Laying Down Sneaky Tricks

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Pebbles soaked in conjure oil and chalk dusted with conjure powder are employed for this trick. The small white pebbles are arranged in a cruciform pattern, while wavy snake lines are drawn on the ground using the dusted chalk. 


The trick that I personally laid down, which I shared above, is an example of a traditional method of laying tricks and foot-track magic. The effects of being tricked in this manner are pretty expressively and articulately described by the Mississippi blues singer Robert Johnson in the song "Stones in My Passway."

STONES IN MY PASSWAY

by Robert Johnson

I got stones in my passway, and my road seems dark at night
I got stones in my passway, and my road seems dark at night
I have pains in my heart, they have taken my appetite

I have a bird to whistle, and I have a bird to sing
Have a bird to whistle, and I have a bird to sing
I got a woman that I'm loving, oh, but she don't mean a thing

My enemies have betrayed me, have overtaken poor Bob at last
My enemies have betrayed me, have overtaken poor Bob at last
And there's one thing certain, they have stones all in my pass

Now you're trying to take my life and all my lovin' too
You have laid a passway for me, now what are you trying to do?
I'm crying, "Please, please, let us be friends"
Now when hear me howling in my passway, rider,
        please open your door and let me in

I got three legs to truck on, whoa, please don't block my road
I got three legs to truck on, whoa, please don't block my road
I have been feelin' strange 'bout my rider, babe, I'm booked, and I got to go




Many sneaky conjure tricks were born in a period of American history of widespread persecution and oppression among enslaved people. The fixes and tricks provided hope, comfort, and relief from the conditions of enslavement and a sense of empowerment granted by the spiritual world. Enslaved African populations in the history of the American Southeast were multicultural too, and so were their practices in 'tricking,' 'laying down sneaky tricks,' or 'throwing down for someone.' In the slavery era, most plantations' slave quarters housed at least one trick doctor, to which the enslaved turned for spiritual assistance. The enslaved typically approached the Whites with grudges and animosity due to their inhumane treatment. Frequently, they did not have access to solace when Whites were around, so most enslaved people relied upon their own trick doctors to dominate their masters, relieve themselves from further sufferings, or even poison their abusive masters' feet - ultimately, to take control over their condition or situation, and change their fate. 

Most of the tricks that Hoodoo practitioners share are ritual components and elements from among tribes originating in Sierra Leone, Senegambia, and the Kongo-Angola region of Africa. 

The manifestation and production of symbols such as the cross, wavy lines, skulls, etc., are traditionally African brought to the New World. In Dahomey, an ancient kingdom in the region that is now southern Benin, red palm oil was and is still used to draw specific geometrical figures on the ground. Kongo people are also known to use cruciform, a sacred point usually marked on the ground on which a person stands to make an oath under the all-seeing God. 

Not all tricks involve figures and symbols, as most of the tricks, I have been taught only entail concealing and deploying spells and disposing of ritual remnants. Many folks in the Southern United States (and even here in the Philippines) would often find notable curious materials in different sites, consisting of alcohol bottles, coins, hen's eggs, blood, feathers, pieces of polaroid photographs, remnant candle wax drippings, and residues, paper packets, bits of shells, colored powders, oily substances, dolls, and sealed boxes, pots, and jars that had specific ingredients in them.

There are several ways to deploy such items when laying down a trick or disposing of ritual materials after using them, and here are some of them: 

- For offerings and libation, bury, burn, or leave them in nature (mountains, trees, rivers, seas, etc.).
- For attraction or drawing luck, scatter or throw them in the front yard. 
- To make someone stay, bury them in the backyard. 
- For breaking or destroying magical or psychic influence, dispose of them in fire (especially an open-air bonfire). 
- For banishing something or someone, flush them in the toilet or throw them in running water (rivers or streams).
- For concealing something, bury them in the forest. 
- For necromantic or graveyard work, bury them in a cemetery.
- Mix them in food or drink for tricking and working on someone in secret. 
- For money-drawing and customer attraction, leave them inside or outside the shop. 
- For prosperity and financial stability, leave them outside the bank. 
- For influence, persuasion, control, or domination, throw or hide them in the target's place (house, room, office, etc.).
- For personal empowerment, throw them in the railroad. 
- For hot-foot, throw them in the crossroads or town or city boundaries. 
- For justice, leave them in the court hall. 
- For retribution, throw them in police stations or prisons.
- For healing or making someone sick, throw them in hospitals or health centers.
- For job dismissals, throw them outside the company building, job site, or place of employment.
- For ruining marriage or family, throw or hide them in their house or yard.
- For destruction, bury them in a graveyard. 
- For general spell works, tricks, curses, and hexes, throw or bury them in the crossroads.

These specific practices can be viewed as retentions and survivals of ancient African beliefs concerning spirits of nature, commonly held by the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria, Edo of southeastern Nigeria, Ewe of Ghana, Benin, and Togo, and Fon of Benin. These nature or tutelary spirits are referred to as "orishas" or "vodun." Although there are many variations in the details of the practices and materials brought into play, the underlying concept is essentially the same.

From the West African point of view, any location or place (natural or man-made) that has diverse useful functions for human beings has a spirit dwelling in it. Among them are the farms or plantations, forests; rivers, lakes, and streams; mountains; certain trees; the market; the graveyard; the intersections or crossroads; boundaries of the cities; and the railroad. Veneration is directed at the spirits that reside at the site where some phenomenon manifests, such as crossroads for opening or attracting opportunities since the place presents many paths and directions. At the same time, the summits of the mountains for clarity and wisdom since one can see a bigger picture of the area when he is on the mountain's peak. 


Burying the curse of the mirror box in the graveyard to turn the body and souls of the enemies over to the hungry spirits!


This is consistent with modern Hoodoo tricks and spells being performed today. Due to the belief in nature, tutelary or local spirits, practitioners write petitions incorporated into their tricks or spells. These petitions request aid from the local spirits. Written materials in container spells buried in a graveyard, for instance, would have listed the wish of the practitioner or the client against the individual named or pictured and/or the complaint against them. Other contents like black cloth or ribbon outside the container, black candle wax, sulfur powder, red peppers, and other curios all speak to anger and cursing. 

Other sneaky tricks don't necessarily involve complicated ritual procedures as mentioned; some workings only require:

- mixing powder, oil, or bath crystals into floor wash solution or bathwater
- hiding tricks under the carpet or floor rugs
- hiding tricks inside the closet, wardrobe, cupboard, fridge, drawer
- hiding tricks under the bed
- burying or hiding tricks under the doorstep
- deploying tricks via pets
- deploying tricks in a quincunx pattern
- adding or mixing powder or oil into someone's shampoo, liquid body soap, lotion, astringent powder, medicated powder, body sprays, perfumes, or colognes
- discreetly dusting body parts
- dusting greeting cards, love letters, and documents connected with one's lover, a job, bank loans, or court case
- sprinkling oil or powder inside the shoes and even on the car tires
- giving someone a mojo hand
- blending powders and oils with dirt and dust

This does not necessarily mean that these tricks don't imply any form of spirit-working at all. Hoodoo is a form of natural magic. One of its accepted principles is that the herbs, roots, minerals, and other items used in rootwork all have spirit forces and are inherently powerful.


Clandestinely dusting the table of a roommate with conjure powder.


Variations exist for the processes and specific ingredients used in laying down tricks; the information I share here should not be taken as a complete and rigid step-by-step prescription for all sneaky tricks with the same goal. Commonalities are indicators of a shared symbolism that incorporates essential elements necessary for the desired result. Still, each trick doctor typically personalizes and creates variations for their own spell or trick, depending upon their areas of expertise and understanding of the power of natural curios and specific locations however he wants to employ them. 

Trick doctors also attempt to differentiate the deployment and disposal of tricks. In Conjure tradition, deployment is setting a trick or work in the field - like a commander deploys troops and equipment for military action, so to speak. Disposal, however, brings the spell or job to a conclusion with a final act or procedure for the desired outcome. 

Furthermore, when laying down a trick, it is significant to remember one of the basic epigrams passed along from Hoodoo teachers to students: "Lay your trick, walk away, and don't look back." Looking back can undermine the spirits and powers of the curios meant to set the trick to work. It also demonstrates a lack of faith and willpower.

I have met a lot of people, beginners in Hoodoo and my clients alike, who tend to make a big deal out of how they "can't do this," or "can't do that," or "this is not practical" or "that is not feasible." I tell them that the spells will not succeed then, either because Hoodoo is not for them or because the spell is concerning or bothering them.


Employment of red brick dust at the front gate or stoop is most often practiced in New Orleans and St. Louis, where red brick buildings are typical.

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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.