Hoodoo – Witchcraft – Spellcasting

Hoodoo spell casting is an ancient form of magic that has been practiced for centuries. Often referred to as root work, Hoodoo spell casting utilizes the power of natural elements and spiritual forces to bring positive change into your life. While many people assume spell casting is dark or evil, in reality it is a powerful tool used by experienced practitioners to help those in need. In this blog post, we will explore the basics of Hoodoo spell casting and how you can use it to manifest your desires.

About Our Courses

The Hoodoo Witch courses were created to teach people how to introduce hoodoo-style magic into their daily life – no matter their background. Hoodoo, is often called conjure or rootwork, steaming from the practical use of roots in its spells and rituals.

The courses on this website are a fusion between modern American Hoodoo and European Witchcraft.

The goal for any student should be to learn how to improve their life with this magical system.

What is Hoodoo?

Hoodoo, as we practice it today, is a blend of African spiritual beliefs and magic, the “botanical knowledge of Native Americans, and European folklore” – creating something that is uniquely American. However, hoodoo is an ever-evolving folk magic system of magic and spell casting, and today we see influences from far and wide.

Over time, a few African Americans began to incorporate a few elements from the European culture, such as occultism and mysticism. The mobility of black people from the rural South, to more urban areas in the North, is characterized by the items used in hoodoo. From the use of Tarot (originating from Europe) to using colored candles (influenced by South American magical and religious systems).

Whites, particularly Jewish pharmacists, opened their shops in black communities and began to offer items both asked for by their black customers, as well as things they themselves felt would be of use. Examples of the adoption of occultism and mysticism may be seen in the colored wax candles in glass jars that are often labeled for specific purposes such as “Fast Luck” and “Love Drawing”.

Hoodoo is magic without a religious doctrine. Hoodoo is commonly assumed to be the same as  Voodoo, however, Voodoo is a religion in its own right, with a completely different pantheon of deity. Some Hoodoo practitioners are Christian who often use the Bible in their practice as well as the petitioning of Saints. Other Hoodoo practitioners have no affiliation to the Christian faith.

Hoodoo uses herbs, roots, dirts, waters, powders, minerals, zoological items, and other everyday items, in spells and rituals. Witchcraft does as well, yet the purpose of some herbs are used for different reasons. An example is Graveyard dirt, in witchcraft it can be mixed with mullein and/or other products, but in Hoodoo, Graveyard dirt is strictly dirt collected from a grave.

The benefits of practicing Hoodoo Witchcraft

Hoodoo gives people access to supernatural forces to improve their lives. 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 spiritually influential in hoodoo.

Students can benefit in many ways including connecting with their own ancestors. Folk Magic is not expensive to practice and does not require years of study in order to achieve a satisfactory magical result.

The origin of Hoodoo Magic

Hoodoo as we know it today, arrived from Africa as a result of slavery into the Americas. We recommend you watch the 4 part video series “America’s journey through slavery” sharing the journey of Africans into North & South America for the purposes of slavery.

The extent to which hoodoo could be practiced varied by region and the temperament of the slave owners. Enslaved Africans of the Southeast, known as the Gullah, as well as those in Louisiana, were people who enjoyed the isolation and relative freedom that allowed for the retention of the practices of their West African ancestors. Rootwork or hoodoo, in the Mississippi Delta where the concentration of enslaved Africans was dense, was practiced but under a large cover of secrecy. Hoodoo spread throughout the United States as African Americans left the Delta during the great migration.

Origin of the word Hoodoo

The African Studies departments at Temple, Yale, and Havard Universities tell us:

“Hoodoo is not related etymologically as a word to voodoo. There is a thin strand of semantic connection only. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, black slaves of Hausa origin brought with them to their enslavement in the American south a distinct magic practice called “hoodoo.” The word comes directly from the Hausa language where the verb hu’du’ba means ‘to arouse resentment, produce retribution.’

Voodoo is a different word and quite a different concept. The word voodoo comes from another African language called Ewe where vodu is the name of a specific principle of nature or tutelary deity. 

Voodoo passed into American English by way of Louisiana Creole voudou. Very early in America, hoodoo came to mean ‘jinx’ or ‘cast a spell on’ as a noun and a verb: ‘Something hoodooed me out in the swamp last night. I think it was my ex-husband.'”

The word hoodoo stems from the Hudu language

Hudu is the name of a language and a Ewe tribe in Togo and Ghana. It was first documented in American English in 1875 and was used as a noun (the practice of hoodoo) or a transitive verb, as in “I hoodoo you,” an action carried out by varying means.

The hoodoo could be manifest in a healing potion, or in the exercise of a parapsychological power, or as the cause of harm which befalls the targeted victim.

 In African American Vernacular English (AAVE), hoodoo is often used to describe a paranormal consciousness or spiritual hypnosis, a spell. But hoodoo may also be used as an adjective for a practitioner, such as “hoodoo man”.

Regional synonyms for hoodoo include conjuration, witchcraft, or rootwork.

The word witch is typically associated with the European definitions of the word witch (and commonly associated with the practices of Wicca), however, the word witch has been used in African spirituality.

The tagati is usually improperly translated into English as “witch”, and is a spiteful person who operates in secret to harm others.

The sangoma is a diviner, somewhere on a par with a fortune teller, and is employed in detecting illness, predicting a person’s future (or advising them on which path to take), or identifying the guilty party in a crime. She also practices some degree of medicine.

The inyanga is often translated as “witch doctor” (though many Southern Africans resent this implication, as it perpetuates the mistaken belief that a “witch doctor” is in some sense a practitioner of malicious magic). The inyangas job is to heal illness and injury and provide customers with magical items for everyday use.

Of these three categories, the tagati is almost exclusively female, the sangoma is usually female, and the inyanga is almost exclusively male. (1)

Hoodoo Magic Today

Hoodoo is already a fusion of witchcraft and African Folk Magick. 

In this day and age, with unlimited access to technology, and the ability to travel and experience different cultures, we all like to try and experiment with new and exciting magical systems. Every culture has a unique magical system that has been refined and adapted along the way. Think of the evolution of Shamanism, Hermetics, Witchcraft, Wicca, Folk Magic, Reiki, Yoga, to name but a few.

Modern-day Hoodoo includes many elements of the above systems and has elements of Voodoo/Vodun,  Santeria, Palo Monte to name but a few. Modern hoodoo adapts further in each region it enters. For example, New Orleans Hoodoo practices have a different flavor from other areas in the South. Modern hoodoo, as it is practiced today has ALOT of traditional witchcraft practices introduced into the rituals and spells.

Hoodoo practice does not require a formal study nor does it have an accreditation system. Therefore both the practices of Hoodoo and Witchcraft are available for each and every person to study & practice. Everyone has the opportunity to improve the conditions of their life with a little magick and a closer connection to spirit.

The key to learning Hoodoo is understanding the journey of Hoodoo, so as to pay respects to Hoodoo’s violent history. Once you respect the foundation of Hoodoo, you can emerge yourself in the magickal spiritual system – and then adapt the work to your own location – where ever you are in the world!

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Sources:

Alvarado, D. The Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook. San Fransisco,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shona_witch_doctor_(Zimbabwe).jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_(folk_magic)#cite_note-20

Hyatt. Hoodoo. vol. I. pp. 1758–1759.

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