A material used for hexing people in Hoodoo. Normally using dry graveyard dirt, shredded snake skin or head and ash.
A lot of people add more ingredients to it to make it more potent. These can be:
- Sulphur
- Salt
- Shells of insects (powdered)
- Faeces
- Gun powder
- Chilli Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Paprika or other Red Pepper
- Black Pepper
- Ground Bones
- Sage
- Mullein (American)
- Black Shards of Iron Filings from an Anvil
Rarely people use it to protect homes by mixing graveyard dirt from a loved one’s grave with salt and pepper. This was popularised recently by a mistake in Supernatural, but was very rare in real Hoodoo. Goofer means to kill someone with a powder.
Ignore anyone who tries to suggest substituting graveyard dirt for a herb. This is bogus. There is however a special process of collecting the dirt which is very traditional in the Afro-Caribbean Community in America. Commonly a person would put down an American coin, called a mercury dime, on the grave to pay for the dirty taken, these days it can be substituted for another dime or 10 pence. It’s important that the earth is taken from a relevant grave like that of a murder to cause deaths (this can be dangerous because they might prefer to take it out on you). I think a soldier might be better they at least would follow orders and they often appreciate an offering of a thimble of Whisky (most people in the military learned to drink whisky whether they liked it or not. For protection you might use dirt from the grave of a loved one / deceased relative who might like to protect you or a soldier, a policeman maybe even a grandma, but don’t add this to Goofer dust just a bag or pot is good. Make sure you leave an offering in addition to the dime you could leave Flowers, Sweets, Tea or Coffee, Alcohol particularly creature comforts they enjoyed when they were alive.