Post by bluefedish on Jan 28, 2008 13:56:36 GMT -5
A form of predominantly African American traditional folk magick. Also known as conjure, it's a rich magickal tradition that developed from the merging of a number of separate cultures and magickal traditions. Hoodoo incorporates well established practices from African and Native American traditions, as well ass some European magickal practices and grimoires. While folk practices like hoodoo are trans-cultural phenomena, what is particularly innovative in this tradition is the "remarkably efficacious use of biblical figures" in its practices and in the lives of its practitioners.
The word hoodoo first appears documented in American English in 1875 and is listed as a noun or a transitive verb. In ebonics it's often used to describe a magick spell or potion, but it may also be used as an adjective for a practitioner (e.g. hoodoo doctor, hoodoo man, or hoodoo woman). Regional synonyms for hoodoo include conjuration, conjure, witchcraft, or rootwork. However, they don't all imply one another. For example, witchcraft is problematic as a synonym in that it can imply a moral judgment regarding the practice of hoodoo (i.e. it's evil), or it can be confused with contemporary Wicca. Moreover, a hoodoo practitioner is not always understood as a rootworker if they don't use roots and herbs in their magickal practices. Thus, rootwork can be understood as a subcategory or a "type" or hoodoo practice.
Social Context
Historically, most practitioners of hoodoo have been African Americans, but there have been some notable white root doctors. Latinos and Native Americans have also been practitioners. The origins of hoodoo are thought to begin with the African slaves, particularly in the American southeast, and historically, its existence has been documented in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. However, today hoodoo practitioners, like African Americans themseles, can be found in many other parts of the country, including the west coast and the northeast.
Unlike formal religions, hoodoo does not have a structured hierarchy. It also does not have an established theology, clergy, laity, or order of liturgical services of its own. Instead, practitioners are often lay people within a Christian community who possess specific knowledge of magic and hoodoo tradition. A traditional hoodoo doctor was often a nomadic sort who traveled from town to town peddling his services, but many also set up shop in their communities. However, hoodoo is not reserved solely for the specialist. Many of the spells and practices are within the realm of "folk remedies" and are well known in some African American and/or Southern socio-cultural contexts.
The traditional manner for passing on this folk knowledge was from person to person. For example, noted African American anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston worked extensively as an apprentice for various hoodoo doctors and wrote about her experiences. Since many hoodoo practices are passed on as folk remedies that can loosely be described as "common knowledge," hoodoo is also passed on through families and social contacts. However, with the growth of technological communication, learning the ways of hoodoo can now be accomplished through online sources and various books that preserve the tradition.
Hoodoo Conceptual System
The dominant worldview in hoodoo is usually strongly Christian and historically there has been, what is commonly referred to as, an Old Testament strain in hoodoo thought. 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.
Not only is God's providence a factor in hoodoo practice, but hoodoo thought understands God, himself, as the archetypal hoodoo doctor. On this matter 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." 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.
Practices
The goal of hoodoo is to allow people access to supernatural forces to improve their daily lives by gaining power in many areas of life, including luck, money, love, divination, revenge, health, employment, and necromancy. As in many other folk religious, magical, and medical practices, extensive use is made of herbs, minerals, parts of animals' bodies, an individual's possessions, and bodily fluids, especially menstrual blood, urine 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 magically effective in hoodoo. Due to hoodoo's great emphasis on an individual's magical power, its basic principles of working are generally felt to be easily adapted for use based on one's desires, inclination and habits.
Home-made potions and charms form the basis of much old-time rural hoodoo, but there are also many successful commercial companies selling various hoodoo components to urban and rural practitioners. These are generally called spiritual supplies, and they include herbs, roots, minerals, candles, incense, oils, floor washes, sachet powders, bath crystals, and colognes. Many patent medicines, cosmetics, and household cleaning supplies have been also aimed at hoodoo practitioners and have found dual usage as conventional and spiritual remedies.
Cultural Influences
Magical systems are notorious for appropriating practices from different regions and cultures. 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. However, there are some practices and influences in the tradition that can be loosely trace to particular regions.
Europe
Europes greatest identifiable influence on hoodoo is, arguably, the presence and use of European, or European American, grimoires. One of the first examples of this is John George Hohman's Pow-wow's: or, Long Lost Friend, a collection of magical spells originally published in 1820 for Pennsylvania-Dutch hex-meisters. It was introduced to hoodoo through catalogs on magic geared toward the African American community in the early 1900s. 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.'
The 6th and 7th Books of Moses is a European grimoire that is purportedly based on Jewish Kabbalah, though it actually covers little, if any, relation to Kabbalistic thought. It contains numerous signs, seals, and passages in Hebrew that are supposed to be related to Moses' ability to work wonders.
Generally, hoodoo practitioners do not use the instructions for rituals in this text, rather, the images and symbols have a greater importance.
Differences between Voodoo & Hoodoo
Hoodoo and Voodoo are often mistaken for one another. Some believe that the terms may have a common etymology.
The ancient African religion of Vodoun is an established religion with its ancient roots in West Africa. Its 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. Although the Voodoo of Haiti is better known to English speakers, the practices among Spanish speakers in Cuba is called Santeria.
Hoodoo shows obvious and evident links to the practices and beliefs of African folk magico-religious culture. The Hoodoo practiced in the U.S. by the enslaved Africans was brought from West and Central Africa, specifically, the area that is now known as the Congo and Angola, Togo, Nigeria and other West African regions.
Selected Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_%28folk_magic%29
The word hoodoo first appears documented in American English in 1875 and is listed as a noun or a transitive verb. In ebonics it's often used to describe a magick spell or potion, but it may also be used as an adjective for a practitioner (e.g. hoodoo doctor, hoodoo man, or hoodoo woman). Regional synonyms for hoodoo include conjuration, conjure, witchcraft, or rootwork. However, they don't all imply one another. For example, witchcraft is problematic as a synonym in that it can imply a moral judgment regarding the practice of hoodoo (i.e. it's evil), or it can be confused with contemporary Wicca. Moreover, a hoodoo practitioner is not always understood as a rootworker if they don't use roots and herbs in their magickal practices. Thus, rootwork can be understood as a subcategory or a "type" or hoodoo practice.
Social Context
Historically, most practitioners of hoodoo have been African Americans, but there have been some notable white root doctors. Latinos and Native Americans have also been practitioners. The origins of hoodoo are thought to begin with the African slaves, particularly in the American southeast, and historically, its existence has been documented in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. However, today hoodoo practitioners, like African Americans themseles, can be found in many other parts of the country, including the west coast and the northeast.
Unlike formal religions, hoodoo does not have a structured hierarchy. It also does not have an established theology, clergy, laity, or order of liturgical services of its own. Instead, practitioners are often lay people within a Christian community who possess specific knowledge of magic and hoodoo tradition. A traditional hoodoo doctor was often a nomadic sort who traveled from town to town peddling his services, but many also set up shop in their communities. However, hoodoo is not reserved solely for the specialist. Many of the spells and practices are within the realm of "folk remedies" and are well known in some African American and/or Southern socio-cultural contexts.
The traditional manner for passing on this folk knowledge was from person to person. For example, noted African American anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston worked extensively as an apprentice for various hoodoo doctors and wrote about her experiences. Since many hoodoo practices are passed on as folk remedies that can loosely be described as "common knowledge," hoodoo is also passed on through families and social contacts. However, with the growth of technological communication, learning the ways of hoodoo can now be accomplished through online sources and various books that preserve the tradition.
Hoodoo Conceptual System
The dominant worldview in hoodoo is usually strongly Christian and historically there has been, what is commonly referred to as, an Old Testament strain in hoodoo thought. 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.
Not only is God's providence a factor in hoodoo practice, but hoodoo thought understands God, himself, as the archetypal hoodoo doctor. On this matter 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." 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.
Practices
The goal of hoodoo is to allow people access to supernatural forces to improve their daily lives by gaining power in many areas of life, including luck, money, love, divination, revenge, health, employment, and necromancy. As in many other folk religious, magical, and medical practices, extensive use is made of herbs, minerals, parts of animals' bodies, an individual's possessions, and bodily fluids, especially menstrual blood, urine 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 magically effective in hoodoo. Due to hoodoo's great emphasis on an individual's magical power, its basic principles of working are generally felt to be easily adapted for use based on one's desires, inclination and habits.
Home-made potions and charms form the basis of much old-time rural hoodoo, but there are also many successful commercial companies selling various hoodoo components to urban and rural practitioners. These are generally called spiritual supplies, and they include herbs, roots, minerals, candles, incense, oils, floor washes, sachet powders, bath crystals, and colognes. Many patent medicines, cosmetics, and household cleaning supplies have been also aimed at hoodoo practitioners and have found dual usage as conventional and spiritual remedies.
Cultural Influences
Magical systems are notorious for appropriating practices from different regions and cultures. 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. However, there are some practices and influences in the tradition that can be loosely trace to particular regions.
Europe
Europes greatest identifiable influence on hoodoo is, arguably, the presence and use of European, or European American, grimoires. One of the first examples of this is John George Hohman's Pow-wow's: or, Long Lost Friend, a collection of magical spells originally published in 1820 for Pennsylvania-Dutch hex-meisters. It was introduced to hoodoo through catalogs on magic geared toward the African American community in the early 1900s. 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.'
The 6th and 7th Books of Moses is a European grimoire that is purportedly based on Jewish Kabbalah, though it actually covers little, if any, relation to Kabbalistic thought. It contains numerous signs, seals, and passages in Hebrew that are supposed to be related to Moses' ability to work wonders.
Generally, hoodoo practitioners do not use the instructions for rituals in this text, rather, the images and symbols have a greater importance.
Differences between Voodoo & Hoodoo
Hoodoo and Voodoo are often mistaken for one another. Some believe that the terms may have a common etymology.
The ancient African religion of Vodoun is an established religion with its ancient roots in West Africa. Its 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. Although the Voodoo of Haiti is better known to English speakers, the practices among Spanish speakers in Cuba is called Santeria.
Hoodoo shows obvious and evident links to the practices and beliefs of African folk magico-religious culture. The Hoodoo practiced in the U.S. by the enslaved Africans was brought from West and Central Africa, specifically, the area that is now known as the Congo and Angola, Togo, Nigeria and other West African regions.
Selected Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_%28folk_magic%29
