Graduated to Auto-Respond

I didn't think I would need to set up my email auto-responder and now things have become so busy it was necessary. Telling (via email) a customer I'm busy doesn't seem to sink in. They want to keep emailing and asking questions that can wait or telling me things that can be pared down into a single paragraph. I like email because it's a quick medium to ask a question or gather information (for myself, at least). Unfortunately my friends and customers do not see things the same way.

Then... everyone wonders why I'm not done with this, haven't started on that, why am I so behind, yadda yadda.

Things I put aside when I am busy:

Yahoo groups
Facebook
non-urgent email (unless it's an order pending)
the PHONE

Often I need to put aside dirty dishes, a messy house, grocery shopping, laundry and my LIFE because I am BUSY.

I am not complaining-- no, I love what I'm doing! I want to remind people that I operate this business as ONE PERSON therefore I need extra time to take care of things. Most of you have been incredibly patient and have not complained.

Currently all of the big sales are over for the Voodu Spirit Baths. Some other items may remain on sale while others will not. In between doing work for clients, I desperately need to update the website and help a friend with a project pending. I need to learn how to clone myself so I can get everything done.

I'm Not a Humorless Prig

When I have a little time, I look around to people who follow me and see what they write about. Ah, but one article jumped out! I had to stop and stare at the relatively lengthy piece on "mojo bags" and it wasn't long before the writer added, and you can "wear them in your bra" among other places to put it. Okay, that was cute and I laughed. The article was very well-written too.

Now, when I say do not do this or that with your Gris-Gris bag, I have good reason to say it. I don't simply write something so another person can say "oh yes you can!" and perhaps think I'm the ass-end of someone's Hoodoo joke.

I am not a practitioner of Hoodoo. I've been told by "authentic" Hoodooers that I don't do the Hoodoo thang or follow whatever rules and standards they have created. I don't practice magic to follow rules or standards, especially the kind set by Hoodoo. (These are the same people that say "take your first morning pee and add it to your uncrossing bath...") Uh, you have fun with that. I've done successful uncrosses without pee.

Getting back to my original thoughts: There is a long-time customer who insisted on wearing their Gris inside the bra. Didn't carry a purse or a briefcase and wore thongs. Dressed up frequently so pinning the Gris to the left pocket was out of the question. It was too late for me to get creative before this person LOST THAT BAG due to wearing it in the bra. It could have fallen out while on the train home or it dropped on the floor when she undressed and the mice running around through her building grabbed it (the mice infestation is not her fault but lesson learned not to leave it on the floor, one of my other suggestions) after she went to bed.

I had an opportunity to get specially made bags which had very wimpy things put in to wear around the neck. I bought them and put stronger material in. It was a one-time exception.

Still think what I have to say on the subject is funny?

It is NOT funny to the people who spend money when they can barely afford it which seems to be most of the country who are out of work. IF you encourage folks to wear the bag in places they may LOSE it, then you have to make another one. Do you charge them the same as you did before? Do you keep doing this over and over? Is this why you suggest they carry the bag in a precarious place so you can make more bags/money? How do you account for this, I'd like to know.

Me, I limit each person to two bags. If one gets lost or damaged by the stupidity of a customer, then they only get one more chance. I'm not simply dealing with a bag of herbs. According to my belief in Animism, those herbs and other items come alive with power and become One Force, true enough. But I do more than count out ingredients... I will leave it there.

I remember you from Brother Moloch's Evocation Group. I think you're a very skilled and nice person. I saw pictures of your store too: nicely done! Thank you for following this blog. Perhaps we can post blogs about each others blogs again sometime.

~lil

Ack! I'm So Behind!

I shouldn't fret too much. I have several customers on the wait list and the green stuff treats me "just in time for my microwave to blow up" sort of events. It's annoying but The Universe is taking care of me and mine.

I popped wide awake at 8 a.m. this morning; quite a change from the past several days of slime, snot and congestion swimming around this house. Me? I wasn't horrible sick, just medium on the toast scale while my partner was hacking up his left lung. (Flu shots given in the Spring come in handy in the Fall when everyone else is coughing, sneezing and gagging. I managed to finagle myself one this April. I'm told I can have another one.)

A good friend of mine has an online group which I'm 280 posts behind reading. I've been really happy with this group as there is NONE like it and it's a great place to learn. Unfortunately things are becoming heated and I fear if certain people don't kiss and make up soon, someone will pull the plug permanently. What's nice about this group is all the different points of view from learned individuals...BUT they tend to break out the measuring stick now and then.

One thing I see too often is credit is not given where it's due.

I think I finally fixed the Gris bag problem. I raised the prices (and they may go up again). I've learned how to do interesting things with them which makes them more powerful and worthy of the cost and I'm going to be adding some little extras to their appearance. If people lose them, mess them up, etc. then they will feel it in the wallet. This isn't Wally World.

Some asshat came along wanting to place an order, asked for my mailing address then starting sending SPAM. I asked nicely to not do that any more and got MORE SPAM. It appears this person went around to other businesses pulling the same crap. I'll have to put my thinking cap on for this one - could be fun to mess with!

As of the beginning of November, it's been one year that Twilightcrossroads has been up and running. I was in business prior to that for a couple of years or so. I want to thank everyone who has stopped by, purchased items, or hired me for magical work. Those of you who took that chance really helped get things rolling!

~Lil

Time for a Clearance Sale!

Summer has been busier than I imagined with my first year online and I'm guessing everyone else magical is just as busy too! I've already put a few things on sale: The Vodou Spirit baths are ALL marked down significantly so give them a try. They are very powerful and generally work without a ritual (or if you want a candle spell, keep it simple). There is a special method for using the bath so contact me when you purchase.

All other Spiritual baths, some incenses, powders and other items will be marked down. I've recently added a larger size bottle as a second option and I'm not happy with the price yet so keep your eyes on this.

I'll be adding lots of nifty new stuff as the year progresses so clear the old out so I can do this! People are asking for very specific items and you got it! I just need to make room for this so tell all of you friends to buy up the old stuff, okay?

Gris Gris will being going up in price but what's nice about these is the powerful spirit is included now. No more messing around with one or the other. It's become obvious to me that using the spirit works much better so we'll go with it permanently.

I'm also going to be working on how-to videos for my clients so they can stop asking so many questions and refer to those instead. I don't have huge space on my site so they will be hosted on YouTube. I feel showing is easier for people to understand rather than running groups or writing so we'll go with it.

Blessings be Yours~

I've Been Hogtied

Yes, I know. I haven't been here for a long time. Life goes on. It seems to go on without me.

Court cases, personal illness, then more court cases, then more personal illness, and customers... and one in particular that Ms. Yronwode would have a field day with.

I've bitched in the past about people screwing up their gris-gris. I have one client in particular who simply CANNOT GET IT RIGHT. She's on her second fuck-up (er, I think this the third, technically, only this one is her daughter's bag) where she attempted to wash it in the washing machine. Um... hello, common sense?

The story goes: the kid got lice. Hey if shit happens, ASK. Don't THINK. What do I get in return? A few thousand word essays of "I didn't know this, this, this, and that, that, that, and YOU updated your website." Yeah, no shit. It's what BUSINESS OWNERS DO because they are busy.

I don't know ANY other worker around who would put up with whack shit like this, even the money is hardly worth the trouble, trust me. And that post about whiners... it was funny and true.

Buyer Beware

Before anyone decides to point a semi-auto at me and start shooting, I want to say that if you happen to recognize a store that I am speaking of (and I don't plan to mention names), I DO have quite a bit of respect for all that I write of. Why? Because these people have worked HARD, they are still around, they've built customer bases and good reputations despite what anyone thinks, or myself. In today's economy, there's a lot to be said for their survival.

In my previous post, I had mentioned that I was putting away the candle spells in place of working directly with Spirits. Today I finally took some time to look around at some of the more popular shops and compare some prices on what they offer.

Beginning with the most talked about and the most complained about (on YouTube and elsewhere "why didn't my spell work?"), there isn't much of an offering here. In fact, you're flying by the seat of your pants, literally. There's no consultation, no reading, no upfront information at all. A customer is only asked for a mailed-in photograph and charged around $20 per candle. Okay, so some schmuck who doesn't know anything about magic wants a love spell. They buy one candle and send in their photo and nothing happens. Gee I wonder why that is?

Tip: It takes so much more than just a simple candle and a photo to get something going. If a store isn't going to "fill you in" on this, chances are they want something else from you, like a thousand or so to take their courses. Who wants to spend all that dough just to get a simple spell?

Next up is a store I like quite a lot and occasionally pick up items from. They're not too clear on whether or not they offer consults or readings prior to any spells or spiritual work but the price ranges from around $80 to $450. These folks work with spirits-- they include all the materials necessary with that higher figure plus offerings.

Another lady who seems to be up-and-coming but nobody ever talks about appears to have it together. She requires her customers get a reading before any spiritual work and covers her ground well. Her prices are fair and range from around $100 per hour for house blessing work to $100 per day for spells and spiritual work. Prices may vary depending on what she decides to do. She also does the "setting of lights" thing for around $15 a candle which is all you're going to squeeze out of place number one. She keeps spirit shrines, does candle spells, etc.

I often found myself disagreeing with a lot of the above lady's practices and beliefs. Even though she's better than most, there's a lot of room for improvement as well.

And there's these shops that sell Spell Kits. They are priced between $10 to up around $30 and quality varies greatly. If you're not a magician, you probably won't see any results. If you are a magician, you probably won't see any results.

I heard a rumor from a good source that products coming out of New Orleans contain urine, allegedly. I suppose there's the long-held belief that "pee" is protective. I don't know about the rest of you but I don't want to bathe in someone else's pee, nor to I want to anoint myself with it!

The biggest, saddest thing of all is I see more often than not people touting stores that sell crappy oils and junk. People go rushing to these stores, hopeful for change in their lives, hopeful for money, a new job, a new love, whatever the case may be. After waiting endlessly for this "stuff," it doesn't work.

There are a number of variables why that happens. See this article on my website for some of those reasons: http://www.twilightcrossroads.com/spell_success_11.html

But what about the novice who knows zilch?

There are some of us out here who do our very best to A) offer powerful occult materials to lessen the amount of work on the customer's end. B) offer guidance and instruction whenever possible. C) My friend Moloch has some really nice and easy to follow how-to occult books if he would get them back out to the public. (They are down for edits and additions currently.)

I am really weary of hearing about the same store over and over. Go here! Well, why not over there? Or, how about here? http://www.twilightcrossroads.com

People Losing Their Gris-Gris Bags

I've learned a customer has lost another gris-gris bag. This is not unlike losing a child that has been put into your care. A gris-gris is a child of the Spirits; a living spirit inside a bag. When you lose this bag and cannot find it, it's no different than losing a small child. How would you like it if you turned over your child to someone else to watch and THEY lost him/her? You'd be pretty pissed!

It is not me that is upset. I can replace your gris-gris, however, to get in good graces with the Spirits you have upset because you lost their child, they will want MORE from you. To appease them, I will need to purchase extra items for them to be happy and get you back into their good graces. Hence, I will charge more money for a replacement gris-gris. It is as simple as that.

Should you lose THAT one, forget it! You are not mature enough to handle such tools of the occult. Let's face it-- you are not in the place in your life where you can handle keeping track of such an important item. This speaks volumes of where you are at in life. And people wonder why their lives are so screwed up.

Tip: Using Fast Luck/Money Powder-- sprinkle in your shoes to let it guide you to luck and money. Sprinkle in your wallet or change purse to bring you luck and money. Fast Luck by itself will change your luck quickly from bad to good.

-MzLilith