03-23-05 Lucky Mojo Hoodoo Rootwork Hour #05-07: The Old Conjure Shops (Dr. Kioni, Cat Yronwode)

[Tardy]

Hello all,

This Saturday I went to a place in Kansas City called Fragrance World. I'd never been there before,; I just assumed they sold insence and perfumes. I'd heard from another source I could get Florida Water there and as I was really low, I decided to stop in. And OMG, instead of a perfume/incense shop it turns out Fragrance World is really a hoodoo supply shop! Literally blocks from my house and I'd never known. They sell candles and all the oils and such -- really cool place! So I'm happy now that getting materials for course will be easier than I thought :>

Garth / Djes

(Would you consider writing up a description of Fragrance World, with the street address, telephone number and such, the way Edward Knapp has been doing for the hoodoo candle shops of Baltimore?

Oh, and this Wednesday's Hoodoo Rootwork Hour radio show -- March 23, 2005 -- is about "The Old Conjure Shops" and i really hope that both you and Edward will consider participating live on the call-in portion, too. --cat)

[Ebiaz DAir]

this past week, iwas in philadelphia for a photo assignment, while there i had the
opportunity to visit harry's occult shop. wow, that place was busy as all get up: SRO. i had a
chance to talk at some length with the manager marcia, a knowledgeable and nice woman. i
have never been to such a place, people would come in, tell them what there problems/
concerns were and they'd mix up the oils right there. my previous experience with occult
shops was positively sterile compared to this. oddly enough, within two block's on the same
street were three occult shops: harry's, ray's & rick's. i must say, the amount of business
those shops seem to do (and this was on a tuesday) is pretty amazing, some of the new age
prahna peddlers in our area could use a dose of their customer service ethic.

btw- i heard on a previous HRH radio show about a "monkey" harry used to have in the
window that was stolen, well it wasn't, it was just removed because some people were
freaking out about it (go fig). it, now sits in the back of the store. i was told they may start
displaying it again in the near future.

very interesting place, hopefully i'll get a west coast gig sometime and can hit LM.

david scott

[Quimbisero]

--- In hrcourse@yahoogroups.com, "Ebiaz D'Air" <ebiaz@...> wrote:

> > btw- i heard on the LMHRH radio show about a "monkey" harry
> used to have in the window that was stolen, well it wasn't, it was
> just removed because some people were freaking out
> about it (go fig). it, now sits in the back of the store. i was
> told they may start displaying it again in the near future.
>
> very interesting place, hopefully i'll get a west coast gig
> sometime and can hit LM.

David,

There is something less than honest going on in this. I am not talking
about you, but I live here in Philly and have known Harry's shop since
the early 60s. The monkey was definitely stolen - or at least the
current owners of Harry's represented it that way to the public, the
press and the police. The window was broken and the monkey was
reported in the media and to the police as stolen. I read in in the
local paper at the time. So, someone is lying.

I have avoided the place since it went into decline. It now does so
much of the Newage style things that I frankly find it distasteful to
enter. It may appear otherwise to some, but I would say that they do
not have the familiarity with Harry's historically to put the current
state of the store in context. It was an incredible place to visit way
back when and now it is filled with tarot decks, Llewellyn books and
"Navaho™ Dream Catchers."

Your latest report saddens me because I thought it had merely gone
tacky in its search to survive in a new market. Now I realize that
there is serious dishonesty, which suggests criminality there too.
Either the item was stolen, which begs why they now claim it wasn't
and have the item there to prove it, or it wasn't, which means the
ownership faked a theft and made it public in the media and to the
police. Last time I checked, giving false crime reports to the police
was a crime, even if lying to the media is not.

Eoghan

=========

(Well, i confess that i am confused, Eoghan.

In December 1999 you posted:

"[...] the old Harry's Occult [...] a totally
rootwork store (still owned by Harry's family)
finally turned new age and replaced the stuffed
monkey and jars of snakes in the window with pretty
little "crystal" castles and books by Llewellyn."

This is at the google usenet achive:
http://tinyurl.com/fvp2p

But then, in April 2000, you posted

"A few weeks ago someone broke through the window
of Harry's Occult Shop here in Philadelphia and stole
the mummified monkey that had been there since before
I was born. It appeared to be the final step in removing
any resemblence between Harry's of today and the Harry's
I remember as a child. [...] The new Harry's has
replaced the stolen monkey mummy with a Happy Buddha,
a stone waterfountain and tumbled stones with a decidedly
"New Age" feel."

This is at the google usenet achive:
http://tinyurl.com/glzbx

And in July 2000 you wrote:

"Harry's grandson has run the business til this day
and although the store has become in the last few years
thoroughly new age, the old wood fixtures and bottles
of oils and boxes of old powders remain. Until a half
year ago, so did the monkey. Someone broke the window
and stole it early one Saturday morning. I doubt that
it gave them any luck.

This is at the google usenet achive:
http://tinyurl.com/hxdgk

So even you seemed unsure between December 1999 and April 2000 whether it had been "replaced" or "stolen."

Strangely, one other page i can find that has both "Harry's Occult" and "monkey" on it (although not related to one another) is a page on ritual occult murders -- and part-way down there is one of those scare-stories relating Palo Mayombe to "Satan Rites" [sic]. This item, originally from Aug 30, 1995, has a quote from one "George Jones, manager of Harry's Occult and Spiritual Shop on South Street near 12th" who calls Palo Mayombe "black magic." See this choice slice of the past at
http://tinyurl.com/euq7l

Weird... -- cat)

[Quimbisero]

Nothing weird here at all Cat. In my first post that you refer to, you
caught me in the use of metaphorical images. At that point the Monkey
hadn't been removed from the window, although the older display with
all the snake filled bottles had, being replaced by very new-age
looking material. Apparently the monkey was too much of a curio and I
would imagine, too popular to go.

The image was just too good not to use and in writing on the fly, my
words which were intended to painted a visual reflection of the real
context were impressionistic. Besides, at that point, who would have
imagined that my remarks would prove to be prophetic? So I apologize
for the confusion that a turn of phrase created. As I said, who would
have thought it was an important detail? At the time, it certainly
wasn't, nor would it have been if the monkey hadn't re-appeared. I do
not pretend to know what really happened.


However, as my later posts note, the window was broken and the monkey
was reported stolen. And I stand by that unfailingly. I recall hearing
it talked about as well in several stores along the street just after
it had happened, including at Rick's.

And as a note, while the beautiful old wooden furnishings remain as do
Harry's old style bottles of powders and oils, pride of place and
focus of display have indeed been given to the modern Tarot selection
and the power crystals, etc.

What the manager of Harry's probably knows about Palo comes from such
highly esteemed books on Afro-Cuban traditions such as those written
by Migene Gonzalez Wippler - which the store carries, which would
explain his misinformed remarks about Palo.

Eoghan

[Ebiaz DAir]

Eoghan,

well, i saw relatively little "new-age" items. there was a small case of stones and tarot
cards, maybe a couple of dreamcatchers here and there, a small section of books (i didn't
look at them because god knows my book buying addiction needs to be checked:-). but
there was a lot of catholic statuary, proprietary oils, and to a person, everyone i saw was
buying custom mixed oils and candles. no customers appeared "new-age" by any stretch
of that definition (i was probably the closest to that description, and i bought a couple
lucky hand roots, some lodestone food, buckeyes, cinquefoil and some bluing: hardly a
typical "new age" buy), most of the customers were older african-american woman, a
couple of men, and some younger hispanic women. except for the manager and one of the
employee (a reader i think), i was the lone white guy there. what was impressive is the
amount of time and counseling they offered each person and the fact that they made no
one feel rushed. this place was the polar opposite of any new age shops i've ever been too
(with the possible exception of a sonny boy products distributor in columbus, sc).

furthermore, given their location and client base, converting to "new age ninny" status just
doesn't make fiscal sense. i doubt many tourists brave the area "just strolling around." and
given the ages of the clients i saw-- and the fact they knew a great many by name-- i am
making the assumption that they have a long-time loyal base in the immediate area, these
people weren't arriving by car, they walked in: some on canes and crutches. that is
customer behavior totally atypical of a "modern new age" shop.

as far as the monkey goes (actually, i was told it was a pygmy), i didn't actually see the
artifact, so i can't vouch for the veracity of the manager's statement, but i don't see what
she'd have gained by lying about it.

as a very curious side note: after buying the lucky hand for a money attraction working, i
was strolling down the block to rick's shop, and i found a roll of money lying at the edge
of an vacant lot: $10.

and i also managed to get a pinch of grave dirt (well actually a tuft of moss as the tomb is
concrete) from ben franklin's grave. i left him a penny (penny saved..penny earned). one
never knows, might come in handy for workings around the midterm elections.

david scott

[sunstruck_d]

This is all so very interesting. I am new to Hoodoo. But I grow up
in the sub-burbs of Philadelphia. Talking my first intro. to Hoodoo
at a shop in New Hope. I had always heard how wonderful Harry's
Occult Shop is. I have been attending several local gatherings where
there is always a mix of people from different traditions and paths.
One thing they all seem to have had in common has been there
experiences at Harry's.

I was hoping to someday have the same expereince there. I just never
made the time. Danielle

[Quimbisero]

David, you went to the Harry's in an alternate universe. Remember, as
to appearances, I am reflecting on my familiarity with the place since
the early 1960s. It has changed a great deal and is certainly very new
aged compared to what it was then. As for what you view as new age and
what I do, that is obviously subject to personal interpretation. None
the less, the clientele is far different, and far more diverse than it
used to be. Any Saturday morning you go there, you will find tons of
young people who look like they took the suburban rail line into town
for the day.

That is not the old Harry's.

And I am glad that you clarified that you didn't see the monkey. It
was a monkey not a pigmy - probably what they call a "squirell monkey
by it's size. I doubt they actually have it. There was no reason to
doubt the reports and public knowledge as well at the time. I also
doubt that they would have had the thing insured, or that it would
have been worth enough to defraud the insurance company if it had been
insured. Anyway, it is a strange tale.

By the way, how'd you shift to that alternate universe? Gotta try that
some time.

Eoghan

[Quimbisero]

Danielle,

Well, as I said, I grew up in the neighborhood where Harry's Occult
was and is, about two blocks from the old site. As an historical site
of Hoodoo practice in Philadelphia (and Philadelphian's who practiced
it traditionally - at least those whom I knew called it rootwork or
conjure more often than Hoodoo) it is important. As Cat is wont to say
"Your mileage may vary" but in my view it is a pale shadow of what it
used to be. Maybe I just have higher standards, but I also have seen
it often enough that I see everything and not just the sort of
impression that one is left with from a single visit. I do know the
glamor that places like this can cast when they are new to you, so
that too may account for the discrepency between my discription and
those of others.

Danielle, if you are in the area still, you should go and see it by
all means. You may get a different impression than I do, and even if I
were to dispute your views, you'd still be entitled to them. It is
always best to decide for yourself! But I assure, you, it has nothing
like what you'll find at Lucky Mojo!

Eoghan

[mjm_1975]

Hello,

I live in the Philadelphia suburbs and have visited this store in the
past to buy candles and I get the same impression as you do, David.
They certainly have some Tarot decks, crystals and other such things,
but they do carry a wide assortment of oils, powders, roots, glass
votive candles , Catholic statuary and etc. It's the only store in
Philly where I was able to find a statue of St. Expedite . They
don't have him in the Catholic religious goods stores. It certainly
isn't like some of the other New Age stores down closer to the river
on South.

I remember the Monkey from when I first moved to the city - it had a
bit of a reputation. I never knew it was stolen until I read it on here.

The cemetery near St. Peter's is also good for collecting dirt
Christ Church cemetery is usually a little too crowded for me.

Michael

[Eshe Riviears]

"there, a small section of books (i didn't look
> > at them because god knows my book buying addiction
needs to be
> > checked:-).

Hey Q,
Book addictions are fierce..., I know I have a serious
case, I may have to buy a book to learn how to cure
it..smile Eshe

[Quimbisero]

David,

As an side on these two comments, just noting that the parking and
traffic realities of South Street in the 21at century, the same South
Street made famous by that Philly Sound song "South Street, South
Street, that's where all the hippies meet", if you drive there, you
will be lucky to get a parking place within five blocks of anywhere
you want to go.

On the subject of Ben franklin's grave, it is a popular pasttime of
visitors to toss pennies on Franklin's grave. The graveyard, in the
historic center of Philadelphia, is surrounded by a tall brick wall.
Due to tourist demand to see Franklin's grave, there is a segment of
the wall which has been replace by wrought iron fencing and this is
beside a bus stop. Local stories have it that on a number of
occassions, while waiting for the bus there at times when the street
is virtually deserted, various people have had the experience of
pennies being tossed at them. These have almost always been young
women. It seems that Ben is as much a woman's man and a flirt now as
when he was alive.

Eoghan

[Quimbisero]

--- In hrcourse@yahoogroups.com, Eshe Riviears <herbalsista@...> wrote:
> >
> Hey Q,
> Book addictions are fierce..., I know I have a serious
> case, I may have to buy a book to learn how to cure
> it..smile Eshe
>


Forget it. There is no cure! Thank heavens.

Eoghan

[Quimbisero]

For St. Expedite, you should check out the botánicas in North Philly. There are about a
half dozen within a few blocks of 5th and Cambria. Most of them are
right along Calle de Oro (the Latino business district on North Fifth
Street).

Eoghan

[ocsana13]

Quimbisero wrote:
>You should check out the botánicas in North Philly.

Hello there,

I've been to Seven Seas, but none of the others. I'll have to head up
there sometime. Thanks for the tip.

Michael












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