So Hoodoo Ain’t Voodoo?

Short answer: Nah!

Long story: *clears throat*

Voodoo is a religion.

It’s a way of life. It’s basically the belief that the universe and everything in it is one. Nature ain’t something outside of us. We ain’t just a part of nature; we are nature. All living things is a form of the same spirit. You might call that spirit “God,” but it’s all the same thing. God is Spirit. In fact, voodoo literally translates to “Spirit.” The breath in your body is Spirit, and it’s the same force that gives life to stones, plants, and animals.

We didn’t have or need a name for voodoo, because it just was. Nature has always been and will always be. Our relationship to nature evolves, however. Modern times and technologies tend to push us away. In some eras, we stray, and we circle back to it in others. But there’s always a few folk around who never forget, who never let it go.

Though we didn’t need a name for voodoo, for our way of life, we’ve had various names for Spirit: God, Allah, Damballah, Osanobua, Ngewo, Nyame, etc. Spirit/God has many expressions. If we’re made in God’s image, then that must mean that Spirit/God is both masculine and feminine.

Depending what you need in a particular moment, it’s easier to connect to that particular expression of Spirit/God. That’s where Orishas come in (e.g. Yemaya, Oya, Shango, Oshun, Elegua, etc.). You also have loas (or lwas), which are spirits that act as intermediaries (similar to the relationship between the Holy Spirit and God in Christianity).

When we were forced from Africa to Europe, the Americas, and the West Indies, we took our way of life with us all across the African diaspora. In places where Catholicism was the major religion (New Orleans, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico, South America), it was easier to hide voodoo. That’s where Catholics got it from anyway. Their Spirit is God. Their Orishas are saints. So we blended the two religions to keep ourselves and our way of life alive.

It HAD TO have been ridiculously powerful, because it was soon outlawed…all over the world. They were like, “Nah, y’all can’t drum no mo. Y’all can’t gather in big groups like that no mo. Y’all can’t worship them names no mo.” What they were really afraid of wasn’t voodoo but hoodoo.

Hoodoo is not a religion.

It’s using nature to help you get what you need: plants, salt, stones, crystals, blood, hair, nails, bones, teeth, animals, water, dirt, tree bark, feathers, moonlight, etc.

If you’re ailing, you mix particular plants for a particular cure. Need to get bad luck or negative energies out the house? Wash the walls, throw salt in the corners, and open the windows. Christians might even use some holy oil 🙂 If your granny had baby blue walls in the house or the outside of the house was painted blue, that’s because it was believed to keep away evil spirits; they can’t travel ‘cross water, which the blue represents.

Then there are more complex levels of hoodoo. This where the dolls come in, the gris-gris and amulets, talisman, mojo bags, etc. Like language, hoodoo also conforms to its environment, so it evolves and shows up differently in different places.

As my fellow black-woman-culture-writer, Ida Harris, said best, “You hoodoo when them black-eyed peas, cornbread, and chitlins come out on New Year’s Day. You hoodoo when them umbrellas can’t be opened in the house. You hoodoo when that hat bet not be on that bed. You hoodoo when you snatching and burning hair from combs and brushes. You hoodoo when you don’t step on them cracks. You hoodoo when that broom sweep them feet. You hoodoo when them collards end up pot likka.”

Terms like black magic, witchcraft, and devil work were born out of fear. What folk don’t understand, they fear. What’s feared is often called out of its name. Once those fear-based names are accepted, then others start looking down on it too. If you ain’t careful, other people’s fears and lack of understanding will have you disassociating from your own culture.

Happy Hoodoo Heritage Month!

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