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

The earliest mention of Arabka Soudagar oil that I can find through Google Books is in 2003's Candle Therapy: The Magical Guide to Life Enhancement . The first I ever heard of it was in Judika Illes's book of 5,000 Spells.  However, as an incense it is listed (as Arab-Ka Soudagor) in the 1974 book Famous Voodoo Rituals and Spells. The name is probably from the Hindi phrase, Arab Ka Saudagar , which according to an online translator means "Dealers of Arabia." It appears to be a case like Has No Hanna , where a foreign word used for a perfume name was corrupted. I'm being led to think it originated as an incense, for  Mysore Sugandhi sells a rose scented blend under the brand name Arab Ka Soudagar . This brand of incense dates back at least to the 1960s if not before. The package artwork features Arabian merchants leading camels packed with goods, and is written in a font that can easily let the words Arab Ka be misread as Arabka.  Alternate spellings for t...

The Covenanter's Prison in Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh -- said to be the most haunted place in the world. (Photo copyright 2013, Talia Felix.)

An 18th century poem by James Grainger about the sugar industry and the keeping of slaves, provides a white man’s description of an “ Obia ” spell used to keep from being struck by “a conjurer’s snake-mark’d staff”: “Fern root cut small, and tied with many a knot Old teeth extracted from a white man’s skull; A lizard skeleton; a serpent’s head; These mixt with salt, and water from the spring, Are in a phial pour’d; o’er these the leach [doctor] Mutters strange jargon, and wild circles forms. Of this posesst, each negro deems himself Secure from poison; for to poison they  Are infamously prone: and arm’d with this Their fable country demons they defy.” -- James Grainger, The Sugar Cane.  A footnote to the poem elaborates: “The negro-conjurers, or obia men, as they are called, carry about them a staff, which is marked with frogs, snakes &c. The blacks imagine that its blow, if not mortal, will at least occasion long and troublesome disorders.”