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Hoodoo is an American term,
originating in the 19th century or earlier, for African-American folk
magic. Here is how i define the word "hoodoo":
Hoodoo consists of a large body of
African folkloric practices and beliefs with a considerable admixture
of American Indian botanical knowledge and European folklore. Although
most of its adherents are black, contrary to popular opinion, it has
always been practiced by both whites and blacks in America. Other
regionally popular names for hoodoo in the black community include
"conjuration," "conjure," "witchcraft," "rootwork," and "tricking."
The first three are simply English words; the fourth is a recognition
of the pre-eminence that dried roots play in the making of charms and
the casting of spells, and the fifth is a special meaning for a common
English word.
The word "trick" is not
all that common among hoodoo practitioners, but is still used often
enough to have generated subsidiary terms like "trick doctor," "trick
bag," "laying down tricks," "tricking," and "tricky
The hoodoo tradition places emphasis on
personal magical power and thus it lacks strong links to any specific
form of theology and can be adapted to any one of several forms of
outward religious worship. Although an individual practitioner may
take on students, hoodoo is not an obviously hierarchical system.
Teachings and rituals are handed down from a one practitioner to
another, but there are no priests or priestesses and no division
between initiates and laity.
However, although African-American
root doctors work with information about herbs derived from Mediaeval
and modern European folklore, the typical hoodoo practitioner does not
place much emphasis on European systems of word-magic (gematria),
number-magic (numerology), or astronomical magic (astrology). And
while an altar, candles, and incense are almost invariably part of any
hoodoo practitioner's set-up, hoodoo conjurations themselves require
none of the neo-pagan accoutrements such as knives (athames),
cauldrons, chalices, or wands.
Hoodoo is not the name of a religion
nor a denomination of a religion, although it incorporates elements
from African and European religions in terms of its core beliefs.
As you may guess by now, it is not at
all correct to refer to African-American hoodoo as "Voodoo." Voodoo
(also spelled "Vodoun" and always capitalized, as a religion's name
should be) is a Haitian religion that is quite African (Dahomean, in
this case) in character. Above all, it is a RELIGION. The word
"Voodoo" derives from an African word meaning "spirit" or "God."
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