Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As someone who’s been practicing Hoodoo for over 20 years I have to say there are quite a few problems with this book. Firstly, it gives a really lacking representation of what Hoodoo is and its history. The author, like too many others in the topic, seems to approach Hoodoo as though it is largely a free for all practice without an important cultural history worthy of discussion. And one which should be accessible to anyone and everyone regardless of whether or not they bother to learn and honor the history and heritage of the ancestry of its traditions. Let’s get this point straight. Hoodoo, hands down, no question, is the result of West African slaves being brought to the Southern United States. The catalyst which creates Hoodoo is a reaction caused by black people being taken from their native lands and needing to adapt and survive in a new world with the boot of the colonizers upon their necks. Yes there are a lot of other cultural influences. But Hoodoo is built upon this history, a history of enslaved Africans and their descendants, and this author tiptoes over and whitewashes that history. Further, she seems to imply that European magic is the starting point or foundation for Hoodoo. To quote the book: “When the first European folks landed on Plymouth Rock, they brought their beliefs and their magick. The Native American folks living there had some magick, then the African and Caribbean folks’ magick was added.” Nevermind that she’s under the impression that the first Europeans to arrive in America were the ones who landed at Plymouth Rock. I’m just kind of speechless about how tone deaf, woefully simplistic, and ill informed that summary is. She excuses her whitewashing of the history of Hoodoo, and her further wiccanizing of it, by quoting some random dude from an online chat room who says “Life is cultural appropriation for those who hunger for the truth in all it’s forms.” I’m dead serious. She quotes a dude going by the name Prophet Bazahas from an online forum. Here’s the thing. Yes, pretty much all magical traditions borrow from others. But if you are an outsider who was not born into living spiritual cultures and traditions by ancestry. In order to give *any* kind of sincere honor to a spiritual culture that you wish to be a part of, work in, and more importantly *capitalize* on, you need to put the work in to truly understand, honor, accurately represent, and educate on the REAL history of that culture. And this author falls embarrassingly short in this task. The author is clearly heavily influenced by Wicca and regularly references being a witch. She ends each of the spells with “So mote it be” which is Wiccan speak and has NOTHING to do with traditional Hoodoo or the psalms. She speaks about her boss at the Botanica repeatedly referring to him simply as “The Haitian Priest.” The appropriate term for which is Houngan. She also makes some glaringly contradictory points. On one hand saying “this ain’t no fancy man’s magick, this is real folks just doing what needed done.” Then one chapter she’s later telling people “Essential oil recipes come to us from antiquity [I don’t think she understands what this term means]. It is very important to use only top quality, all natural oils in any working you do.” “Herbs should be fresh organic...” ”Candles should be solid in color, unscented, and good quality...” “Paper to be used is parchment paper. This is a natural unrefined paper [not true of either real parchment vellum, nor of modern pulp parchment paper]. White or notebook paper contains chemicals that will effect/affect the outcome of workings.” Don’t get me wrong, I am all about using all natural ingredients in my personal work, and I promote that practice as much as possible. When teaching others. However this author gives literally no reason for why that might be preferred or important. There are very real reasons for this, but she neglects to bother telling you any of the good reasons behind it. This is quite revealing. That said, it absolutely doesn’t mean that your magic will not work if you don’t use the very best materials. True rootworkers, conjure doctors, and hoodooists throughout history used what they could afford and what was available. The paper used in works wasn’t always fancy parchment but was often old brown paper from shopping bags and such. Red flannel became popular because it was cheap and accessible, or because you could simply recycle you old red flannel pajamas into something else. It’s worth noting that these practices developed amongst people who were often just trying to get by and who made due with whatever they had. Hoodoo is Folk Magic. Meaning it’s the practical magic of the working people. You make magic with what you have. She doubles down on her privileged perspective by saying “Remember if you buy dollar store supplies you’ll get dollar store magic.” Further, her understanding of the psalms seems somewhat pedestrian. Two glaring omissions from this book are her total lack of mentioning the importance of Secrets of the Psalms by Godfrey Selig as a major influence on the use of psalms in hoodoo, as well as it’s connection to the 6th & 7th Books of Moses. Even though she requires seals from the 6th & 7th Books for certain spells she provides readers with no pictures of them and little to no context for why they’re used. There are some interesting and creative elements to *some* of her spells for the psalms. Some are things I might actually consider trying. But overall there’s a lot of her telling you what to do without any real background, context, or perspective. I also find it highly telling that she’ll suggest that you get a 7 day candle, say a psalm over it once, light it and just let it burn. A 7 day candle should be worked for 7 days. Meaning that at bare minimum you ought to be praying that psalm once a day for 7 days. Not just once and then walking away. Finally I’ll conclude with this observation. This author has an entire section dedicated to spells to stop gossip but totally neglects to include psalm 58. For anyone with a precursory understanding of the psalms, this should speak volumes about this book. And from this particular Rootworker’s perspective that’s a very telling oversight. It definitely seems that this book was a labor of love for the author. So I do feel a bit bad being so critical of it. But it’s ultimately problematic and lacking in its cultural approaches, historical omissions, and even its practical content. For a better understanding of the way psalms have been used in Hoodoo I recommend Secrets of The Psalms by Godfrey Selig and the classic Power of the Psalms by Anna Riva.