Dragon’s Blood oil

How to Use It

Hoodoo & Rootwork

• Uncrossing: dress a white or red candle with the oil and burn it over a petition to break a jinx or crossed condition.
• Power and protection: a drop added to any other formula is used to strengthen the working; anoint the four corners of a house for warding.
• Return of a lover: red candles dressed with dragon’s blood are worked to draw back someone who has strayed.

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Banishing: anoint a black candle with the oil and burn it at the waning moon to drive out an unwanted influence.
• Courage: wear a drop on the wrists before confrontation, competition or a hard conversation.

Ceremonial & Occult Magick

• Mars work: the oil suits Martial rites of strength and defence, dressed onto red candles on a Tuesday in the hour of Mars.
• Ink and talismans: a drop of the oil is sometimes added to red ink used for writing protective seals and sigils.

A Simple Working

• On a Tuesday, take a red chime candle and carve your name down its length.
• Dress the candle with dragon’s blood oil from the middle outward in both directions.
• Set it in a holder ringed with a circle of sea salt.
• Light it and say, “Nothing sent against me stands; my strength returns.”
• Let it burn down completely.
• Sweep up the salt and throw it out away from the house.

Pairs Well With

• Dragon’s blood resin: to burn as incense alongside the oil.
• A red chime candle: for strength and protection.
• Sea salt: for a protective circle.
• Frankincense resin: a classic pairing for consecration and protection.

What You Receive

Dragon’s Blood oil, a scented anointing oil, available in 2 dram and 1 oz.

Origin & Lore

True dragon’s blood is a deep red resin from several plants, including the dragon trees of Socotra and the Canary Islands and certain rattan palms of Southeast Asia. It has been used since antiquity as a dye, varnish, pigment and incense. Dragon’s Blood oil is a scent named after that resin.

Pliny the Elder believed dragon’s blood was exactly what it sounded like: the blood of a dragon crushed in battle with an elephant.

Socotra, an island off Yemen, is home to Dracaena cinnabari, the dragon’s blood tree, whose red resin was traded around the ancient Mediterranean. The resin has also been used to colour varnishes for furniture and musical instruments.