The Spellcaster's Source Hoodoo and Voodoo Witchcraft Blog of Talia Felix

Blancmange isn't just a gothic band , but a gothic food! In its modern form, it's known as a tasty, if plain, pudding dessert... "To Make Blancmange - one pint of milk, half an ounce of isinglass, or a small quantity of gelatine boiled a quarter of an hour; add loaf-sugar, and flavor to taste; strain, and turn out when perfectly cold." -- Godey's Magazine, 1859 ...and yet, an even older version exists, one that could almost be cleped 'gothic' in the sense of being of the Goths . "Blawmanger. Tak þe two del of rys, þe thridde pert of almoundes; wash clene þe rys in leuk water & turne & seth hem til þay breke & lat it kele, & tak þe melk & do it to þe rys & boyle hem togedere. & do þerto whit gres & braun of hennes grounde smale, & stere it wel, & salte it & dresch it in disches. & frye almaundes in fresch gres til þey be browne, & set hem in þe dissches, & strawe þeron sugr...

The custom of using Mercury dimes in hoodoo is well known, to the point that some folks even say that the Mercury dime is the most traditional thing to use for rites like buying grave dirt. The Mercury dime was produced from 1916 to 1945, but dimes have been produced in the US since 1792. Until 1965, it was the smallest denomination of silver coin and so was popular for use in folk magic, where silver is generally held to be a valuable ingredient for removing jinxes and protecting from harm. Data indicates tht the tradition of using silver dimes in hoodoo goes back at least to the early 19th century. Archaeologists have found drilled dimes -- such as one uses for making a protective jewelry charm -- in the remains of old slave quarters. Before the Mercury dime, here were some of the other dimes available: The "Draped Bust" dime, 1796 - 1807. "Capped Bust" dime, 1809 - 1837. "Seated Liberty" dime, 1837 - 1891. The "Barber Dime" used 1892 - 1916...

Reports are in from all over: women (and, one assumes in Goth subculture, certain men) eat 10 pounds of lipstick a year! Or maybe you heard five pounds? Six pounds? The fact that the number is different every time one hears this well-traveled story points instantly to something about the statistic being fishy. There's, firstly, the matter that a tube of lipstick isn't very large - Kat Von D comes in a 0.11 oz tube , for example. To eat even one pound of it in a year, you'd first need to buy more than 145 tubes of it in a 12 month span. Then you would have to use them all up -- and in ways that only involve eating it. No blotting your lipstick on paper or letting it come off on your cup, or washing it off at the end of the night. This works out to finishing a whole tube of lipstick in three days or less. Even Goth kids don't go through it so fast. (And this is just for one pound of lipstick -- if you were eating ten pounds of lipstick a year, you'd need...