Also called uncrossing bath, hyssop bath, jinx-breaking bath, spiritual cleansing bath
A hoodoo cleansing bath of hyssop, often with rue, taken to lift a run of bad luck, a jinx or a 'crossed condition', traditionally while reading Psalm 51 or Psalm 37.
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
Take care: Rue can cause blistering rashes on skin exposed to sunlight and should be avoided in pregnancy; leave it out if unsure, and patch-test any herb first. Herb water is for the outside of the body only. If you feel persistently unwell or low, see a doctor as well.
For a stronger cleansing, rootworkers use a 13 Herb bath containing hyssop, rue and eleven other herbs. Yronwode also mentions Psalm 37, Fret not thyself because of evildoers, for people who believe an enemy has crossed them, and Psalm 51 when the trouble is partly self-made.
Uses: hyssop, rue, eleven further cleansing herbs
The same herbs and salts that go in the bath are added to a bucket of water to scrub a home, working from the back of the house to the front door. Commercial uncrossing salts sold for this purpose list salt, rue, hyssop, pepper and sulphur among their ingredients.
Uses: uncrossing salts or hyssop tea, bucket of water, rag
In the Bible a bunch of hyssop is the tool for sprinkling: the Passover blood in Exodus and the water of purification in Numbers 19. Psalm 51 turns this into a prayer for inner cleansing. Scholars think the biblical plant was probably a Middle Eastern herb such as Syrian oregano rather than the European hyssop used today.
In hoodoo, being crossed means suffering bad luck that may have been put on you by someone else, and uncrossing is the work of taking it off. Hyssop holds the central place because of Psalm 51, a psalm of repentance traditionally linked to King David, which asks to be cleansed with hyssop and washed whiter than snow. Rootworkers read the verse literally and turned the plant into a bath herb.
Catherine Yronwode's Lucky Mojo pages describe hyssop and rue baths as the basic remedy for jinxes, combined with candle work, and they repeat a caution worth keeping: not everyone who feels cursed is cursed, and illness or depression can look like bad luck. Commercial uncrossing bath crystals appeared in 20th-century spiritual supply catalogs, but the home-brewed herb tea remains the simplest and oldest form.
A hoodoo candle spell that uses a candle half black and half another color, turned upside down and burned on a mirror, to burn away bad luck and send it back where it came from.
A wash with the American cologne Florida Water, first sold in New York in 1808, used across Hoodoo, Latin American curanderismo and Caribbean spiritual traditions to cleanse a person or a room.
A raw egg is passed over the body to absorb heaviness, envy or the evil eye, then cracked into water and read. Widespread across Mexico and Latin America.
Tell us what you need and we will craft a custom spell, charm or reading for it. Or call to book a reading or a road blessing in person.
