About Me

Born and raised in a medium sized town in Ga, I was surrounded by God in the Christian context since I was born. This church served as a community center, and this is why my Grandmother and most of the older folk went. They all had their bibles, and their own beliefs about God and Spirit that differed sometimes from the churches; Bits of folklore, stories, and ways. Although we stopped going to Church when my Grandmother took ill, It left an impression on me and I counted myself among the Christian faith for years, and in a way still do.

The Baptist Church I attended as a child was in the poor neighborhood I was raised in, with all members of the community both black and white, loving and supporting one another.

I remember as a young boy, seeing my grandmother, and her Aunt, her best friend, doing odd little things all the time. The women from church would gather together sometimes after service, and talk in hushed tones about "Spirit", and "fixing" things. I picked up a lot of these ways as I grew up, not really knowing what they were until my early teens. They were just part of life, it was what we did every day for every day issues. By the time I was about thirteen, I had developed an interest in magic from the myriad of movies and books I had, and discovered that these eccentricities and ways i grew up with were actually Conjure work. Learning tricks and workings, as well as divination ( my Grandma called it talking to spirit) in an interesting conjure centric way with both Playing Cards and Tarot. My grandmother passed away when I was fifteen, most of the older members of the small church following soon after, and there were things they took with them that I never got to ask about and learn, and I cherish the things I did even more because of this. By this time books and websites began to spring up, and I learned all I could from them, and still do. While my teachings were country and practical, old school, the information online is very different from what I learned. This more urban eclectic style doesn't always jive with me, but its all beautiful at its core.

Around age twenty I became disillusioned with my faith. Being gay was and is hard in the South, and shunning more organized religion, keeping the teachings of Christ and the Bible which are beautiful no matter your faith i branched out, becoming "unchurched" as I've heard it called. Eventually finding the Goddess Hecate. I'd never felt the pull to a pagan deity before, but by this point knew when a spirit wanted my attention. People began to side eye me. Who is this White boy who does Hoodoo, is Christian(ish) and honors a Pagan Deity? I did struggle with this for a while, but quickly got over it, my ancestors don't seem to mind, nether does Hecate, who is separate from my magical workings(Conjure) aneyway. I believe all Deity, is valid and exists. God, Hecate, Krishna; they all exist. I've seen and experienced enough in my journey to know this without a doubt. Along with Hecate I honor my ancestors, Jesus, Mary, and what I call the Great Divine(God), the Highest and most Pure force of Divine power.

My spirituality is complicated, for sure, but its mine and it works for me and the people that I help. I hope this was enlightening to you all, thank you for coming this blog. There will be so much more to come and I look forward to speaking some of you in comments and the like. PLEASE comment any questions you might have on posts, or personal email, if you want more information on something or want me to elaborate.

Much love to you all.

Blessings +++

Joshua Blake