Hoodoo Oils, Powders and Waters by Name
This is our A to Z of the named oils, powders, waters and perfumes that Hyatt’s informants bought and used in the 1930s: the bottles and boxes off the drugstore shelf and out of the mail-order catalogues, set beside what each one was for.
The old workers did not see a store-bought bottle as lesser work. A perfume or powder was a carrier, fed to a root, a hand or a name paper, and the doctor’s rite gave it its purpose.
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| Name | Used for | From the old workers |
|---|---|---|
| Black Cat oil | A dressing oil rubbed into the body. One Florence root worker rubbed it on his ailing wife nine mornings and gave her High John the Conqueror tablets he ordered by mail from Chicago. | “Ah rub mah wife nine mawnin ‘s with it. De blaok oat oil – yes sir.” (Hyatt 1121 · Florence, S. Car. · informant 1334) |
| Black cat powder | Bought ready-made and tucked in the hat band so the law would turn his back and walk past you. | “And you take that and you put it in your hat, the band of your hat.” (Hyatt 10143 · New Orleans, La. · informant 831) |
| Chinese Wash | A house wash for keeping the law away and driving enemies out of the home. Bought through a New York firm’s canvasser and a New York drug store. | “if I had anybody at my house, any enemy of mine, they’d walk on out.” (Hyatt 810 · Richmond, Va. · informant 383) |
| Devil vinegar | Also called devil water. Put with an enemy’s urine and war water in a buried bottle to make them suffer until death. | “An’ as long as dat bottle in dere, yo’ goin’ suffer real bad” (Hyatt 1833 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1558) |
| Drawing oil | Bought at the drug store and mixed with steel dust and Jockey Club Perfume over a man’s name written three times, then shaken with a wish to bring him back. | “She kin go to the drug store an’ get her some drawing oil.” (Hyatt 1845 · New Orleans, La. · informant 787) |
| Drawing powder | Laid round a name-paper and candle with sugar, honey and steel dust to draw an absent man home. | “You put nine loaves of sugar aroun’ there, you put honey, you put steel dust, you put drawing powder in there.” (Hyatt 2795 · New Orleans, La. · informant 802) |
| Essence of cinnamon | Bought at the Crackerjack Drug Store and mixed with red brick, love powder and van-van in nine buckets of water to wash a place of business and bring customers pouring in. | “You get you a bottle of essence of cinnamon from – from Crackerjack Drug Store.” (Hyatt 2577 · New Orleans, La. · informant 797) |
| Fast luck | An oil or water for quick luck. Gamblers kept their hand damp with it before going to play. | “And use this here fast luck – keep it damp whenever I go to gambling.” (Hyatt 1860 · New Orleans, La. · informant 866) |
| Goofer dust | The baneful dust of the old workers. Informants named graveyard dirt as its base, mixed with red and black pepper, snake and lizard dust or harmful roots. | “Well, goofer – dis stuff a graveyard dirt , red peppah an’ black peppah.” (Hyatt 665 · Little Rock, Ark. · informant 897) |
| Hearts Cologne and Hearts Perfume | The favourite store-bought scent for feeding roots. Rattlesnake master root cut into Hearts Cologne was worn on face and hands to draw friends and customers, and taken into the courtroom. | “keep yore face an’ hands ‘nointed wit it. Say it draws friends an’ plenty customers.” (Hyatt 2240 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1081) |
| Holy water | Church holy water for healing and blessing. A spiritual woman rubbed a crippled leg with it nine mornings and had the sufferer drink three swallows each morning. | “That holy water is really good – that holy water cured her.” (Hyatt 995 · New Orleans, La. · informant 783) |
| Hot foot powder | A white powder laid at an enemy’s door at night to make them leave the house. Sold ready-made by anyone who could get it. | “Goes tuh work an’ git yo’s a powder dey calls de hotfoot powders – yeah, hotfoot powders.” (Hyatt 2014 · Fayetteville, N. Car. · informant 1433) |
| Jockey Club Perfume | A drugstore perfume for feeding gambling charms. Rubbed on a black cat bone carried in the pocket for luck at play. | “Well, he gits dat bone an’ he gits him a bottle of Jockey Club perfume.” (Hyatt 316 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 1530) |
| Lucky Dog Perfume | A perfume from the Crackerjack Drug Store, given by a doctor with a prepared bag to win a job from a boss. | “I went to the Cracker- jack Drug Store and got some of this same perfume.” (Hyatt 2084 · New Orleans, La. · informant 850) |
| Lucky Heart Powder | A powder sold by the Lucky Heart firm. Sprinkled with graveyard dirt into a letter to an absent man so he would come back and stay. | “It’s some Lucky Heart Powdahs .” (Hyatt 8845 · Fayetteville, N. Car. · informant 1425) |
| Magic control powder | Mixed with a man’s sweaty shirt, lodestone and steel dust and boxed away to get rid of him and keep him moving. The informant worked at the Crackerjack Drug Store. | “Yo’ take dis shirt an’ mix it wit magic control powder , but git de powder jes’ de color of him” (Hyatt 2090 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1562) |
| Mind oil | For dressing a love apple and its name paper, with steel dust, to hold a man’s mind on the woman. | “dress it with that mind oil – dat’s to keep his mind to ’em.” (Hyatt 2770 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1570) |
| Moving oil | Bought at the drug store with war water and mixed with graveyard dirt, then sprinkled through a neighbour’s house so they would move. | “And you go to the drug store, dey got water they call war water , and you get oil they call moving oil .” (Hyatt 2142 · New Orleans, La. · informant 822) |
| Oil of bergamot | A gambler’s oil. Mixed with oil of cinnamon and black star incense and rubbed in the hands before going out to play. | “Yo’ use blaok stars an’ oil of cinnamon an’ oil of bergamot an’ mix that together, an’ rub it in mah han’.” (Hyatt 1739 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 1548) |
| Oil of cinnamon | For luck in any venture. Used with whiskey to dress a bone taken from the dead and carried as a lucky piece. | “dress it ovah wit whiskey an* oil of cinnamon an’ yo’ be lucky fo’ anything that chew be’s trying tuh run.” (Hyatt 1814 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 949) |
| Oil of clover | For feeding a gambling hand. The doctor handed over a bottle of it to soak the red flannel hand so it would jump in the pocket when it was time to bet. | “They takes this oil of clover and they gives you a bottle full of it – a little, about three-ounce bottle.” (Hyatt 1983 · New Orleans, La. · informant 782) |
| Oil of geranium | Bought at the drug store and put with cinnamon and sugar in the scrub water to bring a job. | “You go to the drug store and you get you some oil of Geranium.” (Hyatt 2491 · New Orleans, La. · informant 821) |
| Oil of rose | For court. Mixed with salt to grease the face and hands before going in before the judge, with the Psalms read. | “And yo’ use rose oil tuh grease yore face and hands befo’ yo’ go in – rose oil and salt .” (Hyatt 2258 · Mobile, Ala. · informant 668) |
| Oil of verbena | Put in a floor scrub with cinnamon, sugar and clear water, scrubbed from front to back, for success in business. | “You can take cinnamon and sugar and clear water and oil of verbena .” (Hyatt 2698 · New Orleans, La. · informant 822) |
| Sachet powder | Put in a red flannel luck bag with lodestone, High John the Conqueror root and a silver dime. | “yo’ take a little bit of sachet powders an’ put in dat bag.” (Hyatt 737 · Brunswick, Ga. · informant 1175) |
| Saltpetre | Bought at the drug store with bluestone and taken in pinches in the name of the Trinity, so you could walk over anything laid down for you. | “You go to de drug store and git chew a nickel’s worth of saltpeter and a nickel worth of bluestone” (Hyatt 61 · Jacksonville, Fla. · informant 549) |
| Steel dust | Mixed with John the Conqueror powder and a little silver and sprinkled in the shoe to keep anyone from doing you harm. | “Well, you take some steel dust – steel dust and Conquer Hoot Powder , and you mix that together with a little silver.” (Hyatt 1363 · New Orleans, La. · informant 826) |
| Turpentine | The drugstore kind, not the drinking kind. Burned with sulphur and lodestone so enemies could not work on you. | “you kin go to de drug store and git you some turpentine – not de one you drink.” (Hyatt 590 · Charleston, S. Car. · informant 521) |
| Van-van | Bought ready-made, as an oil or a perfume, to keep evil spirits away, for luck in the hands, and in business washes. | “that what they use for to keep the evil spirit away from them.” (Hyatt 1647 · New Orleans, La. · informant 843) |
| War water | Bought at the Crackerjack Drug Store. Beaten guinea seed was put in the bottle and it was thrown against a woman’s wall to drive her from the house. | “you get a bottle of War water from some Crackerjack Drug Store.” (Hyatt 2376 · New Orleans, La. · informant 797) |
The drugstore and the mail-order house
In New Orleans, one shop comes up again and again: the Crackerjack Drug Store. War water, essence of cinnamon, Lucky Dog Perfume and control powders all came over its counter, and one of Hyatt’s informants worked there.
Away from the city, workers sent off for their goods. High John the Conqueror tablets came by post from Chicago, Lucky Heart sold its powders through agents, and a Richmond fortune-teller bought her Chinese Wash through a New York firm.
Plain chemist’s stock did the same work as the branded goods. Oil of rose, oil of geranium, saltpetre and turpentine were bought at the ordinary drugstore and put to work by the rite.
Learn the work
Hoodoo Witch Certification Course
The course teaches how the old workers chose, dressed and fed their oils, powders and waters for love, luck, law and harm.
Quotes from Harry Middleton Hyatt, Hoodoo – Conjuration – Witchcraft – Rootwork, 5 vols., 1970-1978, kept exactly as recorded. Numbers are Hyatt’s own item numbers.