Starr Casas - Divination Conjure Style: Reading Cards, Throwing Bones, and Other Forms of Household Fortune-Telling

Mama Starr does it again! But this time, she's giving you eyes to see and ears to hear! With that southern, no-nonsense tone, she brings the reader into her world in a very unique way: one that is filled with Ancestors and spirits and roots integrated into family and daily life. Mama Starr is unique in that she has a living memory of the old ways of Conjure and the way things were done. In Divination Conjure Style, she reveals the many ways that divination was and is traditionally done in the Deep South: from reading playing cards and throwing bones to reading wax droplets and using blue water.

Starr says in the beginning of the book that everyone, seasoned worker or not, may learn a thing or two. My mother taught me to read the cards about twelve years ago and I've been reading the bones for ten years, having learned from a friend of the family, and I still learned something new from this book for both methods! As Mama Starr says throughout the book, this isn't an end-all to the forms of divination one can use or how you utilize the tools, this is simply the way she remembers and was taught. That memory is something that's deeply lacking in other books on Deep South Hoodoo, and Starr's wisdom brings it right on home for a new generation of hoodoos and conjurers!

JAKE RICHARDS, author of Backwoods
Witchcraft

Starr Casas is who you want behind the table when you have a problem and need clear answers. And Starr Casas is also the one you want working for you when you need that problem fixed. In Divination Conjure Style, she shares with you her system of practical, down-to-earth reading with playing cards, rather than Tarot or oracle decks, to get you the information you need, and shows you how to work with the cards to change your situation. From prepping and setting up to reading the layout, you'll feel as if Starr is talking to you and guiding you on the path.

CHRISTOPHER PENCZAK, cofounder
of the Temple of Witchcraft and author
of City Magick and Instant Magick

Divination Conjure Style is the sort of no-nonsense primer that any student can pick up as a gateway into Southern magical practice, but it also feels like the kind of book that will reward repeated consultation. In a way, Starr Casas is offering you a seat at her table as she riffles her deck of playing cards or throws her bones at your feet. The book is personalnot a conversation exactlybut a chance to hear a voice of wisdom and experience unclouded by distractions (which are all too common in occult writings). Starr's directness never comes off as condescending or dismissive of anyone's experience. Instead, her guidance through divination systems used in Southern-style Conjure is maternal, a hand pointing the way and a voice assuring you that you can do this. She weaves personal stories into her lessons, making the material she covers ring true with a lived authenticity. This book is not a sweeping history of all things Conjure or divinatoryit isn't trying to be that. Instead, Starr writes from her heart and from the well of her experience, and anyone about to pick up a deck of cards, a pendulum, or a pair of bent copper rods can benefit from reading it.

CORY THOMAS HUTCHESON, cohost
of the New World Witchery podcast and
author of 54 Devils

I was so excited to read Starr Casas's book on divination, and I sure wasn't disappointed! I'm a big lover of all things divination, and though there are tons of books on the tarot, books on other rarer forms of divination are thin on the ground. This magical book gives the reader so much. I learned about forms of divination that I'd never heard of, like blue water reading and egg divination, and all told in such a beautiful, authentic, easygoing, conversational, and dedicated spiritual way. Divination Conjure Style is an absolute must for any aspiring reader.

PATRICIA WESTON, author of White
Witch Patricia Weston's Book of Spells
and Magic

Divination holds a potent place for the work that spiritualists, witches, root-workers, and many other magical practitioners do almost on a daily basis. Starr Casas offers a wealth of knowledge when it comes to this particular art. If you want to learn, receive edification, and see just how powerful the art of divination is, I would highly suggest you read Divination Conjure Style. Not only is it very detailed, but Starr goes on to explain the whys and not simply the hows. This is a book that covers the spectrum from beginning to end, from an inquisitive mind to the practitioner who has been working divination for decades. This book is a must have for anyone who seeks to learn and increase their knowledge of the art of divination.

HOODOO SEN MOISE, author of
Working Conjure

As of late, I have been hearing and reading a lot about Tarot enthusiasts and their Tarot spiritual practice. However, I have never heard anyone refer to their playing cards spiritual practice. I don't think I've ever even seen a book that combines divination by playing cards and Bible verses. In her book, Divination Conjure Style, Starr Casas marries magic (Conjure), divination, and Bible verses. Anyone with a desire to develop a magical and spiritual practice can do so by merely picking up a pack of playing cards, which are very accessible, inexpensive, and nonthreatening. I especially loved the section where she includes other very accessible methods of divination. Having read playing cards myself for over forty years, I was delighted to learn something new!

MARY-GRACE FAHRUN, author of
Italian Folk Magic

In her landmark new book, Divination Conjure Style, Starr Casas provides the depth and breadth of the time-honored tools and skills of divinationthe very center post of conjure services, workings, and practices. The under-girding core wisdom that she highlights is how these tap the guidance of the ancestors. Starr immerses the reader in her traditional folk culture, and this ignites every word and concept with life, truth, connection, and the magic to help and heal ourselves, our communities, and those we love. Read, understand, savor, and apply these rare jewels she has given.

ORION FOXWOOD, author of The
Candle and the Crossroads and The Flame
in the Cauldron

This edition first published in 2019 by Weiser Books, an imprint of

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

With offices at:

65 Parker Street, Suite 7

Newburyport, MA 01950

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2019 by Starr Casas

Foreword copyright 2019 by Judika Illes

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

ISBN: 978-1-57863-669-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

Cover design by Kathryn Sky-Peck

Interior illustrations by Josef Bailey

Interior by Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Typeset in Adobe Jenson Pro and IM Fell DW Pica Pro

Printed in Canada

MAR

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This book contains advice and information on spells and their use. Any reader who uses the spells or any other information within this book does so entirely at their own risk. The author and publisher accept no liability if the spells do not have the desired effect or if adverse effects are caused.