Jeudi: Root Work

The potential for little bundles of joy has been hovering over my life for the last couple of months.  I just got past a scare in the pregnancy department and I call it that because, for a woman my age, being pregnant would quite literally be the stuff of horror movies.  Recently, though, a dear friend announced she was expecting which definitely is good news.

All this baby talk had me running back to my notebooks for a working that my grandmother taught me.  This one is to settle a sleepless child in for the night and it comes from Gran’s Roma friends.  The gypsies, like so many others who have a distinct magickal discipline, put a lot of store by the use of hair in spell craft.   Since hair was once part of a person or animal, it is thought to carry that creature’s essence with it. 

This working is one of those that requires the subject to be aware of what the worker is doing.  I have yet to see it work on sleepless infants; and believe me, I have tried.  For children two or older, however, who have a conversational vocabulary it can be a tremendous help to both mother and child.

Three strands of Mom’s hair

A little cotton or muslin bag, or a small square of either

Needle and white thread

A glass of your child’s favorite drink

Place one strand of hair into the muslin bag/square and sew it closed with the needle and thread.  Give this to your child to place under their pillow.  Now, sew the next strand into your child’s nightclothes so that it will rest close to their heart as they sleep.  Take the finally strand and break it down in a mortar and pestle or with the back of a spoon.  Add this to you child’s favorite drink and have them finish it before getting ready for bed.

Involve your child in the first two steps of this working, telling them that what you are doing will soothe them and help them sleep without trouble.  My Gran would remind me that she was always with me, even in dreams, as long as the “magick bag” was under my pillow. 

In my experience, it’s best to prepare the hair and put it in the drink before you start the other steps of the working.  That way it will be ready when you’re done and there won’t be any fussing about drinking something infused with hair.  The original recipe called for elderberries to be crushed and the juice given to the child.  Since elderberries quite notoriously ferment on the vine, I wonder if the Roma didn’t use the possibility of slight intoxication as their ace in the hole to insure this spell’s success.  Just speculation on my part, but… Bonne chance ~

Header: To This Each Night by Dorothy Bartholemy via American Gallery