144 Years of De Laurence

L.W. De Laurence was born in 1868 in Ohio. By the time of his death 68 years later, he'd become one of the most influential occultists around the world.

He is often despised for his blatant book-pirating of works by people like S.L. MacGregor Mathers: a loophole in US copyright laws at the time allowed him to reprint new books by British authors as if they were in the public domain. Since he had already built up a reputation for himself as a hypnotist, to make these books more sellable from his company, he would doctor the text so that his own name was listed as author. This caused the name De Laurence to be associated with some of the most respected magical texts of the 19th and 20th centuries. His mail-order occult business ensured these texts were spread around the globe, and consequently so was his reputation. In fact, De Laurence is better known outside of the US than he is within his homeland, due to the spread of his merchandise.

Eventually, occult products became another De Laurence specialty. The original formulas for perfumes and incenses he sold were top quality, and their prices reflected this (his Vale of Kashmar perfume sold for about the equivalent of $40 for two ounces in today's money.) We know it was good stuff because, much like his books, his original products were actually relabeled versions of goods manufactured by the era's top-of-the-line perfumers and purchased by himself for resale.

While his actions may have been sneaky, at the time that he was operating it was all perfectly legal; the only thing he did that was not, was the actual selling of occult products by mail. An unhappy ex-employee turned him in for this -- excerpts from the trial are available in Carolyn Morrow Long's book Spiritual Merchants. The lawsuit didn't seem to stop the De Laurence company, however. They continued going strong for many years, even outlasting the companies that manufactured most of their original perfumes and incenses. The official De Laurence Co. are technically still in business, but I am told their focus is now on jewelry.

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 any other number of metaphors. I 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 with Bend Over powder. He paid me what I ...

Ammonia - A Spiritual Cleansing Agent for Magick

Ammonia is a strong cleansing agent in hoodoo magick, both physically and spiritually. In Edwardian times it was advised as an old home remedy for a nerve tonic (see recipe below.) "Household ammonia" or "ammonium hydroxide" is a solution of NH3 in water. Household ammonia ranges in concentration from 5 to 10 weight percent ammonia. The Romans called the ammonium chloride deposits they collected from near the Temple of Amun (Greek Ἄμμων Ammon) in ancient Libya 'sal ammoniacus' (salt of Amun) because of proximity to the nearby temple of Amun, the chief god of ancient Thebes. Salts of ammonia have been known from very early times; thus the term Hammoniacus sal appears in the writings of Pliny, although it is not known whether the term is identical with the more modern sal-ammoniac (ammonium chloride). In the form of sal-ammoniac (nushadir) ammonia was important to the Muslim alchemists as early as the 8th century, first mentioned by the arab chemist...

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...

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

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