Alum stone

How to Use It

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Evil eye removal: in Moroccan and South Asian folk practice a piece of alum is passed around the body and dropped into fire, and the shape it melts into is read for the source of the envy.
• Ward stone: keep a chunk on a windowsill or near the door as a protective piece.

Hoodoo & Rootwork

• Silencing: a name-paper is wrapped around or tucked beside a piece of alum to stop gossip and slander.
• Shutting a mouth: crushed alum goes into sour jars and binding work so the target’s words dry up.

A Simple Working

• Write the gossiper’s full name on a small slip of paper.
• Fold the paper away from you.
• Place it in a small jar and lay a piece of alum on top.
• Add a splash of vinegar to sour their words.
• Close the lid and say: “Your mouth is shut against me.”
• Seal the lid with wax from a black chime candle and keep the jar out of sight.

Pairs Well With

• Slippery elm, used in rootwork to stop gossip.
• Vinegar, the base of souring work.
• A black chime candle, to seal the jar.
• Rue, a long-standing companion against the evil eye.

What You Receive

Alum stone, available in 1 lb.

Origin & Lore

Alum stone is potassium aluminium sulphate, a mineral salt that forms clear, glassy crystals. For centuries it fixed dyes in cloth, prepared leather, cleared cloudy water and served barbers as a rub after shaving.

Touch alum to your tongue and your mouth draws tight. That puckering bite is exactly why rootworkers reach for it when a mouth needs shutting.

Alum has been worked since antiquity; Pliny the Elder described its use in dyeing. Reading melted alum to diagnose and remove the evil eye is still practised in Morocco today.