Camphor in Folk Work
It is added in small quantity to a bath or a wash, rubbed on the skin or the temples as a cooling medicine, kept in a dish in a room to keep the air and the influence clean, and used to 'cool' a person who has been crossed and is running hot. In some accounts it is carried in a hand.
This entry deliberately points at the existing catalogues rather than duplicating them: the plant is `camphor` in herbs.json and the incense is `camphor` in incense_resins.json, and the two files own those claims. What is recorded here is the folk-magical use, which neither of them carries.
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- CamphorCamphor in conjureCamphor iceCamphorated oil (household)
Practice
- Purpose
- To cool and clear, to protect a room or a person, and to settle a condition that has become hot
- Magical Uses
- PurificationProtectionHealingHome blessing
Nature and meaning
- Kind
- Substance
Details
- Region
- The southern United States and the Caribbean
- Era
- Nineteenth century to the present
- Background
Camphor is a plant product with a long medicinal and religious life, and in the Atlantic folk traditions it is used for cooling, for protection and for keeping a condition from taking hold. The corpus already catalogues camphor as a plant (herbs.json) and as an incense ingredient (incense_resins.json); this entry is not a second catalogue of the substance but a record of what these traditions do with it, which is a different claim from what the plant is. In the Caribbean it is also used in the preparation of protective and devotional objects, and in the southern United States as a household medicine before it was a magical material.
- Practice
It is added in small quantity to a bath or a wash, rubbed on the skin or the temples as a cooling medicine, kept in a dish in a room to keep the air and the influence clean, and used to 'cool' a person who has been crossed and is running hot. In some accounts it is carried in a hand. It is strong-smelling and volatile, and the traditions use it sparingly.
- Deity or saint
- ObatalaBabalu Aye
- Keywords
- CamphorCoolingProtectionClearingHousehold medicineVolatile
- Ethical Note
Camphor is toxic if swallowed and dangerous to infants and small children, and the older household practice of a camphor bag worn round a baby's neck has killed children; the corpus records the substance's use and its hazard together. It is also volatile and flammable, and should not be used near a flame or in a closed room at strength.
One of 3,120 entries in the Grimoire — the whole library, every cross-reference, is free to take. Take the whole thing Is it wrong somewhere?
Referenced by 0
Nothing in the library points at this entry yet.
More in Folk magic
The entries either side of this one in the same catalogue.
All of Folk magic →New entries, when they land
Occasional notes when a section of the grimoire is added or revised. No account, no tracking across sites, and one line to leave.