Seven Powers incense sticks

How to Use It

Folk Catholicism & Spiritism

• General blessing: light a stick before the Seven African Powers image with a seven-colour candle, asking each power in turn for help in its own area.
• Seven-day devotion: burn one stick on each of seven days, dedicating each day to a different Orisha.
• New home: smoke each room on moving day and place the image facing the front door.

Hoodoo & Rootwork

• All-around work: burn it with a seven-colour candle and a petition covering money, love, health and protection when you need help everywhere at once.
• Sealing a hand: pass a mojo bag built for overall luck through the smoke seven times.

A Simple Working

• Place a Seven African Powers candle on a plate.
• Around it, set seven small offerings, such as seven coins or seven pieces of fruit.
• Light the candle and one stick of Seven Powers incense.
• Name each of the seven Orishas aloud and state one thing you ask of each.
• Repeat the incense each day while the candle burns.
• When the candle is finished, share the fruit outdoors and keep the coins on your altar.

Pairs Well With

• Seven African Powers candle: the classic seven-colour devotion candle.
• Seven African Powers oil: to dress candles in the same work.
• Seven African Powers image: a focus for the altar.
• Incense holder: to keep the stick upright beside the candle.

What You Receive

Seven Powers stick incense, 20 sticks per pack.

Origin & Lore

The Seven African Powers (Siete Potencias Africanas) is a grouping from Latin American folk Catholicism and botánica practice that brings together seven Orishas, usually Elegua, Obatala, Yemaya, Oshun, Shango, Ogun and Orunmila, each paired with a Catholic saint. It is not a formal part of initiated Lucumí worship, where each Orisha is served individually, but it is widely used by devotees and rootworkers who want the help of all seven at once.

One image, seven saints and seven Orishas: the Seven African Powers print hangs in botánicas from Miami to the Bronx, with the crucified Christ at the centre and seven medallions around him.

The familiar Seven African Powers image is a twentieth-century print, created for the botánica trade. Each Orisha appears in the form of the saint he or she is syncretised with: Shango as Saint Barbara, Yemaya as Our Lady of Regla, Oshun as Our Lady of Charity, Obatala as Our Lady of Mercy, Ogun as Saint Peter, Orunmila as Saint Francis and Elegua as Saint Anthony or the Holy Child.