spiritroots:

Witchblr PSA on Saying “Hoodoo/Voodoo”

Let’s talk about “hoodoo/voodoo” for a sec…

I know yall mean well when you want to bring up Africana practices and don’t know how to refer to them so you say “hoodoo/voodoo,” but unfortunately there’s a lot of problems with saying this simple set of words.

It would be wonderful if Witchblr could make it a goal to remove “hoodoo/voodoo” as a phrase from its vocabulary forever.

Voodoo and hoodoo are NOT the same thing at all. When they are referred to as “voodoo/hoodoo” it makes it sound like they are completely interchangeable. I also see people using “hoodoo/voodoo” to basically refer to ALL practices, religions, and traditions of African origins. It’s just so wildly inaccurate and perpetuates misinformation that it makes my head spin, yet I see it all the time.

Hoodoo is an African American folk magic practice. It has African roots, but developed during slavery in the US. It’s not a religion, just a magic tradition. It’s 100% closed.

Voodoo should always be capitalized in spelling because it’s a religion. It has African roots, but also developed in the US, particularly Louisiana and New Orleans. It shares a lot of commonalities with the related religions of Vodou in Haiti and Vodun in West Africa. It’s semi-closed because it’s initiatory.

So as a white magic practitioner or witch or as a fellow POC who doesn’t practice these traditions, one thing you could do to support us is to say “Africana traditions” which means “all paths that come from Africa or the African diaspora” instead of reducing it to “hoodoo/voodoo” because it’s wrong on so many levels.

If you like and if it makes sense to say it for a specific context, you can also write “hoodoo and Voodoo” – the problem isn’t in referring to them, but in lumping them together with a slash or in using them to refer to all Africana traditions when they are just two of many.