Hoodoo is a folk religion or traditional magic which originated in the southern United States. The goal of Hoodoo is to allow people access to supernatural forces to influence their daily lives.
Hoodoo is believed to have influence in many areas, including gambling, love, divination, cursing one's enemeies, treatment of disease, employment, and necromancy. Many patent medicines were aimed at Hoodoo practitioners. Signifigant use is made of various home-made potions and charms, but there are also many sucsessful commercial companies selling various Hoodoo components.
While Hoodoo and Voodoo share some elements and may have a common etymology, the terms generally refer to different beliefs and practices. Hoodoo is largely based on traditional African practices, though it drew signifiantly from Native American folklore, especially the use of herbs and other botanical elements. Elements of various Christian, Jewish and European folk practices found their way into Hoodoo.
Most adherents have been black, but whites and native americans also used Hoodoo.
Hoodoo is used as a noun to describe a magic spell or potion, as a title for a powerful practitioner (Hoodoo Doctor, Hoodoo Man or Hoodoo Woman), or as an adjective or verb depending upon context. The word can be dated at least as early as 1891. Some pracitioners prefer the term Hoodooism, but this has mostly fallen out of use. Synonyms include conjuration, witchcraft, or rootwork. The latter demonstrates the importance of various roots in the making of charms and casting spells.
Due to Hoodoo's great emphasis on an individual's magical power, practices are easily adapted based on one's desires, inclination and habits. Knowledge is passed person to person; there is no structured hierarchy.
Like many other folk magics, great emphasis is placed on herbs, minerals, parts of animals' bodies, an individual's posessions, and bodily fluids, especially menstrual blood, urine and semen.
Many blues musicians referred to Hoodoo in their songs, and such elements have become important to the music.
Zora Neale Hurston recorded many Hoodoo practices and tales.
A hoodoo is a geological feature consisting of a freestanding column of stone. Hoodoos are usually found in arid desert regions, carved by windborne dust. They are composed of soft sedimentary rock, and are topped by a piece of harder, less easily-eroded stone that protects the column against attack from above.See also
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