A Spellmaker Field Guide • Old New Orleans Traditional Witchcraft
Everyday MagickGoal-oriented folk witchcraft, practical supplies, and a little extra help
This page describes the style of practical New Orleans folk witchcraft that Spellmaker has long called Old New Orleans Traditional Witchcraft: simple, direct, goal-focused work woven into everyday life.
CandlesOilsCharmsHerbsGris-GrisPractical Work
From the Spellmaker witchcraft archives.
So What Is It?
New Orleans has always inspired stories about Voodoo, Hoodoo, witchcraft, charms, candles, conjure, and folk magick. In Spellmaker's own usage, Old New Orleans Traditional Witchcraft, or ONOTW, means a very practical kind of goal-oriented spell work.
You want something. Ordinary efforts have not gotten you where you want to go. So you add a little spiritual or magickal help. That is the heart of it.
You may do one spell at one important moment in your life, or you may use candles, oils, charms, herbs, and other traditional supplies throughout your life. There is no requirement to join a coven, adopt a new religion, or reorganize your entire spiritual identity around the practice.
Putting It in Context
What It Is, and What It Isn't
It Is Practical & Goal-Oriented
Love, money, luck, protection, confidence, peace, work, opportunity, and removing obstacles are typical kinds of goals. The work is usually direct, personal, and connected to ordinary life rather than formal religious observance.
People may use traditional supplies because of long-standing associations, family custom, local practice, or simply because those tools help focus intention.
It Is Not the Same as Wicca
Wicca is a modern religious tradition with its own theology, holidays, ethics, ritual forms, and communities. ONOTW, as Spellmaker uses the term, is not a religion and does not require Wiccan beliefs or observances.
The word “witchcraft” is used broadly today, so people may use the same word while meaning very different practices. Context matters.
It Is Not the Same as Vodou or Voodoo
New Orleans folk practice has always lived alongside Voodoo and Hoodoo, so influences can overlap. But using a candle, oil, herb, or charm does not automatically mean you are serving the lwa or performing Vodou ritual.
When the lwa are deliberately called, served, petitioned, or offered to, that becomes a different kind of spiritual relationship and should be approached with the respect that relationship deserves.
It Does Not Require a New Religion
You do not need to abandon your existing spiritual beliefs to perform practical folk magick. Historically, many people have blended prayer, churchgoing, saints, family custom, folk belief, and spell work without seeing those things as mutually exclusive.
Use what fits your conscience, your tradition, and your own spiritual understanding.
Tips, Hints & Very Few Rules
How to Work Without Making Yourself Crazy
01
Ask for Something Plausible
Use extraordinary help to support ordinary life. A better job, stronger relationship, more confidence, improved finances, or a fair outcome is a better target than expecting a fantasy to materialize out of nowhere.
02
Use Supplies You Trust
Good tools help, but the price tag is not the point. Choose candles, oils, herbs, charms, incense, and other materials that are well made, clearly labeled, and appropriate to the work.
03
Focus on One Goal at a Time
If you are doing love work, work on love. If you are doing money work, give that goal its own attention. Clear intention is generally more useful than throwing ten unrelated desires into one session.
04
Know What You Want
Spend time thinking about the actual outcome you want. A charm, gris-gris bag, written petition, photograph, or other small object can become a useful focal point for that intention.
05
Do the Real-World Work Too
Magick works best beside practical action. If you want a job, apply for jobs. If you want to improve a relationship, communicate. If you want better finances, work on the mundane steps too.
06
Experiment
Some people connect strongly with candle work. Others prefer oils, herbs, charms, baths, or bags. Try different approaches and learn what helps you focus and work effectively.
07
Practice
Like anything else, confidence grows with experience. Keep notes if that helps. Notice what feels natural, what does not, and what you learn about yourself along the way.
08
Relax
A small mistake does not summon the boogeyman. This is practical folk magick, not a B-grade horror movie. Correct what needs correcting and keep going.
09
Trust Your Feel for the Work
Do not overcomplicate every movement. Let the ritual breathe. Let yourself breathe. Intention and attention matter more than theatrical perfection.
10
Use Timing If You Like
Moon phases and other timing systems can be incorporated if they are meaningful to you, but they are tools, not prisons. Do not miss the moment for useful work because the calendar is imperfect.
11
Keep Retribution Proportionate
If you do revenge or retribution work, keep the request connected to the harm actually done. Fairness is a better guide than escalation.
12
Ask for Help When Needed
If you are unsure what kind of work fits your situation, visit the Self Help pages or contact Spellmaker. Different situations may call for different kinds of spiritual work.
Free Working from the Archives
Quick Peace & Protection Spell
A simple working for calm, protection, spiritual restoration, and creating a personal talisman you can return to whenever you need to re-center.
1. Prepare the Space
Clean the surface you will use with plain water. If you already have an altar, wonderful. If not, any clean, stable surface will do.
2. Set the Altar
Place the two white candles about eight inches apart. Put the incense between them. Place the drinking water in front of you and the stone, rock, or shell slightly to your right.
3. Anoint Yourself
Place a small amount of the oil on one finger. Touch your forehead, the base of your throat, and your heart area while saying, “Protection, healing, peace.” Repeat the sequence three times.
4. Light the Candles
Light the candle to your left and say, “Peace and harmony lights my way.” Light the candle to your right and say, “Peace and harmony lights the way for all.”
5. Cleanse the Talisman
Light the incense. Hold the stone, rock, or shell briefly in the smoke and say, “By this smoke, I cleanse thee.”
“I am protected. I am healed. I am at peace.”
6. Enter the Peaceful Place
Hold the object in whichever hand feels natural. Repeat the affirmation three times, pausing between repetitions. Picture yourself surrounded by light in a peaceful place of your choosing. Stay there as long as you like.
7. Close the Working
When you feel satisfied, place the object in front of you and drink the water. Safely extinguish the candles or allow them to continue only while attended.
8. Keep the Talisman
Your stone, rock, or shell can now serve as a personal reminder of peace, protection, and the state you created during the working. Hold it whenever you want to revisit that feeling.
One survivor from the old web
She has been granted historical immunity by the Raven Council.
She has been granted historical immunity by the Raven Council.