THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
	a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic,alt.lucky.w,alt.satanism,alt.magick
From: nagasiva@luckymojo.com (blackman99)
Subject: Hoodoo and the Devil
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 19:23:38 GMT

50010604

> [Orig-]Subject: Hoodoo and Satanic Rituals

the subject of 'Satanic Rituals' is not fully addressed
here on account of the nature of your inquiry, though if
you have additional interest I'd be happy to write on
that subject also to a follow-up query. suffice it to
say that I don't think 'hoodoo' and 'Satanic rituals'
are related subjects except in peculiar circumstances.

> ...after being called a witch because of my mother's 
> practices....

not completely untrue. rootworkers and magicians of this
type are in some regions called 'witches', though not
everyone likes to hear this and not everyone uses it in
a way that is complimentary. :>

> I recently found your website, and after some reading, 
> I actually found it to interesting.  

most of the items on hoodoo at the Lucky Mojo website
were written by my wife, catherine, who has been a
conjure for many years and from whom I've learned some.

> I guess that my reason for disbelief is due to the fact 
> that I've always thought that in order to cast spells 
> and work roots, one had to make a pact with the devil.  
> Since you obviously know a lot about the subject matter, 
> I would like to know exactly how true this is.  

I can tell you what I know about it. 'the Devil' is only
sometimes integrated into hoodoo practice. the Black Man
at the crossroads (identified as 'the Devil' by believing
Christians, sometimes the practitioners themselves) is
apparently a remnant of African religious tradition in
which meeting the god (orisha/loa/et al) of the crossroads 
was and is still an important part of worship and instruction. 

there are indeed hoodoo conjures (rootworkers, witches, 
whatever you want to call them) who claim to have acquired 
their abilities at the crossroads through a meeting with the
Devil or the Black Man (not black like African, but black
as in devoid of light, dark enough he's difficult to see
at all). there are musicians who claim to have acquired
their skill this way, and this kind of otherworldly meeting

and instruction by beings whom one contacts in this way is
not peculiar to hoodoo tradition or to African-related
folks. for example, some Europeans believe that one might
contact the Queen of Faerie and learn from Her. 

it so happens that I have attempted to duplicate BOTH of
these ceremonials (meeting the Faerie Queen in visualization
during ritual while studying with Neopagans learning about 
Gardnerian witchcraft; and meeting the Black Man at the 
Crossroads for magical instruction while studying with my 
wife learning about hoodoo and African-American magic in
general). I had what I considered to be success in ritual
meeting with the Faerie Queen (perhaps because of the
method employed, perhaps because my genetic heritage is
attuned to the Neopagan cultural icons, who knows?) while
my crossroads rite was of mediocre result (I did not meet
anyone directly I could identify as 'the Black Man' though
the ceremony of going to the crossroads and making a mojo
bag was, I felt, quite powerful and I did feel that I
learned something about magic in doing it).

I've also made a fair study of Satanism, the being or
character known as Satan, and demonology in general in
Christian and other cultures. more often 'the Devil' as
an instructor tends to resemble some kind of woods god
than an Underworld Torturer, from my experience, and
Satan as understood by Satanists varies considerably.
'Satanic rituals' as described by Satanists is very 
different than what most Christian anti-satanists might
say in condemnation and blood libel.

if you want to know about pacts with the Devil either
in hoodoo tradition or outside this, I recommend that
you search at Lucky Mojo:

	http://www.luckymojo.com/esoteric.html

on the words "pact with devil", perhaps adding something more
than this like "hoodoo" and "crossroads" to reduce your 
results (I just got more than 3000 with those three words!).
 
> But before I do, please tell me that what I'm doing is not 
> going against my beliefs in GOD, and that I'm not teaming 
> with the Devil.

*I* can't tell you that (only YOU can, because you know what
your beliefs are!), but I can say that most hoodoo conjures
appear to be Bible-believing Christians and do not believe
that what they are doing is evil, wrong, or, in many cases,
has anything to do with the Devil.

I must emphasize that I am not a Bible-believing Christian,
though I consider myself to be an eclectic mage with 
dedication to the Formula of Christ (among others :>). 

my wife has been practicing hoodoo for years and does not 
consider herself to be "teaming up with the Devil", though 
she shares some of my fondness for Der Teuffel of the 
European woods spirits and some amusement at Krampus, who
is a kind of Bad Cop to the Good Cop of Saint Nicholas
at Christmastide.

blessed beast!

blackman99
nagasiva@luckymojo.com