A conjure doctor is the name given to a person who works roots for the purpose of healing or harming and manipulating people, places and things for a specific purpose. The conjure doctor holds near and dear the belief in conjuration and magic stemming from the ancestral knowledge of his or her forebears. Seemingly strange beliefs in the power of herbs, roots, bones, graveyard dirt and a variety of curios – both natural and human made – fill the conjure doctors’ trick bag.

Conjure doctors also go by the names hoodoo doctor, spiritual doctor, hoodoo root doctor, root worker, conjure worker, hoodoo practitioner and conjure man or conjure woman.

Conjure doctors can be male or female and are found in every rural community where their supernatural powers are implicitly believed in. The source of their power varies from conjure doctor to conjure doctor and is often attributed to things such as being born with a caul over one’s head, being born the seventh son or daughter of a seventh son or daughter, having learned from an elder, often well-known, conjurer, having had a divine revelation from God or having received special powers from the Spirits. Nowadays, many people learn from teachers on or off the internet; though gaining knowledge in this manner does not guarantee the person has any supernatural powers as was implied in the past by virtue of holding the title of “conjure doctor” or “root doctor."

Sometimes, folks did not see being born with the gift as something desirable and there were things that could be done to remove the gift of sight, especially if the individual begins to have disturbing visions.  For example, "Uncle Henry" Barnes, who says he was born in 1358, near Suggsville, Clarke County, Alabama shared the following in the Alabama ex slave narratives: "My mammy said I was borned wid a 'zernin' (discerning) eye to see sperits, an' I seed sump'n lak a cow wid no haid. So mammy made me stir de fresh lard when dey was rendin' hit, 'caze dat cyures you of seein' de sperits. Atter I stirred de lard, I didn't see 'em no mo'."

Documenting conjure doctors and spiritual mothers is a work in progress. I have included healers, faith healers, granny women, voodoo priests and priestesses, midwives, spiritual doctors, reverends and reverend mothers and all form of healers who utilized various forms of conjure in their work. Check out the profiles below for their stories.

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Charles Harrison "C.H." Mason was an American Pentecostal–Holiness and denominational leader. He was the founder, Chief Apostle and first Senior Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, the largest Pentecostal Church in the United States. According to Jeffrey Anderson in his book Conjure in African American Society, he "used roots to supposedly discern God's will, a practice already familiar to those who had experience with hoodoo."

Doctor Jim Jordan of Maneys Neck in Hertford County, who practiced until his death in 1962, enjoyed a reputation as helper and healer and drew clients from several states along the eastern seaboard. Read more about Dr. Jim Jordan.

Spiritual Mother Maude Shannon with the Spiritualist Church of New Orleans.

Gullah Jack: (died July 12, 1822); Also known as Couter Jack and sometimes referred to as Gullah Jack Pritchard. He was an African conjurer known for aiding a free black man named Denmark Vesey in planning a large slave rebellion that would become known as Denmark Vesey's slave conspiracy in 1822. Read more...

Marie Steel – Black And Cherokee Indian – Conjure Woman From Washington County Georgia – Great Grandmother Of Artist Inga Kimberly Brown – Note The Cigar…

"Ed Murphy, a Mississippi conjure-doctor held in awe by many of the Negroes of the locality, and to whom I am greatly indebted for voodoo-lore, has three birthmarks on his left arm (representing the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost), a "luck mole" on his right arm, he is "chicken-breasted" (which means that he can never have consumption), was born with a caul on his face, and has (so he says) kinky hair on the sides of his head and straight hair on top." From Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro

Caroline Tracy Dye, better known as Aunt Caroline Dye, was a highly respected seer whose name was recognized in Arkansas and the Mid-South in the early years of the twentieth century. She was born into slavery in Spartanburg, South Carolina, about 1843. According to Craig (2009): “Caroline Tracy became aware of her abilities as a seer while still a young child. She could reportedly see things outside her line of vision that others could not.” Read more about Aunt Caroline Dye, including how to work with her as a Spirit Guide.

Patsy Moses, 74, was born in Fort Bend Co., Texas, a slave of the Armstrong family. She tells of charms and  "conjure," many learned from ex-slaves. Patsy lived at Mart, Texas at the time of her interview with the WPA. Patsy Moses, Texas Conjure Woman, tells her story here.

Mary Ellen Pleasant: (died January 4, 1904); Was a 19th Century female entrepreneur of partial African descent who used her fortune to further abolition. She worked on the Underground Railroad across many states and then helped bring it to California during the Gold Rush Era. She was a friend and financial supporter of John Brown and well known in abolitionist circles. After the Civil War she took her battles to the courts and won several civil rights victories, one of which was cited and upheld in the 1980’s and resulted in her being called, “The Mother of Human Rights in California.” Pleasant was a cousin of Christophe Glapion and related to Marie Laveau by marriage. She lived for a time in New Orleans and this is believed to be the start of Mary Ellen “Mammy” Pleasant’s Voodoo career, having learned the art directly from Madame Laveau (Pustanio, n.d.; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ellen_Pleasant).

Aunt Sally, from Gees Bend Alabama. The picture was taken in 1939. Aunt Sally was a midwife, and was the only medical personnel in the entire area.

Mississippi Conjure Doctor, 1926. "One conjure-doctor is pictured as having the remarkable gift of turning as green as grass most, and when he was just as black as a man could well be; and his hair covered his neck and around his neck he had a string, and he had lizards tied on it. He carried a crooked cane. He'd throw it down and he would pick it up and say something, and throw it down, and it would wiggle like a snake, and he would pick it up and it would be as stiff as any other cane." (FSN)

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Jean Montenee, also called Doctor John or Jean Bayou, was an African native enslaved to Cuba where he purchased his freedom and became a ship’s cook. Settled in New Orleans, on Bayou Road, sometime before 1845. A fortune teller, healer and gris-gris doctor, he died in 1885 at the age of 70. Doctor John is considered the Father of New Orleans Voudou. Read more about Dr. John Montenet, including information about the brand new Dr. John Grimoire and talismans to be used in conjure works. Read more about Dr. John.

Black Herman: (1892-1934); Another name for Benjamin Herman Rucker, a magician and illusionist born in Amherst, Virginia. Black Herman was the most prominent African American magician of his time, well-known for his street and close-up magic. Herman professed to be the author of Secrets of Magic, Mystery, and Legerdemain, a book published in 1925 that contained a variety of African American Hoodoo practices as well as advice on astrology and lucky numbers, his semi-fictionalized autobiography, and directions for performing simple illusions. While the book was sold at his performances, it has since been determined that he was not the author.  Read more...

Harriett Tubman (1820-1913); An African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War. After escaping from slavery into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue more than 70 slaves using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era struggled for women's suffrage (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman).

Ella Dunn, Granny Doctor from the Ozarks who lived to be 104 years old "learned about medicinal herbs from her father. However, some of the herbs he prepared and used, such as digitalis known as foxglove, Ella did not use because these herbs became readily available already prepared in the drugstore. "Even though my husband had heart trouble," she said, "I never used digitalis. I don't even know how my father prepared it because we could buy it already prepared." But many other herbs became fever and cold remedies, spring tonics and salves and ointments." Granny Ella wrote her own biography, The Granny Woman of the Hills.   Read Ella's story here
and here.

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.