Reversible tin candle

How to Use It

Hoodoo & Rootwork

• Return to sender: set the tin on a mirror, face up, and burn it while saying that whatever was sent goes back to the one who sent it.
• Psalm work: read Psalm 37 aloud at each lighting, a psalm long used in hoodoo reversing and against enemies.
• Disposal: take the spent tin and wax to a crossroads and throw it over your left shoulder, walking away without looking back.

Demonology & Black Magick

• Mirror box: place a name-paper of the person you believe is working against you face down beneath the tin, so the reflected work goes straight to them.
• Burned on a Saturday for return work that is meant to land hard on the sender.

A Simple Working

• Lay a small round mirror flat on your altar.
• Write the words return to sender on a slip of paper and place it under the mirror.
• Set the tin on the mirror and ring it with a little black salt.
• Light the candle and read Psalm 37 aloud.
• Burn for an hour each night, snuffing with the lid, until it is spent.
• Wrap the empty tin, salt and paper together and leave them at a crossroads.

Pairs Well With

• A small mirror: to reflect work back from beneath the candle.
• Black salt: to ring the base in reversing work.
• Reversing oil: for dressing the mirror and petition.
• A red and black double action candle: the classic hoodoo reversing light.

What You Receive

One sandalwood-scented reversible candle with crystal chips, poured in a tin with a lid, 120 g, Mysore wood scent.

Origin & Lore

Reversible or reversing candles come from African American hoodoo and the spiritual supply trade that grew around it. The classic form is a red candle dipped in black, burned so the black layer is cleared away; the same intent is carried into botánica candles like this one, burned to strip off crossed conditions and return them to their source.

A reversing spell does not destroy the harm sent your way. It turns it around and points it home.

Reversing candles became standard stock in the hoodoo drugstores and mail-order spiritual houses of the early 20th century, when red-and-black double action tapers were sold for returning evil. Mirrors have a long place in this work across the South, set facing out of windows or used in boxes to bounce harm back where it came from.