Hello, CuriousChris --
First, i know you were probably using the word "ancient" in a loose way, but let me just take a moment to explain that the spells that Rev. Hyatt collected from 1,600 African American practitioners are MODERN. He started collecting in 1936, about 11 years before i was born, when my mother was in her 20s, and he was collecting spells as late as in the 1970s, when i was in my 20s! He did interview older people, and they may have been born 60, 70, or 80 years earlier than his earliest collecting year, 1936, but that means that they were born between 1856 and 1876. This in turn means that most of the people he interviewed had reached adulthood and begun practicing hoodoo after Emancipation.
There ARE older collections of hoodoo spells than Hyatt's -- still not "ancient," but older than his field trips.
Going backwards in time, we have the collections of Zora Neale Hurston, "Mules and Men" (1935, from field work in the latter part of the 1920s) and Newbell Niles Puckett, "Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro" (1926, from field work conducted in 1925). Before that we have numerous small sets of collected spells, either all from one person or grouped sets published in magazines. These reach back in time to the mid 19th century at the earliest, and that is still "modern."
If you are interested in older material on hoodoo, collected by African-American folklorists and practitioners from the 19th century, please see my free teaching web site, Southern Spirits:
SOUTHERN SPIRITS
Documenting African-American Folk Magic and Spirituality
https://SouthernSpirits.org
I add new pages there regularly, and the site is supported by my Patrons. You can become a Patron for as little as $2.00 per week.
Now, as to how to understand, interpret, and USE these older spells: That is what i have been specializing in -- and teaching -- for the past 25-30 years. Almost every book on hoodoo that i have published has contained spells collected by Hurston, Puckett, and Hyatt. They have been rendered into standard English and they have been given expanded commentary when necessary because i want them to be used, not examined as museum pieces.
One final comment -- referring to Hyatt's collected African-American spells as "the Hyatt material" or, as some call them, "the Hyatt spells," or "his spells" is something i strongly discourage.
Harry Hyatt interviewed in many places, among both professional root doctors and home practitioners. The forms of the work he collected are regional and also personal. We know the names of many of the people he interviewed and even have business cards, locations, and census records for some of them. The attribute the spells of Myrtle Collins, Mrs. Baker, John A. Douglas. Laura Mills, Walter J. Maddox, Purnell Dennis, Delia Dennis, Carrie Gavin, or others to Hyatt is a mistake.
When a musician sings a song, either an original or an old standard, and it is recorded by an engineer and released on a recording, we do not call it one of the "Sony songs" or "Universal songs," or "Warner songs." We all it by the name of the person who sings it, not by the name of the engineer or the releasing company.
To understand a given spell it helps greatly to know where it was collected and from whom. For this reason, i maintain and continually add to a page i call "Hyatt's Informants," which presents details on the people he interviewed. See:
HARRy HYATT'S INFORMANTS
Men and Women of Hoodoo, 1936 - 1940
https://luckymojo.com/hyattinformants.html
I am always available to help interpret a spell you may have that you cannot understand. Just post it verbatim in the appropriate situation thread in the Lucky Mojo Forum (e.g. Money, Love, Break-Ups) and i will unpack it for you.
Good luck!
