About a month ago I saw a witchy tips post with all the uses of salt, mostly for protection against evil, warding, and luck.

The list was pretty basic like how salt can be used to drive away evil spirits. (This is where the superstition of sprinkling salt over your shoulder comes from) or how a circle of salt can protect against black magick and evil forces.

The tips were mostly correct until there was one for "attracting wealth" by placing your bank card (Debit card) in salt.

Please do NOT do this! This is as foolish and as harmful as smudging (with sage) when used on antique books. (smoke damages book paper and binding.) There are other non-invasive ways to cleanse used books such as with crystals.

Now with cards and salt, the salt can get into the card and damage both the magnetic strip and the microchip inside the card. You can damage your card and accidentally render it unreadable.

Why Salt Works to dispel Dark Magick in Hocus Pocus and Hocus Pocus 2:

​Why Salt Works to dispel Dark Magick in Hocus Pocus and Hocus Pocus 2:

Some people mistakenly think the show Supernatural invented the idea of salt being a weapon against dark magick.  No, this folk belief is actually quite ancient.

You may be familiar with sprinkling a little salt over your left shoulder.  If you spill salt you are supposed to quickly sprinkle a little over your left shoulder because spilling salt leaves you vulnerable to The Devil.  You sprinkle the salt over your left shoulder because that is the “Sinister” side (The word sinister has an etymology with the same meaning as “Left sided.”).  The left is the side demons are supposed to emerge from and the devil on your shoulder is always depicted as being on the left. You sprinkle the salt over your left shoulder to drive the demon away. (Source: The book Superstitions by Peter Lorre.)

Though the Ancient Romans did not fully understand how it worked, they knew that if they salted the Earth where they battled an enemy no plant life would be able to grow. The land would be spoilt so they saw this as meaningful and developed superstitions around it.    Salt is also a natural preservative and ancient civilizations may have noticed that food didn't spoil as fast when the food was treated with salt, they might have taken this to mean it was warding away evil and corruption and that is why the food did not rot as fast.   And though Poppy seeds are more commonly used, sometimes salt is used to ward off vampires because in Eastern European folk belief vampires are obsessive counters and will feel compelled to count every grain rather than attack you.

In Hattian / Voodoo tradition it is believed that if you force-feed a zombie a fistful of salt this will cure them of their zombieism. Note: this is NOT in regard to the version of Zombies popularized in the late 60s by George A. Romeo’s Night of the Living Dead or the contagious brain-eating variety popularized in Return of the Living Dead in the mid-1980s.   This is in regard to the Haitian version of Zombieism where the zombie is the victim of a curse. (Source: The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits).

In some varieties of Wicca (See the A to Z guide to Wicca by Gerina Dunwich) salt is a key ingredient when making Wiccan blessed water (The Wiccan version of holy water).  Salt represents the element of Earth and is used to symbolically purify the water as it is being blessed.

In popular culture you see a circle of salt protect the kids from the witches in the first Hocus Pocus movie.  In the second Hocus Pocus movie salt is again used to protect against the witches and even to make a crude binding circle, trapping The Sanderson Sisters within it, as salt is used to ward off dark magick and they are “Dark magick in human form.”

In the Dresden Files novels by Jim Butcher if a wizard is restrained and placed inside a circle of salt, he will not be able to use his power to do harm to his enemies or escape. In The Dresden Files salt defuses magick.  This is probably one of the more common beliefs about salt and magick.  

Something a little more gruesome that works against supernatural threats is lamb’s blood as that was what was used to mark the homes of slaves during the story of Passover.  It protected against The Angel of Death.  God had told Moses to use lamb's blood to mark the homes the angel was not to enter.  Today sacramental wine is a humane substitute. 

  Another real tool used against dark magick that was in Hocus Pocus 2 was Angelica leaves.  This also has its origin in real beliefs.  Angelica leaves (actually often used in salads) can be brewed into tea, or burned to ward off evil and lift hexes. In the seventeenth century they were used as a folk remedy and had previously been used in efforts to treat or ward off the black plague.  Angelica leaves have natural antibacterial properties which might be why people believe it can de-hex / remove curses. It is safe to eat and considered good for you. You can find Angelica leaves in many health food stores.