Conjure Doctor Articles

There is an extensive body of literature available for those who are interested in studying conjure doctors, conjuring and rootdoctoring that extends beyond the commercial hoodoo sector of Anna Riva, Catherine Yronwode, Godfrey Selig , Henri Gemache and other contemporaries who have jumped on the commercial hoodoo doctor bandwagon. Anyone serious about understanding these traditions and exploring serious scholarly perspectives, including culture specific and Afrocentric perspectives, are encouraged to read the articles and books listed below.

There is a myth that conjure traditions were going to be lost until they were saved by outsiders. Conjure traditions were well-documented in the 1800s and 1900s and even prior to these times. However the task has been to read between the lines, as it were, of the distorted interpretations of the practices by outsiders. The fact that these already distorted reports have been further convoluted by contemporary commercial hoodoo authors who have reinterpreted them through additional outside cultural lenses, requires the study of these texts to be carefully undertaken. There is nothing on the Lucky Mojo website, for example, that cannot be found in Harry Middleton Hyatt texts, Newbell Niles Puckett's Folklore of the American Negro and other works that preceded the website's creation by over a hundred years in many instances. The reader is encouraged to read the original sources of the material where you will not find a Eurocentric reinterpretation with a commercial agenda or slandering of others who have different opinions and life experiences. Doing so brings the reader closer to the source as opposed to further away from it, leaving the reader with fewer layers of conjecture, opinion, and inaccurate cultural interpretations to peel away. Furthermore, hoodoo and conjure are oral traditions, and for those who belong to the source cultures, this information is alive and well; though, it is not available to outsiders except in rare circumstances. This has always been the case; it is nothing new and certainly not something I have made up, as has been suggested by - you guessed it - those who were not born into a source culture. In fact, there is a fabulous article entitled Why We Can't Talk to You about Voodoo (Southern Literary Journal, volume xliii, number 2, spring 2011) where the author addresses the issue beautifully:

We who are natives of this City and count ourselves among the Faithful cannot talk with you, the outsider, about Voodoo. And that is unfortunate. Because in this highly complex, deceptively simple set of principles, beliefs and what-have-you, is much that could heal you of whatever it is in your life that needs healing. Could heal your whole life, probably. Because that’s what it really is all about. Your whole life. Not you personally, of course, but how the wholeness anyone and everyone should have can be restored, can restore one to oneself. But the very fact that you come asking after it means that you will never possess it, at least not in this lifetime. And certainly not from anything you might learn here. And besides, we honestly cannot talk with you about it anyhow.

You, of course, will tell us about the books you have read and the research you have done. None of which has anything to do with us or our beliefs. We will smile sympathetically as we always do at such defenses,which we recognize as the pleas for belonging that they are. Or perhaps you are a modern-day Latin — by which we mean that you are descended not from our oppressors of past centuries, but from the same oppression wreaked throughout the islands and inlands of what is now called Latin America. In other words, a cousin of sorts. In which case you will go on about Santería, which you will not call by its name, Santería, but, in hushed tones, “the saints” — as if the pope might have his spies nearby. As if the pope’s spies had nothing better to do than loll about eavesdropping over iced coffees in New Orleans. You will go on about it and about your “love of Africa”; but what we will notice is your affection for things European. And how you use that word “European” as an adjective for all that is good not only about our City but about yourselves. You drop it like a compliment, without warning. We notice that although you come from the “race-less, class-less” worlds just next door to us, you will go on, at length, about color and texture and shapes of skin and hair and lips and noses. We will note with not a little shame the specific physical transformations you have foisted upon yourselves and freely recommend to us. By the time you return to “the saints,” in other words, we will have begun to wonder if the pope’s spies might not be needing their coffees topped. (Perhaps, for the sake of good manners, we ought to invite them to join us at the club this evening to hear our favorite bassist and his new trio.) You will notice our attention waning and become defensive. (In another age we would say, “why not?”) You will attempt to lure us with comparisons. “The drums!” (your voice rising now) “where are the drums?!” (“In Congo Square,” we might offer, “every Sunday for the last few centuries.”) But we have heard all this before and so will offer more coffee — water? rum? sweets perhaps? Anything to take the edge off your confusion. And shut the door on that endless yammering. (Osbey, 2011, pp. 1-2).

Conjuring and Conjure Doctor Articles

Please note that most of these articles and books are linked to their original sources and are not stored on this website's servers. Almost all of them come from academic databases, and so there may be a payment required to read the articles in their entirety unless you are affiliated with an academic institution. This is not the case with all of the articles however; so, do try to access them as you can.

The sources below come from the disciplines of Medical Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Psychiatry, Psychology and folklore databases, among others. For the most part, sources are listed in APA style by last name of author, date of publication, title of book or article and publication in which it was published.

This list is a work in progress. I have many more to add as time permits.

Sources from Popular Literature

The Ancient's Book of Magic by Lewis de Claremont
Aunt Sally's Policy Players Dream Book by Aunt Sally
Bims, H. (1976). Voodoo, Astrology, Satanism, Spirits? Americans of all Races Swear by Them. Ebony Magazine
Herrman's Book of Black Art by Herrman
Legends of Incense Herb & Oil Magic by Lewis de Claremont
Pow-Wows or Long-Lost Friend by John George Hohman
Secrets of the Psalms by Godfrey Selig
The Seven Keys to Power by Lewis de Claremont
The 6th and 7th Books of Moses (anon.)

Selected References on Rootwork

For individuals interested in learning on a more formal basis, visit Crossroads University where instruction is given by those born and raised in the cultures, with formal initiations in the ATRs as well as advanced degrees in academia.

This website is supported by Crossroads University and Creole Moon Publications.
For individuals interested in learning about Southern conjure, conjuring, conjure doctors, rootwork, spiritual doctors, New Orleans Voudou, bayou swamp Hoodoo and other southern conjure traditions on a more formal basis, visit Crossroads University where instruction is given by those born and raised in the cultures, with formal initiations in the ATRs as well as advanced degrees in academia.