Thursday, October 13, 2011

Snake Oil

I know a good number of atheists, and I browse Reddit regularly, so I get to hear a good amount of gripe about pseudoscience, alternative medicine, spiritual practices, and others.  Of course, the common nickname for people who advocate such things is "Snake Oil Salesmen".

I was recently hanging out with a friend of mine of a rather chaote bent ("Jewel" from the Interview Spell post), and I got an idea to formulate a condition oil called Snake Oil and sell it at the local Pagan Pride Day next year.  She found it hilarious and thinks I should do it, especially considering that the local pagan community has a number of atheists who, while not religious about it, participate in the culture.  I think it would be hilarious to show up at a pagan gathering, selling Snake Oil!  That's just the way my sense of humor is.

The thing is, some occult suppliers already make and sell something called Snake Oil!  Namely, I found Snake Oils by Anna Riva and by AzureGreen.  It's mostly for money and legal issues, with some healing and cursing undertones.  But I can't find a recipe and I still want to make my own and sell it!

This is gonna be so much fun...LOLZ!

3 comments:

  1. Hah! This is a totally awesome idea. I like the idea of a Snake Oil for "pathfinding"/"epiphany"/"active insight"-type work (think of following the serpent on the tree of life). Or on the flip side, even as a "dark Mercury", for hiding deceit, making lies more believable, etc.

    Let us know how it turns out!

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  2. it seeems to me like i read something that those potions had cocaine in them. the research sounds fun tho. good luck with that :)

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  3. I have two recipes from my books for Snake Oil.

    One is just snake root extract (Ageratina, don't know which species) and brown colorant.

    The other is Galangal and whatever "saturated snake skin" is. I would assume it's saturated with whatever carrier oil you're using.

    From "Ancient Wisdom":

    "A favorite to solve legal problems favorably. Used to annoint purple, brown or black candles. Protects and lends healing currents to the healer. Use alone or in combination with High John the Conqueror, Black Candle Tobacco or Jury Winning."

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