The Powwow Guy

Powwow has many different variations on paper talismans and charms.  Most of these are not works of art, nor are they meant to be.  A written charm is meant to be functional and practical.  In most cases, a few words from scripture written on a slip of paper suffices.  In some extreme cases, however, there may be a need for discreteness and secrecy.  In those instances, there is another Powwow technique for creating written charms that I like to use.  This is a variation of the method outlined by Chris Bilardi in his book The Red Church.

Please note that these charms can be made for many purposes; from stopping blood to healing wounds to protection, and I'm sure you can creatively think of other uses as well.  The creation is the same, the only thing that varies is the wording that you will use.

Here is a simple charm for protection for Sally Worth to carry in order to remain safe from her enemies.

LJ. C, P sw FahANaCbhE * It no T FSHS a + + +

Doesn't look like much, does it?  Here's how it's made:

A blessing is created using prayers, scripture verse, or whatever in order to state your need.  In this example, here's what I wrote for Sally:

"Lord Jesus Christ, protect Sally Worth from all harm and negative actions caused by her enemies.  In the names of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit Amen. + + +"

Not very detailed or imaginative, I admit, but still effective.

Now, because secrecy is an issue, we've taken the first letter of every word and written them out like this:

LJCPSWFAHANACBHEITNOTFSAHSA +++

We could easily leave it at that, but a clever individual may be able to decipher this message (hey, you never know), so we change it up a bit, add some spaces, make some letters lower case and some upper, put a random star here and there, I've even seen numbers added to the mix chosen for their astrological and/or biblical associations. 

Now Sally has an effective but secret charm to carry with her, and anyone finding the charm would be hard-pressed to figure it out.