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The Spellbook · Cleansing

The Spellbook · Vodou & Hoodoo

Hoodoo Floor Wash for Blessing a New Home

How to make and use a hoodoo floor wash to cleanse and bless a new home, washing from back to front and out of the door, with its African American history.

  • TraditionAfrican American hoodoo, southern United States, 19th–20th century
  • ForCleansing, Home & hearth, Blessings
  • DifficultySimple
  • Time1–2 hours, depending on the size of the home
  • WhenBefore moving furniture in, or soon after moving; many workers prefer a waning moon to clear and a waxing moon to bless
Painting by Juho Rissanen.
Painting by Juho Rissanen.Juho Rissanen · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

In hoodoo, a house is cleaned spiritually as well as physically by scrubbing the floors, doorsteps and thresholds with a herbal "floor wash". Moving into a new home is one of the most common occasions: the wash is meant to clear away whatever the previous occupants left behind — their quarrels, troubles or bad luck — and to make the place ready for the new household. The method follows the customary pattern of working from the back of the house to the front door, then out across the step.

How to do it§

  1. Clean first. Remove dust, cobwebs and debris, starting high and working down. Sweep all floors from the back of the house towards the front (see Sweeping Out Bad Luck).
  2. Brew the herbs. Pour boiling water over a good handful of lemongrass, basil, rosemary or bay, cover, and leave for twenty minutes. Strain.
  3. Mix the wash. Fill the bucket with warm water. Add the soap, the salt, the herb tea, a splash of vinegar or lemon juice, and a few drops of Van Van oil if you have it. Stir it with your hand while saying what the wash is for — for example, in your own words: "Clean out what does not belong here; make this house ready for peace and good luck."
  4. Pray. Many hoodoo workers read a psalm over the bucket. Psalm 23 is a favourite for protection and peace, Psalm 61 ("a strong tower from the enemy") for a home, and Psalm 91 for safety.
  5. Wash from back to front. Begin in the room furthest from the front door. Wash the floor, and if you like the skirting boards, windowsills and door frames, moving steadily towards the front of the house. Wash each doorway as you pass through it.
  6. Out of the door. Finish by washing the inside of the front threshold and the doorstep, then the steps and porch, working outwards towards the street.
  7. Throw out the water. Toss the remaining water out of the front door onto the ground, towards the east or the street, or carry it to a crossroads and pour it out there, as tradition advises. Then rinse the bucket.
  8. Bless the house. Some workers make a second, fresh bucket with a little honey or sugar and basil and wash the threshold inwards to invite blessings. Light a white candle in the main room, say a prayer of thanks, and welcome the first visitor with bread and salt.

Origins and history§

Washing floors and doorsteps for spiritual purposes is well documented in African American folk practice. Zora Neale Hurston's Mules and Men (1935) and Harry Middleton Hyatt's interviews from the 1930s onward describe the scrubbing of steps and floors with herb teas, saltpetre, bluing, ammonia, urine or commercial preparations, either to remove harmful "dust" laid by an enemy or to attract customers and good luck. Doorsteps were especially important, since powders and "tricks" were believed to be laid there for a person to step over. The practice combines West and Central African concerns with purity and the threshold, European folk cleaning lore, and Christian prayer.

BLACK AND WHITE GLASS LANTERN SLIDE. LABEL READING" FORDING SHINUMO CREEK, ABOVE BASS' CAMP GRAND CANYON, ARIZ F.E.M.". PACK OF MULES AND MEN FORDING THE CREEK. WITH A GROUP OF SLIDES FROM THE MATTHES SURVEY…
BLACK AND WHITE GLASS LANTERN SLIDE. LABEL READING" FORDING SHINUMO CREEK, ABOVE BASS' CAMP GRAND CANYON, ARIZ F.E.M.". PACK OF MULES AND MEN FORDING THE CREEK. WITH A GROUP OF SLIDES FROM THE MATTHES SURVEY…Grand Canyon National Park · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the twentieth century the spiritual supply trade sold ready-made floor washes. The best known, "Chinese Wash", was marketed for cleaning away evil and bad luck; the origin of its name is unclear, and it may reflect the association of Chinese-run laundries with cleanliness in the early twentieth-century American city. Historians such as Carolyn Morrow Long and Jeffrey Anderson place these products within hoodoo's long history of adapting commercial goods to traditional ends, and Yvonne Chireau and Katrina Hazzard-Donald emphasise hoodoo's roots in African American experience. See hoodoo and rootwork and protective magic.

Variations§

A business wash is done with the same pattern but ends by washing the threshold towards the inside to draw customers in. Some add a little ammonia to the bucket (never with bleach or vinegar). European and Jewish housewarming customs of bread and salt, and Scottish first-footing, offer parallel ways of welcoming luck into a new home.

Safety and good sense§

Never mix ammonia with bleach or with vinegar-based or acidic cleaners: the fumes are dangerous. Vinegar and lemon can damage natural stone, marble and some waxed wood; test first or leave them out. Wet floors are slippery — keep children and pets away until dry, and wear gloves if your skin is sensitive. Dilute essential oils, and remember they are toxic to cats. Do not pour salty water onto plants you want to keep. A floor wash is a blessing, not a substitute for proper safety checks, pest control or repairs in a new home.

Sources and further reading§