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🕯️ Hoodoo Heritage Month Day 15 🕯️
High John the Conqueror Day
“High John the Conqueror is one of the most powerful spirits in Hoodoo. Some know him as a trickster, some as a king, prophet, or liberator but all agree he stands for freedom. He’s the spirit of resilience, resistance, and triumph over every chain both the ones placed on us and the ones we’ve had to break within ourselves.
Zora Neale Hurston was one of the first to write about High John’s stories, though they’d already lived long in the mouths of our people. Even Frederick Douglass spoke of him a conjure man once gave him a High John root that he carried when he escaped the plantation.
Some say High John beat the Devil with his own arm. Others say he was the son of an African king, stolen into slavery but never defeated. His body was bound, but his spirit? Untouchable. He used wit and power to free himself and inspire others to do the same.
High John root has been part of conjure work since at least the 1800s. Folks carry it in mojo bags, chew it and spit it to call its strength, or use it in love and success workings. There are three main Johns in rootwork High John (Big John), Low John (Little John) , and Chewing John.
The root we know as High John comes from the morning glory family (Ipomoea purga), native to Mexico the same plant I’ve shown yall that produces LSA. Dried, it looks like the testicles of a Black man one of many reasons it’s tied to virility, confidence, and power. Low John comes from trillium, and Chewing John is galangal. Each has its own medicine, but High John remains the king of them all the conqueror.
He lives on in our music, in our stories, and in our work. His spirit reminds us that freedom is not given ….it’s conjured.
🎶 Songs honoring John the Conqueror:
• “Mannish Boy” – Muddy Waters
• “Hoochie Coochie Man” – Muddy Waters
• “My John the Conquer Root” – Willie Dixon
Other names you might hear:
John the Conqueroo, High John, Jack, Johnny Conka, Konka”
#explore #spirituality #Hoodoo #HoodooHeritageMonth #HighJohn #Conjure
