Psalms by Purpose: Which Psalm Hoodoo Workers Read for What
This is a working table of the Psalms that Hyatt’s informants named for a purpose, set out by Psalm number. Each row gives what the Psalm was used for, how and when it was read where the informant said so, and one line in the worker’s own words. For the wider picture, see our Hyatt Files entry on the Psalms.
The old workers treated the Book of Psalms as a book of tools. Each Psalm had its job, and the reading itself was the work: the number of mornings, the hour, the direction faced and what the words were read over all mattered as much as the words.
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| Psalm | Used for | From the old workers |
|---|---|---|
| Psalm 4 | To get what you desire. Read three times before sunrise, calling on the spirit named for it in the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. | “Dat’s de 4th Psalm. That is in order to accomplish things that you desire.” (Hyatt 2744 · Washington, D.C. · informant 628) |
| Psalm 7 | Court. Turn every chair and stool in the house bottom upward, read Psalm 7, then put the judge’s name and your own on parchment in the heel of your shoe. | “Yo’ read de seven Psalm [Psalm 7] in de Bible.” (Hyatt 9164 · New Orleans, La. · informant 802) |
| Psalm 10 | Healing, and removing a condition someone has put on a person. | “The 10th Psalm – well dat Psalm whut you use fo’ healing and removing conditions from a person.” (Hyatt 2744 · Washington, D.C. · informant 628) |
| Psalm 13 | Bringing a man back. His name three times and the Psalm twice, written on a tin pie plate, the verses read backwards, the plate kept under the steps nine to eighteen days. | “Write his name in dere an’ write de 13th chapter of Psalms.” (Hyatt 8752 · Savannah, Ga. · informant 538) |
| Psalm 18 | Bringing someone home from far away. The Psalm is written on paper laid over the photograph at the front door, then read from the Bible. | “In nine days yo’ll come from where yo’ is, ah don’t care where yo’ is.” (Hyatt 8105 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1135) |
| Psalm 22 | Tying a person up so they never have success. Knots in raw cotton thread, turpentine, the Psalm read over it nine days, then hung behind the door. | “yo’ put so many knots in a raw cotton thread an’ put turpentine on it, an’ yo’ read ovah it de 22nd Psalms.” (Hyatt 12282 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1167) |
| Psalm 23 | Protection: read three times a day for nine days, then written and carried in a little bag on the right side. Also read before the judge, on the road to the gambling house, and over a photograph to win love. | “an’ write it an’ put it down in a li’le bag an’ weah it on de right side.” (Hyatt 6890 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 959) |
| Psalm 24 | Quieting fusses at home. Written on paper and memorised, read on the walk home and finished at the yard gate. | “I’d read that an’ memorize as much of it as possible when I’m goin’ aroun’ my wife” (Hyatt 3082 · Wilmington, N. Car. · informant 316) |
| Psalm 26 | Bringing back someone who has done wrong. Nine drops of quicksilver in each of his shoes, prayed over three days before sunup, buried under his steps. | “yo’ use de 26 Psalm on dat fo’ three days ‘fore sunup” (Hyatt 7400 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1167) |
| Psalm 27 | Making a lover return: the name and the Psalm written on the back of a new tin pan hidden behind the door. Also read before the judge. | “yo’ write de name on de back of dat pan an’ yo’ write de 27th Psalms of de Bible” (Hyatt 8751 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1167) |
| Psalm 32 | A light fine or sentence. Read nine mornings on rising, before speaking a word to anyone. | “Dey say de judge would be light on yo’.” (Hyatt 8992 · Fayetteville, N. Car. · informant 1398) |
| Psalm 33 | Good luck and blessings for the day. Read before sunrise, by lantern light. | “To have good luck befo’ sunrise read the 33rd Psalm – read it befo sunrise.” (Hyatt 12701 · St. Petersburg, Fla. · informant 1008) |
| Psalm 35 | Enemies and the law. Read nine days at sunrise, face to the east, over a box holding the victim’s name to kill or linger him. Read nine mornings to turn bad work back on whoever did it. Read over twelve fig leaves carried in the right pocket to court. | “Dey kin take dat an’ read de 35th Psalm fo’ nine days at sunrise” (Hyatt 11673 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1135) |
| Psalm 36 | Wishes. A photograph turned face down with a black hen feather across it, then the Psalm read at the dawn of day. | “An 1 at de dawn of day, read a chaptah – read de 36th chaptah of de Psalms of David.” (Hyatt 8086 · Little Rock, Ark. · informant 887) |
| Psalm 37 | Protection from harm and killing bad luck. The Bible left open at the Psalm, head to the east, three to nine days; or read nine mornings after crossing the hands and feet with oil. | “Whenevah ah’m afraid of someone doin’ me harm ah read the 37 Psalms” (Hyatt 1119 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 928) |
| Psalm 47 | Drawing a crowd of customers. Burn sugar, sulphur and Heart Perfume at six o’clock, read the Psalm, then call the crowd in the three holy names. | “An’ they begin to gather thick an’ yo’ll have so many folks yo’ won’t know whut to do.” (Hyatt 2420 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1118) |
| Psalm 50 | Naming a thief. Read three times, then a large door key is tied into the Bible at the Psalm and each suspect’s name is called. | “But if it’s anyone dat took it an’ yo’ know dere name, yo’ call dere name, dat key is gonna turn in dat Bible.” (Hyatt 8886 · Algiers, La. · informant 1577) |
| Psalm 56 | Making a trade or buying from someone who refused to sell. Read three times at bedtime and three times before sunup, facing east, before speaking to anyone. | “Yo’ read de 56th Psalm before sunup wit chure face to the east – read dat 56th Psalm over three times .” (Hyatt 2419 · Jacksonville, Fla. · informant 549) |
| Psalm 65 | Making a thief bring back what was stolen. Read three times a day, calling the thief’s name. Read continually to slow a drinker down. | “You read the 65th Psalm three times a day and when you read that Psalm, you say your prayers and call dat person’s name” (Hyatt 8933 · New Orleans, La. · informant 855) |
| Psalm 69 | Stopping a man’s drinking. Read about five times, then the prayer in the three holy names, kept up every morning. | “yo’ could jis’ take de Bible, an’ read de 69th Psalms about five times” (Hyatt 7048 · Waycross, Ga. · informant 1118) |
| Psalm 70 | Protection. Written with the names of the twelve Apostles and pinned on, renewed at every change of the moon. | “Take off the old one and put on the new ones for protection.” (Hyatt 10663 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 960) |
| Psalm 72 | Court cases. The black symbol of Jupiter from the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses is buried just before trial while the Psalm is recited. | “just before you go to trial you bury that symbol and you recite the 72nd Psalm” (Hyatt 829 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 973) |
| Psalm 85 | Bringing a lover home. With Psalm 88, read after his name and the three holy names are written on a new tin pan set in the corner of the house. Also written on a tin plate with the name and hidden. | “In nine days he’ll be back there, but yo’ still gotta read de 88th Psalm and de 85th Psalm.” (Hyatt 8756 · St. Petersburg, Fla. · informant 1016) |
| Psalm 90 | Keeping a woman home. Her foot measured heel to toe with cotton string, wound round a nail driven in front of the door, then the Psalm read. | “An* den he wanta read de 90th Psalms of David.” (Hyatt 5534 · Mobile, Ala. · informant 702) |
| Psalm 91 | Putting out a candle burned against you. One verse read backwards every morning before sunrise, facing east, for nine mornings straight. Also written and worn for protection, and read to keep evil out of a house. | “Stead of reading it down, you reads it backwards every morning for nine mornings straight .” (Hyatt 2951 · New Orleans, La. · informant 820) |
| Psalm 104 | Memory and understanding. Fast all Thursday, write verses in ink on a peeled boiled egg, and put the egg in the mouth whole. | “Anyhow you write as much as about ten or twelve verses on dis aig, and put de egg in yo’ mouth whole” (Hyatt 10971 · Washington, D.C. · informant 628) |
| Psalm 109 | Settling with someone who mistreated you, without facing them. Prayed three days, then new wine and mustard in a new jar laid across their door on the fourth night. Also read three times every morning before sunup for seven mornings up to trial. | “Well, you pray dis 109th Psalm for 3 days.” (Hyatt 12699 · Norfolk, Va. · informant 486) |
| Psalm 112 | Stopping a candle burned to harm you. Light a red candle, read Psalms 112, 113 and 114, salt the corners of the house, and blow the candle out. | “Well, whosomevah wus trying tuh do yo’ evil, they would leave you alone if dey bumin’ dat candle.” (Hyatt 2950 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 947) |
| Psalm 119 | Getting a job and finding favour with the boss. A verse read before going, with High John the Conqueror and five-finger grass carried in the handkerchief. The Lamed portion is read before court. | “Well, before you even go on this job, you read the 119th Psalm.” (Hyatt 1861 · Washington, D.C. · informant 628) |
| Psalm 136 | Mastery at the crossroads. Read at the crossroads at nine o’clock for nine Sunday mornings; after the ninth you can do any trick you want. | “When yo’ thought of doin’ one thing fo’ nine Sunday mawnin’s it’s a good long while.” (Hyatt 10550 · Wilson, N. Car. · informant 1476) |
How the Psalms were read and carried
Timing ran through nearly every rite. Before sunrise was the favoured hour, often with the face to the east and before speaking a word to anyone. Counts of three, seven and nine governed the work: three times a day, three mornings, seven mornings to trial, nine mornings or nine days. One worker kept to six in the morning, twelve noon and six in the evening.
A Psalm was rarely read on its own. It was read over something: a pan of water, a candle, a jar of wine and mustard, twelve fig leaves, a knotted thread, a photograph, a pair of shoes. The reading charged the object, and the object then went where the work needed it, under the steps, across a door, into a pocket.
Written Psalms were carried or hidden. Workers wrote them on paper, on parchment in red ink, on the back of a new tin pan or pie plate, on a fig leaf, even on a peeled egg. The paper went into a little bag worn on the right side, a waistband or a shoe; the tin pan went behind the door or under the pillow. Some left the Bible itself lying open at the Psalm, the head turned to the east, for days at a time.
Some Psalms were read backwards. The 91st was read verse by verse backwards to put out a candle burned against you, and the 13th was read backwards over a man’s name written on a tin plate to bring him home.
Learn the work
Hoodoo Witch Certification Course
The course teaches the Bible as a working text in rootwork: which Psalms the old workers used, and how to time, read, write and carry them.
Quotes from Harry Middleton Hyatt, Hoodoo – Conjuration – Witchcraft – Rootwork, 5 vols., 1970-1978, kept exactly as recorded. Numbers are Hyatt’s own item numbers.