House of Roots and Bones: Personal Concerns and Sympathetic Work Department

XIX. PERSONAL CONCERNS & SYMPATHETIC WORK
People. Connection. Intention. Results.
HORB PER 101 — Hair as a Personal Concern
This course studies hair as one of the most direct bodily personal concerns in sympathetic work. Students examine types of hair, collection, identification, storage, contamination, and historical uses in love, protection, healing, and restraint. Emphasis is placed on proper handling, jurisdiction, and practical application.
HORB PER 102 — Nail Clippings & Bodily Traces
This course examines nail clippings and other bodily traces as personal concerns in Hoodoo practice. Students study identification, collection, storage, sanitation, privacy, and historical uses. Practical procedures are taught for handling, securing, and using bodily materials responsibly.
HORB PER 103 — Photographs in Twentieth-Century Conjure
This course examines how photography created a powerful modern form of sympathetic representation. Students study portraits, snapshots, cut photographs, written-on images, and their use in contemporary Hoodoo. The course distinguishes photographs from bodily material and explores their historical development in the twentieth century.
HORB PER 104 — Handwriting, Signatures & Written Names
This course examines handwriting, signatures, letters, and written names as forms of personal identification. Students compare original writings with reproduced names and study their use in petitions and sympathetic work. Emphasis is placed on consent, documentation, and preserving historically valuable materials.
HORB PER 105 — Clothing & Worn Personal Effects
This course studies clothing, shoes, bedding, and objects repeatedly worn or handled by a person. Students examine contact, scent, bodily association, and the difference between generic items and intimate personal effects. Historical and ancestral uses are explored alongside modern applications.
HORB PER 106 — Footprints, Shoes & Tracks
This course integrates shoes, footprints, track dirt, and movement into advanced sympathetic work. Students study how the foot represents direction, paths, and opportunity. Historical practice and modern limitations are compared to develop intelligent, purposeful use.
HORB PER 107 — Personal Concerns in Love Work
This course examines how personal concerns function in attraction, reconciliation, sweetening, fidelity, separation, and relationship work. Students learn to match the material to the actual condition rather than assuming stronger concerns guarantee results. Jurisdiction, realism, and ethical practice are emphasized.
HORB PER 108 — Personal Concerns in Protection & Healing
This course examines the use of personal concerns for protection, strengthening, cleansing, and healing. Students study how sympathetic links can focus work toward the intended recipient with care and precision. Special attention is given to vulnerable individuals and maintaining dignity, safety, and consent.
HORB PER 109 — Protecting Your Own Personal Concerns
This course teaches how to safeguard your own hair, nail clippings, photographs, handwriting, clothing, and other identifying materials. Students learn practical privacy habits, disposal methods, storage, and digital security, along with spiritual precautions. The course balances sensible protection with realistic living rather than fear.
HORB PER 110 — Advanced Linking Theory
This capstone develops a complete theory of sympathetic linkage based on identity, contact, representation, relationship, place, and movement. Students learn to choose the least complicated link sufficient for the work and to recognize when no physical concern is required. Case exercises demonstrate true understanding of why a link works within the logic of the operation.