This Online Course has prerecorded video lessons and written lesson notes that you can view at your own pace on our website while following along week by week with our lovely cohort via FaceBook group! You will have access to the course materials for the lifetime of The Blackthorne School.
Make this the year that you take your PGM practice to the next level! Whether you are a seasoned PGM practitioner, or an intermediate practitioner of other esoteric studies looking to demystify the PGM, this course is for you. Join Jack Grayle, author of The Hekataeon, in a year-long online course with one rite per week in a program designed to take you deeper than you’ve ever gone into the PGM.
$600.00
Make this the year that you take your PGM practice to the next level! Whether you are a seasoned PGM practitioner, or an intermediate practitioner of other esoteric studies looking to demystify the PGM, this course is for you. Join Jack Grayle, author of The Hekataeon, in a year-long online course with one rite per week in a program designed to take you deeper than you’ve ever gone into the PGM.
You do NOT have to perform all of the lessons to gain great benefit from the course. You also can choose to not participate in the Facebook group if you prefer. All necessary course materials will be uploaded to our website. However, we feel the Facebook group offers a rich component of interacting with other practitioners and sharing the learning process.
You are able to access your course materials for the duration of the lifetime of The Blackthorne School.
356 Days, 51 Steps
You are able to access your course materials for the duration of the lifetime of The Blackthorne School.
We welcome students of any level of experience in witchcraft, sorcery, or ceremonial magic. Please contact us if you have questions as to the appropriateness or fit of the course for you.
Please contact us if you have questions as to the appropriateness of fit of the course for you.
Jack Grayle is the author of The Hekataeon, a grimoire released by IXAXAAR in 2019. Having worked with the PGM for years, he presents on sorcery and necromancy throughout the United States. His writings have been accepted for publication by Sabbatica V, Conjure Codex V, and Pillars: Seeds of Ares.
We offer various payment options, you can select your preferred option at the checkout. Simply add to cart then you can choose your payment option as well as adding any coupon codes.
We offer a 12 monthly payment plan of 12 monthly payments of $50
Please contact us if you have questions as to the appropriateness of fit of the course for you.
a. My Story
i. Rootworker
ii. Santero
iii. PGM sorcerer
iv. Christian minister and bishop
v. Family roots
b. Ethics
i. What Hoodoo is and is not
ii. Potential objections to practicing Hoodoo
iii. Hoodoo and energy
iv. Hoodoo’s Christian roots and what this means for modern practitioners with issues with Christianity
This week’s lesson establishes our baseline as a class, meaning we explore individually and collectively our social location. Central to this exploration is my belief that we all come from a place. Knowledge of that place is a potent starting point for forming our identities as rootworkers and wherever else Spirit may lead us.
I will of course lead the discussion by speaking of my own social location, as well as my awareness of how that “GPS” shapes and forms my practices, the choices I have made of spiritual traditions to follow, and how they converge to make me who I am. This will include discussion of my family of origin, my Christian faith, my explorations into African Derived Traditions and even my current studies of sorcery.
The second part of this week’s lesson explores the issue of ethics in Hoodoo. Included is clarification on what distinguishes Hoodoo from other like practices, a frank discussion on the gatekeeping Hoodoo sometimes becomes prey to, and what spiritual concepts are traditional to Hoodoo (and which ones are not!). By this week’s end, I hope that you begin to form a sense of identity based on the fusion of your social location and personal ethics.
a. Rev. Doc’s Kitchen Tour: The use of what we already have. A showcase of herbal tools used in Rootwork
b. Hoodoo Herbal Theology and Cosmology
i. Like animism, but deeper; not just alive but each herb is a discreet spirit
ii. The protocols of working with herbs and roots
iii. Herbal Correspondence lists
iv. When herbs “fight” you—the story of my feisty Ortis root pendulum!
v. The importance of hyssop as a worker for your toolkit
This week we will explore what I consider to be the primary foundation of Hoodoo: herbs and roots. We will begin with a tour of my kitchen. This is to make the simple point that none of us have to go on a pilgrimage to find herbs for rootwork; we can work the roots right from the spice rack in our kitchen! I will also show some of the tools I use in my work.
Next, we will survey what I call the theology and cosmology of Hoodoo’s herbology. It is important that you understand the difference of Hoodoo’s herbology from other modalities you may be aware of or practice. Part of this discussion will be what to do about herbs that don’t agree with you (yes, it is a thing!), as well as the importance of hyssop in your toolkit.
a. Types of spiritual baths
i. Cleansing baths: sweet and “bitter” herb baths
ii. Fresh herb baths vs. dried herbs bath
iii. The White Bath (not Hoodoo, but Santeria/Lucumi–powerful!)
iv. Salt baths
v. Suggested recipes list for baths
b. Peace Water and War Water
i. Laying down waters for both, open and sneaky
ii. Formulas for each Water
c. Other Cleansings
i. Black and white candle cleansings
ii. Egg cleansing
iii. Fresh herb bundles cleansing
iv. Incense/burning herbs cleansing
v. House cleansing/blessing
The third week we will discuss different types of baths and bathing practices that are primarily but not exclusively Hoodoo. I will be drawing on my knowledge as a santero and espiritista for this week, to insure that you have an ample palette of choices with which to cleanse and refresh yourself. Included in this week’s worksheets will be some recipes from yours truly.
All up for discussion are the use of waters in Hoodoo, specifically Peace Water and War Water, how to lay them down and suggested formulas to make them. Finally, I will discuss other forms of cleansing not done with water that are important options for an aspiring rootworker to be able to take care of themselves.
a. Candle Basics
i. How to set a light
ii. Picking the right candle at the store
iii. Fire proofing your space
iv. How to fix and load candles
v. Petition papers with candles
vi. Color symbolism
vii. Candle spells by condition
b. Working with Flame
i. Florida Water and flammable colonias
ii. Incense workings for influence or domination (beyond just burning it!)
c. Oil Lamps in Hoodoo
i. Theology of oil lamps and why they are sometimes preferred over candles
ii. Fixing a lamp with herbs, oils, and prayer
iii. Vodun-style lamps with floating wick
iv. What workings work best with an oil lamp vs. candle?
On week four we will dive into the fundamentals of candle work. Do not be fooled by the word fundamental, however, because this body of information is what all rootworkers use to construct their candle spells to good effect. This is also the week where we introduce the idea of conditions in rootwork. I will give examples of how various conditions can be addressed with Hoodoo candle work.
The second portion of this week’s lesson revolves around the use of flammable substances such as Florida Water to effect certain workings, whether they are for consecration or fiery protection. Fire safety is equally important and explored here. Finally, you will learn how to utilize one of Hoodoo’s powerful tools for long-term magical workings: the lamp.
a. Condition oils: history and use
i. Different types of oils, suggested practice
ii. Oil recipes, including specialized oils
iii. Various uses of oils in workings (candles, baths, anointing, empowering objects, feeding mojos)
iv. Creating your own condition oil
b. Powders and Incense: history and use
i. Powders and African foot track magic
ii. How powders are deployed (foot track, blowing, sprinkling)
iii. Powders and dirts
iv. Sample workings with powders
v. Incense in workings—the theology of its use
vi. The practice of using incense, and why
vii. An example of skull candle and using smoke to influence someone
Another more modern innovation within Hoodoo is the use of condition oils. We will explore their history and use and how they came to be so central to Hoodoo practice. In this lesson will be discussion of different oils, a list of recipes and some thoughts on the various uses of oils in workings. This lesson connects directly to Week Two’s lesson on herbology. By the end of this week, you will have the knowledge you need to create your own condition oil!
We will round out this week with looking at powders and incense, and how they are deployed. This part of Hoodoo is one of the more traditional connections to the foot track magic done in Africa, so I will show how this carried over to the so-called New World, and how powders and incense connect to workings and the spirits that empower them.
a. Part One: Divination
i. The theology behind divination as a prelude to doing work
ii. Playing cards
• Reading with cards
• Working with cards
• Strengths and weaknesses
iii. Pendulums
• How to make one
• How to read with a jack ball/pendulum and a spirit board
• How to assist with workings with the Jack ball
• Strengths and weaknesses
iv. Throwing bones
• How to collect and start a bone set
• How to bless and consecrate them with ancestors
• Doing readings
• Strengths and weaknesses of this tool
v. Coins
• One, two and four coin readings
• How to bless and consecrate the coins for divination
• How to divine with coins
• Strengths and weaknesses of this tool
b. Part Two: The Bible
i. How the Bible is understood in Hoodoo as a replacement for what was lost of indigenous spirituality during American slavery
ii. The importance of the Psalms in workings and their connection to older pagan cults
iii. How the Bible is used in workings and understood as a tool of power
iv. Bibliomancy
• Using the Bible as a divination tool
• Using the Bible for investigative divination in workings
Week Six is going to be complex yet fascinating to many of you as you explore with me the numerous options and tools the Hoodoo tradition uses for its divinatory arts. Unlike other systems of magic, Hoodoo follows a particular prescriptive pattern that includes not only diagnosing what the problem is, but how to address it.
We will look at playing cards, pendulums and jack balls, bone reading and bibliomancy with the Holy Bible (yes, you heard that right!). With each I will also discuss what I see as strengths and weakness, so you can better decide for yourself which tool(s) will suit you best.
a. General Hoodoo protocols for approaching and working with spirits
b. Animal bones and the animal spirits inside them
d. The Ancestors – primary spirits of the tradition
e. Saints and Catholic Hoodoo (actually there are Protestant ones too!)
f. The cultural heroes of Hoodoo: e.g., High John the Conker, Carolina Dye, Harriet Tubman, Big Mommas
g. Graveyard spirits (babies, soldier, police, fireman, unbaptized people, untimely dead, murderers, famous people, etc.) – who to go to for what?
The penultimate lessons of this course will be a deep dive into the numerous spirits rootworkers choose to work with in their practice. It is centrally important here for all of you to understand the protocols for approaching and working with spirits in Hoodoo. Not all of this is traditional, but rather comes from my own experience and in some cases, experimentation with certain spirits to ascertain best practices.
This is a broad and wide-ranging subject area, so this is a week, perhaps more so than others, where I encourage you to take your time, use your divinatory skills and find the right “fit” of spirit allies to enhance and empower your work! Aside from the survey of spirits, this week’s primary aim is to give you the means to figure out how to connect and kick-start your practice with the help of spirits.
a. How do you pull together all the things learned in the past 7 weeks into a coherent practice?
b. How do you utilize these weeks’ lessons to address conditions in your life or others’ lives? Do you even want to?
c. Will give 5 examples of generalized workings that can be adapted for specific situations
i. Love/Reconciliation Working
ii. Legal Working
iii. Prosperity Working
iv. A Protective Working
v. A House Blessing Working
d. This class begins to give a foundation, but you’re not yet a full-fledged rootworker. There’s other pieces to learn to round out your practice.
e. You can choose to be a rootworker for different reasons:
i. To run a spiritual business
ii. To work for the protection and uplift of your family
iii. Strictly for yourself and your own well-being
iv. A desire to benefit and uplift community and become a community servant
Our final week’s lesson is where I invite us to consider the important question of how to pull together all the things learned the past seven weeks into a coherent practice. To begin to discuss and answer this, we will return to the idea of conditions as a way to focus our approaches. Case studies will be pivotal to apprehending how conditions get addressed. We will finally look at where to go from this class, namely whether you want to practice for yourself, others around you, or even as a professional rootworker. There may also be a surprise for you all at the end of this week that will help you with clarity on this very next step!
Please contact us if you have questions as to the appropriateness of the course for you.
