When you begin to delve deeply into herbal and folk magicks in an effort to further your personal magickal education, you will invariably run across Hoodoo (and Pow Wow). They are an intricate part of historical America, where these two systems have flourished for hundreds of years, and have affected (to some degree, depending upon your personal opinion) the current religion of Witchcraft. In an effort to give you basic information, Ray Malbrough has written a section for you on Hoodoo, and I have provided a section on Pow Wow further on in Part 3. Once you learn the patterning of these two systems, you will discover that several of the older American Craft grimoires contain mixed elements of these practices.
Hoodoo Magick
by Ray Malbrough
Hoodoo has become an Americanized adaptation of the indigenous African religion relating to the Fon people of Benin and Togo, found on the western coast of the African continent (also referred to as the Ivory Coast). Hoodoo thrives within the indigenous magickal tradition of people living in Louisiana, and deals much with the working of herbs and roots to make charm bags, called gris-gris bags. The gris-gris bags are very similar to an American Indian medicine bag. Hoodoo also uses packets that are carried in a person’s shoes. Hoodoo’s magickal teaching is carried down from male to male and female to female. The only exception to any magickal knowledge being carried over from male to female or female to male was to keep the practice within the family bloodline.
The Hoodoo practitioner is also taught how to prepare the magickal and spiritual baths that are also an integral part of Voodoo as practiced in Haiti today. The practitioners are also skilled in making and using magickal powders, used to influence people when worn or in contact with a person’s body. For example, when a man or woman desired to attract a certain person to be their lover, a powder would be worn after bathing to help draw the forces of love into their own life. Or the powder would be sprinkled about a place where the beloved was sure to walk or sit. The charge that is put into the powder would begin to have an effect on the other person. These magickal powders are also sprinkled onto candles to give extra power to the candle as it burns. Practitioners of Hoodoo or Voodoo don’t believe that magick is black or white. It just simply is, neutrally.
The main difference between a practitioner of Hoodoo and a priest or priestess of Voodoo (also spelled Voudu) is that Hoodoo invokes the aid of the Catholic saints. The Voodoo practice makes use of the vèvès in order to invoke the aid of the African spirits when petitioning for help in solving the problems in life. One thing that is common to both, besides the practice of magick, is a reverence for the dead and communication with the dead and the ancestors that have gone to the other side. Death is not viewed as an end to the relationship, but as a beginning to the relationship on a spiritual level. The dead continue to show interest in the lives of their descendants on Earth. Offerings are made to the dead, and they are petitioned for help as well.
Some of the main African spirits (or loa, as they are called) have been equated with a Catholic saint.
Damballah: St. Patrick
Erzulie-Fréda Dahomey: The Sacred Heart of Mary
Papa Legba: St. Anthony of Padua
Baron Samedi: St. Gerard Majella
Erzulie Dantor: Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows
The Marassa: Sts. Cosmas and Damian
The African spirits mentioned are thought of more as planetary spirits and not as gods. In Fon mythology, God the creator is viewed as Mawe-Lisa, a creator being who is both male and female. Each loa or spirit has his or her own type of offerings that are given, as well as colors and symbols. The African spirits eat and are given food and blood offerings. The Catholic saints accept the offering of candles and magickally prepared oil lamps, but do not require a food or blood offering as the African spirit does. It is this change that has helped the indigenous African culture of the Fon people to flourish and survive on the shores of America, becoming an accepted practice with the European descendants of Louisiana. However, there is one important rule in Hoodoo: All magickal practice is kept in secret.
Love-Drawing Powder
Take 1 tablespoon rose petals, 1 tablespoon orris root, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon bark, and 1/4 teaspoon cloves. In a mortar and pestle, grind them down to a fine powder. As you do so, pray over the herbs so that they will help to draw love into the life of the person who will wear them on their body. When finished, the powdered mixture is then added to one cup of talc and blended well. This herb-talc mixture is then put on your altar, and a red candle is lit next to it. You will dedicate the love-drawing powder to the Sacred Heart of Mary, asking her to bless the powder so that it will bring love to the person who will wear it. This is done for nine days, lighting a new candle each day. When all the candles are burnt out, the powder is ready to wear. Caution: Do not leave an open candle flame unattended. We do not need to burn the house down.
Overcoming Obstacles:
A Gris-Gris Bag
First, find an old skeleton key. You will take the skeleton key and go to seven different places and touch the door of each place with the key.
1. A store
2. A bank
3. Supermarket
4. Place of business
5. Hospital
6. Jail
7. Lastly, the cemetery gate.
The key is then anointed with High John the Conqueror oil and placed in a red flannel or chamois bag with the following: a small adventurine stone, a piece of John the Conqueror root, 3 bay laurel leaves, a pinch of five-finger grass (cinquefoil), and 2 lodestones. When finished with the bag, place it next to a statue of St. Anthony of Padua and light a white candle, asking that he always intercede on your behalf to remove the obstacles that you encounter in your journey in life. Each day for thirteen days, light a new candle, praying that St. Anthony will bless the gris-gris to work for you in removing obstacles. After all the candles have burnt themselves out, you can wear the charm bag next to your skin, under your clothing so that no one will see it.
A Spiritual Bath to Remove
Negative Vibrations
To a half gallon of water, add the following: 1/4 cup holy water, 3 tablespoons Florida Water cologne, and 1 cup of tea made from the herb basil. Strain the basil from the water of the tea and discard the herb. You will use only the tea, not the herb. Bring this to your altar and light three white candles in the form of a triangle, with the container with the spiritual bath in the center of the three candles. Dedicate this spiritual bath to your holy guardian angel, asking him or her to bless the bath so that its influence will remove all negative vibrations you may feel around you. When the candles have burnt themselves out, the bath is ready to use. You will take one third of the spiritual bath and add it to one-half tub of clear bath water. Take your soap bath first. You will soak in the tub with the spiritual bath for about ten minutes, pouring the water over yourself as you pray that the negative influences are removed. Allow the water to air dry on your skin. Take this bath for three days.