Just My Thoughts on Respect & Community in Online Hoodoo/Spiritual Spaces.

Building Community in Online Hoodoo Spaces

One thing I hold close to my heart is the medicine that my Afro-Indigenous Gullah Geechee Ancestors left me. It warms me to think that our Ancestors thought of the future to leave medicine for us. Among all they were going through, they left us with ways to make a way out of no way. Isn't that beautiful? I love to see all these Hoodoo practitioners' associations, clubs, and houses growing, and I love all the Black people embracing their Ancestral practice, speaking up, and showing up online. Sometimes, I think we forget that although we are touching one another distantly, online is still very much a community. And in a community, how we speak to one another matters even online.

I've been seeing too many conversations in Black/African spiritual spaces turn harmful. I’m big on speaking life into people, and I love to talk and meet other practitioners offline as well. But some of the beautiful people that I have met in person have started online. Your online relationships can grow into something beautiful. But we have to remember that there are real people behind these profiles. (And yes, I know there are lots of fake profiles out there) We have to realize that because someone used a term or shared a thought that didn't sit right with others, why do so many lead with insults? Why not lead with care and curiosity or ask for clarity? People often call others "stupid" or "dumb." For genuine questions, to help them grow, that doesn't really sit right with me, and I don't believe it sits right with the Ancestors either. Kindness matters.

Kindness matters because some folks are new. Some folks are solo practitioners, and some are returning to Ancestral ways from the church. Some folks are just remembering. And even if someone's language isn't like yours or their Ancestral framework is unfamiliar to you, that doesn't make them wrong out of the gate, or they are worthy of being talked down to because they are new or don't know as much as you do. Or downing people just because of differences, especially if they are not disrespecting the Ancestors or desecrating the traditions.

I don't believe we should be using the colonizer's harsh language or shaming toolkits on one another.

Shame, overly harsh language, and dismissing others' oral traditions. To make Black people question their own wisdom, experience, and cultural memory. Is wild. You weren't there when their Ancestors spoke to them or they had a reading. What works for you may not work for them. We, as Black People, have been handed enough harm. And we definitely don't need to keep passing it down upon one another.

And I know some say I'm being soft, but This isn't about softness. It's about spiritual integrity.

If you're a practitioner of any ADRs (African Diasporic Religions), ADTs (African Diasporic Traditions), or Afro-Indigenous spiritual ways, how you show up online matters just as much as how you show up in your personal practice. No one's Ancestors sent them here to become complicit agents of disrespect to other Black folks in the name of "truth" or “spiritual practice”.

If someone uses "Hoodoo" as a title… or says, "Hoodoo is a religion,"… how about before you scorn them, how about you ask them why? Ask about their lineage. Offer insight into your lineage and approach to doing things. Start an open dialogue with them. You could make a new friend that way. We don't have to lead with smart-ass remarks and insults. Correction without care is not our way. That is a colonized behavior being reinforced.

I've made plenty of mistakes in my 30+ +++ years as a practitioner, walking these roads isn't about perfection. When I share my ways, that's just it: my Low Country Hoodoo ways. You may not rock with my ways and lineage, and that's okay; none of us is perfect. And I’m not here to convert you; I’m just sharing. I've used the wrong words and gotten ahead of myself. Misunderstood. But every time I was dead wrong or getting off track, rude, or inexperienced, my elders corrected me with sternness, care, love, and integrity. Even when it was super stern, it was sacred, not insulting.

I was taught that if someone's words or ways are unfamiliar, you lead with curiosity, not insult, and I wish I could see that more in Black spiritual online spaces.

You don't know how every village runs, and not everyone was raised in the same village. But we all carry the collective of the Ancestors with us.

We inherit more than gifts in these traditions. We also inherit responsibility. And power means absolutely nothing if your spirit within isn't right. Your spiritual insight means a little of nothing if your vessel lacks the integrity to hold it.

None of us are experts or scholars until we become Ancestors.

And if I ever injured anyone in action, thought, or deed with my sayings or ways, intentionally or unintentionally, please forgive me.

Let's strive to do better with and for one another as Black Spiritual Practitioners. Let's remember that we're building upon something sacred that our Ancestors left us, and we're not just practicing it. Let's treat each other with love, discipline, and deep care as if we will be Ancestors one day.

May we all treat each other better with more kindness and respect

For the love of our Ancestors.

Hoodoo Healing©️