Baths and Washes

“She said by bathing her down that’ll cause de misery to go on out” (Hyatt 960 · Mobile, Ala. · informant 674). That one line holds the logic of the hoodoo bath: what is in you goes down and out through the feet, and the water carries it away.

Hyatt gave the spiritual bath its own long section, under headings like The Ritual Bath and Bathing Downward. His informants bathed to lift tricks, to cure sickness put on them, to win jobs, to change their luck, and to draw trade.

What it is

A spiritual bath is not about getting clean. It is a wash made from herbs, roots, salts, perfumes, money or bodily waters, and applied in a set way, a set number of times, with the used water disposed of by rule.

Three questions run through nearly every account Hyatt recorded:

• Which way you wash.
• How many times.
• Where the water goes.

Which way you wash

For removing work, the rule was down. You washed from the head to the feet and never back up. A Wilmington informant cured with buzzard tea was “told me to bathe right on out de toe.” (Hyatt 928 · Wilmington, N. Car. · informant 300).

A New Orleans informant described scrubbing the head first, then the back, then the bottoms of the feet, and powdering down afterwards for nine mornings so that no one could do the bather harm (Hyatt 1098 · New Orleans, La. · informant 871).

A two-headed doctor in Atmore, Alabama, bathed one man from the head down for nine mornings in a brew boiled with red pepper, saltpetre and table salt, then rubbed him down with a salve made from earthworms (Hyatt 978 · New Orleans, La. · informant 851).

How many times

Nine mornings is the number heard most often. Three is common too: a bath three times a day in holy water, or three mornings in a row (Hyatt 1081 · New Orleans, La. · informant 783).

The baths were taken before sunrise or before speaking to anyone, and the timing was part of the work (Hyatt 2357 · Jacksonville, Fla. · informant 613).

Where the water goes

The used water carried the trouble, so where it was thrown mattered as much as what was in it.

• Towards the sunrise, often over the left shoulder, without looking back (Hyatt 934 · Mobile, Ala. · informant 676).
• Towards the sunset, to send something away (Hyatt 2356 · Jacksonville, Fla. · informant 597).
• To the north, as the Wilmington doctor ordered (Hyatt 928 · Wilmington, N. Car. · informant 300).
• Into the street or path before day (Hyatt 1552 · New Orleans, La. · informant 879).
• Into the privy, with a wish (Hyatt 1060 · Fredericksburg, Va. · informant 80).
• Into running water, washing hands, feet and face in the river on the first day of May (Hyatt 986 · Algiers, La. · informant 1599).

Luck, jobs and trade

Baths drew things in as well as driving them out. Gamblers bathed in bluestone, saltpetre, sugar and alum (Hyatt 2414 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 948). Parsley, sugar, perfume and silver money went into the tub for luck (Hyatt 997 · New Orleans, La. · informant 816).

Women in the sporting houses bathed in perfume and cologne to bring trade. Of Japanese Honeysuckle Cologne in the water, one New Orleans informant said “That will make ’em be lucky, make ’em catch tricks.” (Hyatt 2646 · New Orleans, La. · informant 824).

Urine baths were used for work. A Jacksonville man bathed his face in his own night water to get hired (Hyatt 2357 · Jacksonville, Fla. · informant 613).

In their own words

“throw it sunrise and don’t look back – over de left shoulder”

(Hyatt 934 · Mobile, Ala. · informant 676)

“She have washed away all de bad luck an’ put on good.”

(Hyatt 2409 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 948)

“you throw the water over there and after you throw it you makes a wish.”

(Hyatt 1081 · New Orleans, La. · informant 783)

“Yo’ take it and yo’ bath yore face in it fer three mornings and de third morning you’ll git de job”

(Hyatt 2357 · Jacksonville, Fla. · informant 613)

How it’s worked today

Spiritual baths remain one of the first things a rootworker prescribes. Uncrossing and cleansing baths, often hyssop, salt, ammonia or a mix of herbs, are washed downwards, while luck, money and love baths are commonly washed upwards to draw in.

Odd numbers of days, three, seven or nine, are still standard. Many practitioners keep a little of the used water and throw it towards the sunrise, at a crossroads or into running water, and air-dry rather than towel off so the bath stays on the body.

Learn the work

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Source: Harry Middleton Hyatt, Hoodoo – Conjuration – Witchcraft – Rootwork, 5 vols., 1970-1978. Numbers refer to Hyatt’s own item numbers; the town and informant number follow. Written by Hoodoo Witch in our own words, with short quotations from Hyatt’s informants for reference.