Love, light, and peace,
Mambo Samantha Corfield
www.spellmaker.com
Tag: Samantha Corfield
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Papa Alegba Month is Almost Here!
Happy Day-Before-Friday, everyone!
I cannot believe that it is almost Papa Alegba Month here at Spellmaker! Every year we dedicate June to Papa Alegba since he has THREE feast days in June (13, 21, and 29)!
This is the month where we do three free rituals here in the Spellmaker office and you can send in your petitions to be included in all three of the rituals. If you care to do some work on your own, we also have great products for Papa Alegba on his page on the Spellmaker website!
On that same page is lots of information about Papa, how to serve him, what his offerings are, etc.
One thing I wanted to talk about is why keys are so important to Papa! No self-respecting Vodouisant would ever throw away old keys! Nope, those go right on Papa's altar! Remember, he is the gatekeeper, the mediary between our world and the world of the lwa – no work gets done without his permission! We must always ask his permission to travel to and from (and to allow the lwa to travel to and from) our different worlds.
A little trick that I use, and I know have talked about this before, but I feel like it is worth repeating – is to designate certain old keys for certain things. For instance, I have three keys that I use with money work. I have 7 old keys that I use for luck work – I think you get the idea! When I start any of that type of work for myself and Parran Matt, those keys go on whatever altar I am working from. Those particular keys have been dedicated to Papa, by me, for those specific purposes. In this way, I feel like I get a little extra "oomph" from my work by having particular keys for him for the things for which I am asking!
If nothing else, just throw all your old keys in a bowl and just keep them around. (Warning: People will start to think you collect keys and you will find keys showing up everywhere! LOL) Dedicate them to Papa Legba and put that bowl of keys on whatever altar you are using for work. Believe me, he will love them and it will help unlock many doors for you! đ
Love, light, and peace, Mambo Samantha Corfield
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Didn’t Mean to Call You That…
Hello my dear readers! I find myself in, yet again, the position of feeling like I need to re-re-post this blog post of mine. This time, though, I would like to also call some attention to the idea of teen dating abuse! I have seen some billboards up in my town with numbers to call if a teenager feels like they are in an abusive dating situation.
I do hope that if you have a teenager, you will have some opportunities to talk with them about this! What a sad situation… I can remember feeling a little bit bullied (a LONG time ago) by a boyfriend. Nothing was ever physical about it, but I do remember how it made me feel to try to please him just to have him get angry with me. Not a great feeling. Apparently, though, there is a lot more going on these days than some mild bullying. My heart goes out to parents of teenagers these days – there just seem to be so much to contend with!
Although this post focused mainly on verbal abuse, abuse of any kind should never, ever be stood for! Please get help if you or someone you love is in an abusive situation.
Anyway, here's the post yet again.
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I feel compelled to revisit a subject that I blogged about awhile back – so I am reposting the blog here. I just want you to think about your self worth and while I use female clients here as an example, it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen to men, too! Self worth knows no gender boundaries!
There is a popular song by "Lit" with these lyrics:
Can we forget about the things I said when I was drunk
I didn't mean to call you that
I can't remember what was said or what you threw at me
Please tell me
Please tell me why
My car is in the front yard
And I'm sleeping with my clothes on
I came in through the window last night
And you're goneOkay, so it's a funny song, I actually even like the song! But it is not really funny when you think about it in the context of possible emotional abuse. I am sorry to say that I see a trend of female clients who are being abused but they don't seem to know it. Not every form of abuse leaves you with a black eye or a broken bone. Some of the more insidious forms of abuse include how your partner speaks to you.
I am seeing more and more Heart's Desire letters that go something like this, "I want Fred to stop calling me a b*tch, a c*nt, a worthless, useless,piece of sh*t." This is in HD letters for Leave My Man Alone⢠where the person is trying to get their HD to stop this kind of behavior towards them.
I am sorry, but I have to ask myself, why are you putting up with that in the first place? Has that person convinced you that you are worth so little that they have totally destroyed your self esteem and you think you can't do better? Well, let me tell you, YOU CAN DO BETTER than some low life who doesn't have one good thing to say about you.
Look, I am not saying that people don't have a bad day, or, as the song says, do and say things when intoxicated. But if you are with a person who says horrible things to you on a regular basis, YOU ARE BEING EMOTIONALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY ABUSED, and you shouldn't be doing the love trio, you should be doing The Ultimate Revenge Kitâ˘, a Milk of Damballah⢠white bath, and then an Attract Love to Me⢠spell kit!
I beg you, if you are in an abusive relationship, please get help. A lot of crisis intervention revolves around physical abuse, but emotional abuse can be just as much, or maybe even more damaging in the long run. You may think you have to take emotional abuse for one reason or another, but trust me, you do not. I did a search on the Internet and there are tons of books and articles written on this subject and how to get out of these relationships. Please don't allow yourself to be treated like this.
Granted, sometimes the only person who can truly help you is YOU… like the song says above, "And you're GONE."
Love, light, and peace,
Mambo Samantha Corfield
www.spellmaker.comLearn to get help: http://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/emotional-psychological-abuse/emotional-abuse-help-support-and-recovery/
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Back to the “Good Enough” Marriage Article!
Hello everyone! So quite some time back, I did a post regarding this article: The Good Enough Marriage. It is, as it states, an article about the "good enough" marriage and/or relationship. I definitely wondered what you thought about that article – agree, disagree? I was re-reading the comments that people had sent in and thought this was so worth reposting because not only was the article thought-provoking, so were the comments!
It seems that most of you think pretty much the same way I do – there is NO SUCH THING as a "good enough" relationship. I just thought that was ridiculous and was poor advice to give people. Yes, some of the things in the article were good, but just the idea of settling just to be with someone seemed crazy to me. I have told many of you that if your relationship or marriage was "ok" that meant you had a poor relationship or marriage. Now, of course, that is just my opinion, but I could never see spending years of my life with someone who I just thought was "ok" for me!
I did want to share what some of you said and have the chance to comment on it here (my comments are in italics).Well, I read this article awhile back, and then came back to comment on it. The reason is it hit very close to my home. I was in a "good enough" marriage that eventually wasn't good enough. I can look back on when I made the decision to marry my husband, knowing even then I thought I wouldn't get another offer. I "settled" for 13 years. I am not saying all 13 years were bad. There were a few years that were great, a few where I felt I was doing all the work, and a few I felt he did a lot of the work. We lost of sync but I am not really sure we ever had it to begin with. When I met my HD, in a short time with him, I realized all the things I didn't have in my marriage. My husband and I didn't have passion, we didn't have romance, I missed him "being" proud of me sort of showing me off. I missed the physical part for most of those 13 years. Again not to say sex wasn't there, it was, but more of a "routine". I look at different people in my life, Mambo and Parran being just two of them, and you would have to be blind to not see how passionate they are with each other and how happy. Don't settle for someone, life is too short. I have to believe what Mambo has told me over the years and that we have many soulmates. My husband gave me the best things in my life, my two sons, and for that I will always love him. But I know, without a doubt, no matter how hard it is sometimes, that God didn't want us to be alone in this life, and there is someone out there who is looking for us too. Don't settle. There is a difference, I know I have lived it.Mambo I love this article. I think many times women(men too!) believe that there is THE perfect person out there for them. While I do believe there are certain people we are supposed to end up with, I definitly do not think it is going to be a fairy tale ala disney style. I also think some clients come to spellmaker expecting to make their ho hum relationship into a disney classic. Spellwork is not going to do that, nothing will. My HD is not who I thought I would wind up with. I was picturing myself with Enrique Iglesias, yet HD is jewish, covered in tattoos and piercings, dropped out of college, doesn't care about money, doesn't care what kind of car he drives, etc, yet he treated me 1 million times better than any smart,rich pretty boy I thought I would end up with..HD isn't my 'good enough,' he is my imperfect perfect!I had a "good enough" marriage. It wasn't. Something the article does not address is how we change over the years, and how our situations change. In our early 20s, almost everyone our age is available, so there is a huge pool to explore and choose from. In our 40s, not so much. Our experience shows us a far different set of things that are important. Who is to say when we are being realistic and when we are not? Do we have a caste system for potential dates and mates, where we can't marry up or down? Relationships are a lot more complex than a set of criteria to meet. A short article like that can't cover it all, but luckily we have our Mambo and Parran, Sisters and case workers to guide us. đ>>Yes, "good enough" just isn't and in the end, despite what that article says, there is always a level of dissatisfaction that will emerge with a "good enough" marriage… in my opinion, life will be filled with "what ifs" IF one has a "good enough" relationship. You are so right – realism exists on an individual basis. As far as that "caste system" – trust me, we see it a lot in our work – "I can't be with so and so because s/he isn't my religion…or race….or age, etc., etc." Nevermind that true love exists! Sigh.Wow! This was really interesting! I agree with it up to a certain point- but I feel that the article deemphasizes the love and romance that's important to a relationship way too much. Have we, as âmodern-dayâ and âindependentâ folks, set our expectations way too high for love? In many cases- yes! Itâs important to be realistic and open minded. That being said, we canât simply take a defeatist attitude and get ourselves a business partner instead of a love. I think that the five guidelines that are set out in the article are essential for a lasting, healthy relationshipâŚbut it has to be treated WITH love- not like youâre writing out a legalistic contract. Also- people change. Our loves can change as people and their goals may vary from what they were originally. Itâs up to us to decide if we want to remain with them if and when that happens. If youâre just marrying someone due to coinciding goals and interests- what happens when those change? If youâre marrying someone out of real and true love for that personâŚperhaps youâll be more likely to say, âokay, this isnât what I expected- but I love you. Letâs keep going and see where it takes us, baby!â Point being, if you approach things TOO âmechanicallyâ you may be setting yourself up for just as much of a letdown as the person who holds out forever, searching for Prince Charming. For me, while there IS significant wisdom therein, this quote just depicts someone who is desperately trying to rationalize their actions: "If I had to settle for a new Oldsmobile when what I really want is a Porsche, I'll never be satisfied. In truth, the Oldsmobile is new, it's pretty, and it works. Why wouldn't I be satisfied with it?" Dude- you came into the shop telling the dealer that you wanted a Porsche. Maybe you saved a few bucksâŚbut youâre going to be driving that car for a LONG time. But hey- all power to ya. This is just my knee-jerk reaction; I really feel itâs a blend of the two extremes, a tightrope walk. Also, right now Iâm young, idealistic, and a total romantic. Who knows what Iâll say come a few years from now. But, hopefully, Iâll be saying it from a Porsche- one with a dang good warranty.
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The Universal Prayer
Good morning, everyone! I wanted to share one of my favorite poems/prayers with you today! If you aren't familiar with the works of Alexander Pope, it might take a bit of re-reading to get some of his meanings! You know how it with these things written in the 1800's since we just don't talk that way anymore.
I love his interpretations of God! My favorite stanza is the one that starts with "What blessings thy free bounty gives." The idea that God is "paid" when we enjoy the bounties we are given really resonates with me. I also enjoy the references to free will, the idea that we are not alone in the universe, and especially the thought that it is not our job to go around chastising those who have ideas about God that differ from our own. đ
There is also a sense to me that Mr. Pope saw God beyond the usual Christian beliefs; he interprets him more as a universal energy that sometimes extends beyond our scope. That is also somewhat of our Vodou/Voodoo way of seeing God – not so much the guy sitting in the clouds metting out justice and favors, but rather an overwhelming sense of Beingness with whom we are allowed to forge our own relationship.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this prayer – I love that it is so rich in spirituality without being preachy about religion. Also, it isn't a bad way to start the day!
Love, light, and peace,
Mambo Samantha Corfield, www.spellmaker.com
The Universal Prayer
BY ALEXANDER POPE
Father of all! in every age,In every clime adored,By saint, by savage, and by sage,Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!Thou Great First Cause, least understood:Who all my sense confinedTo know but thisâthat thou art good,And that myself am blind:Yet gave me, in this dark estate,To see the good from ill;And binding Nature fast in fate,Left free the human will.What conscience dictates to be done,Or warns me not to do,This, teach me more than Hell to shun,That, more than Heaven pursue.What blessings thy free bounty gives,Let me not cast away;For God is paid when man receives,To enjoy is to obey.Yet not to earthâs contracted span,Thy goodness let me bound,Or think thee Lord alone of man,When thousand worlds are round:Let not this weak, unknowing handPresume thy bolts to throw,And deal damnation round the land,On each I judge thy foe.If I am right, thy grace impart,Still in the right to stay;If I am wrong, oh teach my heartTo find a better way.Save me alike from foolish pride,Or impious discontent,At aught thy wisdom has denied,Or aught thy goodness lent.Teach me to feel anotherâs woe,To hide the fault I see;That mercy I to others show,That mercy show to me.Mean though I am, not wholly soSince quickened by thy breath;Oh lead me wheresoeâer I go,Through this dayâs life or death.This day, be bread and peace my lot:All else beneath the sun,Thou knowâst if best bestowed or not,And let thy will be done.To thee, whose temple is all space,Whose altar, earth, sea, skies!One chorus let all being raise!All Natureâs incense rise! -
Doing a Quick Service.
Hello everyone! Happy Friday! Some of you may remember awhile back in another blog post I answered a question about what to do about service the lwa (Vodou
Spirits) when you just donât have a lot of time (or money, or energy, etc.).
While in a perfect world we would all have lots of time to devote to our
spiritual lives, realistically this just may not be true!I developed this quick service and have found it to be very well received by
the lwa. Since I posted this a couple of years back (I think!), quite a few
people have given me feedback that this service has helped them tremendously and
they, too, felt it was very well received!Many Vodouisants have problems with keeping up with service to their ancestors, the lwa, etc. Most of this stems from the idea that every service has to be a big deal with lots of food, tons of candles, music, and lots of time spent. This just isn't true.
Smaller, more frequent services are going to be much more well received than that once a year "guilt service" that many tend to do – that is when they go all out and put on a big spread for their ancestors and the lwa. Now, that is great – and that will be well received. However, if you want to really build a relationship with someone, is taking them out for a big dinner and night on the town once a year or every six months really going to do that? Nope! The same is true spiritually – a little bit of time spent frequently will move your spiritual progress along much faster than waiting until you have a ton of time to do what you think is a "proper service." ALL service done with a good heart is proper service! đ
Here is a repost of that particular blog:
Hello everyone!
People tell me all the time they would do more service/ritual to the Lwa
(Vodou Spirits) but they âjust donât have the time.â Now I realize that we
could go back at them saying that they should or could âmake the time.â
However, in todayâs world, that sometimes is not as easy as it sounds! But
almost anyone can find five minutes in a day to do my quickie service
below.The service does assume that you have a few things on hand and have some
basic knowledge of ritual: Candles (keeping a few white candles on hand is
great because you can use them for any lwa or your ancestors), a glass of water or other beverage,
and a small food offering that would be appropriate for almost any lwa
(something simple such as a cookie or even a piece of bread).You can do this quick service almost anywhere! (Please note this can be configured for the lwa and/or your ancestors.)
1. Put your candle with a glass of water or other beverage on a counter or
table.2. As you light the candle, ask Papa Legba to âplease open the gate for me
and allow ___________ (which ever lwa or ancestor you are honoring) to pass over.â (You can also, alternatively, ask Papa to just open the gate and not ask for anyone in particular. If you are doing it that way, then you are making a general offering to the lwa and/or your ancestors.)3. âPresentâ the glass of water by holding it out to the East, West, North,
and South. Say, âFor you __________________ (which ever lwa you are
honoring).â4. Place the water back down near the candle.
5. âPresentâ the food offering as per #3 above. Place it down next to the
water and candle.6. Take one or two minutes to talk with the lwa you have asked to come over
to you. You might have a request or perhaps you are just wanting to honor that
particular lwa.7. Thank the lwa and Papa Legba for their time and help.
8. If you can, leave the candle burning (safely) for a little while longer
while you do other things. This is a great little service to do while you are
getting ready for the day. You can start it up, get showered and dressed, and
then end the service. If you need to close out the service more quickly, then
just proceed to Step #9.9. Extinguish your candle and ask Papa Legba to âclose the gate when it
pleases you.â You can leave the food and water for disposal until later or
even the next day. If you need to get rid of it more quickly it is great if you
can pour the water outside and leave the cookie/food outside somewhere. If you
cannot, then just dispose of the water down the sink and wrap the cookie/food up
in brown paper (such as just a brown paper bag) and throw it away.There you did a little service in five minutes! And yes, it counts. Yes, it
can help. Yes, it is pleasing to the lwa. Folks have a tendency to think that
the lwa will only respond to big, elaborate
service. That just isnât
true. Every service that is well intended is well received!Please continue to have a great and safe weekend!
Love,
Mambo Sam
www.spellmaker.com
Painting by Saundra Elise Ziyatdinov -
Fun with magickal music! đ
Greetings everyone! I thought it might be fun to do a little project over the next several days to look at some popular music where lyrics refer to magick, witchcraft, etc., in some way.
Obviously, there are a lot of songs that refer to magickal happenings in different ways. However, I would like for us to discuss how we feel the songs that I will post here over the next couple of weeks, remind us of certain lwa (our voodoo spirits). Tell us what lwa the song reminds you of and why! It is okay if the song reminds you of more than one lwa, or even about a particular spell kit or product that you have used! Let's hear it what it is/was! đ
I am excited to see what you all think!
We will start with an old favorite: Heart's ever classic "Magic Man"
Here are the lyrics:
Cold late night so long ago
When I was not so strong you know
A pretty man came to me
Never seen eyes so blue
I could not run away
It seemed we'd seen each other in a dream
It seemed like he knew me
He looked right through me
"Come on home, girl" he said with a smile
"You don't have to love me yet
Let's get high awhile
But try to understand
Try to understand
Try try try to understand
I'm a magic man."Winter nights we sang in tune
Played inside the months of moon
Never think of never
Let this spell last forever
Summer over passed to fall
Tried to realized it all
Mama says she's a worried
Growing up in a hurry"Come on home, girl" mama cried on the phone
"Too soon to lose my baby yet my girl should be at home!"
"But try to understand, try to understand
Try try try to understand
He's a magic man, mama
He's a magic man""Come on home, girl" he said with a smile
"I cast my spell of love on you a woman from a child!
But try to understand, try to understand
I'm a magic man!"So what lwa came to mind for you? Or was it more than one lwa? đ
Love to all,
Mambo Samantha Corfield, www.spellmaker.com
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Imbolc, Maman Brigitte, and St. Brigid – Oh My!
Greetings one and all!
As many of you may already know – tomorrow, February 2, is St. Brigid's day, Imbolc, Candlemas,
and the Feast of St. Brigid. To Vodouisants, Catholics, Pagans, and more, this is a wonderful day anticipating spring, looking for new love, and being ready to shed off the cold of winter.A popular prayer for this day is:
"Blessed be the earth, and all who dwell upon it.
We give thanks for the season now departing from us,
For the blessings it has bestowed upon us,
And upon those with whom we share this world.Blessed be the new season.
We pray that it will be a time filled with peace,
With abundance, with prosperity,
With wisdom,
With love."For Vodouisants, tonight, the eve of St. Brigid's Day, is when we put a piece of clothing outside for Maman Brigitte to bless with her healing powers. Take any piece of clothing, or even a scarf to tie your head with, and put it outside tonight. Ask Maman Brigitte to walk your way tonight and bless that piece of clothing. Light a small fire outside for a little while, even if you just burn a candle. Before you go to bed, burn the veve of Maman Brigitte in the fire. Then put that fire or candle out. Make sure the wax is smoothed down or that the ashes are smoothed down if you lit a small fire. Any kind of mark or disturbance of the wax or ashes the next day is considered a sign that Maman was there and blessed your piece of clothing!
Now you can wear that piece of clothing any time you aren't feeling well or you doing healing work or healing prayers for someone else.
Veve for Maman Brigitte
There is a LOT more to this holiday/feast day! It is well worth looking up more information.
Love, light, and peace,
Mambo Samantha Corfield
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Prayer Dilemma.
Hello everyone! Prayer is, naturally, a huge part of my life. You could almost say that I "pray for a living." Spellwork is an organized, done-with-props, form of prayer. So, needless to say, I consider myself somewhat of an expert on prayer.
However, every once in awhile, I find myself overwhelmed with a situation to the point of not knowing where to begin with praying. The famine in Somalia is one of those situations (along with so many other world-wide situations). As I learned of this horrible situation, my first reaction, of course, was to pray for those in need. As I started to say prayers, I found myself feeling overwhelmed and confused on where to even start. The situation is so desperate and so huge that I found myself stumbling over the prayers – praying for relief, praying for those who died, praying for those children who are suffering and dying, praying for the parents of those children, praying that whatever needed to be done would be done…. the list just seemed so huge to me that I felt completely insignificant in my prayers.
I had to regroup within myself several times, each time feeling a little bit stronger, offering individual prayers for each segment of this seemingly hopeless situation and then overall prayers for just the situation in general. Usually when I am finished with my prayers, I feel satisfied and enriched by the experience. I cannot say this was true when I finished praying for this particular event. At first, I felt drained and still ended up feeling helpless.
As I have continued on praying for Somalia, I feel that my praying has improved. I asked Papa Legba to help me – to help me interpret my prayers and put them into understandable words and thoughts rather than my incoherent ramblings! I asked him to open up my mind to accept that while this is, indeed, a seemingly impossible situation, that still I would find the words to pray.
If you find yourself feeling this way, that a situation is just so huge that you feel that your prayers are insignificant, I encourage you to push through that feeling and just continue on. Don't give up because you feel like your tiny prayers can't possibly make a difference! I had to keep reminding myself that I am not the only person praying for this and that as the Universal Mind we can and do have an impact on these tragedies! Know that you are not alone in these prayers! Don't give up because you feel that you are just a tiny voice. We are all a tiny voice, but we can make a big noise when we do it together. Ask Papa Legba!
Please pray for the people of Somalia and all those who are in need around the world. Be proactive in your prayers and in giving whatever help you can. Donations to reputable charities are wonderful, obviously, but even if you cannot donate (times are hard!), think about perhaps organizing a prayer group of your own, or donating your time to a reputable charity. There are lots of ways to give even if you don't have money to give! The gifts of your time and prayers are invaluable. Don't ever think they aren't!
Join the Spellmaker Prayer Group tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern time and add your voice!
Love, light, and peace,
Mambo Samantha Corfield, www.spellmaker.com
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Making Healthy Decisions – Part 8
Hello everyone,Continuing on with our series on Making Healthy Decisions the question of today is:
What Would Make Me Genuinely Happy?
On the surface, this sounds like a no-brainer. For some, getting a relationship back together is number one on their list! For others, a new home, more money, better job, etc. is on their list. For some, getting into a relationship is on their list.
However, I am going to encourage you to rework that list! I am not saying that all of those things above might not make you happy. But is that what it would take to make you genuinely happy? I guess a question within a question is "What is happy?" That is a subject too big to tackle right here! Generally speaking, I do think it is a question to consider within the question of what would make you genuinely happy.
I see so many folks working towards a relationship that they are sure is going to solve all their problems and,as they ride off into the sunset, they will be immediately happy. Looking beyond that initial sunset, to see what that life would REALLY be like with that person is something that I often see overlooked.
But in a broader sense of the subject of seeing what would make you genuinely happy, it's good old list time! :-) I highly encourage everyone to make that list! If it is just a one-word list that says, "Johnny" then you need to look beyond that, seriously. What other things will make you happy? How can you attain them? If you are unhappy with your present circumstances and want them to change, what are you willing to do to change them? How big of a role are you willing to take in your own happiness… your genuine happiness? Will you listen to and/or take advice? Will you explore all your options? How are you willing to try?
Don't forget the small things, too! Include them on your list! How many of these happy-makers did you do yesterday, last week, this year? Which ones can you indulge in today? When you're facing a challenge, ask what would make you happy in this situation.
Cast a wide net! You may have "buying a new car" on your list, but if you also remember that "dinner with friends" and "playing with my dog" are great for you, you get to be happy every day–and that's important. What would make you happy now (that wouldn't make you unhappy later)? Do that!
Then, take the decision you are trying to make and see what about it will or will not make you genuinely happy!
Love, Mambo Samantha Corfield, www.spellmaker.com