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

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...