Blackberry Leaves ~ Filipino Conjure & Rootwork

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There are a lot of tales surrounding the appearance of blackberries. According to one tradition, Christ's crown of thorns was made of brambles of berries, and when he died, the berries were turned from red to black. Another Judeo-Christian legend says that Lucifer landed in the thorny shrub of berries when he was banished from the celestial sphere due to his rebellion, and thus he stepped, spat, and cursed them so that they would be ugly. This lore brought an old European custom where people avoid picking blackberries after Michaelmas (October 11) as Lucifer has made them toxic to eat during that day.

Blackberries were considered protective against earthbound spirits and other parasitic spiritual entities. Some Hoodoo practitioners use it to entrap evil spirits by putting nine rusty nails, blackberry leaves, agrimony leaves, and Spanish moss in a bottle, praying over it, and leaving it open as they perform a Spirit Trap ritual.

When making a spirit trap, I draw or lay a spiral symbol on the floor or altar to guide the spirit using chalk or black salt. Next, I place a bottle or jar with the items known to draw and bind spirits in the middle of the spiral. To lure the entity, I first prepare personal items of my client that resonate or have a connection with his problem or issue and place them inside the spiral symbol. Then I recite specific prayers to invoke my guardian spirits and make the possessing spirit comply with my efforts. I entice the spirit to come by giving offerings of liquor and cigar. I puff a cigar smoke in the bottle, pour some liquor in it, and set it on fire when I feel I have seized the spirit. I finish the ritual by putting High John the Conqueror root chips inside the bottle to conquer the possessing spiritual entity. Once the spirit is indeed inside, I chain the bottle up to restrain the spirit and keep it in place. Then I wrap the bottle with black cloth, take it to a cemetery, dig a grave, and bury it.

Its thorny branches that catch on clothing and hair and scratch skin are used in enemy work. One rootworker taught me to prick myself with its thorn and put blood in my destructive spells and curses to make it more powerful.

Ironically, blackberry leaves are a long-time home remedy for treating minor cuts and abrasions. It contains tannins, too - active plant compounds that tighten and tone tissues, so some people use it as an astringent. Aside from that, its tea is good for soothing the throat.

Blackberry leaves have little hooks that are good for ensnaring an enemy or slowing them down. To perform this, get a small black human effigy or a doll representing your enemy, lay it on red cloth, sprinkle blackberry leaves and black salt, then wrap it up and tie it with black thread. Hit the spell bag with the hammer three times, cursing your enemy out loud. Do this for seven days, and once done, take the spell bag to a graveyard, bury it and ask the spirit of the dead to ensnare your enemy and bring justice.

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.