San Cypriano- Black Cat Bone of Power

After 3+ months of work-the Black Cat Bone magickal operation concluded last night with the creation and charging of the Bones of Power...
We began the process by setting up the altar...dedicated to San Cypriano, and his historical working with the Black Cat from the Grimoires associated with him.

This extended Working began on the Eve of Good Friday. A Black Cat candle was light-along with San Cypriano incense obtained from Lucky Mojo.

Like all workings that are done-we spread everything out on an old card table, and start to work...

Per the African American folk formulas, as set forth in Both "Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft - Rootwork" by Harry Middleton Hyatt, and .Zora Neale Hurston's Mules and Men, we began the process. 

First we sawed the ends off the bones-which should be the "straightest left hind leg bone", and filled them with 5-finger grass.

This was poked down into the hollow of the bones with a ice pick. According to Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic by Catherine Yronwode-5-finger grass can be utilized for the following:

• Card-Player's Luck in Gambling.
• Money-Drawing.
• Keeping a Traveler from getting Lost.
• Clear Away Crossed Conditions.
• Protect Your Household.
• Spiritually Cleanse a Jinxed House.

...and interestingly enough-coming Full Circle regarding my own Hexen work-In Pow-Wow or The Long Lost Friend by John George Hohman, it is described to "be used to Gain a Favor, '...certainly obtain that which you desire." 

Next- shavings and small pieces of Lodestone 

were added to the interior of the bones.

Lodestone is described by Cat Yronwode "to be held in high regard as a powerful amulet and good luck charm because its strong magnetic influences are thought to attract Power, Favours, and Gifts."

Next, according to the old African American formula-raw cotton, chewed in the mouth until soft-was used to seal the ingredients inside the Black Cat Bone.
Cotton is described in Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs as associated with:

• Luck.
• Healing.
• Protection.
• Rain. 

...and perhaps my favorite- Fishing Magic!

Now you take the separate pieces of Bone and link them back together with black wax. Afterwards you take a $2 and roll the Bone in it.

The deal with the $2 bill is that is it often considered lucky- "Two Buck Luck" Some folks say they're bad luck.
Those who shy from the $2 bill give a variety of reasons they associate with 'Bad Luck":

• At one time a session with a prostitute cost $2, thus possession of one of those bills proved its holder had been consorting with ladies of the evening. Under this line of thought, at the very least the bill at some point in its career had been through a joy house and was now forever tainted.
  
  


• In the days when election-rigging was the norm, campaign bosses would hire men to vote for their candidate. The ringers would be trucked in, given names from the voters' list to claim as their own, and the name of the man they were to vote for. Once they'd done the deed, they would each be rewarded with a $2 bill. The same fellows would be moved from polling place to polling place, each time to assume new names, vote for the same guy, and be paid again. Having $2 bills in your wallet was therefore proof you'd sold your vote.
  
  


• The standard bet in American horse racing was two dollars, and winners were paid with $2 bills. Ergo, possession of a sheaf of these notes was prima facie evidence that one had been betting on the hay burners. Given the prohibitions against gambling (in the not-so-distant past it was considered an activity thoroughly steeped in sin), no respectable person wanted to be associated with it, not even by happenstance.

Aside from ladies of the night, horse races, and bought votes, another reason given as the likely source of the $2 bill's perceived unsavory aspect stems from its most common name: "Deuce" is one of the many slang terms for the Devil himself!

Whatever the cause, $2 bills are widely considered unlucky. For those troubled by this association, superstition offers a counter to two-dollar ill luck: tear a corner from the bill. Some who hold this view assert that one must discard the bill once all its corners are gone.

Then the Bone, wrapped in the $2 was secured with Black Thread.

Next the black thread on the Bone was sealed with black wax. While the wax was hot the metal of San Cypriano was pressed into it-in honor of San Cypriano-as Patron Saint of Sorcererous deeds.

Saint Cyprian , has a long history in association with the Black Cat. In The Book of St. Cuprian: The Sorcerer's Treaure, translated by Jose Leitao-the following specific spells are listed:

• Great Magic of the Fava Bean.
• Magic of the Bone of the Black Cat's Head.
• Magic from the hairs of Black Cats 'copulating'.
• Execute Vengeance on an Enemy utilizing a Black Cat Bone.
• Generating a tiny devil with the eyes of a Black Cat.

Now the Black Cat Bones need to be 'dressed' with Van Van Oil, and Florida Water.

Van Van oil is sometimes associated wtih "Opening the Way to Visions and/or Psychic Clarity" Sticks, Stones, Roots, and Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo & Conjuring with Herbs by Stephanie Rose Bird. 

• Some of the properties of Van Van oil traditionally are:
• Banishing and Clearing Evil
• Purification
• Ritual Preparation
• Protection
• Meditation
• Turnaround-back luck becomes best luck, and poor investment turn into abundance
• Good luck in Money, Business, Gambling, and Love.
• As a Road Opener.

Traditionally Van Van Oil is believed to have come from New Orleans LA, specifically in the West Bank district of Algiers, across the river from the French Quarter. 

Florida Water or  Eau de Cologne water is next. Florida Water is used in rituals of home protection and spiritual cleaning, to scent bowls of water set out for the spirits of the dead, as a basis for making an ink-dyed scrying water, to draw gambling luck and for other ritual and cosmetic purposes among people of African-diaspora descent in the United States and the Caribbean. 

Now the Black Cat Bones of Power are filled with 5-finger grass/lodestone, rolled in a $2 bill, and dressed with Van Van oil/Florida Water, and ready to be ritually charged in the Name of San Cypriano as Patron Saint of Sorcery, and in the Infernal Names associated with our personal Cosmology. 

Working with San Cypriano is a very personal process-based to a great extent on an Individuals magickal congress with the Saint-and the ritual work involved.

One of the things I was shown via Spiritual Congress in direct association with the Black Cat Bone working-is that after the initial exhuming of the Black Cat skeleton-a bone is gifted to the Saint, transforming him from the Traditional Catholic Saint-in purple robes-to the Sorceress Patron Santos dressed in Black/Red. As such-the traditional purple candle of the Saint transforms 

Into the Black/Red energies of the San Cypriano candle sigilized with the Ponto of San Cypriano (Exu by Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold, and Drum & Candle: First-Hand Experiecnes and Accounds of Brazilian Voodoo and Spiritism by David St. Clair...

Salve!

Most Holy San Cypriano

Patron Santos of Sorcererous Deeds!

May you Infuse these Black Cat Bones

with POWER!

with the Powers of the Infernal Realm

with the Powers of the Sorcerer's Path

with the Powers of the Crossroads

with the Powers of the Old Magick!

I Beseech you San Cyrpiano!

I Beg you San Cypriano!

I Pray to you San Cypriano!

Salve!

Amen!