# Is anyone here a practitioner of rootwork, Hoodoo, Chaos, or another strong magical tradition? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 15, 2014, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861 "2014-01-15T09:35:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/41 "2014-01-16T19:47:24Z")
Serious answer; Doing all of that physical stuff. What is it for? What I learned in magick was that the physical aspects (movements, forms, items, elements, etc) were just focuses for thoughts, means of getting you in the proper frame of mind, etc. In short, as one of my teachers said “It’s all in your head. But your head is bigger than you know.” So doing all those various things is only to create the thoughts and patterns on your end that you have ‘defeated’ or removed this curse, or to set yourself on the path of doing so in your head. Once you truly know that secret, you can work out how to do almost anything without the forms. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/42 "2014-01-16T19:48:00Z")
I think The Other Walldo Pepper had it right. > [@](#): > > Can’t we just say: “Why Not Use A Mirror?” \*Hey, [WhyNot](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php). Use a mirror! You have some spinach in your teeth. \* ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/43 "2014-01-16T20:18:49Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Define practicioner. One of my jobs is psychic adviser (i.e. fortunetelling). I use tradiational Roma divination practices (and lots of common sense) to achieve these performances. Sometimes this is done as a purely entertainment act and is no different from a magic show or a routine at a comedy club. . This _does_ explain quite a bit. Thanks. I have a “vision” that you may have your your mirror technique on quite a bit of your client’s “cursed” cash. Jesus told me to tell you that’s not a nice thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/44 "2014-01-16T20:52:26Z")
The dim echo of a thought can never be a match for the active thoughts in your head. Unless you allow them to be. Pretty much goes for any bad thoughts from the past. The person who yelled at you last week, the person who wished ill of you 10 years ago, etc. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/45 "2014-01-16T21:10:47Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Other options include throwing the mirror out of a moving car onto the highway, scattering the shards on the Galapagos Islands, or mixing them into some muffins for the homeless. I sincerely hope you are being sarcastic. Within most magical tradiations mixing the shards into muffins for the homeless would be absolute worst thing to do because it would be transferring the evil to one more helpless than oneself, a characteristic of black magic. To do that would be just begging for demonic possession. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/46 "2014-01-16T21:22:19Z")
Well, that and be prosecuted for assault. > [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > They could even be flushed down the toilet. Please don’t flush broken glass down the toilet, people. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/47 "2014-01-16T21:25:35Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > I sincerely hope you are being sarcastic. Within most magical tradiations mixing the shards into muffins for the homeless would be absolute worst thing to do because it would be transferring the evil to one more helpless than oneself, a characteristic of black magic. To do that would be just begging for demonic possession. The fact that it would likely cause serious physical harm is, of course, merely incidental. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/48 "2014-01-16T21:30:39Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > You’re starting with a fictional premise to begin with. There is no possible “genuine” answer. This is like asking for “a genuine answer” as to whether a bunch of water pixies could win in a fight against the Hulk if they all ganged up on him. > > I could say “Let a unicorn fart on it” and it’d be just as accurate as ZPG or Kanicbird’s answer. Moreso in fact, because everyone knows that unicorn farts can break any enchantment. Finding the unicorn is an exercise left for the student. > > Also, you neglected to tell us what the curse of the magic mirror _does_. Does it just do nebulous twaddle like “bad energy” or “negative vibrations” or is it a _real_ evil spell that actually does something like turning the victim into a radish? That’s ridiculous. You didn’t even define what you mean by a “bunch.” ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/49 "2014-01-16T22:09:44Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > I sincerely hope you are being sarcastic. Within most magical tradiations mixing the shards into muffins for the homeless would be absolute worst thing to do because it would be transferring the evil to one more helpless than oneself, a characteristic of black magic. To do that would be just begging for demonic possession. I was pointing out that you were ignorantly suggesting throwing broken glass into the ocean or down the toilet, which displays a complete lack of regard for the environment or other people. Seeing as how you are still failing to grasp that my suggestions are equally irresponsible, (Really? Serving ground glass in food is bad because Pazuzu?), I’ll move along. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/50 "2014-01-16T22:56:38Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Doing all of that physical stuff. What is it for? What I learned in magick was that the physical aspects (movements, forms, items, elements, etc) were just focuses for thoughts, means of getting you in the proper frame of mind, etc. In short, as one of my teachers said “It’s all in your head. But your head is bigger than you know.” > > So doing all those various things is only to create the thoughts and patterns on your end that you have ‘defeated’ or removed this curse, or to set yourself on the path of doing so in your head. > > Once you truly know that secret, you can work out how to do almost anything without the forms. Just riffing off of this, from a chemist’s point of view, the coating on the back of the glass, which is what _makes_ it a ‘mirror’, is likely either silver (expensive, and thus rather unlikely) or aluminum, (cheap, and so highly likely), but both are easily oxidized. Presumably, if you dissolve the coating, you dissolve the curse. You want to oxidize that shit (those unknown metals), so you need an oxidizer. Scrape a bit off, put it into a (borosilicate glass, Pyrex will do) test tube that you have already charged with Hydrochloric acid (AKA ‘muriatic acid’, available at your local hardware store), and Sulfuric acid (AKA ‘battery acid’, available at your local auto parts store), and see if it dissolves. It almost certainly will. If it does, put the rest of the bottles (or cans or whatever) of those two acids into a glass gallon pickle jar, break up the mirror to fit, and watch the curse dissolve away… ---
**Author:** ![LouLou7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LouLou7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouLou7)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/51 "2014-01-16T23:16:14Z")
What did you do to piss off the curser/target so badly that they would give you a cursed mirror? I’m just spitballing here, but why don’t you try talking to the person that cursed the mirror and find out if there’s something you can do to fix the relationship and maybe they’ll lift the curse? Otherwise you’re just sitting around worrying about: 1. If you have a cursed mirror 2. If you figured out how to lift the curse. 3. If you didn’t lift the curse and every bad thing in your life is the result of the cursed mirror. 4. If there’s someway you could get Opal to lift the curse from Beyond the Grave? IANAW (I am not a witch) and any opinions expressed are strictly my own, admittedly stoopid ones. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/52 "2014-01-17T00:04:31Z")
It’s too late. The negative intentions have been realized. If the possessor of the mirror follows through on ZPGzealot’s method (flush down the toilet scenario) it will probably fulfill the negative intentions even more by jacking up the household plumbing and possibly result in a fine since should the smashed glass proceed through the pipes it could also have a negative impact on the municipal plumbing as well. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/53 "2014-01-17T00:37:54Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > It’s too late. The negative intentions have been realized. > > If the possessor of the mirror follows through on ZPGzealot’s method (flush down the toilet scenario) it will probably fulfill the negative intentions even more by jacking up the household plumbing and possibly result in a fine since should the smashed glass proceed through the pipes it could also have a negative impact on the municipal plumbing as well. The point of smashing it is turning it into tiny, tiny pieces so that it doesn’t screw up the plumbing. I’ve done this before (not because of curses, but because I wanted to get rid of gift items with a very bold statement gesture). On all such occasions no plumbing problems resulted ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/54 "2014-01-17T00:40:17Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > The point of smashing it is turning it into tiny, tiny pieces so that it doesn’t screw up the plumbing. I’ve done this before (not because of curses, but because I wanted to get rid of gift items with a very bold statement gesture). On all such occasions no plumbing problems resulted And why should the municipal sewer system have to deal with it? Smash stuff all you want, but find a better way to get rid of the pieces. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/55 "2014-01-17T04:59:15Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > And why should the municipal sewer system have to deal with it? Smash stuff all you want, but find a better way to get rid of the pieces. Because they exist only to serve her whims? ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/56 "2014-01-17T05:53:52Z")
Wow, I’m impressed by how many people felt they needed to go down the ‘it’s woo’ path, despite the OP specifically requesting that they not comment. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/57 "2014-01-17T10:57:44Z")
> [@bup](#): > > The mirror isn’t cursed. It is. But it comes with _freeeeeee frogurt!_ ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/58 "2014-01-17T13:07:08Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Wow, I’m impressed by how many people felt they needed to go down the ‘it’s woo’ path, despite the OP specifically requesting that they not comment. Should we take a bow, or would that be too much? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/59 "2014-01-17T13:17:55Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > The fact that it would likely cause serious physical harm is, of course, merely incidental. :smack: But it is incidental to the question of whether it would break the curse, so I think you were just looking for an angle to attack from. \*Doesn’t believe in voodoo or obeah. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861/60 "2014-01-17T13:24:44Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Just riffing off of this, from a chemist’s point of view, the coating on the back of the glass, which is what _makes_ it a ‘mirror’, is likely either silver (expensive, and thus rather unlikely) or aluminum, (cheap, and so highly likely), but both are easily oxidized. Presumably, if you dissolve the coating, you dissolve the curse. You want to oxidize that shit (those unknown metals), so you need an oxidizer. Scrape a bit off, put it into a (borosilicate glass, Pyrex will do) test tube that you have already charged with Hydrochloric acid (AKA ‘muriatic acid’, available at your local hardware store), and Sulfuric acid (AKA ‘battery acid’, available at your local auto parts store), and see if it dissolves. It almost certainly will. > > If it does, put the rest of the bottles (or cans or whatever) of those two acids into a glass gallon pickle jar, break up the mirror to fit, and watch the curse dissolve away… I think this is the best solution. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-here-a-practitioner-of-rootwork-hoodoo-chaos-or-another-strong-magical-tradition/678861.md?page=4)