About Hoodoo, in reply to a highly offensive article:
Updated Aug. 6th 2014
I came across a rather misrepresentitive article on who “owns” hoodoo, and what hoodoo is.
Read it here: http://www.luckymojo.com/hoodooandreligion.html
And here is my reply to the author:
I think some are very confused as to how hoodoo culture works and how it evolves. Perhaps this article should have been called “Hoodoo: Black Vs. White”, because it seems as though there are underlying resentments by the author toward white practitioners.
First, this article completely misrepresents the atrocities of slavery at the hands of their captors (more specifically the French, British, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, etc.), blaming an entire continent, most of which had nothing to do with it. It seems to over-simplify the slave trade and, as with common practice, simply blames “white people”. Well, I have some news! The MAJORITY of “white” European countries did NOT participate in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. In fact, there was more than 2 centuries of Irish slavery ( white people) before Africans ever saw these shores, and it lasted well through the whole of those events, often resulting in the Irish being treated far worse than African slaves. (http://www.historyjournal.ie/irish-slavery/55-irish-slavery-main-page/106-the-irish-slave-trade.html)
Why do I bring this up? Well first, the Irish are Catholics, Catholics who have influenced parts of hoodoo as they practiced their own folk spirituality long before the Africans shared their ideas. I’m not sure if it is common knowledge, but the Irish neighborhoods lived and were housed side by side with the African neighborhoods, and (with the exception of revolts of the below poor treatment of the Irish during the Civil War Drafts in NYC) they commonly shared ideas with each other. I have read the author’s prior articles and they NEVER make message of the Irish slaves that influenced hoodoo. They often mention only “Irish sailors”. I do hope the author knows, just to reiterate, Irish were slaves for far longer than the Africans in this country, and treated far worse. I know that statement will cause some controversy, but it is simple truth.
When the Irish came here as SLAVES, their folk customs began to mix with those of Native Americans, and when the Africans came, the cultures shared their traditions and freely incorporated each others methods and lore. How is it that so much European influence has found its way into the practice? Along with primarily African influence, it was the “white” slaves who were here, that helped build the foundation of the practice, both being heavily helped by Native American existing customs. Let’s face it, out of every culture here, the Native Americans were and are the only ones that have a complete system that doesn’t rely on any others. (“Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro”, by Newbell Niles Puckett perfectly illustrates this fusion of European and African idea)
*Note on update: It was originally implied that Irish slaves supplied the foundation for hoodoo. While I can say with certainty they did share their customs, they were only a part, not the whole, of the origin of the practice. That was poor word choice on my part.
“The mere presence of Christian belief the in supernatural helped African magic to survive by providing a foundation for its practice.” Conjure in African American Society pg. 57
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QHYFXDGf4Y&feature=youtu.be
Next, we need to take a look at all the European mythology that has influenced hoodoo, primarily pagan, polytheistic mythology, for example, the use of the rose in hoodoo. Christianity would tell you the rose is the symbol of the martyrs. No ties to love or beauty. Does the author know where this comes from? It comes DIRECTLY from the myth of Aphrodite and Adonis of ancient Greece. Let me recount the myth: Adonis was the son of Kinyras and Methrame, and as a boy, he was wounded by a boar while hunting. Aphrodite, seeing his beauty, took Adonis to Persephone, who also fell in love with him. Zeus, to avoid conflict, divided the year into 3 parts, the first, Adonis would spend alone, the second, with Persephone, and the third with Aphrodite. Later in adulthood, Adonis was finally killed by the boar. Aphrodite ran to his side, and cut her ankle on the thorn of the rose, and the blood that fell on the white petals, turned the flower red. This is important to remember because when you use a rose for love, you are using the blood of Aphrodite, not the blood of the martyrs as Christianity, the religion you hold to claim the practice, would tell you. This gives POWER to the plant, it gives purpose. Not simply “just because”. This is a European practice hoodoo has maintained for the whole of its history. The same goes for a lot of the herb lore in hoodoo. A lot of it is European. Little superstitious customs have also made their way into this practice from the Irish and Europeans. The horseshoe, the wishbone, candles, pictures, graveyard dirts, etc. (again: “Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro”, by Newbell Niles Puckett)
Then there are the French and European grimoires, the Greek Magical Papyri, ceremonial magic, etc. All “white” practices, all in hoodoo. When you use the practices of such widely diverse cultures, no one culture can claim it. What figures are provided that prove NO “white people” practiced and practice hoodoo? Even if 1% of hoodoo practitioners were white Catholics, that validates the practice to thousands, and it would still most certainly be considered hoodoo. When talking percentages and figures, one can’t manipulate the numbers to validate a narrow and limiting perspective. I don’t care if .5% of hoodoo practitioners are so and so, that means that 100% can start practicing it, and it would still conform to the practice without change or effect.  Instead, there is a gross over-generalization of an entire continent of people made up of diverse countries, most with 0 ties to slavery, and they are demonized as “the white man”, a slanderous term meant to be offensive.
“Without a doubt nineteenth century blacks built conjure upon an African foundation. The structure they raised, however, incorporated elements far from their ancestral homeland. European and American Indian elements were as important in the practice of conjure as those originating in Africa.”“Conjure in African American Society”, pg. 51
Articles like this one instigate divide, and instigate separation, and it is not right, especially since so many of our ancestors helped to build the practice. By the article’s logic, no gay man or woman, no Jew, no non- black American has any right to practice hoodoo, or call what they do “hoodoo”, and those who have subscribed to the author’s class have wasted their money as they have no right to call what they do “hoodoo”. By this own logic, what the author’s class teaches is conjure, not hoodoo, since it is acknowledged by the author that it has wider applications, so perhaps a rebranding is in order for this particular store? One can’t be a walking contradiction, and one can’t expect people to just sit and take this misinformation.
And just for the record, I do not practice hoodoo, I practice Greco-Roman folk magic (a lot of which I have seen end up in American conjure), but I also know that hoodoo cannot be confined to the comforts of statistics, simply because it has constantly evolved over the centuries. It is only recently that someone termed the practice “hoodoo”. Before then, it gloriously danced with the entity of conjure, without fear of confines and narrow definition.  I for one am sick of this constant struggle to separate the community. While it is important to acknowledge the cultural heritage of black American folk magic, one cannot discount all other populations that helped build it.
I have great respect for the author, and I hope to meet and talk with her in person one day, I just hope that we can stop trying to instigate and validate devaluing of the practice of hundreds, if not thousands of people.
For more information on the interaction of whites and blacks in the formation of hoodoo:
“Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro”, by Newbell Niles Puckett
“Conjure in African American Society”, by Jeffrey E. Anderson
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/linguistics/irish5.html
https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/lane_megan_e_200805_ma.pdf
For more information on Irish slavery in America:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-irish-slave-trade-the-forgotten-white-slaves/31076
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/27/1265498/-The-slaves-that-time-forgot
http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/irish-the-forgotten-white-slaves-says-expert-john-martin-188645531-237793261.html
http://www.historyjournal.ie/irish-slavery/55-irish-slavery-main-page/106-the-irish-slave-trade.html
For Irish superstition, a lot recognizable in hoodoo:
http://www.the-irish-path.com/irish-superstitions.html
http://spirituality.knoji.com/irishamerican-superstitions/
For the use of French Grimoires in America read:
Grimoires: A History of Magic Books, by Owen Davies
For the Greek Magical Papyri read:
The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, by Hans Dieter Betz
For the Myth of Aphrodite and Adonis read:
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