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To: alt.lucky.w,alt.religion.orisha,alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.pagan,alt.magick
From: catherine yronwode 
Subject: mojo bag and needles
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 01:09:12 -0800

Here's a qery from e-mail. As usual, i am posting the reply without the
wuerent's name. (I sure do wish folks would just post these darmn
questions.) 

> 1)  I know at least 2 blues players who have mojo bags (red flannel) 
> in a pocket, when they are performing.  The one white guy was a 
> student of James Cotton (was his roadie, gofer, etc.)   The other guy 
> is a black player whose musical lineage unknown to me, but is old 
> enough to have grown up with the beliefs you recount.  I never 
> discussed this, or even let them know I had seen the bag in their hand 
> (in both cases, they were going through pocket contents looking for 
> something), so don't know specifically what the bag was for.  I 
> assumed it was music-related.
> 
> Would a red-flannel mojo in a r/h pocket be likely to be a particular
> type, other than my assumption?  

No, where you carry it is not too important, though most folks say,
"below the waist" (that is, not on a string around the neck, like the
Indians do) -- but i HAVE seen them on a string around the neck, so
nothing is 100% any one way. I know women to carry them in their purses,
too, not really on their persons. Also many people have a sort of "house
mojo" that is kept in the bedroom for domestic relationships and some
folks who keep stores have a mojo hid by the front door to draw in the
customers. 

The red flannel colour is the most common, although some folks like a
green one for money luck and some like white for mental problems (such
as the Mexican susto or supernatural fright) and pale blue is often used
for a faithful marriage and peaceful home. But red is far and away the
commonest and most popular colour for sex, love, fast luck, gambling
luck, money luck, and just all around good luck.  

Your guess that since these were musicians they might have carried mojos
to enhance their performances is possibly true. Could also be for love
luck, money,luck, or gambling luck. I get so many requests for mojos
from blues musicians that i make up a particular style i call the "Blues
Boy Special" because it contains many things mentioned in blues songs.
It has the John the Conqueror Root and it has the Alligator Tooth and it
has the Lucky Hand Root and it has the Rabbit Foot -- all that stuff
that folks want, including Black Cat Hair and a Lodestone. And that is
beyond a doubt my best-selling mojo hand, the "Blues Boy Special." 

> 2. Needles appear a couple of times in your recounting of content. 
> What's the deal with needles?  Roots, herbs and minerals make 
> sense, and seem to have something in common with medicine bundles.  

Needles (and/or pins) play a large part in old-time conjure work, the
kind done with whatever was to hand. They are used to mark off a candle
into sections so you can burn it "until the needle falls" for nine
nights. The saved needles (nine of them) can then used to make "double
crosses" in a piece of paper with someone's name written on it nine
times. The double crosses are made with two needles going one way and
the third crossing them, like a fancy letter X. Nine needles make 3
double crosses. The paper with those needles stuck in it goes into the
bag and that is to control that person or keep them in some condition or
other. Nine nails may be driven in the doorstep as double crosses, too
-- but that's to keep the law away. Also nine needles may be wrapped in
red thread and put in a bag for a spell or you may double-cross nine
pins in a man's hatband where he can't see them. What i mean, there is a
LOT you can do with needles and pins. The old-time hoodoo stuff used
simple materials -- needles, pins, sulphur, salt, sugar, bluestone,
cayenne pepper, roots, herbs, rocks, and bodily fluids. That's the real
old stuff. Later it got more complicated. 

You tell me what you want to do and i'll tell you how to do it. 

catherine yronwode
http:www.luckymojo.com/luckymojocatalogue.html
Get Your Mojo Working

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From: catherine yronwode 
Newsgroups: alt.lucky.w,alt.religion.orisha,alt.magick,alt.magick.tyagi,rec.music.bluenote.blues
Subject: mojo / crossroads redux
Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 12:45:24 -0800
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As is my custom, i forward to usenet the queries i receive in e-mail,
with the querent's name removed and my answers appended. 
 
> I`ve visited your page concerning Hoodoo, it contains some helpful 
> hints for me - for my analysis of Robert Johnson`s lyrics in fact, and 
> for my understanding of the blues as well.
>
> You claim that MOJO has nothing in common with sex but you do not 
> refer to a reliable source. 

Yes, i do -- the work of Harry Middleton Hyatt -- specifically, his
interviews with 1600 informants in the south in the 1930s. Also i cite
contemporary catalogues such as King Novelty, etc. These are all
referenced on my web pages. Hyatt's 5 volumes alone total over 5,000
pages and nowhere in them is a mojo said to be anything but a flannel
bag filled with roots, herbs, and minerals. Please read my page on Hyatt
for more information on his extremely important and _reliable_ role in
the collection of African-American folklore. See
http://www.luckymojo.com/hyatt.html

> Are you sure about it? 

Yes. 

> I think that mojo can have several meanings, I don`t suppose it`s 
> possible to define it exactly and to have only one definition and take 
> it as the truth. 

You may think what you wish, of course, but "mojo" means "mojo" just as
sure as "autmoboile" means "automobile" and "shoe" means "shoe." It is a
noun. It may be used as a metaphor (as any noun may be) but that does
not give it added definitions. It is the noun that describes a flannel
bag filled with magical roots and herbs. That's what it is. See
http://www.luckymojo.com/mojo.html

> I believe that sex-appeal can be one part of the magic charm called 
> mojo. 

Nope. That may be a metaphor in your mind, but it is not the meaning of
the word. To say that a person has sex appeal by referring to a mojo is
only possible by referring to a love-charm mojo, such as a woman's
nation sack. See
http://www.luckymojo.com/nationsack.html

Since mojos are also made for luck in gambling, for job-getting, for
business success, to control or dominate one's boss, etc., there is no
certain assumption that sex appeal would be the metaphorical subject of
a mojo. 

> Yeah, magic charm, that`s the right word `cause mojo isn`t only the 
> amulet itself.

Yes it is. Look, i hate to be contentious here, but you are insisting on
something that you have misunderstood, that's all. A mojo is a charm-bag
used for the purpose of accomplishing any of a number of magical goals.
It does not refer to the owner's personality. 

> Does Hoodoo really have nothing in common with Voodoo? 

I did not say that. They have in common one considerable thing -- their
African origin. However, Voodoo is a Haitian religion derived from Fon
(Dahomeyan) African religion, while hoodoo is a loose system of
African-European-American folk-magic, mostly practiced by nominal
Christians. See
http://www.luckymojo.com/hoodoo.html

> I think Hoodoo is not only a set of superstitions, hot foot powders, 
> and magic spells although it`s not a religion, unlike Voodoo.

"Superstitions" are usually defined as erroneous or unscientific beliefs
-- by those who do not believe in them. I do not use the word
"superstitions" in relation to hoodoo or any other system of
metaphysical belief. I really dislike the term, because it is so laden
with judgement and arrogance. I prefer the term "folk-magic" -- it 
is a value-neutral term that describes non-religious metaphysical
beliefs and physical actions based on those beliefs.

Now i have a question for you: If you think hoodoo is "not only a
superstitions, hot foot powders, and magic spells," what DO you think it
is? 

To answer this myself, as i see it, hoodoo is a form of folk-magic that
incorporates African, European, and Native American elements. 

> Robert Johnson is said to have made a deal with the devil at the
> crossroads 

This myth seems to have been originated by a writer named Robert Palmer
in the 1970s. As far as i know, at no time did Robert Johnson or his
contemporaries say he "made a deal with the devil at a crossroads."
However, so i have heard, another blues musician, Robert's friend Tommy
Johnson (not related to Robert) did claim to have learned to play guitar
at the crossroads. I think that Palmer transferred Tommy's story to
Robert, probably  because Robert was better known (and a better
guitarist).

> and it`s thought it was Hoodoo what helped him to gain the
> tremendous skills of a guitarist and songwriter. 

Hoodoo is an entire system of belief. The ritual whereby one learns
skills at a crossroads is only one of thousands of practices that are
part of the hoodoo system of folk-magic. Robert Johnson practiced hoodoo
and believed in it, as is evident in several of his songs. However, he
himself apparently did not claim that he used the old crossroads ritual
to gain mastery of the guitar. This is not to say that he did not do so
-- for many, many people have done it, and not only for learning to play
the guitar, but for other musical instruments, dancing, to read and
write, and to become good at throwing dice. However, in the interest of
accuracy, i must repeat that as far as i know, Robert Johnson never
claimed he did this to any of his friends who later gave their
reminsicences to interviewers. Tommy Johnson did, however. 

> I do not believe that the "devil" (read someone mastering Hoodoo - 
> Legba) gave Johnson an amulet and that was all. There must have been 
> some black arts involved.

You have confused several ideas here. 

A person mastering hoodoo is a "hoodoo," "hoodoo doctor," "hoodooist,"
"conjure," "two-headed doctor," "hoodoo woman," or "root doctor." A
person who casually uses hoodoo is usually called a "hoodoo
practitioner" by outsiders.Such a person is NOT the devil nor Legba. 

The man who meets people at the crossroads and teaches them skills does
NOT give them an amulet. He traches them. 

"Black Arts" is a term generally used to describe European medieval
occultism or its contemporary derivatives whereby ones calls upon
demonic (evil) forces to gain mastery and control over others or to
discover hidden treasures. While hoodoo incorporates some European
influences, the crossroads ritual under discussion here is African, not
European in origin.  

The man who meets people at the crossroads and teaches them skills is
sometimes (but not always) called "the devil" in African-American
folklore. He is also called "the black man," black in this case meaning
the actual colour black, not a brown-skinned ("coloured" or Negro)
person. Because this entity shares qualities with and derives from a
number of African crossroads spirits (of whom Legba, Ellegua, Elegbara,
Eshu, Nbumba Nzila, and Pomba Gira are some African and African-diaspora
names), it is a common SCHOLARLY conceit to equate the crossroads
"devil"  with Legba, but that is utterly unheard of in the oral folk
tradition. 

Legba (Ellegua, Elegbara, Eshu, Nbumba Nzila, Pomba Gira) are NOT names
for "someone mastering hoodoo." This entity is not a human being. He is
an African crossroads spirit. His colours are red and black, and he is
often given offerings of alcohol, so it is easy to see why Christian
slaves and their masters conflated him with "the devil" (e,g, Satan, who
is the "Adversary" to the monotheistic god in the Jewish, Christian, and
Islamic religions). However, the crossroads spirit is not Satan. Nor is
he evil, harmful, or cruel in the sense that the Judeo-Christian devil
is. He is a revered spiritual entity from a polytheistic religious
system. No "black arts" in the medieval European sense are needed to
call upon him or gain his favour. He is a teacher and guide, the opener
of the way. That is his role. 

What follows here is a bit of material that i posted recently in the
usenet newsgoup alt.religion.orisha. The subect was Ellegua and his
variants in West Africa and the Congo; i was looking for parallels
between African relgious belief and American hoodoo practices. Some of
you may have read a bit of this before; if so skip to the bottom for
more new material: 

----begin quoted material-----

Now here, courtesy of Harry Middleton Hyatt, is a bit of 1930s
African-American crossroads belief, just a sampling, 'cause believe me,
there is LOTS more on this subject in his books.   

Oh, first, if you are unfamiliar with the Hyatt material, you might want
to read my web page on him and his method of transcribing regional
dialects. It's at 
http://www.luckymojo.com/hyatt.html

354. If ah want tuh go gamblin', go to a crossroads 'fore de sunup and
have de dice in yore han's, an' look at de sun when she start tuh
peepin' up, an' yo' stay dere an' shook dem dice at dat crossroads until
de sun gets up where yo' kin see it. Ah'll do this -- thrown 'em out,
thrown 'em out. Ah'll do this *In de Name of de Father, Son an' Holy
Ghost.* An' ev'ry time yo' throw 'em out *pop yo' fingers* -- "Dat ah
may be lucky in my travels" [quotation?]. Ev'r time yo' throw 'em out
pop yore fingers an' aftah while yo' see de sun rise. It will rise jes'
a little bit up, after yo' done say de names -- yo' see, it will rise
jes' a little bit up. Ah used to be a gambler but ah quit it.

(That will teach you how to be a good gambler?)

Yes. 

[Fayetteville, North Carolina, (1415), 2547:3).]

349. If you want to know how to play a banjo or a guitar or do magic
tricks, you have to sell yourself to the devil. You have to go to the
cemetery nine mornings and get some of the dirt and bring it back with
you and put it in a little bottle, then go to some fork of the road and
each morning sit there and try to play that guitar. Don't care what you
see come there, don't get 'fraid and run away. Just stay there for nine
mornings and on the ninth morning there will come some rider riding at
lightning speed in the form of the devil. You stay there then still
playing your guitar and when he has passed you can play any tune you
want to play or do any magic trick you want to do because you have sold
yourself to the devil. 

[Ocean City, Maryland, (14), Ed.]

(A note from cat: The code number 14 marks this as one of Hyatt's
earliest informants and "Ed." means he recorded the interview on an
Edison cylinder; he seems not to have transcribed the speaker's dialect
as he did with later informants. The mention of "graveyard dirt"
as an offering placed at the crossroads is interesting here and relates
to another informant's displacement of the entire ritual from a
crossroads to a cemetery. The things that "you may see come there" at
the crossroads are not listed by this informant, but are explained after
the next entry. This variant is also unsual in that the mere passing of
the rider is sufficient -- in other versions the "devil" speaks or even
borrows the instrument and tunes it up or plays upon it. For instance in
entry 359, "If you wanted to be a dancer, the devil would come himself
and strike a step" and entry 363, "And he'll tune up [your guitar] an'
hand it back to you and you start to play.")

356. Now de fo'ks of de road -- now, in case dis is whut chew wanta do,
if yo' wanta learn hoodooism. See, if you wanta learn hoodooism, you go
to de fo'ks of de road. Go dere -- yo' leave home zactkly five minutes
of twelve an' have yo' a fo'k. Git chew a bran'-new silver fo'k an' git
to de fo'ks of de road an' git down on your knees an' stick dat fo'k in
de groun'; see, an' anything on earth yuh wants tuh learn an' know,
things will come 'fore yo' an' tell yo' what to do. See. But chew got'a
be dere zactly twelve 'clock -- go dere de third day but it's got'a be
in de night, twelve 'clock in de night.

[Mobile, Alabama, (656),937:3).]

Re: the "things" that "will come 'fore yo'" in the above entry. Hyatt
collected many, many accounts of a nine-day crossroads ritual that a
person undergoes to learn to play a musical instrument or get lucky at
gambling. Most of these stories explain that on each successive visit to
the crossroads (at midnight or dawn, depending on the informant), a
different black animal appears and on the ninth night the "devil" or
"big black man" appears and fulfills the request. Each account gives a
variant list of animals, but almost all include a black chicken, a black
bull, and a black dog. Other animals mentioned are a snake, a bear, a
lion, a cat, a lamb, and a horse. One informant carefully specifies that
all the animals will be male (a drake, not a duck; a rooster, not a
hen). In a couple of accounts, some of the black animals are replaced by
black weather conditions -- a smoke, a rain, a thundering. These stories
are simply too long for me to transcribe here, but the three-day ritual
given above, although it does not name or describe the "things" that
will come before the postulant, is obviously part of the "black animals
at the crossroads" series. My guess is that in the original African
version of this ritual, the animals were sacrificed at the crossroads.
There are remnants of sacrifice and ritual food preparation in some of
Hyatt's tales -- a horse that has been beheaded, a little black dog that
is fed from a spoon,  

And here's a final example: 

347. I had a party to tell me tha' chew could go to a four crossroad --
what is called a four-way road [a crossroad] -- for nine mornings at one
partic'lar hour in de morning, and dance and sing and put on a little
program such as you're able to do, and on the ninth morning the devil'll
put in his appearance or some of his imps and give you the power to
accomplish what you want to do. And this one boy did do it, but he --
and also you can do by goin' to the woods. And there's a certain
location in the woods tha' chew kin do it. An' this boy did do it -- had
he carried it out, he was on his ninth morning. And when a big black man
came from behind a pine tree and come to him a-laughin', he couldn't
stand it and he run and left it.

[Princess Anne, Maryland, (125) 38:1; happened 1934, so informant says.]

Now as to meeting the black man at "a certain location in the woods,"
mentioned above, the trees and bushes associated with this in other
entries in the Hyatt collection are the holly, the dogwood, and the
huckleberry. In these less common versions of the ritual, the person who
wants to learn to play an instrument or to win at dice or cards goes to
one of these trees for three (or nine) successive nights (or dawns)
until the black man arrives and meets him as he would have at the
crossroads. 

I believe that these "sacred tree" variants are European intrusions or
inclusions into the African crossroads ritual. The evergreen holly is
well-known as a holy plant of the Celts, later adapted to Christaina
symbolic purposes. Dogwood is often associated with the crucifixion of
Jesus. Huckleberry is used in hooodoo for gambling luck ("huckleberry
luck"), especially to bring on prophetic dreams of lucky numbers. 

Strangely, the huckleberry story in the Hyatt collection has nothing to
do with hoodoo -- it is a folk tale rather than a description of of
folk-magic -- and it sounds quite "European" to me, actually, despite
being told by a black man about another black man. As the story goes,
in order to get a job, the narrator's friend sells his soul to the devil
under a huckleberry bush, then goes home. Immediately thereafter he is
hired by a white man to cut and cord firewood. The boss asks him how
he's doing and he lies and boasts that he's done more than he has, so
the white man follows him into the woods to check up on him. To the
boss's surprise, he sees his employee sitting on a log sharpening his
axes and whistling and singing while "a crowd" of the devil's imps cut,
split, and stack the cordwood for him. The moral of the story is rather
weak: "So this ole white man, he got scared of 'im. So he discharged
'im." I do believe that there is a German variant of this story in the
Grimm's Fairy Tales collection. As such, it bears little reationship to
the African "crossroads spirit" stories. 

-----end quoted material-----

One thing is fairly clear in all of the African-American crossroads
tales collected by Hyatt -- the "devil" at the crossroads is not really
"the Adversary" or Satan of Judeo-Chrisianity. 

Although some informants say that you "sell your soul" to gain a skill,
there is never a Faustian moral at the end of the story, no burning
punishment in hell after a preturnaturally successful or ill-spent life.
In the non-"soul-selling" variants, you may pay the crossroads spirit
with a silver coin for his lesson or -- for no exchange whatsoever than
that you have faithfully and without fear attended upon the crossroads
for the proper number of days -- the "rider" or "black man" will terach
you what you desire, free of charge.  

Furthermore, not a single one of these stories involves inproving the
love life, gaining a proposal of marriage, eliminating a rival,
discovering a hidden treasure, exacting revenge on another person, or
achieving physical healing. That is, they are not about general
wish-granting, but rather about being granted certain specific skills of
dexterity. Even the dice-throwing story is not a prescription for "good
luck" but rather an instructional tale about how to refine one's manual
skill. Hyatt asks if the ritual "will teach you how to be a good
gambler" and the informant says, "Yes." The key word here is "teach." 

In fact, these stories seem to be prescriptions for a way to contact a
specific, helpful spirit -- and the specificity of the crossroads
spirit's power is quite apparent: He is a TEACHER spirit who will
accelerate one's mastery of mental, manual, and performing arts. 

catherine yronwode

Lucky Mojo Curio Co: http://www.luckymojo.com/luckymojocatalogue.html
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From: catherine yronwode 
Newsgroups: alt.lucky.w,alt.religion.orisha,alt.magick,alt.magick.tyagi,rec.music.bluenote.blues
Subject: Re: mojo / crossroads redux
Date: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 00:30:33 -0800
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E. C. Ballard wrote:
> 
> In article <35030367.7CC0@luckymojo.com>, catherine yronwode
>  wrote:
> 
> > > Yeah, magic charm, that`s the right word `cause mojo isn`t only 
> > > the amulet itself.
> 
> I'd like to follow up on this, because I have often heard the term 
> used in ways that would at least suggest that it could also be losely 
> defined as the skill for making mojo bags, or more generally, a talent 
> for magical work. I'm not arguing necessarily for such a broader 
> definition, simply noting what appears to me to be possible 
> alternative uses. I have heard expressions such as "He's got mojo." or 
> "She's got mojo in her." or even "That one's mojo!". Now, this is 
> Northern usage and it may be argued that it's been influenced by the 
> appearance of the term in recordings, however the term and the 
> practice is still active here - you can buy mojo bags in several 
> locations in Philadelphia today. In some places you can still have 
> them prepared and annointed while you wait - so I think that it 
> doesn't represent a break in the continuity of the tradition.
> What are your thoughts on this?
> 
> Nsala Maleko,
> 
> Eoghan
 
Let me back up and present to you the word "juju." 

I have no idea what this word actually means in any African language,
but it had some currency among white intellectuals in the 1950s and
1960s when i was young as a sppofingly arch term that could be more or
less defined as "a primitive African word for magical power or charisma
or supernaturality which expresses superstition and ignorance." I also
heard hipster blacks who hung out with whites use the word when i was
young. 

I believe juju was used thus in books and movies made for and in white
America from the 1930s onward, as in "No go there, Missy -- bad juju!"
and so forth, but by the time i was a teen, both "bad juju" and "good
juju" were mostly used as ironic descriptors, spoken in a mockingly
"look at me i'm so anti-racist i can appear to be racist but you know
i'm really sleeping with black chicks" racist-anti-racist way by whites
who liked blues music. Especially Jews from new York City. 

I never heard the word mojo used synonymously with juju -- that is, to
mean power, goodness, badness, or supernatural force -- until after
"I've Got My Mojo Working" by Muddy Waters became a hit song among these
same whites. After that, i heard it used in exactly the same way the
word juju had previously been used, and by the same people. Also, within
a short time, the word juju disappeared from use among those people. 

Thus i see this particular use of the word mojo as
a) something that originated among whites
b) basically misinformed
c) post late-1960s (e.g. dating from the Muddy Waters fan-boy era)
d) a replacement for the then obsolescent "juju" 

Hope this makes sense. 

catherine yronwode

Lucky Mojo Curio Co: http://www.luckymojo.com/luckymojocatalogue.html
The Lucky W Amulet Archive: http://www.luckymojo.com/LuckyW.html  
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Comics Warehouse: http://www.luckymojo.com/comicswarehouse.html 
check out news:alt.lucky.w for folk magic and good luck charms

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From: catherine yronwode 
Newsgroups: alt.magick,rec.music.bluenote.blues,alt.lucky.w
Subject: Re: mojo / crossroads redux
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 20:15:42 -0800
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Margaret M Brown wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 10 Mar 1998, F. DABNEY wrote:
> 
> > While "MOJO" may have a recent prominence, if one goes back to some 
> > of the old southern acoustic blues records, you can find lines like 
> > "Goin' to New Orleans, get me a mojo hand".  So I suspect it goes 
> > far before Muddy Waters got his going.

The Muddy Waters song was written by Preston Foster, actually, and first
recorded by Ann Cole. The earliest recorded lyrics with "mojo" in them
date to the late 1920s, but the word is probably far older than that.
Some sample lyrics from early mojo songs are archived at my web page
http://www.luckymojo.com/mojo.html -- check out "Take Your Hands Off My
Mojo" and "Scarey Day Blues." 

> Speaking of which, there's a blues song that has been haunting me the 
> past year or so, sung by a female vocalist with a sweltering voice.
> 
> "Muddy water in my shoe..."  etc....
> 
> Anyone know the singer and lyrics?  I've been meaning to get a copy.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> - Peggy -

This doesn't ring a bell with me. Can you recall any other lyrics? Is it
recent or old? Acoustic or electric? 

catherine yronwode

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