Human Finger Bones ~ Filipino Conjure & Rootwork

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The employment of human bones has a long history in African and African-American folk magic. Just as the skull is emblematic of the mind, so are the fingers symbolic of getting, clasping, holding, and keeping something that the conjurer wants; and of the facility in specific creative fields, such as music and arts.

During the Black-Belt Hoodoo period, some enslaved conjure workers preferred to carry a dead man's whole hand with all the putrefying flesh still attached. Bones of murdered men were the most sought-after as these were regarded as more powerful than the bones of those who died by natural causes.

Human finger bones are either carried in one's pocket or attached to strings and worn around one's neck. But since the fingers essentially perform a task to obtain the individual's material desires, "helping" fingers bones are more commonly utilized now in making mojo hands for business and gambling or conjure bags owned by musicians and artists.

The thumb or the middle finger is generally used as an amulet or ingredient in mojo hands. Still, every finger bone is highly efficacious in attracting material inclinations.

Conjure workers who work with the dead are the ones who conventionally employ human bones in their workings by visiting a graveyard for the conduction of the proper ceremonial ritual to invoke the spirit of the dead. To perform this, I usually bring the bones and light a white candle while I recite Psalms 25 and 23. I invoke the spirit by stomping my conjure cane. Once I feel the presence, I anoint or soak them with olive oil and make some offerings and libations to the spirit (fresh herbs and a Whiskey). I usually mouth spray the liquor into the dead man's bones.

I disagree with people attempting to contact the spirits of the dead when they don't exactly know what they're doing.

Whether a genuine occult phenomenon or just a hallucinatory event, the danger of spirit possession is real and something to guard against during any sort of spirit communication (séance, spirit of the glass/ouija, and other necromantic practices, etc.). In my experience, dealing with human spirits is far more psychically, emotionally, and mentally draining than dealing with other entities such as nature spirits and planetary spirits.

If one must contact the spirit alone, it's imperative to do some protection beforehand.

Our authentic human finger bones were collected legally and are, therefore, legal to possess.

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.