The Jericho Rose

Id like to write a little about the plant that inspired the name for this blog, The Rose of Jericho.
I'm not entirely sure why I chose to name this blog after these charming little plants it was just one of those things that felt right at the time, possibly it was simply because of the beauty of its name, which conjures up all kinds of lovely ancient and exotic images.

There are lots of traditions and rituals associated with The Rose of Jericho that span several belief systems including Catholicism, Hoodoo and Santeria.

The Rose of Jericho lends its name to 2 species of plants Anastatica hierochuntica (true Rose of Jericho) and Selaginella lepidophylla (false Rose of Jericho).
These plants are also known by several other names including mary's flower, resurrection plant, doradilla, stone flower, sempre viva, spike moss, palestinian tumbleweed, dinosaur plant among many others.

They are basically a type of tumbleweed, when you buy one (they usually cost around £1-£10 depending on the size and species) they appear just like ball of coiled up brown dead spiky leaves, this is the state they spend most of their time in where they are blown around the desert floor, when the wind blows them into a place that has water, the little ball becomes moist and opens up into a rosette of lush greens leaves, once the water dries up the rosette closes again into its tumble weed form ready to be blown away by the wind to another damp place.

Catholic families sometimes keep a dried Rose of Jericho in a paper bag among their Christmas decorations, at Christmas they will place the rose in a shallow dish of water on the Christmas table allowing it to bloom, after Christmas the plant is left to dry up and packed away with the decorations for the following year, it is believed to symbolise the opening and closing of Marys womb. Other catholic families follow a similar tradition at Easter, the symbolism of death and resurrection being an obvious parallel with Jesus Christ.

In Santeria and other Yoruba based traditions the plant is sometimes believed to be sacred to the Orisha Shango, the spirit of lightening, I am unsure of the exact symbolism of why this is so, perhaps it is something to do with story of Shango committing suicide and then coming back to life, if anyone knows for certain I would love to hear why. Nevertheless the Rose of Jericho is sometimes placed on his altar by his devotees or used as an ingredient in powders, incenses, oils and baths that are made under the patronage of Shango.

In hoodoo, conjure and obeah the plant is often used as a prosperity charm, it is believed to promote good business in a place of work and happiness and abundance in the home.

I would like to share with you how I have used the Rose of Jericho in the past and how you can use it.

As I previously mentioned there are two species that have this name, the true Rose of Jericho (Anastatica hierochuntica) is much less attractive and rarer on the market, it is also costlier, it comes from the middle east and Sahara desert, it is particularly common around the vicinity of Jericho, hence its name.

The false Rose of Jericho (Selaginella lepidophylla) is much prettier in my opinion, it is much fuller and greener when open and will make an attractive addition to your home, this plant is much more readily available and cheaper, you are much more likely to see this being sold in botanicas and online.

The rose can be employed in several ways, if you have a business place it in a shallow dish of water by the door to attract customers, drop 5 coins into the water and change its water every Tuesday (other folks say Friday or Sunday), pour the old water over the doorstep and say psalm 23 as you give it fresh water.

In your home you can place it pretty much anywhere, if you have an altar dedicated to spiritual work then perhaps you would like to place it there, again place 5 pennies in the water for abundance, change the water once a week, save the old water, this can be used as part of a floor wash to invite wealth and prosperity into your home, just add it to your regular floor wash and scrub down the floor whilst saying psalm 128, you can also use the water to cross yourself or others to bring blessings and happiness.

Other less conventional magical uses of the rose are sometimes employed, one nice love spell I know of involves writing the name of the desired person in doves blood on a scrap of paper, the paper is burned to ash and the ashes placed in a tea made from certain secret herbs, this tea is placed in a shallow dish and a dried Rose of Jericho is placed in the dish, certain prayers and invocations are recited and as the rose blooms and grows so does the desired's affection for the person casting the spell.

TIPS ON CARING FOR YOUR ROSE OF JERICHO

Do not swamp the plant with too much water, they can easily grow mouldy, the rose should rest on top of a small amount of water, there should be no water on the top side of the plant.

Do not add lodestones to the water as I've seen recommended on the Internet, you will just end up with a rusty mess.

Some people recommend adding holy water to the plant, if you are going to do this just add a little splash, remember holy water from churches sometimes contains salt which may end up killing the plant.

Change the water at least once a week, don't allow the water to become stagnant.

Don't place them in direct sunlight but do place them somewhere warm.

Allow your plant to dry out occasionally if its just being kept in water.

False Rose of Jericho can be planted in soil, allow it to bloom in a dish of water for a few weeks until you see small roots appearing then transplant to a large pot of damp potting compost, don't go mad with over watering, once rooted in soil they grow huge!

Good luck and have fun xx



Perpetual Lights for Prosperity

Been having lots of fun lately setting a perpetual light for prosperity and I just want to share.
I was having a recent discussion with a friend about positive affirmation and apparently there are some folk out there who build "vision boards" for prosperity, basically you take a big board and cut out lots of pictures of things you would like in your life a lexus, wads of cash, a house with a swimming pool, a supermodel girlfriend/boyfriend whatever and stick them all over the board, you then use this collage as a focus for positive affirmations focusing your will to bring these things into your life.

They call it daily NLP prosperity affirmation, I call it the steady drip, drip, drip method of magic.

You can never have too much of a good thing, therefore I decided to set up a long term prosperity ritual by setting a permanent light in my home for drawing money and prosperity.

Here's what I did:

First I made a nice mixture of prosperity related conjure oils. I mixed up equal parts of crown of success, Louisiana van-van, double fast luck and shower of gold.
I then laid out a green cloth (this is a contentious issue in hoodoo and conjure, some people say green is a good colour to attract wealth and prosperity because it is the colour of money, American money at least, other say yellow is more traditional because it is close to gold and associated with mercury, the god of business, I use green because that's the way I've always done things.)

On top of this green altar cloth, I placed a small china dish and laid in it prosperity seals relating to the angel Zadkiel that had been anointed with my special mix of oils.
On top of this I placed a handful of coins, a john the conqueror root, a lodestone and a mini horseshoe that again had been anointed. I placed a green vigil light on top of the heap to top it off, this vigil light had also been rubbed with the oil, drawing the oil towards myself as though to draw wealth and luck.

To get the whole thing going I mixed some manzanilla and chamomile with a little john the conqueror punk incense then burnt it whilst lighting the candle and reciting psalms 3, 23, 74 and 76.

I then left the light to burn continuously. After 3 days I started to notice changes, only very small at first, for example I found a £10 note, then the following day I found an expensive pair of trendy headcandy earphones and other bits of luck, then things started to pick up, as though the light was gradually snowballing with the time it had been lit, I was given £75 worth of plants for the roof garden Im currently working on by a family member, then my friend rang me and asked me if I wanted his 28" TV for free as he just bought a new one, then 5days later I was offered £300 to do some book keeping for a friends restaurant. Its been less than 2 weeks since I first lit the light, I think a perpetual flame dedicated to drawing prosperity is definitely going to be a permanent fixture in my home :)

Saint Expedite

It is said that if Saint Expedite answers your prayers then you should spread his fame, since this good Saint has recently shown me his generosity and kindness then I thought it would be a good place to start this new blog.

So who exactly is St Expedite? there are a few stories going around of how this saint came to be. One of the most common stories is that a group of nuns where outfitting the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadeloupe in New Orleans, they commissioned an Italian artist in Rome for a statue of Our Lady and when the shipment arrived instead of a statue of Our Lady they received a statue of a roman soldier, somehow the shipping order had been mixed up. The nuns where puzzled by the word "epedito" printed on the side of the shipping crate (epedito=expedite, i.e expedite this shipment) and in their ignorance took it to be the name of the strange soldier saint inside the crate.
Sadly as great as this story is, it is not true, St Expedite has been venerated in Europe and the near East since the middle ages. Some say he was a legionnaire stationed in Armenia, who was beheaded for his conversion from paganism to Christianity, others say he never existed at all but was simply an advertising campaign by the early catholic church to warn pagans not to put off their conversion to Christianity lest they die without absolution from Jesus. But who cares about his true origins? What matters is that the living spirit of St Expedite is a benevolent and powerful intercessor here to help us poor sinners get through life.

St Expedite is depicted as a handsome young roman soldier, in his left hand he holds the palm leaf of martyrdom and in his right hand he holds aloft a white cross with the Latin word "hodie" (today) written on it, beneath his right foot he is crushing a crow with the word "cras" (tomorrow) coming from its beak. he is the patron of procrastinators, gamblers, shopkeepers and schoolboys among other things.
However he is most commonly invoked by people who want things fast, especially people who need money fast.

Anyways, I was recently owed a large amount of money, I had been having trouble getting the company who owed me this money to pay up. Omens started to appear in my day to day to life, strange synchronicities and signs that made me feel like God and the Spirits were pointing me towards invoking this saint.
I had never had much luck with Saint Expedite, some people say that sometimes he takes a dislike to certain people and will simply not answer their prayers, I had tried a few times in the past to invoke his aid but he never seemed to listen to me, I figured he just didn't really like me very much (it happens, some spirits you get on with, some you don't.) but I have faith in God and the spirits that guide me so I set about invoking St Expedite.
I prayed to him long and hard and low and behold.....nothing happened. Slightly frustrated i spoke to my friend who is proficient hoodoo root doctor and devotee of St Expedite, I told him exactly what I said to the saint and my friend pointed out what i was doing wrong:
Each time I had invoked the saint I had given him a specific time frame to work in, Id always said "St Expedite grant my request before..." my friend pointed out how rude it was to do this, I should have simply had faith that St Expedite would do what he did best and work incredibly fast.
Realising my mistake I set about invoking the saint again, I lit the candle on his shrine and began to pray, I was halfway through the prayer when I heard a crow caw, I jumped and turned around to see the bird fly past my window, as I turned to face the shrine again my mobile phone began to ring, it was the company who owed me money calling to tell me that the money had been payed into my bank account! Glory to you Saint Expedite!

So there you have it, if you need help in a hurry, especially financial help, don't hesitate to call upon this wonderful and beautiful Saint who is ever ready to help those with faith.

Here's what to do:

On a small table or shelf build a little shrine to him, place an upside picture of him on it, to the left of this place a glass of water, in the middle to the rear of the table place a red candle forming a triangle.
Light the candle and say this prayer followed by the our father, hail mary and glory be:



Saint Expedite, you lay in rest.

I come to you and ask that this wish be granted.

____________ (Clearly express what you want, and ask him to
find a way to get it to you.)

Expedite now what I ask of you.
Expedite now what I want of you, this very second.
Don't waste another day.
Grant me what I ask for.
I know your power, I know you because of your work.
I know you can help me.
Do this for me and I will spread your name with love and honor
so that it will be invoked again and again.
Expedite this wish with speed, love, honor, and goodness.
Glory to you, Saint Expedite!


Once he grants your request give him a gift of pound cake and a bunch of red flowers, then go and tell others about how he has helped you as I have done here. God bless you St Expedite and thank you!