The Hoodoo Devil's Diary

Hoodoo and Pow Wow.

2009-03-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

As you may have read down below earthwomyn06 and I were talking a lil bit about hoodoo and Judaism she asked me "But isn't 'Secrets of the Psalms', 'The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses', and such ... more Pow Wow than Hoodoo?".

Well ya'll know what a big trap I got so I just had to answer and here it is... I have to take a moment and say right here that great thanks goes out to that amazing font of knowledge and insight cat yronwode, without whom what lil this Ol' Devil knows would come to squat. Thank you cat.

Oh yes ya'll can also thank earthwomyn06 for pretty much keepin' this journal updated... thanks earthwomyn06 for givin me grist for my ever turnin' mill. -

As to your question, “But isn't “Secrets of the Psalms”, "The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses", and such ... more Pow Wow than Hoodoo?”

Yes, No, and Maybe.

Let me explain that:

The “Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses” and “The Secrets of the Psalms” are but two of the many Jewish Kabalistic texts that have been adopted by Pennsylvania Dutch hexmeisters –and- African-American root workers.

There has been quite a bit of cultural crossover between German, Jewish, and African sources in American folk magic. As an example, John George Hohman's “Pow-wows or the Long Lost Friend” is one of the decisive texts, not forgetting the Bible itself, in the pow-wow, hex, or speilwerk of the Pennsylvania Dutch. ‘Pow-wows’ was first published in German for Pennsylvania Dutch hexmeisters, then later in 1846 an English translation had great influence among the Anglo-Saxon folk magicians of the Appalachians, and finally it found favor with, and is still used by, many root workers and practitioners of hoodoo.

The “Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses” and “The Secrets of the Psalms” also brings us back to those chemists and pharmacists from the earlier post. These chemists and pharmacists who were manufacturing products for the African American community in the early 20th century started to branch out into the hoodoo market, as we talked about earlier, by adding magical perfumes, candles, incenses, and hoodoo curios to their storefront and mail order businesses. Now because these sorts of ‘magical’ goods sold well, theses sellers, many, if not most, of whom were of German-Jewish decent or origin, soon began introducing Jewish and German folk magic and religious goods into their sales. Very quickly the African American folk magicians, root workers, and practitioners of hoodoo began to add items like menorahs, altar candles, kosher soap, and mezuzahs into their work, and along with that many religio-magical texts already popular with German and Pennsylvania Dutch folk magicians, pow-wowists, and hexmeisters. The result being that hoodoo, like other African diaspora religions in other nations, was influenced and altered by contact with the cultures that surrounded it. In the end, where other African diaspora groups created syncretic religions out of this contact, American hoodoo doctors, conjures, and root workers augmented the body of their magical knowledge through the use of texts like “Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses" and John George Hohman's "Pow-wows or the Long Lost Friend".

So my answer is:

Yes – these texts are used and have had great influence on and in Pennsylvania Dutch pow-wow.

No – these texts aren’t really ‘more’ of pow-wow than hoodoo because they receive regular use and have been completely absorbed into hoodoo, becoming a central part of that practice.

And Maybe- my knowledge is very fragmented and limited to anecdotal personal experience. I don’t claim to be any sort of legitimate scholar; I just talk a lot. *winks*

Hoodoo and Judaism

2009-03-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

A little bit back a friend asked me "What is the connection between Hoodoo and Judaism? " I attempted to answer that question, it's a big question one worthy of a full book but I gave it a shot and here is my take on it.

I would be happy to try and answer that question but I warn you that it may be a bit long winded and hope you will forgive me for taking up a great deal of space here.. But here we go –

Let me start off by saying that what I am about to lay out here is in no way meant to offend anyone or any group and is not meant as unquestionable truth. Whenever we begin to discus matters that touch on race we open up that ol’ devil can of worms and I want you to know this is just how I see it.

First to examine the connection between Hoodoo and Judaism we must examine the connection between African Americans and Jews.

Now until recently (the late 1960s and early 1970s) there was generally a certain kind of closeness between Jews and African Americans – Many African Americans thought that Jews were some kind of black people that were simply light enough to “pass”, and many Jews believed that black people were some branch or kind of Jew. I would point you to the large number of mixed marriages between Jews and African Americans; marriages which also occurred in the past and at a time when such marriages were still often illegal in many states. This mutual connection often resulted in mutual friendship and mutual cooperation and mutual exposure.

You must also consider that in the “Anglo-zone” African slaves were “converted” to the religious beliefs of their owners en masse and this belief system was primarily Protestant Christianity – with this came, of course, the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament of course corresponds to the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), with some variations and additions and tells the stories and tales of the early Jewish peoples and most importantly the story of Moses and the bondage of the Jews in Egypt.

The story of Exodus resonated strongly with many African slaves who saw in it their own story of being enslaved and awaiting liberation. This helped lead to certain beliefs still seen in Hoodoo to this day; the belief in the Bible being the “world’s greatest conjure book”, the depiction of Moses as the “Greatest Hoodoo man of all time”… You may also be aware of many of the old spirituals that make reference to Moses, Egypt and the bondage and liberation of Exodus, even heard in modern reggae. Let’s also not forget the Rastafarian belief that they, and the rest of the black race, are descendants of the ancient twelve tribes of Israel, cast into captivity outside Africa as a result of the slave trade. These biblical influences also lead, eventually, to the belief in Hoodoo that kosher items (such as kosher salt, candles and soap) are more effective than non-kosher items, due to them having already been blessed by a holy person (a Rabbi), and the occasional use of mezuzahs on house door frames.

Later, after emancipation, we end up with two groups of people, both disenfranchised, both scorned, both often segregated into separate, closed neighborhoods and both treated with more than a little second class citizen attitude by the “ruling” whites. I would point out here to you that Jews, like Italians, Turks and others, are part of the “new white” phenomena and that before this they were not thought of as white at all by popular society.

Add to this the Pharmacy/Drugstore connection – in the 19th century many pharmacies and labs developing new drugs, chemicals, and beauty products were owned and operated by Germans. Germany was amongst the world leaders in Chemistry at this time and the invention of clear plastics, aniline dyes, and much more came out of German, Swiss and Austrian labs. Now what the hell does that have to do with anything? Well it’s easy; you see when German Jews with a background in chemistry and pharmacy immigrated to America in the late 19th century seeking to set up pharmacies or drug stores of their own they often found that they weren’t wealthy enough to set up as pharmacists or chemists to the ‘ruling’ whites, so they set up in the black community instead. It was here that these Jewish pharmacists and chemists found that their customers not only wished them to compound and mix up chemically based medicine, but also wanted to purchase roots, herbs, special perfumes for luck, and magical floor washes, oils and powders – many of which could be easily compounded by the pharmacists; you will in fact find in some old copies of pharmacists manuals recipes for some of these items. So now you have a vigorous, ongoing cultural exchange – Jews selling old style hoodoo products to urban African American hoodooists who were in turn explaining to Jews how to produce these products.

Toss into this growing pot a few more things; Selig’s “Secrets of the Psalms”, "The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses", "The Lost 8th, 9th, and 10th Books of Moses" and the mysterious Mr. Henri Gamache –

"The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses", "The Lost 8th, 9th, and 10th Books of Moses" (which are compilations of medieval European and Middle-Eastern magic texts attributed to Moses - here’s Moses again eh), and the “Secrets of the Psalms” were, and still are, stock sellers of the spiritual supply companies that served the hoodoo community from the early 1920s up to the present. With these books, as you can well imagine, came a great deal of Jewish Kabbalist tradition and a belief in the magical efficacy of the words of scripture, and remember these books were available easily through mail order or from local Hoodoo Drugstores.

The story of Henri Gamache is so complex that I leave it’s telling to a far superior source than myself - Ms. cat yronwode, you can read it in its entirety here http://www.luckymojo.com/young.html - I will digress into it here only in so much as to say that Mr. Gamache can easily be credited as being the source for the modern Hoodoo system of color correspondence.

So in conclusion, and we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg here, the connection between Judaism and Hoodoo is cultural, magical, social and systematic – based off mutual experiences, mutual beliefs, mutual oppression and slavery and mutual African roots and forms of folk magic.I hope that helps, and I apologize for such a rambling answer. It’s just not a question that I could answer more easily.

So that's, that... my take on the matter. Let the conversation begin.

Just a thought, pardon the sermon

2009-02-26T18:44:00.000-08:00

Someday we’re going to be able to say,
“We were there… we went down the scary, dark hallway, alone, with our enemies before us and behind us – we were there!”

Someday, when the storm is done and the earth dries over hard again, when there’s no sign left of the buffet wind strewn or the dancing lightning touched we will turn to the others and know that we are of the tribe of remembrance.

It won’t be an easy journey or a light one; our feet will strike upon the stone and few angels will lift us up, but we will know wonders and fears that few will understand or believe.

The tide drift will try and sweep at us, and tear at us, but in the swirl and the flow we shall be illuminated by the eddy and the current, and know the finger trails of G-d. And at last when the walking comes to the resting, when the masks have been rent asunder and the nine days of waiting, breath holding pass then we will be able to say,

“We were there, we went down the way and out the way and knew the way and dwell under the auspice of G-d and enter our house justified.”

Who dat der, say who dat der?

2009-01-11T18:26:00.000-08:00

Well I thought the ol’ devil would stop a spell and talk a lil on hoodoo, conjure and what and why we say what we say.

Now I’m gonna chaw a bit here, and this is just my old opinion that I’ll give a good try to prove is correct, but at the end of the day it’s just my thinking and sussin on it and I’m sure you can prove me wrong a dozen times over in half a dozen days… but don’t sweat it and don’t fret it, I ain’t here to rewrite the dictionary, just giving ya'll my take.

Goofy as a Drunken Mule.

Goof… Goofy… now I’m told “The actual origin of the word is unknown but several origins have been conjectured. According to Merriam-Webster, "goof" is likely a variation of "goff" in an English dialect, meaning simpleton. Some say the word may come from an identically-pronounced Hebrew word meaning "body". Others believe that it was inspired by the Disney character, Goofy (though it is more likely that the character got his name from the word, not the word from the character).

There is a Spanish word, "gofio," which refers to the balls of toasted flour and salt eaten by the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands. In Latin America (esp. Cuba) the word "comegofio" (lit. "gofio-eater") came to refer to anyone from the Canaries, stereotyped as primitive or stupid."

All sounds great; as far as I can find the words origin in American use hails from the early 1920’s and all that fine information up above seems just dandy. But… now I know some of you folk know where I’m about to go so just hold onto your selves a minute for the sake of the folks who don’t… But now could it just maybe… Maaaaaaaybe… come from -

GOOFER!

Ya'll know... as in …

Goofer Dust kills yes… but now check me here... ain’t we got a bag full of tales about how sometimes it swells ya up and kills ya fast, but other times before ya die it drives you out of your head… run round like a dog, confuses and kills… so here ya are runnin around actin like ya ain’t got all your cards in the deck, falling and tripping over your confused, dying self… like one Goofy son of a bitch…

"As late as the 1930s, goofering was a regional synonym for voodooing, and in North Carolina at least, the meaning of the term was broadened beyond spells of damage, illness, and death to include love and it comes comes from the Kikongo word "kufwa," which means "to die." "So could it just be that maybe… Maaaaybe it comes from there.

The ol Devil think so…

I’ll suss on some more words and terms later.

Till then don’t cross the wrong person or ya just might be fixin to get all tied up. *wink*

Harlem's Black Magic II

2008-12-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

I wanted to say some quick words on the other day’s video post from the 1937 March of Time newsreel series. Now first off there is something wrong with the clip and the sound and picture are out of sync and that causes the whole clip to end way before it is suppose to - I'll be hunting around to find another clip but it may be awhile, if ever.

Second off- Woof, no small amount of condescension there, but I suppose for the time it might have been regarded as "uplifting" - thanks for the lift but I'll walk.

Anyways, watch it through and you will get to see some similar things to what’s around even today- note the Compelling Incense, Confusion Powder, Boarding House Powder and Husband Come Back Powder all by Mysto Products.

If I can find a better version of the clip I’ll post it up and have a few more things to say on it.

For now let me sign off with this thought – It’s high time we stopped tossing babies out with bathwater folks!

Just because something is ugly, done in ignorance or even done with a spiteful nature does not make it worthless. There is a lot to be learned in some old sources – but yes they are often racist, ignorant, silly, sensational, the lowest denominator, and sometimes just outright immoral. But, you just might be surprised what you find in the junk yard, people love to wrap their bullshit up in good gilt paper and around tiny seeds of truth. It's that golden paper and seeds we should try and salvage. Looking through a piece of history for what may be true and valuable in it does NOT legitimize the time, producer, inaccuracies, or wickedness of the material as a whole. But it does require a lot o hard and careful work and getting your mental hands dirty.

In other words, pull up your boots, hold your nose and follow me; there’s some good stuff buried in this shit but it ain’t gonna be a pretty job finding it.

Harlem's Black Magic

2008-12-06T21:38:00.001-08:00

Harlem's Black Magic
Video sent by pigfoot

March of Time newsreel. Incredibly racist by any sensible standard, it's still worth taking a look at ya'll.

The Hoe and The Row.

2008-12-05T20:48:00.000-08:00

Let’s lay out a few things on the floor before we go on much more around here. Before we get down to the nitty and the gritty and talk out all the conjure we want. I know that these days we’re suppose to mind our P’s and Q’s, dot our I’s and cross our T’s - and if you have sense you –will- cross those T’s - and worry and fret over everyone’s feelings.

Well forget it!

Ain’t gonna happen; I was raised to be polite and I’m generally pretty damned polite, but I was also raised to speak my mind and speak the truth and honey you can’t speak truth and guard all the people all the time. We’ve had just about too damned much watching our tongues and tucking our heads the last eight years. And you sure as hell can’t ever speak truth to power while watching your tongue.

Forget it, ain’t happening.

This place is mine to speak in. You don’t like it? Sound off, but don’t expect me to cry a river or give a good damn. I’m gonna speak it my way; you don’t like it there is the highway. Sound a little confrontational don’t I… we’ll to quote the great lady ‘I’m awfully bitter these days’… The Row is getting harder to Hoe folks and I’ve grown tired of watchin’ my mouth.

It ain’t gonna happen no more.

But don’t fret and don’t sweat, I honestly don’t have it in for most people – Oh there are a few out there starving, beating, and raping kids and helpless folk and chortling and lining there pockets all the while – pushing young men and women into meat grinders for a few bucks more and to look tough and then pulling bullshit on the survivors – Them I have it in for, in spades, and I got me a lil way to fuss and spit back… Don’t you think I ain’t gonna be calling your names on the right nights - I’m a Justified worker.

Don’t worry over it happening.

The rest a you all; I don’t have any axes left to grind against. I don’t care if your black, white, red, yellow or polka dotted, rich, poor, or making ends meet, gay, straight, bi, transgender or a-sexual, up, down, or side to side – or any other set of lists or attributes you care to cobble together – It takes all kinds and sorts and G-d bless that the pot is full and rich rather than bland and thin. -But- I do have a cold, blue steel hard on against the cruel and the malicious and the just down and out willful Evil.

So here we go… have your tickets ready, please return your trays to the upright position, no smoking while the smoking lamp is ON and tonight’s movie has been cancelled, so ease back, relax don’t take it so big and don’t worry about whatever the hell the ol’ Devil writes here – Hell, ain’t like no ones gonna read it no how!

Come One - Come All

2008-12-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

What follows is a cry out to my folks here in America and specifically all ya’ll pagan folk in the south; if that ain’t you don’t take it so big.

Welcome to America
Hoodoo you know?

Welcome to the New Age - the Age of Aquarius - the Age of Free Thought and Magic Afoot.
Welcome to the Brand New - Brave New World.

Or is it? Do you sing the throat song of the new world or are you still reaching across the waters back to lost and old homes and ages; searching for something better because it ain’t here.

The current New Age of magic seems so diverse and open, but it often appears too rooted in every place but one – America –. Yes, it’s very fashionable, and perhaps more than a little justified, to turn one’s face from the home wall and find wisdom, wit and way in –any- place but America. That being the America of the here and now and the just then; anything existing before that being perfectly acceptable for use as it is Native and Original - and the irony of that on top of what has already been claimed, destroyed, and taken is so huge as to almost be soul crushing. But before you run out and start intoning Gaelic, Latin, Etruscan, or casting circles to the proper Airt you might want to stop and consider that there is a very American magic just under the surface –all around you- not a native magic or an original magic – not a pure magic just made out of it’s own self skin – no, a quilt made up of Haint blue colors, and jinx squares all sewn up on a five spot board – a magic as American as Jazz or Chop Suey.

Hoodoo

Now before you go off and get yourself all tied up, fussing and fuming and ready to put me right in my place, - and I've probably given you plenty to be riled up about since I haven’t been oh so careful and fretful over your all’s feelings – just take a breath and hear me out. I’m not saying to you that old ways from other places or native peoples don’t have worth, aren't damn fine in fact, and I’m not forgetting all the beautiful parts that came to make up Hoodoo from amazing Africa, solemn Synagogues, humble Hexmeisters, hucksters, dreamers, slaves, freemen, bandits, rouges, revolutionaries, just plain ol’ wise mommas and papas and the roots and spirits themselves – so if your all wound and hung just take a long cool drink of shut the hell up and go, stay or do as you like because I’m going to go on.

Hoodoo

That’s right I said Hoodoo, you heard me. That ol’ time huckstery, superstitious, spookism – yup Hoodoo, Mojo Bags, Floor Washin, Black Cat Bones and all. Now a lot a folk got to look everywhere but at home for magic and truth and wisdom, cause if someone you never met and don’t know says it or does it, well then that must be right and true. But now if Gramma and Pops and Sister does it well that’s just how some folks is around here… superstitious, ignorant… backwards. Well La De Da, that’s just fine now isn't; if somebody over an ocean or 300 years back does it it’s real and valid, but if my Gramma did it it’s that old devil spookery or just plain foolishness, or that’s that ol’ evil stuff or even better, the biggest slap in the face, that something that “them” folk do and we all know what I mean by that, G-d help us.

Well it’s out there folks, all around you, in your words, in your manners, in your ways and songs and the little things you do and it’s as real and tangible as the best magic you can call up on any Sabbat Night and it’s a part of –here- our times and our air, our earth and our fires… cicada songs, gator growls, cat screams, and owl hoots all. So before ya’ll run right off to greener pastures and set all your elders on their ears, show us how we’re wrong, just stop and ask and listen – maybe around midnight down by the Crossroads or in the quiet of the Graveyard on Memorial Day or just watch what Gramma does when she drops a knife – who knows Magic might be a whole lot more damn Afoot then you ever guessed.