Page 23 - The Flickering Cauldron Magazine - June 2022

Slaves in the Caribbean had little to no contact with Europeans and the ratio of whites to blacks was relatively small, with slaves usually working under the eyes of an over seer and not working alongside their white captors, as in North America. Large scale plantations were relatively few in numbers in the North American colonies, unlike in the Caribbean. It was easier to control the movements of the slaves in North America than it was in the Caribbean, hence Vodou remained in, to some extent, a purer form in the Caribbean, and was lost in America.
Witchcraft travelled to America when the Pilgrim fathers set sail from England. We all know of the Salem witch trials in 1692, where 25 people were killed, or died after being accused of witchcraft. Europeans, in particular the British, didn’t fully lose their Pagan beliefs, but simply adapted them to accommodate Christianity and ultimately, took it all with them when they colonised the New World.
There was also the influence of the Native American. By the 18th century ‘African and Native populations outnumbered whites in southern colonies by 4 to 1.... /.... white colonists lived in constant fear that the two peoples would join forces to drive their white oppressors out of America; so many severe measures were taken on the part of whites, to prevent contact between the two groups. Whites would go as far as to pit the two groups against each other by employing Indian bounty hunters and paying them ‘£50 for every slave brought back alive, as well as £25 for every dead slave returned.’ Despite this, cultural exchange still took place in the southern regions of the American colonies. ‘Indians and blacks traded and developed methods of magical practice and often shared similar medicinal knowledge of plants and herbs.’
This exchange of knowledge concerning spiritual traditions extended to the sharing of magical traditions as well, such as the shared practice of making magic bundles. In Indian tradition, medicine bundles were often carried as protection, as the bundles were seen as the physical representation of one’s guardian spirit, which crossed over into the changing form of Vodou, namely American Voodoo, whose magical practice then began to be developed into a form of American folk magic called Hoodoo.
Hoodoo is a set of spiritual practices and beliefs that grew from the slave trade. A mixture of Voodoo, witchcraft and Native American magic, Hoodoo relies heavily on sympathetic magic and the power of ones will. Like the cunning folk, the Hoodoo conjurer was thought to be able to heal and harm, depending on the situation, and because of the wonder and fear that this generated, they commanded great respect, especially when the results of their healing magic were witnessed and therefore believed.
Hoodoo became part of black identity in the American colonies. It gave practitioners status, and placed them on the same level of respect, indeed sometimes on a higher level of respect, than their white captors with ‘nearly every large Southern plantation’ boasting ‘at least one person who was identified as a conjure doctor or ‘fortune teller.’ Someone typically held in high esteem and respected by the people there. The ‘two headed doctor’ was ‘turned to for relief and for solutions to problems due to their spiritual authority', often chosen over the white Doctor.
Via Hoodoo, traditions of people in the American colonies came together, through interaction and exchange, to form a unique American practice, a practice with its roots deep in a forbidden religion, which ultimately became an accepted form of modern magic in the USA, with Hoodoo shops in many parts of the country and a large presence online.
Hoodoo holds a rich and varied mixture of magical practices and is symbolic of magic crossing many racial boundaries and cultural stereotypes, that despite oppression and slavery, formed a potent and powerful magical practice that still exists in the modern world.
References used in Elisa article can be found at the back of the magazine.
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