Hyssop Incense Recipe - DIY White Witchcraft at Home

hyssop used in magic, witchcraft and voodoo

Hyssop is a great purification herb in hoodoo, it's use having been picked up through Bible magic and kabbalist texts like The Key of Solomon.

The most typical way to use hyssop, other than mixing it into other formulas, is to prepare a bath with it. However, recently I decided I wanted some hyssop incense in order to purify a room. The only manufacturer that I know sells hyssop incense is one I've had a falling out with and so don't buy from anymore, meaning I had to come up with a recipe of my own. I could have used the makko incense recipe I gave in Conjure Cookbook, but I was all out of makko. Ultimately I turned to Scott Cunningham's Complete Book of Incense Oils and Brews. There was no recipe specifically for hyssop incense, but it had the following for making cone incense:

6 parts powdered Sandalwood (or Cedar, Pine, Juniper)
2 parts powdered Benzoin (or Frankincense, Myrrh, etc.)
1 part ground Orris root
6 drops essential oil [sic] (use the oil form of one of the incense ingredients)
3 to 5 parts empowered incense mixture

[not listed: saltpeter, and you also need tragacanth glue made from about 1 tsp powdered tragacanth dissolved in 8 oz water and let to sit till thickened]

This was okay as a starter, but there were some issues with the recipe -- like, how can he know 6 drops of oil is right when the rest of the recipe is in parts? I also never bought into the empowering idea -- the whole point of using herbal ingredients, to me, is that the herbs should have and fulfill the needed energy already. Additional prayers or magic words might be spoken as the incense is actually being used, but it seems needless to do all that while just preparing it. In the end I used a recipe that went about like this:

6 tsp powdered juniper wood
2 tsp powdered benzoin
1 tsp powdered orris root
15 drops rosemary and marjoram oils (I didn't have any hyssop oil, but rosemary is a good replacement for most herbal EOs and marjoram is an herb that historically hyssop has been confused with)
5 tsp powdered hyssop herb

Beat together all these ingredients till well mixed. Weigh and add ten percent saltpeter. Mix well, and then add sufficient tragacanth glue to make the mixture into a moldable paste. Roll into incense cones, and set out on tin foil to dry. This recipe made about a dozen cones.

The juniper wood is the overwhelming odor when burning this incense, but it still contains hyssop as well as several other purifying herbs, and it gets the job done nicely. It's also nice that this incense is ready to go in cone form, instead of being "self-lighting powder" that needs to be formed each time, or the even less convenient loose incense that needs to be burnt over charcoal.

Perfume, Cologne, and Its Use In Hoodoo

The original recipe for cologne was reputedly given to St. Elizabeth of Hungary by an angel -- the concoction was known as "Hungary Water" and was used primarily as a medicine, rather than just a mere fragrance. Charles Godfrey Leland remarked that it therefore was appropriate hoodoo practitioners would use such a substance for feeding their conjure bags and other talismans. The term cologne actually comes from a later preparation, Cologne Water (named for the German city.) The original Cologne Water is a spirit-citrus perfume launched in 1709 by Giovanni Maria Farina (1685–1766), an Italian perfume maker from Santa Maria Maggiore Valle Vigezzo, Italy. In 1708, Farina wrote to his brother Jean Baptiste: "I have found a fragrance that reminds me of an Italian spring morning, of mountain daffodils and orange blossoms after the rain". He named his fragrance Cologne Water, in honour of his new hometown. The Original Cologne Water composed by Farina was used on...

The Intranquil Spirit

(EDIT: Up to date information about the Intranquil Sprit can be found in my book The Intranquil Spirit , available on Amazon. This post has some incomplete information which is clarified in the book.) The Intranquility spell is, unfortunately, the first resort of many a rejected lover. In some ways it makes sense -- the more unhappy and forlorn one is about a breakup, the better this idea of making the other partner feel just as much so starts to sound. Unfortunately, this spell is often not well suited to a case. The purpose of the standard Intranquility spell is to have the person be tormented by the spirit until they make contact with you, or whomever the spell is being cast for. This means that if a person is already in good contact with their ex OR if they're one of those people who cannot restrain themselves from initiating contact, then this already is probably not the right spell for that case. If you've had an Intranquility spell cast and you make contac...

13 Herb Bath for Curse Removal

13 Herb Bath for curse removal can be made from from any 13 uncrossing and purification herbs. For example, if I needed to fix a batch of 13 herb bath right now based on what I've got in the house, I could mix bay leaves, rue, mint, rosemary, wood betony, sage, verbena, angelica root, white rose petals, lemongrass, lemon peel, agrimony and arnica, and it would suffice well. Other herbs like hyssop, pine needles, juniper leaves, boldo, eucalyptus leaves, mullein, basil, lavender, or marshmallow leaves would be good to use too. By no means complete, here is a list of just a few herbs said to remove a curse or jinx that you can use to make your own 13 Herbs bath: Agrimony Alkanet Angelica Arnica Basil Bay leaves Black Pepper Blessed Thistle Boldo Cayenne Pepper Chives Eucalyptus Garlic Hyssop John the Conqueror Juniper Lavender Lemon Lemongrass Lime Marshmallow leaves Mint Mullein Onion Pine Rosemary Rue Sage Sandalwood Verbena White Rose Petals ...

Mother Bombie's Witch's Bottle for Curse Removal and Spell Reversing

The witch bottle is a very old spell device. Its purpose is to draw in and trap harmful intentions directed at its owner. Folk magic contends that the witch bottle protects against evil spirits and magical attack, and counteracts spells cast by witches. Mother Bombie's Book of Witchcraft contains the following recipe for constructing a witch's bottle: To Make the Witch’s Bottle Which shall cure of all sorceries done against ye You must have a bottle which sealeth with a cork or wooden plug, in which you shall place the following: A quart of your own water shall be taken and boiled with a paring from each toenail, and with some of your hair, for fire will burn away all evils, and as the water reduces so shall your trouble. Put thereto sulfur, XII nails made from iron, and VIII pins of brass. Add also a heart that has been shaped and cut from from leather or cloth, which you shall pierce with one more nail or pin, for that is the heart of the evil doer who m...

Best Days of the Month for Magical Workings - Old Time Grimoire Magic for Successful Witchcraft

There is always a fascination among witchcraft practitioners with the art of timing -- the belief that performing a spell at a particular hour or day will give the spell an edge, such as the Planetary Hours and their derivative the Voodoo Hours used to decide when a magical working will be performed. Naturally, there are also beliefs about the best days to perform spells. This listing comes from a Renaissance era grimoire, but which contains spells that date back to Greco-Roman era. (The book is for sale with the translation The Book of Oberon, though you can read the direct transcription for free via Esoteric Archives. ) This is using standard calendar dates, so 1 is the 1st of the month, 31 is the 31st of the month, etc. Good to begin all manner of things For hate and enchantment against enemies "Right naught" -- don't plan for magical work on this day To enchant and conjure wicked spirits For invisibility, and enchant against enemies For works that regard theft an...

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

Search This Blog