Friendly and Curious

[SongofSeaClover]

Hello,

A friend recently suggested that I start hoodoo, and I have a few questions. I've recently just entered a somewhat stable part of my life for once and finding this time to be for learning about who I am, what I believe, and learning patience for others. All the while trying not to take on other people's problems, while managing my own.

While I'm not against any religion, my friend said I would have to convert to Catholicism in order to practice hoodoo. I don't understand as it in my knowledge that is not okay with the Catholic religion at least what I know of it and if I were to ask my traditional Catholic friends. They would be horrified. Straight question, do you have to be Catholic? Right now, I don't have follow or believe in any religion because I believe spirituality should not divide people because of their different beliefs in it.

I don't understand the difference between spirits, deities, and gods. To me they are all the same with varying power.

While I have had altars before for general protection, I have never setup an ancestral altar. Is it okay to have ancestors of different religious background on such an altar? If so, should there be two? I don't believe they are of the type of people to be mad about such differences.

I also need a basic guide to hoodoo as there is a lot that I know I am missing information on.

[Mary Bee]

Hi there:

Welcome to the Lucky Mojo Forums! First of all, Hoodoo does not require that you convert to any religion, nor does it state you have to be a certain religious practitioner to use Hoodoo. Hoodoo has its' roots in African-American Protestant Christianity, and many of the prayers and spells have a Christian context and use Bible scriptures.

The first place you should look is the online book "Hoodoo in Theory and Practice":

http://www.luckymojo.com/hoodoo.html

Then ask questions and purchase some Lucky Mojo products to use.

Good luck!

Mary Bee

[SongofSeaClover]

Thank you. I'm glad to know that now. I don't fancy being a major hypocrite.

I'm currently focusing on setting up altars and such.

[Lee Canipe]

Whoever said you have to convert to Catholicism to practice hoodoo is *WAY* off base. The overwhelming majority of hoodoo workers are Protestant (Baptist, Methodist, etc). A minority are Catholic, and they are primarily in areas which were historically Catholic, like Louisiana. Most old-timey rootworkers do not work with Saints, etc.

Your ancestral altar should be about your people-- your family. If they were Baptist place a Bible and a cross, maybe a church fan, on the altar. If they were Mormon place a Book of Mormon and a statue of Moroni or something. You want the ancestral place to reflect who your people were in life. If your family was Catholic but you had one Jewish grandma, put a little menorah or Shema scroll or something like that for Bubbie. Some people say you should never put a Protestant ancestor with a Catholic ancestor, or whatever, but I can tell you I've never had any such problems (and I'm descended from White people who owned slaves, and Black people who were slaves, and Indians who massacred Europeans, and Euorpeans who killed Indians-- and I have them all together on my family table, because I am from all of them).

Lee Canipe #398 (G)

[MissMichaele]

Lee, I just gotta say that is one of the elegantest things I have read about ancestor work

Thank you.

Miss Michaele

[Lee Canipe]

Thank you, Miss Michaele! Ancestor work is the very foundation of my practice. I would be nothing without my ancestors; and I owe them everything.

Lee Canipe #398 (G)

[SongofSeaClover]

All right. So Buddhist prayer beads and a cross with a page from Corinthians about speaking in tongues it is.