Florida Water (A Cologne used for Spiritual Purposes)

http://www.lanman-and-kemp.com

Florida Water was once a common cologne and toiletry used by both men and women 200 years ago and at the turn of the century. It hit the market in the U.S. in 1808. Sadly, it is not a common perfume or toiletry any longer, and most people have never heard of it, unless they remember their Grandma and Grandpa's keeping a bottle with their daily hygiene products.
There are plenty of labels out there on the market selling their own version of Florida Water, however, in my experience Lanman & Kemp Barclay, the original holders and manufacturers of Florida Water has been my favorite with their beautiful combination of Orange, Lavendar, and hint of Cloves. L&K advertises Florida Water as a multipurpose cologne to be used as a refresher during a hot day, an aid for healing insect bites, a skin toner, a perfume, a personal deodorizer, a scent for your bath water, an aftershave, a scent for any room, to deodorize a room with sick person, a rub down to soothe, nerves, tension, sicknesses, or head colds.
Over many many years, Florida Water has become quite popular with the spiritual movement and practitioners across the world. Florida Water has it's many uses in spiritual work, and this is not unknown to L&K obviously as they now have a small line of their own of spiritual waters and supplies. ;)
Florida Water serves more than one function in spiritual practices, I can only speak from my own experience, uses, and traditional Haitian Vodou beliefs though.
Florida Water is used for many of the Vodou Loas, to cleanse altar spaces, cleanse the bodily temple, and cleanse magickal tools and candles before use. You can sprinkle this Cologne in your bath water while preparing for a ritual to cleanse. You can also use this as a protection to sprinkle the body and door ways to your Temple space or home. In this way it serves as like a dual working action instrument, Cleansing and Protection. I use this same Cologne with St. Michael the Archangel for clearing and protecting. Florida Water can also be used to attract positive spirits to you.
Florida Water can be used in workings with the Ancestors. There is just something about this cologne that does attract spirits that we want in our life. I have used it to sprinkle photo frames of ancestors or drop a few drops in a bowl of water to speak to ancestors and other spirits. 
In Hoodoo, Florida Water is used in the same manner. Use it to clean newly bought glass encased vigil candles, use it in ritual baths to clean the body and spirit, use it to clear temple space of unwanted energy or messes, use it to wipe down altar tables, magickal tools, doorways to temples, or even in the wash when you clean your altar cloths. I use it in Chinese Wash or Van Van floor wash to clean my entire home, window seals, floors, and baseboards (I forbid carpet in my homes but with exception to my Turkish area rugs which too get the dousing of Florida Water). I also put it in dusting sprays to clean furniture table tops and legs. I have a bottle of this stuff in nearly every room of my house, so when you come to my house you enter with the fragrance of Florida Water and usually Three Kings, Dragon's Blood, or plain ol' Copal incense. Lol.
Generally I have a small bottle that goes places with me because on the occasion I might need some little scuffing off of negative vibes in my immediate surroundings. There is a great little travel size 3.5 oz bottle that fits nice either in my car or my medicine purse. If I travel, you better believe Florida Water is part of my overnight care bag!
With that said, I encourage you if you are just starting out in Conjure or Spiritual work, stock up with this tool.
Now here is the warning! It is VERY flammable, it is an alcohol base and mostly alcohol. Please don't be foolish or macho... I bring this is up for a very good reason. You can set fire to Florida Water in small amounts in a safe area, in a fire bowl outside with a backup on putting out any accidents! With the chemical combustion however, I will tell you, this should ONLY be performed by an experienced spiritual worker. The alcohol burns up quickly and then anything left behind is just food for the flames. There was a 12 year old boy who was set on fire by his peers with dousing him in cologne first. He suffered 3rd degree burns...
When Florida Water is set on fire, it burns a low blue flame and if it has nothing more to feed the fire will go out in a short time. There are spiritual purposes for this but experience and training should be had first! So, if you are new to this work, stick to the basics for now, and always use caution with spiritual products, especially flammable ones!

Recipes for using Florida Water:

Sprinkle Florida Water, Roses or rose oil in a bath for clearing negative and inviting love conditions
Can be used daily or every other day. Use a love prayer, psalm, or Chapters from Song of Solomon to pray while bathing.

Soak herbs of  Basil, Rue, and Boldo leaf in Florida Water a sprinkle across door ways and window seals for protection.

Sprinkle Florida Water in wash bucket with prepared floor wash of Chinese Wash to wash from back of house to front of house and tops of windows down to bottom of windows for cleansing negative energies from the home.

After a daily bath wear a splash of Florida Water on top of head, heart, and feet for protection and balancing.

After working a job in retail or customer service, wash the hands with Florida Water to remove any "unwanted residue energy".

Use Florida Water to sprinkle and rub down new glass vigil candles, new statues, new magickal tools while focusing on clearing and cleaning any left over energies from others handling these products before you. You may state personal prayers of clearing too.

Use a clean white cloth to sprinkle Florida Water on altar tops to wipe off the area before setting up the new altar top.

Use Florida Water after a working to clear the space by sprinkling the back of the room in the corners, to the center of the room, then the front two corners and lastly across the threshhold entrance while stating any clearing or banishing prayers.

Spiritual Bathing/Washing

http://www.people.eku.edu/davisb/Geo100/ganges/Ganges2.htm

I have touched on Spiritual Cleansing and bathing multiple times but I will reiterate it here again. :) Spiritual Cleansing is important as a regular practice for spiritual workers, rather you are working for others or your personal self AND still important even if you are not working with darker energies.
I have also described several recipes in my blogs for cleansings and attraction baths.
However, what I want to write about today though is the idea, purpose, and "how to" aspects of Spiritual Bathing.
A Spiritual Bath is a form of magickal practice that is performed in connection to the body, the subtle body, inner, outer, and the Aethryl planes that surround us. Traditions of Christianity, African Diaspora, Hindu, Islam, Jewish, and many others relied on forms of washing the spirit and body for preparing for their practices and prayers. In Islam, it is tradition to wash the face, arms, the front of the head, neck, and feet before prayer of purification. In Hindu, a special event called Naimittika is hosted that can sometimes include millions of participants in a spiritual washing in the waters of the Ganges and Jumna (sacred rivers) for a particular deity. In Vodou practices, there are spiritual baths used in rituals for healing or protection.
When taking a Spiritual Bath or Washing, special waters, plants, resins, colognes, and prayers are used. What is used depends on the type of energies that are being worked, invoked, removed, healed, etc. A bath can be a simple sprinkling with holy water on the body to cleanse the spirit of the individual. Or it can be as elaborate as a washing under the Saut-d'Eau Waterfall of Haiti.
A washing can be done from the head to the feet, or just one localized area such as a foot washing.
It's performed by Priests, Priestess', Bishops, and a variety of other Spiritual workers. It can also be performed on the self by a single individual, no special titles necessary, no special training necessary.
If you have a home with a tub it makes life the easiest, but it's not necessary to have a tub. Many small apartments only have showers, and I have had some islanders report to me that they only have a shower, no tub available. In the case of no tub, you can use a metal or glass pan to "catch" the washing water from the "bathing". You just need to sit the catch pan (or bowl) at your feet. If you are physically dirty from the days events, shower with soap first then prepare for the spiritual washing.
To begin a washing in which you are going to use the tub or shower, first prepare your special herbs, plants, colognes, hoodoo formulas, etc. This could be by bringing the bottle of hoodoo bath to the bathroom with you or by boiling fresh or dried ingredients over a stove in a sauce pan, draining the herb mixtures (add colognes last so they do not evaporate), and bringing the water mixture to the bathroom. Bring any candles and incense with you. Run your bath water or shower, light your candles and set at opposite sides that you will be stepping through between them and standing to dry off. I generally set them at the either sides of the edge of the tub placed so that I will be standing between them when I step out to dry.
If you are using a bath tub, pour the water and herb mixture into the tub of water. If it's a shower, place it in a safe place to not spill it until you are ready to pour it. Stand or sit in the tub or shower of water for a few minutes to concentrate on your intention. Recite your intention aloud. Next use a cup to pour the herb mixture over your head 7, 9, 11, or 13 times, depending on your intent such as 7 for luck, 9 for love, 13 for uncrossing, and so forth. There is not a right or wrong way to determine this, it usually depends on how you were taught how to bathe spiritually. If you are bringing in energies, typically you wash upwards from feet to head. If you are cleansing or driving away energies, wash downwards from head to feet. Use a prayer of your choice, a psalm, or any prayer of intent will do just fine. Meditate or visualize on your goal. You might decide to state the same prayer again a certain amount of times as well, that is pertinent to your goal.
Once you feel you are tuned to the proper energies you are working, step out of the tub or shower. Stand between the two candles, recite the prayer again. Focus your intent. At this point you may want to use the incense to start at the feet and allow the smoke to rise up around your legs and upward. Air dry, if this isn't possible, at least pat dry lightly. Many root workers advise that you air dry completely. I see this as important, but I have clients that tell me that they have one special towel that is solely used for spiritual bathing and they use this special towel only. Either way, do what you were taught. Afterwards, you should dress in clean clothes and go about your day. Take a cup of the water from the bath, or the pan used to catch the water and use in a floor wash as the same intent to wash your floors (front to back for bringing in good vibrational energies or back to front to remove the negative vibrational energies). A second cup should be saved to throw to the rising east (attracting) or setting west (removal). How many times a week or month should also be determined by the goal and how severe the case is.
Difficult cases should be done daily or at minimum 3 times a week. As time progresses and the situation improves, tapering off to once a week then once a month.

When to use Luck and Love Magick

Love and Luck, desires that all humans have.

Cleansing work is always a must even if you are not a worker (spiritual worker), but also for those who come in daily contact with people (working retail, restaurant service, etc.) Keeping a clean spiritual temple (your body), keeps you in balance, allowing for free flow of energy to travel within as well as allowing to receive energy from outside sources and integrate these energies into your being, metaphysically speaking. Crap gets built up, period. Clean house, peeps. Inside and Out (you and your house).

So, you have your spirit clean, purified, wiping the funk off your back, now what? For some, this is all they need to live a quiet, happy life; they feel pure, the table has been cleared. And for the others... Cleansing work is part one to a whole magickal regimen. For these folks, it's a balance of sweeping out the dirt and bringing in freshness and newness. The important thing here is to be sure you have followed a regular cleansing routine, clearing out cobwebs in your spirit, temple, and house. When you are not clean, luck is down, and can not come through a dirty vessel (the vessel being you). You will bring more sorrow and disappointment in your life if you try to use luck and attraction magick if you are not cleansed. Some folks just don't understand this. They want luck and love magick to fix their issue, just building on top of more failure and disappointment. It's like the "brown paper bag effect". If you have molded fruit nearby fresh fruit, it's release of ethylene gas will likely speed up the ripening of the fresh fruit before it can be enjoyed and it too will mold quicker, it's useless, not edible. Then you realize you just wasted 5 dollars on some kiwi fruit you will never get to enjoy. Disappointment, a small one, but hey if you keep buying those kiwi's and they keep ripening too fast, you might want to double check that fridge to see if you have some old moldy fruit in there hiding behind the mayo. If you use attraction magick without having kept yourself cleansed, you will be inviting failure. You might be kicking yourself at that point for even spending the time, energy, money, etc. building on top of chaos, beating your head against a wall to try to figure out why everything you are trying isn't working, working yourself into further self doubt. It's that simple. Ok, So did I stress the point enough here, CLEAN house. And yourself. :D


This is a bath that you can create with the intention of opening doors and bringing in a little luck and love your way. It's very simple to do. It can be performed weekly or even three days a week to bring in some luck in friendship, opportunities, love, and money.

All Luck Bath ~ Coconut milk, Fresh Basil, Cinnamon, and Honey. Coconut for the open door spirits. Basil for peace and cooperation from others. Cinnamon for luck in money and love. Honey for sweetening people to you. Make small doses of this bath so it doesn't go rancid. Pray over the concoction after it's prepared by using your favorite luck prayer, psalm, or charge of intent. Use three times a week after regular showering.
While bathing, use a prayer of your choice, meditating on the open roads to love, beauty, happiness. Burn a light blue candle, a tea light is fine. When you are done with your bath, pinch out the candle and use for the next bath. No controlling or demanding thoughts over others should be a part of this type of work. You are asking the spirits of the doorways to be open to you, and inviting peace, love, and luck into your life.

~Mama V

Hoodoo & Spiritual Waters & Colognes

Spiritual waters and hoodoo waters are toiletry waters, perfumed water, hydrosols, infused herbal waters, and blessed waters. There are as many types as there are uses. Waters can be used to feed spirits, bathe in, use in floor washes, sprinkle altar spaces, sprinkle properties and door ways, feed mojo hands, use on the body, beds, in spell bottles, etc.

Some of my favorites include:
Basil & Rosemary infused water (bring peace and cooperation in family home)
Basil infused water (brings peace)
Chamomile infused water (brings luck in money)
Cinnamon infused water (brings luck in money or love)
Lavender infused water (brings loving, calming conditions)
Lemon infused water (cleaner and freshener)
Lemon Balm infused water (soothing, calming conditions)
Lemongrass infused water (cleaner and brings in luck)
Patchouli infused water (brings love and passion)
Rue infused water (protection)
Rose Hydrosol (brings loving conditions)
Florida Water Cologne (feeds spirits, brings luck, cleans negative energies)
Holy water (cleaner and freshener)
Hoyt's Cologne (brings luck, dresses mojos)
Kananga Water Cologne (cleansing and offering to spirits)
Pompeii Lotion (offering to Ezili)
Bay Rum Cologne (offering to spirits)
Four Thieves Vinegar (cleanser, protector)

To make an infused water you can do this one of three ways the first is to place fresh herbs into a pan of spring water or rain water. Bring to a boil, then simmer 10 minutes, strain, and cool before using. The more herbs you place to simmer in the pan, the stronger the water will be. The second way is to put your fresh herbs into a gallon jug of spring water and refrigerate it for 8-12 hours. The first method I prefer to use as it really brings out the essence of the herb much more strongly then chilling the water. The second way, however, can be used as a tea for drinking if you were adding this to a cleansing, purifying, or luck bringing ritual. The third way is to set the water with herbs in a sunny hot window for two days to naturally steep.


When you make your own waters you can combine fresh herbs for a multitasking water such as the basil and rosemary water. Other options are Patchouli and a little Rose Hydrosol to sprinkle on your bedsheets for attracting a love affair. Get creative with your waters, add them to your routines and magickal work. You can even spritz the room with them. :)

Cleanliness is Godliness

Cleanliness. The first thing I do when I wake up, is clean, the last thing I do when I shut out the lights is clean. I frequently joke about having OCD, or germaphobia, but truth be told, smells dictate my moods the moment I walk in my house. I remember my grandmother was sensitive to smells, and well, I am too... It can be frustrating. I have to keep a clean house, sure with daily living it gets cluttered, but the end of the day, things have a place and an order. I feel heavy energy weighing on my back if the house is out of order and the floors haven't been swept daily. Man, if I know someone is coming over, I make sure my tables are clean, the seats for them to sit on are clean and the house smells fresh and welcoming. That's just how I am, I want things beautiful and fresh, and my guests in my home deserve the same. A dirty house, makes my mood shift into big attitude and frustration... lol. We have hardwood floors and tile floors, because carpet keeps in smells, dirt, dust, and allergens. None of which go over well with myself or my husband who is allergic to just about anything that flies through the air! lol. Well, for me as a root worker, my shop is cleaned and straightened daily, my altars are always looked over three times a day if not more if I am real active that day with working for clients. I have wrote on this before, and I will say it time and time again, cleaning and clearing regularly your work spaces, under and on top is important. I have seen some work spaces that are beautiful, but the areas around the spaces are so un-kept that if it were MY place, my mind, spirit would be affected and joggled, unfocused, because of the background distractions! LORDY! I mean seriously, think about it, think about the energies kept around in old piled up areas of your space. Everything has energy, some of that energy is invading, leaks out to other areas of the room, including the smells! I watched a video on youtube one time, it was a video on how to cleanse a vigil novena and their work space was a great presentation, but I will tell you, my eyes were drawn to the background piles of clothes, books, and just stuff, unidentifiable stuff! I say to you, please, for the love of cleanliness, clean your shit up! I would be absolutely horrified to know and see that if someone was doing work for me, which on occasion, I actually do go to other workers for personal things, that I need help with cause well, sometimes a human can't handle everything, we have limits you know, and if I walked into a house where it is un-kept, I would really begin to wonder, if that worker was able to keep their work organized and clean, when they don't keep a simple house hold chore up. Hate me if you want on this, but I am getting older, and I have three children, 18, 16, and 6. Every one of them have chores, and they know if Mama comes in and the floor hasn't been swept and their stuff cleaned up, they are going to get the look, and they might even get a computer pulled out of the wall for the day. :) Oh I can hear someone in the kitchen right now, doing the dishes, ah, my children can be sooo well behaved. :) No adult alive can say my kids are not irresponsible or misbehaved. I say that is because they are scared of their mama. :D I was raised in a clean home, my grandmother lived with us, she did most of the chores while my mother worked nights (mom cleaned too, but grandmother was always cleaning, lol). My grandmother had always kept the kitchen clean, and oh no don't even think about dirtying up a dish. When she cooked, she cleaned right behind herself, something that I learned to do as well. The last thing I want to do after I eat dinner, is clean! So I clean right as I am done cooking in a dish. Point being though, is when you "clean house" and I mean spiritually, make sure you clean your space, your home, your businesses, all of it! Phew load off my mind... lol.

Here's a quick recipe I just told my sister the other night that she needed to do.
A capfull of Ammonia
Splash of Salt (any kind is fine, but epsom and kosher are my favs)
Sprigs of Basil
some florida water (i gave her a big bottle last time I was in KY)
put them in your hot bath
wash downwards
Pray to God for a clean, peaceful, and re-energized spirit
Step out, air dry and dress in lighter colored clothes.

There are many ways to clean house and clean the spirit.
I know I have put some recipes out there, here's a few more though.
I like to work with basic ingredients, and lighter numbers, to keep the work simple. Taking on new ideas, hustle and bustle of life, sometimes it's time to get back to the tested and tried, never wavering basics.
For the house: In hot water bucket and mop
1.Ammonia
Salt
Bluing (laundry bluing)

2.Rain water
Lemons
Ammonia

3. Borax
  Salt
  Eggs

For baths:
1. Bluing (laundry bluing)
Salt
Rain water

2. Eggs
Salt
Basil

3. Ammonia
Salt
Basil

Of course any time you bath for cleansing, wash downwards, use a prayer, and visualize a clean and pure spirit. These can be done at sundown, and the water you saved, throw to the west setting sun.

Mop water throw in the west at the setting sun as well. :)

Spiritual Cleansing Formulas

Spiritual Cleansing Formulas

Here’s a few of my favorite formulas that you can make from home for spiritually cleansing.
For ritual baths:
A: Splash of Ammonia, teaspoon of hyssop, and 1/2 cup of sea salt.
B: Splash of Florida Water, teaspoon of hyssop, and 1/2 cup of salt.
C: Reckitt’s bluing, Epsom salt, and sea salt.
D: Epsom salt, salt peter, and sea salt.
E: Reckitt’s bluing, ammonia, salt peter.
For spiritually cleansing the home:
A: Ammonia, Florida Water, and salt peter.
B: Salt peter, sulfur, and rue.
C: Pine sol, your morning urine, salt peter.
D: Pine sol, rue, and hyssop.