Quick answer: Ritual oil is a blend of a carrier oil with herbs, resins or essential oils, made to hold a specific intention such as protection, love, money or release. To use it, put a few drops on a candle, your skin, a doorway or a written petition while you speak your intention aloud. The oil does not replace your intention. It carries it.
There is a moment, right before you light a candle for something that matters, when you realize you want it to feel like more than lighting a candle.
That is what ritual oil is for.
Anointing is one of the oldest ritual acts in the world. Oil has been used to bless kings, consecrate temples, heal the sick and prepare the dead. In Southern folk magic, hoodoo and many other traditions, oils dress candles, mark doorways, and touch the body before an important conversation or a difficult day. The act is simple, but it changes the work. It slows you down, puts your hands on it and makes it intentional.
What is ritual oil?
Ritual oil, also called anointing oil, dressing oil or condition oil, is a blend made for a spiritual purpose rather than for scent alone.
Most ritual oils start with a carrier oil, such as sweet almond, jojoba or olive. Herbs, roots, resins or essential oils chosen for their traditional associations are added to it. A protection oil might hold herbs traditionally used for warding. A love oil might hold rose or other botanicals tied to attraction. Many are prayed over or blended on specific days or moon phases.
Ritual oil vs. essential oil: what is the difference?
An essential oil is a single concentrated plant extract, like lavender or rosemary. It is often too strong to put straight onto skin.
A ritual oil is a finished blend, usually diluted in a carrier oil, built around an intention rather than a single plant. Think of an essential oil as one ingredient and a ritual oil as the finished recipe.
How to use ritual oil: 5 ways
1. Anoint a candle
This is the most common use. Hold the candle and speak your intention. Put a few drops of oil on your fingertips and rub them onto the candle.
Many folk traditions use direction to carry meaning:
To draw something toward you, such as love, money or opportunity, rub the oil from the ends of the candle toward the middle, or from the top down toward you.
To send something away, such as bad luck, an energy vampire or an old habit, rub from the middle outward, or from the bottom up and away from you.
Use a light coat. Too much oil near the wick can make the flame flare. Wipe off any excess before lighting, and never leave a burning candle unattended.
2. Anoint yourself
Put a small amount on your pulse points before a ritual, a date, a job interview, a difficult family visit or any day you want your intention to walk with you. Common places are the wrists, the back of the neck, the throat and over the heart.
3. Dress your doorways and windows
For protection and home blessings, touch a drop of oil to the four corners of your front door frame, or draw a small cross or circle on the threshold. Do the same at windows, or at your car door and steering wheel.
4. Anoint a petition paper
Write your intention on a small piece of paper. Put a drop of oil on each corner and one in the center. Fold it toward you to draw, or away from you to release. Then place it under a candle or keep it in your wallet or on your altar.
5. Bless your tools and talismans
Use a drop to consecrate a new talisman, piece of jewelry, tarot deck or altar tool. Refresh it on the new or full moon. Our Talismans & Spell Items pair well with this kind of blessing.
Poetry, smithcraft, sacred wells, and the hearth fire. Flame of Brigid is made for creativity, inspiration, renewal, home blessings, purification, protection, and spiritual workings centered on restoration and tending what needs to grow strong again.
Soft as willow, deep as mercy. Inspired by Kuan Yin (Guanyin), the bodhisattva of compassion honored in living Buddhist and Chinese religious traditions, this oil is made for workings centered on compassion, mercy, forgiveness, peace, reconciliation, and approaching difficult circumstances with a softer heart.
Inspired by Durga, the warrior goddess honored in living Hindu traditions. Durga’s Shield is made for protection work, courage, strength, overcoming obstacles, defending what matters, and standing your ground when something requires both a strong heart and a steady hand.
Grace that attracts abundance. Inspired by Lakshmi, who is honored in living Hindu traditions, this ritual oil is made for wealth and prosperity work, good fortune, generosity, beauty, gratitude, and cultivating a life that has room to flourish.
For the seasons when the work is not to escape the dark, but to learn how to stand inside it. Queen of the Great Below is made for grief rituals, honoring loss and pain, underworld work, shadow work, grounding, endings, and finding your roots when life has stripped something away.
She passed through seven gates, surrendered what she carried, descended into the underworld, and returned changed. Descent of Inanna is made for shadow work, transformation, endings and beginnings, reclaiming personal power, and ritual work around the parts of yourself you can no longer avoid.
Gold, music, dance, and pleasure. Mirror of Hathor is made for beauty and glamour work, attraction, confidence, sensuality, creativity, celebration, and calling more sweetness and enjoyment into your life.
Playful, sensual, and fiercely protective of her own. Bastet's Sanctuary is a hand-blended ritual oil inspired by Bastet, the ancient Egyptian goddess associated with protection, the home, women, music, celebration, and perfume.
Solar fire with claws. An anointing oil honoring Sekhmet, lion-headed goddess of power and healing, for fierce confidence, protection and burning away what drains you.
The great mother of magic spreads her wings. An anointing oil honoring Egyptian Isis, for healing work, devotion, magical skill and restoring what was broken.
Rise from the waves radiant. A soft, glowing anointing oil honoring Aphrodite, for beauty, pleasure, magnetic attraction and learning to adore yourself first.
Love, war, gold and magic in one goddess. A golden anointing oil honoring Norse Freyja, for beauty, sensuality, wealth and the courage to take what is yours.
When the winds of change arrive, ride them. A fierce anointing oil inspired by Oya, Orisha of storms and transformation, for sudden change, clearing stagnation and courage.
The ocean holds everything. A cool, cleansing anointing oil inspired by Yemaya, Orisha of the sea and motherhood, for emotional healing, nurturing and gentle protection.
Golden, sweet and irresistible. A honey-bright anointing oil inspired by Oshun, the Orisha of sweet waters, love and abundance, for sweetness, beauty and prosperity that flows.
For battles you are meant to win. An anointing oil honoring the Morrígan, Irish Great Queen of fate and sovereignty, for courage, strategy and prophetic sight.
Turn what harmed you into armor. A protective anointing oil honoring Medusa as a symbol of survival, fierce boundaries and the gaze that stops harm in its tracks.
For rising after the descent and owning both sides of yourself. A sweet-dark anointing oil for Persephone, queen of the underworld and bringer of spring.
The Uncrossed Anointing Oil is a cleansing ritual oil designed to remove stagnant energy, spiritual heaviness, and the lingering negativity that accumulates in your field over time, restoring the energetic balance and clarity that makes every other intention, every other ritual, and every other working more effective. Uncrossing is one of the oldest and most foundational practices in ritual tradition, rooted in the understanding that some periods of difficulty are not simply circumstantial but are the result of crossed or blocked energy, an accumulation of spiritual residue that sits across your path and frequency like static across a signal, distorting what you are broadcasting and what you are capable of receiving.
The Goddess Energy Anointing Oil is an empowerment ritual oil crafted to awaken inner strength, feminine confidence, radiant presence, and the full embodiment of your highest self. It is designed to be used alongside the Goddess Energy empowerment ritual and the divine feminine and self-worth crystal pieces in the collection, refreshing and strengthening their energetic properties with every application so the frequency of awakened feminine power stays open, radiant, and fully embodied rather than dormant beneath the weight of daily life.
The Come Hither Anointing Oil is a ritual oil inspired by traditional Come to Me folklore, designed for rituals centered on drawing admiration, inviting romantic attention, and calling in eager pursuit rather than commanding it from a distance. It is devoted to the frequencies of magnetism, longing, and being remembered.
The Fast Luck Anointing Oil is a ritual oil crafted specifically for moments when you need things to move, designed to encourage momentum, fortunate timing, and the specific quality of vibrant, energized, forward-moving frequency that draws unexpected opportunities toward you while simultaneously propelling you toward them.
The Solar Success Anointing Oil is a ritual oil created to cultivate courage, vitality, confidence, and the specific quality of stepping boldly into leadership and authentic self-expression without the apology, the hesitation, or the self-diminishing habit of making yourself smaller than you actually are so that other people can be more comfortable with your presence.
Rich girl energy is not about what is in your bank account. It is about what you believe is available to you. It is the specific frequency of someone who does not question whether wealth is for her, who does not flinch at prices, who does not shrink her desires to fit a smaller version of what she thinks she's allowed to have. That frequency is a decision before it is a reality, and the reality tends to follow the decision with surprising speed once the energetic baseline is set correctly.
The Money Magnet Anointing Oil is a prosperity ritual oil created specifically for attracting paying clients, profitable opportunities, business growth, increased sales, and new streams of income. It is part of The Prosperity Collection, the House of Cleo Devine line built around the specific frequencies of financial magnetism, abundance activation, and the energetic conditions that allow wealth to move toward you and through you with increasing ease and velocity.
The Blockbuster Anointing Oil from House of Cleo Devine is a ritual oil created for overcoming symbolic obstacles, moving through delays that have resisted ordinary effort, and embracing the specific quality of fresh, determined, unimpeded momentum that becomes available when what has been blocking your path is genuinely, completely moved.
The Irresistible Anointing Oil from House of Cleo Devine is a ritual oil crafted for embracing sensual confidence, playful flirtation, genuine chemistry, and the authentic expression of your most compelling feminine allure. It is built around the specific frequencies of romantic draw, genuine connection, and the energetic conditions that allow love and meaningful relationship to find you at full signal strength.
Which ritual oil should you use? A guide by intention
Each of our ritual oils is hand-blended and inspired by a goddess or spiritual figure whose stories match the intention. Several honor figures from living traditions, so we encourage approaching them with curiosity and respect.
For love, beauty and self-worth
Born of Seafoam (Aphrodite) is for self-love, beauty and magnetic attraction, starting with adoring yourself first.
Mirror of Hathor (Hathor) is for joy, glamour, confidence and calling more sweetness into your life.
Honey of the River (Oshun) is for sweetness, love and prosperity that flows.
Freyja's Gold (Freyja) is for sensuality, beauty and the courage to take what is yours.
For protection
Durga's Shield (Durga) is for protection, courage and standing your ground.
Medusa's Gaze (Medusa) is for survivor strength, fierce boundaries and stopping harm in its tracks.
Lioness Fire (Sekhmet) is for fierce confidence and burning away what drains you.
Bastet's Sanctuary (Bastet) is for protecting your home and the people in it.
Mother of Night (Nyx) is for protection in the dark, deep rest and dreams.
For money and opportunity
Lotus of Lakshmi (Lakshmi) is for wealth, prosperity, good fortune and gratitude.
Keys of Hekate (Hekate) is for crossroads, new paths and choosing your direction.
For shadow work, endings and transformation
Lilith Unbound (Lilith) is for sovereignty and reclaiming the parts of you that were taught to hide.
Descent of Inanna (Inanna) is for shadow work and returning changed.
Kali Ma Fire (Kali) is for the endings you can't put off and the fears you're done carrying.
Queen of the Great Below (Ereshkigal) is for grief, endings and finding your roots.
Pomegranate Queen (Persephone) is for rising after the descent.
Cauldron of Cerridwen (Cerridwen) is for transformation, wisdom and becoming.
Storm Queen (Oya) is for sudden change, clearing stagnation and courage.
For healing, peace and renewal
Wings of Isis (Isis) is for healing and restoring what was broken.
Ocean Mother (Yemaya) is for emotional healing and gentle protection.
Mercy of Kuan Yin (Kuan Yin) is for compassion, forgiveness and peace.
Flame of Brigid (Brigid) is for creativity, hearth blessings and renewal.
For courage and victory
Raven Queen (the Morrígan) is for courage, strategy and battles you are meant to win.
All of our ritual oils start at $11. Browse the full collection in Ritual Oils, or find oils paired with tools for specific workings in Collections & Kits.
How to use ritual oil safely
Patch test first. Put a drop on your inner arm and wait a day before using an oil more widely on your skin.
Keep it away from your eyes, broken skin and mucous membranes.
Never swallow ritual oil.
Keep oils out of reach of children and pets.
If you are pregnant, nursing, or have sensitive skin or allergies, check with your doctor before using oils on your body.
Use a light hand on candles, wipe off the excess, and never leave a flame unattended.
Store oils in a cool, dark place with the cap tight.
When you want more than a candle and an oil
Ritual oil is a powerful tool for everyday practice. Some situations call for more: a crossing that will not lift, a relationship that needs real intervention, or a protection that has to hold under pressure.
If you are not sure whether to work on your own or book a working, send us a private inquiry. Inquiries are answered within 24-48 hours, Monday through Friday.
Stir the cauldron of transformation. Inspired by Cerridwen of Welsh tradition and her legendary cauldron, this oil is made for transformation, wisdom, inspiration, creative awakening, study, initiation, and becoming something you could not have become without passing through the process.
Poetry, smithcraft, sacred wells, and the hearth fire. Flame of Brigid is made for creativity, inspiration, renewal, home blessings, purification, protection, and spiritual workings centered on restoration and tending what needs to grow strong again.
Soft as willow, deep as mercy. Inspired by Kuan Yin (Guanyin), the bodhisattva of compassion honored in living Buddhist and Chinese religious traditions, this oil is made for workings centered on compassion, mercy, forgiveness, peace, reconciliation, and approaching difficult circumstances with a softer heart.
Inspired by Durga, the warrior goddess honored in living Hindu traditions. Durga’s Shield is made for protection work, courage, strength, overcoming obstacles, defending what matters, and standing your ground when something requires both a strong heart and a steady hand.
Grace that attracts abundance. Inspired by Lakshmi, who is honored in living Hindu traditions, this ritual oil is made for wealth and prosperity work, good fortune, generosity, beauty, gratitude, and cultivating a life that has room to flourish.
For the seasons when the work is not to escape the dark, but to learn how to stand inside it. Queen of the Great Below is made for grief rituals, honoring loss and pain, underworld work, shadow work, grounding, endings, and finding your roots when life has stripped something away.
She passed through seven gates, surrendered what she carried, descended into the underworld, and returned changed. Descent of Inanna is made for shadow work, transformation, endings and beginnings, reclaiming personal power, and ritual work around the parts of yourself you can no longer avoid.
Gold, music, dance, and pleasure. Mirror of Hathor is made for beauty and glamour work, attraction, confidence, sensuality, creativity, celebration, and calling more sweetness and enjoyment into your life.
Playful, sensual, and fiercely protective of her own. Bastet's Sanctuary is a hand-blended ritual oil inspired by Bastet, the ancient Egyptian goddess associated with protection, the home, women, music, celebration, and perfume.
Solar fire with claws. An anointing oil honoring Sekhmet, lion-headed goddess of power and healing, for fierce confidence, protection and burning away what drains you.
The great mother of magic spreads her wings. An anointing oil honoring Egyptian Isis, for healing work, devotion, magical skill and restoring what was broken.
Rise from the waves radiant. A soft, glowing anointing oil honoring Aphrodite, for beauty, pleasure, magnetic attraction and learning to adore yourself first.
Love, war, gold and magic in one goddess. A golden anointing oil honoring Norse Freyja, for beauty, sensuality, wealth and the courage to take what is yours.
When the winds of change arrive, ride them. A fierce anointing oil inspired by Oya, Orisha of storms and transformation, for sudden change, clearing stagnation and courage.
The ocean holds everything. A cool, cleansing anointing oil inspired by Yemaya, Orisha of the sea and motherhood, for emotional healing, nurturing and gentle protection.
Golden, sweet and irresistible. A honey-bright anointing oil inspired by Oshun, the Orisha of sweet waters, love and abundance, for sweetness, beauty and prosperity that flows.
For battles you are meant to win. An anointing oil honoring the Morrígan, Irish Great Queen of fate and sovereignty, for courage, strategy and prophetic sight.
Turn what harmed you into armor. A protective anointing oil honoring Medusa as a symbol of survival, fierce boundaries and the gaze that stops harm in its tracks.
For rising after the descent and owning both sides of yourself. A sweet-dark anointing oil for Persephone, queen of the underworld and bringer of spring.
For when you're standing at the crossroads and need to choose. An anointing oil honoring Hekate, keeper of keys and liminal places, for guidance and protecting your practice.
For the endings you can't put off and the fears you're done carrying. A fierce, fiery anointing oil inspired by Kali Ma, the Mother who cuts through illusion.
For the work that happens in the dark: deep rest, dreams, secrets kept. A velvet, starless anointing oil honoring Nyx, the primordial goddess of Night.
For the woman who refuses to shrink. A dark, sensual anointing oil made for Lilith devotion, sovereignty work and calling back the parts of you that were taught to hide.
Frequently asked questions
What is ritual oil? Ritual oil is a blend of carrier oil with herbs, resins or essential oils, made to hold a spiritual intention such as protection, love, money or release.
How do you use ritual oil? You anoint a candle, your skin, a doorway or a petition paper with a few drops while speaking your intention aloud.
How do you anoint a candle with oil? To draw something in, rub the oil from the ends of the candle toward the center. To send something away, rub from the center outward. Use a light coat and wipe off any excess before lighting.
Can you put ritual oil on your skin? Many ritual oils are made for skin use. Patch test first, avoid the eyes and broken skin, and check the label of each oil.
What is the difference between ritual oil and essential oil? An essential oil is a single concentrated plant extract. A ritual oil is a finished, usually diluted blend built around a spiritual intention.
Which ritual oil should a beginner start with? Start with the intention you care about most right now. For many people, that is either a protection oil or a self-love oil.
Stir the cauldron of transformation. Inspired by Cerridwen of Welsh tradition and her legendary cauldron, this oil is made for transformation, wisdom, inspiration, creative awakening, study, initiation, and becoming something you could not have become without passing through the process.