Southern hoodoo, conjure and rootwork are living, African-derived mystical, medicinal and spiritual systems of personal and psychological empowerment. Each system involves the specialized use of botanical, zoological and mineral material medica such as herbs, roots, stones, bones and animal parts that are prepared in a medicinal or ritualistic manner for practical purposes such as protection, defense, justice, healing, love or wealth. The systems as we know them today are largely influenced by Native American and Latino Diasporic traditions, as well as European folk magic. That said, Southern hoodoo, conjure & rootwork are African at the root.
Hoodoo, rootwork and conjure are traditionally transmitted via oral tradition and imitation as a result of observation or participation, over time and space typically within families. More recently, the transmission of this knowledge is accomplished increasingly through formal and informal education venues such as workshops and online classes.
When referencing hoodoo, we are referencing a set of beliefs and practices evolving out of a conglomeration of African Traditional Religions (ATRs) brought to American shores with the slave trade. Hoodoo is a noun that signifies a tradition (i.e. hoodoo is a folk magic tradition), as well as a person who practices hoodoo (i.e. the hoodoo man or woman). It is also a verb that signifies the act of working hoodoo (i.e. to be fixed is to be hoodooed). We can apply the same grammatical terminology to rootwork using derivatives of the word (i.e. the rootwork system of herbal magic and medicine), the person who practices rootwork (i.e. rootdoctor or rootworker), and the act of working roots (i.e. to be rooted). Likewise, the term conjure also adheres to these grammatical rules as a noun (conjure, conjurer) and verb (to conjure).
The term hoodoo is often used interchangeably with rootwork, conjuration, conjure, witchcraft, Voodoo, and obeah. While each of these traditions are similar in that they are all derived from African traditions and contain an inherent element of manipulative magick, they are not exactly synonymous. Further, you will find different people ascribing their own ideas to the issue of interchangeability of the terms; even among academia, there is no general consensus. Rootwork, hoodoo, conjuration and conjure refer to magickal and medicinal practices without a specific religious connotation. New Orleans Voudou or Voodoo is a religion with a pantheon of deities that also happens to include hoodoo, rootwork and conjure in its expression. Obeah is a folk magick tradition of West Indian and African origin. Witchcraft, when referred to in the context of hoodoo, rootwork and conjure, reflects the African concept of witchcraft which closely resembles sorcery, as opposed to the European, earth-based religion. When referring to a conjure doctor who primarily uses herbs and roots for healing, the term root doctor is often used.
The frequently regurgitated, popular definition pervading the internet: “Hoodoo is African American folk magic” is a definition that is only partially true. When taught this is the case, the medicine, lore, history, culture and cosmology are missing. For example, there were sacred days in Hoodoo. Fridays were considered a day in which no new projects should begin. Also, West African incantations used to be integral to the practice of Hoodoo. Over time, West African chants were replaced by psalms and prayers. Psalm 53, for instance, was said by runaway slaves for protection. Water rites such as baptisms and foot washings, ring shouts, poisons and charms, and divination systems like the Walking Boy, dominoes, Dancing Dime, and playing cards - all of these are some of the integral, foundational aspects of hoodoo, conjure and rootwork that have unfortunately been relegated to history by the current internet narrative holders. Fortunately, the narrative is being reclaimed by the descendents of the ancestral traditions and Afrocentric and indigenous scholars. Katrina Hazzard-Donald's book Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System is a fabulous interdisciplinary exploration of hoodoo, and in particular "old tradition Black Belt Hoodoo," providing a perspective that has yet to be embraced by those holding a monopoly on the commercial hoodoo sector.
In my writings, I refer to the collective practices of hoodoo, conjure and rootwork in plural form as a means of recognizing and acknowledging the many regional variations of conjure that are encountered in the South. Hoodoo and conjure as it is found in Texas is slightly different than hoodoo and conjure found in Mississippi. Moreover, Hoodoo as it is found in New Orleans is definitely distinct from other forms of Hoodoo found anywhere in the United States. In addition, there are the related traditions of the Cajun traiteur (treaters) in Louisiana with a distinct French Canadian influence, as well as obeah which came to New Orleans from the influx of slaves from the West Indian Islands. Appalachian conjure and granny magic are important Southern cultural traditions with much less African influence and decidedly more Native American—particularly Cherokee –influence. And the Gullah Geechee people of South Carolina are notably distinct in their retention of African characteristics in their language, culture and expression. All of these traditions can fall under the umbrella term “conjure;” even so, that term falls short in its description of these rich cultural traditions.
Indeed, the origin of contemporary hoodoo, conjure and rootwork is deserving of much deeper inquiry than it has heretofore been subjected. In order to understand its mechanisms and truly grasp the breadth and depth of the traditions as a whole, it is necessary to look beyond its origins in commercial hoodoo and the reference texts upon which most contemporary definitions are based. While the base literature, such as books by Harry Middleton Hyatt, Mary Alicia Owens, Niles Puckett, George Washington Cable, Robert Tallant, Walter Chestnut, Zora Neale Hurston and others are extremely important in understanding the evolution of hoodoo over the years into the traditions we now see, there are distinct phases in which conjure has evolved. Katrina Hazzard-Donald, for example, identifies several phases of its development including preemancipation, postemancipation and commercialization. While I agree with her time and space delineations, I believe it is also important to take a look at the origins of the traditions through examining cosmological stories of the peoples who were brought to these shores in chains. In doing so, we can place hoodoo, rootwork and conjure in its correct religious and mystical context.
Hoodoo’s African Origins
Hoodoo’s origins can be traced clear back to the Motherland Africa; in particular, that of the West African Dahomean people from what is present day Benin. In examining the traditional religious and medicinal practices of the Dahomean people, we see what we call American hoodoo, conjure and rootwork in the core West African cultural beliefs and practices that persist to this day. These core beliefs and practices include sacred songs and dances, systems of medicine and magic, as well as specific practices concerning Ancestors and the Dead.
When viewed in its proper African cultural context, hoodoo was a very powerful system of ancestral-based magic when it first arrived to American shores via the slave trade. It persists as a spiritual and herbal system of knowledge directly connected to the African Vodou Spirits; although, in contemporary American society, this connection is almost never acknowledged and is, in fact, often openly refuted by pseudo scholars. When examined at its cultural roots instead of through the lens of contemporary Eurocentric revisionist theory, however, Dahomean cosmology tells us said that Legba, the primary deity and intermediary, was given this system of knowledge by the forest spirits called Azizzas. Legba then passed on the knowledge to Awe, the first man to have received this specialized knowledge. Legba remains at the center of the New Orleans Voudou and Haitian Vodou pantheon of spirits as the primary intermediary spirit who resides at the crossroads between the spirit world and the physical world. In Hoodoo, he exists as the Black Man at the Crossroads several times removed from his African origins in terms of name and function. Nonetheless, he is a central figure all the same.
The original African magicoreligious system provided the ancestors with a means of controlling and influencing the environment and was a primary way of coping with daily living, just as hoodoo, conjure and rootwork do today. According to the Mami Wata Society:
Hoodoo’s origins can be traced clear back to the Motherland Africa; in particular, that of the West African Dahomean people from what is present day Benin. In examining the traditional religious and medicinal practices of the Dahomean people, we see what we call American hoodoo, conjure and rootwork in the core West African cultural beliefs and practices that persist to this day. These core beliefs and practices include sacred songs and dances, systems of medicine and magic, as well as specific practices concerning Ancestors and the Dead.
When viewed in its proper African cultural context, hoodoo was a very powerful system of ancestral-based magic when it first arrived to American shores via the slave trade. It persists as a spiritual and herbal system of knowledge directly connected to the African Vodou Spirits; although, in contemporary American society, this connection is almost never acknowledged and is, in fact, often openly refuted by pseudo scholars. When examined at its cultural roots instead of through the lens of contemporary Eurocentric revisionist theory, however, Dahomean cosmology tells us said that Legba, the primary deity and intermediary, was given this system of knowledge by the forest spirits called Azizzas. Legba then passed on the knowledge to Awe, the first man to have received this specialized knowledge. Legba remains at the center of the New Orleans Voudou and Haitian Vodou pantheon of spirits as the primary intermediary spirit who resides at the crossroads between the spirit world and the physical world. In Hoodoo, he exists as the Black Man at the Crossroads several times removed from his African origins in terms of name and function. Nonetheless, he is a central figure all the same.
The original African magicoreligious system provided the ancestors with a means of controlling and influencing the environment and was a primary way of coping with daily living, just as hoodoo, conjure and rootwork do today. According to the Mami Wata Society:
This system of knowledge was mastered by most Africans who lived on the Guinea Coast, all the way to Nigeria and the Bight of Benin (Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Angola, Senegal, etc.) It is from these African populations in particular (Fon, Ewe, Yoruba, Kongo-based groups) who carried this knowledge and tradition with them during their forced migration to the New World.
From the Dahomean perspective, if one were to substitute the word "Hunbonon" (familiar/mother) or Gbo/Gbokonan (medicine maker) for the popular New World term "Hoodoo", one would be placing this system of both magic, esoteric science, medicine and art, back in its historical milieu. For the term itself refers to a body of powerfully consecrated priests whose title literally translates as "producers or activators." Producers in the sense that it is they who not only possess the knowledge of all of the most sacred herbs, animals, metals, and other products of nature, used in magic, "hexing" and medicine, but are also its activators. (Mami Wata Society, n.d.).
The Fon term for supernatural practices that heal or harm, such as hoodoo, conjure and rootwork, is gbo. Fon cosmology tells us that Legba was the first of the Gods to make gbo, though all of the gods need gbo in order to be able to cure. It is Legba, however, who knows more than any other god about gbo which gives him the distinct advantage of curing or causing disorder. And while Legba continues to be the first Spirit to be called upon in New Orleans Voudou and Haitian Vodou rituals, the reason that this is done is not commonly known. The common significance for petitioning Legba first is because he is the gatekeeper to the spirit world and it is he who allows the other spirits to come through and help humans when they are called. Beyond this reason, however, is the Fon belief that he is to be acknowledged first because of the fact that he knows more gbo than any other spiritual or physical being. Thus, calling on him first is to demonstrate honor and respect for his position as the ultimate conjure doctor.
Over time, the connection between the African Vodu religion and the system of sacred knowledge of herbs, animals and minerals in magic and medicine was weakened as a result of colonization and the various traumatic events associated with colonization, i.e. religious persecution, forced separation of families, slavery, discrimination, Christianity and the Black Codes (particularly in Louisiana). Now, American hoodoo is considered to be the practice, study and use of roots, herbs, bones, stones, natural elements, and their magical, esoteric and medicinal use without the religious practices of the Vodu religion or intervention of its pantheon of spirits. While hoodoo, or gbo, was never a religion in and of itself, it is a definite part the four elements of Fon religious and social life and thus, is historically connected to the African Vodou religion. To define hoodoo as “African American folk magic” with “no ties to Voodoo” is simply incorrect. The connection between Legba, the Azzizas and the gift of knowledge of the healing properties of plants, herbs and roots has been forgotten by modern day rootworkers. It is time to revive the ancestral memory of the root.
Ancestors and Ancestor Reverence
In traditional African societies, strict ancestor reverence practices are observed. Most indigenous traditions hold ancestor reverence in common—Native American, African and African-derived traditions. Hoodoo, however, as a standalone system in contemporary America, does not have a very clear cut focus on ancestor reverence. Remember the current, popular definition “Hoodoo is African American folk magic?” The ancestors have been trumped by the magic tricks.
To place hoodoo back into its appropriate historical milieu requires acknowledging the role of the ancestors in its practice. Appropriate ancestor reverence affords protection and guidance for family members and the community in both the physical and the spiritual worlds. There is an interdependent relationship between the living and the Dead. The living need the protection and guidance the ancestors can give them, while the ancestors need their memories kept alive and spirits fed through ceremony, ritual and observance.
Traditional African belief systems and contemporary American hoodoo differ in their definitions of the word ancestor. In Fon society, for example, not everyone who dies is an ancestor. The deceased become ancestors through their elevation by the living:
In traditional African societies, strict ancestor reverence practices are observed. Most indigenous traditions hold ancestor reverence in common—Native American, African and African-derived traditions. Hoodoo, however, as a standalone system in contemporary America, does not have a very clear cut focus on ancestor reverence. Remember the current, popular definition “Hoodoo is African American folk magic?” The ancestors have been trumped by the magic tricks.
To place hoodoo back into its appropriate historical milieu requires acknowledging the role of the ancestors in its practice. Appropriate ancestor reverence affords protection and guidance for family members and the community in both the physical and the spiritual worlds. There is an interdependent relationship between the living and the Dead. The living need the protection and guidance the ancestors can give them, while the ancestors need their memories kept alive and spirits fed through ceremony, ritual and observance.
Traditional African belief systems and contemporary American hoodoo differ in their definitions of the word ancestor. In Fon society, for example, not everyone who dies is an ancestor. The deceased become ancestors through their elevation by the living:
To achieve official “ancestral” status, the Fon believe that the soul must pass over three rivers and climb up a mountain to reach the valley of his or her ancestors. Upon arrival, the newly arrived spirit sits at the feet of his or her elders on a low stool in the lowest position among the group because he or she is the youngest. The soul cannot enter this realm until the living descendants have carried out all of the necessary rituals and ceremonies. Ancestral shrines, known as dexoxes, are located in all compounds. It is here that particular rituals and sacrifices are carried out to create ashé or life force. (Asante & Mazama, p. 71)
In contemporary hoodoo circles, ancestors refer to anyone who has died. Some will state an ancestor is only someone who is related by bloodline, while others will state an ancestor can include archetypal ancestors and anyone who has died. This inclusion seems to be based on the belief that human beings are all related and as one big planetary family, anyone who dies before us is an ancestor.
References
Aptheker, H. (1970). American Negro Slave Revolts. New York: International Publishers.
Asante, M. K. & Mazama, A. (2008). Encyclopedia of African Religion. Sage Publications.
Hazzard-Donald, K. (2012). Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System, University of Illinois Press.
Fett, S. M. (2002). Working Cures: Healing, Health, and Power on Southern Plantations. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press.
