I have written of use of blue color, or rather blue
colored curios in Hoodoo before, in my article "Hoodoo blues" , and have decided to do the same, regarding
the color red, which is so prominently used in Hoodoo too.
 |
| Red Ochre powder |
Whether it’s
Red ochre , red brick, Cayenne, or any other red curio or formula,
Hoodoo associates power, fierce and
quick drawing qualities with such. It is no mistake that color red is
corresponding to Protective, Blockbuster and thunderous deities In Hoodoo, such
as St. Michael the Archangel, St Barbara
or Chago Loa, and we can even see red
Being’ one of the colors that correspond to
Legba. Speed and drawing/conjuring things is also
commonly seen as “red” in Hoodoo, and
therefore candles dedicated to St.Expedite are often red wax dyed candles.
It’s also correspondent to love, passion ,
attraction and even luck drawing, for the Red Fast Luck formula is red indeed,
and the color often comes from flakes of Alkanet root in it.
Much like Fire and South , to which color
corresponds, the red in Hoodoo ( and in
magick ) is a powerful adjunct to any kind of spiritual work, in terms of speed
and power. Blood which is red, is sacred , and ties to ancestral, constantly
flows, hence is an enlivening, and
radiant , beckoning spiritual energies. To color seems to share the properties.
Fiery wall of protection products are often
associated with fire and color red and
share it’s protective and “fiery” ( hence the name ) qualities. Most of the botanicals used in the
formulae correspond to fire, Mars or Sun.
Reddening
Reddening is a New-Orleans Voodoo Hoodoo style folk
ritual/spell of laying lines made of
powdered red bricks in front of doors, windows or even around yard and house.
It is believed that this practice originates from using red ochre ( a natural
dye Fe2O3, anhydride of yellow Ochre (
or just Ochre, Fe2O3 x 5H20 ), traditionally used in Africa as a skin
dye and apotropaic agent. Ochre
naturally occurs as clay and is sometimes used as material or part of material
for making a poppet, to work sympathetic ( image ) magick on someone, more so
in African derived traditions.
Red bricks and chunks and pieces of them, are used
to make the traditional 3 cross marks on Mamzelle Leveaux’s grave , as a part
of wishing or rather petitioning ritual,
performed at her resting place.
Powdered red birck dust, makes for a Hoodoo powder
“pre excellence” , use to nullify conjure work, preferably that focused on objects
, or even foot track magick. It’s commonly used to sprinkle over powders and
objects or liquids , lain down in crossing work , such as foot track magick or
sprinkling Hot foot powder where someone will walk over it. Sprinkling such
with Red brick dust powder , renders such crossing harmless.
Seems though, that like many curios of New Orleans style conjure, red brick is a two-headed conjure, for it can be used to
cross , or swell a men as Zora Neale Hurston recorded in her folkloric work :
“Mules and men” , which says:
So Pierre took me with him to steal a
new brick. We took the brick home and dressed nine black candies by writing e
offensive doctor's name on each. His name was written nine times on a piece of
paper and placed face down on the brick. It was tied there securely with twine.
We put the black candles to burn, one each day for nine days, and then Pierre
dug a well to the water table and slipped the brick slowly to the bottom.
"Just like the brick soaks up the water, so that man will swell." [1]
Certain botanical contain natural red dyes and are often used to give color to oils in Hoodoo ( or other type of formulae if/when needed ) , such as Alkanet root ( Alakana tinctoria ) , Puccon root or Bloodroot ( Sanginaria candiensis ) Cayenne pepper flakes ( Capiscum annum ) , Red Sandalwood powder ( Pterocarpus Santalinum ) even Dragon’s blood resin ( Dracaena Drako ), or common Onion peel ( Allium ) , and are all source of dye but have magickal use as well
You’ll probably use flakes of Alkanet to tint “Red fast luck”, for they are protective of those that would wish to Jinx our money, while You’d probably go for Cayenne pepper flakes or Onion peels in oil that’s supposed to banish or move ( away ) someone or something. Fiery wall of protections contains Sandlwood ( often red one, to give color, even though Red Sandalwood is really a love related botanical ) and Dargon’s blood resin , as those are protective and fiery.
Hmm, That inspired me ;
Red Hoodoo powder:
 |
| Red Cayenne flakes, an apotropaic botanical |
· Dragon’s blood resin
· Cayenne flakes
Pulverize , If You wish
add to a base of talc powder dyed red. If You use minerals such as Saltpeter or
Epsom salts , it would make a nice “Run Dev*l Run” type of sprinkle.
Use as uncrossing or
evil banishment agent, also could be used in offensive magick too ( Red brick dust, and Cayenne are also
used in Crossings , and Dragon blood is ingredient often found in “Dark arts”
formulae or “pact working ) , and can of
course, due to containing Red brick dust,
be sprinkled on “fixed” items , to render them harmless. Red Fast Luck
It’s a Hoodoo condition oil formula, as recorded by folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, red in color, containing either
1)
·
Cinnamon· Wintergreen
· Vanilla
· Flakes of Alkanet ( for color )
Modern versions may
include lodestones, even pyrite chips , orange peels and what not. These are
however not parts of the formula as originally recorded by Hurston , or
2)· Citronella essential oil diluted
· PRESUMED: red dye
Again as recorded by
Hurston, this one could be referring to
a lucky floorwash they use in New
Orleans, being simply diluted Citronella in water.
Now I said Red Fast luck
, and not simply Fast luck as usually referred , to evade confusing it with yet
another formula, containing Bergamot ,as
well as one ingredient of red Fast luck version 1 , as given above, plus the third ingredient, an Asian grass [3] which was traditional in New Orleans and was pale yellow colored . Also , it should be wisely to add here, that even though I myself ( for my own workings ) as well as many suppliers will dye Fast luck ( or rather Red fast luck ) red, it’s commonly sold in form of oil that has two layers, red and green, alluding to the versatile use an nature of the oil , which can be use in love and money matters.
Therfore, Fast luck, as the name cunningly suggests brings fast, though most often very short lasting luck, and is as such preffered in things that may require luck in a hurry , quick money , love, lottery games and slot machine games .
It smells so very fairly , that it can be used as magickal perfume as well.
Wickedly red
Another thing is
closely related to color red , and often associated with same in Hoodoo, and
it’s the De*il. In all honesty , attributing red to the Wicked one, may not
be an example of
Christian, or/nor other kind of spiritual influence on Conjure
( Hoodoo and Creole Voodoo )
as an system, but rather an example of
commercialism and it’s effect on anything really. Or an example of a trend,
influencing magick like anythin’ else
that has to do with human beings. See
the trend of depicting the wicked one as horned, red figure was common even in
midleage artwork, and later in modern days ,
prominently seen on commercial labels. A certain ( and quite famous ) laundry
detergent ( name beginning with “P”, ending with an “l” ) have once had a label
clearly depicting red devil, and some
lye suppliers in States still use
red devil on their stickers and
labels of all sorts.
Hence, an example is
“Red Devil Lye” which is use in Hoodoo in some places, by means of burring
four unopened containers with labels
facing outwards in four corners of the yard, to ward off enemies, and is
reportedly very effective [4] Yronwode,
Catherine “Hoodoo Herb and Root magic “Red Devil image , is also often seen on various Hoodoo formula packages and labels such as Run Devil Run or Chinese wash, to name just a couple of them J
NOTES: This article was written and composed by myself, therfore If You wish to use any part of it elswhere online add credits: Shadow of Shadows magick place, Shadow-333@hotmail.com , or a direct link to this post
CREDITS AND REFERENCES :
[1] quoted from :http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/grand-jean/hurston/chapters/hoodoo3.html#4
[2] as stated on http://www.examiner.com/article/new-orleans-voodoo-curio-spotlight-red-brick-dust
[3]according to : "PHARMACY RECIPE BOOK" , NEW ORLEANS PHARMACY MUSEUM
[4] Yronwode, Catherine “Hoodoo Herb and Root magic “, entry of "red lye"
IMAGE CREDITS:
Image depicting Ochre powder ( first image ) is from www.123rf.com , and slightly edited here by myself, used here for explanatory and illustrativ e purposes, without any ill will. Second image, showing Cayenne pepper flakes is from www.dreamstime.com edited by me for use here, and used , as the previous one withou t any ill will
No comments:
Post a Comment