Friday, November 11, 2022

Book Review: Hoodoo For Everyone

Sherry Shone, Hoodoo For Everyone: Modern Approaches to Magic, Conjure, Rootwork, and Liberation. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2022. ISBN: 9781623177089.
 
Genre: nonfiction, pagan
Subgenre: hoodoo, magic
Format: trade paperback
Source: Galley from publisher. If memory serves me right I got it from an online books event, probably Library Journal Day of Dialogue.

I picked this up to learn more about a topic I knew little about. Now that I have read it, I feel I got a good learning experience. I also feel that if I wanted and put in the work I could start my own hoodoo practice. The author makes the topic accessible and easy to understand. 

The book is arranged in six chapters and some extras: 

  • Chapter 1: Hoodoo Origins.
  • Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Hoodoo Practice.
  • Chapter 3: Ethical Hoodoo.
  • Chapter 4: Worthy Hoodoo Fighters. 
  • Chapter 5: Putting It All Together.
  • Chapter 6: Cleansing. 
  • Appendix. This includes the author's own suggestions on how to use places, people, and events from the book. It also has a question and answer section, some rituals, spells, and a list of Bible verses to use with various topics. Some blank pages for writing your own notes are also provided. 
  • Bibliography. This includes various references, many for history and context. 
  • Suggested Reading. This is in addition to the bibliography. These are books the author has on her personal shelf and/or gave her inspiration to write this book. If hoodoo interests you, then consider reading some of the works on this suggested reading list. 

This is a very good book for any reader interested in the topic. The author presents the topic in a direct, simple, and honest way that makes it clear for readers. Where some other authors may get too esoteric or dense, this author makes hoodoo accessible and easy to understand. The learning process is incremental. The authors starts with the basics, and you gradually work your way up. If you are wondering when you get to write spells and do some things, that happens in Chapter 5. As the author emphasizes, you need to do your basic work and learning so you can be the best hoodoo worker you can be. Studying and researching topics such as ancestors, guides, sacred text, and others are part of the process. The author encourages readers to do the work and trust the process. 

The author's clear and nurturing tone is a strength of the book. The text often reads as if she was sitting with you teaching, offering advice, and reminding you to wash your hands. There is much work to be done if you wish to become a hoodoo worker, and the author provides the information and tools. You bring in your intention, faith, direction, and willingness to do your part and work. 

I will admit I had a concern or two about using the Bible as a spell book. I may be a happy heathen now, but that was not always the case. So, on the one hand, I've read the Bible quite a bit and know what is in it. On the other hand, because I know what is in it I am not too keen on the idea of revisiting it. For this the author talks about reclaiming our power from oppressive religious institutions and their chains. Another options may be adopting other texts as your sacred text. This is something for me to reflect on. I do appreciate the book giving me stuff to think about further. 

Overall, this is an excellent book on the topic, and it works well as an introductory text for those wanting to follow this path. It may help some readers decide if this is a good path for them or not. This is a book I would recommend, and I would add it to my personal library. I could see myself giving hoodoo a go; that is how good this book is. 

I recommend the book for both public and academic libraries, especially if they already have good pagan and esoterica collections. Given also its inclusive approach, this is one I could buy for our library. 

5 out of 5 stars. 

* * * * * 

Additional reading notes: 

Author's belief of hoodoo and what it is: 

"It is for those that require swift urgency when you can go to no one else. When your mortgage is late, when an illness isn't going away, when your spouse or partner is leaving, when you are being evicted, when your community is being shot at, when your lives are at stake. This is what hoodoo is for--- it's not pretty. It isn't meant to be. So you will not read what you normally hear about hoodoo in this book. I will give you my own experience in hoodoo as told by my story and the stories of the updated hoodoo people, places, and objects. This is not the hoodoo you may have read about or saw on social media. This is hoodoo that I have created for those who have been hurt, abandoned, misunderstood, or cast aside because we are not traditional or conforming. These are updated hoodoo foundations" (2). 

 

On using the Bible in hoodoo work. I found the idea intriguing and it has potential for some of us who often find the Bible to be weaponized: 

"I used the Bible to perform rituals and incantations, and I customize the text, rewriting it to match my needs (changing pronouns and phrases without diluting the message) and eliminating parts of the Bible I no longer want to see or pass along in my own rituals" (7). 

 

On a side note, I possibly need to find this author's previous book: The Hoodoo Guide to the Bible.  The book may be out of print as it is not easy to find outside of the Big A. WorldCat does not even have a record of it. 


How hoodoo can be for everyone: 

"Hoodoo can be practiced by anyone of different races if and only if they are respectful and honor those that lived the truth that demanded the hoodoo tradition (to provide deliverance where there is adversity)" (31, emphasis in original). 


In hoodoo, need to understand the Black experience: 

"As a hoodoo practitioner, the expectation is not for you to become Black but to understand the Black experience if Spirit is asking you to do this work. From there, the hope is that you understand this experience will make you even more powerful and grateful of your own, which is equally as profound" (40). 

The author suggests as part of a hoodoo practice to "research and learn some folklore and myths of your ancestry" (56). For me, for starters, I can revisit Ricardo Alegria's Cuentos Folkloricos de Puerto Rico. I do have a personal copy of that book. 

 

Hoodoo is inclusive and can be inclusive: 

"I do hope, you understand above all things that hoodoo can be and is inclusive. It is inclusive because it includes any of those that seek its wisdom. Your culture or racial background does not matter. Your determination and thirst for knowledge does" (57). 

 

On the need for healing: 

"There is no greater need for healing than the healing we need in this world from prejudicial practices and hatred toward each other, and folklore practitioners, in my own belief, are the deliverers of this message. 

Where there is social injustice, we as hoodoo workers fill the void" (95). 

 

On reading the Bible as a spell book:

"I challenge you as you read the Bible to view it as a spell book and use it as you would a scientific or other reference book. Doing this objectively will help you take the emotion and the dysfunctional (to many) understanding from the words, and you can remove the guilt, pain, and anger, leaving you with what the true message is" (99).

By the way, the section on ethics in the book is very good too, including important questions to ask as you shape your craft. 




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