Sacred oils and waters play a huge role in my practice with Santa Muerte. I use them to anoint, bless, sanctify, cleanse, and attune sacred and magickal objects as well as my own body. Oils and waters can be charged and blended to carry almost any energy for a huge variety of magickal and sacred purposes. One of my favorite ways of utilizing them is to turn them into a sprays that can be used quickly, easily, and cleanly in a multitude of situations.
While I love the heady scents and decadent feel of oils, I usually prefer to use sacred sprays. I prefer them for several reasons, but primarily because they are lighter, cleaner, and easily portioned. For applications that require a heavier, more saturated, more sustained energy -- such as dressing candles, saturating a cloth amulet, initial consecration of a tool, etc. -- oils are perfect. However, oils are always a little bit messy; unless you’re applying them with a brush or a pipet (and really who does that?) so you’re going to end up with greasy hands. Sometimes that’s fine, but if I’m doing a quick attunement on my way out of the house I don’t necessarily want drips of oil on my work blouse. For everyday attunements and blessings, particularly things that are going to get multiple applications, I prefer a spray. For example, I use oils to consecrate newly purchased statues, but use blessing or offering sprays each morning when I center myself or make offerings. Sprays are also more lightly scented and evaporate quickly, meaning the items you’re anointing don’t get as wet. Sprays aerosolize and thus produce very light, even coverage on their target. You can use a spray on delicate items that would be damaged by too much liquid -- such as lace, hand painted items, delicate paper, or anything where more than mild absorption would be unfortunate -- oils are more likely to damage delicate items. You can even, very carefully, spray some electronics so long as you avoid vents (e.g. lightly mist a computer monitor or the solid face of a smartphone). However, for truly delicate items it would be best to lightly spritz a clean cloth and then gently wipe the item (or just fumigate them in incense smoke rather than using any liquid at all). TL;DR - use oils for “heavy” applications, and sprays for “light” or repeated applications.
I rarely have formal recipes when I make spiritual sprays, instead I center myself and ask La Flaca to guide me to create something pleasing to her. My general guideline for spiritual sprays is 4 parts water (holy water if appropriate), 2 parts rubbing alcohol (to aid evaporation and to act as a preservative), and 1 part scents. My scents are usually a combination of essential oils and pre-formulated colognes, such as siete machos or florida water. I will also often add a few pinches of salt, resin incense, a coin, or a milagro depending on the purpose of the spray. The goal is to create something that resonates with the energy you wish to impart and smells pleasing. Once the ingredients are mixed I like to let a spray sit on my altar to charge for at least a week.
Last month I made a spray to use as an offering to Santa Muerte. I wanted to be able to make a physical offering to her each morning, but I needed to be able to do it quickly and easily as my mornings can be quite hectic. I decided a spray would be the way to go because it was something I could make once with all the ritual formality that an offering really deserved, but would then be able to use it as I ran out the door to catch the bus. To make it I stood in front of my altar and asked Santa Muerte to guide me in creating something that would be pleasing to her to use both as an offering and that I could use to help attune items or center myself. I got a 4oz blue glass bottle and a spray top from a local herb and aromatherapy shop (find one near you if you can, they are amazing). I filled the bottle about ⅔ full with holy water from the last Santa Muerte rosary I attended. I then added a goodly amount of siete machos cologne (about ½ an inch up the bottle), a goodly pinch of copal resin, a pinch of dragon’s blood resin, about a teaspoon of sandalwood oil, and about a teaspoon of frankincense oil. Then I topped up the bottle with 90% rubbing alcohol, screwed in the spray top, and gave the bottle a good shake. I passed the bottle through some copal smoke and over the heat of a Santa Muerte candle while asking for her blessings. I let the bottle sit on the altar, next to my red Santa Muerte, overnight and asked Her to send me further instructions if more needed to be done to finish the spray. I’d thought about adding a pinch of salt for cleansing/grounding purposes, but was directed not to as it would have grounded out the energy of the spray. As the primary purpose of the spray was to be an offering the spray needed a fairly high vibration, so no salt. Ultimately, the spray ended up with a light siete machos scent, with notes of sandalwood and dragon’s blood rounding it out a bit. The oils in the spray give it a nice feel on the skin and the alcohol both preserves it and helps the liquid to evaporate more quickly. Over time the solid resins in the spray tend to melt into the liquid, creating a very nice energetic balance..
I use this particular spray almost every day. I spray each of my Santa Muerte statues (just one spritz) in the morning before I go to work and usually give myself a spritz as well. If I’m doing a formal working I will also spray any candles, amulets, herbs, etc., to consecrate them. One of the main benefits of using a spray, rather than other consecrations methods, is that there’s no clean up (as there would be with oils) and I don’t have to wait for incense or a candle to finish burning. I can use it whenever and wherever I need. Outside of ritual and devotional work I’ll often spray myself if I feel the need to shift my energies to a more sacred mindset. I even have a small 1oz spray bottle (you can usually find them in the travel area of any drugstore) that I keep in my bag that I can use on the go. My little bottle has the benefit of just looking like a small bottle of perfume, so it doesn’t even raise an eyebrow going through airport security.
Sprays are a versatile and convenient way to attune, consecrate, ground, or make offerings. I highly encourage you to try mixing different oils and herbs to create something unique that works for your intent and is harmonious with your own energies. I have unique sprays for grounding, cleansing, healing, even banishing. Use your imagination and may La Huesuda bless and guide you.
I rarely have formal recipes when I make spiritual sprays, instead I center myself and ask La Flaca to guide me to create something pleasing to her. My general guideline for spiritual sprays is 4 parts water (holy water if appropriate), 2 parts rubbing alcohol (to aid evaporation and to act as a preservative), and 1 part scents. My scents are usually a combination of essential oils and pre-formulated colognes, such as siete machos or florida water. I will also often add a few pinches of salt, resin incense, a coin, or a milagro depending on the purpose of the spray. The goal is to create something that resonates with the energy you wish to impart and smells pleasing. Once the ingredients are mixed I like to let a spray sit on my altar to charge for at least a week.
Last month I made a spray to use as an offering to Santa Muerte. I wanted to be able to make a physical offering to her each morning, but I needed to be able to do it quickly and easily as my mornings can be quite hectic. I decided a spray would be the way to go because it was something I could make once with all the ritual formality that an offering really deserved, but would then be able to use it as I ran out the door to catch the bus. To make it I stood in front of my altar and asked Santa Muerte to guide me in creating something that would be pleasing to her to use both as an offering and that I could use to help attune items or center myself. I got a 4oz blue glass bottle and a spray top from a local herb and aromatherapy shop (find one near you if you can, they are amazing). I filled the bottle about ⅔ full with holy water from the last Santa Muerte rosary I attended. I then added a goodly amount of siete machos cologne (about ½ an inch up the bottle), a goodly pinch of copal resin, a pinch of dragon’s blood resin, about a teaspoon of sandalwood oil, and about a teaspoon of frankincense oil. Then I topped up the bottle with 90% rubbing alcohol, screwed in the spray top, and gave the bottle a good shake. I passed the bottle through some copal smoke and over the heat of a Santa Muerte candle while asking for her blessings. I let the bottle sit on the altar, next to my red Santa Muerte, overnight and asked Her to send me further instructions if more needed to be done to finish the spray. I’d thought about adding a pinch of salt for cleansing/grounding purposes, but was directed not to as it would have grounded out the energy of the spray. As the primary purpose of the spray was to be an offering the spray needed a fairly high vibration, so no salt. Ultimately, the spray ended up with a light siete machos scent, with notes of sandalwood and dragon’s blood rounding it out a bit. The oils in the spray give it a nice feel on the skin and the alcohol both preserves it and helps the liquid to evaporate more quickly. Over time the solid resins in the spray tend to melt into the liquid, creating a very nice energetic balance..
I use this particular spray almost every day. I spray each of my Santa Muerte statues (just one spritz) in the morning before I go to work and usually give myself a spritz as well. If I’m doing a formal working I will also spray any candles, amulets, herbs, etc., to consecrate them. One of the main benefits of using a spray, rather than other consecrations methods, is that there’s no clean up (as there would be with oils) and I don’t have to wait for incense or a candle to finish burning. I can use it whenever and wherever I need. Outside of ritual and devotional work I’ll often spray myself if I feel the need to shift my energies to a more sacred mindset. I even have a small 1oz spray bottle (you can usually find them in the travel area of any drugstore) that I keep in my bag that I can use on the go. My little bottle has the benefit of just looking like a small bottle of perfume, so it doesn’t even raise an eyebrow going through airport security.
Sprays are a versatile and convenient way to attune, consecrate, ground, or make offerings. I highly encourage you to try mixing different oils and herbs to create something unique that works for your intent and is harmonious with your own energies. I have unique sprays for grounding, cleansing, healing, even banishing. Use your imagination and may La Huesuda bless and guide you.
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