馃嚭馃嚫 Magic in the United States
257 entries from the United States, best known first, across 80 places of magic.
Hoodoo is a spiritual system shaped by West and Central African traditions, Indigenous plant knowledge, and European written guides. Practitioners view it as a companion to established faiths rather than a standalone religion. It weaves ancestor reverence, herbal healing, and protective charms into daily life alongside Protestant, Catholic, and Muslim beliefs.
- First English record of the term appeared in eighteen seventy.
- Practitioners mix Kongo star charts with local plant gathering.
- Hidden gatherings used overturned pots to muffle prayer sounds.
- Cemetery soil was packed into cloth bags for ancestral aid.
Overview
This tradition blends African cosmologies with local plant lore and European occult manuals. Enslaved communities merged Kongo star charts, water spirit veneration, and sacred bundles with Native American herb gathering. The practice centers on honoring departed relatives, seeking fairness, and using botanical preparations for wellness and safety. While some researchers classify it as its own faith, most followers treat it as a flexible layer added to Christianity, Islam, or traditional African paths. Neighboring Caribbean and Southern folk systems share similar charm making and spirit communication methods, though each community adapted the techniques to local plants and colonial pressures.
Practices and beliefs
Followers rely on small cloth pouches filled with roots, stones, and cemetery soil to draw ancestral strength. These containers are called mojo bags or gris-gris, a Mande term for protective charms. Specialists offer fortune telling and advice based on observed signs. Water spirits known as Simbi, believed to guard freshwater sources, are asked for guidance near rivers and springs. Herbal teas and ointments prepared from local leaves serve as everyday remedies. Protective symbols are drawn on doorframes or carried in pockets to ward off harm and attract good fortune.
Rites and charms
Gatherings often occur in hidden forest clearings or private rooms to avoid outside attention. Participants move around a central vessel while chanting low voices. Offerings include food and animal remains placed near household thresholds. Anointing rituals involve rubbing prepared oils onto skin or clothing before travel or difficult tasks. Quiet prayers are sometimes whispered beneath overturned clay pots to muffle sound. These customs focus on maintaining balance between the living and those who have passed, ensuring community safety and personal resilience.
Who practises
Specialists use titles such as rootworker or conjure doctor. They typically earn their role through apprenticeship, dream visions, or family lineage rather than formal schooling. Communities seek them out for healing, conflict resolution, and protection against unfair treatment. White and Black patrons alike visited these experts for fortune telling and charm crafting. Their knowledge was viewed as powerful enough to shift social hierarchies, which made them targets for suspicion and legal scrutiny under strict colonial rules.
Regions and communities
Coastal island groups maintained open practice due to relative isolation and preserved older African rhythms. River valley communities operated in tight secrecy because harsh assembly laws forced gatherings underground. Northern cities saw practitioners offer public services to diverse clients across racial lines. Plantation districts relied on discreet home rituals and quiet woodland meetings. Each area adjusted ingredient lists and ritual pacing to match local flora, weather patterns, and the specific pressures imposed by nearby authorities.
The facts in this overview come from the Wikipedia article "Hoodoo (spirituality)", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. EveryJaadu rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
Places of magic in the United States
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesFolk healer
An unlicensed community member who provides healing care using local plants and traditional knowledge.Tradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚟馃嚬 Haiti and 2 moreHaitian VodouVodou
An Afro-Haitian religion blending West African traditions with Catholicism and FreemasonryTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 4 moreRainmaking
Efforts to induce rain through technology, ritual, or prayer.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 2 moreS茅ance
A gathering to communicate with spirits, ranging from religious services to stage performances.Rite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Healing Living
馃嚥馃嚱 Mexico and 3 moreCurandero
A folk healer in Latin America and the United States who blends indigenous and Catholic traditions.Tradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesNavajo medicine
Traditional healing practices of the Navajo people focused on restoring harmonyTradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesKahuna
A Hawaiian expert or priest, keeper of hidden knowledge in craft and spiritTradition 路 Healing 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚥馃嚱 Mexico and 5 moreSanta MuerteNuestra Se帽ora de la Santa Muerte
A female skeletal folk saint in Mexico and the Americas, worshipped for protection, healing, and safe passage.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesRing shout
A sacred circle dance of African American origin using rhythmic movement and call-and-response singingRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesBraucherei
A Pennsylvania German folk healing tradition using prayers and gestures to cure illness and remove curses.Tradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Fading
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 3 moreHoodoo
A spiritual tradition of the African diaspora in the American South using herbs and charms for protection and justice.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 7 moreSatanic panic
A moral panic over unsubstantiated claims of Satanic cults abusing children in the late twentieth centuryBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 4 moreFortune-telling
A practice of predicting future events or personal details through various methods and tools.Rite 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesDeliverance ministry
A Christian practice to remove evil spirits believed to cause personal afflictionRite 路 Cursing and harm 路 Cleansing and purification Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesGhost DanceNanissaanah
A circular movement seeking spiritual renewal and reunion with ancestorsRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Change and initiation Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 5 moreRainmaking rites
Ceremonies performed to call rain through prayer, dance, or symbolic actsRite 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚚馃嚭 Cuba and 2 moreSanter铆aRegla de Ocha
An Afro-Cuban religion blending Yoruba beliefs with Catholicism and SpiritismTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚟馃嚬 Haiti and 2 moreManbo
A female priestess in Haitian Vodou who leads rituals and healing workTradition 路 Healing 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 3 moreHmong folk religionKev Dab Qhuas
The ethnic religion of the Miao and Hmong peoples, centered on spirit worship and shamanic healing.Tradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Living
馃嚚馃嚭 Cuba and 5 morePalo
An Afro-Cuban religion centered on spirit vessels and ancestral powerTradition 路 Healing 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesThe Long Lost FriendDer lange verborgene Freund
A Pennsylvania German grimoire of folk remedies and magical charms published in 1820.Text 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesExorcism of Roland Doe
A 1940s American case of alleged demonic possession and the exorcisms performed on the boyRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesThe Gray Man
A coastal ghost from South Carolina said to warn of hurricanesBeing 路 Protection Living
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 5 moreHippomancy
Divination through the movements, sounds, and tracks of horsesOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesAshtar
A channeled extraterrestrial figure central to mid-century American ufology and New Age spiritualityBeing 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesShamanism among Alaska Natives
Traditional spiritual practices of Indigenous peoples in AlaskaTradition 路 Healing 路 Seeing and foretelling Fading
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 3 moreExorcist
A religious specialist who performs rites to remove alleged demonic possession from people or places.Tradition 路 Cursing and harm 路 Cleansing and purification Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 3 moreAlaska Native religion
Traditional spiritual practices of the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut peoples of AlaskaTradition 路 Healing 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚨馃嚜 Peru and 2 moreTsentsak
Invisible darts used by Amazonian shamans for healing and sorcerySubstance 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesNew England vampire panic
A folk response to tuberculosis involving the exhumation and burning of organsBelief 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Folk healer: calliopejen, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Haitian Vodou: Sam Fentress, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Rainmaking: George Catlin, Public domain, source
- S茅ance: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Navajo medicine: Edward S. Curtis, Public domain, source
- Kahuna: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Manbo: Aliceba, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hmong folk religion: Thomas Riccio, CC BY 4.0, source
- Palo: Burkhard M眉cke, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Santa Muerte: Not home, Public domain, source
- Exorcism: Francisco Goya, Public domain, source
- Ring shout: Attributed to John Rose, Public domain, source
- Hippomancy: Wer?Du?!, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ashtar: Evedawn99, Public domain, source
- Satanic panic: Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514), Public domain, source
- Fortune-telling: Taras Shevchenko, Public domain, source
- The Gray Man: Phoebe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Shamanism among Alaska Natives: Balkanian`s word, Public domain, source
- Ghost Dance: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- New England vampire panic: no credited author, Public domain, source
- Rainmaking rites: SJasminum, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tsentsak: Veton PICQ, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Santer铆a: Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
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