There are dozens and dozens of formulas out there on this simple recipe that has it's traditional formulation , but people altered it and added all this other ingredients so many times that it became hard to tell what the real recipe is .
I will speak from the aspect of Hoodoo where this is a biggest nerve wreaking theme .
However traditional Witches shall get my point and easily compare it to situation Neo pagan / Neo Wiccan and New age recipes against traditional one .
Traditionally Four thieves vinegar is made by adding following plants in any type of vinegar and toping them ( covering with vinegar completely )
- rosemary
- sage
- thyme
- lavender
Hoodoo correspondences for herbs listed goes as follows ( same order as in recipe )
- protects against evil and cleanses , gives women domination in home , fidelity
- wisdom , discernment , cleansing , spell reversal
- courage , ending nightmares , money spells ( mostly oil form for this purpose )
- love spells , peace spells
And the 4TiV is used in Hoodoo as a protection , banishing or a hexing agent ( ! )
So this can not be the formula , can it ?
Here is what Rootworkers use today usually
1.Cheep red wine that stood open for few days
Crushed and peeled few garlic cloves inside
2. In apple cider or red wine vinegar soak :
-garlic (crushed or whole),
-red pepper (crushed),
-black peppercorns (whole), and
-black mustard seed (whole).
Let's see the correspondences here ( in conjure style ) shall we
-garlic - banishment , exorcism , demon repelling all manners of evil , protection
-Red pepper - used to make poeple move away , remove crossed conditions and sent them back , protect from and banish evil , to cause confusion and misfortune to another, used also in discord and divorce , argument spells
-Black pepercorns , whole to get rid of evils or to cast it on someone , also to make someone move away
-Black mustard seeds , to disrupt actions of adversary, to cause an "inflammatory" confusion
So now we are on the spot . The use of this formula ( either of the two ) would be protection , banishment , hexing or moving someone away
Here is Marie Levaeu spell to prove this
TO MAKE SOMEONE MOVE AWAY
_________________________
On a piece of parchment write the person's name on it. Place this in a bottle and cover with Four Thieves Vinegar. Seal the bottle and throw it into a moving body of water. Marie Laveau asserts that as the bottle is carried away by the water, so shall this person be removed from your location.
I saw formulas that include lemongrass , tarragon , mint , basil , onion and but those are obviously recent formulations and most certainly not Four thieves vinegar , or Infusion of the Grave robbers as also referred sometimes .
Yet the first formula is the most traditional and believed to originate from French in 15th century when plague had taken so many lives .
However that formulas does not correspond magickal use of the Four thieves vinegar , actually not Even by European folk witchery as the uses of herbs are way to diverse in the recipe even in European folk tradition.
The other recipe is hardly to be used at that point in French as French people ( though curiously keen on garlic ) , just adore the four herbs mentioned and were always native in French and Europe . However it is perfect fit to the magickal use of Four thieves vinegar .
NOTE : Do not tell me that Four thieves vinegar for mundane , medicinal purposes and ones for Magickal purposes are not the same , because it is well know that Four thievs vinegar is one of many formulas that were made for mundane purposes but found ti have magickal properties therefore incorporated in magickal practice .
So I ask You dear fellows both Rootworkers , Occult practitioners , Witches , Wiccans to comment here and tell me what version would You use ? Or do You use ? Why ? What of the recipes You consider "true" , or original recipe ?