Hoodoo (also known as Rootwork, Conjure, or Traditional Southern Folk Magic) is a rich African-American magical tradition born from the crucible of slavery and oppression in the American South. Synthesizing West and Central African spiritual practices with Native American herbalism, European folk magic, and Biblical Christianity, Hoodoo developed as a practical system for protection, healing, justice, love, and prosperity among an enslaved and later marginalized people.
Unlike Voodoo (Vodou), which is a religion with priests, elaborate rituals, and service to the lwa (spirits), Hoodoo is a magical practice without formal clergy or religious structure. Practitioners (called rootworkers, conjure doctors, or two-headed doctors) work individually or as community specialists, using roots, herbs, minerals, animal curios, personal concerns (items connected to a person), candles, and especially Bible verses and the Psalms to accomplish specific goals.
Enslaved Africans brought sophisticated magical and spiritual traditions from numerous cultures including:
These traditions could not be practiced openly under slavery, so they were disguised, syncretized with Christianity, and transmitted orally within enslaved communities.
Contact between enslaved Africans and Native Americans (especially in maroon communities of escaped slaves) led to the adoption of indigenous herbalism and animal parts:
Forced Christianization led to deep integration of Biblical elements, which actually strengthened rather than weakened the tradition:
Note: There is overlap, especially in New Orleans, where Voodoo and Hoodoo influenced each other. Marie Laveau, the famous "Voodoo Queen," practiced both.
Candle work forms the backbone of modern Hoodoo practice. Different colored candles are "dressed" (anointed with oils), inscribed with names or symbols, and burned with specific prayers and intentions. The candle's burning represents the work being done in the spiritual realm.
Uses: Purity, peace, healing, spiritual work, cleansing, blessings, contacting spirits. Can substitute for any color.
Common Work: Uncrossing, spiritual elevation, angelic contact
Uses: Love, passion, sex, power, courage, strength, fast luck
Common Work: Drawing passionate love, increasing sexual attraction, gaining courage
Uses: Romance, friendship, emotional healing, gentle love, reconciliation
Common Work: Sweetening relationships, friendship spells, self-love
Uses: Money, prosperity, employment, fertility, growth, gambling luck
Common Work: Money-drawing, job success, business growth
Uses: Banishing, protection, reversing, breaking hexes, absorbing negativity
Common Work: Uncrossing, reversal, binding enemies, removing obstacles
Uses: Power, mastery, ambition, controlling, domination, psychic work
Common Work: Commanding, legal dominance, enhancing psychic abilities
Uses: Peace, healing, truth, fidelity, harmony, court cases, communication
Common Work: Court case victory, peaceful home, cooling hot situations
Uses: Success, confidence, creativity, mental clarity, fast luck, Solar power
Common Work: Road opening, success in endeavors, mental focus
Uses: Court cases, legal matters, neutralizing, grounding
Common Work: Court case work, neutralizing situations, finding lost objects
A mojo bag is a small flannel bag (traditionally red flannel, but color-matched to intention) filled with roots, herbs, minerals, and curios to create a portable magical charm. Carried on the person, the mojo must be "fed" regularly (anointed with oil or whiskey) and kept secret to maintain power.
Bag Color: Green flannel
Contents:
Assembly: Add items one at a time while praying or stating intention. Use an odd number of each ingredient (1, 3, 5, 7, 9). Tie bag with three knots. Breathe life into it. Anoint with Money Drawing Oil weekly.
Activation: Sleep with it under pillow for three nights, carry it daily, keep it secret, never let others touch it.
Bag Color: Red or white flannel
Contents:
Feed: Whiskey and Protection Oil weekly
Bathing in herbal waters is fundamental to Hoodoo, used for cleansing negativity, drawing blessings, or changing spiritual conditions. Floor washes serve similar purposes for spaces.
Ingredients:
Procedure: Boil herbs in water, let cool to comfortable temperature. Take regular bath first to physically clean. Then stand in tub and pour herbal water over yourself from head down (always down, never up for cleansing). Pray Psalm 51 or 23. Let air dry (don't towel off). Take the bath for 13 consecutive days, preferably at sunrise. Pour used bathwater at a crossroads or out the front door (throw it toward the rising sun).
Brew strong tea of basil, cinnamon, Irish moss, and chamomile. Add to mop water with Money Drawing Oil. Mop from back of house toward front door (drawing inward). Pray Psalm 23 while mopping. Do on Thursday (Jupiter's day) during waxing moon.
One of the most African-derived practices in Hoodoo involves the magical use of dirt from someone's footprint. This "personal concern" creates a strong link to the target.
The crossroads holds special power in Hoodoo (inherited from African cosmology, especially Kongo). It's a place "between" where the spiritual and material worlds meet, making it ideal for certain workings.
To petition spirits or the Devil (interpreted variously—sometimes meaning actual evil entity, sometimes meaning powerful crossroads spirit) for power, skill, or success:
Famous in blues legend: Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul at the crossroads for musical mastery.
Many workings require disposing of ritual remains at the crossroads, symbolically sending the work "out into the world" or away from you:
Proper procedure: Arrive at crossroads, turn back to it, throw items over left shoulder into the center, walk away without looking back.
The Biblical Psalms are central to Hoodoo practice, with specific psalms traditionally used for specific purposes. Practitioners may read them aloud, write them on paper to carry, or burn them in candle work.
"The Lord is my shepherd..."
The most used psalm in Hoodoo. For general protection, safe travel, blessings, peace, and defeating enemies. Read daily for constant protection.
"Fret not thyself because of evildoers..."
For justice, to stop gossip, to cause enemies to fail, for court cases where you've been wronged. Very powerful for defeating opposition.
"Have mercy upon me, O God..."
For cleansing from sin, removing guilt, spiritual purification, uncrossing work. David's psalm of repentance.
"He that dwelleth in the secret place..."
The strongest protection psalm. Against all harm, enemies, evil spirits, accidents, disease. Carry written on your person.
"Hold not thy peace, O God..."
Powerful cursing psalm against serious enemies. Use with caution and justification. Causes enemies to suffer and fail.
"The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble..."
For success in any undertaking, business ventures, important meetings. Answered prayers.
Uses: Success, power, overcoming obstacles, money, love, strength, luck
Note: Named after legendary enslaved African trickster hero who couldn't be conquered. The most important root in Hoodoo.
Uses: Protection, tripping up enemies, preventing evil from entering, finding employment
Use: Place above doorways, carry in mojo bag, put in shoes for protection while traveling
Uses: Protection, blessings, purification, removing hexes, gambling luck
Note: Particularly powerful against witchcraft and evil spirits. Brings angelic protection.
Uses: Mastery, control, domination, power, commanding
Use: In controlling work, legal domination, mastering a skill or situation
Uses: Drawing money, love, luck; attracting anything desired
Care: Feed weekly with magnetic sand or filings. Keep in pairs (male and female) for love work.
Uses: Varies by who it's from - ancestors for blessing, enemies for cursing, children for innocence, etc.
Collection: Must ask permission, leave payment (coins, whiskey, flowers), take from specific spots (head for mental work, heart for love, etc.)
Uses: Breaking hexes, protection from evil, court cases, money drawing
Use: Powerful in money mojos and uncrossing baths
Uses: Money, protection, wisdom, love, power - anything (five fingers = five purposes)
Use: Extremely versatile, add to any type of work for extra power
Uses: Court cases, legal matters, health, money, hex-breaking
Use: Chew small piece before court, carry for legal victory, burn for protection
Prepared oils are used to dress candles, anoint the body, feed mojo bags, and mark petitions. Traditional formulas combine essential oils, herbs, and sometimes minerals in a base oil (olive, almond, or mineral oil).
The most popular and versatile Hoodoo oil. For luck, road opening, removing obstacles, changing bad luck to good, cleansing. Contains lemongrass primarily.
Quick money, gambling luck, fast results. Contains cinnamon, vanilla, wintergreen. Use when you need results immediately.
Domination, control, making others obey, mastery. Contains licorice, calamus, master root. Use in boss/court case situations.
Drawing love, attraction, bringing someone to you. Contains patchouli, rose, sweet herbs. Dress pink or red candles.
Success in any endeavor, victory, achievement. Contains frankincense, bay laurel, cinnamon. Anoint head for mental success.
Return evil to sender, reverse hexes, bounce back negativity. Contains rue, black pepper, myrrh. Use on black candles.
Many rootworkers maintain a working altar in their home:
The heartland of traditional Hoodoo practice, especially in Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana (outside New Orleans). Emphasizes:
Historical figures like Dr. Buzzard (Stephany Robinson) of South Carolina and Aunt Caroline Dye of Arkansas became legendary for their powers.
New Orleans developed a unique synthesis due to its French Catholic, Haitian Vodou, African, and Southern Hoodoo influences:
The Ozark region developed parallel folk magic traditions among both Black and white practitioners, with significant cross-pollination:
As African Americans moved north during the Great Migration, Hoodoo adapted to urban environments:
The "two-headed doctor" (able to see both the physical and spiritual worlds) was the traditional Hoodoo practitioner:
Date: Published 1849 (German), widely used in Hoodoo by early 1900s
Significance: Grimoire claiming to reveal Moses' magical secrets. Despite questionable origins, became central to Hoodoo practice. Contains seals, invocations, and magical procedures. Many rootworkers kept it on their altar for power.
Date: 19th century
Significance: Collection of spells, herbal remedies, and magical procedures. Popular among Southern rootworkers despite dubious attribution to Albertus Magnus. Practical folk magic for everyday concerns.
Author: Catherine Yronwode
Date: 2002
Significance: Comprehensive materia magica of Hoodoo herbs, roots, and curios. Yronwode combines traditional knowledge with scholarly research and personal experience. Essential reference for any serious practitioner. Includes historical context and practical applications.
Author: Michele E. Lee
Date: 2014
Significance: Historical overview of African American healing practices and rootwork from slavery through modern times. Academic yet accessible, with extensive historical documentation and oral history accounts.
Author: Mikhail Strabo
Date: 2011
Significance: Collection of letters from experienced practitioner to student. Practical, no-nonsense approach to actually doing the work. Covers everything from basic spiritual hygiene to complex enemy work. Written for serious students.
Author: Zora Neale Hurston
Date: 1935
Significance: Anthropological field work by Hurston (herself initiated into Hoodoo) documenting folktales and Hoodoo practices in Florida and Louisiana. Includes her apprenticeship with New Orleans practitioners. Invaluable primary source material from early 20th century.
Author: Stephanie Rose Bird
Date: 2004
Significance: Accessible introduction to Hoodoo herbalism and practice. Bird draws on African diasporic traditions more broadly while focusing on practical application. Good starting point for beginners.
Author: Theophus Smith
Date: 1994
Significance: Academic examination of how African Americans used Biblical interpretation and "conjure" as forms of cultural resistance and survival. Explores the deep integration of Christianity and African-derived practices.
Author: Karen McCarthy Brown
Date: 1991
Significance: While focused on Haitian Vodou, provides context for understanding the relationship between Vodou and Hoodoo, especially in urban settings. Excellent ethnographic work showing living practice.
Author: Starr Casas
Date: 2013
Significance: Practical workbook from traditional practitioner. Casas learned from family tradition and emphasizes actual practice over theory. Includes recipes, techniques, and realistic expectations about the work.
Author: Oberon Zell-Ravenheart and Ash DeKirk
Date: 2008
Significance: While not exclusively Hoodoo, comprehensive guide to curios, magical supplies, and their uses across traditions. Useful reference for understanding the material basis of the work.