Saints and Spirits in Hoodoo: Who Was Called On, and For What
This table sets out the saints, holy figures and spirits that Hyatt’s informants worked with in the 1930s, and what each one was called on for. The saints come almost entirely from New Orleans and Algiers, where hoodoo met the Catholic saint store and the spiritual churches. The spirits come from right across the South.
The old workers did not treat a saint as a distant holy person. A saint was a worker with a speciality, a price and a temper. You gave the light, kept the promise and paid what you owed, or the luck went back the way it came.
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| Saint or spirit | Used for | From the old workers |
|---|---|---|
| St. Anthony | Work, bread in the house and customers through the door. Promised alms for the poor box once the wish came. Brown candles on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Also burned to bring a lover back. | “Yo’ prays tuh St. Anthony fo’ work or fo’ bread” (Hyatt 2992 · Algiers, La. · informant 1577) |
| St. Expedite (St. Espidee) | Fast luck, success and gamblers’ money, paid in anything green. A cup candle for eight days. Names behind his picture to bring a man back. Break the promise and he takes the luck away. One worker called him a saint for devilment. | “Yo’ burn a light tuh St. Espidee eight days an’ yo’ have some kinda luck in eight days” (Hyatt 3000 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1572) |
| St. Joseph | Bread and luck. Patron of married women and widows, who prayed to him to bring an absent husband home. A white candle, and a bread altar on 19 March. | “Well, if yo’ pray tuh St. Joseph , he’ll give yo’ bread .” (Hyatt 3011 · Algiers, La. · informant 1587) |
| St. Jude | Conquering enemies, smoothing the way and healing sickness. A green or yellow light, with rapping. He was said to answer with a light like a star in the house. | “ah raps fo 1 St. Jude an’ he would conquer yo’ enemies .” (Hyatt 2769 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1558) |
| St. Michael (the conqueror) | Putting enemies under your feet when they are working against you. A red candle on Friday. Hung over the front door to keep enemies out. Also burned for peace with neighbours and against furniture dealers. | “if you pray to him , that is the way he’ll have your enemies down under your feet .” (Hyatt 3012 · New Orleans, La. · informant 783) |
| St. Michael (the evil saint) | Some workers held he was an evil saint who could be prayed to for dirty work, keeping a person down under his spear. A blue light. | “St. Michael ain’t good , St. Michael works with the devil .” (Hyatt 3018 · New Orleans, La. · informant 845) |
| St. Peter (thieves) | Finding a thief. A white candle to his picture, a brass key in the Bible, then the suspects’ names called until the Bible turns. | “St. Peter is a saint that is used fo’ all thieves .” (Hyatt 2742 · Washington, D.C. · informant 639) |
| St. Peter (the law) | Keeping the law off the house. Saltpetre scattered across the yard before sunrise while calling his name, with cans of chamber lye at the front and back doors. | “St. Peter – yo’ hear me , St. Peter – yo’ hears a sinner calling” (Hyatt 2618 · Jacksonville, Fla. · informant 591) |
| St. Peter (opening the way) | Holding the key that opens the way: luck, success, renting every room. A key bought and given to him. He worked for women but was said to turn on men. | “St. Peter, if you try to light a light to St. Peter , he liable to set your house afire before he do a favor for you” (Hyatt 3035 · New Orleans, La. · informant 841) |
| St. Raymond | Jobs, steady work, luck and money. Given a flower or a dime, with the promise kept, and a white light to his picture. Burned to at six, noon and six with St. Peter and St. Michael. | “St. Raymond, he’s fo’ tuh git chew jobs an’ keep yo’ in work.” (Hyatt 10200 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1561) |
| St. Rita | Women keeping a man without feeding him anything. A pink light kept burning, with rapping. She was said to have no time for men at all. | “St. Rita keeps de do’s open fo’ dis woman” (Hyatt 3054 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1572) |
| St. Roc | Bringing a murderer back to the scene. Nine days of prayer at St. Roc’s chapel and at the dead man’s grave, with a picture of the Mother of Perpetual Help on the headboard. | “They go to St. Roc’s and they carry that picture to the grave” (Hyatt 3021 · New Orleans, La. · informant 814) |
| The Virgin Mary | Bread in the house at all times. A pink candle on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays with the Lord’s Prayer. Men burned to her for renting rooms, because she helps men. | “De Virgin Mary is tuh put bread in yore house, keep bread in yore house all de time.” (Hyatt 10200 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1561) |
| Mother of Perpetual Help | Getting a job, peace in the home, healing and opening the way for success. Pink, blue or green candles, prayed to at noon and morning, with the promise paid when the wish came. | “She gives yo’ help tuh help yo’ git a job. She gives yo’ help tuh keep peace in yore home .” (Hyatt 3022 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1558) |
| Sacred Heart of Jesus | Drawing a person’s mind to you: nine teaspoons of sugar in a glass of water set under his picture. Also kept burning for the children of the house. | “Yo’ offer dat glass of sweeten watah tuh de Sacred Heart of Jesus” (Hyatt 3064 · Algiers, La. · informant 1580) |
| Father, Son and Holy Ghost | The triple name sealed the work. Spoken over a foot track, over salt and sulphur, over onion peel thrown on the fire for customers. | “hit on top of it three times like this, “God de Father, God de Son, God de Holy Ghost” – jes’ like dat.” (Hyatt 743 · Brunswick, Ga. · informant 1175) |
| Moses | The seals of the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses: copied onto parchment and worn in the right shoe, with the 25th Psalm read nine mornings, for protection from all enemies. | “De seals [are] in de Six an’ Seven Books of Moses.” (Hyatt 2279 · Memphis, Tenn. · informant 915) |
| Black Hawk | An evil saint for evil purposes. Black candles, burned the same way as to other saints. One worker called him a servant of the devil, prayed to in place of the Lord. | “But Black Hawk or some of those bad saints , you burn black candles .” (Hyatt 2993 · New Orleans, La. · informant 816) |
| The dead | Dead spirits put on a person, or sent after him with grave dirt in his tracks. Kept out by sweeping the house backward. | “Sweep yo’ house out backward for nine mornings , that will keep him out. (Keep what out?) Keep de ghost, the dead spirit.” (Hyatt 1065 · Jacksonville, Fla. · informant 553) |
| The devil at the crossroads (skill) | Learning an instrument. Nine mornings at the crossroads before day; on the ninth the devil tunes it and you can play anything. | “He take dat instrument an’ tune it into tune fo’ yo’ tuh play, understand.” (Hyatt 10537 · Florence, S. Car. · informant 1313) |
| The devil at the crossroads (the bargain) | Selling yourself for power. Workers knew the price: the devil comes for you in the end. | “jes’ lak yo’ go to a crossroads an’ sell yo’self to de devil – an’ he’ll come an’ git chew in a whirlwind.” (Hyatt 170 · Wilson, N. Car. · informant 1514) |
Lights, raps and promises
The saint was kept as a picture or statue on a home altar, often blessed by a priest, with a candle of the right colour in front of it. Colours varied from worker to worker: pink for St. Rita and the Virgin, brown for St. Anthony, red for St. Michael, green for anything to do with money.
Some workers rapped when they set the light, and the saint was said to rap back. St. Anthony answered at noon. St. Jude answered with a light in the house.
The promise was the heart of it. A dime, flowers, a key, money in the poor box: whatever was promised had to be paid once the wish came, or the saint took the success away again.
Good saints and bad saints
Workers sorted the saints by temper, not by church teaching. St. Michael was a protector to one worker and an evil saint who worked with the devil to another. St. Peter would help a woman and burn a man’s house down. Black Hawk was worked openly as an evil saint, with black candles, for evil ends.
Beyond the saints sat the older powers: the dead, sent after a person or kept out of the house, and the devil at the crossroads, met before day for skill at a price. For the full story of the saints and the spiritual churches, see Saints and spiritual churches in The Hyatt Files.
Learn the work
Hoodoo Witch Certification Course
The course teaches altar work with the saints and spirits: which one to call on, the lights, the offerings and the promises, as the old workers did it.
Quotes from Harry Middleton Hyatt, Hoodoo – Conjuration – Witchcraft – Rootwork, 5 vols., 1970-1978, kept exactly as recorded. Numbers are Hyatt’s own item numbers.