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As noted by the staff of Haunted America Tours (http://hauntedamericatours.com), Hoodoo refers to African traditional folk magic. This rich magical tradition was, for thousands of years, indigenous to ancient African botanical, magical-religious practices and folk cultures. Mainly enslaved West Africans brought hoodoo to the Americas.

Hoodoo is a noun and is derived from the Ewe word “hudu” which still exists today. African-American vernacular often uses hoodoo to describe a magic “spell” or potion, the practitioner (hoodoo doctor, hoodoo man or hoodoo woman) who conjures the spell, or as an adjective or verb, depending upon the context in which it is used.

The word can be dated to as early as 1891. Some prefer the term hoodooism, but this has mostly fallen out of use. Some “New Age” non-diaspora practitioners who have taken up Hoodoo as a hobby employ such synonyms as conjuration, conjure, witchcraft, or rootwork. The latter demonstrates the importance of various roots in the making of charms and casting spells.

It is important to note that in traditional African religious culture, the concept of “spells” is not used. Here again, this Afro-botanical practice has been heavily used by the New Age, and Wiccan communities who have little understanding of “hoodoo’s” spiritual significance as it is traditionally used in Africa.

Hoodoo refers to African traditional folk magic. This rich magical tradition was for thousands of years indigenous to ancient African botanical, magical-religious practices and folk cultures. Hoodoo was imported to the United States when many West Africans were enslaved and brought to the Americas (art by Ricardo Pustanio).

An amulet characteristic of hoodoo is the “mojo”—often called a mojo bag, mojo hand, conjure bag, trick bag, or toby—a small sack filled with herbs, roots, coins, sometimes a lodestone, and various other objects of magical power.