The Spellcaster's Source Hoodoo and Voodoo Witchcraft Blog of Talia Felix

Historical recipes of Van Van indicate it was originally one of the standard alcohol perfumes of conjure , and due to its power evolved into being made up as oils, powders, etc. It can be hard to adapt some of the old time recipes for this reason -- for example, Van Van oil doesn't dissolve in water like some of the recipes expect, and doesn't light easily on fire (this procedure was used to add strength to candles: one would light the flame of the candle wick from the Van Van perfume set on fire.)  A straight perfume that can be used like old time Van Van, or applied in other creative ways like sprayed on your hairbrush, on your cloth covered clothes-hangers, on a plain piece of paper in your briefcase or school-bag, on your clothing before wearing it, etc. Shampoo or soap in a Van Van scent is a great way to remove and keep off curses, hexes, jinxes and other negative influences. Scented sachet bags like this can be laid wherever you store clothing or bedding to gentl...

This history of the St. James Infirmary song is an interesting one. While hanging around a folk music bar in Scotland, I found it interesting that there of all places, someone to whom I showed the early lyrics for the song was able to identify that St. James Infirmary has a common musical ancestry to The Streets of Laredo. Something in the lyrics that is lost on many modern listeners is the implication that the "baby" of the St. James singer, who is dead at the infirmary, has died of syphilis or some other venereal disease. This is the reasoning behind the "chilling" sense that Sarah Vowell complained of  where the narrator seems more concerned with his own funeral arrangements than longing to rejoin his dead lover -- thing is, he already KNOWS that he's next in line, hence the hurry toward " impressing his buddies with a big dumb coin". She's dead, and she gave him the same stuff that did her in.  The original St. James' Hospital song i...

This is a picture of a washball -- an old style of fancy soap. Recipes for this sort of washball can be found in The Petit Albert -- Spellbook of Marie Laveau! In fact, here is the washball recipe ready for use (taken from Marie Antoinette's Gossip Guide ): Wash-balls: 1 pound of Florentine orris root, 4 ounces of storax, 2 ounces of yellow sandalwood, half an ounce of cloves, as much of fine cinnamon, one nutmeg. Powder and mix all ingredients. Then take two pounds of "good white soap" (castile or lye) shaved and put into about 4 pints of water for 4 - 5 days. Take 12 grains of ambergris mixed with gum tragancath and whatever kind of floral water you like and mix this in. "And from this paste you form wash-balls which you place in the sun to dry, and store them in jars with some cotton."

This easy bath really works well. Use blessed salt such as Kosher salt for best results. Mix: Holy Water, salt, and lemon juice together into your bath. Take your bath, washing thoroughly, and when done, reserve some of the water. Take it out to the road at sunset, throw the water towards the setting sun and declare aloud: "As the sun sets in the west, so shall the work of my enemies end in their downfall." Repeat for at least 3 days. ANOTHER WAY In the past I posted about this wonderful baking soda bath from Draja Mickaharic's book. It is still one of my favorites! It is so simple -- add merely some baking soda (about 1/3 cup, or a handful) to your bath and soak in it, making sure to wet your head and perform the other requirements of spiritual bathing .

Bluing, as described in historical texts like The Ladies' Book of Useful Information from 1896, was primarily used in laundry to enhance the whiteness of fabrics. The process involved combining Prussian blue and oxalic acid in rainwater to create a solution that was added to laundry water, thereby counteracting the yellowish tint that often appeared on clothes due to repeated washings. This practice was especially valuable in an era when maintaining the brightness of linens and clothing was a meticulous and time-consuming task. Beyond its practical use in laundry, bluing also found its place in cultural practices like hoodoo, where it took on additional symbolic meanings of purification and protection. In these contexts, bluing was not just a household item but a substance imbued with spiritual significance. It was incorporated into rituals where it might be mixed with perfumed water and strategically placed around the home to ward off negative energies or added to baths to cleans...

Many of the recipes and tricks in The Spellbook of Marie Laveau/Petit Albert say to use an alembic to distill things. Here is a photo of a historical specimen: The Alembic (also alambic, alambique and alembick; Latin: Alembicus) or distilling helmet, also called caput Mauri, Capitellum or Galea in alchemy, is an attachment on distillation vessels for the separation of substances by heating and subsequent cooling (distillation). Similar to the retort, the Alembic has a long, side-downpipe through which the distillate consisting of rising vapors liquefied (condensed) by air cooling can drain into a collection vessel (the template). However, the bottom of the Alembic is open so that it can be put above the actual distillation flask. The name Alembik  is derived from Latin alembicus (also alambicum ) from the Arabic al-anbiq (Arabic الأنبيق), which in turn originates from the Arabic article al and the Greek word ambyx (ἄμβυξ) for vessel (later ambīk , "cup, pot, distillation v...

Dragon Dreams Jewelry has posted an interesting little excerpt about precious stones from the works of St. Hildegard . Some pieces: The devil abhors, detests, and disdains precious stones. This is because he remembers that their beauty was manifest on him before he fell from the glory God had given him, and because some precious stones are engendered from fire, in which he receives his punishment. By the will of God, the devil was vanquished by the fire into which he fell, just as he is vanquished by the fire of the Holy Spirit when humans are snatched from his jaws by the first breath of the Holy Spirit.  [...] they contain many powers and are effective for many needs. many things can be done with them—but only good, honest actions, which are beneficial to human beings; not activities of seduction, fornication, adultery, enmity, homicide and the like, which tend toward vice and which are injurious to people. The nature of these previous stones seeks honest and useful effect...