Hoodoo is a tradition in which materials matter. Roots, herbs, minerals, personal items, fabrics, containers and prepared products form a material culture whose history predates today's bottles of oils and packets of powders by a long way. Studying this aspect helps us understand the term rootwork and place mojo bags and spiritual supplies in their African American context.
Why is it called rootwork?
The term rootwork refers to working with roots and, more broadly, to the use of plant materials in African American conjure. Historical root doctors could be familiar with plants used for medicinal, household and spiritual purposes. In communities where access to healthcare was limited or shaped by segregation, botanical knowledge had considerable practical importance.
Yet it would be misleading to separate 'medicinal' and 'magical' uses completely according to today's categories. Yvonne Chireau's work shows precisely how healing, religion and conjure could overlap. A root might have material, social and spiritual value within the same world of practice.
The mojo: a combination of materials, not just a pouch
The mojo bag, sometimes called a mojo hand, has become one of the most recognisable objects in commercial Hoodoo. Historically, it is a small collection of materials carried, kept or concealed, with its contents chosen according to its purpose and the person involved. Its meaning depends less on outward appearance than on the combination of elements, its relationship to its owner and the ritual work surrounding it.
This is why a decorative pouch filled with a few herbs is not automatically equivalent to a traditional mojo. Shops may sell objects inspired by this form, but the history of conjure reminds us that personalised preparation and the context of use mattered as much as the container.
Bundles, deposits and African continuities
Archaeological research in the United States has uncovered collections of objects interpreted in the context of African American protective and conjure practices. The National Park Service discusses discoveries in St. Louis and relates them to Central African traditions of protective bundles. The minkisi are frequently mentioned in studies of material continuities between Central Africa and the Americas.
These comparisons require precision. Not every mojo is a miniature minkisi, and not every deposit containing nails, bones, fragments or organic materials is necessarily associated with Hoodoo. Archaeologists use the context in which objects were found, historical documentation and cultural comparisons.
Discretion as a material characteristic
Some conjure objects were intended to be worn, placed within a home or hidden. This discretion reflected their purpose as well as the historical conditions in which African American practices developed. Slavery and later segregation did not provide a neutral environment for the expression of Black spiritual traditions.
The discreet nature of these objects contrasts with the way they are displayed today on social media and in shops. This change does not make modern products inherently illegitimate; it simply shows that a product displayed on a shelf belongs to a different stage in material history.
The emergence of spiritual supplies
The 20th century saw the development of a substantial spiritual suppliesindustry. Mail-order companies and urban shops distributed oils, powders, incense, soaps, baths, candles and talismans under standardised names. Prepared products allowed customers to buy an intention already expressed: love, money, success, protection, justice, banishing or road opening.
This standardisation profoundly influenced today's image of Hoodoo. Commercial names spread nationally and then internationally. Katrina Hazzard-Donald analyses this period as a turning point when an African American folk tradition was partly transformed by industry and businesses outside the communities that had sustained it.
Between traditional transmission and manufactured products
Modern oils and powders therefore do have a history. They belong to the commercial history of Hoodoo in the 20th century. The problem arises when a factory-made formula is presented as the complete, unchanged expression of an ancient practice. Continuity is found mainly in the language of intentions, certain ingredients, forms of objects and instructions that have been transmitted or reinterpreted.
For trade professionals, this distinction also improves product descriptions. It is more accurate to describe a product as 'a ritual oil from the Hoodoo spiritual supplies tradition' than to claim that a bottle reproduces an unchanging formula brought from Africa.
Reading objects as historical documents
Hoodoo material culture ultimately tells several stories at once: the history of African American plant knowledge, of protection under conditions of oppression, of discreet personal objects and, later, of the industrialisation of spiritual supplies. A mojo, root or oil does not mean the same thing in every period or for every maker, community and use. This historical approach helps explain today's retail offerings without confusing them with the tradition as a whole.
Principal sources: Katrina Hazzard-Donald, Mojo Workin’: The Old African American Hoodoo System, University of Illinois Press, 2013; Yvonne P. Chireau, Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition, University of California Press, 2003; National Park Service, 'Hoodoo in St. Louis: An African American Religious Tradition'; Jeffrey E. Anderson, Conjure in African American Society, Louisiana State University Press, 2005; Harry Middleton Hyatt, Hoodoo—Conjuration—Witchcraft—Rootwork, fieldwork published in several volumes.