Loteria (Lottery) tin candle

How to Use It

Hoodoo & Rootwork

• Ticket work: set your lottery or raffle tickets under the tin and let the candle burn for an hour before the draw.
• Lucky hands: rub a drop of a luck oil into your palms by the candle’s light before you play.
• Number dreaming: burn the candle at bedtime and write down any numbers seen in dreams to play the next day.

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Burn on a Thursday, the day of Jupiter, with a lucky charm on the lid to charge it before a game.

A Simple Working

• On a Thursday evening, set the tin on a green cloth.
• Lay your ticket or a written list of numbers under it.
• Put a pinch of cinnamon and a coin on the lid.
• Light the candle and ask for luck in the draw, naming the game.
• Let it burn for an hour, then snuff it with the lid.
• Carry the coin in your wallet until the draw.

Pairs Well With

• Lucky Hand oil: to dress the palms before playing.
• A lucky coin: charged on the lid and carried.
• Cinnamon: a classic money and luck spice.
• A dream book: for turning dreams into numbers to play.

What You Receive

One scented Lotería candle with crystal chips, poured in a tin with a lid, 120 g.

Origin & Lore

Lotería means lottery, and also names the much-loved Mexican picture-card game of chance. Lotería candles belong to the botánica tradition of luck and gambling lights, lit by players before buying tickets or sitting down to play.

The caller sings out a riddle, players hunt their boards for the picture, and the first to fill a line shouts the name of the game: ¡Lotería!

Gamblers in the American South long used dream books, such as Aunt Sally’s Policy Players Dream Book of the late 19th century, to turn what they dreamed into numbers for the policy lotteries, and hoodoo workers sold candles, oils and charms for luck at the game. The Mexican Lotería card game, with images such as El Gallo, La Dama and La Muerte, became a national pastime and its cards a familiar part of Mexican visual culture.