Uncrossing, part 2.5: The Supplies, cont'd...

More than two weeks ago I finally finished all the supplies I needed for the uncrossing operation.  I ended up making all the supplies from scratch, which was fun but at the same time long and drawn-out.  I wore my arm out several times working my mortar and pestle, but rediscovered the joy in making one's own magical supplies.

As I outlined in this post, the more traditional version of an uncrossing is a 3-phase process that can take up to 13 days.  I settled on 3 days for my uncrossing, because by the time I managed to get everything together, I had already weakened my condition and reduced the symptoms through regular offerings and personal spiritual cleansings.  It might have been nice to expand the working to 7 days, but the process is also a little exhaustive.

Nonetheless, I wanted to talk about the supplies for my uncrossing and how I made them.  For making oils, powders, incenses and such, there are some basic tools that I used:

• A mortar & pestle.  The larger the mortar, the better, in my opinion.  I tended to get small hand cramps trying to work mine after a while.
• 2 or 3 small bowls.
• A liquid measuring cup.
• A set of measuring spoons.
• A few popsicle sticks to stir stuff with.
• A small strainer with a handle, with a somewhat fine mesh.  For liquids, you could substitute a jar, rubber band and cheesecloth.  For powders, you can substitute a sifter.

Now, I'm going to list my recipes for my uncrossing supplies.  I initially got the recipe for uncrossing oil from Judika Illes' excellent book, "The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells".  Then I made adjustments to it based on the material in Devi Spring's post on uncrossing, as well as my own research on uncrossing herbs via Cat Yronwode's "Hoodoo Herb & Root Magic", and other bits of information picked up from various blogs and internet resources.  The recipe for the uncrossing oil is important here because I based the recipes for all my other uncrossing supplies on it.  Also note that the ingredients change depending on the particular item, as you'll see below.

All herbs, unless otherwise noted, are ground up.

After straining out the herbs

1. Uncrossing Oil

• 3/4 cup Castor oil
• 1/4 cup Jojoba oil
• 1/2 tbsp Hyssop
• 1/2 tbsp Rue
• 1/2 tbsp Salt
• 1 pinch Lemon Balm
• 1 pinch Black Pepper
• 1 pinch Sage
• 1 pinch Myrrh
• 1 pinch Frankincense
• 1 small length of broken chain

Combine the oils and pour them into an appropriately-sized bottle or mason jar.  Grind up the herbs, salt, and resins and then combine them.  Add all the dry ingredients, including the chain, to the oil.  Seal the container and shake it until the herbs are thoroughly mixed in.  Shake the container like this once a day for at least 3 days before using.  However, with mine I got a better infusion after more than a week.

The Uncrossing Oil when shaken

The recipe from the 5,000 Spells book calls for castor oil, but suggests adding some jojoba to make it flow better.  One interesting thing I discovered is that the castor oil would not combine with the jojoba, and so they kept separating and I have to shake the bottle before use.  Castor oil is very thick.  Jojoba, while having the feel and consistency of oil, I've heard it is actually a type of liquid wax.  While I didn't really like that they separated, it created an interesting visual effect!

The end product was not very strongly-scented, and mostly has an herbal kind of smell with hints of the castor oil.

2. Uncrossing Incense

• 1/2 tbsp Hyssop
• 1/2 tbsp Rue
• 1/2 tbsp Salt
• 1 pinch Lemon Balm
• 1 pinch Black Pepper
• 1 pinch Sage
• 1 pinch Frankincense

Grind up each ingredient and then combine them all.  Burn on self-igniting charcoal blocks.

One thing I should mention about this incense is that with the way I made it, it ended up not giving out much smoke when sprinkled on the charcoal.  The smoke from this incense isn't very strong and mostly has an herbal type of smell much like the oil did.

3. Uncrossing Powder

• 1 tbsp Flour, Cornstarch, or Talcum (hereafter referred to as the "powder base")
• 1/2 tbsp Hyssop
• 1/2 tbsp Rue
• 1/2 tbsp Salt
• 1 pinch Lemon Balm
• 1 pinch Black Pepper
• 1 pinch Sage
• 1 pinch Frankincense

Grind up each ingredient as fine as you can.  If needed, sift out the powdered herbs from the course, and continue grinding the course.  Once you have as much of them powdered as possible, combine them together and then mix them into the powder base.

For my first run at this, I used flour as the powder base.  So far it has worked decently.  I used cornstarch for another oil, which I'll mention in a future post.

4. Uncrossing Spiritual Bath

• 1 tbsp Hyssop
• 1 tbsp Rue
• 1 tbsp Salt

Combine the ingredients in a 2-quart pitcher and pour boiling water over them.  Stir and then leave to steep for at least 15 minutes.  Allow time to cool and then strain out the herbs before use.  Repeat this for each day of the uncrossing operation.

One thing that helped me was to make a pitcher of the spiritual bath the night before, and then when taking the bath the next day, add some hot water to the infusion to warm it up before use.

5. Uncrossing Floorwash

• 1 tbsp Hyssop
• 1 tbsp Rue
• 1 tbsp Salt

As you can see, this recipe is exactly the same as the spiritual bath; it's just put to a different purpose.  It's even made the same way.  Due to the size of my home and the fact that I was only going to spritz the floors with it, one batch of this stuff made with 2 quarts of water lasted me throughout the entire 3 days of my uncrossing operation.

If I made this stuff again, I would try to go with something like Chinese Floorwash instead of salt due to its reputation for breaking up bad conditions.

That's it for my uncrossing recipes!  What I'd like to cover next are the ingredients I used and why I used them:

• Hyssop:  This herb is a jinx-breaker and is also used to be free from one's own sin.  In essence, it cleanses away negativity and evil generated by oneself.
• Rue:  This one is a staple of defensive magic.  It is a spiritual cleanser known to avert the evil eye.  In counterpart to hyssop, it cleanses away negativity and evil from sources outside of oneself.
• Salt:  Salt is a spiritual cleanser par excellence.  It is used not only in spiritual cleansing, but also in protective work.
• Lemon Balm:  Breaks up old conditions and assists with healing.
• Black Pepper:  An aggressive protector, it provides defense while at the same time actively working against enemies.  It seems to me that last part can also translate into working against bad conditions, in a roundabout kind of way.
• Sage:  This is a protector, but it also reverses harm and is an herb of wisdom.  Thus, it seems to me that it can help give insight into the nature of the crossed condition, on top of reversing the harm done.
• Myrrh:  Protection, peace, healing.
• Frankincense:  This adds spiritual favor and power to any formula.  Thus, by adding it to the recipes, all the other ingredients are enhanced.
• Castor Oil:  This oil is mentioned in the 5,000 Spells book as having protective properties.  Going by the Doctrine of Signatures, it seems to me as though it would also have cleansing and purging properties...*ahem*.  I mean of a spiritual nature, of course!

It's been fun making these, and overall I'm pleased with the end products.  If you, dear readers, decide to try any of these yourself, let me know your results as well as any alterations made.  I'd love to hear them!

That's it for this post, folks.  My next post will cover the uncrossing operation itself, giving details on how I did it, what forces I called on for aid, and other such tidbits.