Mambo Samantha Corfield

The Poor, Misunderstood 7-Knob Candle!

Greetings everyone! I hope your week is going great!

A very traditional magickal candle is the 7-knob candle. This candle, in one form or another, has been around for maybe thousands of years! I once saw a documentary about the Egyptian pyramids (well I have seen probably thousands of those LOL), and they found remnants of a "knobby" candle in a burial chamber!

However, I do find that many people get confused on exactly how to use a 7-knob candle and wonder exactly what you can accomplish with it! ;-)

Now, technically, this candle is called a "7-knob Wishing Candle" and traditionally has been used to make 7 different wishes towards the same situation. You make the wish, burn that knob. When that knob burns down, you can then make a different wish (or perhaps even the same wish again).

You can also use this candle to work on different aspects of a situation. For instance, let's say that you are doing love spell work and you have a somewhat complicated situation. You could use the 7-knob candle, using each knob of the candle to ask for relief or change in one part of the situation. Let's say you have an intruder to deal with, fear of commitment, the HD has financial problems, his children don't like you, he works too many long hours, etc., etc. Maybe these aren't all huge problems. Maybe some of them are just annoyances. However, you could use, for instance, a red 7-knob candle for a love situation (or even a trio of them if you have a lot of issues within your relationship) and petition for change for a different thing on each knob. Also, as I mentioned above, you could repeat petitions within the same candle, say, doing three knobs on him stopping him from spending time with the intruder, two knobs to make him feel more attracted to you, one knob petitioning for his children to like you, and one knob just to ask for peace in your relationship with him. :-)

Obviously these candles are not going to replace regular spell work, however, whether you have petty annoyances in your relationship or even more serious complications, these candles can help you in a lot of different ways!

The same goes for other situations such as financial ones: You could use one knob to petition for a raise at work, one knob to help you budget better, and so forth and so on!

So if you are looking at a situation in your life and thinking, "Gee, there are a lot of issues here" - you might be in the market for a 7-knob or two!

Love, light, and peace,
Mambo Samantha Corfield
www.spellmaker.com

Stop the Nit-Picking! ;-)

Happy Friday, everyone!
It is no surprise to our seasoned clients here at Spellmaker that we are major proponents of recommending that people take as many "real-world" measures as they can to repair their relationships as they do "magickal-world" measures. :-)

So many times clients will tell us that they are fighting all the time with their intended, or they don't see eye-to-eye, or they are conflicts in their relationship that they just don't seem to be able to resolve. I really liked this particular article that I am linking you to because while it technically has to do with tips for a good marriage, I could easily see how this article could be applied in part to a relationship you want to have or even to a non-romantic relationship.

A lot of articles and so-called relationship gurus seem to think that everyone has been born with some semblance of knowledge of how to sustain a relationship. From what Parran Matt and I see everyday, that just isn't so. Some people need to start from square one and rethink how they approach relationships. I see people making the same mistakes over and over again with little insight into their own role in making a happy relationship.

No one article is going to solve someone's relationship problems, but education about what makes a happy relationship can help you in both the real world and the magickal world. ;-) It can help you to know what you want and how to keep it when you get it!

Feel free to comment on the article!

WebMd Guide Article - click here!

Love,light, and peace,
Mambo Samantha Corfield
www.spellmaker.com

Love and Anger revisited.

Hello!

As I find myself busy with thoughts of the holidays, I somehow keep coming back upon this article I wrote a couple years back. That means someone, out there right now needs to see this! So, as I am off to peel some potatoes,  I offer you this read :-)

Love

Mambo

 

Are You in Love and Angry?

Greetings everyone!  As you all know, of course, working with clients who are doing our love spells gives me a great opportunity to be privileged enough to see the inner workings of many, many relationships. One thing that I see a LOT of are people who are actually very angry with the person upon whom they are doing love spell work!!  :-)

Now believe me I am not saying that their anger is unwarranted!  Quite often they have been dumped in a very unceremonious way, getting hurt, remaining hurt, feeling no resolution for their hurt.  Of course they are angry!  Many times they are in contact with this person and still get hurt by them and thus the anger grows.  But here they are trying to do love spell work which by its very nature requires that you approach it from a standpoint of unconditional and pure love!   How on earth does one resolve that?

Many people have chosen to do white candle magick kits and the Milk of Damballah(tm) white bath to help them release and remove the anger so that they may continue on with their love spell work feeling cleansed of that anger.  But what about that underlying, I-have-tried-and-I-just-can't-get-rid-of-this anger? You probably know and feel deep down inside that the anger your are feeling towards the person you are doing love spell work on is somehow degrading that very work!  In fact, sometimes it gets so bad in people that they get on an endless cycle of being angry with their HD (Heart's Desire) and then being angry with themselves for being angry with their HD and then being angry that they are angry! 

Sometimes this can just go on and on especially if they are in contact with the HD who continues to needle them with either a new relationship, or continued criticism, or other negative behaviors.  Just because you love them doesn't mean you are not affected by their negative behaviors!  Your resentment of these behaviors can have a definite negative effect on your love spell work!

If you feel you are in this situation then I do encourage you to acknowledge what is happening and then take as many measures as necessary to help alleviate as much of the anger as you can.  Look, we are human, and most of us are not Mother Teresa, so you can only do the best you can!  The abovementioned white candle magick and Milk of Damballah white bath are definitely the standard tools for removing negativity and certainly do work for quite a number of people.  The Pink Bubble Meditation is helpful to use to release that anger and send it away from you!

Another choice is doing the Baron's Purple Bath. One of the many uses of the Baron's Purple Bath is to take negative things away and bury them!  Along with that, you can ask that your own love for this person be resurrected to its full feeling once that anger is taken and buried away. In this way, you will again have the FULL POWER of your love to put into your spell work.  Remember, the great and powerful Baron Samedi is not just the lwa of death, but of life - burying and resurrecting are his forte'.  Asking him to bury your anger, hurt, and resentment and replace them with fresh and invigorated love, forgiveness, and positivity is sure to not only make you feel better, but to strengthen the power of your love spell work!

Love, Mambo Sam

 

A Thankful Time.

Hello Dear Ones,

I would like to take a moment this morning, before we each get caught up in holiday prep chaos,  to say how thankful I am for all of my wonderful friends who make my days a true joy!  I am grateful for each and every one of you! Please enjoy your holiday, and your time with friends and loved ones.  Take time to savor the small things about the big holiday. Those are the things great memories are made of.

Much Love,

Mambo Sam

The Thanksgivings

  by Harriet Maxwell Converse
Translated from a traditional Iroquois prayer

We who are here present thank the Great Spirit that we are here

          to praise Him.

We thank Him that He has created men and women, and ordered

          that these beings shall always be living to multiply the earth.

We thank Him for making the earth and giving these beings its products

          to live on.

We thank Him for the water that comes out of the earth and runs

          for our lands.

We thank Him for all the animals on the earth.

We thank Him for certain timbers that grow and have fluids coming

          from them for us all.

We thank Him for the branches of the trees that grow shadows

          for our shelter.

We thank Him for the beings that come from the west, the thunder

          and lightning that water the earth.

We thank Him for the light which we call our oldest brother, the sun

          that works for our good.

We thank Him for all the fruits that grow on the trees and vines.

We thank Him for his goodness in making the forests, and thank

          all its trees.

We thank Him for the darkness that gives us rest, and for the kind Being

          of the darkness that gives us light, the moon.

We thank Him for the bright spots in the skies that give us signs,

          the stars.

We give Him thanks for our supporters, who had charge of our harvests.

We give thanks that the voice of the Great Spirit can still be heard

          through the words of Ga-ne-o-di-o.

We thank the Great Spirit that we have the privilege of this pleasant

          occasion.

We give thanks for the persons who can sing the Great Spirit's music,

          and hope they will be privileged to continue in his faith.

We thank the Great Spirit for all the persons who perform the ceremonies

          on this occasion.

 

 

Take a Break

We are always so serious when we petition Papa Legba. We ask him to 'open the path', 'help me communicate with...', etc.  Why not take just one session with Papa and ask him to bring you some roll-around-on-the-floor, knee-slapping, laugh-until-you-can't-breathe FUN?  What a great stress reliever that is!

Love and Light - and Fun,

Khouzhan Echo

What Do You Think About You?

Happy Day one and all!

I know that we have talked about self-esteem issues before, but it is a subject that I doubt we can talk too much about!  :-)   Your self esteem can be the difference between success and failure of your spell work!  If you don't think you really deserve to be happy, then what kind of message are sending about your spell work..especially love spell work??

Every day one or more clients tell me how stupid they are,or how clumsy they are, or how they keep making bad decision, etc., etc.  No matter how much I tell them that they are good people, not stupid, and can learn to make better decisions, they don't quite seem to hear me.  Why is that? Because they don't believe it for themselves.  Because of that, they really do run the risk of harming their own spell work - how can we expect someone else to think positively of us when we think so negatively of ourselves?  The good news is that you CAN change that!!

Below, I have pasted part of an article from this website: http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/disorders/self-esteem.html - do feel free to check out the rest of the website.  There are some really good exercises and articles to help you believe in you! 

Hey, I think you are wonderful, now you have to believe it for yourself!

Love, light, and peace,
Mambo Samantha Corfield
www.spellmaker.com

Article Excerpt:

Changing Negative Thoughts About Yourself To Positive Ones

You may be giving yourself negative messages about yourself. Many people do. These are messages that you learned when you were young. You learned from many different sources including other children, your teachers, family members, caregivers, even from the media, and from prejudice and stigma in our society.

Once you have learned them, you may have repeated these negative messages over and over to yourself, especially when you were not feeling well or when you were having a hard time. You may have come to believe them. You may have even worsened the problem by making up some negative messages or thoughts of your own. These negative thoughts or messages make you feel bad about yourself and lower your self-esteem.

Some examples of common negative messages that people repeat over and over to themselves include: "I am a jerk," "I am a loser," "I never do anything right," "No one would ever like me," "I am a klutz." Most people believe these messages, no matter how untrue or unreal they are. They come up immediately in the right circumstance, for instance if you get a wrong answer you think "I am so stupid." They may include words like should, ought, or must. The messages tend to imagine the worst in everything, especially you, and they are hard to turn off or unlearn.

You may think these thoughts or give yourself these negative messages so often that you are hardly aware of them. Pay attention to them. Carry a small pad with you as you go about your daily routine for several days and jot down negative thoughts about yourself whenever you notice them. Some people say they notice more negative thinking when they are tired, sick, or dealing with a lot of stress. As you become aware of your negative thoughts, you may notice more and more of them.

It helps to take a closer look at your negative thought patterns to check out whether or not they are true. You may want a close friend or counselor to help you with this. When you are in a good mood and when you have a positive attitude about yourself, ask yourself the following questions about each negative thought you have noticed:

• Is this message really true?
  
  
• Would a person say this to another person? If not, why am I saying it to myself?
  
  
• What do I get out of thinking this thought? If it makes me feel badly about myself, why not stop thinking it?

You could also ask someone else—someone who likes you and who you trust—if you should believe this thought about yourself. Often, just looking at a thought or situation in a new light helps.

The next step in this process is to develop positive statements you can say to yourself to replace these negative thoughts whenever you notice yourself thinking them. You can't think two thoughts at the same time. When you are thinking a positive thought about yourself, you can't be thinking a negative one. In developing these thoughts, use positive words like happy, peaceful, loving, enthusiastic, warm.

Avoid using negative words such as worried, frightened, upset, tired, bored, not, never, can't. Don't make a statement like "I am not going to worry any more." Instead say "I focus on the positive" or whatever feels right to you. Substitute "it would be nice if" for "should." Always use the present tense, e.g., "I am healthy," "I am well," "I am happy," "I have a good job," as if the condition already exists. Use I, me, or your own name.

You can do this by folding a piece of paper in half the long way to make two columns. In one column write your negative thought and in the other column write a positive thought that contradicts the negative thought as shown on the next page.

You can work on changing your negative thoughts to positive ones by —

• Replacing the negative thought with the positive one every time you realize you are thinking the negative thought.
  
  
• Repeating your positive thought over and over to yourself, out loud whenever you get a chance and even sharing them with another person if possible.
  
  
• Writing them over and over.
  
  
• Making signs that say the positive thought, hanging them in places where you would see them often - like on your refrigerator door or on the mirror in your bathroom - and repeating the thought to yourself several times when you see it.

 

Negative Thought I am not worth anything. I have never accomplished anything. I always make mistakes. I am a jerk. I don't deserve a good life. I am stupid. Positive Thought I am a valuable person. I have accomplished many things. I do many things well. I am a great person. I deserve to be happy and healthy. I am smart.

It helps to reinforce the positive thought if you repeat if over and over to yourself when you are deeply relaxed, like when you are doing a deep-breathing or relaxation exercise, or when you are just falling asleep or waking up.

Changing the negative thoughts you have about yourself to positive ones takes time and persistence. If you use the following techniques consistently for four to six weeks, you will notice that you don't think these negative thoughts about yourself as much. If they recur at some other time, you can repeat these activities. Don't give up. You deserve to think good thoughts about yourself.

Staying the Course.

Greetings everyone!  Recently I was talking to a long-term client of mine who felt like she was confused about her goal in spell work.  She has been working a long time towards a particular goal and while the goal has often seemed in reach, and there has been good progress in her case, she just hasn't quite achieved full results.  She noticed that she recently has become confused about what her true goal is in doing her spell work.

We talked for awhile about "way back when" when she first came to me and what she wanted then.  It was interesting to see how that goal has shifted and evolved over the years.  However, when we talked about it, even though there are some differences now in the goal, the core goal remains the same. It struck me as really important that she stay the course on her core goal even with the realization that even though there are differences in the goal, the main purpose of the work remains the same.

This isn't the first time that someone has come to me who seems to have lost sight of why they started working magickally in the first place!  Sometimes the work itself takes on a life of itself and we can mistake the work for the goal! :-)

My recommendation to her was to use a Cosmic Voodoo Destiny Egg in order to help her remember and get back on track with her goal.  Also, if the goal has truly drastically changed, working with this Egg kit will also help with knowing and understanding that.  There is nothing wrong with a goal changing, growing, evolving over time; the only danger lies in not recognizing that change for what it is! Using the Egg to ask for guidance as to "where am I going next" or "where should I be doing next" and listening to that guidance is a really great tool!

She has reported back to me that after even the very first session she felt re-focused and re-energized on her goal.  She has re-worked her path to her goal in such a way that everything now seems more realistic and true to her.  :-)  Now she no longer feels like she is working towards some nebulous goal that is no longer germane to today's life!   She realized that while the circumstances around her goal have changed, the actual goal has not.  Now she is able to work on those circumstance to uncloud her goal and make it a clear reach for her again!

Like I said, she certainly isn't the first person to lose sight of her original goal so I thought it would be good to share with you how she used the Destiny Egg to help her out of her own magickal woods!

Love, light, and peace,
Mambo Samantha Corfield

 www.spellmaker.com

Setting Goals

Hello everyone!  The article below by Kevin Kearns is actually an article outlining a way to reach business goals.  I could not help but notice the parallel between success in business and success in spell work!  Although I did have to laugh at the "No Magic" clause below.  ;-)

Now that we are more than halfway through our 20th anniversary year, we, too, are looking at our own goals for the next 20 years! 

The article is based on the time-honored tradition of being S.M.A.R.T. about goal setting.  Of course it isn't all germane to spell work, but certainly it can help you get organized and think about your spell work goals in an attainable way.

Enjoy!

Love, Mambo Sam

www.spellmaker.com

Top 7 Tips for Reaching Your Goals

By Kevin Kearns

Setting goals comes with the terrain for most leaders. You set goals for yourself, work with your team on setting their goals, and some of you, I know, work with your kids on setting goals. After all, in one form or another, goal setting is the practice of successful people. Unfortunately, the act of goal setting by itself does not guarantee goal achievement. Along with your determination, these seven tips can turn your goal setting into goal getting.

1. Be S.M.A.R.T.: Set S.M.A.R.T. goals. This goal setting acronym approach has been around for a long time and it still works! You increase your odds of reaching your goal if you answer yes to all of these as you set it:
   
   · Specific – have I described details rather than general ideas of the goal?
   
   · Measurable – can someone else measure and see that I reached my goal?
   
   · Attainable – is this goal actually reachable?
   
   · Realistic – even if it is reachable, is it realistic that I am willing to do what it takes to reach it.
   
   · Timeline – do I have a deadline for reaching this goal?
2. Document: If it’s not documented, it’s not going to happen. Most leaders learn quickly (often the hard way,) if it isn’t documented it didn’t happen. Goal setting is similar, it must be documented. The act of writing your goal down creates a sense of commitment and also allows you to read it. Reading your goal gives your mind more confidence that achieving it is possible. We tend to believe what we read, that is why magazines like The Globe can sell stories about aliens abducting Bigfoot. Write your goals down and look at them frequently.
3. Why Me!?: Why is the goal important to you? Think about what benefits the goal offers you. What rewards are associated with reaching this goal? Do you want those rewards? If not, you are not going to stay committed to reaching the goal. The bigger the why, the greater chance of success. If your why is big enough, you will usually figure out the how. It is up to you to discover a why that makes you want to achieve the goal.
4. No Magic: Resist magically turning excuses into reasons. I have witnessed people magically turn what appeared to be an excuse into a perfectly justifiable reason for not achieving a goal. This powerful magic trick can only be reversed by the magician who performed it. We are all amateur magicians in that sense. We are all guilty of accepting situations as final and giving up on goals. If we want to reach goals (especially those worthwhile difficult goals) we must fight the urge to perform and leave the magic to Penn & Teller.
5. Habit Forming: Make goal setting a regular part of your life. Much like a successful diet, goal setting works best when it becomes part of the fabric of your life. Yo-yo dieting is a huge issue in the United States. People get motivated to lose weight, so they start the latest fad diet. After a few weeks (or even hours in some cases) we find ourselves on the downward spin of the yo-yo. The people that have had the most success with losing weight long-term are the ones who have made a healthy diet permanent part of their life - not a temporary prison sentence they are waiting to get paroled from. The same can be seen with goal setting. The more a part of your life it is, the easier it becomes and the greater your success.
6. Get Help: Have a coach help you through the process. If you are pursuing a large or long-term goal, you may benefit from the support of a coach. Depending on the importance of the goal, this can be a professional coach or even a trusted co-worker or friend. A good coach will support you, while at the same time holding you accountable to do your best. In most cases, it is wise to not share your goal with everyone. Many people love to pick goals apart and you may find yourself using your energy to defend your ability to reach your goal instead of using it to achieve your goal. A safe, trusted advisor may be just what you need to reach your goal, but choose wisely.
7. Impress Yourself: Set goals that impress you. When we start to walk as small children, every step is applauded. This constant positive reinforcement is used to encourage our desire and persistence to walk. Eventually, they stop clapping. This is because you have moved beyond walking and onto more difficult physical challenges. As a leader, you have likely achieved a level of success at work. In order to stay sharp and continue to grow, your goals must progress beyond your current status. It is more important that your goals impress you, than impress others. Michael Jordan did not become the “Michael Jordan” by limiting himself to what impressed others.
   
   Take the wisdom in these tips and strengthen your goal setting techniques. Improved goal setting will lead you to great achievements. How great? Well, that is up to you. The funny thing about goals is, the more goals you get, the more goals you want to get.