How to Anoint The Crown

Here is the same manual, rewritten authentically from a Southern Hoodoo perspective—rooted in the folk practices of the American South, drawing from African ancestors, Bible Belt Christianity, and the wisdom of the land.

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The Sacred Flow: Understanding the Art and History of Anointing

A Southern Hoodoo Manual

Since before Grandmama’s time, the act of putting oil on the body has never been just about softening skin. Down South, we call it anointing—and it’s how you talk to God, the ancestors, and the spirits of the earth without saying a loud word.

What Is Anointing in Hoodoo?

In Southern Hoodoo, anointing is the act of putting prayer into oil and putting that oil onto a person, a candle, a doorframe, or a mojo hand. The oil carries your intention like a mule carries a load. You ain’t just rubbing—you are sealing.

A Journey Through History (Southern Style)

When enslaved Africans were brought to the American South, they couldn’t bring their drums or shrines. But they brought the knowledge of roots, oils, and the unseen. They mixed that with Native American herbs and the Bible they heard in the brush arbors.

· In the Quarters: Elders anointed the sick with turpentine and lard mixed with pennyroyal.

· In the Church: Deacons anointed the doors for protection and the sick for healing.

· At the Crossroads: Rootworkers anointed their own feet to change their luck.

Anointing survived because it hid in plain sight—as cooking oil, as liniment, as “just a little rubdown.”

Why We Anoint (Purpose & Importance)

We anoint for four reasons only:

1. To Protect – Before you walk out the door, anoint your ankles so no evil follows you home.

2. To Draw – Rub money oil on your palm before you shake hands for a job.

3. To Heal – Anoint a headache with peppermint oil while you pray Psalm 23.

4. To Lay a Trick – Anoint a candle to send a troublemaker away (called “hot footing”).

The 6 Main Kinds of Southern Hoodoo Oil

Purpose What’s in It (Home-style) What It’s For

Luck Lemongrass, bay leaves, a pinch of sugar Gambling, finding lost things

Health Camphor, rosemary, honey from a local hive Breathing, fever, old injuries

Money Cinnamon stick, pyrite dust, three drops of vanilla Business, pocket change, rent money

Love Rose petals from your own yard, catnip, brown sugar Drawing a specific person or keeping a spouse faithful

Fertility Basil, cotton seeds, a drop of your own sweat Having children, making land fruitful

Protection Rue, salt, crushed eggshells, iron from an old nail Keeping the law away, warding the evil eye

Black magic oils (called crossing oil or reversing oil) use sulfur, red pepper, and asafoetida. A rootworker only lays that kind of work if they have proof of harm done to you first.

How to Anoint Yourself (Southern Method)

1. Wash up – Use hyssop tea or salted water. Say: “Clean hands, clean heart, clean work.”

2. Pray over the bottle – Hold it in both hands. Speak your need out loud. The oil listens.

3. Apply with your right thumb or middle finger – Never use your left hand for drawing work.

· To bring something to you (money, love, luck): Anoint upward—from wrist to elbow, or from collarbone to chin.

· To send something away (sickness, enemy, bad luck): Anoint downward—from head to feet.

4. Don’t wipe it off – Let it soak in. That’s the prayer settling.

How a Southern Rootworker (Witchdoctor) Performs Anointings

A genuine Hoodoo practitioner ain’t guessing. They follow the old way:

Step 1: Read the person – They throw bones, read cards, or pray over a glass of water to see what’s really wrong.

Step 2: Choose or fix the oil – If they don’t have it, they make it right there: olive oil, a dried herb from a brown paper bag, and a whispered psalm.

Step 3: Set the space – A white candle lit in a coffee can lid. Maybe a glass of water for the ancestors.

Step 4: Anoint the client

· Money/Luck – On the right palm and inside the left shoe.

· Health – On the chest (over the heart) and the back of the neck.

· Love – On the left hand and the forehead (third eye).

· Fertility – On the belly and on the doorstep (to invite new life in).

· Protection – On the four corners of the home, the car’s steering wheel, and the client’s wrists.

· Black magic (reversing) – The rootworker anoints a black candle or a lemon with pins, never the client’s skin directly. They turn the work back to the sender.

Step 5: Seal it – The rootworker blows smoke from a cigar or sage over the client’s head. They say: “It is so, and so it is.”

Step 6: Give instructions – “Wear this oil every Monday and Thursday for three weeks. Don’t tell nobody what you got on.”

A Word on Black Magic (The Hard Truth)

In Southern Hoodoo, we don’t play. Black magic work—called laying tricks—exists. But a real rootworker won’t do it for just anybody. They’ll ask:

· Did this person harm you first?

· Do the spirits agree?

· Are you willing to face the return?

If the answer is no, they send you home. Protection work comes first. Revenge is rare and heavy.

Final Southern Wisdom

Oil ain’t magic by itself. It’s the faith, the ancestors, and the knowing that makes it work. A $2 bottle of olive oil from the Piggly Wiggly, prayed over by a grandmother who knows your name, is stronger than any fancy bottle ordered online.

Remember:

· Never anoint someone without their permission.

· Don’t mix oils unless you know what you’re doing.

· And if you smell sulfur and camphor on somebody’s doorstep—walk the other way.

Keep your hands clean and your oil strong.

— From the backwoods to the back porch, this is the Southern way.