"Southern hoodoo, conjure and rootwork are living, African-derived mystical, medicinal and spiritual systems of personal and psychological empowerment. Each system involves the specialized use of botanical, zoological and mineral material medica such as herbs, roots, stones, bones and animal parts that are prepared in a medicinal or ritualistic manner for practical purposes such as protection, defense, justice, healing, love or wealth. The systems as we know them today are largely influenced by Native American and Latino Diasporic traditions, as well as European folk magic. That said, Southern hoodoo, conjure & rootwork are African at the root.
- Denise Alvarado
An issue of note to folks mostly from outside of our tradition is the conflation of Voudou and Hoodoo. During the latter part of the 1800s, the two terms began to be used interchangeably. No one knows when this began to happen or why. There are a few theories, mostly by white authors who posit African Americans mistakenly began calling Hoodoo Voudou or vice versa. Others say it was white folks who began calling Voudou Hoodoo or vice versa. I truly believe this is not an issue to Marie Laveau or her followers, as she clearly engaged in Voudou rituals, magick, and gris gris and did not develop illusory categories to define what she was doing. New Orleans practitioners follow suit, rarely arguing this point amongst themselves as we understand how the various aspects of the tradition originated in different regions of Africa and came together in a beautiful, hybridized blend.
On the other hand, Hoodoo can stand alone as a magickal tradition, so it may or may not be embraced by Voudou practitioners. That said, an informant in Harry Middleton Hyatt’s seminal work, Hoodoo-Conjuration-Witchcraft-Rootwork, responded to Hyatt’s question, “Is there any difference between Hoodoo and Voodoo?” with “No difference as ah see it. Dey seem to be the same thing” (Hyatt 1970, 1:949). This same informant discusses Hoodoo as working with roots and powders while the other—which she describes as “Spiritualist”—works with the spirits. She does not go out of her way to describe Voudou and Hoodoo as mutually exclusive until asked a specific leading line of questioning by Hyatt. Additionally, in an 1893 article, The Buffalo Enquirer describes both terms thus:
On the other hand, Hoodoo can stand alone as a magickal tradition, so it may or may not be embraced by Voudou practitioners. That said, an informant in Harry Middleton Hyatt’s seminal work, Hoodoo-Conjuration-Witchcraft-Rootwork, responded to Hyatt’s question, “Is there any difference between Hoodoo and Voodoo?” with “No difference as ah see it. Dey seem to be the same thing” (Hyatt 1970, 1:949). This same informant discusses Hoodoo as working with roots and powders while the other—which she describes as “Spiritualist”—works with the spirits. She does not go out of her way to describe Voudou and Hoodoo as mutually exclusive until asked a specific leading line of questioning by Hyatt. Additionally, in an 1893 article, The Buffalo Enquirer describes both terms thus:
“Voudou,” as the French-speaking people of New Orleans call it, or “Hoodoo,” as the term is known among others, is synonymous with superstitious terrors of malevolence, sickness brought about by uncanny influences and terrible infirmities, the result of satanic incantations, helped by the use of powders and compound drugs of alleged extraordinary potency.
In sum, the best way I can clarify the relationship between Hoodoo and Voudou in Louisiana is that some people Hoodoo, and some people don’t. Voudouists who Hoodoo do not have any issues embracing it as part of their Voudou practice anymore than they have a problem with working gris gris. As a Creole tradition, we understand it is the very nature of being Creole to embrace every aspect of our culture and have little desire to dissect it for the sake of comforting the cognitive dissonance expressed by outsiders.
For a more thorough discussion of hoodoo, please visit our sister site ConjureDoctors.com: What is hoodoo, conjure and rootwork?
For a more thorough discussion of hoodoo, please visit our sister site ConjureDoctors.com: What is hoodoo, conjure and rootwork?
To understand Laveau Voudou, we need to understand hoodoo, conjure and rootwork. After reading the article, return to class and find the post called "Module 1 Discussion: Voudou vs Hoodoo" and answer the following questions:
- What is hoodoo, conjure and rootwork?
- How is hoodoo and Voudou related?
- Why do I call Papa Legba the original conjure doctor?
- Why might this information be important to the study of Marie Laveau?