Ammonia Solution ~ Filipino Conjure & Rootwork

Aqua Ammoniae

Also called Hartshorn Water, Spirits of Hartshorn, or simply (inaccurately) Ammonia, it is a solution of Ammonia in water, denoted by symbols NH3(aq). Ammonia is called water or spirit of Hartshorn because of the experimentation of the early chemists in the 17th century when they tried to distill ammonia solution from shavings of harts' (a species of deer) horns and hooves.

People pass ammonia inhalants under the nose when reviving someone suffering from the loss of consciousness or fainting.

It is also a standard household cleaner with a magical reputation in the Hoodoo tradition as a purifier, protectant, cleanser, and a polite substitute for chamber lye or urine. I know some practitioners conclude their house cleansing ritual by pouring a small amount of Ammonia down the drain.

Spiritual workers from New Orleans add a tablespoon of Ammonia to the Protection bath, which is mixed with salt and vinegar. Other practitioners from other parts of the Southern United States mix Ammonia, cinnamon powder, and saltpeter for Cleansing and Protection baths. Both spiritual baths are performed for nine consecutive mornings to ensure safety and defense from harm.

A common practice, especially among shop owners and storekeepers, is to add Ammonia to floor-scrubbing water with Chinese Wash, cinnamon powder, and sugar and to mop the corridor or sweep or scrub the sidewalk inward toward the front door of the shop while reciting Psalm 23, to draw good customers.

There's also an old-fashioned trick in African-American tradition where conjure men and women put a name paper of their convicted enemy in an empty sugar bowl. Then they put in red pepper, black pepper, nail, door key, and Ammonia. They cover the sugar bowl and set a second door key upright in the bowl, resting against the side, which they turn every day at noon to keep their enemy in jail. They add a little Four Thieves Vinegar every time they turn the key.

And, of course, the traditional reversing work where Ammonia is also utilized. This simple spell is performed by writing out the situation you want to turn around on a slip of paper and taped to the inside of the jar near the top, with the written part turned inward to hide your intention. The Ammonia is poured until the jar is about half full while stating your situation with a strong emphasis and praying over it. The jar is closed tightly and turned upside down to make the Ammonia cover the slip of paper and work its magic.

Be careful not to breathe the fumes when using Ammonia.

Materials needed for Ammonia Jar Spell to reverse situations and make them come out in our client's favor.

Taping the petition paper inside the mouth of the jar.

See, What Our Path Is

Being immensely interested in African diaspora religions and Folk Catholicism, we primarily honor our ancestors, Church saints, angels, folk saints, and Afro-Caribbean spirits such as loas and orishas. If we absolutely have to put a label on ourselves, we prefer the label of “Folk Judeo-Christian” as we live according to the customs and traditions of conjure workers and root doctors from the Deep South and syncretic followers of Christ in various nations of the Caribbean and Latin America.

Our spirituality includes West African-based Caribbean-style tradition as well as Esoteric Christianity and Yoruba religion. Generally, we practice Gullah folk magic popularly known in the Deep South as Hoodoo or Lowcountry Voodoo; the ancient wisdom founded by Orunmila in Ile-Ife called Ifa, and a bit of Lihim na Karunungan (Filipino Esotericism or Philippine Mystery Tradition).

Respect, What Hoodoo Is

Despite visible evidence of Central West African, Islamic/Moorish, Native American, Judeo-Christian, European, and even a few East Indian/Hindu, Chinese, and Latino/Caribbean retentions, influences, and admixtures, this does not mean that Hoodoo is an open and unrestricted system of eclectic magic.

Conjure, and Rootwork is rooted in African-American culture and Folk Protestant Christianity. Any practitioners of Hoodoo who did not grow up within African-American culture should still have a fuller understanding and high regard for its origin.

In the beginning, the early conjure doctors were entirely Black. The students were all Black, the elders were Black, the teaching was Black, and they focused only on Blacks as their audience. But other races were accepted when they had also been brought into the Hoodoo community and learned the tradition. Even so, we should still acknowledge that Hoodoo, Conjure, or Rootwork is not ours but only belongs to the Black community. We are just believers who are grafted into their rich yet humble tradition and, by word and deed, embrace genuine African-American folk spirituality and magic. This is all we can do for all the blessings we received from God and our Black ancestors.

Hoodoo's lack of religious structure and hierarchical authority do not mean that any person or group can appropriate or redefine it. If one cannot respect Hoodoo as it is and for what it is, then please, do not play with it.

Learn, How Conjure Is Worked On

Authentic Conjure is not all about blending and selling oils and casting spells online to make money. Hoodoo has its own spiritual philosophy, theology, and a wide range of African-American folkways, customs, and practices which include, but are not limited to, veneration of the ancestors, Holy Ghost shouting, snake reverence, spirit possession, graveyard conjure, nkisi practices, Black hermeneutics, African-American church traditions, the ring shout, the Kongo cosmogram, ritual water immersions, crossroads magic, making conjure canes, animal sacrifices, Jewish scriptural magic, enemy works, Seekin' ritual, magical incorporation of bodily fluids, etc.

Unfortunately, they are currently missing in marketeered or commercial Hoodoo, as they are being removed, disregarded, or ignored by unknowing merchants who simply want to profit from an African-American spiritual tradition, thus reducing Hoodoo to just a plethora of recipes, spells, and tricks.

Tim and I are completely aware that we are not African-Americans, so we are doing our best to retain and preserve the customs and traditions of the slave ancestors to avoid unnecessary conflict with the larger Black-Belt Hoodoo community and prevent them from labeling us inauthentic outsiders and our practice as mere 'cultural misappropriation.'

Accept, Who We Are

The byproduct of eons of slave history, Black supremacists believe that only people with African or African-American blood are real Hoodoo practitioners and are often inclined to consider themselves as the elite of the Hoodoo community; a place in which they believed that Whites, Latinos, Asians or any other races who do not have Black ancestry do not belong. Black supremacists are prone to be very hostile towards both “outsiders” and those accepting of them, fearing that their promotion and acceptance would dilute or even negate the Black identity of Hoodoo.

Although we do understand why some Blacks hold this stance, since a lot of people nowadays are misappropriating many aspects of Hoodoo and teaching the spiritual path even without proper education and training (for purely monetary purposes), we would, however, want to say that not all non-Black Hoodoo practitioners are the same.

WE respect what Hoodoo is, and we never try to change it, claim it as our own, disregard its history, take unfair advantage of it, speak against the people who preserve it, and mix it with other cultures (like our own) and call it Filipino/Pinoy Hoodoo, Gypsy Hoodoo or Wiccan Hoodoo because there are no such things.