Hodou terminology and concepts.
“Born with a veil - Child born with a caul or a piece of amniotic sack covering their face, it is believed that a person born ‘with the veil’ would have heightened spiritual power.
Called - one way to legitimately enter Hodou practice. The ritual of being called involves some unusual or supernatural event that signals the G_d-given ordination of a potential conjure doctor. The unusual event can happen at birth or later in life. (born with a veil, clapping of thunder, or lightning striking a tree).
Chew the root - Once well-known “court case ritual” in which the conjurer attends the court hearing of a client and chews galanga root (chewing John), recites personal words of power, and spits in the courtroom.
Conja - (Conja commonly heard by Southerners, Conjure, Northerners) Another term for ‘work’ done within the Hodou tradition or a practitioner of Hodou.
Cross - similar meaning to “to trick,” “to gopher,” “to Hodou,” or “to root”.
Fix - Act of putting roots on a person, to hex, or dress.
Hand - Another name for a mojo bag.
Hodou - The traditional African - American folk healing and spiritual controlling system. This system draws most heavily from African traditional religion but later, as a result of enslavement, integrates elements of Native American traditional religion and beliefs and some (very little) old world European folk beliefs. The term also is used to designate a rootworker, conjurer, two-head, or root doctor, as in that person is a Hodou.
Hot foot - A term most likely devised by snake oil Hodou markeeters ( People who were not connected to Hodou through Ancestry attempting to hype up terms in order to gain profit).
Juju - A generic term referring to any and all types of traditional and alternative African religious practices.
Long head - Another name for a conjurer or root doctor.
Mojo - A traditional African American amulet.
Put the bad mouth on - this phrase refers to the traditional West African and Hodou belief in the power of the spoken word.
Root doctor, rootman, root woman, root worker - A traditional African American community lay Hodou practitioner, folk herbalist, and healer.
Roots, put roots on, to be rooted - To cast a spell, usually negative, on someone in the Hodou tradition is to root them.
Seer - A root worker with the power to predict the future or to see unrevealed phenomena.
Two - Head - An old term for a conjurer, root doctor, root worker, or Hodou practitioner. the term refers to the belief that the root worker can see into two worlds: the corporeal world of everyday existence and the invisible spirit world.”
Edit * - Hazzard-Donald. (n.d.). Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System - Kindle edition by Katrina Hazzard-Donald.
