About Root Culture (read: Hoodoo)
The power, the mystery and the glory that is “hoodoo” is passed down through the bloodline of Afrikan people and is manifested and maintained by every generation of Black people of this land as it has been by their Afrikan Ancestors in the Motherland, from the beginning of the beginning. It was more than a collection of tricks; it was and still is the foundation of our survival in a place where we are disempowered, oppressed and murdered because we are Black. It is the well in which we dip to create, to make, to dream, to envision. We have used our juju to liberate, to preservere and survive. Black literature and music played a large part at giving testimony to Root Culture. The Black Church played a significant role in maintaining (AND suppressing) certain aspects of it. A common misconception about hoodoo is that it’s Christian-based. Actually… It’s Big Mama-based. And Mama luh gwine down erra night ta Ol’ Ebbaneezuh Baptiss choich fo’ta git huh prez on fo’ da Lawd. Additionally, our enslaved Afrikan Ancestors Africanized the Christian religion, by fusing traditions from West Afrika.
Not every Black child or young person is witnessed by an Elder to possess the eyes and/or the hands of a rootworker or conjurer. But every Black child who became a rootworker or conjurer was marked by the Ancestors and witnessed by the Elders. Those who have been marked and witnessed begin presentation, training and initiation, which is cultivated throughout their years. Learning roots is a process that takes YEARS to master, so this is why the strongest juju hands belong to the ELDERS of this tradition. The art image below depicts one manner most of us get our gifts or disposition (mark of the Ancestors) confirmed by our Elders. It is also one way (among many) the secrets and mysteries are passed down. This experience is ubiquitous within Root Culture.
The misconception that “hoodoo” is just magic that anyone can pick up is not only an insult to the legacy of the tradition, it’s a direct insult to us, our Elders and our Ancestors… It is a lie, started by non-Blacks to commodify the materials known in some parts of the rootwork practice (oils, incense, powders, roots, etc.). The power that fuels hoodoo goes beyond just tricks using powders, oils, candles, etc. Understand this: No rootworker worth his or her salt is going to order a root cultivated in Mexico from a shop in California whilst stepping over roots growing in the soil beneath his own feet in Ohio. The same roots his Big Mama used which had to replace the ones her Papa used while he was living down in Georgia. Our people historically worked with what was accessible to them. Nothing has changed within Root Culture. We still work this way.
Hoodooists utilize materials gifted to us from The Creator, the Ancestors and the Spirits of land, the waters, the bush, field, forest and swamp— even those who no longer live in the South still do— more than we do these commodified items but will at times use these things in a pinch and if we didn’t craft them ourselves, we will barter or swap with other workers.
Outsiders also think the practice is relegated to spiritual rituals, ceremonies and such, as some endeavor separated out from the mundanity of everyday life. Nope. Not true in many cases. It’s interwoven in our day-to-day. What must be understood: Black folk put de juju in jussboud errthang we do. It’s the foundation of our style, our swag… The one thing this white society loves to capitalize off of when they want to seem “hip” or “cool”… Forever copying off us but they never truly seem to quite get it. “Dey be all up in da kool-aid but don be knowin da flavor”… So while these outsiders are busy bedazzeling chicken feet and debating online about hot foot powder, they don’t even resonate with the juju of a plate of greens, the funk of an Elder, the braid styles of little Black girls, the notes from Bird’s horn, the solo from Hendrix, the bars from Kendrick, the little old lady sitting in the back pew of the Baptist Church scribbling in her Bible… But how could they? They aren’t Black nor a part of Root Culture. Most of them aren’t even interested enough in Black people to learn about our history for only 28 out of 365 days a year. And the gag is… juju is all up in our Black History, HA!
To repeat: Black folk put dat juju in jussboud errthang we do… #KnowThat
Rootworkin is passed down and maintained through the bloodline, and the style and approach to it depends on one’s Family. Your lineage dictates the manner of Spirits honored, which plant life are a part of your Root Family, which spaces in your environs are Places of Spirit, and so on. This information is never written about because it has never been written down. Deal with it. It is never talked about in depth because it is privileged information that if shared with those outside lineage, can have dire consequences. Death being among them. There is a reason there are so many tricks to protect one from bad juju and death. Likewise there is a reason many of our Elders will cease transmitting the secrets and the mysteries to their descendants and take all that info with them to the grave. Think about that….
The “recipes”, “spells” (we never call our workings “spells” by the way) and other things out in the wild labeled as “hoodoo” are for the most part sterile and useless. A lot of the bullshit out in public falls under de Konker rule and as such has been given status as red herrings, decoys or bits and pieces but not the whole. However, the anointed, initiated and skilled will see that fragmented or incomplete hoodoo recipe and they’ll know at a glance what items are missing. Another important thing to consider is that people who grew up around hoodoo or had rootwork done but were not themselves anointed initiated rootworkers, were the main ones disclosing information to outsiders of Root Culture who collected this info and had it published. Their mileage definitely varied.
Another thing that has gotten out of hand… Both culturally and historically, practitioners are NOT witches. Those who self-identify as witches but claim to practice hoodoo are basically saying they 1) have no blood ties or lineage, 2) have no Elders and 3) are outside the Root Culture Community. Without those three things, you do not have Hoodoo.
We are Mama. Sister. Nana. Auntie. Big Ma. Mother. Queen. Prophetess. Madame. We are NOT witches. Witch is a European word used to describe harbingers of evil. It is not a word used to describe physicians, healers, intuitives, prophets, empaths, seers, diviners, conjurers, herbalists, botanists, alchemists, psychics, mediums, magicians or sorcerers.. and rootworkers, rootdoctors, spiritualists… and hoodooists/voodooists. Witch is witch. Period. It has one meaning. Period. Afrikans historically understood and dealt with such things and our priests and priestesses were sought out to identify “witchcraft” (trust they had their own words in their own tongue that translated to witchcraft) and have it and who brought it destroyed. Then the white man came. Colonialists and Missionaries labled ALL Afrikan spiritual practices as witchcraft and its practitioners witches due to their racism, ignorance and arrogance.
Hoodooists, once identified and presented by their Elders, begin learning by living the tradition, within the culture. We are anointed. We are initiated. We learn by sitting at the feet of our Elders. We learn by apprenticing. We learn by being involved within our communities. We can write books and web pages and make videos about this until the cows come home. But we cannot teach it in this way. This work involves the eyes of the Elders and the hands of the Ancestors. It involves getting mud, shit and blood under our fingernails. It involves seeing in the dark. It involves dying and coming back. That’s something that cannot be received without being present, touching, tasting, seeing, smelling and feeling. And it cannot be given to you until your Ancestors mark you ready and your Elders are witnesses to it. And if you don’t have it, you most certainly aren’t fit to be teaching it. Like they say… ya caint give watchu neva had.
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