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

  I'm not a fan of pirates -- but I am a fan of old graveyards. In the last decade or so, I've noticed an increasingly prevalent belief that graves which include a skull and crossbones design are the graves of pirates. Below is a screencap demonstrating the issue. The too common mistake seems to come from a popular association of the skull and crossbones design with the pirate flag or "Jolly Roger." Yet, historical records of pirates suggest this exact flag might have never even been used. A 1724 account of a pirate attack states : About Eleven of the Clock one Night, after the whole Crew had been Some Time assembled in the great Cabbin, I heard three Huzza's, and then they all came upon Deck, and hoisted Jolly Roger, (for so they call their black Ensign, in the Middle of which is a large white Skeleton, with a Dart in one Hand, striking a bleeding Heart, and in the other an Hour Glass.) [...] When they fight under Jolly Roger, they give Quarter, which they do no...

  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...