Hoodoo (folk magic)

Hoodoo
Hoodoo, also known as conjure
conjure, and "Voodoo" (which strictly speaking is different in many
ways) is a traditional African-American folk spirituality that developed from a number of West
African, Native American, and European spiritual traditions.

Roots of Hoodoo
Hoodoo has some spiritual principles and practices similar to spiritual folkways in Haitian,
Cuban, Jamaican, and New Orleans traditions. Hoodoo seems to have evolved in the Mississippi
Delta where the concentration of slaves had been dense. Hoodoo then spread throughout the
Southeast as well as North along the Mississippi as African Americans left the Delta beginning in
the 1930s.

There is strong mainstream American prejudice against Hoodoo, based on the myths that
hoodoo is practiced primarily with selfish, hurtful intentions, or that it is related to worship of
the Christian devil, Satan Hoodoo is sometimes thought of as "folk magic" or "superstition".
These terms tend to perpetuate the misperception that Hoodoo is a childlike belief in tricks The
efficacy of hoodoo as a spiritual influence on outcomes in the physical and social world is
comparable to that of mainstream religious rituals.

Spiritual folkways like hoodoo are an ever-evolving process, continuously synthesizing from
contact with other cultures, religions and folkways. What is striking about the hoodoo folk
process is the use of biblical figures in its practices and in the lives of its practitioners.[1] In fact,
most practitioners of Hoodoo integrate this folkway with their Christian religious faith. Icons of
Christian saints are often found on hoodoo shrines or altars.

The word hoodoo first was documented in American English in 1875 and was classified as a
noun (the practice of hoodoo) or a transitive verb: "I hoodoo you"... with a potion that causes
healing, a parapsychological power, or some harm.In African American Vernacular English
(AAVE), hoodoo is often used to describe a paranormal consciousness or spiritual hypnosis, a
"spell". But hoodoo may also be used as an adjective for a practitioner, such as hoodoo man.

Regional synonyms for hoodoo include conjuration, conjure, witchcraft, or rootwork.[4] Older
sources from the 18th and 19th century sometimes use the word Obeah to describe equivalent
folk practices.[5]

The Hoodoo Conceptual System

Western and Central African slaves brought their traditional spiritual concepts and their cultural
practices to North America and the Caribbean. According to Carolyn Morrow Long, "At the time
of the slave trade, the traditional nature-centered religions of West and Central Africa were
characterized by the concept that human well-being is governed by spiritual balance, by
devotion to a supreme creator and a pantheon of lesser deities, by veneration and propitiation
of the ancestors, and by the use of charms to embody spiritual power. [...] In traditional West
African thought, the goal of all human endeavor was to achieve balance." Several African
spiritual traditions recognized a genderless supreme being who created the world, was neither
good nor evil, and which did not concern itself with the affairs of mankind. Lesser spirits were
invoked to gain aid for humanity's problems.[6]

Since the 19th century there has been Christian influence in hoodoo thought,[7] usually of an Old
Testament strain. This is particularly evident in relation to God's providence and his role in
retributive justice. For example, though there are strong ideas of good versus evil, cursing
someone to cause their death might not be considered a malignant act. For example, one
practitioner explained it as follows:

"[In] Hoodooism, anythin' da' chew do is de plan of God undastan', God have somepin to do wit
evah' thin' you do if it's good or bad, He's got somepin to do wit it . . . jis what's fo' you, you'll git
it."[8]
"([In] Hoodooism, anything that you do is the plan of God, God has
something to do with everything that you do whether it's good or bad, he's
got something to do with it... You'll get what's coming to you)"

Not only is God's providence a factor in hoodoo practice, but hoodoo thought understands God
as the archetypal hoodoo doctor. On this matter Zora Hurston stated, "The way we tell it,
hoodoo started way back there before everything. Six days of magic spells and mighty words
and the world with its elements above and below was made."[9] From this perspective, biblical
figures are often recast as hoodoo doctors and the Bible becomes a source of conjurational
spells and is, itself, used as a protective talisman.[10]

Moses-as-conjurer
Paralleling God-as-conjurer, hoodoo practitioners often understand the biblical figure Moses in
similar terms. Hurston developed this idea in her novel Moses: Man of the Mountain, in which
she calls Moses, "the finest hoodoo man in the world."[11] Obvious parallels between Moses and
intentional paranormal influence (such as magic) occur in the biblical accounts of his
confrontation with Pharaoh. Moses conjures, or performs magic "miracles" such as turning his
staff into a snake. However, his greatest feat of conjure was using his powers to help free the
Hebrews from slavery. This emphasis on Moses-as-conjurer led to the introduction of the
pseudonymous work the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses into the corpus of hoodoo
reference literature.[12]

Bible-as-talisman
In hoodoo, "All hold that the Bible is the great conjure book in the world."[13] It has many
functions for the practitioner, not the least of which is a source of spells. This is particularly
evident given the importance of the book Secrets of the Psalms in hoodoo culture.[14] This book
provides instruction for using psalms for things such as safe travel, headache, and marital
relations. The Bible, however, is not just a source of spells but is itself a conjuring talisman. It can
be taken "to the crossroads," carried for protection, or even left open at specific pages while
facing specific directions. This informant provides an example of both uses:

"Whenevah ah'm afraid of someone doin' me harm ah read the 37 Psalms an' co'se ah leaves
the Bible open with the head of it turned to the east as many as three days."[15]

Practices
The purpose of hoodoo is to allow people access to supernatural forces to improve their daily
lives. Hoodoo helps people attain power or success ("luck") in many areas of life including
money, love, divination, revenge, health, employment, and necromancy. As in many other
spiritual and medical folk practices, extensive use is made of herbs, minerals, parts of animals'
bodies, an individual's possessions and bodily fluids, especially menstrual blood, urine, saliva,
and semen.

Contact with ancestors or other spirits of the dead is an important practice within the conjure
tradition, and the recitation of Psalms from the Bible is also considered spiritually influential in
hoodoo. Due to hoodoo's great emphasis on an individual's spiritual power to effect desired
change in the course of events, hoodoo's principles are believed to be accessible for use by any
individual of faith. Hoodoo practice does not require a formally designated minister.

Home-made potions and charms form the basis of much rural hoodoo, but there are also some
successful commercial companies selling various hoodoo products to urban and town
practitioners. These are generally called spiritual supplies, and they include herbs, roots,
minerals, candles, incense, oils, glitter, floor washes, sachet powders, bath crystals, icons,
aerosols, and colognes. Many patent medicines, cosmetics, and household cleaning supplies for
mainstream consumers have been aimed also at hoodoo practitioners. Some products have
dual usage as conventional and spiritual supplies, examples of which include the Four Thieves
Vinegar,[16] Florida Water,[17] and Red Devil Lye.[18]

Cultural influences
Traditionally, religions and spiritual folkways around the world have freely borrowed practices
and beliefs from each other. In this regard, hoodoo is no different. Thus, it is difficult to establish
the regional/cultural origins of many practices. For example, the use of an effigy, often called a
"voodoo doll" in popular culture, to perform a spell on someone is documented in African,
Native American, and European cultures.[19][20]

Europe
Europe's greatest identifiable influence on hoodoo is the presence and use of European or
European-American grimoires. One of the first examples of this is John George Hohman's
Pow-wows: or, Long Lost Friend, a collection of magical spells originally published in 1820 for
Pennsylvania-Dutch Hexemeisters.[21] Pow-wows was introduced to hoodoo through catalogs
on magic geared toward the African-American community in the early 20th century.[citation needed]
The spells in this book are woven throughout with Christian symbolism and prayer, which made
it a natural addition to the similar symbolism of hoodoo. Mirroring the hoodoo concept of the
Bible-as-talisman, the book itself proposes to be a protective amulet: "Whoever carries this
book with him is safe from all his enemies, visible or invisible; and whoever has this book with
him cannot die without the holy corpse of Jesus Christ, nor drown in any water, nor burn up in
any fire, nor can any unjust sentence be passed upon him. So help me."[22]

The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses is a European grimoire that is purportedly based on
Jewish Kabbalah, though it actually covers little, if any, Kabbalistic thought. It contains numerous
signs, seals, and passages in Hebrew that are supposed to be related to Moses' ability to work
wonders. Though its authorship is attributed to Moses, the oldest manuscript dates to the
mid-19th century. Its importance in hoodoo practice is summarized as follows:

"I read de "Seven Books of Moses" seven or eight yeah a'ready ... de foundation of
hoodooism came from way back yondah de time dat Moses written de book "De Seven
Book of Moses."[23]

Differences between Voodoo and Hoodoo

Like Voodoo, Hoodoo shows evident links to the practices and beliefs of West African spiritual
folkways. The ancient African folkway of Vodun is a more standardized and widely dispersed
spiritual practice than hoodoo. Vodun's modern form is practiced across West Africa in the
countries now known as Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso, among others. In Haiti, Cuba, and other
Caribbean islands, the worship of the Vodoun gods (called lwa or loas) is practiced in a syncretic
form that has been greatly modified by contact with Catholicism. The Voodoo of Haiti and
Louisiana Voodoo are related more to Vodun than to Hoodoo; similar Vodun practices among
Spanish speakers in Cuba are called Santería.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_(folk_magic)