Hoodoo & Southern Folk Magic 101: Turpentine Oil

Good Evening Lunar Tides!

Today I wanted to talk about an old fashion pain reliever-and how you can utilize it in folk magic! What I wanted to talk about today is-

Turpentine Oil

AKA Volcanic Oil

Photo is my own*

The active ingredients in Volcanic Oil are: Chlorothymol, pure gum turpentine, oil flaxseed, oil camphor sassafrassy, oil pine, oil hemlock, with petroleum as a base.

Around the Hex(Source)

This particular brand, which is pretty well known, is Dr J.H. McLean’s Volcanic oil. The recipe goes as far back as the early 1800’s. It is used medicinally as a topical analgesic, muscle rub, applied to mosquito and insect bites(non venomous only) and is sold in most grocery stores-especially if there is an ethnic/specialty section for vitamins and related pharmacopoeia. If you are able, your local Latinx/Specialty/POC/Mom&Pop grocer as they typically are carriers of this liniment.

*Please always consult a healthcare professional and observe any warnings*

So how does one utilize turpentine/volcanic oil in Hoodoo and Folk Magic?

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of uses

Varied uses within Hoodoo and Witchcraft:

•Indoor and outdoor cleansing

•House/space blessings

•It can be used to rid oneself of demons, evil, spirits

•Be rid of one’s enemies

A Hoodoo working for peace in the home, among spouses, house mates or family :

You take a pinch of each household ’ foot track(doesn’t matter which track).

Break open an egg and clean out the shell. You can do this in the same way you’d make a confetti egg/cascarón. To the egg shell you would add the track dirt and sulphur. Dip thread in spirits/oil of turpentine and wrap the egg in the string. Once the egg is fully wrapped, bury the egg under the front door or near the front entrance. Within 3 days results should start to be noticeable.

*Source*

Adapted from Hyatt’s Hoodoo, Conjuration and Witchcraft