Customer Reviews

Four Seasons of Mojo: An Herbal Guide to Natural Living

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I will start by saying that I am not a hardcore hoodoo expert. I will say that I am very informed of many similar traditions. I found that this book was well written even though I am not crazy about the Llewellyn publishing format. Ms. Bird does a great job of bringing many traditions into mainstream and there is nothing wrong with that. Her audience is everyone--not hardcore hoodoo folks.

This is a great book to gift to a female family member or dear friend and should be a part of every woman's bookshelf. It is inspiring to follow some of the recipes, advice and ruminations and I could care less if every single piece of advice is authentic, especially if something works well for you. Traditions vary from one family to the next and this book is a mixture of Ms. Bird's family traditions and research. She doesn't claim to be an anthropologist publishing a dissertation on historic hoodoo traditions so I don't know why some people here have gotten so up in arms. There's is plenty of hardcore Hoodoo books out there and there is a time and place for those publications--they may bore some people to tears.

If you want to clean house, feel good about yourself, energize your household and feel connected with the earth again, this book is great. Considering how ignorant new generations are of simple home remedies, recipes and natural health, this book is unpretentious and true to its subtitle : Everyday HooDoo-Natural Living and Simple Magic. The book is clearly categorized New Age/Herbalism/Alternative Health, so please do not act so misled if you are not into New Age works.

I found the seasonal organization very nice and I was reminded of many forgotten traditions. The book contains more than Hoodoo and I consider that a bonus so enjoy it and gift a copy to someone you love. It is very unpretentious, poetic at times and also very useful to people on a budget. I applaud Ms. Bird for being true to herself.

I could sit at the foot of this women and listen to her for hours. You know how we have all met that special, "magickal", person who can blend history, hoodoo, magick,and the realization of dreams into a story that feels so at home that you can live it through their eyes. Reading Stephanie's books takes me there. I have actually met Stephanie and attended a ritual she gave and she brings hoodoo home and ignites the connection inside you. She relays the information in such a way that you naturally connect to it. I appreciate the way she makes the history and relevancy of hooodoo come alive for me! She is a beautiful, intelligent woman who knows what she can disperse in knowledge, responsibly, to a mass population. Unless you are training in the hoodoo arts there is no reason for her to go into depths that the unpracticed layman cannot handle, but we all are divine and have intuitions that can help us to manifest a better world for ourselves and others and Stephanie shares enough knowledge for even the layman to feel comfortable and responsible doing this.

I salute the intelligent way she handles dispensing mass media information about her spirituality path.

I always feel Yemaya and Oya walking with Stephanie and she is a true Blessing to those who connect with them as well.

Thank you, Stephanie, for another wonderful experience and I can't wait to receive your next book.

I only need to say that this book is a beautiful expression of the lifestyle and heritage that goes into living mojo filled life. It is packed with rituals, recipes, and a love of "roots" in every sense...

A real root worker, a wise woman, has written a book that all wise women can share and see and learn from. There are enough textbooks out there with mechanical lists of sterilized ingredients; here is a story from the old religion. A combination of folklore, practical spells, humble steps, and a reverance for the simple joys we experience and adore in everyday lives, this is the knowledge being passed, once again, from one woman to another. Anyone can begin working her magic today; planting seeds is part of the great circle.

Stephanie, well done girlfriend!

I really enjoyed this follow-up to STICKS, STONES, ROOTS AND BONES! I'm not a hoodoo, but the suggestions for celebrating each of the seasons, tips for being healthy in body, mind, and spirit, and for keeping your home (cleansings and blessings) are ones anybody can follow. The recipes for teas, bath salts and floor washes alone are worth checking out this book.Orange Mint and Honey: A Novel

Whether you feel like whipping up a fruit smoothie for health or ritually preparing a magical potpourri, this book is helpful. I love how accessible this work is--as a holistic health book AND herbal ritual book: both the beginner and expert can find useful, stimulating information inside.

I welcome the range of cultural influence of the recipes, insight gathered from around the world, and extraordinary magic that can be used in everyday life! (This book makes me happy!)

The herbal recipes generously shared here are expertly designed, easy to follow and result in DIVINE creations! (The Hara Ke potpourri is my FAVORITE!) In fact, both of the books by this author continue to inspire my personal herbal concoctions and magical endeavors.

I received Stephanie Rose Bird's newest book several weeks ago and have savored every minute of reading it! She is so talented in getting the message across in whatever she chooses to write about! I keep going back to her natural remedies, the incense for each season, the recipes for the seasons, the personal stories intertwined within the chapters, and I get more out of her book each time.

I also have the previous book, Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones, purchased when she came for a Ritual and Book Signing Event in October of 2004, to our shop in Knoxville, TN.

She is such a gentle spirit, quiet and peaceful, intent upon her work in this life. Stephanie led our group in a ritual that was the most awesome experience I have ever felt, lasting into the night, and over the next several days.

Stephanie, you are a most inspiring author, and I eagerly await your next book!

Anita Covington, Knoxville TN

Co-Owner of Mother Earth Oils & Herbs

A friend of mine picked up this book and asked me to looked it over and let her know whether or not this is real Hoodoo.

Let me say that from the start this book is confusing. In the opening chapters the author discusses Hoodoo leading the reader to believe that what she includes somehow relates to Hoodoo when it is mostly a hodge-podge of ideas that the author threw together. Based on the majority of the contents of the book there is no real reason to discuss Hoodoo at all since so little of the book actually relates to it. That is not to say that what she's written won't work only that it isn't Hoodoo and if you are a Hoodoo purist you will not like this book. A few very non-Hoodoo inclusions:

* Bird talks about the celebration of Pagan holidays and working with Pagan Deities or ATR spirits such as the Lwa and the Orisha. Although Hoodoo does contain deeply spiritual elements, God(s) play almost no part so there is no reason to invoke any Deity to do anything. Overall, there is too much focus on Pagan elements and when considering the fact that 90% of Hoodoo practitioners are some flavor of Christian, this book should focus on Christian holidays, not Pagan.

* The use of herbs in Hoodoo is heavily based on Native American herbology and herblore, although, there is some cross-over use of European botanicals. The author seems to have used European herbal information for 90% of this book.

* She includes terminology from the ATRs such as ashe, which are never used in Hoodoo. Hoodoo, while rooted in African magic and beliefs, is an American system of folk magic that has its own vocabulary.

* She gives definitions for words like "mojo" that not only contradict each other from one page to the next, but seem to be completely made up. She defines "mojo" as power or prowess when mojo is neither of these things. A mojo is simply a spell contained in a bag, nothing more or less.

* Hoodoo places a great deal of emphasis on numbers with 3,7,9, and 13 being highly favored. It is rarer for a practitioner to use even numbers as these are considered to be stable and stagnant and will reduce the effectiveness of the spell. In reviewing many of the spells given in this book, even numbers are often used. It doesn't necessarily mean the spell will fail, but it may not be as strong or successful as a spell that uses traditionally favored numbers.

* Despite these, and other, problems with the book there is one inclusion that is just bad all the way around due to a lack of information on the part of the author. In one of the chapters Ms. Bird has the reader sprinkling Goofer Dust to protect the home from spirits and "bad vibrations", but fails to tell the reader that Goofer Dust can mean two different things. In some regions of the country goofer dust is another term for graveyard dirt that had been gathered and paid for in a specfic manner from a specific type of grave and can be used to protect the home. Bird also fails to tell the reader how to gather and pay for it.

In other regions of the country Goofer Dust (proper) is a compounded powder used in harmful spells up to, and including, death spells and has absolutely no protective qualities. Unless the reader knows the difference between Goofer Dust and goofer dust, they run the risk of getting Goofer Dust proper from a supplier. Sprinkling this type of Goofer Dust around one's home would have disasterous results for those living in that home.

Overall, this book reminds me very much of Ray Malborough's "Hoodoo Mysteries", and contains about as much real Hoodoo as that book. Btw, "Hoodoo Mysteries" is the book that destroyed Malborough's reputation amongst Hoodoo practitioners, and Ms. Bird is fast on her way to doing the very same thing.

If you are looking for real Hoodoo you will not find it in this book; if you are looking for Llwelleyn New Age feel-good nonsense masquerading as Hoodoo then by all means pick this one up. Cavaet Emptor!

I have really enjoyed reading "Four Seasons of Mojo" by Stephanie Rose Bird. She is able to share her unique knowledge of her chosen path while showing me the beauty of a different tradition. As a Universalist, the book gives me the opportunity to stay open to many different paths and walks of life as well as being able to experience many different cultural expression in the African Tradition. Everyone has their own chosen paths, traditions, and beliefs; Stephanie Rose Bird's brand of Hoodoo is just one of many paths traveled in the world today. All knowledge is power, there is no right or wrong. My students are now reading her book, and they are really enjoying the information presented in her book. I found this book extremely helpful in my spiritual journey.

this was my 1st book on hoodoo and I love it,thhis woman comes from a long line of hoodoo, her family has practiced it for many generations,to me, that is important in my learning because there are so many books from auther's who aren't hoodoo practitioners,she is the real deal,please give us more!!!