How to Protect Yourself from Brujería (Before It's Too Late)

[00:00:00] I was in the shower one morning, really early, and I pumped the shampoo thing. And out comes a little squirt of shampoo, and along with it, this stinky, rotting smell. It's like rotten eggs, sulfur. Like, you know that smell that people say that they hear when a demon's around? It was that. And I pump it again, get more out, and it's just filling this, like, the whole bathroom up with this stink.

[00:00:26] I unscrew it, and I'm still not sure, by the way. Unscrew it, hold it up to my nose, and I nearly gag. I can't believe how nasty this thing's stinking. That smell, it just made me think of one thing right away. Brujería. Now, of course, we talked about brujería here before. We talked about a lot of stories that involve brujería in other podcasts. Of course, I was kind of joking in my mind. I'm like, that has this brujería stuff. But then I'm like, wait a minute. Like, it could be.

[00:00:55] So, I started searching around for things that can combat this. Things that can help you out with brujería. Little things that you can do against santería. Little things you can do against witchcraft. Things that you can use to help yourself when you're being affected by these energies. You ready? My name is Edwin, and this is Paranormal Club.

[00:01:26] Welcome back, Spookies, to another episode. Spookies? Welcome back, Spookies. As you can tell right now, I am not in my usual spot. I'm actually setting up a whole new little studio area, and I am now in Mexico City. Well, I've been here for a little bit, but now I have my stuff. Now I won't be in that little crammed hotel room kind of thing. And we might be able to look cool around here. I'm setting everything up still. So, anyway, today we have a lot of stuff about brujería.

[00:01:55] So, please be careful where you're listening, what you're doing while you're listening. And if you're sensitive to that kind of material, please, please take care of it. Take care of it before you listen to this. First off, we're going to get started with witchcraft versus brujería. Right? Brujería, they're actually a little bit different. They're not really the same, but sometimes we use them interchangeably. I have some notes here, so I'm going to be reading from them because it does get a little complicated, but I'm going to do my best to try to simplify them.

[00:02:22] Right? So, here we go. Turns out brujería itself, it's like a Latin American thing. And whenever, when the Spanish conquistadores came by and they started imposing their own religion, their own ideas, the people, the indigenous people had obviously a pushback to it. Right? So, you might see brujería with what they call like ancestral practices. You might see them with Catholic saints and things like that.

[00:02:51] You might see them with other things that don't seem to have to do anything with that, but more with like nature, mushrooms, fruits, roots, dirt, and some more supernatural kind of things. Where we get more into like the dark part of it, which is dirt from a cemetery or a graveyard. Things like blood and hair and nails and teeth. There's a lot of things that get made with their own purposes to draw certain energies, whether they are good or bad. But, there is a slight distinction there.

[00:03:20] When we think of witchcraft, actually we think of Wiccan practices. Some people think it's just witchcraft is brujería. And, in some cases, it's the same. But, I just want to tell you like it's when you look it up, when you look at the terminology, they're not the same. Like they're not the same thing. And brujería shifts to a bunch of different things. A lot of different practices. Hopefully that wasn't confusing. It was a little confusing to me at first. But, it is a changing thing. It's an evolving practice.

[00:03:50] And, there's a lot of different things that are called brujería. When sometimes they're more like, do you know, I guess, something else. I don't really know. We're not going to get into that. A while back, I heard of this thing called mal de ojo. Or, mal ojo. Which is known as the evil eye. So, here's what I found, right? We have, and I find this really odd. Because the word for, in my eyes, kaak as ichi.

[00:04:18] And, the thing is that it's not like a practice itself. But, how it goes. I think the best way is just to give you an example of it. Is when a kid, a child, a baby, gets looked at. Like, somebody looks at them with a certain kind of envy, anger, bad intention. The kid can develop certain symptoms. Like, fever, nausea, diarrhea. A bunch of different things.

[00:04:47] And, they say that it's because of that. Of the way that they look at them. Right? You look at them like that. Whether it's a drunk person or a heated, like, ah, I'm angry. And you kind of happen to look at them directly in the eye. And, the child starts having symptoms. How do they deal with that? Well, some people obviously take them to the doctor. They're like, hey, this stuff is going on. We need some help. But, whatever the doctor offers doesn't work. Like, it won't work. So, they decide to come up with their own thing. Like, an actual cure to the evil eye.

[00:05:17] Here is how you diagnose this kind of thing. Right? They call it barrer con un blanquillo. The tradition of Maya doctors and curanderos perform a limpia. Which is a cleansing. By sweeping a raw, uncracked chicken egg all over the child's body. While reciting protective prayers. Now, the egg is then cracked directly into a glass of water. Alcohol. It's also in there. And, by reading the formations. You know, when you put an egg. I don't know if you ever did that experiment in school. But, you drop an egg into a cup of water. And, it kind of gets these weird shapes.

[00:05:46] They read these formations. Of the egg yolk. The whites. And, the curandero can determine if the ojo is there. Like, the malojo. If the test is positive. But, the curandero is like, yep. Somebody looked at you weird. Then, they end up doing this other thing. Which is, the healer sweeping away the malaire with plants. Like, highly aromatic medicinal plants. Like, fresh basil. And, then to fully break the fever. The child, they actually bathe them in this really strong boiled mixture of marijuana.

[00:06:16] And, cane alcohol. And, then the kid ends up feeling fine after that. However, since you know now that this is a possibility. Right? For people to get looked at this way. And, then they end up experiencing these things. Mainly to children again. They have ways to try to stop it. And, to protect infants from taking in this bad energy. What they do. They end up tying this red string bracelet. This is odd. Right? Keep an open mind here. They open. They get this red string bracelet. You put it around the wrist of the child.

[00:06:47] Like, long enough until the kid can talk. Like, until they learn to speak. Sometimes, they put, they say, the seed of a deer's eye. An ojo de venado. And, they sew it to the red string. If the seed's color naturally darkens from light brown to dark brown. It means that the seed fully absorbs the negative eye. The negative effect. However, if it doesn't, something else is going on. Most of the time, it darkens. I mean, it's supposed to absorb it.

[00:07:15] So, once the seed goes to dark brown. They need to replace it right away. Because, it already absorbed all of this. But, what do we do when we feel like things are just not going right. Ever. And, we need to get the real stuff. Right? Like, the stuff to prevent things. Like, I've seen things in, like, shops. Like, rooster something soap. To red soap. To candles. And crystals. And, all these kinds of things. And, I don't understand a lot of it.

[00:07:44] But, there are some that are a little more bizarre. Here we go. Right? This one's called the lemon cross. This is for insomnia. When you can't sleep. Also, when you're cursed. If you think you've been cursed. Or, you're suffering from sleeplessness. Because of these bad vibes. Grab a lemon. And, you cut it. Like, first. What is it? Horizontally. Vertically. In the shape of a cross. And, you're supposed to put that in a glass of water. Put it directly under your bed. And, leave it there. Like, or next to your headboard.

[00:08:13] If you don't have a bed with, like. You can put anything under the bed. And, you need to keep it there for seven days. And, on the final day. You need to get the lemon. Throw it in the trash. And, take it out of the house right away. Because, that lemon already absorbed all the bad energy. And, you should be good. And, you should be sleeping like a baby. Another thing here. Aloe vera. Sabila. That's what I know it as. It's for the haters. And, the collectors. If you've seen a video that we have out there. That's called. Why I'm afraid of brujas. Or, why I'm afraid of witches.

[00:08:42] The Mexican brujas story. That I have on my channel. You're going to start seeing some comments here. To talk. You know, they just started. Try to pick fights, basically. So, for the haters here. Here's what you're supposed to do. Here's what I'm supposed to do. I am supposed to grab a sabila. An aloe vera thing. From the root. Directly. Tie it with the red string. And, put it on my front door. It should work. And, then also. Here's this one. This one's interesting. Right? This is a white coconut. This is for evil spirits. So, if a harmful spirit has been around. And, you know they're around. Something just doesn't feel right. Something's watching you.

[00:09:12] Feel this darkness. Heaviness in your home. Here's what you're supposed to do. Take a whole coconut. At dawn. Grate it. Like, grate the surface. With eggshell powder. Cascarilla. Until it's completely white. Place it in the corner of your home. And, using only your feet. Never use your hands. Right? Roll it all around your house. Like, just roll it around. By the way. If you touch it with your hands. You're going to absorb the bad vibes. Don't do that. Kick it. Roll it through every room in the corner of the house. Everything. Roll it through the front door.

[00:09:43] Then, like, once you get it through the front door and out. Now, you can pick it up. Pick it up. And, then you do this thing. Where it says, you pronounce a domination command three times. I don't know what a domination command is. It's probably a... It's probably a... I just thought of me saying, like... I own... Or, like... This is my domain. That's probably not it. It's probably actual commands. Like, don't follow my advice. Is it...

[00:10:12] Like, that reminds me of the office. The episode where he's like, I declare bankruptcy. Like... Anyway, inside joke there. Once it's outside, pronounce a domination command three times. Smash the coconut violently on the ground. Before throwing it away using protective gloves. So, you can pick it up before and then you have to use gloves. I would use gloves no matter what. Like, just to make sure you don't get those bad vibes. Also, the purple ribbons for pregnant protection.

[00:10:40] If you're pregnant or you may be pregnant. Here is how you can help a pregnant mother shield her baby from curses. You braid three purple fabric ribbons. Between 90 centimeters and 180 centimeters. For those of us, maybe almost a yard to almost two yards. Three feet or six feet. Something like that. Leave the ribbon overnight on a plate containing holy water and pinch of dirt. A pinch of dirt gathered from the front of a church.

[00:11:10] At dawn, tie the ribbon loosely and comfortably around the woman's belly. Just below her breasts. To be worn continuously until birth. And then buried or burned. So, for like nine months? For nine months. This one's a little more... A little weirder. Menstrual blood love spell neutralizer. Now, have you heard of love spells? Actually, in Latin America, you can see... I'm not sure if you can see them a lot. In California and the United States.

[00:11:37] Around Los Angeles, like East LA or South Central. You can find these on the corners. Like on street light. Like those lampposts. You can see them. They say like amarres or love spells. Things so you can use magic basically to get somebody to be with you. Here it is. Because love spells utilizing menstrual blood are really common. Like I said, really common in Latin America. Folk healers have a special counter ritual. So, if you're falling in love with someone that you wouldn't normally fall in love with.

[00:12:06] And you feel like, hmm, why am I having these feelings? It would probably have been love spelled. You light a single white candle. And take four large lemons anointed with olive oil. You hold the lemon in your left hand. Pass it all over the bewitched person's body. From feet to their head. And you absorb the curse that way. Slice the first lemon in half with a knife. Declare out loud. I send all these evils to the West. Why the West?

[00:12:34] What if someone else is in the West? They're sending them evils. Repeat the sweep and cut the remaining three lemons. Sending the evils to the South, East, and North respectively. Cover the cut lemons entirely with common salt. Throw them in the trash. And let the white candle burn out completely. That's if you're falling in love with someone that you wouldn't fall in love with. And they're obsessed with you. And you can tell. You can always tell. Anyway, garlic and the salt barrier against malice. So, to prevent bad intentions. Which happens.

[00:13:04] You know, my mom always told me about ambidias. Be careful with envy. People that they see that you have something and they want it. Or they see that you have something and they think you don't deserve it. So, they wish that you didn't. And they try to do everything in their power so that things turn out badly for you. And when things go bad, they're the ones who celebrate. They're the happiest ones. They're also sometimes really fake. Anyway, my mom warned me about all this stuff. I don't know if you have, like, for example, for me, Mexican mom.

[00:13:34] Like, if you have Mexican parents and American parents, you might have heard stuff like this. What did they warn you about? Maybe I'll tell you about this one day. But, like, my mom used to have, like, these really crazy scenarios that she would tell me. She still tells me. And things to be careful of. That's a whole other topic. Anyway. So, to prevent bad intentions. Sorcery works, also known as sortilegios. Or possessing spirits from escaping a room. Use mortar to crush springs of dried mint.

[00:14:04] Cilantro. Rosemary. Thirteen rose petals. A tablespoon of white pepper. A tablespoon of black pepper. Dried tobacco leaves. A white chrysanthemum. Two cloves of garlic. A few drops of rose and citronella oils. And you mix this herbal paste entirely with granulated salt. And pour a thin protective barrier along the bottom edge of a door. You keep the door closed for 8 to 12 hours to charge the boundary. Creepy. Alright, next one. The Monday road opener.

[00:14:33] The abrecaminos. Right? I've heard of this one. The incense. So, Monday is highly sacred, as they say. It is a day of souls and spirits. So, to clear away bad fortune, he placed a hot charcoal disc in a cauldron. And what are we? In a cauldron? Who has a cauldron? You guys have cauldrons? Once it is glowing white, sprinkle a pinch of 13 specific herbs on it. Rosemary. Eucalyptus. Peppermint. Lemon peel zest. Brown sugar. Coarse salt. White pepper. Dry garlic. Powdered sunflower root.

[00:15:03] Common wormwood. Which is a henna. Star anise. Cardamom. Lavender. Walk the smoking cauldron into every corner of the house and cleanse the entire living space. Oh, kind of like how priests do it in the church. Like, you go and you just smoke the whole place. You remember a story I told you one time about when we tried to do that in a hostel where I used to work. And the people there did it, and they set off all those smoke detector alarms. And it was at night, too. Like, really late. So, just be careful what time you do that.

[00:15:33] You know, you just smoke the house that way. Here's another one. This one is about frogs. Like, rotten frogs remedy for drunks. If you've been drinking a lot of alcohol, or you know somebody who has been drinking a lot of alcohol, and you want to help them out, this is one of the rituals that they make. This mother was going to a curandera to say, Hey, I need help. My son just drinks all the time. He doesn't stop drinking. I don't know what to do. So, sad situation, right? This is a serious issue.

[00:16:02] Like, it's understandable. We probably know somebody who has gone through this, or somebody, a family who has suffered because of this. The cure for this is you grab a bottle of alcohol, of wine or whatever they drink, and you get three live frogs, and you dump them into that bottle, and you seal it. Now, the frogs are going to die in there. They're going to get drunk first, and they're going to die, and they're going to rot. The person with the problem of alcoholism.

[00:16:27] They eventually get that taste of that ranted stink of the frog, and they are not going to drink anymore. It's little by little, they're just going to quit on their own. Well, with the help of the frogs. That one sounds like something, you know, is nasty, and it's going to make you quit right away. Okay, so does that mean I should stop showering? Because that smell of that shampoo, my goodness. Now, you're probably wondering, why do I use shampoo, right?

[00:16:57] It turns out, like, sometimes my head gets sticky with, you know, when you sweat, when you're dirty or whatever. In the morning, too, if I sweat at night or whatever, I'm just like, ah, and it washes clean off, so it's squeaky. It just doesn't. But you can also use body wash, regular soap, bar of soap, whatever. But, like, that shampoo, man, that thing really stinks. Like, it, oh, I'm thinking of that right now. Oh, that was a really nasty smell. Anyway, so that brings up an important topic here.

[00:17:24] Do you think you have ever been cursed by brujería? Do you know somebody in your family who has been affected by brujería? And I keep teasing this, and I've been teasing this for a while, but my family has a really strong and very, like, a sensitive topic for everybody in my mom's side of the family with brujería. So that has affected them directly, and indirectly has affected me and my fear of brujas when I hear brujas stories.

[00:17:50] So if you or your family has stories of brujería, please send them my way. You can email me. My contact information is always in the description. You can also DM me. I'm very interested in hearing your stories. So that's all I got for you this week. Thank you so much for checking out the episode. I know it was short and sweet. We just got through some of these, you know, things to help ourselves with brujería. But next week, we're going to get into more of a darker topic.

[00:18:18] Things about curanderos. Things like actual magic that has been documented by people that have witnessed a lot of these things taking place. And trabajos, works, the bad curses that have been removed and the means as to how they were removed. So make sure you tune in next week for that one. We're also going to go into, we're slowly, we're getting into more of the darker topics. People have been asking me a lot about brujería, a lot about santería.

[00:18:47] I mean, there's an endless amount of research that we have to do. We're never going to cover it all, but we can do this in parts. So we can get more into it and learn about all this stuff. Be sure to subscribe so you get next week's episode. As always, thank you very much for listening. Keep it scary, everyone. See you soon.