oils and voodoo dolls can help you focus on getting what you want.
June 21, 2010
Insightful look into the world of witch craft. This book mostly revolved around voodoo/hoodoo which I try not to mess with so I found this book kinds unhelpful. It was interesting to learn a new magical power but at the same time it scard me. Very quick read but nothing to be messing with unless you really know a thing or two about dark spirts.
January 17, 2014
"Treasureful" book to own
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews