What is Hoodoo?
Hoodoo is African-American magick, a means of conjure born out of the Southern United States, it is a type of folk magic developed by African American Slaves.
It is NOT a religion as it has no hierarchy or clergy, however, it does have ties to Christianity, due to the use of the Bible as its main source of spells and magick. Hoodoo describes MANY African-American traditions, such as spiritual healing, ancestral devotion, and protection, most of these practices have been instilled into us and some of us don't even realize it! Roots and root working specifically refers to the use of certain natural and organic objects in the performance of actions to make things happen, whether healings, poisonings, or supernatural prediction, which we call divination.
Hoodoo, also known as root work, traveled with many slaves to Georgia and North Carolina, and South Carolina sea island plantations. There, slaves and their descendants, called Gullah, intertwined their folk beliefs with Christianity.
Conjure and conjuring refers to interactions with the Spirits of humans or angels or saints or other spiritual beings, including the dead and the ancestors or the Christian God and Jesus Christ. So when you look at this, you think about this, Hoodoo Conjure has many of the same things that Christianity has.
My family, originally from the South Carolina sea island plantations, spread out and eventually migrated North, to North Carolina (Smithfield, Selma, Raleigh). I grew up in a Southern Baptist church located on the South Side of Raleigh, NC. My Grammie was a Minister, and my Papa was a Head Deacon (Pictured below). I spent MANY days going to church, vacation bible school, and bible studies.
Hoodoo was always in my blood. I remember going to church and the Mothers of the church would be wearing all white, they had anointing oil to anoint your crown and they spoke spells of love, prosperity, and wellness over you. They prayed for you and uplifted you in congregation. These same hymns protected you in times of evilness, wicked ways, and distress or as they would say when you feeling "down and out". I remember hearing those altar calls, people would come to the altar and they would lay hands on you. (New Age Spirituality calls it "Reiki" HOWEVER, Grammie and dem' BEEN doing it for DECADES right in the churches.) They was laying white sheets when people passed out with the Holy Ghost, which is a Spirit. We always were practicing our magick, it was just hidden under the means of Christianity! Think about it, as a slave, you could be tortured, burned at stake, hung, or even KILLED if they heard you speaking in tongues, or creating altars. Christianity was our only means to continue our Afrikan practices and beliefs without getting caught by Massa'. Conjuring IS your birth right. Today, we as Hoodoo practitioners remember this fight and continue it day in and day out!
Additionally, contemporary hoodoo conjure workers draw from practices of collective struggle to address our current intergenerational traumas and healing justices while living here in amerikkka.
For me, Hoodoo is a means to fight against modern day oppression, injustices, and the wrongdoings of our community! It is imperative that we unlearn, go back to receive this Ancestral Wisdom, and unearth our Sacred and Divine Powers.
I am my Ancestors' Wildest Dream.