Quick Specs
- Author: Starr Casas
- Illustrator: Josef Bailey
- Format: Softcover, 256 pages
- Size/Quantity: One book, 6 x 9 inches
- Best for: Southern folk divination, playing card reading, bone throwing, household fortune-telling
Southern Folk Divination Beyond the Tarot Deck
Divination Conjure Style is Starr Casas’s dedicated treatment of the divination methods she learned at home, techniques that were transmitted orally within conjure families and rarely written down until now. The book’s central focus is playing-card divination, the kind of card reading found in American folk culture that relies on a standard 52-card deck rather than specialty esoteric tools. Casas explains suit meanings, card combinations, timing indicators using months and seasons, and the critical role of repetition when three or more identical cards appear in a spread.
The book also covers bone throwing, bibliomancy, pyromancy, and blue-water scrying. These are household techniques, and they rely on objects already present in the household rather than purchased magical supplies. Josef Bailey, a New Orleans artist, created illustrations of conjure-style playing cards to Casas’s specifications, giving the book a visual vocabulary rooted in the tradition it describes.
Workings and Practical Conjure Applications
The book also includes a chapter on workings: spells that use the reading itself as a ritual component. Casas covers a justice working and explains what “justified work” means within conjure ethics. This is a domestic folk practice of the American South, rooted in African, European, and Indigenous strands of magic.
Readers coming from a tarot background will find this book different in tone and method. The system doesn’t ask you to buy anything new; it asks you to pay attention to what you already have and to listen closely when the cards repeat. You can find this title alongside other hoodoo and folk magic books in my collection.
How to Use Divination Conjure Style
A progression through the three major practice areas covered in the book.
- Start with Playing Card Reading
Start with the playing card section, which forms the bulk of the book. Starr Casas assigns suits to seasons and months, and she emphasizes watching for repeating cards. Three or more of the same card in a reading shifts the entire story.
- Build a Bone Throwing Set
Work through the bone throwing chapter using small found objects from around the house as your set. Casas explains how to assign meanings to each piece based on its origin and appearance, rather than buying a pre-made set.
- Practice Household Divination Methods
Practice the household fortune-telling methods like bibliomancy, pyromancy, and blue-water scrying. These techniques require no purchased tools and form the backbone of what makes conjure divination distinct from tarot or oracle-based practices.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I carry this book because it adds Southern folk divination methods that have little to do with tarot to the divination section. Casas writes about methods she describes as family knowledge, and the section on justified work covers the ethics of conjure practice. Hoodoo is a living tradition, and I offer this book as an entry point, not a substitute for learning from practitioners and community. If you’re drawn to folk practices, you can also browse my hoodoo and rootwork supply collection for complementary tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Divination Conjure Style focuses on Southern folk methods: playing-card reading, bone throwing, bibliomancy, pyromancy, and household scrying. These differ from tarot in that they use everyday objects rather than specialized decks.
Starr Casas is a New Orleans-based conjure practitioner who has written several books on hoodoo and rootwork. She learned these divination methods as family traditions and describes them as orally transmitted knowledge not previously published.
No. The book focuses on playing cards, bones and found objects, household scrying methods, and bibliomancy. It is a Southern folk divination resource, not a tarot guide, and is distinct from standard tarot learning books.
Yes. The book includes workings, which are spells using the reading itself as a ritual component. Casas covers justice workings and other practical conjure applications that extend beyond simple fortune-telling into active folk magic practice.
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