Kananga Water Murray & Lanman Cologne, 7.5 oz

The cananga floral. Sweet and heavy, the scent of ylang ylang, unmistakable on the botanica shelf.

A spirit-work staple. Long associated with the dead and the ancestors, and with cleansing a space before and after that work.

A 7.5 oz bottle from Murray & Lanman. The house name the tradition has trusted for generations, in the standard working size.

• Volume: 7.5 fl oz
• Brand: Murray & Lanman
• Scent: cananga (ylang ylang)
• Use: misting a space, adding to floor washes and spiritual baths, refreshing an ancestor altar, or wearing a little
• For external use only. Not for ingestion. Keep away from the eyes and out of reach of children.
• SKU: RCMKAN7

Kananga Water's home is spirit work. In Espiritismo it is a fixture of the boveda, the white-cloth ancestor altar, where it is used to refresh the water glasses, to cleanse the space, and to please the spirits who come. In Hoodoo and in wider folk practice it turns up in cemetery work, in ancestor offerings, and in the cleansings that bracket any working with the dead. Its heavy floral sweetness is understood as something the spirits favor.

Espiritismo and Santeria are living traditions with their own lineages, elders, houses, and rules about who does what. Kananga Water is sold openly and used widely, and a person can honor their own ancestors with it without belonging to any of them. But the deeper practices of those traditions are not ours to teach, and what is offered here is a bottle of cologne, not entry into a lineage. If you want to go further, the people to learn from are the practitioners and elders of the tradition itself.

1. Refresh an ancestor altar. Add a little to the water glasses, or wipe the altar surface with it.
2. Cleanse a space. Mist it through a room, or add a capful to floor wash water.
3. Bracket spirit work. Cleanse yourself and the space before you begin and again when you finish.
4. Add it to a spiritual bath, a capful in the water, for cleansing after heavy work.
5. Wear a little, if the work calls for it, and keep the bottle away from the eyes.

• Florida Water Cologne: Kananga's bright citrus counterpart, the other essential bottle on the shelf.
• Honoring Your Ancestors by Mallorie Vaudoise: a working guide to ancestor practice.
• White Chime Candles, Set of 20: the white candles kept for ancestor work.
• Copal Oil: a cleansing resin oil for before and after.
• Complete Book of Baths by Robert Laremy: bath recipes for the cleansing side of the work.

What is Kananga Water?

A spiritual cologne scented with cananga, the tree that gives us ylang ylang. It is a staple of botanica practice, long associated with the ancestors and the dead.

How is it different from Florida Water?

Scent and use both. Florida Water is bright and citrus-sharp, reached for to cleanse and refresh generally. Kananga is heavy and floral, and its association is specifically with spirit and ancestor work. Many practitioners keep both.

What does it smell like?

Sweet, heavy, and floral: the rich scent of ylang ylang, closer to a perfume than to a cleansing splash.

Do I need to be initiated to use it?

No. Kananga Water is sold openly, and anyone can use it to honor their own ancestors or cleanse their own space. The deeper practices of Espiritismo and Santeria do belong to those traditions and their elders, and those are the people to learn from if you want to go further.

Can I wear it?

Yes, some practitioners do, though it is used more often on the altar, in the wash bucket, and in the bath than on the body. Keep it away from the eyes, and patch test if you have sensitive skin.