Skip to main content

Witchcraft 101 - Best Starter Oils for the Newbie to Hoodoo Witchcraft

A modern witch making magick spells

With the modern hoodoo tradition, there's a pre-made formula for near everything. 

Some folks accuse this of being done "just to sell products" but note that this is in fact a longer ongoing tradition than modern Wicca. It's no more done "just to sell products" than a cookbook is "just to sell groceries." It is how these spells are performed.

Those with very little money can struggle with this fact. Now, it's not to say that using pre-made formulas is the only way to practice, and there are also many old workings that can be done with plain herbs. However, if you live in an urban environment as most people do nowadays, you will probably still have to purchase the herbs, and in many cases it's actually cheaper to just buy the made formula than to buy all the herbal ingredients individually. 

For those who really don't like to buy specialty ingredients, I have collected several spells in my book Homemade Hoodoo that can be done using common store bought items. 


But the fact remains, hoodoo is a very ingredient-intense practice. It's not done by visualization or chanting "magic words." It's done with physical objects. 

To help keep things simple, today we are writing on the topic of multipurpose formulas which can be used for all kinds of situations. 

Van Van
This is among the most famous formulas, and its uses range from uncrossing to coaxing back a runaway lover. Some even suggest it can be used in harmful magic, though I have yet to be shown the evidence on this one in the form of a reliable spell or report. It appears to work by way of cleaning away troubles and blockages, and reversing bad luck for any situation. It also contains, primarily, the ingredient lemongrass, which can be used to increase the power of any other spell or ingredient.

Special Oil #20
Another well-known blend, often misrepresented as being a stop-gossip blend. While it can doubtless be used for such, it is useful for uncrossings, love, success, money, spirit work, and pretty much any other type of beneficial spell you can imagine. Beware of blends of this that smell too floral -- there's a recipe making the rounds of gardenia, jasmine, lily of the valley and sandalwood. While this would have some multiple uses to it according to tradition, it wouldn't posses the commanding and money-drawing properties true Special #20 needs to have.

Three Kings
This is usually sold as an incense but once in a while is availible as an oil. Would certainly be a fine incense for any situation. It has an obvious spiritual component, but due to other associations like the ancient expense of the ingredients, and the multi-purpose uses many of them inherently posses, this can be used for money, for uncrossing, and probably even for harmful work if one sought.

Tobacco
Another that can be used for both harm and good. Tobacco's main use is to contact spirits, and spirits can do anything they feel like. It's also used in general communication spells, and communication is often an important aspect of matters like love and business.

Frankincense
Like Van Van, this can be used to strengthen any other ingredient, whether it be for good or bad. It is a vey powerful spiritual ingredient.

Abramelin
Control, luck and spirit work can all be achieved with this one. It's based on a Jewish holy oil, and often is used in more ritualistic magic than the simple spells most hoodoo practitioners tend to favor. Still, ingrediently it's sound for all kinds of workings -- the cinnamon and calamus especially would be good for getting control over situations of numerous types.

Conjure
Theoretically can be used for works of any kind, but in practice seems to most often be used for neutral-to-negative practices. Recipes vary by maker, but I myself used tobacco oil in this place.

Blessing
Another that is generally used for positive workings though from time to time can be used to bless a negative spell if there's potentially righteous motives for it. Most recipes for this formula include frankincense, which is a powerful ingredient in its own right.

Holy
Similar but slightly different from Blessing formula, Holy is seen as being a bit more sacred. Some folks even say that only priests are supposed to be using such formulation, and only use it in a modified form (Abramelin oil is one such modification, and can be used in place.) Nevertheless confident magicians often employ the mixture to increase power.

Witches
Frequently is designed for some effect on mental faculties, to put a person in a mindset more conducive to the practice of magic. Used for beneficial and harmful spells alike.

Most Powerful
Supposed to be the most powerful oil and to lend its properties to other formulas and tools into which it's put in contact.

Frankincense
An ingredient in many of the aforesaid formulas, frankincense alone can be used to enhance other spells.

A stock of these formulas in incense, oils or powders would serve a good caster for most any situation.

 Conjure oils come in so many different types, and it can be hard to know whether you'll be best off buying Good Luck, Lady Luck, Fast Luck, Lucky Mojo, Lucky Hand, Lucky 9, Lucky 7, Lucky 13, etc. Over time one can work up quite a collection -- I myself barely have space to store all the oils I've acquired.

Here are some easy ways to adapt a few staple oils to other purposes by adding 1 extra ingredient to each. This can often save you having to run out and buy a whole new $10 bottle of stuff, especially if it's likely you'll only need the combination one time.

TO A BASE OF VAN VAN
add rose for love
add lavender for peace
add allspice to improve business
add pine for purification

TO A BASE OF MONEY DRAWING
add ginger for fast money
add sage for financial wisdom and skill
add clove for money gifts and favors
add calamus to get money owed

TO A BASE OF JOHN THE CONQUEROR
add galangal for court cases and legal matters
add bay for victory
add dragon's blood for uncrossing and for strength*

TO A BASE OF FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH
add sage for wisdom
add cinnamon for money blessings
add orange flower for marriage
add bay for success
add lemon verbena for cut and clear


Some other suggestions one can use:


Add to VAN VAN some balm of gilead for returning a lost lover
Add to JOHN THE CONQUEROR some patchouli for gaining power and influence
Add to FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH some sandalwood for general blessings and good fortune
Add to JOHN THE CONQUEROR some gunpowder for block-buster work

*If you are using the plain resin, be careful how it's applied -- used to directly dress candles, sticky resins sometimes put out the flame as they melt and adhere to the wick, and added whole to washes or baths they can dissolve into a sticky texture like chewed gum, and be just as difficult to remove.

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...

Paper-in-Shoe Spells

A popular and very traditional hoodoo spell, often used for any situation where you need to control someone with magic , is the namepaper-in-shoe spell. It's very easy: you write the target's name 3, 7, or 9 times on a paper (depending on intent and who's giving instruction) then fold it up, sometimes after dressing it with oils or powders, then put it in your shoe. This "keeps the person underfoot" or "stomps out the trouble" or "puts pressure on them" or any other number of metaphors. I have had this work several times over the years. In one instance, I was working for a very unpleasant boss, on a short-term job. It was the last day, and I only had about 3 hours of work left on the project; and I wanted him to up my pay for the day since it almost wasn't worth the trip across town for the amount he was paying me, for only 3 hours. He was very reluctant. So I wrote his name 3 times on a 5-dollar bill he'd given me, and dusted it...

Spiritual Use of Turpentine in Hoodoo and Witchcraft

  I have posted in the past about the use of giving one's bedding a spiritual cleansing from time to time.  I recently was laundering my pillows in the same load of laundry as some turpentine-soaked rags, with the result that the pillows emerged from the wash reeking of turpentine.  From a magical perspective, this may not be a bad thing. Turpentine is used in old-time hoodoo rituals for purposes such as uncrossing, protection and sometimes as a feed for mojo bags. Its solvent powers and strong odor do indeed suggest a powerful spiritual cleansing agent, and it is still used in some modern day cleaning products on a purely practical level for these same reasons.  Old time medicines sometimes included turpentine as a thing to drink, in small doses. A book from the 1850s, The Domestic Medicine Chest , recommends giving it to children in a dose of one teaspoon for killing tapeworm. Relatedly, in old time hoodoo cures for "live things" turpentine might be made into a tea...

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...

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...