What is Black Cat Oil? Do I have to use a black cat?~~~

Dear Ms. Q,

I’m confused about “Black Cat Oil”  in some places I see where it can be used to hex a person, or break a hex or spell, but  I also read where it is used for luck for gambling and  also to attract someone to you and for protection.   What is the right way to use this oil?”

When I got this question I knew what one of my posts is going to be, and it will be about the use of Black Cat Oil.   The bottom line is that this oil can do all of those things, but it depends upon what carrier oil that is the base oil the other ingredients are put into. 

The ingredients are the same but the oil it is to be suspended upon as well as the color of Cat candle is to be lit determines the use of the oil. 

I know, why is this?  

Well it depends upon the traditions from what country.  It’s believed that cats have been domesticated in Egypt as early as 4,000 years ago. In ancient Egypt, cats were sacred and identified with the deities Ra and Bast. In the form of a cat, Mau, the sun God, Ra, slayed his enemy, Apep, the serpent of darkness. Bast (Ubasti/ Bastet/Baset) was the cat Goddess of fertility, dance, and wine. The Egyptians mummified their beloved cats for their journey to the Afterlife and sometimes entombed them with mummified mice. They were valued for their ability to kill vermin. Bast's fertility aspect related to her protection of the grain from mice and rats.  

Just as Dogs were regarded important for their hunting ability as well as being trained to guard a person’s property, Cats were important to protect grain and other foods from vermin such as mice and rats. 

The Fear of cats began in parts of Europe during the middle ages especially during the time of the Black Death, this disease was carried by fleas and it could infect not only rats and mice and other rodents but also Cats.  For some reason Dogs were not widely believed to be evil. Even today there are people who view certain cats, particularly black cats, as unlucky.  I have to be honest if I’m in a dark room or walking a dark street and I trip over a black cat I would consider it bad luck only because I couldn’t see the cat. 

Yet in the Middle Ages cats were being seen in a dual role,    In Christian Europe, barn cats, farm cats, ship cats, etc. were still used to effectively control vermin. Yet cats in late medieval Europe were also identified with witches, sorcerers, and heretics. An unknown, stray cat wandering around in an area might be either an ordinary stray cat, a witch's familiar, or a witch in disguise.

That was because it was believed that cats could also be shape shifters or a witch could take on the form of a cat.    Eventually cats were burned with those convicted of the crimes of heresy and witchcraft. In 1630, King Louis XIII of France halted this awful practice of burning cats.   Which was a good thing because of their ability to control vermin.

To make things more difficult for the cat (and any other domestic animals)  parts of cats--like parts of other domestic animals were used as ingredients in sorcery. The animal's liver, eyes and blood were used in creating some sort of unsavory magical mixtures in some European magic spells.

For example the notorious Black Cat Bone:  Although it is strongly identified with African American hoodoo, its origins are actually found in European magic.  To wit in one Grimoire written by Antigo Livro de Sao Cipriano of Portugal.  Translated it reads as follows :       ”Cook the body of a black cat in boiling water with white seeds and wood from the willow until the meat is loosened from the bones. Strain the bones in a linen cloth and, in front of the mirror, place the bones, one by one in your mouth, until you find that you have the magic to make you become invisible. Keep the bone with the magic property and, if you want to go somewhere without being seen, place the bone in your mouth”

Folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, who studied hoodoo in Florida and Louisiana in the 1930s, and Harry Middleton Hyatt, collected thousands of spells and superstitions from various African American sources throughout the South in the 1930’s, and they reported that many root doctors claimed that within every black cat has in its body one bone that will either grant the owner invisibility or can be used to bring back a lost lover

 To get this bone, they [Hurston and Hyatt] said, a black cat must be thrown alive into a cauldron of boiling water at midnight. The animal dies in horrible agony, and the practitioner boils the carcass until the meat falls off the bones. Some say that the special bone will be the top one left when the water boils away, others say it can only be found by placing each bone in turn beneath the tongue while an assistant notifies the practitioner that he has become invisible (a variation on the Cipriano Grimoire), and still others swear that if all the bones are thrown into a stream that runs north ( Not common in most of North America although there are a few and there are a few in Europe and India), the desired bone will be one that floats on the water and heads south.  

And this is one more reason why just before and after Halloween Black Cats are not adopted out of Animal Shelters and if you have one you need to keep it indoors.  Though both Hurston and Hyatt recorded this superstition, no cat bone can make a person invisible.

 

Most bones sold as "black cat bones" in mail order are actually from other small mammals and are sometimes painted black. 

There are a dozens and dozens of superstitions revolving around cats and black cats, far too many for me to post here, but that takes us away from the subject of Black Cat Oil.

In European and European-American traditions black cats are considered unlucky. However in Hoodoo the black cat is a symbol of luck and strength helping in the sporting and gambling world. This old time, traditional Hoodoo oil is very popular with gamblers and people who play games of chance but it also is used to reverse bad luck and its vibrations work well for Witches and their general workings.

Black Cat oil is a traditional New Orleans Voudou oil with many uses.  It should be in your magical cabinet because it is good for power, protection during intense magical rites and protection in general, stealth, luck, unhexing, hexing, attraction and maybe love. Traditionally this oil is used to break hexes and other negative conditions, as well as protection if castor oil is the base oil. It can be sprinkled at entrances to the home to reverse and remove malign influences, and it is used to attract money as well by anointing cash registers and doors of businesses, slot machines, lottery tickets, tip jars, your wallet, coins, purse, or cash book of you are a server. If you have a jar to keep  change in it will fill up quickly.

So first let me post the recipe for it and then I’ll describe how to use it with certain candles.

THE RECIPE FOR BLACK CAT OIL:

I am also including what each aspect of each item means:

If you are using essential oils or dry products then it’s

• 2 parts Clary sage oil    or dried, crumbled sage or clary sage leaves

• 2 parts bay or bay laurel oil or dried, crushed bay leaves

• 1 part essential oil of myrrh or solid myrrh resin

• Fragments of steel wool or other iron shavings sometimes called iron shot or iron filings

• Small pieces of solid myrrh resin

• Hairs from a black cat This should be shed hair from a live black cat

   

All you need to do is mix all the ingredients together depending upon your carrier oil, and bottle up for your spell use.  It should be made on a Saturday that is close to the dark Moon, at midnight.

The carrier oil is very important----

If it is for romance or you wish to attract someone then use sweet almond oil, this would also be good for a gambling oil.

If you are seeking protection, blend the ingredients into castor oil or jojoba oil.

Mrs. Harcourt in Granny’s group used Black cat oil in a castor oil base to draw spirits for spirit contact when she held her séances.   I don’t know if that is a good idea, and have never used it that way myself.

Black Cat Oil is used to break bad spells and hexes or used for hexes, the items should be blended with castor or mineral oil.  Granny preferred mineral oil to break and send bad spells and hexes back to where it came from, that is where Black Cat Oil can cause confusion in one’s enemy, sending the hex back.

So what does each item do in Black Cat Oil?

   

    Sage – money, prosperity, protection, cleansing

    Myrrh – love

    Bay – success, breaks negative spells

    Black cat hair –fortunate/unfortunate, magical use depending upon circumstance

    Iron filings – magnetic, draws in your desire

One use of Black Cat Oil is to cause a target to strongly desire you. The myrrh is the love, the bay makes you successful in the love spell, the sage prosperous in love, the iron to draw this to you, and the black cat hair to make you fortunate, and give you the magical luck required in love.

But because we have to take note of the carrier oil, it can be used for unhexing, the bay with the power of breaking negative spells, Sage for protection and cleansing and the others re-balancing the aspects of your life. To regain being fortunate in all these areas, reversing the curse.

By reversing the hex or spell back to the person who sends it, it short-circuits their energy and as I’ve said will cause them confusion.

It can also be used, with extreme potency, to hex another person – the black cat hair can alter the result fortunately or unfortunately, in this case with your desire, it would make the target unfortunate in love, money, and success. Or, you could make yourself extremely fortunate in love, money, or success that is the power of this oil.

Because of the several ways the magical ingredients can work, in the raw it is quite unmanageable minus the carrier oil, therefor it needs to be controlled to your specific outcome by charging or praying over the herbs properly.  The proper carrier oil then stabilizes it.

HOW GRANNY USED IT:

In Granny’s day Black Cat oil  her use of it was not use so much for love as it was used for protection, hex or jinx breaking and sending the hex back to its originator, where she lived she didn’t have access to sweet almond oil it was too expensive, but castor oil and mineral oil was always available and she was a very practical person, to her protecting her family was love and that is what counted.

Granny only made Black Cat Oil with either Castor or Mineral Oil but she kept a black cat bone in the master bottle---now she got that bone properly.  Here is what happened----

Della, Bella’s sister had a wonderful black cat that she called Inky, he was a great mouser, and pretty much a Cat about Town, we could tell when Inky had his way with the lady cats after they had their litters.   But one day (or night really) Inky’s luck ran out, and he got hit by a car.  It was pretty bad and messy, he was killed instantly. 

Bella was very upset, but the ladies realized that Inky’s misfortune was fortunate for them, since Bella was also part of Granny’s group, she gave her permission for them to utilize Inky’s remains.   

After Bella’s husband Franco scooped up the remains with a shovel, and took it to the back yard, the head was removed and given a proper burial (I mean a little cross and all) the black cat hair was cut off the body (he was very fluffy) and in a big tub the kind you boil water out doors, Inky’s remains were boiled and boiled and boiled until the bones came clean, the left over water, any broken bones and what was not wanted was also buried with Inky’s head, and the now clean then sun dried  bones that were not broken, were kept and divided among the ladies.

Granny kept one bone in her master bottle for Black Cat Oil, but I have to say that is the only honest way to get a black cat bone.    When Granny heard how it was supposed to be obtained she didn’t hold with that, she never believed in any kind of cruelty to any animal, even towards those you are going to eventually eat, and said it would only happen by chance,  a few years later Inky met his sudden end.

One of Inky’s offspring took a liking to Bella and was called Inkadoo  after an old popular song.

USING BLACK CAT OIL WITH CAT (BLACK OR OTHER COLORS) CANDLES:

Figure candles in the form of cats are popular items sold in metaphysical shops and on line. They come in several different colors and in some cases styles.

A red cat figure candle is used in romance and sex. This should be used with the black cat oil that has sweet almond oil as the carrier.

Green cat candles can be used to draw luck and specifically money. Again the carrier oil should be Sweet Almond oil.

The black cat candles that are used for a variety of purposes if to draw powerful good luck, use the oil with Sweet Almond oil as the carrier.

Gamblers, for example, may dress a black cat candle with Lucky Black Cat oil, and with the addition of galangal root oil or a similar luck drawing oil such as Success Oil

A black cat candle is used to also repel jinxes, hexes, bad luck, and evil intent. Use the oil that will have either castor or mineral oil as its base.

BLACK CAT on SKULL Candle: If you find a figure candle like this it is Very powerful for breaking curses, hexes, defeating bad luck. Use Black Cat Oil in a Castor or Mineral Oil base and also use either or both Un-crossing oil, and/or Commanding oil.

If you find cat candles in other colors such as blue, pink or white those are good as well but since they are milder in colors they should be used for positive energy not negative or hex breaking but to bring something positive into your life, such as peace, love, and good energy.

HOW TO DO A BLACK CAT CANDLE SPELL:

Depending upon your intent the process is the same with one or two differences, when you are ‘dressing’ the candle that is applying the oil remember if it’s to draw something to you dress from the wick down towards you, if it’s to drive away, repel, banish something from you dress the candle from the bottom of the candle to the wick away from you.

Using either a figure candle in the shape of a cat, or simply a plain candle. Choose either a white candle (general purposes), green (money and finances), or red (love, lust, fast luck) or black to banish.

Carve your name and birth date, or to banish write “return to sender” into the candle by using a pin, nail, or other sharp implement.

Dress the candle with Black Cat Oil whilst praying for your desired outcome.  Remember to bring to you, stroke the oil from wick to base towards you, to banish, hex etc. stroke the oil from base to wick away from you,  if it’s a glass enclosed candle punch 3 holes into the wax at the top, and put 3 drops of oil in each hole do not drown the wick,  to bring to you rub the top of the wax of the glass enclosed candle clock wise,  to banish something or hex   rub it counter-clock wise.

Sprinkle the candle with a bit of luck drawing herbs such as Cinnamon, or use Sage and Bay leaves to banish.

Add to this a bit of iron filings.

Pray over the candle. (aks “charge” the candle)

On a piece of brown paper write out your desires using a pencil (be specific). Using the oil, dress the paper by dabbing the oil on each corner of the paper and once in the center. (This is called a 5 spot)

Fold the paper towards you if you want to bring something to you or fold it away from you if you are banishing or repelling something and then place it under a plate or candle holder. Place the candle on top.

Light the candle and pray for the realization of your desires. Let it burn for 7 minutes then extinguish its flame. The next night do the same thing except burn the candle for 11 minutes.  Do not blow out the candle, snuff it out.

Continue this process alternating your burn/prayer time between 7 and 11 minutes each night until either the candle has burned entirely, or your desire is achieved.

Bury the remaining candle wax under or near your doorway if you want to bring something to you or take and toss in the trash in a cemetery or a deserted crossroads to banish from you.

A FINAL WORD:

Black Cat Oil is a very good oil to have in your magical cabinet, you don’t have to have a black cat bone in your master bottle but freely shed black cat hair works just as well, it a good nearly all purpose oil, especially for defense and protection.   Granny always kept a bottle and so do I.

Bright Blessings,

Ms. Q