Hey der!

[Halfcocked Jack]

I’m a 57 year old anthropologist, currently working to help reconstruct the National Museum of Brazil after the 2018 disaster.

I first got interested in hoodoo in 1985 when I took an Afro-American Philosophy course at UW Madison and Luisah Teish’s “Jambalaya” was in the reading list. I had already met some wiccans -imcluding Starhawk — and take part in rituals, but hoodoo jibed quite nicely with the umbanda and white table traditions I had been exposed to in Brazil. It made much more intuitive sense to me. I started learning some root work and herb knowledge, but quicky discovered that botany wasn’t my forté.

When I returned to Brazil in 1990, I began mixing the hoodoo I had learned with bits and bobs from Candomblé and Quimbanda. I am a VERY antidogmatic and somewhat irreverant practicioner, with little patience for those who overromaticize puritynof any sort. My personal entities are Seu Zé Pilintra and Athenas/Minerva. My irreverance is often seen as arrogance, which it is not. I fully respect the traditions of others for others. For me? A happy-go-lucky kinda punk rawk mishmash has always worked best.

I once almost got kicked out of a grad level anthropology course for suggesting that Elvis Presely was obviously the orixá of American white tr*sh culture. I mean, he filled ALL of the prerequisites and SOMEONE needs to look after the Mc Donalds and the trailer parks. Elvis immitators? Obviously receiving the orixá as horses.

Anyhoo, thisnis the kind of stuff that sets certain practicioners’ teeth on edge, but I really mean it in the Fool’s way. I like to keep my reverence irreverent, given all of the really nasty stuff overly sincere spiritual and religious people have done over the millennia. If you can poke fun at and laugh at your faith, you know you’ll never find yourself in a chopped down rain forest, drinking grape koolaid.

Right now, my main interest is the congruencies between hoodoo and Brazilian beliefs. I’m looking forward to beginning the course!

[catherineyronwode]

Hello --

Sorry i did not reply promptly ... i just found your message,

So nice to have an anthropologist in the room. Mixing cultures is fine for those who do it, but it is not comfortable to those who do not. Purity tests always lead to hurt feelings, but so does disrespect for history. And there is a difference between acknowledging influences between cultures versus forcing the admixture of new cultural byways just for the fun of it.

With that said, thanks for joining us.

Below are some great links to get you started with free information from the Lucky Mojo site. If you have questions, just post them here in the forum and we will reply.

Lucky Mojo Books:
https://www.luckymojo.com/luckymojopublishing.html

Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic:
https://www.luckymojo.com/hoodooherbandrootmagic.html

Hoodoo History:
http://luckymojo.com/hoodoohistory.html

Hoodoo Rootwork Correspondence Course
http://luckymojo.com/mojocourse.html

Mojo Hands:
http://luckymojo.com/mojo.html

Oils:
http://luckymojo.com/oils.html

Baths:
http://luckymojo.com/baths.html

Powders:
http://luckymojo.com/powders.html

Incense:
http://luckymojo.com/incense.html

Candles:
http://luckymojo.com/candlemagic.html

Herbs:
http://herb-magic.com

Conditions and how we can address them:
http://luckymojo.com/hoodooataglance.html