Also called Van Van, Algiers style oil, verveine oil
Van Van is an old New Orleans Hoodoo condition oil scented mainly with lemongrass and other fragrant grasses, used to clear bad luck, open the way and empower charms. It is one of the best known oils in Hoodoo and shares its scent family with the cleaning formula called Chinese Wash.
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Take care: Lemongrass oil can irritate or sensitise skin; keep essential oils at 1 percent or less (about 6 drops per 30 ml carrier) and patch-test. Never apply undiluted essential oil to skin or use it on children, and keep it away from cats.
A liquid soap scented with the same grasses as Van Van, sometimes with a broom straw in the bottle. Floors are scrubbed from the back of the house to the front door to clear out bad conditions and bring in luck.
Lodestones packed in Van Van oil and rabbit-foot keychains sold with a vial of the oil show how central it was to the curio trade. A 1950s Valmor hair pomade also used the Van Van name for luck.
The same lemongrass blend comes as sachet powder sprinkled across a doorway and as self-lighting incense burned to clear a room before new work.
Van Van is often called the most famous of the New Orleans or 'Algiers style' formulas, after the neighbourhood across the river. The perfume historian Dr. James Dotson, cited by catherine yronwode, traced the name to French verveine, verbena, pronounced something like 'vahn-vahn' by Louisiana Creole speakers. Records at the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum show a 'Verveine' scent made with lemongrass by about 1900. Since true verbena gives little stable oil, lemongrass with its similar lemony smell became the standard.
By the 1930s and 1940s Van Van appeared in the national mail-order curio trade, packaged with lodestones and lucky charms, and it is still one of the best selling Hoodoo oils. Its many uses, from luck and protection to strengthening amulets, make it something of an all-purpose oil. Like other Hoodoo formulas, it comes out of Black Southern spiritual practice, and its recipes vary from maker to maker.
A small flannel bag holding a lodestone fed with magnetic sand and a John the Conqueror root, carried to draw money, work and luck. It is a classic charm of African American Hoodoo.
In African American Hoodoo, floors and front steps are scrubbed with a spiritual wash, such as the lemongrass-scented Chinese Wash, to clear out bad conditions and draw in luck.
A Hoodoo and Latin American botánica working to clear blocks from your path, used before a trip, a job search or any new start. A candle and oil or herb wash dressed with abre camino and citrus 'opens the road' ahead.
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.
