Vodou Culture 101: The Client

If magical work is not at all like mass manufacturing, being a client is not at all like being a consumer. You aren’t faceless, nor are you replaceable, nor interchangeable, nor are you and your case identical to everyone else. You might have things in common with other people, but the same product, the same magical work, is not going to work for everyone the same. It’s also not going to be the same work for you as it is for the next person, though there might be common elements.

Much of magical work, in part because we work with the spirits to do magic, is relational. It is individual relationships with spirits, built over time and through experience. It is also individual relationships with clients.

A client that the spiritual worker and spirits observe to treat magical work as if it is worthless can count on the spirits and worker to be sluggish to respond, and to do the absolute minimum, if that. If a client is truly obnoxious, the spirits might refuse to do anything on their behalf at all. A client the spiritual worker and spirits observe to be respectful, to appreciate the worker and the work, and to treat magic with the respect it deserves will typically get a much more enthusiastic response out of both worker and spirits. Even a client with no personal magic, someone who has no force and no capacity to communicate with the spirits, will get an enthusiastic response if their attitude and behavior toward the work, the worker, and the spirit is correct.

Ideally, the worker and client are associated for some time, long enough to build an understanding with each other, long enough for the worker and client to build a positive relationship. This allows the worker to do more to help the client, whether it’s establishing a pattern of willingness to intervene that the client can use to build a better life, or whether it’s establishing enough trust to do real healing work, which enriches the client’s current life and can change the pattern of their lives.

Obviously, sometimes the client is only there to get a single thing—a boss receptive to their proposal, a new relationship, etc—-there’s nothing wrong with that, but even a very transactional relationship can be positive or negative. As a worker, my strong preference is a positive relationship, no matter how transactional.

It makes magic a lot easier to do for you.