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Protection

War Water (and a Safe Iron Water for Your Own Door)

Also called Mars water, iron water, rust water

War water is a rusty-iron water from hoodoo tradition, historically thrown in a bottle at an enemy's doorstep to start strife. This page covers that history only and gives a safe, purely protective iron water for guarding your own threshold.

TraditionAfrican American hoodoo with European roots
RegionSouthern United States and urban California
Era20th century
Moon☾ Waning moon
DayTuesday · Mars
ElementWater
Difficulty●○○ Simple
Time15 minutes, then 2 to 4 weeks to rust

Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.

The working

  1. Put the nails in the jar, cover them with water and add the salt and rosemary.
  2. Close the lid loosely and leave the jar in a cool dark place for two to four weeks, until the water turns rusty red-brown.
  3. On a Tuesday, strain a cup of the iron water into a bucket of clean water.
  4. Sweep your doorstep, then wash it with the iron water, working from inside the house outward, and say that the iron stands guard and nothing hostile may cross.
  5. Pour the rest down an outside drain, not on plants. Keep the nails for the next batch or bury them by your own gate.
  6. Do not throw, smash or leave this water on anyone else's property. This version is only for your own door.

Take care: Never throw glass or leave rusty water where people or animals walk. Rusty water is not for drinking or for open cuts, and old nails can carry tetanus, so handle them with gloves. Do not add creosote, which is toxic and carcinogenic.

Versions across time and place

i

The historical war water bottle

Hoodoo and spiritual supply trade · 20th century

Yronwode describes war water as rust suspended in water, sometimes strengthened with magnetic sand, nails and Spanish moss. It was shaken and hurled in a glass bottle at an enemy's doorstep so the broken glass and rusty mess would carry trouble into the house through the feet. She recalls rival root workers in 1960s Oakland throwing bottles into each other's yards. This is recorded here as history only.

Uses: rusty water, nails, Spanish moss, glass bottle

Recorded in: Catherine Yronwode, War Water, Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
ii

Peace Water

Hoodoo spiritual supplies · 20th century to present

The opposite of war water is a layered blue-and-clear water sprinkled in a home to calm quarrels and invite friendly people and good spirits. It is a gentler choice if your goal is a calmer household rather than a guarded door.

Uses: Peace Water, bowl, sprinkling

Recorded in: Catherine Yronwode, Peace Water, Lucky Mojo Curio Co.

History

War water is basically iron rust in water. Catherine Yronwode argues it is probably a European contribution to hoodoo, since iron was the metal of Mars, the Roman god of war, and suggests it may have begun as a strengthening tonic. In African American practice it became a weapon of foot track magic, a bottle broken on an enemy's step so that trouble would be walked into the home.

Yronwode remembers it being used as an open declaration of occult war between feuding Oakland root workers in the 1960s. Some recipes also added creosote, which is toxic. Because the traditional use is an attack on a real person and leaves broken glass where people walk, this encyclopedia records it as history and offers only the protective iron water above, which draws on the far older European belief that iron guards a threshold.

Sources

  1. War Water · Catherine Yronwode, 1994-2019
  2. Peace Water · Catherine Yronwode, 1995-2026
  3. Hoodoo in St. Louis: An African American Religious Tradition · National Park Service, 2021

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