Isn't Hoodoo Witchcraft And A Pagan Religion? ~ Filipino Conjure & Rootwork

Isn't Hoodoo Witchcraft And A Pagan Religion?

Not all forms of magic are European witchcraft. (Photo courtesy of Marlon Molarte)

If you want to keep worshipping as a pagan, you can't become a Hoodoo practitioner. Christianity and Paganism are mutually exclusive for many logical, historical, and cultural reasons. Don't get me wrong, Hoodoo is not trying to be brutal, dismissive, or judgmental. But being a Folk Christian spirituality, Hoodoo is simply not compatible with anything pagan and witchy, and that's expressly stated in every version of its Bible. So, if you want to continue practicing witchcraft and pagan worship, you're not looking for the magic and spirituality that Hoodoo, Conjure, or Rootwork provides.

Enemy work invoking the power and assistance of a Mexican Catholic folk saint, Anima Sola, and Roman Catholic Church Saint, St. Cyprian of Antioch.

What is the reason for this?

As I said in my other articles, a Hoodoo practitioner can't be a witch since the Old Testament, especially the Torah, takes a very negative attitude towards 'witchcraft' and 'paganism' in its various formats, such as:

"You are not to permit a sorceress to live." (Exodus 22:17)

"When you enter the land ADONAI your God is giving you, you are not to learn how to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, a diviner, a soothsayer, an enchanter, a sorcerer, a spell-caster, a consulter of ghosts or spirits, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is detestable to ADONAI, and because of these abominations, ADONAI, your God is driving them out ahead of you." (Deut. 18:9-12)

But why? What is the problem with it?

The Christian God doesn't usually play well with other gods and goddesses because He is a jealous Deity (and every Christian knows that since He specifically mentioned that in His Ten Utterances).

For YHWH, this is an abomination. Christians believe that if a person mistakenly understands powers to be independent of their God, they engage in idolatry! These magical, energetic, and divine become a source of wickedness when viewed as an alternative power to their God.

So, does the Bible condemn magic?

A money-drawing job was performed utilizing the spiritual and magical energies of St. Martin Caballero and Hotei or Budai, the "Laughing Buddha."

For Fundamentalist Christians, yes! But for Folk Christians, no!

Most conjure workers believe that together with the physical world, God created 'spiritual forces' through which the natural world can be manipulated. All these spiritual forces, good or evil, have been divine since God created them. God created nature together with its laws, and it is His will that the world utilizes these laws. However, once a man realizes that there is a spiritual force that has an impact on this world and starts to use it, the danger is that he will think that there is a separate force and energy independent of God through which the world can be manipulated.

Hoodoo recognizes that Christianity is a monotheistic religion in the strictest sense. Since Hoodoo was heavily influenced by African or Black theology, the concept of God in Hoodoo is that He is the King of the Universe, Creator of Heaven and Earth, and at the headship of other spirits, including angels, Church saints, folk saints, ancestral spirits, nature spirits and even other deities from different religions and cultures. God is the owner of all the spiritual forces (in Yoruba religion, it is called "ashe"). Most Central West African traditions are similarly modeled. Conjure workers invoke, venerate and work with the spirits for either good or evil using the spiritual forces of God.

So, for Christians inclined to practice magic, there's always hope since Hoodoo believes that magic is in no way a contradiction to the unity of God, and magic itself is a creation of God. Of course, Fundamentalist Christianity isn't pleased with such freedom and independence, but who gives a damn? No one has the right to define or, worst, dictate your spirituality to you but yourself. I do understand, though, why some conservative Christians preach to other people to distance themselves from magic. It's mainly because there are forms of magic that come from forces of impurity. When magic works, people tend to view it as the most powerful.

You could be a monotheistic or henotheistic Christian Hoodoo practitioner if you like, but try to separate our Folk Christian God from the 'God' that you grew up with; the Fundamentalist Christian God. Because believe me, He won't be pleased to see you practicing magic or venerating other forces, and He would just end up cursing you. He's a Deity like any other Deities who will do and fulfill what They say that They will do to their followers.

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.