The Black History in Black Magic: An Intro to Hoodoo (+ 20 Black Celebs I Think Have Practiced Magic) ❤️🖤💚
Happy Black History Month Bougie Bruja Babies!! You didn’t think I forgot did you?? I could NEVER. I know I have black followers from all over the world, so whether you’re African American, Afro-Latinx, Afro-European, Afro-Asian, Afro-Australian, or you’re straight from the mother land herself, then hoodoo is YOUR history. We can all come together to bond over the beauty that is our blackness and brujeria. So sit back, relax, grab your grimoire, and let’s put the BLACK back in BLACK magic. The History of Hoodoo: So what is a hoodoo? Many hoodoo traditions stem from the Bakongo people— a group of Bantu people— from Central Africa. However, first documentations of the word hoodoo itself derives from the Ewe word hudu meaning “spirit work,” a language that was spoken in countries like Ghana, Togo, and Benin. It’s also possible that hoodoo practices historically comes from the Winward Coast between Liberia and the Ivory Coast) and Senegambia (between Senegal and Gambia). Hoodoo is an umbrella term for African American spirituality doctrines that practice divination, spells/hexes, healing work, and building ancestor connections and conjurings. There were different names for hoodoo practitioners such as root doctors, hoodoo doctors, two heads, conjure men and women, and spirit workers, but their duties were all the same: to heal the sick, detect and hex threats, bring forth good fortune, predict the future, find lost objects, and cast an occasional love spell or two. These are brujas that can break the veil between the physical and spiritual realm through ritual. This ritual would require using environmental elements to invoke divine deities. Why wait til Halloween when we can do this whenever? Ironically, October aka “spooky season” is also now sharing its spotlight with Hoodoo as October is now also considered Hoodoo History Month. Hoodoo can further be defined as “a tradition of synthesis and hybridity.” It’s a mixture of multiple theologies, including but not limited to: Yoruba religion, Igbo religion, Christianity, Islam, Catholicism, Abrahamic religions, trace Native-Indigenous religions, and European Paganism. And along with hoodoo there’s root-work. Root work, which can also be defined as conjuring, is the act of summoning the dead or divine spirits by using herbs and other organic material found in nature. Root work just a reminder to get back in touch with your root chakras (your ancestors, your family, your culture, etc.). Hoodoo ideals were brought over from West Africa during the Atlantic slave trade, and spread across the African diaspora and western countries. These included countries such as Cuba, Haiti, Barbados, St. Lucia, The Dominican Republic, The United Stares, and the continent of Europe. Hoodoo is historically important because not only was it a way to stay connected to African roots, but people also practiced it as a form of protection via potions and poisons from evil spirits (and evil enslavers). It’s a symbol of resistance, a sign of resilience, a way to stay connected to one’s roots, but it was also revenge. It was one way the slaves sought to end their suffering. Our ancestors were forced into a world that was not our own, and hoodoo was a way to create space and make it ours. There are a plethora of stories of slaves using magic for revolution including: the 1712 slave revolt in colonial New York where a witch doctor by the name of Peter gave the Akan people of Ghana magical powder possibly made of cemetery dirt to provide support and protection from the ancestors. Meanwhile, slaves in Alabama would cover their feet and clothes with dirt from the graveyard to prevent slave catchers dogs from finding them. This is what they called “conjuring confusion.” Furthermore, Black sailors in the 1830s carried mojo bags and talismans as good luck charms for safe travel. There’s more stories of a black witch doctor from Georgia by the name of Uncle Charles Hall who provided slaves with charms of protection, and perfected the art of anointing roots and using them for protection (which we’ll read about a little later with Fredrick Douglass). There was even a slave by the name of Old Julie who was successful at conjuring death of colonist, they tried to sell her. But she didn’t want to leave so she they didn’t make her leave— that’s how strong her magic was. There’s even more history of hoodoo post-emancipation with practitioners in the Jim Crow era and black panther party. I can keep going on forever, but fact of the matter is— hoodoo is OUR history. It’s BLACK history. However, hoodoo is not as openly acknowledged, accepted, and practiced as it could by African American. This could be due to the colonization of African Americans by Christian doctrine, and the demonization then loss of their own cultures. Hoodoo was either practiced in secret during slavery, or completely erased from a lineages existence in fear of being caught, captured and punished, or worse, killed. Colonizers tried to convince slaves that anything they previously practiced was simply superstition or sinister. Regardless of the punishment, a rich culture of hoodoo was still practiced in the Souther region of the americas, particularly in states such as Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, and New Orleans. As a matter of fact, we can see a heavy hoodoo influence in New Orleans in the movie The Princess And The Frog. It’s magic that turns Tiana into a frog, and the most powerful magic of all (love) that turns her back human. Hoodoo was furthermore deemed as “black magic” as a way to demonize black people. The point was to associate darkness with the Devil, and African-American alchemy to evil. This was means to control melanated people and what we practiced (because it’s okay when a white man named Christ does, but God forbid we do it!). Anyway, magic is more than just black or white, darkness or light. Yes there are positive energies and negative energies you can work with, magically speaking, but equating these bad characteristics to Black people and their root work is
The Oldest Magic in the Spell Book: Mal De Ojo 💙🪬🧿
Happy Holidays Bougie Brujas! It’s the most wonderful time of year ✨ Where magic is in the air, snow is on the ground, and miracles may happen all around us. All this talk of gifts and presents also has me thinking of the oldest spell of all time. This concept is universally accepted, and whether you believe in magic or not, I’m here to tell you that we’ve all casted this spell at one point or another. If you say you haven’t, that’s a lie, because we’ve all been jealous at some point and sent out the evil eye. Some people do it unintentionally— others know exactly what they’re doing. The evil eye is so critically acclaimed, there are even articles recognizing it in PubMed’s National Library of Medicine. With Christmas around the corner, I feel as if it’s important to talk about the evil eye. We all have haters whether you know it or not, and it’s imperative to always stay spiritually protected from them. When you’re on a high vibration, you don’t want people bringing you down to low levels. Some people actively practice mal de ojo magic and just don’t care. They know what they’re doing, and they’re purposefully praying on your downfall. I wrote this article to make sure you don’t become their prey. It’s even easier to cast in todays day and age because of technology. All it takes is a quick social media search of your username for people to pull up your profile picture and look at you with hate— with the evil eye. Other people don’t even realize they’re doing it. They can innocently be scrolling or walking by “joking” that they’re just “so jealous” about what you have or how you look. Regardless, to cast evil eye on someone is to be an “eye biter” and to be a recipient of evil eye is to be “eye bitten.” Think of eye biters like energy vampires. They vant to suck your blood 🧛🏽♀️ or at least they want to suck the joy and fun out your life for their own miserable reasons. I know… batty isn’t it? According to author and medical doctor Edward S Gifford, Greek philosophers suggested that: “visual rays were thrown out by the eye to strike external objects, from which the rays were reflected back to the eye.” Gifford, E. S. (1957). The evil eye in medical history. Ophthalmic Pub. Co. This was viewed as an exchange of energy. Some peoples eyes reflect purity and peace while others reflect hatred and perpetuate problems. If eyes absorb then reflect light, and light is energy, and energy is frequency, it makes sense that what we visualize internally can play out externally. It’s a form of bending frequency to your will. It’s a method of manifestation— magic if you will. That said, remember that eyes are the window to the soul, and some people are just plain soulless. They’re energy vampires. Christmas especially can be a time of year where “eye biters” reveal themselves, and people’s true colors show. During this presumably “merry” time of year, you can really see who is and isn’t casting mal de ojo. It’s so ironic how the main colors of Christmas are red and green, because your happy and stable family or the cool gifts you receive on Christmas can have people seeing red in anger. And green eyed monsters are definitely real and are probably people you know. They may be a loved one you follow on social media such as a friend or family member, an acquaintance like a classmate or coworker, or they can even be strangers if you’re an influencer of some sort. Fact of the matter is, people want what they can’t have. And if you have it and they don’t, they don’t want you to have it either. Especially your biggest haters. And sometimes the people closest to you or the people you wouldn’t expect are your biggest haters. Or maybe they really do want to see you doing good— just not better than them. Whatever your case, this article will given you some tips to stay spiritually protected and at peace, and it will help you return any bad juju back to sender. So grab your hot cocoa, cuddle with your pet baby on the couch next to your Christmas tree, and let’s go into a deep dive of the oldest magic in the spell book— mal de ojo. What is the evil eye? The evil eye can be defined as a “supernatural curse” brought on by a malevolent glare. The concept of evil eyes itself is said to date back to prehistory, however, the evil eye symbol, also known as the nazar, was first seen around 5,000 years ago. It’s possible the symbol was first seen in ancient Ugarit (a city located in modern day Syria). In the 6th century (BC), the nazar was also seen on Chalcidian drinking classes called “eye cups,” pictured above. People used these cups to make potions for protection magic. The production of nazar glass amulets (pictured below) began in 1,500 BC. The top picture is of Ancient Islamic glass beads, and the bottom is a more modern nazar glass bead. The modern design has a cultural relevance mostly linked to Turkey. Prior to glass beads, nazar symbols were made of clay. The symbol was most popular with the Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Ottomans in ancient times. The concept of evil eye was widely accepted around the world and across multiple religions. As a matter of fact, there are 24 evil eye symbols in total, but the 4 most popular amulets are: the nazar, hamsa hand, ankh, and eye of Horus. There are so many ways different cultures and religions run off evil eye. Some are silly and some make sense, but the same thing rings true: predominantly every religious or cultural group believe in evil eye to some degree. Ways people ward off evil eye around the world: •