So I have seen a couple recipes for making Goofer Dust on the web, and a lot of them say you can ONLY use The skin of a rattle snake, sulphur, and Graveyard Dust. Where did this originate, was the recipe given to someone by a deity or Lwa?
I am asking as I want to make some Goofer Dust but I don’t have access to poisonous snakes, only poisonous spiders, so could I crush them and use them as a substitute? Same for Graveyard Dirt, I have heard that Patchouli Leaf or Cinnamon Sticks ground up works as a substitute, So how could I can’t use those instead of the normal ingredients?
Doing a ritual that has been practiced by many for a long time has added power to it because of that fact. When you alter the ritual, it will still work, but you’ve taken away from the power usage has given it.
So I could just use the substitutes and it would still work fine? Because thats all I have as I cannot openly buy rattlesnake skin, or any of the other stuff.
This is a tough one. Ultimately, what we are dealing with is working with local ingredients to cause a shift. The Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake was locally available in the areas that Hoodoo emerged. So, “traditionally” speaking (as the form varied by region and family) a powder without snake skin of any kind would not be goofer dust at that point, as it is a key ingredient along many recipes (along with graveyard dirt).
However, that is not to say what you come with will not be effective. I made a variation using boa skin (as it was available) to “strangle” my enemy to make him far too distracted to cause me anymore problems. It did not kill but that was not my intention to begin with. Instead finacinal situations, bad relationships, and eventual paranoia seemed to strangle them.
I would be interested in trying out water moccasin skin to see its effects, as it is the most venomous snake in my region.
On the ingredients aspect, since I am going to use poisonous spiders, should I ask Lady Arachne for permission to kill them for ritual, or should I just thank the spider for its assistance once I make the Goofer Dust?
Up to you really. If you are asking me what I would personally do, I would focus on thanking the spiders themselves as opposed to a deity that supposingly rules over them. It is their lives I am taking.
When I make powders, bathes, etc, I am working with the spirits of the ingredients themselves. This means I need to not only “feed” them life but show gratitude for their aid, especially if I am taking a life in the process. The aid from external spirits (ancestors, gods, etc) just adds more juice if needed but the backbone of it is your relationship to the ingredients themselves for this kind of magic.
But if you are under contract with a spirit with certain taboos, it would be wise to follow suit. You could do both to fulfill that need in that case.
Just found out most spiders are venomous. The only poisonous ones are the Black Widow and Brown Recluse, but is venomous and poisonous the same thing? Because don’t most spiders poison their prey to paralyze them so that the spider can eat the insect?
Outside of English there aren’t many languages that actually differentiate between the two. Even in my mother tongue we only have one word for both. So I’d say it doesn’t really matter.
But from what I’ve been told, venom is supposed to be something an animal injects, while poison is something you consume? (Or touch)
Scientifically speaking, the difference is this: If you bite it, and you die, then it is poisonous. If it bites (or stings) you, and you die, then it is venomous.
Two examples are the poison dart frog, the skin of which secretes a toxin, making it poisonous to touch or lick, and a cobra, whose fangs are connected to a poison producing gland, making it venomous (so it’s safe to lick…if you’re into that sort of thing).
