FIGHTING LIKE CATS AND DOGS: AN OLD-TIMEY INSPIRED HOODOO WORKING
Because of the modern popularity of hoodoo as a tradition, many people practicing occult things are now familiar with the Black Cat line of hoodoo products and workings. Black cats have a long and sordid history in occult practices generally, including the infamous Black Cat bone ritual to find the one bone in a cat’s body that can make you invisible and, in some lore, a bonafide witch. Thankfully, we do not practice that ritual as a standard anymore. However, the spiritual powers of luck and invisibility are still a part of the modern product line I have seen in different places.
It is also, in a way, a kind of “doctrine of signatures” thing in the sense that the products generally reflect the furtive nature of cats. Cats are fierce hunters. They can be whisper quiet, and you don’t see them coming until it’s too late. As a cat owner, I can’t tell you how many times I have stepped on cat tails because I didn’t even know the cat was right under my foot!
The idea of cats bringing luck is a bit ironic, though, especially when attributed to the black cat. As an African American, I grew up with elders regularly cussing out black cats when they crossed the street the wrong way as we were driving by. I used to always be tickled by that because I didn’t understand until many years later that the direction a black cat crosses your path determines whether the luck-power they bring is good or bad. I am sure this is likely one of those more European beliefs that crept into Hoodoo with the cultural interactions between them and those who were enslaved.
Then we have dogs. At some point in Hoodoo, rootworkers discovered that spiritually combining the black cat and black dog made for a potent mix of conflict and confusion. The whole idea of fighting like cats and dogs. We all have seen people fighting like this, especially where I am from. I have seen fights break out right on the streets where people do indeed fight like they are in a WWF Royal Rumble (yes, I am that old!)!
With this kind of work, a rootworker is not drawing on those more positive aspects of either animal, except maybe a little of the cat’s invisibility ability to keep the work from being seen by those in the conflict. Depending on how you work and deploy things, I will share a simple recipe that can be adapted for oil, water, or powder. What I mean by that is I can see this being done as candle work, a powder to lay down at a location, or water to spray onto objects people will touch.
The base of the recipe is to get the following: vetivert, marjoram, patchouli, guinea pepper, poppy seed, black mustard, red pepper, black cat hair, and black dog hair. If you will use this as an oil, putting it in olive oil or whatever oil you have is fine. If in water, you could also add essential oils of these ingredients in addition to the hair. If in a condition powder, use a base like arrow root and then add some dirt to it to mask the color of the base powder.
I would recipe Psalm 79 over the mixture, one of the few psalms designed for cursing. I would also have a good supply of hyssop on hand to make a hand-wash after creating and then again after deploying this in whatever form I make it, so I don’t risk having any spiritual gunk on myself. You can also take a hyssop tea bath afterward.
