Old Southern Graveyard Magic

The traditional attitude of Hoodoo is to encourage frequent grave visitation. Some elders in this tradition are very confident that graveyard visiting should become a pattern of living, thus allowing conjure workers to place their dead in a proper perspective. Most elders I talked to told me that they do this because they want to make the grave a sort of totem or shrine, at which the conjure workers would pray to the dead and God.

Proper Times for Visiting

Various customs have arisen regarding the proper times for visiting the graves of dear ones:

1. Suitable times to visit the grave are on days of calamity or decisive moments in life - if one needs guidance and protection from their ancestors. One or another of these moments seems proper for families to visit their beloved dead. There is no rule of thumb as to the frequency of such visitation, but just avoid complete disregard for them.

2. One could visit the dead before or after celebrations or rites of passage such as baptisms, initiations, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. During these occasions, one should avoid provoking unnecessary tears. We should talk to them so as not to bewail but rather to praise the dead. These days are days of joy, and the spirit of loss and longing should not prevail.

3. Many traditional conjure workers perform spells and rituals in the graveyard as they call upon the spirits of the dead to aid them. It is imperative that when we invoke the presence and assistance of the dead, we should always pay them. Spells or rituals that lack payment are relatively rarely encountered in rootwork.

Graveyard Magic

As discussed in my previous article, working with spirits of the dead in West Africa is deeply rooted in their cultural beliefs, traditions, and indigenous religions. They are guided by Africans' view of life after death and the power and role of the deceased blood relatives. Looking closely, the graveyard practices of Hoodoo share ritual components from among Temne, Mende, Wolof, Mandinka, Kongo, Ovimbundu, and Ambundu tribes in Africa. These commonalities are indicators of a shared symbolism that incorporates essential elements necessary for the desired result. Working with the dead and graveyard magic evolved through the infusion of Judeo-Christianity, Islam, and various practices from Native American and European folklore, but traditional themes did survive.

African-Americans have a unique tradition of graveyard magic, most often found in Southern rural cemeteries.

Types of Cemeteries:

• Municipal or City Cemeteries - are one of the more common types of cemeteries. The lands are owned by the town or city government. Municipal cemeteries are open to everyone.

• Private Cemeteries - usually owned by an organization or company. Most are run for profit and can be more expensive than a public or municipal cemetery. Still, they also tend to offer a wide array of mortuary products and services, from the construction of various types of monuments for dearly departed loved ones to memorial lots, memorial plans, cremation plans, niches, columbary, etc. They are also highly maintained.

• Church Cemeteries - these are cemeteries managed by a particular church or religious group. They are typically reserved for members of the local church community.

• Family Cemeteries - there are more uncommon today than they used to be because of the many government regulations and legal requirements owners need to follow. Most of these sites later grew into private cemeteries.

• Military or Veteran Cemeteries - these are cemeteries reserved for military members, veterans, and their families. They are owned and maintained by the national government.

Visiting my clients' fathers' grave in Manila Memorial Park. 

Knowing the different types of graveyards can help locate specific dirt and spirits for specific conjure work. For example, veteran cemeteries will have military personnel buried (which could be used for protection work). In contrast, the private ones will have the well-off people (could be used for prosperity spells).

When visiting a graveyard, my mentor taught me to follow some of these customs:

Recite a special blessing upon arrival for the spirit guardians of the graveyard and knock three times before entering.

Some people recite Psalms, including Psalm 91, and some add Psalms 33, 16, 17, 72, 104, and 130. Some also recite verses from Psalm 119 that begin with the letters of the Hebrew name of the deceased and the word "neshema," the Hebrew word for soul. Some recite additional prayers and supplications.

Some have the custom of placing offerings of coins and liquor as signs of respect at the gate or entrance of the cemeteries.

The use of a headscarf (especially the color white) for graveyard work or even when just simply visiting a cemetery is full of historical and spiritual symbolism. One envelops his head in the scarf, creating a private mental space for prayer and spiritual works amid the larger community of the dead.

As a precaution, do not go straight home from the graveyard. Instead, spend some time somewhere else to confuse the spirits so they would not follow you home. In Filipino tradition, this is called "pagpag." If not possible, turn around three times while praying before entering your home. Take a spiritual cleansing (ritual bath or censing) to prevent spirit attachments.

How to choose the spirit?

If you want to work with a loving and caring spirit, go to your ancestor's or relative's grave.

If you want to work with a strong, fearless, and cooperative spirit, go to a policeman's or soldier's grave.

If you want to work with evil or risk-tasking spirits, go to a murderer's grave or the grave of someone who died severely.

If you want to work with a naive and biddable spirit, go to an unbaptized baby's grave.

Other associations are similar to the graveyard dirt correspondence I explained in this article.

How to choose the grave?

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 is 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.

How to pay the spirit?

1. Throwing the coins into the cemetery. This is one of the many Hoodoo graveyard customs that Tim usually does. He tosses a handful of coins as he enters and leaves the place as payment for the locale spirit or guardian of the cemetery. Other practitioners throw a coin into the graveyard and dig at the soil where it falls, burying it. Some people throw coins over their left shoulder or arm.

2. Placing the coins on the grave. Aside from doing the first method described above, we are often instructed to place coins on the specific grave of the spirit we have chosen to work with. We usually put the money into the hole we made when collecting dirt or soil and then bury them on the surface. Some workers put the coins on the head, heart, hands, and feet of the dead. While others place nine coins in a straight row.

3. Libation. This practice originates from the African custom of libations for the dead. Some conjure workers prefer to pay the spirit with liquor, either whiskey, beer, rum, or any alcoholic beverage. I would advise everyone to avoid such payments when you know that the dead did not like liquor when he was still living. When doing this, I usually take a sip of liquor and spray it into the air from my mouth toward the tombstone, grave cross, statue, obelisk, or any grave markers. This shares the libation of the spirits and my essence with them. Other times, we just pour some out onto the ground or into another glass (shot glass or goblet), then we simply place it beside the grave, or we dig a little hole where we could sit the glass on the surface.

4. Smoking cigars or tobacco. A traditional payment among conjure workers with Native American heritage or influence. I also puff or smoke tobacco to the spirits, especially those who enjoy smoking. I do not recommend this payment to those dead who suffer from respiratory illnesses.

5. Scattering a handful of rice. Some Hoodoo practitioners leave rice grains in the graves to pay the dead for their assistance.

6. Offering food and flowers. In places where most interments are in above-ground tombs, such as New Orleans, the dead are usually solicited by giving them cooked foods, bread, fruits, candies, and even some flowers.

7. Drawing cross mark. The X sign or mark is actually derived from the Kongo cosmogram. People draw cross marks on the tomb of individuals believed to possess great spiritual power. From the late 19th century until the present, the tomb of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau has been a recipient of offerings and cross marks.

Other conjure workers combined everything abovementioned.

Tomb of Marie Laveau in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans, Louisiana.

When my partner, Tim, and I visit the graves of our deceased grandparents, relatives, and other people, we always make sure to leave any of the things that I have mentioned – not just as payment but as a kind of "calling card" that we were there, remembering. As we approach their graves, we feel a deep connection, especially to our grandparents, who are part of our ancestry.

As we stand there at their gravesite, it is clear to us that we need to introduce ourselves. We speak to the beautifully carved monuments, reflecting a life once lived. It is as if we are speaking directly to our grandparents, relatives, or other people. We tell them who we are, whose child we are, and how much we know about them.

We stand to recite the ancient words of the Psalms and our own prayer for the dead; we have a connection. It is always a wonderful, uplifting moment for us. We feel we do a tremendous spiritual act to their memory.

Three basic types of graveyard magic:

1. Magic performed in a graveyard without burial.

For this type of graveyard magic, practitioners call upon the spirits of the dead to aid them with their workings, but they do not pay them or bury anything. Due to the lack of payment, some Hoodoo practitioners believe that this is an expression of folk magic linked to certain European pagan traditions and is rarely encountered in rootwork.

2. Magic that involved burial in a graveyard.

In this kind of magic, what practitioners are actually doing is calling upon the spirits of the dead to keep something for them, to hold it down in their realm, and perform what they are instructed to do, like casting off evil, removing problems, addictions, and bad habits, giving justice, fixing bad work back onto the enemy, revenge, and destruction of the enemy.

The Reversing - Mirror Box Spell is a popular Hoodoo spell involving burial in a cemetery. This magic trick is usually done to prevent a recurrence of problems caused by a person's negative thoughts (anger, hatred, grudge, retribution), ill will, psychic attack, retaliatory magic, and malevolent spellwork, sending them back to their source by binding the sender up in a mirror-box spell. This magic has a positive effect; if everyone knows the practitioner holds them accountable for a slight, they'll be reluctant to hurt or take advantage of him. But it also has a not-so-positive effect; since each of us has a powerful tendency to justify our actions and view ourselves as in the right, our magic and/or any of our actions are likely to be interpreted as slight and offensive acts. Or even one mistakenly interpreted as offensive can set off a cascade of assaults and perhaps a permanent feud. So to avoid this, always perform divination or psychic reading first to determine the source of the curses and to make sure that the work is justified in the eyes of God to proceed.

This trick differs from hexing or cursing because it reflects, rather than originates, intentional or unintentional harmful thoughts, assaults, and magic thrown against you.

Reversing - Mirror Box Spell

If performed in authentic Hoodoo folk magical way, the practitioner would incorporate the following materials:

- Poppets/dolls that represent the enemy or the victim
- Chipboard or cardboard box large enough to hold the doll
- A broken or shattered mirror that has never captured your reflection glued into the bottom, sides, and lid of the board

- Personal concerns such as your hair, nail clippings, clothes, a photo, specks of dust of your footprint
- Red pepper
- Black pepper
- Sulfur powder/ gunpowder
- Crab shell powder
- Goofer dust
- Reversing or Crossing oil

Ritual Procedure:

When done working on your doll and mirror box, place the prepared doll or effigy and the personal concern of your enemy in the box and sprinkle it with red pepper, black pepper, sulfur powder, gunpowder, crab shell powder, and goofer dust. As you do so, say, "Blessed are You, Oh Lord, Our God, Our Truthful Judge. God has given, God has taken away, blessed be the name of God. Here you are, [name of the enemy], and here you will stay, and from this time forth, all the crossed conditions, jinxes, malicious workings, and psychic attacks you try to bring about will be taken away from me but will come back to you as these mirrors reflect your image back to you - and in this hell, you have personally conceived you will be imprisoned until God releases you in judgment, Amen. Blessed are You, Oh Lord, Our God, Our Truthful Judge." After this, I usually perform a mock Funeral ceremony over the mirror box.

Mirror-Box Spell and Cut & Clear Spell are being performed simultaneously.

Then close up the box, carry it to a graveyard, and dig a hole. Ask the spirits in the graveyard to allow you to turn your enemy's body and soul over to them and hold him down, and as you do so, pay them a coin for their service by throwing it over your left shoulder as you make your request or placing it at the head of the grave. Then bury the mirror-box, walk away, and don't look back, going home by a different route than the one you took to get there. You can also perform a mock Burial ritual like I usually do when casting this spell.

This reversing spell is difficult to break unless you sneak into the graveyard where the practitioner buried your mirror box and destroyed it.

So, how do you then avoid the cycle of vexes and problems you're experiencing if you become a victim of this spellwork? My answer is - do not hate the practitioner or your enemy. Weave or perform a spell that is beneficial to him; forgiveness, healing, etc. I know this is a hard pill to swallow, but do not hold a grudge; avoid carrying resentment and hatred in your heart for any harm done to you. Do not imitate what the practitioner or your enemy is doing by performing reflective or mirror spells or reversing magic. Still, you should strive mightily to erase any vindictive feelings through spiritual cleansings and/or Cast Off Evil and respond to slights in a way that allows you to protect and defend yourself. If you do this, this will bounce back to you too.

 3. Magic that used graveyard dirt as an ingredient.

Graveyard dirt collected according to ritual precepts can be mixed with herbs, roots, minerals, and/or zoological curios and deployed in various tricks and spells, usually by sprinkling or throwing the powder toward the person. In our previous article, I shared some useful information regarding graveyard dirt; you may read them here: Working with Spirits of the Dead.

Tim's grandparent's grave soil. 

Besides spellwork, graveyard dirt is also an ingredient in some popular Hoodoo powders such as Goofer Dust.

Goofer dust is a magical compound found in the African-American tradition of Hoodoo from the Deep South. It is commonly used to jinx an enemy in family, money, job, and health matters or in love spells of a coercive nature.

There are plenty of different recipes for this powerful mixture. Still, the common ingredients are graveyard dirt, rust, or grease from iron objects found in cemeteries or anvil dust, ashes of graveyard woods (preferably coffin woods), ground candle wax from cemeteries, sulfur, snail shell powder, snake shed skin, dried insects powder, dauber's nest, black salt, dried animal manure, and herbs such as red pepper flakes and mullein. Depending on the formula, the result usually varies in color from a fine brownish-grey to deep black dust, while the odor is always strongly offensive.

The word goofer is an Americanization of the Kongo word "kufwa," which means 'to kill' - thus, a precise translation of goofer dust is a killing powder. That said, I would advise everyone reading this to handle this powder carefully when planning to use it in your workings.

Important advice to prevent graveyard spirits from following you:

As aforementioned, do not go straight to your home. Drop by someplace after visiting, especially working magic in a graveyard. In Filipino custom, the typical venue when we perform pagpag is our favorite convenience store. Funny as it may sound, but that's a fact. However, in Hoodoo tradition, practitioners tend to find a creek, stream, river, or pond and cross over it to prevent spirits from following them home. In Hoodoo, spirits cannot cross water, at least not easily or without invitation. Some people recite the Lord's Prayer once they get to the center of the bridge. The spirit will be forced to turn around and go back to the graveyard.

If you or other people have been dealing with the dead for any reason and want to break the spirit attachment, I would advise you to perform a spirit rescue ritual.

Sometimes, we do not know precisely what these spirit intentions are. Whether or not they want to harm you is also unclear - it isn't necessarily the case. Sometimes earthbound spirits are simply that - lost and looking for someone living to connect with. However, if the entity is making your life difficult (giving you negative feelings, thoughts, and experiences), then you need to part with them.

As a spirit of the deceased, they still need to be addressed warmly and respectfully, and the reality of the situation is explained to them.

Spirits can be very unpredictable, so it's always a good practice to take precautions and protect yourself first. Have a plan prepared if things go wrong and the spirits become more hostile, retaliate, or otherwise unwilling to leave.

Materials needed:

- Piece of paper
- Pen
- Matches
- Bowl or cup
- White candle
- Silver coin
- Pine needles or resin
- Glass of water
- Protection oil

Ritual Procedure:

Write the name of the spirit on the piece of paper. If you do not know the name of the spirit, write any name that comes first in your mind. Burn it in your cup or bowl and gather the ashes and keep them somewhere confined and safe.

Before anything else, anoint yourself with Protection oil, burn pine needles or resin to settle the spirit, call the spirit into a glass of water and sit quietly in the spot where you first experienced the activity of the spirit.

In your mind, release your fear and any negative thoughts and emotions you're feeling. Visualize the spirit approaching you. Treat them with respect and give them sympathy - try to understand what you might feel if you were lost. Forgive them for all the things that they had done wrong in the past and in the present. Talk to them calmly. Try to communicate with them and tell them that you wish to help them to return to the graveyard.

When you have convinced them, recite a blessing. Thank the Higher Spirits around that help you. Carry the glass of water and the ashes to the cemetery. When you get there, dig a hole and put the ashes in it while thanking the spirit and bidding them farewell. Pour the water onto the ground and bury the ashes with your silver coin as payment for your passage. Light a white candle for the spirit, turn away and walk straight out of the graveyard without looking back.

When you get home, spiritually clean your home and burn more pine needles or resin if needed.

And even if our thoughts and prayers have already helped the spirit return to the graveyard, we may continue to pray for it. Our thoughts, love, and prayers do not go to waste; they would still benefit other spirits in your home who also need prayers.