For Inktober this year I decided to look into African witch lore. Goal was to make 31 ink drawings featuring African inspired witches. When I started I was more looking at witches and witch doctors in Africa, but then I stumbled across something that shocked me. African Americans have their own brand of witchcraft lore called Hoodoo right here in the United States!!
“Finding out where all this comes from gives me such a strange feeling of connection to my “blackness” that I can’t really put into words.”
Now let me be clear about this, I do not practice Hoodoo. I’m from a VERY christian family north of the Mason/Dixon line, so my family never told me about any of this. But I find it fascinating that our ancestors practiced this type of spirituality right here in the States. Slaves in the U.S. have a remarkable way of combining African and American styles/music/art to create something new for ourselves and Hoodoo is one of those creations. I learned that there are MANY folk magic practices just like Hoodoo. Many of the slaves that were captured had a mix of religions and spirits that they believed in only to all be thrown together and have Christianity pushed on them.
All of these folk magic practices were used as a way for slaves to keep some sort of identity for themselves. Many of these practices remind me of modern day black baptists, whether it’s spiritual dancing (happy dancing), possession (speaking in tongues), singing, chanting, or praying to ancestors ( our focus on black history). Even something as simple as pouring some beverage on the ground “for the ones that passed” ( something that my mother used to do with us) is heavily steeped in these African spiritual traditions. Finding out where all this comes from gives me such a strange feeling of connection to my “blackness” that I can’t really put into words. I guess I just don’t want this to fade into the background and be something that we forget about ourselves. So read a book, check out the wiki page, and share what you learn about this enchanting part of our history. You might find out you know a lot more witchy black people than you thought lol.