Whiskey ~ Filipino Conjure & Rootwork

Conjure workers value this sought-after distilled alcoholic beverage as sacred or special water in its own right. It is made from a fermented grain mash of barley, corn, rye, or wheat. Whiskey or Whisky is used in the practice of Hoodoo just like how the Florida Water, Kananga Water, Hoyt's Cologne, and urine are also used in work to cleanse and baptize tools and curios such as candles, shells, stones, roots, bones, sticks, etc. and feed mojo hands, jack balls and lodestones. This practice has its roots from the Guinea Coast of Africa.

Hoodoo, as we all know it, draws from folk medicine, which used to be the standard medicine many years ago. Whiskey tinctures are part of the old-time Hoodoo curative practice and lasted until this century. There are many recipes for herb-dosed Whiskey, of which the patient or client takes a teaspoon daily. Examples of these alcohol preparations are:

- To increase male nature, put juniper berries in Whiskey.
- To increase female nature, put angelica root in Whiskey.
- For protection, put devil's shoestring root in Whiskey.
- For love-jinx removal, put calamus root in Whiskey.

Graveyard dirt has been used by many Hoodoo practitioners to cause harm or unnatural diseases to one's enemies and also for ancestral work. Traditional ways of paying for graveyard dirt vary from worker to worker, but it is very important to get in touch with the spirit of the dead and make a respectful transaction and payment. To do this, if you have no particular grave in mind to visit, then allow yourself to be spirit-led to the grave that attracts you. When you have chosen a grave, sit down and relax. In your mind, release your fear and any negative thoughts and emotions you are feeling. Envision the spirit from the specified grave approaching you. Treat him with respect. A lighted white candle is always a symbol of the divine. It also symbolizes our prayers and belief that when we pray, God and the Higher Spirits are with us as the light that conquered the darkness.

Talk to the spirit calmly. Try to communicate with him and tell him your purpose that you wish to collect some dirt from his grave. Try to understand his response. Do not take or collect anything until you intuitively feel that he gives you permission. When you are done, recite a blessing as you collect the dirt from the heart of the grave. Thank God, and the Higher Spirits around that help you. Bury three silver coins in the ground and set a glass of Whiskey as payment. Other workers just pour the Whiskey at the foot of the grave and take dirt from the head of the grave.

People also use Whiskey in their baths and other cleansing herbs, liquids, and minerals. Not only is whiskey used for spiritual cleansing, but some people believe it has strong disinfectant properties that can cleanse the skin by removing bacteria and dirt. People mix Whiskey, Rose Water, and fresh juicy aloe leaves in their bathwater to eliminate any negativity caused by the evil tongue.

To make a person feel your love and get his attention, take his unwashed underwear and strain the liquor through it. Then, give it to him to drink or use it in cooking and make him eat the food.

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.