Horseshoe ~ Filipino Conjure & Rootwork

Horseshoes have long been considered auspicious in European cultures. Their fabrication, placement, and source are some factors to be considered if one wants them to use as good luck charms.

Most rootworkers acquire our horseshoes straight from horse-race or polo clubs because we believe that the energy of the place it comes from adds more power to the object. Due to this association, the miniature horseshoe has become a gambler's lucky charm. On the other hand, other conjure workers prefer those found in the road or field - and not purchased. To some people, though, this is not really significant at all as what is essential is that the horseshoe was actually used - worn and discarded by a horse.

In some traditions, horseshoes are hung on a door with two ends pointing up to attract good fortune, while in some cultures, horseshoes are hung points down or in a vulval position (as shown above) so the luck pours onto you or to bring protection.

Horseshoes were originally made of iron, a material believed to ward off evil spirits, and traditionally were held in place with seven nails, seven being the luckiest number. Others said that horseshoes are considered lucky because they were made by blacksmiths, which is also considered a very lucky occupation in medieval times. One reputed origin of the tradition of lucky horseshoes is due to a Christian legend surrounding Saint Dunstan and the Devil. The story relates that the Saint once nailed a horseshoe to the Devil's hoof when he was asked to reshoe the Devil's horse. This caused the Devil great pain, and Dunstan only agreed to remove the shoe after the Devil promised he would never enter a household with a horseshoe nailed to the door.

In Latin America, horseshoes are wrapped in colorful threads or cloths, decorated with sequins and images of St. Martin Caballero (St.Martin of Tours), and infused with "oracion" or magical prayer called El Secreto de la Virtuoso Herradura:

Por la santísima trinidad, herradura yo te bautizo, en el nombre del dios padre, del dios hijo y del dios espíritu santo: Dame suerte, salud y dinero, cuando por el monte anduviste, señor Santiago entre espinas y abrojos, y a los enemigos les vendaste los ojos, con tu gran poder que tienes, quiero así, como pusiste a tu caballo esta herradura, y que con ella te libraste del campo de batalla, así quiero que ese gran poder que dios te ha dado, que esta herradura me de suerte, salud y dinero.

Jesús, recordando estoy todas estas cosas y mas que todas ellas fueron santamente cumplidas. Este deseo que pienso en estos momentos: Que esta herradura de imán, muy poderosa tenga convertidas todas las virtudes y prodigios con la herradura pueda hacer cuanto yo quiera, me será fácil salir de cualquier parte sin que nadie lo sepa, o lo note siquiera, conseguir dinero y honores, lograr que me amen todas las personas que yo quiera, librarme de todo y ponerme a salvo de mis enemigos y todo acontecimiento fatal de la vida, todo esto lo creo como si lo estuviera viendo por tus incomparables virtudes, amen.

Furthermore, because horseshoes resemble horseshoe magnets, they are used in spellwork concerning money matters and business success.

Horseback riding St.Martin Caballero is being petitioned for money-drawing. Beside his holy print is a horseshoe spiritually designed to pour financial blessings.

See, What Our Path Is

Being immensely interested in African diaspora religions and Folk Catholicism, we primarily honor our ancestors, Church saints, angels, folk saints, and Afro-Caribbean spirits such as loas and orishas. If we absolutely have to put a label on ourselves, we prefer the label of “Folk Judeo-Christian” as we live according to the customs and traditions of conjure workers and root doctors from the Deep South and syncretic followers of Christ in various nations of the Caribbean and Latin America.

Our spirituality includes West African-based Caribbean-style tradition as well as Esoteric Christianity and Yoruba religion. Generally, we practice Gullah folk magic popularly known in the Deep South as Hoodoo or Lowcountry Voodoo; the ancient wisdom founded by Orunmila in Ile-Ife called Ifa, and a bit of Lihim na Karunungan (Filipino Esotericism or Philippine Mystery Tradition).

Respect, What Hoodoo Is

Despite visible evidence of Central West African, Islamic/Moorish, Native American, Judeo-Christian, European, and even a few East Indian/Hindu, Chinese, and Latino/Caribbean retentions, influences, and admixtures, this does not mean that Hoodoo is an open and unrestricted system of eclectic magic.

Conjure, and Rootwork is rooted in African-American culture and Folk Protestant Christianity. Any practitioners of Hoodoo who did not grow up within African-American culture should still have a fuller understanding and high regard for its origin.

In the beginning, the early conjure doctors were entirely Black. The students were all Black, the elders were Black, the teaching was Black, and they focused only on Blacks as their audience. But other races were accepted when they had also been brought into the Hoodoo community and learned the tradition. Even so, we should still acknowledge that Hoodoo, Conjure, or Rootwork is not ours but only belongs to the Black community. We are just believers who are grafted into their rich yet humble tradition and, by word and deed, embrace genuine African-American folk spirituality and magic. This is all we can do for all the blessings we received from God and our Black ancestors.

Hoodoo's lack of religious structure and hierarchical authority do not mean that any person or group can appropriate or redefine it. If one cannot respect Hoodoo as it is and for what it is, then please, do not play with it.

Learn, How Conjure Is Worked On

Authentic Conjure is not all about blending and selling oils and casting spells online to make money. Hoodoo has its own spiritual philosophy, theology, and a wide range of African-American folkways, customs, and practices which include, but are not limited to, veneration of the ancestors, Holy Ghost shouting, snake reverence, spirit possession, graveyard conjure, nkisi practices, Black hermeneutics, African-American church traditions, the ring shout, the Kongo cosmogram, ritual water immersions, crossroads magic, making conjure canes, animal sacrifices, Jewish scriptural magic, enemy works, Seekin' ritual, magical incorporation of bodily fluids, etc.

Unfortunately, they are currently missing in marketeered or commercial Hoodoo, as they are being removed, disregarded, or ignored by unknowing merchants who simply want to profit from an African-American spiritual tradition, thus reducing Hoodoo to just a plethora of recipes, spells, and tricks.

Tim and I are completely aware that we are not African-Americans, so we are doing our best to retain and preserve the customs and traditions of the slave ancestors to avoid unnecessary conflict with the larger Black-Belt Hoodoo community and prevent them from labeling us inauthentic outsiders and our practice as mere 'cultural misappropriation.'

Accept, Who We Are

The byproduct of eons of slave history, Black supremacists believe that only people with African or African-American blood are real Hoodoo practitioners and are often inclined to consider themselves as the elite of the Hoodoo community; a place in which they believed that Whites, Latinos, Asians or any other races who do not have Black ancestry do not belong. Black supremacists are prone to be very hostile towards both “outsiders” and those accepting of them, fearing that their promotion and acceptance would dilute or even negate the Black identity of Hoodoo.

Although we do understand why some Blacks hold this stance, since a lot of people nowadays are misappropriating many aspects of Hoodoo and teaching the spiritual path even without proper education and training (for purely monetary purposes), we would, however, want to say that not all non-Black Hoodoo practitioners are the same.

WE respect what Hoodoo is, and we never try to change it, claim it as our own, disregard its history, take unfair advantage of it, speak against the people who preserve it, and mix it with other cultures (like our own) and call it Filipino/Pinoy Hoodoo, Gypsy Hoodoo or Wiccan Hoodoo because there are no such things.