IT IS DIFFICULT to win the confidence of certain South Rampart Street druggists, but it can be done. If you are white, the Negro merchants who sell gris-gris will almost never trust you; however, those white proprietors of the drugstores that specialize in Voodoo paraphernalia will talk quite frankly, once they are convinced you are not connected with the police.
"It's just like any other business," said one of these men, who owns a drugstore about a dozen blocks above Canal Street. "You sell 'em. what they want; it's as simple as that. Not many of my customers come to buy aspirin or to have prescriptions filled. When I first opened up here I didn't know what this was all about. I thought I was going to have an ordinary drugstore, and when people came in here asking for Love Powders and Come Back Oil I didn't know what in the bell they were talking about. But I learned. When I was in school I didn't think I'd end up in the hoodoo racket, but here I am. There's money in it; I don't mind telling you that. It's a little dangerous, but not half as bad as booking the ponies or anything like bootlegging was."
On a counter near the entrance of this store is a stack of
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cards advertising all the more commonplace oils, waters and powders used by the faithful. Listed are Love Powder (white and pink), Drawing Powder, War Powder, Peace Powder, Controlling Powder, Anger Powder, Courting Powder, Mad Water, Angel's Delight Water, Black Devils Water, Hells Devil Oil, Love Oil, Mad Oil, Moving Powder, Easy Life Powder, 5th Century Grass, Lucky Jazz, Get-Together Drops, Fast Luck Drops, Bad Luck Water, Lucky Lucky Water, Mexican Luck Water, Sacred Sand (all colors), Boss Fix Powder, Separation Water, Follow Me Drops and many others.
This large and florid-faced druggist also does a profitable business in candles, and he explains to some of his customers just what color candle they should use for each particular purpose.
"You're after some woman? Okay, take home this pink candle, burn it for nine days, an hour each time. You'll make her on the ninth night."
"You a gambler, boy? You want a blue candle. Burn it all night while you sleep and you'll dream of your lottery numbers."
"Got an enemy? Here's a brown candle; that's what you want for that kind of work. Put some sugar in a bowl, set the candle in it and burn it before you go to bed. Then take what's left and throw it in your enemy's yard." For some unexplainable reason Voodoos always have enemies.
This druggist sends out advertising circulars, some of them out of town, though he does no large-scale mail order business. These circulars state carefully that the articles offered are "novelties" and that no unusual claims are made regarding them, though "some people believe that they are good luck." Among others the following "novelties" are offered:
Five Finger Grass
This plant has a leaf divided into Five Segments that
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many claim when hung up in the house or over a bedstead will bring restful sleep and ward off any Evil that five fingers would bring about. We make no claims to this effect and sell only as Genuine Five Finger Grass. Voodoos and certain Occults believe that each finger has a significance such as standing: 1 for LUCK, 2 for MONEY, 3 for WISDOM, 4 for POWER, 5 for LOVE.
ORDER BY NO. 2
PRICE ONLY 25
Dragon Blood Sticks
Many of our customers like to carry a DRAGON BLOOD STICK as a CURIO. Some say it has brought much GOOD LUCK in Games, Business, Love Affairs and Money Matters. Many people prize this DRAGON BLOOD STICK and claim it is especially helpful when carried in the pocket or purse near their money and that it makes them REAL LUCKY. We make no claims to this effect and sell only as a GENUINE DRAGON BLOOD STICK.
ORDER BY NO. 3
Dixie Love Perfume
Men are attracted by the delightful fragrance of Good Perfume. Down through the ages, the alluring fragrance of perfumes have played an important part in increasing the charm and beauty of womanhood. Many men like DIXIE LOVE PERFUME because its subtle fragrance seems to inspire Romance and Love. Many people say there is something Strange and Rare about this Perfume and that it seems to arouse the user with Passionate Fire, Love and the
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alluring Charms of the Spanish Señorita and Caballero. We make no representations to this effect and sell only as a very fine perfume. Enjoy this Exquisite Perfume. Buy a Bottle now.
ORDER BY NO. 9
Brimstone
Brimstone is burned by many people that believe in Black Magic, to keep away evil spirits, Voodoos and enemies, and to break spells that they believe have been cast on them. We make no claim but everybody is entitled to their own belief and no doubt get more or less satisfaction by using and doing such unusual things. Brimstone may be used in any way the owner wishes. It is fine to fumigate infected apartments, clothing, etc. You should not remain in the room while burning it.
ORDER BY NO. 12
PRICE, Per Box 25
There are many others, all to be ordered by numbers only if you are an out of town purchaser. "We sell over a hundred hoodoo things," said the druggist. "Do they work? Hell, I don't know. They keep coming back for more."
Perhaps the best seller in this store is Wonder-of-the-World Root. And Wonder-of-the-World Root is truly a wonder. Used to locate buried treasure, it is sought most frequently by residents of rural sections who believe treasure to be concealed somewhere near their property. Louisiana is particularly rich in legends of treasure buried by explorers, Indians and pirates, and a certain percentage of the population is always devoting its spare time to unceasing efforts to locate these fabulous riches. Buyers of Wonder-of-the-World Root always buy a dozen or more of the roots at a time. The
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procedure in which they are used is very complicated, but the druggist had no objection to explaining it.
"The first thing you need," he said, "is Shem-Shem-Touras, the Tenth Seal of Mercury." He proudly exhibited a Shem-Shem-Touras, which he admitted he had made himself. It was a small piece of baby chamois marked with peculiar symbols in red ink. The treasure hunter digs a hole in the ground where he thinks treasure is located and buries the seal at least a foot below the surface of the ground. A few feet from this spot he plants Wonder-of-the-World Roots--one to the east, one to the west, one to the north and one to the south. This will "open the pores of the earth."
The treasure hunter now washes his hands in "Three Knaves Oils" and "Two Jacks Extract," then takes a small mirror and holds it over the place where the seal is buried. He is supposed to be able to see at least twenty feet beneath the earth. Next, he takes a willow stick, fastens a gold coin to the end of it and makes wandlike passes over the ground. This draws the treasure up to within four feet of the surface.
Has any treasure ever been found by using this method? The druggist shrugged. That isn't his business. "You don't ask 'em questions," he said. "You got enough to worry about filling their orders. Voodoos are funny people anyway. I think I realized that most the night some vandals broke my shot window. They ran off with everything I had on display--except the hoodoo stuff. They didn't touch that. They were scared of it."
The proprietor of another, and larger, Voodoo drugstore laughed at an insinuation that he might believe in it himself. "But it surely is surprising how many people still do," he said. "The most unbelievable thing is how many white people come in here and ask for love powder and stuff to fix other people. I should say, roughly, that about one-third of my customers are white, the other two-thirds colored.
"Sometimes it does some good, though I know some of it is dangerous stuff. A lot, though, is just plain psychology.
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A Negro will come in here and say he's been hoodooed and, no matter what is it--just fear maybe--he is sick. I sell him some harmless powder to sprinkle around his house, and in a few days he's well again. I might sell him some aspirin, too, but he always thinks it was the Lucky Spirit Powder that did the job. I sell a lot of love perfumes and love powders, too, and if a gal's man likes the way she smells she gets him and they're both happy."
A slim Negro girl entered the store while he was talking, and he asked her what she wanted. The conversation that ensued was obviously typical of the day's business.
"I got trouble with my husband," she said. "It seems like I can't keep him home. I'd like some Stay Home Powder. Is that good, Mister?"
"Sure," the druggist said. "It'll do the job if you use it right. You know how to do that? You put it all over you when you go to bed with him. Rub it in good and he won't leave you. There're a lot of other things you've got to do besides that. You have to keep yourself nice and clean and bathe every day so you'll look pretty when he comes home from work. Do you always have a good dinner waiting for him?"
The girl admitted that sometimes they went out for hamburgers and beer.
"That won't do," the druggist said. "You got to cook a man real meals to keep him. Now how about some Controlling Oil'?"
"Is that good?"
"Sure. You put some on your husband's body when he's asleep--just a little bit, not enough for him to notice it. You do like I say, and you'll have no more trouble." The druggist took two small packages from a shelf in the rear of the store and handed. them to her. "That'll be fifty cents," he said. "Everything will be okay if you do like I told you." It was apparent that he was expert in giving out some practical advice with his gris-gris.
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"Hell, it doesn't hurt to help these people," he said, when the girl had vanished down the Sunny street. "They are just like kids."
A very black Negro was the next customer. He told of his fear of losing his job. He was a porter in a poolroom. "That white man I works for sure has got it in for me," he said. "I wants him fixed so he can't never lay me off."
"I have two kinds," the druggist said. "Which do you want? You know there's one that'll make your boss sick. You have to put that in his food. There's the other kind to make him itch."
The Negro grinned. "Ain't gonna do him no harm to scratch some," he said. "And he won't be able to do me nothin'."
"Okay," the druggist said. "I'll give it to you, but you better put in a little hard work along with the powder. Don't you think you've been loafing on the job lately?"
"I guess I has," the Negro said. "Maybe I can do a little bit more work. The thing is I is always so tired."
When the porter had shuffled out the druggist said, "A combination of hoodoo and common sense does a right good job sometimes. It isn't going to hurt that man to get a dose of itching powder, but it won't hurt that boy to do some work either. I know him well. He hates to work and he stays home every Monday."
The proprietors of the Voodoo drugstores make almost all their own gris-gris. The powders and oils are usually very simple in content and are usually highly scented. Among simple people medicine must have a strong taste to be thought effective. Voodoo potions must smell. In general, good gris-gris must smell nicely, bad gris-gris should have a vile odor.
Love powder, for instance, is nothing but a talcum powder that has been colored pink or red and has been further scented with a few drops of a cheap but strong perfume. Perfectly harmless, it is a rather childish attempt to induce
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sexual attractiveness, and is used for exactly the same reason that expensive white ladies use costly perfumes. Sometimes, however, its use is quite different. Some of its users throw it in the face of a person they desire. Others try to get it on the person's body or clothing. There are other love powders to be placed in food or drinks. Some of these are mild aphrodisiacs.
The oils and waters are usually also colored and perfumed, and with different colors and odors for various purposes. Fast Luck Water is ordinary water that can be purchased in many shades; red is for anyone seeking success in love affairs, yellow is for financial matters, blue is for protection and friends. Flying Devil Oil is olive oil, colored red, with cayenne pepper added; Black Cat Oil is machine oil; Love Oil is olive oil to which gardenia perfume has been added.
Anger Powder, War Powder and Moving Powder are composed of ordinary dirt, gunpowder and black pepper. Drawing Powder contains sugar; Controlling Powder contains salt.
All the Voodoo druggists sell candles of various sizes and colors. Prices range from five cents for very small ones to ten dollars for those large enough to be used in a church. The men who sell them differ somewhat on the significance of the colors, but most of them agree that white is for peace and to uncross people; red is for victory over enemies; pink is for love and for "drawing" people; green aids in the acquisition of money and will keep the landlord appeased; blue is for success and for protection from harm; yellow will "drive off" enemies; brown will "draw" money and help in gambling; lavender will bring harm to an individual one wants removed, and is useful to win out in a love affair; black, of course, is to do evil work and bring death to the person against whom it is burned. New Orleans Negroes, when having what they call "bad luck" or when feeling ill, will say, "Somebody is burning a candle against me." One small drugstore in South Rampart Street specializes in candles shaped like human beings. About a foot in height, they come in pink, red, blue, brown and black.
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These merchants also sell pictures of saints. To certain Roman Catholic saints particular Voodoo power has been attributed: St. Michael is thought best able to aid in conquering enemies; St. Anthony de Padua is invoked for "luck"; St. Mary Magdalene is popular with women who are in love; St. Joseph (holding the Infant Jesus) is used to get a job. Many Voodoos believe a picture of the Virgin Mary in their homes will prevent illness, and that one of St. Peter (with the Key to Heaven) will bring great and speedy success in financial matters (without the Key to Heaven, St. Peter is still reliable in helping in the achievement of minor successes; the power of the picture is less, however). Pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are believed to have the ability to cure organic diseases.
Of all the gris-gris in use today, though, the most popular is "Johnny the Conqueror." There are different kinds of Johnnys, and these have slightly different names, such as High John, Big John and several others, but every type is a twisted root with a pronglike formation at the end. One kind, with a long prong, is said to be a male Johnny; the other, with a shorter prong, is a female Johnny. For love and gambling the power of Johnny is considered supreme.
Abner Thomas will take an oath that Johnny the Conqueror is unsurpassed when used for sexual reasons.
"Good old Johnny!" he said enthusiastically. "If a woman ain't treatin' you right you just mix Johnny wit' cayenne pepper and sugar and put it under her bed. She is gonna love you like you is never been loved. If you think your wife is foolin' wit' some other man, you just put Johnny in her pillow. You ain't gonna have no more trouble. You can use 'em in lots of ways. I knowed a man whose daughter was foolin' wit' a married fellow, so he got a Big John and mixed it wit' goofer dust and red brick dust and put it under the married man's front steps. He say, 'Johnny, do your stuff!' and went away. It wasn't two days before that man come to him and broke down and say he was sorry he had gone wit'
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his daughter. Well, that fixed that, but the girl start grievin' and that worried her pa. He got him another Big John and soaked it in olive oil and placed it under the front steps of a fine young man in his block. A week later that young man was hangin' 'round wit' the gal and they got married. If you have any trouble wit' women use Johnny. He's a woman-fixer."
Abner also believed that Johnny was excellent for winning at dice. "You keep it in your back pocket wit' your thumb on it," he said. "You tell it what you want to throw; you gonna throw it. You can depend on that."
Thousands of Negroes carry Johnny the Conqueror roots, not only in New Orleans, but all over the country, for enormous quantities of them are sold in Harlem, in Chicago, in Atlanta and Charleston, anywhere there is a large colored population.
"There is Big John and Little John," Abner said. "High John is the same as Big John; that is the strongest. There is male and female ones, too. Both of 'em has points, but the male Johnny has the longest and it's kind of rough. I always uses a male one."
The Johnny considered most effective is a Chicago product. Packed in a neat box, with a trade name known to all Voodoos, it sells for twenty-five cents. Many devotees will accept no other brand. "It ain't no good unless it's the right kind," they'll say. Advertising by this Chicago mail order house of Voodoo paraphernalia has convinced thousands that their Johnny is the "right kind."
Many users "sweeten" Johnny for success in love affairs. The root is soaked in sugar and water for twenty-four hours, then carried in the pocket when calling on the desired person. And Johnny is almost exclusively a man's gris-gris. Few women use it. "Johnny likes to help the men git the women," said Eddie Grecou.
Eddie had a very elaborate way of using the root.
"If you wants a woman," he said, "you buys a grapefruit, five cents of pink candles--them little ones they use on birth
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day cakes--some cayenne pepper, Epsom salts, some sugar and some salt. Cut the grapefruit in half, put it in a pie pan with the Epsom salts, sugar, salt and pepper all sprinkled on top the grapefruit. Write the woman's name on a piece of paper and stick this in the grapefruit. Now light your candles all around the pie pan, start walkin' round it in a circle, and, while you walkin', rub your Johnny the Conqueror and keep wishin' for that gal. You do this for nine days. On the ninth day she is gonna be your woman."
Eddie said that for gambling luck Johnny should be rubbed with olive oil and powdered sugar and then the end must be chewed. He had heard of people sprinkling love powder on Johnny, too. "But I don't believe you gotta do that," he said. Johnny can take care of hisself. I know one thing that's true, though. if you can make a woman hold Johnny in her hand while you-all is layin' up in bed, then you is really got somethin'!"
Asked about lodestones, Eddie said they were "almost as good as Johnny for gamblin'."
And lodestones are probably second to Johnny in popularity. All the Voodoo merchants sell them, one drugstore advertising them as follows:
Lodestones
Used as Luck Charms by Many Who Believe
that They Cause Them To be Lucky
in Everything they Try to do.
This peculiar magnetic stone or ore has been used for ages as a LUCK CHARM and is now carried by many people who have implicit faith in its magic powers and who would not be without a pair of them.
They are sold in pairs, as many believers say that one piece drives evil away and the other draws luck. However, this is, of course, just according to your own belief, and our only guarantee is that we sell only
VERY HIGH GRADE, GENUINE MAGNETIC LODESTONES.
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We buy our ore direct from one of the best mines. It is selected at the mine and again by us, giving you the best grade we can obtain.
We enclose it in neat chamois bags convenient to carry in the pocket, or strings can be attached so they can be worn on any part of the body.
OUR PRICE IS ONLY 50
This druggist also advertised the following accompanying ingredient:
Magnetic Sand For Lodestones
This is pulverized Lodestone and while we make no claims, a good many people use it to feed their lodestones.
PRICE 50
During the terrible influenza epidemic that followed World War I the Voodoo doctors and their clients and followers used the power to combat the spread of the disease. The Times-Picayune of October 20, 1918, wrote of the disappearance of vinegar from the kitchens of white residents and of a rite in which it was used by the Voodoos, who would recite "Sour, hour, vinegar--V! Keep the sickness off of me!" three times a day and would then bathe face, hands and sometimes clothing in the vinegar. This article also told of "making three crosses on the forehead before approaching a victim of the disease" and "the wearing of a white chicken feather on a cord around the neck." It also quoted the remarks of an old colored woman as "I'se got a horseshoe over my door, and a red string tied on de foot of my bed. I carries a dime in the toe of my stockin' and I rubs my chest with magnolia oil.
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I follers de signs and trusts in Jesus, and, praise God, I'se lived through three yellow fevers and one influenza an' I ain't daid yit."
But probably even more surprising than any of this was the custom of white Orleanians belonging to a stratum which would have scoffed at Voodoo of wearing a piece of lump camphor suspended from a string about their necks. Thousands of persons did this, and many still say it "kills the germs" and resume their camphor wearing in any winter that threatens to be one that brings many cases of grippe and bad colds. Undoubtedly the idea of wearing camphor for influenza started with some Voodoo doctor and reached the whites through their Negro servants.
If you wish to become a Voodoo witch doctor, here is the equipment essential to the opening of a successful business, with prices:
| Dragon's Blood | $ .50 |
| Love Powder | .25 |
| Sacred Sand | 1.00 |
| Black Cat Oil | 1.00 |
| Goofer Dust | .50 |
| Easy Life Powder | 2.50 |
| Boss-Fix Powder | .25 |
| Controlling Oil | .50 |
| Get Together Drops | 1.00 |
| Devil's Shoe Strings | .25 |
It is claimed by the Voodoo drugstores that all other powders and oils can be prepared from the same ingredients used in manufacturing the ones contained in this list.
Also necessary to the operation of a profitable Voodoo
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business are some effective costumes, a dingy room holding an altar on which are the essential candles, animal bones--if no human bones are available--and some pictures of saints, a somewhat mysterious facial expression and, preferably, an ability to tell fortunes, summon the spirits of the departed and make predictions.
"You gotta impress 'em," said Julia Jackson. "That is part of the business. They have more faith that way."
This is, of course, only the beginning. A Voodoo business must grow like any other. When a clientele is established and certain miraculous "work" has been performed by successful usage of the above, the stock of gris-gris may be broadened considerably. One Voodoo merchant lists the following as being necessary to "the work":
| Love Powder, White & Pink Drawing Powder Cinnamon Powder War Powder Anger Powder Peace Powder Courting Powder Delight Powder Yellow Wash Red Wash Pink Wash Black Wash Lodestone Steel Dust Gamblers Luck Van Van Dice Special Incense (Vantines) War Water Mad Water Peace Water Mexican Luck Angel's Delight Black Devils Powder Snake Root High John Root Good Luck Powder Hell's Devil Oil | Moving Powder Draw Across Powder Flying Devil Powder Separation Powder Lucky Lucky Powder Good Luck Drops Mad Luck Drops Extra Good Luck Drops Fast Luck Drops Love Drops Drawing Drops Luck Around Business Robert Vinegar French Love Powder Get Away Powder Easy Life Powder Goddess of Love Lucky Jazz Come to Me Powder Goddess of Evil Love and Success Powder As You Please Powder XXX3 Cross Powder Lucky Floor Drops Bend Over Oil Goofer Dust St. Joseph Powder Controlling Powder |
The list includes also candles, lucky bags and certain books.
And it is not necessary to purchase Voodoo equipment in New Orleans, for it is sold in all large American cities, though perhaps no merchant in other places has such a large and varied assortment as any one of the South Rampart Street establishments. However, much gris-gris--and but thinly disguised--is advertised in newspapers and magazines all over the United States, most often, of course, in those publications designed for and popular with the colored people of America.
In one edition of a Negro newspaper published in Chicago the following were offered: Magnetic Lodestones, Love Drops, High John the Conqueror Roots, Love Me! (a perfume, described as: "Heady! Exotic!"), Seat of Jupiter, Luck Hand Roots, Amulet of the Angel Phaleg, King Lodestones, Voodoo Night Perfume (the advertisement stated that "it D-R-A-W-S OTHERS!"), Lucky Seven Roots and the Talismanic Seal of Luck. Other advertisements invited the reader to send for their "Free Catalogs," that listed other charms, amulets, powders, oils, incense and candles.
Still other small boxes in this newspaper were headed "Know Thyself!" and "Do You Want Power and Love?" and "Do You Know How To Burn Candles?" One item read "New Orleans, the Psychic City!" and included an invitation
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to write a certain address in New Orleans for aid in acquiring "Power, Love and Luck."
Books on magic, astrology, numerology and outright Voodoo are also sold from South Rampart Street in New Orleans to the mail order houses of New York and Chicago. Some of these, such as Ancient Astrology, Power Numbers, Dreams Revealed, and Ancient Mystical Prophesies are only related to Voodoo in so far as they are popular with its followers, who combine all sorts of pseudo-science and superstitions with the more orthodox facets of the faith. But there are other books that are distinctly Voodoo. The South Rampart Street drugstores offer the 6th and 7th Book of Moses, The Art of Burning Candles, The Master Book of Candle Burning, Black Magic, an Explanation of Voodooism; Herb Magic, Mystic Secrets of Mind and Power, The Egyptian Secrets of Albertus Magnus, or White and Black Art for Man and Beast (this is the book known also as Tit Albert to Lala and other Voodoo queens of the present) and The Life and Works of Marie Laveau. All these books are paper-bound publications, and sell for from fifty cents to one dollar, with the exception of The Life and Works of Marie Laveau, which sells for three dollars and can be bought only in New Orleans.
The Life and Works of Marie Laveau is probably the most interesting of all the Voodoo books. On the cover authorship is credited to "One Of Her Descendants." An inside "Author's Dedication" is signed "Bivens, N. D. P." The blue paper cover is decorated with a pen-and-ink drawing of a woman with a pompadour that bears no resemblance to either of the Laveaus, and its forty-eight pages contain not a word regarding the history or activities of the famed Voodoo queens, but, instead, comprise some fifty descriptions of how to perform Voodoo magic. Each of these instructive paragraphs bears a title such as "The Lady Whose Lady Friends Spoke Meanly of Her," "The Lady Who Cannot Face Her Landlord" and "The Man Whose Wife Left Home." How to solve such problems is covered completely, though somewhat complexly. Despite
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all this however, The Life and Works of Marie Laveau is a direct product and result of the activities of the greatest of the Voodoo queens and perhaps does actually contain some of their secrets.
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