Vetiver oil

How to Use It

Hoodoo & Rootwork

• Money and luck: dress a green candle, a wallet or a lucky mojo with vetiver, sometimes with a few drops of patchouli.
• Uncrossing: vetiver is one of the grasses in traditional Van Van-style clearing blends; add a few drops to a floor wash to clear a jinx.
• Love: vetiver is traditionally worn to draw a lover and keep them close.

Witchcraft & Folk Magick

• Grounding and protection: anoint the soles of the feet or the doorstep for stability when life feels shaken.
• Anti-theft: dress the corners of a cash box or the frame of a shop door to guard what is inside.

A Simple Working

• On a Thursday, take a green chime candle and carve your name into it.
• Dress it with vetiver oil from the wick down towards the base.
• Set it on a saucer and surround it with a ring of coins.
• Light it and say what money or luck you are calling in and what it is for.
• Let the candle burn down.
• Put the coins in a jar near your front door and add one each week.

Pairs Well With

• A green chime candle: for money and luck.
• Patchouli oil: another earthy note for money drawing.
• Lemongrass oil: for a Van Van-style uncrossing blend.
• A lodestone: dressed with vetiver to hold luck.

What You Receive

Vetiver oil in 2 dram, 1 oz and 16 oz (1 lb) sizes.

Origin & Lore

Vetiver (Chrysopogon zizanioides) is a tall grass from India whose dense, deep roots hold the scent. The roots were woven into mats, fans and screens, used to flavour drinks and sweets, and distilled for perfume. Haiti, Java and Réunion are now major growers of vetiver for its oil.

In the hot season across northern India, screens woven from vetiver root, called khus tattis, were hung in doorways and wetted so that the breeze came through cool and fragrant.

In old New Orleans, bundles of vetiver root were tucked into armoires and drawers to scent linen and keep moths away, and the plant became part of the city’s Creole household life. In India its Hindi name khus is used for both the root and the cooling sherbet flavoured with it. Cunningham places vetivert under Venus and Earth and lists it for love, hex-breaking, luck, money and anti-theft.