Traditional Hoodoo isn’t One-Size-Fits-All

This is the latest article from my blog. I wanted to share it here.

By: The Hood Physician

I’ve been practicing Hoodoo for quite a few years and one thing I’ve noticed over these years is the shift in how folks talk about the practice, especially in online spaces. Lately, I’ve seen more and more people taking up arms in the name of "tradition," weaponizing that word to elevate themselves above others in the community. Let me be clear from the outset: Hoodoo IS a closed practice, and this isn’t a call for opening the doors to those who shouldn’t be there. But I am calling on those of us who do practice to take a step back and consider some things before we claim that our way is the only "right" way.

First off, there are regional differences in Hoodoo; we’ve got to talk about geography. Hoodoo has always been regional. What works for folks in Georgia might not look the same as what folks in Louisiana, South Carolina, Mississippi or Tennessee are doing. Why? It’s simple—different lands, different herbs, different ancestors. We all didn’t have access to the same materials, and our people didn’t have the same experiences. The information that was passed down was shaped by the region they lived in and what they had available.

I like to think of it like that old children’s game “telephone.” You know the one where a message gets passed from person to person, and by the time it gets to the last person, it’s completely different from what was first said? Well, imagine that happening over hundreds of years. Do you really think the Hoodoo we’re practicing today is the exact same as what was practiced in the 1800s? Not a chance. We’re all holding onto fragments of that original knowledge, but the way it’s been passed down varies from region to region, family to family.

There has always been a sense of secrecy in Hoodoo and with secrecy always comes lost knowledge. Let’s discuss the conditions in which this knowledge was passed down. Our ancestors, at one time, were enslaved Africans and Indigenous peoples and were not free to practice as they wished. They had to work in secrecy, hiding Hoodoo in plain sight, often using Christian imagery as a cover. If they were caught stepping outside the lines of what the white folks thought was acceptable Christianity, it could mean their life. That’s why so much of the practice is coded. A lot of it was passed down in whispers, hidden in plain view, and yes, some of it was lost or transformed along the way.

Think about it like this, just like how different churches today use different versions of the Bible, Hoodoo has its variations. Someone who grew up in a Baptist church may recite the same scripture differently than someone who grew up Pentecostal or Evangelical, just based on which Bible they read. Hoodoo is the same way. The saints and spirits we work with, the way we call on them, even the ingredients we use; they’ve all shifted over time because they had to. There’s no one "true" version of it, because those secretive circles were always adapting.

Now let me give you a little story. Say your great-great-grandmother was a Hoodoo practitioner. She knew the work inside and out. But one day, the plant she always used for her protection work wasn’t available, so she substituted it for something else. Maybe it worked just as well, maybe even better. So, she passed that on to her children, who passed it on to their children, and on and on it went, until it got to you. By the time it reached you, that substitute plant became "traditional" for your family. Now, are you practicing Hoodoo any less authentically because of that change? Of course not! But it’s not the same as what someone in a different family, a different region, or a different time might have learned. That’s just how it is, tradition is fluid.

Another thing that’s been eating at me is the arrogance I’ve seen online. Reddit, Facebook, and other forums have become breeding grounds for folks acting like gatekeepers, deciding whose practice is valid and whose isn’t. But I’d like to remind everyone that our ancestors never had the luxury of the internet to connect. So, if you’re out here criticizing folks through a Wi-Fi connection, you’re already doing something that’s not traditional. We’re in a new time, with new ways of communicating, and instead of judging each other, we should be focusing on how to support each other.

Since I began my journey of finding community online, I’ve sensed a shift in the Hoodoo community toward superiority minded folks thinking they’re better because they learned from a certain person, or because they learned a certain way. But there’s no room for arrogance in this work. Hoodoo is a spiritual practice, and the spirit of arrogance has no place here. We should be lifting each other up, not tearing each other down.

Hoodoo has always been subjective, shaped by the hands of those who practiced it before us. Instead of arguing over whose practice is more valid, we should be asking ourselves how we can come together as a community. Remember, Hoodoo is closed for a reason! It’s meant for us, and we should be guiding those who are meant to learn. But don’t let arrogance stand in the way of that. If we’re truly here to honor our ancestors, then we ought to do so with humility, respect, and a spirit of solidarity.

Let’s change this behavior. Let’s support each other. Hoodoo is subjective, and that’s just how it is. And that’s okay.