Hoodoo vs Conjure vs Rootwork
Hoodoo Is Not Folk Magic
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Hoodoo Is Not Folk Magic To Me
I was recently having a conversation with an older Foundations student about why Hoodoo is no longer “folk magic” to me. I used to use that language myself. I even added the “k” to the end of magic at one point along my journey.
As I’ve grown older and wiser in my practice, my understanding of what Hoodoo is and what that framing does has shifted significantly.
If “folk magic” is how you understand or name your own walk, I respect that.
As more grey hair appears than Black one thing I am not doing is arguing with folks. I’m not here to debate anyone’s personal practice or relationship to the work. I’m sharing my evolution and the solid Hoodoo rock on which I now stand.
This reflection comes from years of practice, growing up in this tradition, raising children in it, one now grown and one soon on their way into the world on their own. It comes from decades upon decades of study, lived relationship, and responsibility to the work, not trend, not aesthetics, and not opposition for opposition’s sake.
My language has changed because my understanding has changed. And may we all be willing to change in the ways we need to, so that our highest destinies can be realized in this lifetime.
Hoodoo as an Ethnoreligion
Hoodoo functions as an ethnoreligion because it is tied to African-descended identity. It carries the Ancestral epistemologies of the enslaved people who brought it with them.
They preserved it against all odds and people trying to erase it. Although it lost its centralized “religious status” post-Reconstruction, and the opps went to great lengths to make it more commercialized (calling it mere “folk magic” to try and keep us small). As I have gotten older and deeper in my practice, the word “folk Magick” irks me to the core. More on that later.
Just because Hoodoo lost its religious status in colonial society doesn’t mean its sacred role as a religion to some is lost.
Suppose Hoodoo is something else to you, fine. To me, it’s a religion, and I have no problem saying I am a religious Hoodoo.
I am not full of Church hurt like some, so I don’t mind saying I’m religious, or Hoodoo is my religion, because religion means to realign oneself with God.
And I realign myself with the God in me through Hoodoo.
Hoodoo, Christianity, and Ancestral Strategy
Hoodoo birthed Black Christian life.
It evolved into maintaining ritual autonomy for people living in an oppressive environment.
I do not believe it was the Ancestors’ intention for us to use Christianity indefinitely. Rather, Christianity was a strategic resource to help us achieve important goals during the civil rights movement.
Our Ancestors didn’t intend for us to make this part eternal and to use Christianity as a colonial cage, but as a strategic political tool for our people.
Why “Folk Magic” Irks Me to My Core Now
I believe the civil rights strategy of the Ancestors worked, but they never meant for us to stay caged in Christianity forever.
And they damn sure didn’t mean for Hoodoo to get stripped down to “folk magic.” And forgive me, dear Ancestors, because I was on the “folk magic” bandwagon at one time or another.
Post-Reconstruction, the opps went all in to demonize and commercialize our practices through mail-order catalogs, pretending to be selling sacred conjure tricks to the highest-bidding buckra tourists.
Anything to make Black Spiritual Power look tiny, silly, and disconnected from God.
As I’ve gotten older and deeper in practice, “Folk magic” ain’t it for me, and it does not represent Hoodoo vastness.
It erases the deep cosmology within the ethnoreligion of our people, the Ancestral ways of knowing preserved through adversity, and Black Joy. A lot of our practice is about realigning ourselves and living in this realignment because of the colonization that we endure.
Ancestors knew we were gonna need this, so we didn’t crash the fuck out living in this colonial cultural society. We are not some off-brand religious sideshow. For us, it’s religion that binds us back to the Source. Folk magic is for dem Europeans playing dress-up. It has not come close to capturing the essence of what my people were doing and practicing.
Hoodoo, Rootwork, and Conjure: Lanes, Not Labels
Hoodoo, Rootwork, and Conjure are all kin, but they are not the same thing and serve distinct functions within the tradition.
This is how I was raised, and for me, there are real differences; if it is not for you, that is okay. Hoodoo Is Black Ancestral Love in Action. You can read my thoughts on that there. As a fellow Hoodoo, Rootworker, or Conjurer, you don’t have to agree with me to show Black Love In Action.
This is not random magic. What the Ancestors do in our lives may look magical sometimes to outsiders and to us when they come through like no other, but for us, it is relational. They put in work to be an Ancestor = work, yes, spectacular at how they come through, but also work, don’t forget that part.
If you come from a Kongo-based Hoodoo line, then you already know: there is no “veil thinning.” The Ancestors are here. Present. Active. Fire within and without.
And inside this sacred system, we have lanes.
The Sacred Umbrella
Hoodoo
Hoodoo is the full sacred umbrella. It holds the cosmology, the Ancestral worldview, the relationship to God, spirit, power, the Ancestors, the dead, the living, and the ways we remain aligned to Source through our people. Ancestor reverence is the foundation of the practice.
Rootwork
Rootwork is a specific earth-working lane within Hoodoo. It is the herbal, bodily, and material practice of keeping people safe, well-protected, regulated, and restored. It lives through roots, herbs, food, tonics, and more. It’s the healing intelligence of the natural world. This is the lane of medicine, care, protection, uncrossing, and embodied survival of keeping alive and well.
Conjure
Conjure is the lane of spirit-directed working and engagement with unseen forces. It is the lane of calling, directing, moving, and negotiating spiritual force toward an outcome. While Ancestors may be central in Hoodoo, not every person doing conjure places Ancestors at the center of that work in the same way.
These practices are related, share a common foundation, but each serves a unique purpose. They are not interchangeable. They can overlap, and some people can just be one or all.
Hoodoo: A Closed Practice and Sacred Inheritance
All of it sits within a Black sacred inheritance. And no, this is not open to everybody.
Hoodoo is a closed practice. Blood-carried. Lineage-held. Preserved by Black people through community survival, memory, spirit, and kinship. I also understand that when Black folks hear “closed practice,” some subconsciously link it to oppression, even when the closure is protective of you and your Black practice, not being a punishment. I also understand that some Black people's backlash to “closed practice” is a trauma response, and not a logical one.
Christianity normalized “open access” as a moral good
Colonial Christianity taught many that religion should be open to all and that having this universality equaled righteousness. And Colonial Christianity wanted everybody's coin, so come one, come all, so that we can take all y’all money.
This universality, you see it with people co-opting tarot cards that aren’t their culture, and chakra systems, because exclusivity = sin. And this theology is still alive and well and running folks' nervous system, to the damn ground, yes, even in people who’ve left the Church. You see them arguing with Christians every five minutes online because their nervous system is still searching for validity.
So when Hoodoo is framed as closed, it clashes with their deep internalized belief that: “If it’s real, it must be for everyone.” I am holding your hand gently with love when I say this. That belief is not African. It’s colonial theology you are still holding on to.
So no, there are no Amazon root kits for Colonial tourists over here.
We protect what is sacred because outsiders tend to flatten, market, water down, and try to repackage fragments of Hoodoo as trends to sell back to you, or “folk magic.”
To Those Who Keep Saying Hoodoo Has European-Derived Folk Magic In It!
And for those who keep insisting Hoodoo is just a mashup that European folk magic gave shape to, let me be clear:
We did not need Europeans to bring us spirit, cosmology, or sacred technology.
We did not need European folk systems or your Saints to explain our relationship to God, the Ancestor, the dead, the land, or Black power. Because for every white Saint that’s out there, there’s a Black Ancestor to do that.
What survived in us survived through us. Didn't need European nothing! OK, we are a complete system on our own; we do not need help.
Stay in your lane, and I’ll stay in mine.
Hoodoo will always live in the blood, memory, in the body, in the family, in the spirit, and across countless generations.
Your Ancestors are calling.
Reclaim this as sacred. Reclaim it as an inheritance. Teach your children. Protect the gate.
Hoodoo helps us return to our Black Power Source.
Do not let lies about “just folk magic” keep you disconnected from your own power.
