a question of destiny
A few months back their was a certain amount of public discussion of and contention over whether rootwork was just folk magic and if it had any relevance for cultural guidance. I realize I’m a little slow to the party on this issue, but this issue is just not going to go away. And the reason it’s not going to go away is because there are people coming into hoodoo (we’ll call it that for today) who didn't grow up either in or in intimate contact with the community that birthed it who haven’t studied it thoroughly. They may well be studied, even erudite, in the WHAT and HOW of hoodoo. But they haven’t looked deeply into the WHY. To them I’d ask a simple question.
What are you using to keep your hoodoo from biting you on the ass?
If nothing, well OK you’re just doing folk magic and this conversation is over. And good luck to you, btw. If you’re using some Wiccan or ceremonial magic practices to ground your spellwork and keep it from bouncing back I’d say you’re not doing hoodoo, you’re just using hoodoo practices inside your Wicca or CM. And that’s cool if that's what you wanna do ( I guess) but it’s not folk magic, it’s Wicca or CM. Whether or not it’s still hoodoo is a question we’ll sidestep for now (but you can probably figure out my answer to that). If you’re using the practices the hoodooists themselves used to ground their spells, you’ve stepped out of the realm of folk magic and into the realm of ATR. Something people who aren’t African or who haven’t studied African philosophy don’t seem to know or want to address (the same something that is by the way is something conveniently sublated in the definition of folk magic) is that fact that when an African ancestor passes something down the generations they’re passing down THEIR POWER as well. Their not just giving a physical object or a ritual. By doing that they make it so if a power object or ritual worked for them it will essentially AUTOMATICALLY work for their descendants assuming their descendants maintain proper contact with their ancestors. And the process of maintaining proper contact with your ancestors where you step out of folk magic and into questions of community and destiny.
Even if you don't want to ponder deep questions, or especially if you don't ponder deep questions , there’s going to come a time when the questions ponder YOU. And you really don't want to be on the wrong side of that equation. Because at that point it stops being a question of interaction with or manipulation or forces and switches to dealing with forces that move unstoppably towards you or to put it Biblically, JUDGING you. I’m not talking karma now, though some people would call it that. I’m talking the FLOW and its laws.
What are you using to keep your hoodoo from biting you on the ass?
If nothing, well OK you’re just doing folk magic and this conversation is over. And good luck to you, btw. If you’re using some Wiccan or ceremonial magic practices to ground your spellwork and keep it from bouncing back I’d say you’re not doing hoodoo, you’re just using hoodoo practices inside your Wicca or CM. And that’s cool if that's what you wanna do ( I guess) but it’s not folk magic, it’s Wicca or CM. Whether or not it’s still hoodoo is a question we’ll sidestep for now (but you can probably figure out my answer to that). If you’re using the practices the hoodooists themselves used to ground their spells, you’ve stepped out of the realm of folk magic and into the realm of ATR. Something people who aren’t African or who haven’t studied African philosophy don’t seem to know or want to address (the same something that is by the way is something conveniently sublated in the definition of folk magic) is that fact that when an African ancestor passes something down the generations they’re passing down THEIR POWER as well. Their not just giving a physical object or a ritual. By doing that they make it so if a power object or ritual worked for them it will essentially AUTOMATICALLY work for their descendants assuming their descendants maintain proper contact with their ancestors. And the process of maintaining proper contact with your ancestors where you step out of folk magic and into questions of community and destiny.
Even if you don't want to ponder deep questions, or especially if you don't ponder deep questions , there’s going to come a time when the questions ponder YOU. And you really don't want to be on the wrong side of that equation. Because at that point it stops being a question of interaction with or manipulation or forces and switches to dealing with forces that move unstoppably towards you or to put it Biblically, JUDGING you. I’m not talking karma now, though some people would call it that. I’m talking the FLOW and its laws.
posted by snake2G at 1:07 AM
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