Basic Understanding of Traditional African American Hoodoo

[catherineyronwode]

Where the Southern Cross the Yellow Dog: THE CONJURE DOCTORS

Tier 1 DECEMBER 7th, 2021

Hello, everyone, and thank you for supporting "It's All Ephemera"! This week in "Where the Southern Cross the Yellow Dog," we dive deeper into African-American documentation of hoodoo and conjure in the 19th century.

1) "The Conjure Doctors: From the Southern Workman and Hampton School Record, Vol. 24 August 1895" by Leonora Herron presents personal accounts of root doctors collected in 1878. These rare examples of 19th century black Americans publishing their own folklore tell us what Conjure Doctors did, where their powers came from, and what they looked like ... more than 140 years ago!

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The material at Southern Spirits was gathered from a variety of sources, including old books, magazine articles, newspapers, and even fragments extracted from novels and short stories. It is heavily annotated with interpretive and comparative notes.

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Cordially,

cat yronwode

#psychic #psychicreading #psychicreaders #hoodoo #hoodoospells #spiritualadvice #conjure #conjurespells #spellcasting #fortunetelling #divination #readersandrootworkers #rootworkers #folklore #folkmagic

[GoldenRule]

Do you, cat or siva know which episodes of the Lucky Mojo Hoodoo Rootwork Hour deal with etymology? Do you have any guidance on which year to search through?

I’ve wondered what would happen if I commented on a very old post..

[JayDee]

GoldenRule,

The last post by Miss Cat on this thread was from 2007, She states Eoghan has not been on or posting, I would look prior to 2007 shows for the information you are seeking.

Posting old topics is wonderful, it helps revitalize those conversations and create dialogue about them again. The particular area you are posting in is called the "unsorted" a section of old post that go back to the Lucky Mojo Yahoo Group days. Weekly Miss Cat and I are working though these post and properly categorizing them where they belong on the forum.

JayDee

[catherineyronwode]

That 2007 post reflected on the early shows from 2004 -2006m which Dr. Kioni and i co-hosted and which he was selling on CD discs (see Susan Diamond's comment "click on the link that'll take you to where you can browse and buy."

After Dr. Kioni left the show, he removed all access to the earlier shows, and he no longer sells them. They are inaccessible to us as well -- according to our agreement with him. We only have shows from the new series available, and they are all free.

To go back to Dr. Eoghan Ballard's linguistic theories, however:

The earliest written use of the word hoodoo to identify an African-American practitioner of rootwork was in 1861. Prior to that the word "goopher / goofer" was used, and it persisted in this generic sense even after Emancipation

Eoghan never came down on behalf of any ONE origin for the word hoodoo, but he noted these theories that had been proposed by others:

* Hu'du'ba, pronounced hoo-doo-ba -- Hausa, meaning "to exact retribution, to stir up resentment."

* Judio , pronounced hoo-dee-oh -- Spanish, meaning "Jewish"; a term used to describe non-Christian sorcery in Cuba, not specifically referring to Jewish magic but to any magical system that is not Catholic.

* Uath Dubh, pronounced h-uo doo or hoo doo, meaning the spirit of a Hawthorn tree, a dark entity, an evil phantom, a malevolent spiky ghost -- Gaelic, a term that has been applied to spikylooking "ghost ships" with no sails on the masts and yardarms and to wind-eroded sandstone columns in North America. As early as the 1850s, American ships that were found abandoned on the high seas, or on which diseases had broken out, or which were otherwise unlucky or jinxed or cursed, were called hoodoo ships. Many enslaved people of African origin or African descent served as sailors and cabin staff among Scottish and Irish sailors before and after Emancipation. In this sense hoodoo means "uncanny," "paranormal" or "deathly." It is interesting to note that Scots-Irish Americans still tend to spell hoodoo as two words (Hoo Doo or HooDoo) to this day.

I hope that helps.

[catherineyronwode]

One of the unexpected things that occurred when hoodoo entered the age of the internet and became more widely known outside the Black community is that a lot of folks new to the tradition -- folks from various cultural backgrounds, including African Americans --did not fully appreciate the use of astrology in hoodoo. I lectured on the topic as early as 2008, and again in 2012, but by 2017 i was getting all kinds of push-back from people who claimed that astrology had never been a part of conjure.

Well, being a Taurus (and an astrologer), i don't give up easily, so here i am with a bigger, bolder, and more in-your-face look at the history and traditions of Sun and Moon astrology among Black conjure doctors of the 20th century, lest we forget, and leave this important way of working behind.

I will be lecturing on the topic (again! but this time with the book!) at the 2023 Hoodoo Heritage Festival. You can also pre-order the book itself, as a stand-alone item, and it will ship to you in June 2023. After that it will go on-sale at Amazon and metaphysical bookstores everywhere.

Here it is: "Astrology for Rootworkers" by catherine yronwode and Prof. A. F. Seward. Cover by Grey Townsend.



This book is included in the Goody Box for the 2023 Virtual Hoodoo Heritage Festival. Buy tickets for the festival here:
http://hoodooheritagefestival.com

We are also accepting pre-orders for the book alone. It will ship in June 2023.

BOO-DIV-ASTR
Astrology for Rootworkers by catherine yronwode and Prof. A.F. Seward
$12.00



You can order right here in the Forum by clicking on the blue Add To Cart button.

For all my astrologer friends and for astrological newbies as well --

"Astrology for Rootworkers" will not teach you how to cast a chart, interpret a horoscope, or engage in predictive astrology. You don't need to know astrology to use it, but it is not a "dumbed-down" course in astrology by any means. It is, rather, a collection of authentic, historical African-American spells from the 20th century that are empowered by what was at that time everyday, basic knowledge of astrological timing and symbolism -- knowledge that anyone can access, without a background in math, and armed only with a current almanac. There is no other book on the market that explains this almost lost form of hoodoo folk magic, and if you want to know the full scope of the astrological wisdom embedded within traditional conjure, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy.

[catherineyronwode]

Presenting! Doc Murphy and her workshop on Southern Hoodoo in the Frozen North.



Learn about southern style conjure in the northern climbs! We will talk about hoodoo's history in norther cities and classic style hoodoo techniques for the Winter time. Order now and get a Goody Box over a $100 value! Join her and the many other presenters and fellow festival goers at the 2023 Virtual Hoodoo Heritage Festival June 10th and 11th! Watch the promotional video:

Doc Murphy: Southern Hoodoo in the Frozen North
https://youtu.be/VQsj28CzBXo

Doc Murphy offers a unique exploration of Hoodoo magic and its application in northern climates where freezing temperatures and snow are a common occurrence. She will delve into the use of freezing, frozen water, snow, and sleet in spells and rituals. Participants will learn how to work with the energy of cold and ice to achieve their goals, whether it be for protection, love, money, or other desires. Participants will have a newfound appreciation for the power of Hoodoo and the versatility of its magic in adapting to various environments and conditions.


WHAT YOU GET:

Electronic Materials (via download):

Access code to the webcast
A two-page PDF of lecture notes
Conference Access (on the day of the Festival):

Webcast workshop
Live chat and social time
Q & A session with the presenter
Physical Materials (via postal mail):

TBD

Workshop boxes sell out early, so buy your tickets ASAP. If workshop boxes have sold out by the time you purchase your VHHF 2023 tickets, and you already have or can acquire the items listed under "Physical Materials," you will have everything that is included in the workshop box. When you purchase your ticket, you can log into the Festival site and see a complete list of all items, with the names of vendors and SKU numbers, for ease of ordering anything you need. You do not need these items to follow the teaching, but they are recommended, as their use will be demonstrated to viewers.

Get your tickets now at http://www.hoodooheritagefestival.com/

#consecration #vhhf #virtualhoodooheritagefestival #hoodooheritagefestival #hhf #readers #rootworkers #hoodoospells #hoodoo #conjure #snowmagic #icemagic #frozennorth

[catherineyronwode]

Thanks to my Patrons, who contribute as little as $2.00 per week for an exclusive one-year sneak-peek behind the scenes, i am able to write a new web page every week on the history of folk magic and divination. In this installment of "Where the Southern Cross the Yellow Dog," we view a difficult collection of hoodoo beliefs and practices from 1891, compiled by an amateur folklorist whose racism is obvious, but whose information is unique and therefore important in terms of what it offers to modern historians of African-American folk-magic. Sara M. Handy wrote this piece in 1891, and despite its ugliness and errors, it still offers us a good view of the conjure practices of Black Americans in Virginia halfway between the end of slavery in 1865 and America's entry into the First World War in 1917. And, as always, i take care to unpack the antiquated terminology, correct the errors, and offer some insights into the life of the author.



NEGRO SUPERSTITIONS by Sara M. Handy
(Published in 1891)

Find it at:
http://southernspirits.org/Handy-Negro- ... -1891.html

This illustrated and annotated web page describes rural African-American omens, divination, and spell-work in the 19th century. Copies of the original article accompany the text.

The Southern Spirits web site includes material about hoodoo gathered from old books, magazine articles, newspapers, and fragments extracted from novels and short stories, annotated with interpretive and comparative notes. If you are not yet familiar with the public portion of the site, check it out!

http://southernspirits.org

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#Virginia #conjure #folklore #hoodoo #omen #rootwork #superstition #witchcraft

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[catherineyronwode]

The Lucky Mojo YouTube channel is here:
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Lucky Mojo Hoodoo Rootwork Hour 12/11/22 : Weather Spells
with co-hosts Catherine Yronwode and ConjureMan,
special guest Reverend James, and announcer Clifford Low.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP3PbZcJfEg

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[BalkanDiviner]

Hi, everyone!

Has there ever been an intersection culturally between Hoodoo and the rroma community, particularly with roots of Eastern Orthodoxy? There are rroma women practitoner of magic in Romania whose practices incorporate elements that to a small degree remind me of Hoodoo tricks. Admittedly, Hoodoo has crossed with European influences but I'm genuinely curious if there's a particular connection to Eastern European folklore.

[catherineyronwode]

Balkan Diviner --

There are indeed Roma hand readers and folk magic practitioners in America, and they did offer services to both White and Black clientele as early as the late 19th century, but there are not enough of them, in terms of population, to have made a great impact on African-American culture as practitioners.

More notable was the impact they had as fortune tellers -- so much so that by the early 20th century the word "gypsy" had become Black slang for any fortune teller, whether Roma, Black, Hindu, Anglo-European, or Jewish.

See my web page on "Black Gypsies":
https://luckymojo.com/blackgypsies.html

See also my "Blues Lyrics and Hoodoo index page":
https://luckymojo.com/blues.html
and use your browser to search for the keyword "Gypsy"

[catherineyronwode]

The Lucky Mojo YouTube channel is here:
http://youtube.com/luckymojocurioco



Lucky Mojo Hoodoo Rootwork Hour 4/13/25: The Four Elements in Hoodoo
with co-hosts catherine yronwode and ConjureMan,
special guest Mama E., and announcer Papa Newt.
https://youtu.be/IhLnnHPYbeM

Co-hosts Miss Cat and ConjureMan, with special guest Mama E., and announcer Papa Newt , present a tutorial on the four elements in hoodoo and provide 90 minutes of free readings, free spells, and conjure consultations, giving listeners an education in African-American folk magic.

Chat log and further discussion:
lucky-mojo-hoodoo-rootwork-hour-4-13-25 ... 99604.html

DONATE A SMALL ONE-TIME AMOUNT TO SPEED OUR VIDEO UPLOADS
https://www.luckymojo.com/youtubedonation.html

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON AND WE'LL PUT YOUR NAME IN THE VIDEOS
http://patreon.com/catherineyronwode